31+ James Connolly Quotes On War, Royalty And Socialist

James Connolly was a Scottish Marxist, socialist and Irish republican leader. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1868 and he was a key figure in the Easter Rising of 1916. He was executed by the British government for his role in the uprising, becoming a martyr for Irish nationalism and socialism. Following is our collection on famous quotes by James Connolly on war, royalty, socialist.

Top 10 James Connolly Quotes

1. If you strike at, imprison, or kill us, out of our prisons or graves we will still evoke a spirit that will thwart you, and perhaps, raise a force that will destroy you! We defy you! Do your worst!
2. Yes, friends, governments in capitalist society are but committees of the rich to manage the affairs of the capitalist class.
3. We believe in constitutional action in normal times; we believe in revolutionary action in exceptional times.
4. The British Government has no right in Ireland, never had any right in Ireland, and never can have any right in Ireland.
5. The worker is the slave of capitalist society, the female worker is the slave of that slave.
6. Yes, ruling by fooling, is a great British art with great Irish fools to practice on.
7. Only the Irish working class remains as the incorruptible inheritors of the fight for freedom in Ireland.
8. Irish tory employers hid[e] their sweatshops behind orange flags, and Irish home rule landlords us[e] the green sunburst of Erin to cloak their rack-renting in the festering slums of our Irish towns.
9. Without the power of the Industrial Union behind it, Democracy can only enter the State as the victim enters the gullet of the Serpent.
10. The Irishman in English literature may be said to have been born with an apology in his mouth.

James Connolly Short Quotes

• The Irish people will only be free, when they own everything from the plough to the stars
• There can be no perfect Europe in which Ireland is denied even the least of its national rights.
• The cause of Labour is the cause of Ireland, and the cause of Ireland is the cause of Labour
• No revolutionary movement is complete without its poetical expression.
• Apostles of Freedom are ever idolised when dead, but crucified when alive.
• The great appear great to us.

James Connolly Famous Quotes And Sayings

We, at least, are not loyal men: we confess to having more respect and honour for the raggedest child of the poorest labourer in Ireland today than for any, even the most virtuous, descendant of the long array of murderers, adulterers and madmen who have sat upon the throne of England. — James Connolly

The Irish Republic must be made a word to conjure with - a rallying point for the disaffected, a haven for the oppressed, a point of departure for the socialist, enthusiastic in the cause of human freedom. — James Connolly

Under a socialist system every nation will be the supreme arbiter of its own destinies, national and international; will be forced into no alliance against its will, but will have its independence guaranteed and its freedom respected by the enlightened self-interest of the socialist democracy of the world. — James Connolly

Such a scheme.. the betrayal of the national democracy of Industrial Ulster, would mean a carnival of reaction both North and South, would set back the wheels of progress, would destroy the oncoming unity of the Irish labour movement and paralyse all advanced movements while it lasted. — James Connolly

Just as it is true that a stream cannot rise above its source, so it is true that a national literature cannot rise above the moral level of the social conditions of the people from whom it derives its inspiration. — James Connolly

I can always guarantee that the Irish Citizen Army will fight but I cannot guarantee that it will be on time — James Connolly

If you remove the English army to-morrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle, unless you set about the organisation of the Socialist Republic your efforts would be in vain. — James Connolly

Whenever the clergy succeeded in conquering political power in any country, the result has been disastrous to the interests of religion and inimical to the progress of humanity. — James Connolly

Though I have usually posed as a Catholic, I have not done my duty for 15 years, and have not the slightest tincture of faith left. — James Connolly

We who hold his (Wolfe Tone) principles believe that any movement which would successfully grapple with the problem of national freedom must draw its inspiration not from the mouldering records of the past, but from the glowing hopes of the living present, the vast possibilities of the mighty future. — James Connolly

However it may be for others, for us of the Citizen Army there is but one ideal - an Ireland ruled, and owned, by Irish men and women, sovereign and independent from the centre to the sea, and flying its own flag outward over all the oceans. — James Connolly

State ownership and control is not necessarily Socialism - if it were, then the Army, the Navy, the Police, the Judges, the Gaolers, the Informers, and the Hangmen, all would all be Socialist functionaries, as they are State officials - but the ownership by the State of all the land and materials for labour, combined with the co-operative control by the workers of such land and materials, would be Socialism. — James Connolly

All these mountains of Irish dead, all these corpses mangled beyond recognition, all these arms, legs, eyes, ears, fingers, toes, hands, all these shivering putrefying bodies and portions of bodies once warm living and tender parts of Irish men and youths - all these horrors in Flanders or the Gallipoli Peninsula, are all items in the price Ireland pays for being part of the British Empire. — James Connolly

Whoop it up for liberty! After Ireland is free, says the patriot who won't touch socialism, we will protect all classes, and if you won't pay your rent you will be evicted same as now. But the evicting party, under command of the sheriff, will wear green uniforms and the Harp without the Crown, and the warrant turning you out on the roadside will be stamped with the arms of the Irish Republic. Now, isn't that worth fighting for? — James Connolly

Don't be 'practical' in politics. To be practical in that sense means that you have schooled yourself to think along the lines, and in the grooves that those who rob you would desire you to think. — James Connolly

Life Lessons by James Connolly

1. James Connolly taught the importance of standing up for what you believe in, even if it means sacrificing your own safety and comfort.
2. He also demonstrated the power of collective action and solidarity in the face of oppression.
3. Finally, his commitment to social justice and equality serves as an example of how to fight for a better world.