We will not blame [the king] for the crimes of his ancestors if he relinquishes the royal rights of his ancestors; but as long as he claims their rights, by virtue of descent, then, by virtue of descent, he must shoulder the responsibility for their crimes.
"The record of the successive hosts of foreigners who came amongst us and, finding Ireland a green and pleasant land, chose to abide there...let no Irishman throw a stone at the foreigner; he may hit his own clansman."
-James Connolly, 1908
"Every class in society save royalty, and especially British royalty, has through some of its members contributed something to the elevation of the race. But neither in science, nor in art, nor in literature, nor in exploration, nor in mechanical invention, nor in humanising of laws, nor in any sphere of human activity has a representative of British royalty helped forward the moral, intellectual or material improvement of mankind. But that royal family has opposed every forward move, fought every reform, persecuted every patriot, and intrigued against every good cause. Slandering every friend of the people, it has befriended every oppressor."
- James Connolly, on the Visit of King George V (1910)
James Connolly, an NPC I've been designing for a game using @anim-ttrpgs's EUREKA system. I Just got their rule book from their Patreon, and it sounds like an awesome mystery system so far. I'm excited to play around with it!
“Revolution is never practical – until the hour of the revolution strikes. Then it alone is practical, and all the efforts of the conservatives, and compromisers become the most futile and visionary of human imaginings.”
#OTD in 1868 – Birth of Irish patriot and revolutionary, Countess Constance Markievicz, née Gore-Booth in London.
Countess Markievicz, born Constance Georgine Gore Booth, politician, revolutionary, tireless worker with the poor and dispossessed, was a remarkable woman. Born into great wealth and privilege, she lived at Lissadell House in Co Sligo. She is most famous for her leadership role in the 1916 Easter Rising and the subsequent revolutionary struggle for freedom in Ireland.
Born in 1868, Constance was…
Join your voice with ours in protesting against the base assumption that we owe to this empire any other debt than that of hatred of all its plundering institutions.
James Connolly, 'Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee' (1897)
"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."
James Connolly, in Workers' Republic, 1899
Connolly was one of the chief leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising, and for this was executed by a British firing squad along with his comrades. He contributed greatly to the cause of socialism on both sides of the Atlantic, and notably also supported women's suffrage, writing in 1915 "The worker is the slave of capitalist society, the female worker is the slave of that slave" and "of what use...can be the re-establishment of any form of Irish state if it does not embody the emancipation of womanhood?"
This monument to him now stands in Dublin across the street from the headquarters of SIPTU, the Services Industrial Professional and Technical Union.