A view of Sackville Street (now O'Connell), Dublin, Ireland and the bridge over the Liffey River framed by a spray of shamrocks. The card was postmarked Dublin, August 30, 1911.

Sackville Street, Dublin



Reverse:

Valentine's Series

Known throughout the World

Valentine, Dublin

Printed in Scotland

Other views: Larger

Friday, May 12, 1916

"But believing as I do that any action would be justified which would put a stop to this colossal crime now being perpetrated, I feel compelled to express the hope that ere long we may read of the paralysing of the internal transport service on the continent, even should the act of paralysing necessitate the erection of Socialist barricades and acts of rioting by Socialist soldiers and sailors, as happened in Russia in 1905.

Even an unsuccessful attempt at social revolution by force of arms, following the paralysis of the economic life of militarism, would be less disastrous to the Socialist cause than the act of Socialists in allowing themselves to be used in the slaughter of their brothers in the causes."

Quotation Context

James Connolly in the magazine Forward, August 15, 1914 as war spread across Europe. Connolly was a labor leader who had founded the Irish Citizens Army to defend workers against assaults by the police, such as those that had occurred during the Dublin Lockout of 1913, which left four workers dead, hundreds injured, and 400 imprisoned. Connolly was one of the leaders of the Easter Rising, a signer of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic read from the steps of the rebels headquarters at the General Post Office on Sackville Street, and Commandant General and Commander Dublin Division Irish Volunteers. Connolly was badly wounded in the leg on April 27, a wound that led to gangrene, and was carried from the G.P.O. in a stretcher. British Commander John Maxwell was determined to execute all signers of the proclamation of the Republic despite efforts by British Prime Minister Asquith to halt further executions after the first seven. Unable to stand, Connolly was shot seated in a chair on May 12, 1916. Sèan MacDermott was executed the same day, the last of the Dublin executions for the insurrection.

Source

Revolution in Ireland by Conor Kostick, pp. 22, 23, copyright © Conor Kostick 1996, publisher: Pluto Press, publication date: 1996

Tags

1916-05-12, 1916, May, James Connolly, Connolly, execution