James Connolly

James Connolly (Irish: Séamas Ó Conghaile, 5 June 1868 – 12 May 1916) was an Irish republican and socialist leader. He was born in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, to Irish immigrant parents and spoke with a Scottish accent throughout his life. He left school for working life at the age of 11, but became one of the leading Marxist theorists of his day. He also took a role in Scottish and American politics. He was executed by a British firing squad because of his leadership role in the Easter Rising of 1916.

Read more about James Connolly:  Early Life, Socialist Involvement, Irish Independence, Family, Death, Legacy, Personal Religious Beliefs, Further Reading

Famous quotes containing the words james and/or connolly:

    “Fowls in the frith,
    Fishes in the flood,
    And I must wax wod:
    Much sorrow I walk with
    For best of bone and blood.”
    —Unknown. Fowls in the Frith. . .

    Oxford Book of Short Poems, The. P. J. Kavanagh and James Michie, eds. Oxford University Press.

    “The English language is like a broad river on whose bank a few patient anglers are sitting, while, higher up, the stream is being polluted by a string of refuse-barges tipping out their muck.”
    —Cyril Connolly (1903–1974)