James Connolly

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JAMES CONNOLLY. IRISH REVOLUTIONARY. EXECUTED 1916.

JAMES CONNOLLY was born in Scotland to Irish parents and was the co-founder of the Irish labour Party in 1912 to unite both Protestant and Catholic workers in the battle for workers’ rights and he led the workers against the notorious lockout of 1913.
He was key to establishing the Irish Citizen Army and led them alongside Pearse’s Volunteers and the wording of the Proclamation of Independence can clearly be seen to be his handwork alongside that of Pearse.
He served as Commandant-General and was badly wounded in the battle for the GPO in Dublin. Tied to a chair he was executed by British firing squad. He was buried in quicklime.

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE EASTER RISING:
In 1916, in a rebellion known as the Easter Rising, a small group of uniformed and organized but poorly armed Irish patriots took on the might of the British Empire and sought to end 800 years of subjugation and oppression.
Although totally outnumbered, for twelve extraordinary days in May 1916, they fought the British army to a standstill until finally forced to surrender as prisoners of war.
Most were promptly executed without mercy and with their executions the Irish people, who initially had rejected them as hopeless dreamers and troublemakers, were so outraged by these brutal murders that they rose in huge numbers against the British and eventually succeeded, after years of armed struggle and massive help from the Irish diaspora in America, in ejecting the British and declaring independence.