Part 10 - DW63 DB101 003 010

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the tempter. And so we Irish workers must go down into Hell, bow our backs to the lash of the slave driver, let our hearts be seared by the iron of his hatred, and instead of the sacramental wafer of brotherhood and common scarifice, eat the dust of defeat and betrayal. (Feb 9 1914) My career has been unique in many things. In this last it is so also: Men have been driven out of Ireland by the British Government, and by the landlords, but I am the first driven forth by the 'socialists'. (Aug 1903) My socialist friends on the Continent will never understand why I am here. They will forget I am an Irishman. (May 1916) WAITING WITH FOLDED ARMS FOR ALL CONDITIONS TO RIPEN IS TANTAMOUNT TO REFUSING TO MAKE A REVOLUTION The revolution can be pushed forward only by the active struggle of the revolutionaries and the popular masses. Fundamentally speaking, a revolution does not always break out when all the necessary conditions exist, nor is it carried out always in favourable circumstances. Waiting with folded arms for all conditions to ripen is tantamount to refusing to make a revolution. (OJI 34) One hundred and nineteen years ago the freedom of Ireland lay in the power of one man to grasp, had he but had the decision of character necessary to cause him to act. ... One hundred and nineteen years ago. And again Ireland looks across the sea, and perhaps those across the sea look over to Ireland, and wonder. ... Christmas week, 1796; Christmas week, 1915 -- still hesitating. (Dec 25 1915) The United Irishmen waited too long, the Young Irelanders waited too long, the Fenians waited too long. This is the opinion of every student of history worthy of the name. But who dare censure these brave men and women? Assuredly not the men and women of our generation. To us also a great opportunity has come. Have we been wise? The future alone can tell. In these days of March let us remember that generations, like individuals, will find their ultimate justification or condemnation not in what they accomplished but rather in what they aspired and dared to attempt to accomplish. The generation or the individual that is stricken down in the attempt to achieve a high and holy thing is itself therefore high and holy. By aspiring to reach a height the generation or the individual places its soul unassailably upon that height, even should its body be trampled in the mud at its base. Upon what height or in what sunless depth of corruption has this generation placed its soul? (March 11, 1916) If we don't carry this off, Nora, the only thing left for us to do is to hide our heads in shame and pray to God to send an earthquake or a tidal wave and hide us under the waters. It would be such a disgrace to our generation. (Easter Sunday, April 23 1916) Don't be too disappointed, Nora. We shall rise again! (May 12 1916) FOUNDING THE PARTY INDEPENDENTLY The revolution in each country should be carried out responsibly by its own people, the masters, in an independent manner, and in a creative way suitable to its specific conditions. (OJI 6) The most important aspect of the policy of party founding advanced at this meeting was to establish a party independently. Holding fast to Chajusong is the intrinsic demand of the communist movement. 9

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