Showing 1198 results

In the stormy struggles of Irish Republicanism, as in other national liberation movements, the question of consolidating a leadership structure and of success- ion has normally had to be faced in the context of crisis and martyrdom. Tone's martyrdom was followed by the despair of the succeeding years of British colonialism's counter-revolutionary terror, and the movement at home was unable to regroup itself after the killing of Tone and the other Republican leaders of '98. It was only in Republican France that condi- tions existed for reconstituting the organised republican leadership. The resultant leadership structure centred on Robert Emmet and led the uprising of 1803. This was the legendary final blow in the struggle of the United Irish national movement before British colonialism's long success in dividing the two communities in Ireland -- a success which has held back Irish victory till today. The Emmet uprising was a magnificent victory of independent and creative anti-colonialist leadership method, and brilliantly achieved succession to the leadership of Tone. It thus proved that the United Irish Republican movement had not died with Tone but was immortal. Throughout the following century Emmet's portrait was respectfully displayed in every patriotic household, songs of Emmet were passed from parent to child, and the heroic personality of Emmet was upheld triumph- antly as the historic proof of that united Irish identity which British colonialism had tried and was trying unsuccessfully to obliterate. Emmet societies and Emmet monument associations spread like a flame among the Irish communities forced to emigrate to the United States and elsewhere. Truly the Irish Republican tradition founded by Tone and immort- alised by Emmet was a worthy precursor of the Juche Idea, and achieved historic advances in the 6

n 8 an S S e Irish and international anti-colonialist tradition, through its profound respect for the leading ideas of its great leaders and their achievements in inspiring unity of their people. The European democratic revolutions of 1848 once again saw Ireland deeply affected by the advance of the most progressive forces, and the whole country seethed with expectation of rebellion under the banner of Tone and Emmet. Once again crisis, martyrdom, imprisonment and deportation were the context in which Irish Republicanism sought to consolidate a revolutionary leadership. The insurrectionary preparations and drilling of 1847-8 found the focus of their cohesion in the leadership of John Mitchel. His deportation was followed by the regrouping of the movement around the great revolutionary patr- iot James Fintan Lalor, but the leadership crisis was not solved in time for Ireland to ride the revolutionary high tide sweeping Europe that year. Nevertheless it was Lalor who faced and solved the major problems of the Irish national revolution. Above all he solved the question of successors to the revolution in the difficult circumstances of illegal- ity, and the majority of the leaders of the Fenian movement of the later nineteenth century traced their origins back to the brief but brilliantly constructive period of Lalor's revolutionary activities. Lalor bequeathed to the world the priceless revolutionary legacy of his thought on peasant movements and revo- lutionary patriotism and is to be numbered, like Connolly later, among the most strikingly and prophetically modern of the early scientific socialist and progressive thinkers. His vision of an interna- tionalist mission for a free Ireland, its independence shining out like a beacon, has been implemented by the Juche Idea which has made of the heroic struggles 7

of the Korean people not just a gain for Korea but a beacon of hope for all the world's oppressed people. Such was some of the fine legacy in theory and practice which James Connolly inherited and developed, above all in the four glorious years of his revolut- ionary activity to lead Ireland to national revolu- tion with the working class, the most independent class, at the head. It was in this period of world war and imperialist crisis that James Connolly came forward as a great internationalist leader who pro- foundly grasped the principle later formulated by Comrade Kim Jong Il in these words: "The best way to preserve national independence and peace and win the revolutionary cause is to counter the imperialist war of aggression with the war of liberation, answer the counter-revolutionary violence of reaction with revolutionary violence, and always meet the imperial- ist moves of aggression and war in full preparedness." James Connolly called on the working class, the most independent class, to "erect barricades all over Europe, to break up bridges and destroy the transport service that war might be abolished," and called for "armed battling in the streets". In the course of this magnificent period of revolutionary propaganda and organisation, James Connolly developed a legendary style of leadership that met the masses' desire for Chajusong/independence and enlisted their strength. He profoundly grasped the truth that the masses must be led to take up the revolution as their own affair, and called for a movement that would "inspire its followers with a belief in their own ability to conquer and master the future". He was the scourge of factionalism and flunkeyism, and tirelessly worked to repudiate the degrading legacy of the "flunkeys, toadies, lick- 8

Connolly fully respected the independence of all patriotic organisations and built relations with them on the basis of independence and equality, providing a unique and shining example for independent anti-imperialists of respect for the leadership and organisational structures built by the oppressed. In the field of military affairs, James Connolly sought to build a guerilla army, based on "a complete overhauling and remodelling of all the training and instruction" hitherto applied, under "conditions for which text books made no provision," and he studied the experience of urban and rural guerilla and revolutionary warfare, including the experience of the Moscow Insurrection of 1905, the Insurrection in the Tyrol in 1809, the 1830 Revolu- tion in Belgium, the 1836 Defence of the Alamo, the Paris Revolutions of 1830 and 1848, and the 1775 American Revolutionary battle at Lexington. From these studies he crystallised a theory of insurrection that culminated in his week-long successful defence of much of the centre of Dublin against the colonial army of occupation at Easter 1916. Thus was born today's Irish Republican Army, which is indeed an army which lives up to the demanding standards put forward for a genuine people's army by Comrade Kim Jong Il in these words: "Such armed forces must embrace the sons and daughters of the working people... A noble revolutionary spirit to fight for the freedom and liberation of the people, boundless loyalty to the party and the leader, a peerless self-sacrificing spirit and mass heroism which are expressed in willingly giving up one's youth and life for the sake of the country and revolution, revolutionary comradeship between men and officers, their inseparable links with the people, and vol- untary military discipline -- these are politico- 10

are just a continuation of the fight that we fought in our days", and weeks before her death ten years later she proudly commented that "the unbroken tradition is saved by the Provos coming out against the border which cuts us off from six counties of our country." These immortal achievements of James Connolly in forging a leadership method characterised by complete reliance on the masses as masters, his internationalism and active resistance to imperialist war, his independent stand and achievements in united front politics and military affairs, and his ultimate triumph in saving the soul of Ireland -- its unbroken tradition of patriotic uprisings -- have led to his occupying a special place in the hearts of Irish patriots, so that all achievements of the Easter rising were closely associated by all those who participated in them with his name and those of Pearse, Clarke and the other leaders of the rising. This is further proof, if indeed further proof were needed, that the history of the revolutionary struggle of the working class is, in the words of Comrade Kim Jong Il, "a history of working-class leaders creating and developing revolutionary ideas, a history in which these ideas have been applied to transform the world." The Juche Idea crystall- ises the experience of the more advanced stage when socialism has consolidated its exercise of state power, and thus enables the experiences of Irish Republican and other revolutionary patriotic movements of the oppressed to be seen in the light of advanced science. The Irish people's aspirations for unity have focussed on the leadership of Tone, Emmet, Mitchel, Lalor, the Fenians, and James Connolly and the leaders of 1916. Where colonialism had succeeded 12

in suppressing or interrupting its leadership structures, the teachings and example of their leaders have sustained in popular tradition a seed- bed for the constant rebirth of the Phoenix of rebellion. The Juche Idea has for the first time in a scientific way approached this question of the revolutionary leadership and the succession to it as an independent and central question of revolu- tionary theory, and is thus of great encouragement to all oppressed peoples holding fast to their independent leadership traditions. It has been our privilege to participate in the historic introduction of these two great revolut- ionary traditions, the Korean and the Irish, through our programme of study of the works of James Connolly and the Juche Idea. Through this study we have come to see that it is through such deeper understanding and creative and productive interchange between such dynamic revolutionary traditions that the world revolutionary process will deepen and intensify under the banner of Chajusong/independence. This study programme has been the focus of our work in recent years, and we have resisted all attempts by the factionalist flunkeys to suppress it by whatever means. We are united as one in the firm conviction that our Connolly-Juche study programme will prove a focus for the emergence of a guiding revolutionary idea in this country, and we are determined to dev- elop and apply this idea to transform the world. As we confront this long road that lies ahead of us, we gladly acknowledge our inestimable debt to Comrade Kim Il Sung and to James Connolly for the encyclo- paedic legacy of their thought which enables us in this way to play our part in moving the wheels of history forward. As we look at the East Asian region today, we 13

salute the half-century leadership of the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung, and we heartily and warmly congratulate the Korean people on confronting, for the first time in the history of the world communist movement, the question of succession to the leadership of the revolution. Comrade Kim Jong Il has received the unanimous and enthusiastic endorsement of the Korean people as the successor to the leadership, and this people, which is the most independent-minded and politicised and working- classised people in history, is eagerly working to consolidate his leadership system in the stable conditions of dynamic socialist construction. We will continue eagerly to follow this original and significant process, and to study and propagate the Juche Idea. It will in turn strengthen our solidarity with Korean reunification to build this close personal bond with the leader of the rising generation who will, like Tone, Lalor and James Connolly before him, be facing the twists and turns of the struggle against imperialism in this difficult and dangerous period when imperialism is making its last desperate attempts to turn back the wheels of history and prevent the full dawn of the age of Chajusong/independence and peace. As adherents of Connollyism, therefore, we shall remain closely at the side of the Korean people, true to the principles of Chajusong/independence fought for since the dawn of man and culminating in the Juche Idea. We salute the author of the Juche Idea, Comrade Kim Il Sung, and look forward in confidence to the forthcoming period of the brilliant leadership of Comrade Kim Jong Il. Forward along the path of Connollyism and the Juche Idea ! 14

A SELECTION OF QUOTATIONS FROM THE WORKS OF JAMES CONNOLLY AND KIM JONG IL Compiled by H. Stephens. t e p THE MASSES ARE THE MASTERS OF REVOLUTION Kim Jong Il: The masses of the people are the masters of revolution and construction and the decisive factor in transforming nature and developing society. ... It is the masses that want the revolution and con- struction, and it is also the masses that carry them out. (OJI 15) The revolution is a struggle to meet the masses' desire for independence by enlisting their strength. It is a struggle of the masses to free themselves. (OJI 5 ) The masses are masters and the motive force of the revolution and possessors of inexhaustible creative talents and strength. Only when one depends on their creative talents and strength, will one be able to understand the objective world correctly, solve all problems to suit the reality, and transform nature and society successfully. (OJI 29) 15