NEW LABOUR ARE EMBARRASSED BY MEMORY OF JAMES CONNOLLY
The ‘controversy’ of Edinburgh Council having a tribute to James Connolly (Herald and Evening News 14/09) is very interesting because it shows Labour up in their true colours.
What do we know about Connolly? Well we know he was a Marxist socialist who was a brilliant and inspirational speaker in the streets of Edinburgh and in the Meadows. We also know that he was an internationalist who supported independence for Ireland and Scotland and that he put his money where his mouth is. When he saw an opportunity to help Ireland towards independence he took it and was shot by the British state for his troubles.
We know then that Connolly was a highly principled man who was willing to die for his beliefs. He was also a true son of Edinburgh, so surely a monument to this great man would be a ‘no-brainer’ particularly considering that Edinburgh has a huge amount of people of Irish descent. Hibernian FC anyone?
Unfortunately today’s Labour party is a pale pink shadow of the socialism espoused by Connolly. The former leader of the council Donald Anderson even recently branded his own employees, council planners, as ‘Communists’ proving that he does not even know what the word actually means!
Ewan Aitken, the new Labour leader of Edinburgh Council recently tried to distance himself from Tony Blair (no doubt hoping to escape the bloodbath at the next elections) but he still wears the same Rosette and he still supports London rule for Scotland.
James Connolly was a genuine hero of the working classes in Scotland and Ireland. He was one of the most powerful speakers of his generation. Both he and his contemporary in Glasgow John MacLean opposed the horrific slaughter of World War One and the horrific abuse of the people of Ireland by British regiments.
If Edinburgh City Council want to be remembered as cowards and anti-Irish bigots then they are going the right way about it. If they want to line up with the Tories and condemn the memory of a much better man than any of them then of course they can do so, but they should expect an appropriate response.
At the next council and Scottish elections the people of Edinburgh and Glasgow can easily get rid of these so called ‘Labour’ shysters who are embarrassed by the memory of real socialists but are still happy enough to take money from the pockets of trade unionists like James Connolly today.
It’s easy, vote them all out and elect some local councillors who have pride in their own country and believe in a fairer society.
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An addendum:
Sunday Brit Times View on Connolly
This was in the Sunday Times:
“Not content with force-feeding Ireland their Fenian dead, republicans are now inflicting their icons on Scotland. The Herald reports that Edinburgh council has been asked to name one of the main pathways through the city after James Connolly.
Typically, they weren’t asking nicely. Donald Anderson, the city tourism convener, said: “This came to the council more in the form of a demand rather than a request.”
For once, they might not get their way. Connolly is a divisive figure in Scotland, where they take a dim view of people starting a violent rebellion while thousands of British and Irish soldiers were dying in the first world war.”
But dying for what exactly? A meaningless conflict between empires? So Ireland was supposed to wait despite hundreds of years of broken promises? Militarily this made perfect sense. Ireland owed Britain nothing after hundreds of years of brutal occupation. This first world war (unlike the second) had no clear objective and was a complete and utter waste of human lives.
Socialists like Connolly and John MacLean argued against these conflicts on a class basis and were right to do so. While some of the population (young women without the vote) were brainwashed into handing ‘white feathers’ to anyone who had the common sense not to believe the disgraceful garbage they were being fed by the media, socialists like Connolly and MacLean were standing up for the interests of their class and the human rights of the Scots and Irish to rule their own affairs. Both men are heroes and both deserve our eternal respect.
This is of course the same politically disingenuous line taken by the Edinburgh Evening News, obviously a complete lack of historical analysis is a feature of HM’s loyal press corps.
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