The Irish revolutionary socialist leader James Connoly was commemorated by the Communist Party of Ireland at the 110th anniversary of his death. He was executed for his leading role in the 1916 Easter Uprising against British rule in Ireland. The commemoration took place at the Arbour Hill military cemetery, where his body was placed, without rite or coffin, with 13 of his comrades in a common grave. He remains an important figure for the Irish labour and socialist movement.
Communist Party of Ireland commemorates James Connoly
At the commemoration, Fionn Wallace made a speech. He said:
"We are witnessing a raising of consciousness as Western imperialism puts its excessive brutality and genocidal violence on show for all to see. The challenge now is to move from mobilisation to organisation. In order to build a revolutionary movement we must have solid revolutionary theory. As communists, anti-imperialists and internationalists we must work to understand the changes taking shape and use that understanding to help shape a future free from profit shifting, resource theft and unequal exchange.
(...) Today we see the US-led imperialist order in crisis, and in order to attempt to maintain its dwindling hegemony and its neocolonial arrangements it is prepared to bring the entire world down into chaos with it. There is much talk of the rise of China and others and the formation of a new multipolar order. None of this is a foregone conclusion, all that we can be sure of is a long period of increased instability and war as the US lashes out in ever more brutal fashion.
(...) Of course the excesses of imperialism are being met with pushback. We see popular resistance forces in Iran, Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and the broader West Asian region dealing historic blows to imperialist aggressors and their encroachment on the region. These anti-imperialist forces should be supported while staying cognisant that Western imperialism has shown us again and again that even if the resistance holds firm and prevails, destruction, destabilisation, de-development, death and demoralisation also serve the interests of the aggressors.
(...) We live in upside down land. The government says Ireland is a democracy, but we take orders from a genocidal mafia state across the Atlantic. The Occupied Territories bill, which passed second stage with a majority on the floor of the Dáil, with support from Fianna Fail, has been killed because of threats from the US.
Where there is no sovereignty there is no democracy.
(...) The Irish political class talk endlessly about the threats posed to Ireland by faraway countries with no interest in us and then sign defence agreements with Britain, a country that is still occupying nearly a fifth of Ireland. A government who openly talks about Irish reunification as a security threat to their military interests.
(...) Yet here we are, our leaders buying weapons from those same powers and paying the wages of soldiers fighting imperialist wars while they lie to us about their plans to send our sons and daughters off to kill people who are still inspired by OUR revolutionary heroes.
(...) The contradictions have reached a tipping point. Our lives and the future of life on earth now depend on our ability to organise and fight imperialism and this world destroying capitalist system. We must win the fight to preserve Irish neutrality and end Ireland’s complicity in imperialism North and South. We must complete the unfinished revolution."