James Connolly (nationalist)

James Connolly (1868 - 1916) - Irish nationalist and Labour leader.

Connolly was born in Edinburgh, Scotland to Irish emigrant parents. He left school for working life at the age of 11, but despite this start to life he would become one of the leading left-wing theorists of his day.

He is believed to have joined the British Army at the age of 14, and was stationed in Dublin where he would meet his wife. By 1896 he had left the army and established his Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP).

He was executed by the British for his part as one of the main leaders of the Easter Rising in Dublin in 1916. Survived by his wife and numerous children.

His legacy in Ireland is mainly due to his contribution to the nationalist cause and his leftism has been largely overlooked (although there is a present day IRSP which claims his legacy). In Scotland his thinking was hugely influential to socialists such as John Maclean, who would similarly combine his leftist thinking with nationalist ideas when he formed his Scottish Workers Republican Party.