James Connolly and the Irish Easter Rising

Speakers: James Heartfield* co-author with Kevin Rooney of Who's afraid of the Easter Rising? 1916-2016 and Cathy Nugent, Workers' Liberty

One hundred years ago a six-day armed rebellion began in Ireland. Later known as the Easter Rising, the rebel's aim was to win an independent republican Ireland. One part of the rebellion, led by Padraig Henry Pearse, was united on winning independent Ireland but had varied political goals. Another part of the rebellion based itself on the trade union movement, was socialist and for unity between Protestant and Catholic workers. They called themselves the Irish Citizen's Army and were led by James Connolly. The rebels were quickly defeated, yet by 1918 independence for Ireland was a majority cause in the south.

*Other books include "The 'Death of the Subject' Explained", "British Workers and the US Civil War" and "An Unpatriotic History of the Second World War".