The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-05-17

shall never get true appreciation of
Connolly's place in Irish History and
the revolutionary Socialist movement
Of Britain and America until someone,
armed with the guiding philosophy
Of his life, has turned it upon his work
and appraised his thoughts and &C
tons accordingly. Desmond Ryan has
brought together "a record of facts,
opinions, and recollections of James
Connolly" which will be exceedingly
helpful to whoever undertakes the
work, but insofar as he attempts to
place Connolly, he enters into the
same partisan claims which he con-
dennis in others. "One inclines upon
the whole" he says, ito define his
probable attitude as that of the Off
cial Irish Labor Party" begins an
argument to justify his claim, and
suddenly drops it as, perhaps, pro-
itless conjecture" l doubt this. The
controversy and speculation have a
significance, which, if properly appre-
ciated, would do much to indicate the
right line of approach to an under
standing of Connolly.
Why the rival claims for the soul
of Connolly? Why the quotation and
counter quotation to justify the sup
port or non-support Of action? Why
still move Connolly's own dying ex-
clamation, 1.-THE Socialists will never
understand why am here. Does
not the answer lie in the fact that
Connolly is among the few great fig
ures of the international working
class movement which belong to the
transition from the epoch of imperial
list expansion to the epoch of social
revolution, that he felt himself sur
rounded by reformism, narrow nation
alism, doctrinaire Socialism, none of
which had been brought face to face
with the task Of revolution? think
McManus struck the key to the stu
alton when he observed that Connolly
was "the one Socialist that he had
ever met who judged every public
situation or political crisis with an
eye upon revolutionary possibilities"
Where were the others to be found at
that time? Certainly we do not find
them in the British Isles, nor Amer
lea. We are compelled to turn our
eyes eastwards and bring him into
alignment with the small Bo1shevik
group led by Lenin. Desmond Ryan
says, Broadly speaking. James Con-
molly must be classified as Workers
Republican and Communist. The doc
trines and methods that the Russian
Revolution has since familiarized,
were his. He would certainly have
been at one with Lenin in destruc-
ton and construction alike" Ryan
is right in this. but the trouble is
that Ryan himself does not under
stand Leninism and consequently,
cannot apply it to the understanding
of Connolly. He does not understand
the great changes that were coming
in the ranks of Marxists, the cleav-
age that was imminent when those
who had been Transforming Marxism
into an apology for reformism were
to be separated from those who grasp
ed Marxism as the philosophy of re-
volution. Nor does he understand the
difference between those who marched
with Lenin under the banner of
Communism and those who under the
leadership of De Leon, most Of whom
at least kept much of their revolution
airy powdering and saved themselves
in the hour of international Crisis
from becoming the abject creatures
of imperialism. such as Kautzky, Van
dervelde. and reformists of the Sec
ond International. He writes with
mind which seems to be a long way
back amidst the old controversies be-
tween nationalism and International
ism, industrial unionism and the bal
lot box, talking about peaceful per-
iods and war periods. And yet these
are only incidentals to an apprecia-
tfOn of COnnOlly's pOsition CoDnoIlv'a