“The Irish question has, in fact, a much deeper source than a mere difference of opinion on forms of government. Its real origin and inner meaning lay in the circumstance that the two opposing nations held fundamentally different ideas upon the vital question of property in land.”
– Extract from Ireland for the Irish I, James Connolly, 1896
In October 1896, James Connolly penned three articles entitled ‘Ireland for the Irish’ in the weekly socialist newspaper, The Labour Leader. In these articles, he addressed the historical subjugation of Ireland by England and later Britain. Crucially, he also examined the introduction of a new social and economic system that replaced the long-standing Gaelic clan system of common land ownership that had existed in Ireland for centuries.
In the long process of the conquering of Ireland, this was the decisive blow. Without stripping away Ireland’s economic freedom, it would have been ‘entirely valueless’ to the invaders. The traditional Irish system, the ‘Socialistic’ nature of which had been highlighted by Connolly, had developed as much as its industrial and material limitations would allow it to. Unfortunately, its destruction, the disintegration of an entire way of life, led to Ireland and its people entering a centuries-long nosedive into socio-economic despair and Imperial oppression from which it is yet to recover.
The Flight of the Earls in 1607 and the implementation of the Plantation of Ireland in the following years marked the beginning of the end for any hope of the revival of the native Irish system. The destruction of the last vestiges of the Confederation of Kilkenny in 1652 and the dispersion of what remained of the clans, resulted, in Connolly’s view, in the disappearance of effective political or social organisation and marked the last attempt at Irish self-governance for nearly 150 years. In particular, it marked the end of demands for common ownership of the land and marked a change in priority for those resisting English occupation, towards firstly achieving political freedom. This change of direction helped to foster an Irish middle class who used their social positions to become the leading lights of an emerging patriotic political movement.
In paying lip service to the Irish people in the form of ultra-nationalistic rhetoric, the middle-class ‘patriots’ were able to attract the support of much of the Irish people. However, adopting the British methods and ideas of government and transferring the seat of power to Dublin became their main goals. The rhetoric they adopted was lapped up by people desperate for change and used as a smokescreen to hide their true motivation of lining their pockets and those of their friends and family.
Those living in Ireland today will recognise this situation. When we look at the so-called leaders in Stormont and Leinster House, do we not see the same thing? More than 316,000 people live in a state of poverty in the Six Counties; Between 2014 and 2024, levels of homelessness increased by 134% and yet no meaningful plans exist to tackle the issue. Further cuts and austerity await over the coming years as Westminster continues to spread misery across the Six Counties with next to no opposition and no end in sight. April 1st, 2025, saw the public made April fools, as Stormont MLAs are set to receive yet another pay rise, bringing their yearly salary to £53,000, almost twice the average wage in the Six Counties. Of course, this does not take into account the huge levels of expenses they claim, or the fact that one-sixth of MLAs are landlords.
Looking at the Twenty Six Counties, the same problems are evident. In 2023, around 560,000 people were at risk of poverty, 182,000 lived in consistent poverty, and 913,000 people experienced forced deprivation. More than 15,000 people across the Twenty Six Counties are relying on emergency homeless accommodation, 4500 of whom are children. None of these figures include those who would be considered ‘hidden homeless’. All the while, more than one-fifth of TDs are landlords, while receiving a basic salary of almost €116,000. These gains come at the expense of the Irish working class. The ruling class in Ireland have well and truly taken as their own the alien system brought to these shores all those years ago by the British occupiers. While capitalism continues to exist in Ireland these problems will continue to grow.
James Connolly would recognise well the Irish political landscape today. In 1896, he remarked that “the landlord class, infatuated with that madness which always precedes destruction, press for their rents to the uttermost farthing wherever they can wheedle or coerce too compliant a legislature and executive to support them in their extractions.” This is as true today as it was 130 years ago. Just as the Home Rule parties of the 19th century pushed to the side issues of land, rent and agriculture, so too the parties of today ‘either ignore the question altogether or else devote their attention to vain attempts to patch up the system with schemes of reform’. No amount of reform will undo the contradictions inherent in Capitalism and the suffering that they cause.
Despite claims that capitulation to Britain saw the Twenty-Six County state achieve ‘independence’, to this day it relies completely on its continued economic and cultural subjugation to Brussels, London and Washington for its continued survival. For workers, ‘the most essential condition … that he may possess life is to sell a part of that life into the service of and for the profit of another … sell it he must or else starve.’ For them, it is of no consequence that the capitalists who exploit them fly the flag of Ireland rather than that of Britain. This exploitation will continue to be the case while profit is prioritised over the basic needs of the people of Ireland.
“The moment when the land of a country passes from the care of the community as a public trust, and from being the common property of the entire people becomes the private property of individuals, marks the beginning of slavery for that people and of oppression for that country.”
Along with the nationalisation of our industries and the restructuring of our agricultural systems, we must look to wrestle control of the ownership of the land from the ruling class and return it to the people. These are the first footsteps on the road to a Socialist Republic and the ending of centuries of oppression; by bringing new meaning and life to the people.
Connolly concluded his articles with the following remarks: ‘If we crush their profit-making enterprises today yet when the sun draws upon our freedom if they have served their fellow creatures loyally in the hour of strife, they and their children and their children’s children will be guaranteed against want and privation for all time by the safest guarantee man has ever received, the guarantee backed by all the gratitude, the loyal hearts, the brains and industry of the Irish people, under the Irish Socialist Republic.’
