James Connolly
Edited by Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh
To All Labourers' Societies
To All Labourers' Societies
p.17014 August 1915
Fellow Workers, —
This is a day of great Organisations. Whether it be on the side of Labour or of Capital, in the realm of peaceful industry or in the arena of warfare, this is a day in which victory goes to the force that is most thoroughly organised. For this reason we of the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union have resolved to invite you, and all other p.171 Irish Societies organising the Workers engaged in general labour, to a Conference to be held in Dublin on some date to be mutually agreed upon, for the purpose of bringing about an amalgamation of all our Unions into one Great Irish Organisation of Labour.
There are few who have not noticed and deplored the large number of small Unions in this country, and still fewer who have not seen that each of those small Unions is much weaker and more helpless than it would be if it was united to the others. They are like companies and regiments on a battlefield, but like companies and regiments which have not united to form an army but persist in each fighting isolated in its own corner, although opposed to an enemy thoroughly united, disciplined and armed, and directed with skill and cunning.
Under such circumstances the local Unions of Labour have all the odds against them. The Capitalists are in control of vast masses of capital, they own all the newspapers, they own and control the Government, and they can use all the military and police forces as they choose as their obedient servants.
To oppose this odds Labour must Unite. It has been found by experience that mere Federation is not sufficient. The Federation of Unions is better than entire isolation, but it has the danger that each separate Union so federated, when its brother Union calls for assistance in a fight thinks of its own treasury and its own finances before it thinks that it should make its brothers' cause its own. We do not blame them, they must do so as long as they are separate Unions, but the necessity keeps them weak, and enables the Capitalist to attack and defeat them one by one.
It is the old tale of the Irish clans all over again. Each Irish clan when attacked by the English Invader was left to fight its battle alone, as all the others thought it was none of their business. United they could have crushed the invader, but they failed to amalgamate, and so he crushed them and stole their country.
Labour in Ireland must amalgamate if it would save itself from slavery. All the small unions must be fused into one, and that one must take over all the members, assets and liabilities of the whole. There must be One Card, One Badge, One Executive — One Front to the Common Enemy.
There will have to be rules to prevent members going from one department too readily to another – leaving a lowly paid occupation to rush into and flood a better paid one, and thus p.172 lower its standard. There must be rules to allow all local bodies sufficient self government and control; there must be provision made for taking over all the present officers and premises, so that no one will suffer by the change, but running through and inspiring all such rules and provisions there must be the guiding principle that all local bodies are to be fashioned into an army to be governed, and directed, from a common centre.
This can all be done if the right spirit inspires us all. The economy and greater effectiveness that would result from amalgamation, the ease with which men could maintain their membership in the most diverse occupations, instead of finding the necessity of joining a fresh union and abandoning the old one every time they changed their job or moved from one locality to another; the increased power of tracing members and keeping their cards in good trim which would result from the amalgamation, and above all the greater strength in face of the capitalist class, all, all are factors calling loudly for earnest consideration.
We therefore appeal to all Unions of General Labour in Ireland to communicate with us at Liberty Hall, Dublin, or with the Secretary of the Dublin Trades Council informing us of their views on the matter, and letting us know whether they would be prepared to send delegates to a Conference to discuss this question, and frame a scheme to be submitted to the various bodies.
JAMES CONNOLLY.
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Title statement
Title (uniform): To All Labourers' Societies
Author: James Connolly
Editor: Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh
Responsibility statement
Electronic edition compiled by: Benjamin Hazard
proof corrections by: Aisling Byrne
Funded by: University College, Cork via The Writers of Ireland Project
Edition statement
2. Second draft.
Extent: 1903 words
Publication statement
Publisher: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College Cork
Address: College Road, Cork, Ireland—http://www.ucc.ie/celt
Date: 2006
Date: 2010
Distributor: CELT online at University College, Cork, Ireland.
CELT document ID: E900002-050
Availability: Available with prior consent of the CELT programme for purposes of academic research and teaching only.
Source description
Edition
- Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh (ed.), James Connolly: The Lost Writings (London 1997).
Selected further reading
- James Connolly and William Walker, The Connolly-Walker controversy on socialist unity in Ireland (Dublin 1911, repr. Cork 1986).
- Robert Lynd, James Connolly: an appreciation, to James Connolly, Collected works (2 vols, October 1916, repr. Dublin 1987) i, pp. 495–507.
- Lambert McKenna, The social teachings of James Connolly (Dublin 1920).
- Desmond Ryan, James Connolly: his life, work and writings (Dublin 1924).
- G. Schüller, James Connolly and Irish freedom: a marxist analysis (Chicago 1926, repr. Cork 1974).
- Noelle Davis, Connolly of Ireland: patriot and socialist (Carnarvon 1946).
- Richard Michael Fox, James Connolly: the forerunner (Tralee 1946).
- Desmond Ryan, Socialism and nationalism: a selection from the writings of James Connolly (Dublin 1948).
- Desmond Ryan, 'James Connolly', in J. W. Boyle (ed.), Leaders and workers (Cork 1960, repr. 1978).
- C. Desmond Greaves, The life and times of James Connolly (London 1961, repr. Berlin 1976).
- François Bédarida, Le socialisme et la nation: James Connolly et l'Irlande (Paris 1965).
- Joseph Deasy, James Connolly: his life and teachings (Dublin 1966).
- James Connolly, Press poisoners in Ireland and other articles (Belfast 1968).
- James Connolly, Yellow unions in Ireland and other articles (Belfast 1968).
- Peter McKevitt, James Connolly (Dublin 1969).
- Owen Dudley Edwards, The mind of an activist: James Connolly (Dublin 1981).
- Derry Kelleher, Quotations from James Connolly: an anthology in three parts (2 vols Drogheda 1972).
- Peter Berresford Ellis (ed.), James Connolly: selected writings edited with an introduction by P. Berresford Ellis (Harmondsworth 1973).
- Samuel Levenson, James Connolly: a biography (London 1973).
- James Connolly, Ireland upon the dissecting table: James Connolly on Ulster and Partition (Cork 1975).
- Nora Connolly O'Brien, James Connolly: portrait of a rebel father (Dublin 1975).
- E. Strauss, Irish nationalism and British democracy (Westport CT 1975).
- Bernard Ransom, Connolly's Marxism (London 1980).
- Communist Party of Ireland, Breaking the chains: selected writings of James Connolly on women (Belfast 1981).
- Ruth Dudley Edwards, James Connolly (Dublin 1981).
- Brian Kelly, James Connolly and the fight for an Irish Workers' Republic (Cleveland, OH 1982).
- John F. Murphy, Implications of the Irish past: the socialist ideology of James Connolly from an historical perspective (unpubl. MA thesis, University of North Carolina at Charlotte 1983).
- Anthony Lake, James Connolly: the development of his political ideology (unpubl. MA thesis, NUI Cork 1984).
- Frederick Ryan, Socialism, democracy and the Church (Dublin 1984). With reviews of Connolly's 'Labour in Irish History' and Jaures' 'Studies in socialism'.
- Connolly: the Polish aspects: a review of James Connolly's political and spiritual affinity with Józef Pilsudski, leader of the Polish Socialist Party, organiser of the Polish legions and founder of the Polish state (Belfast 1985).
- X. T. Zagladina, James Connolly (Moscow 1985).
- James Connolly and Daniel De Leon, The Connolly-De Leon Controversy: On wages, marriage and the Church (London 1986).
- David Howell, A Lost Left: three studies in socialism and nationalism (Chicago 1986).
- Priscilla Metscher, Republicanism and socialism in Ireland: a study of the relationship of politics and ideology from the United Irishmen to James Connolly, Bremer Beiträge zur Literatur- und Ideologiegeschichte 2 (Frankfurt-am-Main 1986).
- Michael O'Riordan, General introduction, to James Connolly, Collected works (2 vols Dublin 1987) i, pp. ix–xvii.
- Cathal O'Shannon, Introduction, to James Connolly, Collected works (2 vols Dublin 1987) i, 11–16.
- Austen Morgan, James Connolly: a political biography (Manchester 1988).
- Helen Clark, Sing a rebel song: the story of James Connolly, born Edinburgh 1868, executed Dublin 1916 (Edinburgh 1989).
- Kieran Allen, The politics of James Connolly (London 1990).
- Andy Johnston, James Larraggy and Edward McWilliams, Connolly: a Marxist analysis (Dublin 1990).
- Lambert McKenna, The social teachings of James Connolly, by Lambert McKenna, ed. Thomas J. Morrissey (Dublin 1991).
- Donnacha Ní Gabhann, The reality of Connolly: 1868-1916 (Dublin 1993).
- William K. Anderson, James Connolly and the Irish left (Dublin 1994).
- Proinsias Mac Aonghusa, What Connolly said: James Connolly's writings (Dublin 1994).
- James L. Hyland, James Connolly: life and times (Dundalk 1997).
- William McMullen, With James Connolly in Belfast (Belfast 2001).
- Donal Nevin, James Connolly: a full life (Dublin 2005).
Connolly, James (1997). ‘To All Labourers’ Societies’. In: James Connolly: The Lost Writings. Ed. by Aindrias Ó Cathasaigh. London: Pluto, pp. 170–172.
You can add this reference to your bibliographic database by copying or downloading the following:
@incollection{E900002-050,
author = {James Connolly},
title = {To All Labourers' Societies},
editor = {Aindrias Ó~Cathasaigh},
booktitle = {James Connolly: The Lost Writings},
publisher = {Pluto},
address = {London},
date = {1997},
pages = {170–172}
}
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Profile description
Creation: by James Connolly
Date: 1915
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Keywords: political; essay; prose; 20c
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- 2005-12-01: File proofed (1). (ed. Aisling Byrne, Dublin)
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