Ireland's OWN: Women Freedom Fighters

Nora Connolly O Brien*
(1893 - 1981)
—by Míchealín Daugherty

"You took me to meetings as your daughter, now I come to them myself, as a worker." —Nora Connolly O Brien

In the late 1890s, the Connolly family arrived in Ireland from Scotland, where James Connolly founded the Irish Nora Connolly O Brien Socialist Republican Party. Irish republicanism, which was essentially a struggle of the working class for their economic independence and freedom from imperialistic colonialism, nearly mirrored the principles of socialism. The socialism of Connolly professed that freedom would not be won by establishing a quasi-independent Irish parliament (as first O Donnell, then later Sinn Fein) purported. He felt that such an arrangement would not be viable considering the extreme poverty and persecution under which most nationalists lived.

During the early 1900s, the Connolly family lived for a short time in America. Connolly's daughter, Nora, was a staunch supporter of his teachings. It was in America that Nora became politically active, with her time divided between working at a milliners and attending outdoor labour meetings with her father. It was also during this time that Connolly and Nora became acquainted with John DeVoy and the American faction of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, Clan na Gael -- the group that would later help fund the Easter Rising.

During the family�s stay in New York, James Connolly founded the Irish Socialist Federation. With Nora as manager, Connolly also founded a journal entitled The Harp.¹ Eventually, The Harp, was also published in Dublin, and later Connolly would publish a newspaper, The Irish Worker. In 1910 the family moved back to Ireland. Connolly found work at the Irish Transport and General Workers Union (ITGWU) in Belfast, and Nora found work in a clothing factory.

In Belfast, Nora became increasingly active politically. She and her sisters became active in Cumann na mBan and the Gaelic League. "This meant a complete change in my life and the severing of many ties of friendship," she told Ellis Na Chorra, who wrote "A Rebel Remembers," which appeared in the 1936 edition of The Capuchin Annual. Cumann na mBan, which provided Nora with skills from first aid to rifle drill, and gave her the momentum to became an active recruiter and meeting organiser.

She also joined the girls branch of Fianna Éireann, an organization which taught military drill and the use of firearms; and Nora helped found the Young Republican Party and designed their banner, a rising sun on a green background. Padraig Pearse welcomed their formation in An Claidheamh Soluis, and said he hoped that their example would be followed all over Ireland.

Nora also participated in her first strike while living in Belfast. The deplorable conditions of the factory and of the tenements where many of the workers lived, as well as the exploitation of the workers at the factory, horrified Nora. The desolate surroundings and the inhuman treatments under which the women worked were much more severe than anything Nora had witnessed in American mills. When the mill workers where she worked went on strike against new rules that forbade the workers to sing or to speak to each other, Nora was there with them.

This small strike was the precursor to the Linen Strike of 1913, in which James Connolly delivered "To the Linen Slaves of Belfast," the Manifesto of Irish Textile Workers' Union, 1913. Nora participated in the strike as a member of Fianna Éireann. Padraig Pearse would later say that without Fianna Éireann, "the Volunteers of 1913 would not have arisen." The manifesto was followed by a meeting of solidarity in Dublin at which James Connolly was a speaker. After his speech, Connolly surprisingly announced Nora as the next speaker. Thus, during this time period, Nora also began her public speaking career.

In 1914, James Connolly succeeded James Larkin as Commandant of the Citizen Army. Connolly�s leadership of the Citizen Army fostered cooperation between the Irish Republican Volunteers and the Citizen Army. Upon taking office, Connolly draped the now famous, "We Serve Neither King Nor Kaiser But Ireland," banner at Liberty Hall.

At this time, the Army began to focus its efforts on a militaristic stance. On 13th November, at a rally in Beresford Place, Connolly announced that the Citizen Army was being organised along military lines by Captain Jack White and called for more volunteers. Nora Connolly, through her public speaking efforts, played an active role in the recruitment of volunteers for the Citizen Army. In her memoirs she wrote, "They came, their faces black with coal dust, some powdered with cement or grain, up from the ships, out from the dockyards, machine shops, factories, deserting carts, lorries, vans."

In December 1914 the authorities closed down The Irish Worker. Connolly tried to have The Irish Worker printed in Glasgow and smuggled into Ireland but delivery was immediately intercepted. Connolly then decided to set up his own printing press in Liberty Hall. By 1915, with Nora as his assistant, a new paper was being produced, called The Worker's Republic. This publication dually reached workers and volunteers, who essentially were rapidly becoming one in the revolution. Authorities considered closing down Liberty Hall and the printing press, but did not for fear of resistance from the Citizen Army. Connolly�s lack of hesitation in sending armed pickets to deal with police harassment during the strike at the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company cemented their fears.

Labour unions at this time were growing rapidly. By 1910 the ITGWU was claiming some 3,000 members. To stifle the surge of strikes, many companies began to institute �lock-outs.� One such lock-out took place in 1911 in Wexford when two foundries, Pierces and the Star Works, told their staffs "no workman is acceptable if a member of the ITGWU." The lock-out lasted six months.²

The "Great Lock-Out" occurred in 1913 when 2,500 ITGWU members marched out rather than sign a document repudiating ITGWU. Subsequently, 20,000 men and women were locked-out by 400 employers. The strike lasted from 26 August 1913 to 18 January 1914. Although many people starved to death, the surplus of non-union labour allowed the companies to continue the lock-out.

During the strikes, Nora often travelled from Belfast to Dublin to work in solidarity with her father and the strikers. It was at this time that she met Constance Markievicz, a woman who had joined the Citizen Army, and was second in command to Michael Mallin in St. Stephen�s Green. The Citizen Army was estimated to have about 350 members; and unlike the IRB, women were given equal rights in the Citizen Army.

Gunrunning

Whilst in Dublin in 1914 at the Fianna Convention, Nora stayed a camp set up near the cottage of Constance Markievicz. During her stay, news of the Howth gun running was brought to Nora. Thousands of rifles were temporarily stored overnight at the cottage whilst Nora arranged to have them moved to a less conspicuous place in Belfast.

The Easter Rising of 1916

By 1916 Nora was actively involved in preparations for the Easter Rising. She became liaison from Ireland to John DeVoy of Clan na Gael in America. She also located Liam Mellows in Leek, near Stoke-on-Trent, and arranged for him to return to Ireland disguised as a priest. During these preparations, much of the military council of the IRB (Clarke, Mac Dermott, Ashe, Pearse and Mc Donagh) tried to dissuade Connolly from attempting a rising as they believed that the time was not right. However, the date was set as Easter Sunday, 23 April 1916, to coincide with the arrival of a shipload of arms from Germany brought over by Roger Casement.

Nora then went back to Belfast to join the Northern contingent in preparation for the rising. When word was The Women of 1916 brought (by orders from Eoin Mac Neill) that there would be no fighting in the North, Nora and eight other women travelled to Dublin.³

Eoin Mac Neill's orders were published in the Sunday paper. Nora, in her book, Unbroken Traditions, describes Mac Neill's move with bitterness:

"He was not the type to which revolutionists belong. His mind was of the academic order which must weigh all things, consider well all actions and count the cost. A True revolutionist must never count the cost, for he knows that revolution always repays itself, though it cost blood and though it life be lost and sacrifice made."

Following Mac Neill's orders, Connolly dispatched Nora and the others to get the message regarding the North to the other unit leaders. After having delivered word to Se�n Mac Dermott, Nora returned to Dublin and was sent to carry a message to Pearse in the North. In preparation, Nora also memorised the Proclamation of 1916 so she could recite it to people in the North. Once the messages in the North were delivered, Nora remained to organise first aid corps.

Nora was sure, however, that whatever happened elsewhere, there would still be a fight in Dublin, so she returned to Belfast and the other Cumann na mBan member agreed to with her. Thus, the members of Cumann na mBan, organised under the comman of 23-year-old Nora Connolly, became the only organised group from County Ulster to take part in the Rising.

Nora managed to avoid suspicion when twice the Royal Irish Constabulary raided the house in which she was sleeping. At the last day of her stay, she arose at 6:00 a.m. and walked 15 miles in order to see her sister Ina. Only military trains were running from Dundalk, and the two sisters set out on foot to walk the 50 miles to Dublin. Within 18 miles of Dublin, they could hear the rebellion taking place. Soldiers, with artillery, heading north began to pass them; and once they reached Drumcondra they heard the news of the surrender. By now the two sisters were suffering from blistered feet, dehydration and hunger.

The Rising had lasted less than a week. Approximately 220 Citizen Army members took part, 27 of them women. These 220 rebels faced a force of over 12,000 British soldiers. All of those who took part in (or were suspected of having taken part in) the Rising were jailed. Nora visited her father daily in prison. She was devastated that she hadn't been able to assist during the battle, but Connolly assured her, "You have done as much as any of us."

Constance Markievicz was sentenced to life in prison. Sixteen men considered to be leaders were executed, including James Connolly, Nora�s father, shot on 12 May 1916, strapped to a chair because he could not stand due to the bullet he received in his leg during the Rising. His last statement, on eve of his execution, was given to Nora.

To the Field General Court Martial, held at Dublin Castle, on May 9th, 1916:

        I do not wish to make any defence except against charges of wanton cruelty to prisoners. These trifling allegations that have been made, if they record facts that really happened deal only with the almost unavoidable incidents of a hurried uprising against long established authority, and nowhere show evidence of set purpose to wantonly injure unarmed persons.
        We went out to break the connection between this country and the British Empire, and to establish an Irish Republic. We believed that the call we then issued to the people of Ireland, was a nobler call, in a holier cause, than any call issued to them during this war, having any connection with the war. We succeeded in proving that Irishmen are ready to die endeavouring to win for Ireland those national rights which the British Government has been asking them to die to win for Belgium. As long as that remains the case, the cause of Irish freedom is safe.
        Believing that the British Government has no right in Ireland, never had any right in Ireland, and never can have any right in Ireland, the presence, in any one generation of Irishmen, of even a respectable minority, ready to die to affirm that truth, makes that Government for ever a usurpation and a crime against human progress.
        I personally thank God that I have lived to see the day when thousands of Irish men and boys, and hundreds of Irish women and girls, were ready to affirm that truth, and to attest it with their lives if need be.
�James Connolly, Commandant-General, Dublin Division, Army of the Irish Republic

Three years later, Nora succeeded in getting a passport to America, where she conducted a series of speeches on the Easter Rising. When she returned two years later, she was forbidden at arrival in Liverpool to enter Ireland. The Lord Lieutenant wrote: "It is utterly impossible and extremely inadvisable to all you to return to Ireland." She managed, however, to get through Liverpool disguised as a boy.

Once in Ireland, Nora again became active in politics and worked for the Irish Transport Union in Dublin. She was activing in the 1918 Election Campaign, when Sinn Fein swept the country, During the Treaty struggle, however, she spent time in imprisoned in Kilmainham jail and Mountjoy jail, where her husband Seemus O Brien (also involved in the Nationalist struggle) was also imprisoned.

Eventually, Nora was released from jail under the Habeas Corpus Act. Her husband remained imprisoned in Mountjoy. Throughout it all, however, Nora Connolly O Brien remained loyal to the cause of a Socialist Republic of Ireland, independent of British control.

Footnotes:

^*Note: The original article, Copyright © 2000, appeared in the An Camcheachta/Starry Plough Publications, and was reprinted with permission from the Irish Republican Socialist Party. On 10 Dec 2005, I added some details to the article, Copyright © 2005, Ireland's OWN.
¹During this time, "harp" was a derogatory term used by native-born Americans for Irish immigrants.
²The poverty of the workers during these years was appalling: the death rate was 27.6/1000; and, housing and sanitation were serious issues with most families living in squalid, single rooms. Wage rates were low, yet most worked a 70-hour week; and, women doing equal work were paid 1/3 of what the men received.
³Mac Neill's action lowered the number of people expected to take part in the Rising from 5000 to about 1200.

Sources:

James Connolly Society of Canada and US, San Francisco, CA, USA.
De Rosa, P: Rebels: The Irish Rising of 1916. 2nd ed. New York: Ballantine. 1992.
Foster, RE: Modern Ireland: 1600�1972. London: Penguin. 1988.
Fox, RM: Rebel Irishwomen. 2nd ed. Dublin: Progress House. 1967.
Groves, R: But We Shall Rise Again. London: Secker and Warburg. 1938.
N� Chorra, E: "A Rebel Remembers," in The Capuchin Annual, 1936.
Taillon, R: When History Was Made: The Women of 1916. Dublin: Beyond the Pale Publications. 1996.
The Workers Solidarity Movement, Dublin, Ireland.