West Belfast Sinn Féin Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

Adams unveils plaque honouring James Connolly

Published: 9 October, 2009

Sinn Fein President and West Belfast MP Gerry Adams unveiled a plaque with an image of Easter Rising leader James Connolly at the party's Upper Falls constituency office, Connolly House, on Friday 9th October.

Councillor Caoimhín Mac Giolla Mhín, Andersonstown's new Sinn Féin councillor, chaired the unveiling at which Gerry Adams spoke to the assembled crowd about the legacy of James Connolly and the important role Connolly House has played throughout the years to the present day in providing a service to the people of the Andersonstown area and beyond.

As the Tricolour and the Starry Plough flew in the backgorund, Mr Adams said:

''I am very pleased to unveil this plaque to James Connolly, trade union activist, labour leader, Republican, Falls Road citizen and Irish revolutionary.

''The vision of Connolly and his work as an internationalist and socialist has inspired generations of republican activists.

''In 1911 he was appointed Belfast organiser of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union.

''He lived with his family on the Falls Road, facing the bottom of the Whiterock Road.

''While here he organised the workers of Belfast, and especially those thousands of young women, whom he described as the linen slaves, who worked in hellish conditions in the Mills which were the backbone of Belfast's economy.

''Connolly described them: 'Many Belfast Mills are slaughterhouses for the women and penitentiaries for the children…Spinning is a skilled trade, requiring a long apprenticeship, alert brains, and nimble fingers. Yet for all this skill, for all those weary years of learning, for all this toil in a super-heated atmosphere, with clothes drenched with water, and hands torn and lacerated as a consequence of the speeding up of the machinery, a qualified spinner in Belfast receives a wage less than some of our pious Mill owners would spend weekly upon a dog.'

''He was avowedly anti-sectarian and understood absolutely the way in which sectarianism was and still is used to sow division and protect the class interests of unionism.

''And of course Connolly was implacably opposed to partition.

''In 1914 he predicted that partition '… would mean a carnival of reaction both North and South, would set back the wheels of progress, would destroy the oncoming unity of the Irish labour movement and paralyse all advanced movements whilst it endured. To it labour should give the bitterest opposition, against it labour in Ulster should fight even to the death, if necessary, as our fathers fought before us.'

''And he was of course one of the leaders of the 1916 Rising and the man whom Pearse described as 'the guiding brain of our resistance'.

''But undoubtedly his greatest legacy to republicans today is The Proclamation.

''While others, most notably Pearse and Kathleen Clarke, had a hand in its writing it is the vision of Connolly which burns through its words.

''The Proclamation is a document which provides the heart and soul of Irish republicanism today.

''The Proclamation is about the people of Ireland. It is about self-determination and democracy.

''It is about change - deep rooted and fundamental change in Irish society.

''It is anti-sectarian - guaranteeing civil and religious liberty. And it is about equal rights and equal opportunity for all citizens.

''This is Sinn Féin's mission statement for the 21st century. If anyone asks what Sinn Féin stands for, what marks us out from others, quote the Proclamation.

''So, in 1983 when we came to choose a name for the new headquarters of Sinn Féin in west Belfast, it was understandable that we decided to name this building after this great Irish leader.

''Connolly House was first opened for business in 1983.

''In the intervening 26 years it has been at the heart of Sinn Féin's constituency work in west Belfast .

''Those who have worked in it have braved the threats and violence of the British Army, RUC and Unionist paramilitaries.

''On one occasion several republicans were shot and wounded as they repaired damage caused by a rocket attack, while in August 1984 I was present during the RUC armed assault on peaceful demonstrators and the brutal murder of Sean Downes who was killed by a plastic bullet, fired by a member of the RUC, just a few feet from this spot.

''But none of this deterred the scores of party activists who continued to provide a first class constituency service to the people of this area.

''Connolly House also became the rallying point for marches and demonstrations.

''I remember the scenes outside this building at the announcement of the IRA cessation in August 1994 and the sense of hope and expectation that surrounded it.

''Politically, we have made considerable progress since then.

''That is evident in the huge amount of work that goes on in Connolly House.

''It is also evident in the current negotiations between ourselves, the British government and the DUP.

''In recent years the building has been extensively refurbished to make it a more pleasant office to work in but also to make it more accessible to citizens.''

Councillor Mac Giolla Mhin concluded the unveiling by thanking the office staff for the work they do on a daily and voluntary basis and also thanked Danny, Flash, Micky, Jacqui and the office staff, and all the activists who delivered the Andersonstown cumann bulletin, for working to make the unveiling a success.