Fergus O’Donoghue’s editorial in Studies, blogged here last week, reminded me to lift the works of James Connolly from the shelf. Connolly was never a big figure in west Belfast when I was growing up and he remains a marginal figure in the North. The first Connolly books I bought were purchased from the People’s Democracy bookshop in Andersonstown which used to be situated beside the Busy Bee shopping centre. Connolly was never a major figure in republicanism – mainly because the Provos were not great ones for reading; they preferred weapons to writings.
That Connolly is not read as widely as he should be is down to two main factors: the cultural cringe and guilt by association. The cultural cringe is a long-established phenomenon whereby Irish writers are regarded as being lesser than writers from across the water. Few people would quote Connolly with the ease they quote, say, George Orwell, a fine writer and no pacifist either. Ironically, Orwell’s participation in the Spanish Civil War tends to raise his stature among many but Connolly’s part in the Rising reduces his.
And that leads us on to guilt by association: Connolly has been appropriated by Sinn Féin. Republicans would think it ludicrous were Mark Durkan to quote Connolly. In fact, it should be a lot less ludicrous than Gerry Adams quoting him. After all it is only a matter of mere weeks since Adams told party delegates in the Republic that they would have to become as comfortable with the words “prosperity” and “economic opportunity” as they were with “equality” and “independence”. Not exactly the sort of clarion call Connolly would have issued!
There is no doubt that politics in Ireland are changing. As part of that change, we should go back to the writings of Connolly and indeed Patrick Pearse and begin to re-evaluate them in the light of common sense and reason rather than through the fog of gun smoke and Semtex.
Not so much back to basics as back to books.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Back to books
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2 comments:
I think the 'cultural cringe' is a calculated result of the politics of the reviewers, alongside a long running campaign of innoculating feelings of inferiority into a colonised people in orer to suppress their cultural distinctiveness and desire for independence. Writers, filmmakers and musicians, etc, learned early on that they should avoid making any political comments that didn't promote the official (British) version of Irish history, the nature and cause of the conflict in NI, etc, if they wanted to sell their wares in the UK - a market that was crucial for them to break as the first step to international acclaim. Likewise, those who promoted the right political and cultural message (as opposed to expediently ignoring politics) were rewarded with critical acclaim in the UK. U2, for example, were fully aware that criticising republican violence while ignoring unionist and British state violence would get them positive media coverage, while those (such as filmmaker Neil Jordan) would be critically savaged, not because of the merits of his talent, but because he gave the wrong message (i.e. the unapproved version of events). Seamus Heaney was also sharp enough to keep out of politics. Of course, all of that makes them pretty useless if you think artists should challenge the status quo rather than reinforce it. But they're businessmen too, and their careers matter to them.
Pól
As a working class lad growing up in England it is impossible for me to understate the impact reading James Connolly had on me. I first came across him by reading the C. Desmond Greaves biog of JC, here was a working class man who had been as badly educated as myself, yet he managed to educate himself and act as a working class militant in four countries and two continents. In his spare time he played an important role in helping to create modern Ireland.
Dubliner
Excellent post and sadly true.
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