Connolly Association

The Connolly Association is an organisation based among Irish emigrants in Britain which supports the aims of Irish republicanism. It takes its name from James Connolly, a socialist republican, born in Edinburgh, Scotland and executed by the British Army for his part in the 1916 Easter Rising.

The Connolly Association (CA) was founded at a meeting in Doughty Street, Central London in 1938. Many of those attending the meeting had either been members of the London branch of the Republican Congress or the League against Imperialism. Some had been active in the Irish Self-Determination League of the 1920s.

Originally called the Connolly Club, its aims were: to work for the complete freedom of the Irish people; provide a social and cultural centre for those promoting the teachings of James Connolly; arrange public meetings, discussions and lectures explaining Connolly’s ideas; and to show solidarity with oppressed nations and peoples throughout the world – sentiments continued in the present CA constitution.

The CA’s paper Irish Freedom, was first published in January 1939, being renamed the Irish Democrat in 1945.

The first major campaign undertaken by the Connolly Club was in the Frank Ryan Release Campaign, in support of the Republican Congress leader and International Brigade commander. The campaign, involving extensive lobbying of British and Irish politicians, trade unions and the Labour Party, exemplified the methods to be used by the organisation throughout the years.

The establishment of branches soon followed, initially in Liverpool, Birmingham and London, and then in Manchester, Glasgow, Coatbridge, Portsmouth, Northampton, Oxford and Cambridge.

The period of the second world war saw the CA campaigning to preserve Irish neutrality and in defence of Irish workers in Britain. The 1945 general election gave the organisation hope that the new Labour government would carry out its long held policy of Irish self-determination.

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