Review: Socialism Made Easy, by James Connolly

My first thoughts on being asked to review James Connolly's ninety seven year old pamphlet Socialism Made Easy recently republished by Dublin Sinn Fein in conjunction with the Independent Workers Union was “pity the readers”, surely they can do without another review of this and particularly by someone who considers himself a poor scholar of Connolly’s works.

But after this initial thought I was thankful for being asked. There is nothing wrong with going back and reading clear and incisive thoughts on the ‘condition of society’. Workshop Talks was one of the first Irish socialist pamphlets I read when I got involved in leftwing activism.

To the uninitiated Socialism Made Easy is divided into two sections and is a collection of already published articles, which was first published by the Charles Kerr and Company Publishing House in Chicago in 1909. The first section of the collection is Workshop Talks and as the foreword points out is a light and satirical series of arguments and defences that can be used by a socialist worker in the workplace to destroy the prejudices and win the consideration of his fellow workers. Section two The Political Action of Labour’ is more serious and outlines a course of action for the worker to follow once they realise the need for social change. It is perhaps for this reason that many political groups only publish the first section as section two is at variance with a lot of party programmes.

Truth be told it is a good reproduction. A thirty-four page glossy publication with extracts from the proclamation on both inside covers and historical pictures of the time. The introduction by Aengus Ó Snodaigh is straight forward giving a history of the pamphlet although I imagine that there will be quite a bit of tut tutting when he states that Connolly returned to Ireland in 1911, when in fact he returned the year before in July 1910. But there is no doubting that many would echo Ó Snodaigh when he states that
“a strong, radical trade union movement and an energetic campaigning party are the essential prerequisites for the formation of the socialist republic James Connolly strove for, and for which we fight today.’”
There are many who will argue that Sinn Fein will not be this vehicle. Recently I received a copy of Sinn Fein’s “Dublin News” (a ‘1916 special’ landed in my hallway). The front page has a picture of Connolly and leads the reader to assume there’s a review inside but other than an advert for traditional music and ballads in the Cobblestone Bar on the back page, there is no other mention of the pamphlet. Neither Aengus or Ray O’Reilly of the IWU, who both have articles in the newsletter, allude to the relaunch of the pamphlet and its relevance today which seems a shame when you consider the circulation of “Dublin News" and leaves you wondering if Sinn Fein will circulate the pamphlet widely and ask will there be much internal discussion around its content?

When reading a historical document it is critical to bear in mind that it is a snapshot of a certain time in history. It is important to point out that Socialism Made Easy was published before the lockout, the Easter Rising, two world wars, the Russian revolution and many other tumultuous events. The pamphlet is influenced by Connolly’s time in America and written in the following historical context - The Irish Socialist Republican Party the party which Connolly was key in founding in May 1896 had by 1899 built up links with the American Socialist Labour Party. In 1902 Connolly had toured America under the patronage of the SLP whose leader was Daniel De Leon. He was influenced by De Leon’s promotion of industrial unions (syndicalist), which involved the establishment of a separate union structure based on industry rather than craft. This helped shape Connolly’s radical ideas on the unionism, workers control and the future shape of society.

On returning to Ireland the ISRP existed in name only. Disheartened he returned to Edinburgh on an extended lecture tour where he helped in the founding of the Scottish Socialist Labour Party, modelled on the American SLP and was appointed the national organiser. Its manifesto was syndicalist in nature, excluding trade union officials and opposing all ‘pure and simple’ (non-syndicalist) trade unions. When it failed to make headway Connolly moved to America and immediately joined the American SLP. During his time Connolly clashed several times with De Leon particularly over ‘Iron Law Wages’, which De Leon wrongly attributed to Karl Marx when in fact it was the economic views expressed by Ferdinand Lassalle (see Marx’s Critique of the Gotha Programme ch. 2).

In 1906 Connolly became heavily involved with the Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies), which had been formed in June 1905 in Chicago. The IWW called for the creation of ‘one great industrial union embracing all industries’ and openly declared that it was ‘founded on the class struggle’ and the ‘recognition of the irrepressible conflict between the capitalist class and the working class’. De Leon was very influential in its early years and attempted to use the IWW to continue the wages question. In 1907 Connolly resigned from the SLP as a result of this continuing disagreement. At the IWW convention in 1908 Connolly was key in ensuring that De Leon’s economic theories were defeated. De Leon and his supporters left the organisation. This convention also decided to drop the IWW’s contacts with political parties. Although Connolly opposed the anti-political stance of the IWW he believed that the nature of the struggle would eventually push the need of moving the organisation into the political sphere. It was with this in mind that he was influenced to write part two of Socialism Made Easy.

Part one; Workshop Talks addresses many key issues in a clear and simple language. From the outset it reflects the optimism of the day, particularly when he states that ‘Socialism is conquering all nations’. The issues that Connolly outlines still have contemporary relevance that socialists the world over continue to fight for. Throughout readers identify with the issues be it charitable organisations replacing state welfare under the moralistic crusade of George Bush or the preferred faith based education system of his poodle Tony Blair, to Jamie Oliver’s campaign for ‘proper’ school dinners. Turning closer to home, Pat Rabbitte and the main union leaders could do well to heed his words addressing the internationalist nature of the working class struggle:

“…every member of the investing classes is interested to the extent of his investments, present or prospective, in the subjection of Labour all over the world. That is the internationally of Capital and Capitalism. The wageworker is oppressed under this system in the interest of capitalist investors who may be living thousands of miles away and whose very names are unknown to him. He is, therefore, interested in every revolt of Labour all over the world, for the very individuals against whom that revolt may be directed may – by the wondrous mechanism of the capitalist system – through shares, bonds, national and municipal debts – be the parasites who are sucking his blood also. That is one of the underlying facts inspiring the internationalism of Labour and Socialism.”

Connolly was concise that Labour was involved in a conflict of classes not races. The remainder of Workshop Talks outlines a view of communism, the need for a proper pension system (this hard won right is now under further attack from the employers in the current ‘Partnership’ talks), explaining the labour theory of value, exposing the hypocrisy of organised religion and finishes with a farsighted ridiculing of fighting for national freedom without fighting as a

“class to meet our masters and destroy their mastership; organize to drive them from their hold upon public life through their political power; organize to wrench from their robber clutch the land and workshops on and in which they enslave us; organize to cleanse our social life from the stain of social cannibalism, from the preying of man upon his fellow man. Organize for a full, free and happy life FOR ALL OR FOR NONE.

No doubt his view changed prior to his involvement in the 1916 obviously events leading to the rising, the lockout and the outbreak of World War 1 would have curtailed the optimism evident in this pamphlet but there can be no doubt that Connolly died still committed to a workers republic.

Before the Rising Connolly considered himself a war leader and that war was the class war. He had a virulent class based hatred of capitalist society. His commitment to his class and his hatred of oppressors was absolute. Connolly favoured syndicalism as an organisational method because he felt it offered the best opportunity for organising workers. He felt it had the tactics and strategies most able to fight and win the class war. Basically that workers should ‘take hold of the daily fight in the workshop and organise it in a revolutionary manner, with a revolutionary purpose and direction. Part two of the pamphlet ‘The Political Action of Labour’ addresses his views around this organisational method.

Before the founding of the IWW, the American Federation of Labour the largest union in the United States was made up of an almost all male, all white and all skilled workers membership. AFL officials drew large salaries, hobnobbed with employers and were protected from criticism by ‘goon’ squads who sometimes had worked as strike breakers. Racism was practical for the AFL as was the exclusion of women. This was anathematic to Connolly. The IWW aimed at organising all workers in any industry into ‘One Big Union’ undivided by sex, race, or skills arguing against making contracts with the employer. The Wobblies believed that negotiations by leaders for contracts replaced continuous struggle by the rank and file. This is what shaped Connolly’s views on what he considered the best method of advancing the cause of socialism.

Criticised by those advocating a vanguard method of organising as not putting forward the party as the centre, the pamphlet emphasises the need for organisation ‘from the bottom upward’ and that Socialism must ‘destroy at one blow all the fears of a bureaucratic state, ruling and ordering the lives of every individual from above, and thus gives assurance that the social order of the future will be an extension of the freedom of the individual, and not a suppression of it. Connolly clearly put his class before the party but at the same time he clearly rejected the anti-political standpoint of many syndicalists. He argued “if we accept the definition of working class political action as that which brings the workers as a class into direct conflict with the possessing class as a class, and keeps them there, then we must realise that nothing can do that as readily as action at the ballot box”.

But he was also clear “that a Socialist Political Party not emanating from the ranks of organised Labour is, as Karl Marx phrased it, simply a Socialist sect, ineffective for the final revolutionary act”.

‘The Political Action of Labour’ was as Connolly stated in an article in 1910 ‘endeavouring

“…to establish two principles in the minds of my readers as being vitally necessary to the upbuilding of a strong revolutionary Socialist movement. Those two principles are: First, that the working class as a class cannot become permeated with a belief in the unity of their class interests unless they have first been trained to a realization of the need of industrial unity; second, that the revolutionary act – the act of taking over the means of production and establishing a social order based upon the principles of the working class (labour) – cannot be achieved by a disorganized, defeated and humiliated working class, but must be the work of that class after it has attained to a commanding position on the field of economic struggle’.

Industrialism and the Trade Unions

Being guided by these two principles, it would be nice to know from the co-publishers of this relaunched pamphlet what their views are on the building of a strong revolutionary socialist movement, the need for industrial unity, the taking over of the means of production and the necessity of establishing a social order based upon the principles of the working class are?

While it is good that Dublin Sinn Fein have republished this pamphlet it doesn’t allay the fear that Sinn Fein as a whole engages in the ‘Practical Politics’ that Connolly despised. For all the campaigns that they are involved, whilst they may use the language of socialism to the rank and file, there has been a move to the more ambiguous term of an ‘Ireland of Equals’. Gerry Adam’s reassurance to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce that while his party may have positions on unjust taxes “that in terms of actual practicalities of working out those matters, as part of local government, the party made compromises on it”. This does not augur well for working class independence. Nor does the fact that, although certain members of Sinn Fein express a preference for an alliance with Labour and the Greens it has to be pointed out that they do not rule out joining government with a right wing party in administering capitalism. This is a long way off the transformation of society from capitalism to socialism that was Connolly’s aspiration. As long as Sinn Fein continues to act as a party of protest it will continue to have a strong base in working class communities, its rank and file will continue to be made up of genuine working class activists and radical youth.

Could the time be fast approaching when their radicalism will be tested? If the party is involved in a government that has to introduce anti-working class policies the membership will have to choose between the party and their class. Hopefully the reading of this pamphlet will be a stepping-stone to them making the right decision.