Irish Rebel

The Mind of an Activist: James Connolly, by Owen Dudley Edwards. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan. 132 pp.

The University of Edinburgh professor who wrote this book considers James Connolly (1868-1916) the most remarkable thinker of Ireland’s most remarkable period. Most historians agree.

Born in an Irish ghetto in Edinburgh, Connolly grew up burdened by unimpressive stature, bowlegs, a squint, a stammer, and an accent that stamped him as an outsider in Ireland and in every Irish community outside of Scotland. With only three years of formal education, he became a convincing speaker, an editor, historian, pamphleteer, and effective labor organizer.

Connolly left school at the age of ten to eke out the fami...