The Irish Republic must be made a word to conjure with - a rallying point for the disaffected, a haven for the oppressed, a point of departure for the socialist, enthusiastic in the cause of human freedom.
The worker is the slave of capitalist society, the female worker is the slave of that slave.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the exploitation of workers in a capitalist system, particularly focusing on the additional struggles faced by female workers.
James Connolly's quote critically examines the structures of capitalist society, suggesting that workers are subjugated by capitalist interests, and that female workers experience a double layer of oppression. In this context, he underscores the idea that not only are workers as a whole denied freedom and fair compensation, but women face even greater challenges within that oppressive framework. Thus, it calls attention to the dual burdens of class and gender oppression, advocating for awareness and change in both spheres.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about gender equality in the workplace, this quote can highlight the unique challenges faced by women.
More from James Connolly
All quotes βIf you remove the English Army tomorrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle., unless you set about the organization of the Socialist Republic your efforts will be in vain. England will still rule you. She would rule you through her capitalists, through her landlords, through her financiers, through the whole array of commercial and individualist institutions she has planted in this country and watered with the tears of our mothers and the blood of our martyrs
If you remove the English army to-morrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle, unless you set about the organisation of the Socialist Republic your efforts would be in vain.
Whoop it up for liberty! After Ireland is free, says the patriot who won't touch socialism, we will protect all classes, and if you won't pay your rent you will be evicted same as now. But the evicting party, under command of the sheriff, will wear green uniforms and the Harp without the Crown, and the warrant turning you out on the roadside will be stamped with the arms of the Irish Republic. Now, isn't that worth fighting for?
There can be no perfect Europe in which Ireland is denied even the least of its national rights.
Irish tory employers hid[e] their sweatshops behind orange flags, and Irish home rule landlords us[e] the green sunburst of Erin to cloak their rack-renting in the festering slums of our Irish towns.
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I anticipate the Day when to command Respect in the remotest Regions it will be sufficient to say I am an American.
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The basis of a democratic state is liberty
Grace finds us beggars but leaves us debtors.
You treat world history as a mathematician does mathematics, in which nothing but laws and formulas exist, no reality, no good and evil, no time, no yesterday, no tomorrow, nothing but an eternal, shallow, mathematical present.