MY HERO:

James Connolly was an Irish republican and socialist leader, He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, to Irish immigrant parents. He left school at the age of 11 to Work out of Family necessity. He enlisted in the British Army at the age of 14, giving a false age and giving a fake name ‘Reid’, as his brother John had done. He worked with the British Army in Ireland for nearly seven years. It was a very bad time in Ireland.
He developed a deep hatred for the British Army that lasted his entire life. When he heard the regiment was being transferred to India, he deserted the army. Connolly met a young woman called Lillie Reynolds in Dublin. They moved back to Edinburgh Scotland & married in April 1890. He became strongly active with the socialist movement and he prioritized this over his own work.
Connolly became involved with the Independent Labour Party. By 1892 he was involved in the Scottish Socialist Federation acting as its secretary from 1895. Two months after the birth of his third daughter, word came to Connolly that the Dublin Socialist Club was looking for a full-time secretary, a job that offered a salary of a pound a week. Connolly and his family moved to Dublin, where he took up the position. At his instigation, the club quickly evolved into the Irish Socialist Republican Party (ISRP). The ISRP is regarded by many Irish historians as a party of pivotal importance in the early history of Irish socialism and republicanism. In 1913, in response to the Lockout he, along with an ex-British officer, Jack White founded the Irish Citizen Army (ICA), an armed and well-trained body of labour men whose aim was to defend workers and strikers, particularly from the frequent brutality of the Dublin Metropolitan Police Though they only numbered about 250 at most, their goal soon became the establishment of an independent and socialist Irish nation. He also founded the Irish Labour Party as the political wing of the Irish Trade Union Congress in 1912.
Connolly stood aloof from the leadership of the Irish Volunteers. He considered them too bourgeois and unconcerned with Ireland's economic independence. In 1916, thinking they were merely posturing and unwilling to take decisive action against Britain, he attempted to guide them into action by threatening to send the ICA against the British Empire alone, if necessary. This alarmed the members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, who had already infiltrated the Volunteers and had plans for an insurrection that very year. In order to talk Connolly out of any such rash action, the IRB leaders, including Tom Clarke and Patrick Pearse, met with Connolly to see if an agreement could be reached. During the meeting, the IRB and the ICA agreed to act together at Easter of that year.
When the Easter Rising occurred on 24 April 1916, Connolly was Commandant of the Dublin Brigade. As the Dublin Brigade had the most substantial role in the rising, he was de facto commander-in-chief. Following the surrender, he said to other prisoners: "Don't worry. Those of us that signed the proclamation will be shot. But the rest of you will be set free."
Connolly was sentenced to death by firing squad for his part in the rising. On 12 May 1916 he was taken by military ambulance to Royal Hospital Kilmainham across the road from Kilmainham Gaol, and from there taken to the gaol, where he was to be executed. Visited by his wife, and asking about public opinion, he commented, "They will all forget that I am an Irishman.
Connolly had been so badly injured from the fighting (a doctor had already said he had no more than a day or two to live, but the execution order was still given) that he was unable to stand before the firing squad; he was carried to a prison courtyard on a stretcher. His absolution and last rites were administered by a Capuchin, Father Aloysius. Asked to pray for the soldiers about to shoot him, he said: "I will say a prayer for all men who do their duty according to their lights. Instead of being marched to the same spot where the others had been executed, at the far end of the execution yard, he was tied to a chair and then shot.
His body (along with those of the other executed leaders) was put in a mass grave without a coffin. The executions of the rebels deeply angered the majority of the Irish population, most of whom had shown no support during the rebellion. It was Connolly's execution, however, that caused the most controversy. Historians have pointed to the manner of execution of Connolly & similar leaders along with their actions, as being factors that caused public awareness of their desires and goals and gathered support for the movements that they had died fighting for.
James Connolly was survived by his wife Lillie and several children, of whom Nora became an influential writer and campaigner within the Irish-republican movement as an adult, and Roddy continued his father's politics. In later years, both became members of the Oireachtas (Irish parliament).
During his Life James Connolly also took up the study of, and advocated the use of, the neutral international language, Esperanto.