"The Scrap Was Taking Place"
Roddy Connolly was the youngest child and only son of James Connolly. In this interview he describes what his father was like both as a parent and an activist. Connolly was very involved with his children and encouraged their interests. Due to the nature of Connolly's trade union activities, the family moved from place to place living in Dublin, America and Belfast. While in America Roddy remembers that his father made sure the children read Irish history books.
He was always keen that we would have that Irish slant.
The family returned to Ireland in 1910 and settled finally in the Falls Road, Belfast in 1911, although over the next five years James Connolly spent a lot of time in Dublin due to his commitments to the trade union movement and later the Irish Citizen Army.
In Belfast Roddy joined Na Fianna Éireann and while his father it seems was quite supportive and favourable to Na Fianna and its leadership, that seems not to be the case with the Irish Volunteers. According to Roddy his father was not convinced,
Of the revolutionary fervour of a number of the leaders. He thought some of them spoke a great deal of hot air and that they would only be prepared to fight for a Republic under ideal fighting conditions.
A few weeks before the Rising took place, Roddy was asked by his father if he wanted to come to Dublin and fight with him. He transferred to the Irish Citizen Army in Dublin and worked with his father in Liberty Hall right up to Easter Monday.
On Easter Monday Roddy was appointed as Aide de Camp to James Connolly and Patrick Pearse and marched with his father from Liberty Hall to the GPO. He was only fifteen years old and recalls seeing Joseph Plunkett for the first time who was 'gorgeously apparelled in a uniform'.
By Wednesday the situation was becoming very dangerous. The gunboat Helga was shelling Liberty Hall and it was only a matter of time before she would attack the General Post Office. Realising this James Connolly decided that his son should leave the building. He remembers his father called him aside and told him that he needed Roddy to take important documents to William O'Brien, a comrade of James Connolly, who lived in Belvedere Place.
I remember my father was extremely upset...He was actually crying when he bid me what was actually our last goodbye.
Roddy was arrested with William O'Brien after the surrender and was taken to Richmond Barracks. The authorities did not know that Roddy was the son of James Connolly and he was told by Seán MacDiarmada to give a false name, which he did. His age meant that he was released a few days later but he never saw his father again. James Connolly was executed in Kilmainham Gaol on 12 May.
Roddy continued to be involved with the Republican movement. He was an officer in Na Fianna Éireann and during the War of Independence he was attached to the Glasgow Company of the IRA. He opposed the Anglo-Irish Treaty and fought with the anti-Treaty IRA during the Irish Civil War. He was the first President of the Communist Party of Ireland and later co-founded the Workers Party. In 1928 he joined the Labour Party and was elected to Dáil Éireann twice, 1943 and 1948. Roddy Connolly died in 1980.
Roddy Connolly was interviewed for the RTÉ Television project 'Portraits 1916' on 9 January 1966.
| Title: | Portraits 1916 Roddy Connolly |
| Clip Duration: | 00:24:02 |
| Material Type: | Video |
| Clip Title: | "The Scrap Was Taking Place" |
| Series Title: | Portraits 1916 |
| Information: | Portraits 1916 is a collection of interviews made for television recording the personal memories of women and men who took part in the Easter Rising. In the early 1960s Telefís Éireann (RTÉ Television) began to record interviews with people who had taken part in the Easter Rising and the War of Independence. Individuals were interviewed under a working title of 'The Survivors'. The first of these interviews were organised by Jack White and recorded at the television studios in Donnybrook on 31 August 1964. Further recordings were organised by James Plunkett with the same working title of 'The Survivors' although none of these interviews were broadcast as full programmes. In 1965 meetings were held to discuss what Telefís Éireann should do to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising. Veterans continued to be interviewed despite the fact that no decision had been made as to what type of programme, if any they could be used in. James Plunkett did not see 'The Survivors' recordings working as individual programmes. In April 1965 producer Aindras O Gallchoir took over the project continuing to organise recordings with the initial intention of using the interviews to create one programme. By September Aindras O Gallchoir decided to produce seven thirty minute documentaries on the leaders of the Rising but many more people needed to be interviewed. This new project had the working titles of 'Portraits 1916' and 'Seven Signatories'. With very little time over thirty people were interviewed for this series. The interviews took place mainly in studio between October 1965 and January 1966, with the exception of Kathleen Clarke and Leslie Bean de Barra. These interviews would eventually form the basis for the series 'On Behalf of the Provisional Government' which was first broadcast in 1966. The interviews recorded form an extensive record of the events and the people involved in the Easter Rising, and were never broadcast in their entirety. Presented here under the title of 'Portraits 1916' are the personal recollections of men and women who took part in or witnessed the events of the Easter Rising. |
| Local Keywords: | 1916, Easter 1916, Easter Rising, James Connolly, Liberty Hall, ICA, GPO, Pearse, Plunkett, Seán MacDiarmada, William O'Brien |
| Coverage: | Ireland |
| Genre: | Factual |
| Topic: | Wars and Conflict |
| Provider: | RTÉ |
| Contributor(s): | Aindrias O Gallchoir (Producer) |
| Publisher: | RTÉ |
| Production Year: | 1966 |
| Country of Production: | Ireland |
| Original Identifier: | 94D00030 |
| IPR Restrictions: | Rights Reserved - Free Access |
| Rights, Terms and Conditions: | Copyright RTÉ. This material may not be replicated in any form or manner without the prior express permission of RTÉ. Any form of reproduction in print, television, video, multimedia, web site or other electronic media or any form of dissemination for commercial or non-commercial use must be licensed by the RTÉ Archives.
If you wish to licence video or audio clips, still images or text, or would like further guidance please contact us. RTÉ Archives are committed to respecting the copyright of others and have attempted to source and credit the copyright owners of all material used here. RTÉ would like to hear from any copyright owners who are not properly identified here so that the necessary corrections can be made. If you feel your copyright has not been respected please contact us. |
| Item Type: | whole |
| Colour: | Black and White |
| Sound: | Mono |
| Aspect Ratio: | 4:3 |
| Language: | English (eng) |
