Probably one of the most important nationalist leaders of all time was the great Irish socialist and patriot, James Connolly. He was a cross between John Brown, American abolitionist, and Eugene Debs, the great American socialist leader who ran for the US presidency from a jail cell and got over a million votes. His writings at one time, were almost as much studied and read as Lenin’s once were.

Interesting to know that Connolly got his start as a British soldier turned antiwar activist. Eventually he was hung for having dared rebel against the British. The Irish Easter Rising that he led was an even braver revolutionary event than the earlier American uprising against King George. And of course, because of Connolly’s agitiation, eventually the Irish did gain their independence, too.