Plaid Cymru History Society, 4pm Friday 21 October 2016
Plaid Cymru Conference Llangollen Pavillion
Wales and the Easter Rising – Jack White’s 1916 Mission
Lecture by Syd Morgan
In this Easter Rising centenary year, Wales has focussed on Frongoch concentration camp. However, there’s a second connection between the two nations. This shines light on how Labour reacted to the Rising, one which fixed the narrative of the Welsh Nationalist Party on both Ireland and Labour for decades. In April 1916, Jack White came on a fortnight’s mission to 
Glamorgan to save James Connolly from execution. He failed; Connolly was shot the morning White was arrested. This presentation examines White’s cri de cœur: “Connolly was shot by a British firing squad and socialism was murdered in Ireland with the connivance and negative assistance of British Left-Wing socialists”.