James Fintan Lalor

James Fintan Lalor
1807-1849

James Fintan Lalor ( Irish Séamas Fionntán Ó Leathlobhair ; born March 13, 1807 in Raheen, County Laois , † December 27, 1849 in Dublin ) was an Irish journalist and author. As a leading member of Young Irelander , he played an important role in the Irish uprisings of 1848.

Lalor's writings, particularly his views on land reform, formed one of the theoretical pillars of the Irish independence movement. While many of his contemporaries saw the repeal of the Act of Union and thus the restoration of an Irish state of their own as a central demand, for Lalor, especially against the background of the great famine of 1845–1848, the land question was the essential point. He demanded control over everything Land on the Irish island had to lie exclusively with the Irish people and, contrary to the opinion that was widespread in Ireland at the time, that England bore the main responsibility for the famine, the Irish land lords expressly shared responsibility.

After several months of internment without trial as a result of the uprising of September 1848, Lalor was released on account of ill health and died shortly afterwards at the age of 43. His grave is in the Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin.

James Connolly referred repeatedly to Lalor's writings and referred to him as the "clearest thinker" of 19th century Irish revolutionaries. Patrick Pearse declared Lalor together with Theobald Wolfe Tone , John Mitchel and Thomas Davis to be one of the "Evangelists of Irish nationalism".

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1. ↑ James Fintan Lalor: To the Confederate and Repeal Clubs in Ireland , The Irish Felon No. January 2, 1847. In: L. Fogarty, James Fintan Lalor. Patriot & Political Essayist (1807-1849) , Dublin 1918, pp. 67ff.
2. ↑ cf. in particular James Connolly: Labor in Irish History , In: Ders., Collected Works, Vol 1, Dublin 1987, pp. 162f.
3. ↑ Patrick Pearse: The Separatist Idea , In: Ders., Collected Works, Dublin / Cork / Belfast 1922, pp. 251ff.