Page:Schüller - Jim Connolly and Irish Freedom (1926).djvu/22

 Connolly cherished no illusions about the land "reform." He showed up the fact that the mass of the peasantry was still steeped in misery and that the necessity for joint struggle with the workers still existed, was even still greater than hitherto. The opponent and exploiter had only changed his shape. Formerly that shape was that of a feudal capitalist landlord and now the peasantry was faced with trade and bank capital and the collector of the British government.

Connolly wrote on the effects of the reforms on the land question:

The correctness of this analysis was proved by the role which the peasants played in the civil war, 1919–1921,