UNDERSTANDING 1917 AND BEYOND THE RISE OF SINN FÉIN THE RISE OF SINN FÉIN Sinn Féin, as a political entity, was founded on 28th November 1905 at the first annual convention of the National Council. Based on policies he had previously written about in The Resurrection of Hungary (1904), Arthur Griffith presented a detailed programme that would be later published as ‘The Sinn Féin Policy’. THE SINN FÉIN POLICY 'Sinn Féin' began life as a slogan, used by many Irish nationalists and organisations – it is believed that it originates from an early motto of the Gaelic League: ‘Sinn féin, sinn féin amháain’, meaning ‘Ourselves, ourselves alone’. Arthur Griffith - a well known journalist and nationalist - then adopted this slogan to describe his policy that would go on to become the foundation of Sinn Féin. Formally a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), Griffith began to oppose their more radical aims. Griffith believed that Ireland could not win independence through physical means, nor was he fully convinced that self-governance could be achieved politically. Arthur Griffith Griffith was a journalist and Irish Instead, Griffith urged a policy ofpassive resistance: refusal to pay taxes, Nationalist who gained fame boycotting of British goods as part of a wider plan to make Ireland self for his political writings and sufficient, creating independent Irish courts, the establishment of a National later, his political career. Griffith Council in Ireland and Irish MPs withdrawing from Westminster (abstention). was instrumental in the founda- As part of his policy, Griffith also supported thedual monarchy approach: tion of a number of national- that Ireland should become its own kingdom alongside Britain, with the two ist organisations, newspapers forming a dual monarchy – a shared monarch with two separate governments. and journals. Griffith believed Griffith believed that this approach was a lot more achievable, as it would be that the most effective way of more acceptable to the British. gaining Irish independence was Despite the popularity of Griffith’s political writings (he published a journal through passive resistance and the creation of a dual monarchy called ‘Sinn Féin’ from 1906 until its banning in 1914) and the appetite for a self- with Great Britain. His political governing Ireland, Sinn Féin had little influence outside of Dublin. This was all set principles – on which Sinn Féin to change after Easter 1916 when the party became more popular as a result of was founded - were outlined in the Easter Rising. his 1904 article The Resurrection of Hungry. After the founding of SINN FÉIN AFTER THE RISING Sinn Féin, Griffith led the party On Easter Monday, 24th April 1916, Republican rebels began an armed until 1916, remained as an MP insurrection to take back Ireland from British rule. Mainly taking place in Dublin, and was head of the delega- the Easter Rising was crushed in under a week and the leaders executed. During tion that negotiated the Anglo- and immediately after the Rising, the rebellion did not have the support of the Irish Treaty of 1921. After the general populace due to the destruction and loss of innocent lives that the ratification of the Treaty, Griffith fighting caused. It wasn’t until the British government decided to execute the became President of the second leaders of the Rising that people began to sympathise with the rebels and their Dáil Éireann, but his presidency cause. Throughout the planning for the rebellion and the battle itself, Sinn Féin was short-lived as he died sud- denly in August 1922. and its members had little, to no involvement. Despite this, the Easter Rising was labeled as the ‘Sinn Féin Rising’ and the ‘Sinn Féin Rebellion’. Sinn Féin’s wrongful THE RISE OF SINN FÉIN 1 UNDERSTANDING" 1917 AND BEYOND THE RISE OF SINN FÉIN We go to build the nation up from within, and we deny association with the Rising came about because by 1916 the authorities in Dublin the right of any but our own Castle, the Irish Parliamentary Party, Unionists, the police and the influential countrymen to shape its newspapers at the time used the term ‘Sinn Féin’ as a blanket term to describe course. That course is not the many separatist organisations that existed. After the Easter Rising, ‘Sinn Féin’ England's and we shall not justify our course to England. became the general term to describe all nationalists and the party itself became more popular due its association with the rebellion. This association led to an 28th November 1905 - Arthur influx of members for the party, notably separatists who were inspired by the Griffith speaking to the first an- Rising and wished to establish a Republic by any means necessary. nual convention of the National Council. " Some members still believed Sinn Féin experienced an in Griffth’s original policy influx of separatists hoping of passive resistance aimed to establish a republic, if towards achieving a dual necessary, through violence. monarchy. SINN FÉIN AFTER THE RISING It was just as important to Many supporters used to be be culturally independent as IPP supporters - this maintained " politically independent e.g. the link between the older speaking the Gaelic language or nationalist tradition and the playing Gaelic games. new republican party. REORGANISATION AND ELECTORAL SUCCESS By the time the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis (party political conference) occurred in October 1917, the party had begun to undergo a change in direction. The membership had increased, taking in those inspired by, and imprisoned by Sinn Féin aims at securing the Rising. One of those imprisoned, , was a commander the International recognition Éamon de Valera during the Easter Rising and was beginning to grow more influential within of Ireland as an independent the party. This increase in separatist thinking, coupled with the growing anti- Irish Republic. English sentiment in Ireland, helped the party to win a number of by-elections Having achieved that status throughout the year and the promotion of the idea of Ireland as a republic the Irish people may by ref- started to become the more popular aim, as opposed to Griffth’s dual- erendum freely choose their monarchy proposal. There was also an acceptance within the new membership own form of Government. of the party that politics and violence would be an acceptable approach to this new republic. This change in thinking and policy was confirmed on 25th October 1917 - From the 25th October at the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis. Griffith, who did not like Sinn Féin’s Constitution of Sinn Féin. association with the Rising or the movement in policy towards a republic by any means necessary, resigned his leadership of the party leaving Éamon de " Valera to be unanimously elected President of Sinn Féin. THE RISE OF SINN FÉIN 2 UNDERSTANDING 1917 AND BEYOND THE RISE OF SINN FÉIN De Valera, although committed to political means of establishing a republic, also represented the new, more radical separatist movement that was taking over the party. The new constitution was also a mixture of Griffith's old policies (national self-sufficiency and abstaining from Westminster) and new policies that reflected the growing separatist mood of the party. This mixture of old and new, partnered with the mood of the nation, ensured that Sinn Féin appealed to a majority of the voting population. This was all but confirmed in the general election of December 1918 when Sinn Féin became the largest political party in Ireland, winning 73 of 103 seats compared to the Irish Parliamentary Party’s six (going into the election, they held 69 seats). The Irish Parliamentary Party had been the largest party in Ireland since the 1880s, but in the years after the 1910 general election, the political landscape in Ireland had changed quite radically. >> The electorate had changed – as well as the Representation of the People Act of 1918 that increased the number of people eligible to vote (including women for the first time), those between the ages of 21 and 29 were first time voters. In that time they had seen Ireland’s involvement in Éamon de Valera the First World War, another Home Rule Act (suspended due to the war) De Valera was born in New York and the Easter Rising to a Spanish father and Irish mother. Moving to Ireland at >> Compared to Sinn Féin’s more progressive policies and radical aim of the age of two, he was raised achieving an independent republic, the IPP were viewed as an older, more in Limerick and grew up to be moderate party who still favoured Home Rule under a British government a passionate supporter of Irish Sinn Féin’s popularity had grown significantly because of their association language and culture. A militant >> with the Rising, their aim of an independent republic and their opposition nationalist, de Valera was one of to conscription. In April 1918 the British government tried to impose the leaders of the 1916 Easter conscription on Ireland in order to boost the number of troops. Rising and only avoided execu- Despite the Irish Parliamentary Party campaigning against the imposed tion because of his American conscription, they had previously campaigned for nationalists to enlist in birth. After being realeased from the British army. prison (due to his participation in the Rising) de Valera rapidly ascended the ranks of Sinn Féin, THE IRISH REPUBLIC AND THE DECLINE OF SINN becoming President of the FÉIN party in October 1917. de Valera Sinn Féin was now the largest party in Ireland and now had the support to resigned from the party in 1926 begin implementing its policies. In the weeks after the general election, after deep divisions caused by Sinn Féin MPs refused to sit at Westminster and instead established an Irish the Anglo-Irish agreement and Parliament.