Chris Enger 4/28/07 Theology Sinn Fein: A History of Conflict in Northern Ireland



Sinn Fein, translated from the Gaelic "We Ourselves," is the Republican National Party of Ireland, specifically in the northern counties. The group of Irish Republicans strives for a sovereign republic, free from British rule. Sinn Fein seeks genuine democracy, equality, and a lasting compromise, along with liberation from British rule.

The formation of Sinn Fein occurred in 1905 by Arthur Griffith. He asked permission of a local newspaper to use its name for his group. The formation of Sinn Fein was a direct consequence of the collapse of Irish home rule. The party formed to promote Irish culture, the use of the Irish language, and to make Ireland completely self-sufficient economically. Sinn Fein leaders claimed complete and total independence and with the cooperation from Irish trade unions and socialist groups, applied more pressure than ever by ways of physical force, and refusal of trade upon the British government for a free Ireland.

Shortly after the outbreak of World War I, British Parliament passed a Home Rule Act, meaning Ireland as a whole was again under British rule, ripping away the slight glimpse of freedom they had seen before the war. This Act angered the Irish Nationalists and a confrontation occurred. On Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, a group of Nationalists in Dublin rose up against British rule. This outburst was led by many extremist leaders from Sinn Fein and is known as Easter Rising. Hostilities began shortly before noon with a group of Nationalist volunteers led by Padhraic Pearse seized control of the Dublin Post office and other strategic points within the city. With control of these points, the rebels announced the sovereignty of Ireland and the establishment of an Irish Republic. The next day, upon hearing of the uprising, British forces arrived in Dublin and fighting began. By the morning of April 29, the post office, which had turned into the rebel headquarters, was under fierce attack and Pearse saw no chance of a victory. He conceded, ending the revolt. About 440 British soldiers were killed during the revolt, which came to be known as Easter Rising, and an uncountable number of Irish. Easter Rising was the first of many events, which led to the establishment of the Irish Free State, the modern day Republic of Ireland.

In 1918, shortly after the end of World War I, 73 delegates of Sinn Fein were elected into British Parliament. These 73 members called once again for their country's independence, and named the President of Sinn Fein, Eamon de Valera, head of the new republic. Over the next three years, Ireland was turned into a blood stricken battlefield, full of rotting Irish Guerilla corpses, and cadavers of the British military. An agreement, the Anglo-Irish Treaty, was reached in 1921 announcing the Southern Part of Ireland as the Irish Free State, but keeping the Northern part under British rule. This treaty was met in Ireland with debate. Some countrymen elected to take what they could get as far as freedom, while others felt the freedom should be all or nothing, and decided not to exclude Northern Ireland from the sovereignty. Another reason for this divide was the Irish didn't want to be a part of the British Commonwealth, as the treaty indicated.

The Anglo-Irish treaty brought more harm and conflict than good to the people of Ireland. The short but bitter Irish Civil war, fought between supporters of the treaty and its opponents, lasted from June 1922 to April 1923. Michael Collins, an intelligence officer of the IRA was shot in August 1922, fueling the Irish independence movement even further. The pro-Treaty side won out in the end, establishing an Irish Free State in the South, while leaving Northern Ireland still under British rule.

After a number of failed attempts to acquire arms, including a deal made to link with Nazi's in 1942, the party shifted towards the liberal side of the political spectrum. Sinn Fein came under the influence of a generation of intellectuals associated with the Communist Party of Britain. This new generation of leaders and ideas sought to bring the Protestant workers of Ulster to an anti-imperialist front. During the same time, the Catholics of Northern Ireland were benefiting from the new welfare system in the UK. Though they didn't enjoy being forced to live under British rule, the benefits they reaped was enough to slow down the violence. Soon however, the British began to stop giving equal welfare and job opportunities to the people of its colony in Northern Ireland. Thus, the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) formed, to put an end to the discrimination.

Despite the pressure from the NICRA, no reforms were made by the British Parliament to benefit the Northern Irish. In August 1969, waves of riots swept across Northern Ireland. The IRA's minimal response to this violence discredited the liberal leaders of Sinn Fein, and by 1970, a split had occurred. The Catholic Republicans and the Protestant Liberals divided. Sinn Fein became divided into two parties, the Catholic Republican Party, mostly in the still British colony of Northern Ireland, and the Protestant party took over the Irish Free State now knows as The Republic of Ireland.

The modern day Sinn Fein, though not as fiery and brass as the Sinn Fein of Easter Rising, still struggles in Northern Ireland. The Irish Republican Army (IRA) has been outlawed since the 1960s and Sinn Fein acts as its political arm. The Modern Sinn Fein has seen an internal struggle between the Northern leadership under Gerry Adams, and Southern Leadership under Ruairi O Bradaigh. In 1986, Ruairi O Bradaigh and his followers left the party and established a new one called, "Republican Sinn Fein," claiming it was the "True Sinn Fein." Sinn Fein is currently the third largest party in Ireland by popular vote, and the largest political party in Northern Ireland, recently displacing the Socialist Democratic and Labour Party. The Party currently has five members of Parliament, out of the 18 representing Northern Ireland, and 28 Members of the Legislative Assembly, out of the 108. Sinn Fein's force is smaller in the Republic of Ireland than in the Northern State, holding only five out of 166 seats in parliament and no members of the senate of the Republic of Ireland. Sinn Fein holds two of the Irish seats in the European parliament.

Throughout History the British have mistreated the people of Ireland. Sinn Fein seeks genuine democracy, equality, and a lasting compromise, along with liberation from British rule. Six and twenty-six equals a united Ireland. The slogan of Sinn Fein refers to the six counties of Northern Ireland, and the twenty-six counties of the Republic of Ireland, forming the complete Emerald Isle.