THE SINN FEIN MOVEMENT--1905 TO 1913
The Sinn Fein movement may be said to have begun in 1905 with, the general
adoption by the Separatist organisations in that year of the "Sinn Fein
Policy" as a basis of operations, and with the combination of all the
organisations into one, and a consequent more effective distribution of
energy, it made rapid progress. Branches of Sinn Fein were quickly formed
in all the larger towns, and more slowly in the smaller towns and in some
country districts. But at first it did not cause much fluttering in the
Parliamentarian dovecote, because its members were nearly altogether apart
from the people, upon whom the Parliamentarians relied for their strength.
Sinn Fein found its expounders and its followers almost wholly amongst
young men and young women of the intellectual order, who were more or less
in the general current set up by the language movement, which was then at
full strength, and who, were it not for Sinn Fein, would not bother
themselves with any political movement--save, of course, the Fenian
minority. It made no attack upon the mainsprings of the Parliamentarian
power, the daily press and the platform, and its propaganda was almost
wholly educational, and was wholly carried on in rooms and debating
societies, with an occasional public celebration of a national
anniversary. It was, in effect, creating an atmosphere which would
eventually have brought about the complete collapse of the Parliamentarian
power, even without any direct attack, and Mr. Griffith was very much in
favour of continuing the organisation upon that educational basis and
refraining from any incursion into platform politics. Circumstances,
however, proved too strong for him, and a beginning was made with
municipal representation. In Dublin the tide ran very strongly in a Sinn
Fein direction and some ten or a dozen seats were captured at the
municipal elections. Some seats in the provinces were also captured, but
in these cases I think the elections were not won upon a clear political
issue, but upon the personal popularity of the candidates. Wherever
possible the Branches of Sinn Fein inveigled the local Branches of the
United Irish League into debates on their respective policies, and usually
had no difficulty in pulverising them. Many attempts were made, also, to
inveigle members of the Party, but the only member who accepted a Sinn
Fein invitation was Mr. Stephen Gwynn, who was rather severely handled in
debate by the London Central Branch of Sinn Fein; while the "Irish
Parliament" Branch of the U.I.L., in a two nights' debate, conducted with
great vehemence and in the presence of a huge crowd, was practically
argued out of existence altogether.
The cumulative effect of all this was to set the name Sinn Fein
reverberating, ever so slightly but still clearly, in Ireland. The
Parliamentarian Press began to be conscious of its existence and it was
understood that it formed a lively topic of discussion, in private,
amongst the younger members of the Party. The Party were at the time in
very low water. The Liberals had come into power in 1906 with a majority
over all parties combined, and they promptly removed Home Rule from their
programme, offering instead the Devolution Bill, a plan for appeasing
Ireland with a number of glorified County Councils without an Irish
Parliament, and which was rejected even by a United Irish League
Convention although the Party were understood to be working for its
acceptance until the last moment. This offer and its rejection, and the
obvious refusal of the Liberal Party to carry out their implied promises
with regard to Ireland, and the helplessness of the Parliamentary Party,
led to the beginnings of a revolt in the ranks of the Parliamentary Party.
Mr. C. J. Dolan, member for North Leitrim, declared himself to be a Sinn
Feiner; Sir Thomas Esmonde, a Party Whip at the time, followed suit; and
others of the younger members were known, or were credibly believed, to be
considering the same course. All the influence which the Party could
muster was immediately brought to bear upon the two rebels, and in the
case of Sir Thomas Esmonde with complete success. He remained a Sinn
Feiner, if my memory is accurate, for about a week, and then recanted. Mr.
Dolan, however, proved to have more conviction. He not alone refused to be
cajoled, but he resigned his seat and contested it again as a Sinn Feiner.
It was the first definite challenge since the Union to the theory of
Parliamentarianism.
The Sinn Fein Executive at the time did not want an election on its hands.
It was not ready for it. It knew that the movement, so far as a policy of
Parliamentary elections was concerned, was only in its initial stages,
that a Sinn Fein candidate outside Dublin stood no chance, and that a Sinn
Fein defeat would react unfavourably on the movement, even though a good
fight were made. But the circumstances gave them no choice, and both sides
did their best in North Leitrim. The Parliamentary Party had all the
advantage that money, organisation, and Press could give them; whereas the
Sinn Feiners had no money, no organisation in the county, which, up to Mr.
Dolan's conversion, did not contain a single Sinn Feiner, few speakers, no
Press save the weekly "United Irishman"--in fact, they had nothing save
logic and courage. Mr. Dolan polled 1,200 votes and his opponent some 800
or 900 more, a result which, considering that all the big-wigs of the
Party had been sent down to the campaign, was a moral victory for Sinn
Fein and heartened the movement immensely; but it undoubtedly set going a
reaction against it in the country, and it arrested the flow of converts
from the Parliamentarian policy.
A daily paper had long been a cherished project of Mr. Griffith, and
during the North Leitrim election he became so sensible of the part played
by the daily press in that election that after it was over he set about
the establishment of a daily. By sheer obstinacy he talked over the Sinn
Fein Executive, none of whom viewed the project with anything but
apprehension, and an appeal for funds was made. It was an inopportune
time for such an appeal, as the slender purses of Sinn Feiners had just
been emptied in order to defray the expenses of North Leitrim; but
enthusiasm was high, and sufficient capital was subscribed for the modest
venture it was intended to be. The paper, however, never had a chance of
succeeding, its slender capital being counted in hundreds instead of in
thousands, and it subsisted for some months only by a periodical call on
the purses of its readers, and then collapsed, with adverse results. Its
failure not alone damned the chance of the Sinn Fein policy sweeping the
country--which chance had looked a sporting one--but it damped the
enthusiasm of the individual Sinn Feiners and arrested the movement. And
it was followed by another fatal complication. Some individuals who were
half Sinn Feiners and half followers of Mr. William O'Brien, one foot in
each camp, set on foot the idea of a combination between the two forces,
with a mixture of policies, viz., that there should be a Parliamentary
Party but that it should be subsidiary, and should be controlled by a
National Executive sitting in Dublin, which latter body should decide, as
a matter of tactics, whether the Party should attend Parliament or
withdraw from Parliament on any particular occasion. (This, it will be
noticed, was the after policy of the "Irish Nation League.") Mr. O'Brien
was understood to be favourable to the project, and certain of the Sinn
Fein leaders were also said to be not ill-disposed to it: but it was
publicly exposed, and as the result the Sinn Fein Executive definitely
repudiated it. The mischief had, however, been done: the Sinn Fein credit
went lower and lower in the country, and the Fenian element, to all
intents and purposes, withdrew their active support. Finally, when the
General Election of January, 1910, gave Mr. Redmond's Party the balance of
power, and the Liberals promised Home Rule, the country definitely threw
off the Sinn Fein idea and the organisation dwindled down to a Branch in
Dublin, and perhaps two or three in the provinces. From 1910 to 1913 the
skeleton of the Sinn Fein organisation continued in existence; the Dublin
Central Branch met regularly; the paper appeared regularly; annual
conventions were held; but no political work other than indoor educational
and propagandist work was done. Even though most of the country branches
were moribund, however, the framework of the organisation was still there:
it merely marked time until there should be some issue to Mr. Redmond's
balance of power. The Sinn Feiners knew well that that issue would be
unfavourable to the continued adhesion of the country to the
Parliamentarian policy, and they marked time.
The movement was, properly speaking, the political expression of the
spirit which was rendered permanent in Irish evolution by the
establishment of the Gaelic League, and its distinguishing characteristic
is in the permanence of its principles and of its policy. Its principles
and its policy are applicable at any stage of the struggle for Irish
freedom and under any conditions, and cannot be overwhelmed. They are
based upon ideas rather than on rhetoric, and they appeal to the intellect
rather than the passions. They emphasize the distinctive nationality of
Ireland, not so much by talking about it as by producing and
strengthening the evidences of that distinctive nationality: and in the
brain of Mr. Griffith they evolved a comprehensive and unconquerable
national policy, a policy to which all who believe in Ireland a Nation can
subscribe without compromising either extreme or moderate degrees of that
belief, a policy which, applied by a subject nation, gives the occupying
nation three alternatives, viz.: (1) extermination; (2) a permanent army
of occupation and the permanent suspension of all pretence at
constitutional government; (3) evacuation.
From the beginning the movement was crippled for want of money. Its
members, with the exception of Mr. Edward Martyn and Mr. John Sweetman,
were all young men and women, earning low wages, whose shillings and
sixpences, cheerfully given, only sufficed to keep the paper going, to
defray office expenses, and to finance the solitary organiser the
Organisation boasted in its best days. Had it had the money in 1907 or
1908, its two best years, to take the best of its young men and let them
loose upon Ireland at the work which was nearest their hearts, even Mr.
Redmond's balance of power would not have deferred his eclipse. But its
executive knew, and every member knew, that that day was only deferred,
and that the Policy of Self-Reliance would hold the field some day.