The making of modern Ireland (1845-2000): the performance of Fianna Fáil in government from 1932-38

Résumé du document

De Valera founded the Republican Party ?Fianna Fail' on the 23rd of March 1926. This party evolved as an initiative to fight for Ireland's independence. De Valera believed that a new political party was a necessity in order to oppose the partition of Ireland (which was established by the 1921 Treaty). Actually he was extremely disappointed by the lack of opposition of Sinn Fein against the 1926 Finance Bill. This Finance bill was opposed as the it was instrumental in the partition of Ireland. In the words coined by McCarthy, with respect to the Finance Bill, the bill had ?made the partition of Ireland official.' Hence, Fianna Fail was built on the basis of a strong anti-Treaty strategy, and more importantly against Congrave's Constitution of the Irish Free State (1922). This in turn gave Ireland the status of a dominion of Great Britain (McCarthy). As a matter of fact Fianna Fail's objective was different from Cosgrave's conservative government (Cumann na nGaedheal that became Fine Gael in1933) in very many respects. Therefore in this essay, we shall ponder into the extent to which Fianna Fail was a dissident party. We shall further reflect on the success of its achievements and accomplishments that was gained between 1932 and 1938. When De Valera came to power in 1932, the program of Fianna Fail was undeniably considered a revolutionary strategy to a certain extent. However, De Valera's government also strived to attain some stability between 1932 and 1938.

Extraits

[...] He also used the military tribunal against them and the IRA (i.e IRA members and 349 Blueshirts were convicted in 1934). And he eventually banned the IRA in June 1936 after a series of violent murders (i.e. the murder of Vice-Admiral Somerville) (Lydon, 1998). IV/ 1937-1938 The triumph of De Valera's government The main achievements of Fianna Fail and De Valera between 1932 and 1938 were probably the 1937 Constitution that made Ireland a republic and the end of the economic war. Townshend points out that real force of De Valera's constitution was declaratory and symbolic” rather than institutional (i.e. [...]

[...] The Making of Ireland: From Ancient times to the Present. Chapter 15 ”Towards a Republic (London: Routledge, 1998). Lyons, F.S.L. Ireland since the Famine. Part IV, chapter 2 and chapter 4 (London: Fontana, 1973). Townshend, Charles. Ireland : the 20th century. Chapter 8 (London : Arnold ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1999). [...]

[...] It was mirrored by the Eucharistic Congress held in Dublin in June 1932. Moreover, in April, the Executive Council had taken measures to suspend the sitting of the Houses of the Oireachtas. So, De Valera chose to pursue the same “confessional strategy” as Cosgrave (Keogh 70). As a matter of fact it illustrated some of De Valera's nationalistic concerns, because he regarded the Irish nation as closely linked to Catholicism. Keogh wrote that the Eucharistic Congress a manifestation of Irish Catholic nationalism” (p72). [...]

[...] Moreover the influence of Catholicism was found in the articles that underlined the importance of the family for instance (i.e. the article 41 forbade divorce and the article 42 described the family as primary and natural educator” of children) (Townshend, 1999). These conservative “principles of social policy” remained a milestone in the building of the Irish nation after 1937 (Townshend, 1999). The constitution was enacted by the people on 1 July 1937 (Keogh 203), and Fianna Fail won six seats in 1937, whereas Fine Gael did not won any seat. [...]

[...] Cosgrave also thought that De Valera would not be enough experimented to keep the power, but De Valera called an election in 1933 which turned out to be a success for Fianna Fail (they took 77 seats). This strengthened the political power of Fianna Fail and De Valera's government. Furthermore Townshend underlines that this successful transfer of power from Cumann na nGaedheal to Fiann Fail was the “ultimate test of democratic “normalization””. Fianna Fail was not a communist party but it took ground-breaking measures. One of the first of these measures was the suspension of the Public Safety Act which led Fianna Fail to abolish the military tribunal and release all “political” prisoners (Keogh 66-67). [...]