Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- List of figures and tables
- Preface
- Note on the text
- List of abbreviations
- PROLOGUE: BEFORE THE EASTER RISING
- THE IRISH REVOLUTION, 1916–1923
- 2 Rebellion and hibernation, 1916
- 3 Organizers and converts, 1917
- 4 Reverses and victory, 1918
- 5 The party: structures and members
- 6 Policy: beliefs and attitudes
- 7 War and repression, 1919–1921
- 8 Ministers and bureaucrats, 1919–1921
- 9 The treaty and the split, 1921–1922
- 10 The Pact election and the Civil War, 1922–1923
- EPILOGUE: AFTER THE CIVIL WAR
- Select bibliography
- Index
8 - Ministers and bureaucrats, 1919–1921
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- List of figures and tables
- Preface
- Note on the text
- List of abbreviations
- PROLOGUE: BEFORE THE EASTER RISING
- THE IRISH REVOLUTION, 1916–1923
- 2 Rebellion and hibernation, 1916
- 3 Organizers and converts, 1917
- 4 Reverses and victory, 1918
- 5 The party: structures and members
- 6 Policy: beliefs and attitudes
- 7 War and repression, 1919–1921
- 8 Ministers and bureaucrats, 1919–1921
- 9 The treaty and the split, 1921–1922
- 10 The Pact election and the Civil War, 1922–1923
- EPILOGUE: AFTER THE CIVIL WAR
- Select bibliography
- Index
Summary
Military events dominated the years after January 1919, but they represented only one aspect of the separatists' struggle against British rule. The other consisted of political, administrative and judicial campaigns, and in these areas the Sinn Féin party might have been expected to remain predominant. But here, as in the armed conflict against the forces of the crown, politicians were regarded merely as auxiliaries of their more important allies, although here their relegation was a cause of much greater surprise and disillusionment. The high hopes for the party's future which many felt in the aftermath of its triumph were soon to be disappointed.
In December 1918 such problems still lay in the future, and Sinn Féin was rightly exultant. Its vindication of the Easter Rising, its destruction of the Parliamentary Party, its ability to win a conclusive victory in the general election despite the imprisonment of its leaders, all filled it with confidence and enthusiasm. The standing committee revived its extravagant ideas of a year earlier and planned to establish a series of departments dealing with areas such as public health, the Irish language, national finance and foreign affairs. New pamphlets were prepared, and two special organizers were appointed to improve the party's efficiency in Ulster. When the standing committee met with a group of the newly elected MPs all those present agreed on the importance of maintaining Sinn Féin's political organization; in particular its electoral machinery should be conserved.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Resurrection of IrelandThe Sinn Féin Party, 1916–1923, pp. 304 - 345Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999