Issue # 7 , 6th June 2017
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Griffith firmly believed that the armed rebellions had failed and that a passive resistance was the best tactic , this would mean withdrawal from Westminster and establishing a national assembly in Ireland , refusing to pay British taxes , creation of independent Irish courts and Irish civil service , taking control of local authorities and boycotting British products . It attracted nationalists , pacifists and feminists and won fifteen seats in the Dublin local elections in 1908 but failed badly at North Leitrim parliamentary by-elections .
However , after the Easter Rising of 1916 , which Griffith steered clear of , this lead to disapproval from the more hardliners such as Michael Collins . Griffith stepped aside and allowed Eamon de Valera to be elected as Sinn Fein president and at subsequent elections in 1918 , they won 73 out of 105 seats in Westminster . From this they refused to take their seats and succeeded to form an Irish parliament in Dublin , the Dail Eireann , which declared Ireland an independent republic .
The formation of the IRA and evolution of Sinn Fein
Initially founded as a left-wing nationalist movement for Ireland , Sinn Fein established themselves firmly within Ireland . But new leadership of Sinn Fein in 1962 eventually saw the Garland Commission set up to look at the possibility of ending its absence from Westminster . This angered the traditional republican element within the party with some of the senior figures viewing this as treason against the Irish Republic and at the beginning of the 1970 the party split into two . This saw the IRA founded and their Provisional Army Council formed .
The motion of ending their absence in Westminster was put forward by both Sinn Fein and the IRA , both being rejected at their meetings , the former failing to acquire the two-thirds required . Sinn Fein delegates were informed that an IRA convention had been held and had regularised its structure . The opposing party became known as Official Sinn Fein , then Sinn Fein – Workers Party in 1977 and eventually The Workers Party in 1982 . Following the establishment of the IRA , Sinn Fein became a protest movement after the introduction of internment . However , the party lacked a political philosophy that was distinct which was used by the IRA to announce republican policy that was in effect their own but Sinn Fein was given a voice during the IRA ceasefire of 1975 .
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The partition of Ireland and the Troubles
Resentment and conflict had been brewing in Ireland since the partition of Ireland in 1921 , when the Act of 1920 was created to give two self-governing territories in Ireland but with both remaining in the UK . There were also provisions for cooperation between the two territories and the eventual reunification of Ireland . But following the War of Independence , the southern part of Ireland became independent . Since then the key aspirations for Irish nationalists have been for the reunification of Ireland whilst the unionists of Norther Ireland what to remain part of the UK .
This conflict of interest and the partition itself created the foundations for the later conflicts known as the Troubles , which began in 1968 . Prior the violence there was a civil rights movement to end discrimination of Catholics who were mostly nationalists ’ minority by the mostly protestant and unionist government and police . The conflict was primarily political , with the nationalists wanting reunification whilst the unionists wanted to remain as Northern Ireland and part of the UK .
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