I.

Introduction

Sinn Fein (Irish Gaelic, “ourselves alone”), Irish nationalist political party whose goal has been to end the United Kingdom’s control over any part of Ireland and to create a unified Irish state. Sinn Fein is often characterized as the political arm of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), a paramilitary organization.

II.

Origins

The political ideas and objectives of Sinn Fein were first outlined by Irish journalist Arthur Griffith in 1905. The first Sinn Fein party (1905-1917) was a pacifist, politically insignificant party that relied primarily on the journalism of Griffith to gain support for its nationalist ideas. Foremost among these were his advocacy of a protected Irish economy, which would enable native Irish industry to flourish, and a dual monarchy, in which the British monarch would be crowned in Dublin as the king or queen of the Kingdom of Ireland. Ireland would have its own parliament in Dublin, autonomous of the British, while the two kingdoms would remain united under the British-Irish monarch.

A.

The Easter Rebellion

Griffith’s ideas failed to attract widespread support, but the 1916 Easter Rebellion transformed the party. During that uprising, Irish nationalists captured the city of Dublin before being overwhelmed and captured by British troops.

Sinn Fein had no official connection with the violence of the unsuccessful 1916 uprising, but it was later associated with the event by the press. Following the capture and execution of the leaders of the uprising, Sinn Fein became the focus for political activity protesting against British rule in Ireland and successfully contested a series of by-elections for seats in the British Parliament. In 1917 members of Sinn Fein met and officially adopted a republican platform, which spelled out the party’s primary goal as the establishment of a free, united Irish Republic. With this, the two factions of revolutionary protest in Ireland, those who wanted reform by political means and those who wanted reform by military means, fused within the party’s ranks.

B.

Growing Popularity

This revolutionary and republican Sinn Fein party (1917-1921) was led by one of the leaders of the Easter Rebellion, Eamon de Valera. Sinn Fein’s popularity was further enhanced by the British threat in 1917 and 1918 to introduce conscription (compulsory military service) in Ireland to support Britain’s efforts against Germany in World War I (1914-1918). Sinn Fein, in conjunction with other Irish nationalist bodies and the Roman Catholic Church, organized an anticonscription campaign that gained huge popular support. The 1918 general election confirmed Sinn Fein’s popularity. Outside of the six northeastern counties of Ulster, an area which, being primarily Protestant and loyal to Britain, was against unification with the rest of Ireland, Sinn Fein won 73 out of a possible 105 Irish seats in the British Parliament. In January 1919 Sinn Fein declared Ireland to be independent from Britain, established its own parliament in Dublin (the Dáil Éireann), and formed its own administration. From 1919 the paramilitary Irish Volunteers, later the Irish Republican Army, gave allegiance to the Dáil and waged the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921) against British forces in Ireland. See also Irish Revolution.

III.

War and Division

In 1920 the primarily Protestant six counties of Ulster were established by the British government as the province of Northern Ireland. In 1921 the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed, which concluded the war of independence and established southern Ireland as the Irish Free State. However, this treaty offered far less than most Sinn Fein members wanted. Many, including de Valera, rejected it because it did not create a fully independent Irish republic. Those who accepted the treaty, led by Michael Collins, understood this, but they hoped that the treaty would deliver full independence at a later date. Sinn Fein split over the acceptance of the treaty, and six months later the Irish Civil War began between the rival factions. The war lasted for two years, with the pro-Treaty faction eventually emerging as the victor.

The victorious pro-Treaty Sinn Feiners went on to form the government of the Irish Free State as the Cumann na nGaedheal Party, and, after 1933, as the Fine Gael Party. After the civil war, the anti-Treaty faction formed a new Sinn Fein party, again under the leadership of de Valera. This new Sinn Fein sought a fully independent Irish republic and refused to recognize the legitimacy of the Free State. Though members of this new Sinn Fein contested seats in the Dáil Éireann, they refused to occupy the seats they won. In 1926 Sinn Fein split again over the decision of de Valera to end this practice, which led to de Valera and his followers leaving Sinn Fein and forming the Fianna Fáil Party.

A.

Declining Influence

From 1926 Sinn Fein’s importance and influence waned. After the Republic of Ireland was established in 1949, a lengthy campaign for the unification of Ireland began. This campaign was taken up militarily by the IRA in the 1950s and early 1960s in the form of terrorist acts against the British government in Northern Ireland. At the same time, discrimination against the Catholic nationalist minority in Northern Ireland by the Protestant government led to rioting in Catholic areas of the province and the establishment of civil rights groups.

IV.

Resurgence

The growing unrest brought about the resurgence of Sinn Fein, as the party found considerable opportunity to infiltrate and participate in popular protest organizations. Violence after 1969 led to a resurgence in IRA activity that further enhanced Sinn Fein’s political profile. In 1970 splits occurred once again within Sinn Fein and the IRA, creating the Official IRA and Official Sinn Fein, and the Provisional IRA and Provisional Sinn Fein. The Officials, who were centered primarily in Ireland, wanted to reform Northern Ireland internally and to create a united Irish socialist republic by political means. The Provisionals, centered in Northern Ireland, also wanted to remove the British presence in Ireland and create a socialist republic, but primarily by military means.

The Provisionals have been numerically and militarily superior to the Officials and, with the exception of intermittent cease-fires, they have waged an ongoing terrorist campaign against the British government. The Officials have concentrated on political agitation, becoming Sinn Fein the Workers’ Party in 1977, the Workers’ Party in 1982, and finally, in 1992, the Democratic Left.

Sympathy and support for Provisional Sinn Fein and the Provisional IRA (hereafter referred to simply as Sinn Fein and the IRA) were enhanced by hunger strikes by republican prisoners in Northern Ireland in 1981. During the strikes, ten prisoners of the British government accused of being members of the IRA starved themselves to death in protest over the conditions of their imprisonment. These strikes ushered in a new policy of a joint military and political campaign for Sinn Fein. While the IRA continued with its campaign of violence, Sinn Fein contested several seats in the British Parliament in the immediate aftermath of the hunger strikes.

In 1983 Gerry Adams, president of Sinn Fein, was elected to the British Parliament but did not take his seat. He was returned to office in 1987, but lost his seat in the 1992 elections. Following a cease-fire declaration in August 1994 by the IRA, Sinn Fein entered into negotiations with the British and Irish governments. However, progress was limited and the IRA resumed its campaign of violence in February 1996. When additional talks among the major political parties in Northern Ireland and Ireland got underway later that year, Sinn Fein was excluded because the IRA refused to completely decommission (surrender) its weapons.

In 1997 Sinn Fein had its best electoral showing ever, as both Adams and his deputy Martin McGuinness were elected to the British Parliament. Although Adams and McGuinness refused to take their seats, Adams demanded that Sinn Fein be included in the peace negotiations, saying that their election demonstrated public support for Sinn Fein.

V.

Sinn Fein and the Peace Process

In July 1997 the IRA renewed its cease-fire, and after the British government dropped its demands that the IRA completely disarm, Sinn Fein was allowed to join the Northern Ireland peace negotiations. As Sinn Fein’s primary representative at the talks, Adams played an important role in the drafting of a historic power-sharing accord between Protestant and Catholic factions. The accord, which provided for an elected assembly and an executive cabinet to govern the province, was announced on April 10, 1998, and became known as the Good Friday Agreement. One month later Sinn Fein declared its official support. On May 22, in referendums in both Northern Ireland and Ireland, the accord was overwhelmingly approved, with a 71 percent yes vote in Northern Ireland and a 94 percent yes vote in Ireland. See also Northern Ireland Conflict.

Elections were held in June 1998 for the new, 108-member Northern Ireland Assembly. Sinn Fein won 18 seats, finishing fourth behind the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). David Trimble of the UUP became head of the executive cabinet.

In September 1998 Adams announced that Sinn Fein considered violence effectively over in Irish politics. However, Adams and Sinn Fein did not endorse the surrender of IRA weapons, and the issue of IRA disarmament remained a key stumbling block for the parties. A stalemate over IRA disarmament delayed the formation of the provincial government for more than a year. Sinn Fein’s fourth-place showing in the elections meant that the party would have two seats in the cabinet; however, Trimble refused to appoint Sinn Fein members until the IRA began to decommission its weapons. The stalemate ended in November 1999 after the IRA entered disarmament talks and Sinn Fein was allowed to join the government.

The ongoing failure to establish a timetable for IRA disarmament acceptable to Sinn Fein and the UUP repeatedly threatened to undermine the peace process. The British government temporarily suspended the assembly from February to May 2000 to prevent the provincial government’s collapse, as feuding among the parties intensified. In July 2001 Trimble resigned as first minister, saying he could no longer serve in a power-sharing government with Sinn Fein unless the IRA disarmed. Facing an indefinite suspension of the assembly or new elections, Sinn Fein, for the first time in its history, publicly called on the IRA to begin disarming. In late October, the IRA announced that it had begun destroying part of its military arsenal, a move confirmed by the international commission overseeing decommissioning. In November the power-sharing government resumed operations with the participation of Sinn Fein and the UUP.

The Northern Ireland peace process faced a new crisis in October 2002 amid growing allegations of IRA misconduct, including charges that the IRA, with the complicity of Sinn Fein, had engaged in political espionage. Sinn Fein rejected the allegations as politically motivated. In early October Trimble threatened to pull his UUP out of the provincial government unless the British government took immediate steps to expel Sinn Fein from the body. In mid-October the British government again suspended the assembly to prevent the power-sharing government’s collapse.

Subsequently, the IRA came under increasing pressure from the British and Irish governments to disarm, in order to allow final implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. Failure to achieve progress on this issue meant that the elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly held in November 2003 went ahead while the body remained suspended. The results were positive for Sinn Fein, which increased its representation from 18 seats to 24 and replaced the SDLP as the leading nationalist party in the assembly. However, the DUP—a party traditionally opposed to the Good Friday Agreement and to cooperation with Sinn Fein—emerged as the leading party in the assembly, and the self-government promised by the agreement remained out of reach. Sinn Fein achieved further successes in the May 2005 general election to the British Parliament, picking up one seat in the House of Commons and bringing its total number of seats to five.

In July 2005 the IRA formally declared an end to its armed campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland. In September an independent commission announced that the IRA had completed the process of decommissioning its weapons. In January 2007 a Sinn Fein party conference voted to begin cooperating with the Police Service of Northern Ireland, which is predominantly Protestant, marking a big step in meeting unionist demands. In addition, an official report found the IRA to be complying fully with its 2005 promise to renounce violence.

In March 2007 voters in Northern Ireland elected a new Northern Ireland Assembly. Sinn Fein won 4 additional seats over the 2003 tally, bringing its total to 28. The DUP again emerged as the leading party, winning 36 seats. The UUP won 18, and the SDLP won 16. Britain announced a March 26 deadline for the parties to begin power sharing, or else the assembly would again be suspended. On that date Sinn Fein leader Adams met face-to-face with DUP leader Ian Paisley for the first time, and they reached an accord on forging a joint platform for government. A power-sharing government took office in May 2007 with Paisley as first minister of Northern Ireland and Martin McGuinness, a former IRA commander and chief negotiator for Sinn Fein, as deputy first minister.