II.

Formation of Fianna Fáil

From 1923 until 1927 Eamon de Valera led an anti-Treaty Sinn Fein party that refused to recognize the legitimacy of the Irish Free State or to take its seats in its parliament, the Dáil Éireann. By 1926 the Irish Free State had been accepted as legitimate by the majority of its electorate, while the anti-Treaty Sinn Fein remained a marginalized political element. The decision of de Valera and his followers to abandon abstentionism and to accept the principle of entering parliament split the anti-Treaty Sinn Fein, with the majority following de Valera into parliament as Fianna Fáil.

Fianna Fáil sought to deliver on the Republican agenda of the Irish revolution: the unification of Ireland, the restoration of the Irish language, and the creation of a culturally and economically self-sufficient republican state. Drawing on the radical republican wing of Sinn Fein and the military personnel of the defeated IRA, Fianna Fáil formed a dynamic political machine at every level of Irish society.