History of Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin ("We Ourselves", often mistranslated as "Ourselves Alone") is the name of an Irish political party founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith. It subsequently became a focus for various forms of Irish nationalism, especially Irish republicanism. Its splits during the Irish Civil War in 1922 and again at the beginning of the Troubles in 1969 had dramatic effects on politics in Ireland. Sinn Féin today is a republican, left-wing and secular party.

Early years

The ideas that led to Sinn Féin were first propounded by the United Irishman newspaper and its editor, Arthur Griffith. An article by Griffith in that paper in March 1900 called for the creation of an association to bring together the disparate Irish nationalist groups of the time, and as a result Cumann na nGaedheal was formed at the end of 1900. Griffith first put forward his proposal for the abstention of Irish members of parliament from the Westminster parliament at the 1902 Cumann na nGaedheal convention. A second organisation, the National Council, was formed in 1903 by Maud Gonne and others, including Griffith, on the occasion of the visit of King Edward VII to Dublin. Its purpose was to lobby Dublin Corporation not to present an address to the king. The motion to present an address was duly defeated, but the National Council remained in existence as a pressure group with the aim of increasing nationalist representation on local councils.

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin (/ʃɪn ˈfeɪn/ shin-FAYNIrish pronunciation: [ʃɪnʲ ˈfʲeːnʲ]) is an Irish republican political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970 after a split within the party (the other party became the Workers' Party of Ireland), and has been historically associated with the IRA.Gerry Adams has been party president since 1983.

Sinn Féin is currently the second-largest party behind the Democratic Unionist Party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, where it has four ministerial posts in the power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive, and the fourth-largest party in the Oireachtas, the parliament of the Republic. Sinn Féin also received the second highest number of Northern Ireland votes and seats in the 2015 Westminster elections, behind the DUP.

Sinn Féin (slogan)

Sinn Féin ("ourselves" or "we ourselves") and Sinn Féin Amháin ("ourselves alone") are Irish-language phrases used as a political slogan by Irish nationalists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. While advocating Irish national self-reliance, its precise political meaning was undefined, variously interpreted as separatist republicanism or Arthur Griffith-style dual monarchism. Its earliest use was to describe individual political radicals unconnected with any party and espousing a more "advanced nationalism" than the Irish Home Rule movement. In the 1890s "Sinn Féin, Sinn Féin amháin" was the slogan of the Gaelic League, which advocates the revival of the Irish language.

"Ourselves Alone"

The literal translation of sinn féin is "ourselves" or "we ourselves". Among Irish speakers, "Sinn Féin! Sinn Féin!" was also an exhortation to quell a brimming feud, i.e. "we are all one here!" When English-speakers adopted the slogan, the most common gloss was "ourselves alone", which was also used as a political slogan; it is unclear whether the English or Irish version came first. Ben Novick says the less accurate translation was adopted "as it more clearly summed up the philosophy behind the movement". Alvin Jackson says it may have been a construct of opponents to highlight the individuals' political isolation or the perceived selfishness of abandoning Britain, as in this Punch parody from World War I:

Sinn Féin (newspaper)

Sinn Féin was a weekly Irish nationalist newspaper edited by the Dublin typesetter, journalist and political thinker Arthur Griffith. It was published by the Sinn Féin Printing & Publishing Company Ltd. (SFPP) between 1906 and 1914, and replaced an earlier newspaper called the United Irishman which was liquidated after a libel suit. The SFPP brought out the Sinn Féin Daily in 1909 but had to abandon it when it plunged the company into enormous debt. The Sinn Féin weekly and the SFPP both came to an end when they were suppressed by the British Government in 1914.

Form

When the SFPP began to publish Sinn Féin in 1906 it was a large format (slightly larger than a modern broadsheet), 4-page newspaper with 7 columns per page.

Graphic content

Trained as he was in the graphic side of newspaper production, Arthur Griffith had both a professional interest in and a profound understanding of visual culture. An anonymous article on advertising in Leabhar na hÉireann (The Irish Yearbook), probably written by Grifith himself, explains the benefits of American-style advertising techniques for promoting Irish-made products. The use of typography and images is particularly praised: