"History is past politics, and politics present history." John Robert Seeley

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"What we have to learn to do, we learn by doing." Aristotle

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Arthur Griffith 1872 – 1922

Arthur Griffith

               

 “A braver man than Arthur Griffith, I never met”

Lord Birkenhead

(Source: T.P. Coogan’s ‘Michael Collins’)

 

 

 

 

 

 Arthur Griffith founded the Sinn Féin Partyin 1905. He believed in creating a settlement between Britain & Ireland based on the Austro-Hungarian model of a ‘Dual Monarchy’.

Initially, Griffith worked as a journalist with the Independent & The Nation.

He was also a founding member of the Celtic Literary Society in 1893 as well as the founder of the lesser-known Cumann na nGaedhaelin 1900, which aimed to restore Gaelic cultural & eduactional values to resist Anglicisation of Ireland.

Member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood & Gaelic League.

Influences:  Charles Stewart Parnell & Michael Davitt

Political Bias:  Griffith tended to be a realist and a pragmatist, as shown by his ‘Dual Monarchy’ proposal. Conservative in nature, he was however, an ever-present radical member of the IRB & Gaelic cultural movements right up until his death in 1922 from a brain haemorrhage. Notably, when Griffith founded the Sinn Féin Party in 1905, he incorporated all forms of Nationalism except that of Home Rule, which he considered a failed policy since the downfall of C.S. Parnell. He opposed and criticised the lukewarm nature of the Third Home Rule Bill (1912)

He also strongly voiced his opposition in the Sinn Féin Publication to Redmond’s Pro-Volunteer call for the British Army in 1914. Because of this and previous incidents of strongly-worded publications, Griffith was again suppressed and his paper banned.

Even though he took no part in the 1916 Rising, he was arrested and imprisoned by the British due to his writings, criticisms  and reputation within the Republican movement as a whole.  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Positions Held:

Sinn Féin President: 1905 – 1917

Sinn Féin MP for East Cavan: 1918

Vice-President of Dáil Eireann Republic: 1919-1921

Leader of Sinn Féin Delegation at Anglo-Irish Treaty Negotiations: 1921

President of Dáil Eireann: 9th of January 1922 – 12th of August 1922

 

Publications & Writings:

The Resurrection of Hungary: A Parallel for Ireland’ (1905)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘The Home Rule Bill Examined’ (1912)

 

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