Why did Sinn Fein win the 1918 General Election?- The Strengths of the
Party
Electoral Success
● Sinn Fein exploited the fact that Britain had associated the Easter
Rising with their republican movement, affiliating Sinn Fein with the
martyred rebels
○ As a result, Sinn Fein was supported by many who had been
interned following the Rising (eg. MacCurtain and Griffith), using
these groups to expand their support base
○ Sinn Fein continued to capitalise upon this support by appealing
to republican and nationalist prisoners to support the cause
■ December 1916: Lloyd George (now Prime Minister)
releases interned nationalists from the prisons at Frongoch
and Reading.
■ These prisoners support Sinn Fein in their electoral
campaigns
■ One such prisoner, Griffith, becomes a significant Sinn Fein
leader, and the movement becomes more organised.
● The North Roscommon By-election
○ 3rd February 1917
○ Count Plunkett (the father of Easter rebel Joseph Plunkett) wins
the election as an unaffiliated candidate (however, it is
understood that he unofficially represents Sinn Fein)
○ This election linked various Irish nationalist groups under the Sinn
Fein banner, creating a unified front that increased the party’s
political influence
■ Groups supporting the Sinn Fein campaign from 1916 to
1918 included the original Sinn Fein group, the Irish Nation
League (INL), the Irish Volunteers, the Gaelic League,
, Cumann na Bhan, and the Irish Republican Brotherhood
(IRB).
■ This combined political finesse with military force, and Sinn
Fein benefited from its use of military personnel as political
campaigners, since they were critical of the failures of
Redmond’s constitutional nationalism
○ Republican activists now had electoral experience
■ The Volunteers were enthusiastic campaign workers,
especially when compared to the disillusioned supporters of
the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP)
○ North Roscommon was a “turning point… [and] the emergence of
a sense of cohesion and common purpose among a disparate
group of people”- Laffan
● The South Longford By-election
○ May 1917
○ Won by McGuinness (an imprisoned Volunteer)
○ McGuinness won by 37 votes (over the Irish Parliamentary Party,
IPP, candidate)
○ Sinn Fein ran the campaign (successfully) with the campaign
slogan “Put him in to get him out”, linking the Sinn Fein movement
to the Irish Volunteers and other republican prisoners
○ This election further cemented the bond between the political
aspect of Sinn Fein and the radical violence seen from the
Volunteers
● The East Clare By-election
○ July 1917
○ De Valera wins the East Clare by-election, showing how the IPP
was becoming almost obsolete in the world of Irish nationalist
politics
○ De Valera wins with his new slogan of “self-determination”, rather
than a promise of Home Rule
Party
Electoral Success
● Sinn Fein exploited the fact that Britain had associated the Easter
Rising with their republican movement, affiliating Sinn Fein with the
martyred rebels
○ As a result, Sinn Fein was supported by many who had been
interned following the Rising (eg. MacCurtain and Griffith), using
these groups to expand their support base
○ Sinn Fein continued to capitalise upon this support by appealing
to republican and nationalist prisoners to support the cause
■ December 1916: Lloyd George (now Prime Minister)
releases interned nationalists from the prisons at Frongoch
and Reading.
■ These prisoners support Sinn Fein in their electoral
campaigns
■ One such prisoner, Griffith, becomes a significant Sinn Fein
leader, and the movement becomes more organised.
● The North Roscommon By-election
○ 3rd February 1917
○ Count Plunkett (the father of Easter rebel Joseph Plunkett) wins
the election as an unaffiliated candidate (however, it is
understood that he unofficially represents Sinn Fein)
○ This election linked various Irish nationalist groups under the Sinn
Fein banner, creating a unified front that increased the party’s
political influence
■ Groups supporting the Sinn Fein campaign from 1916 to
1918 included the original Sinn Fein group, the Irish Nation
League (INL), the Irish Volunteers, the Gaelic League,
, Cumann na Bhan, and the Irish Republican Brotherhood
(IRB).
■ This combined political finesse with military force, and Sinn
Fein benefited from its use of military personnel as political
campaigners, since they were critical of the failures of
Redmond’s constitutional nationalism
○ Republican activists now had electoral experience
■ The Volunteers were enthusiastic campaign workers,
especially when compared to the disillusioned supporters of
the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP)
○ North Roscommon was a “turning point… [and] the emergence of
a sense of cohesion and common purpose among a disparate
group of people”- Laffan
● The South Longford By-election
○ May 1917
○ Won by McGuinness (an imprisoned Volunteer)
○ McGuinness won by 37 votes (over the Irish Parliamentary Party,
IPP, candidate)
○ Sinn Fein ran the campaign (successfully) with the campaign
slogan “Put him in to get him out”, linking the Sinn Fein movement
to the Irish Volunteers and other republican prisoners
○ This election further cemented the bond between the political
aspect of Sinn Fein and the radical violence seen from the
Volunteers
● The East Clare By-election
○ July 1917
○ De Valera wins the East Clare by-election, showing how the IPP
was becoming almost obsolete in the world of Irish nationalist
politics
○ De Valera wins with his new slogan of “self-determination”, rather
than a promise of Home Rule
