The Clann, 29th February 1948

Many thanks to Alan Kinsella of Irish Election Literature for this donation to the Archive. Much appreciated – this document fills an important gap in the collection, that being material from Clann na Poblachta, the Republican and centre-left party , founded by Seán MacBride, former Chief of Staff of the IRA, in 1946.

Clann na Poblachta was officially launched on 6 July 1946 in Barry’s Hotel in Dublin.[3] It held its first Ard Fheis in November 1947 in the Balalaika Ballroom.

Seán MacBride‘s new party appealed to disillusioned young urban voters and republicans. Many had become alienated from Éamon de Valera‘s Fianna Fáil, the main republican party in Ireland, which in the view of more militant republicans had betrayed their principles by executing IRA prisoners in the unrest in Ireland during the Second World War. A large majority of the founding members of the Clann had been members of the IRA at some stage of their lives.[4] Clann na Poblachta also drew support from people who were tired of the old Civil War politics and were disillusioned with Éamon de Valera and his approach to the partition of Ireland.[5] Many supporters also questioned the governments economic policies and wanted more attention paid to social issues. In post-war Europe many people blamed the social evils of unemployment, poor housing, poverty and disease for the rise of fascism and communism. This new mood influenced people in Ireland also. Some people saw Clann na Poblachta as a replacement for Fianna Fáil. Others saw in it a replacement for the marginalised Sinn Féin, others still a break from the traditional pro- and anti-treaty Civil War division. The new party grew rapidly during 1947.

The party was influenced by social democratic policies such as United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt‘s New Deal, British prime minister Clement Attlee‘s welfare state, and elements of European Christian Democracy as well as Irish republicanism. It attracted a diverse range of people, from traditional republicans such as Noel Hartnett and Kathleen Clarke to social democrats such as Dr. Noël Browne, who had been attracted to the party because of its commitment to fight tuberculosis, and Peadar Cowan, a former Labour Party executive member who had resigned in disgust owing to the infighting within that party at the time.[6]

The development of the party at that time, perhaps inevitably, saw it take on a centre-left character. Its trajectory in government and as a political vehicle, was stymied by various dynamics in Irish politics, some of which have a contemporary resonance.

This edition of The Clann is particularly notable since it came just after Clann na Poblachta joined with Fine Gael in government along with numerous other parties . And it seeks to rebut charges put by Fianna Fáil against it.

To have allowed Fianna Fail to come back to office would have meant an immediate General Election. The only two alternatives left were to join in the formation of an inter-party Government or to support a Fine Gael Government from outside. To support a Fine Gael Government from the outside would have been a blind acceptance of Fine· Gael’s policy, This would have been impossible. In such an eventuality Fianna Fail could have precipitated a General Election at any time, by clever parliamentary tactics.

Instead we adopted the remaining alternative, that is, of joining in an Inter-party Government underthe Chairmanship of one who had not been associated prominently with the turbulent past. As already indicated, there are many points upon which alt the parties joined In the lnter-party Government are agreed. Those will be the points that will form the policy of the Government. Ten of these points have already been published. An examination of these will show that they formed a substantial part of the Clann’s policy.

And an interesting comparison:

It is ridiculous to suggest that the Clann and Fine Gael have merged. The two organisations remain completely separate with distinct and separate policies. Just as the Conservative and Labour Parties in England maintained their respective independence during the Coalition Governmentunder the Chairmanship of Mr. Winston Churchill.

The rest of the four page newsletter has an interesting mixture of articles, including one on Film Societies in rural Ireland, one in Irish, a quote from St. Thomas Aquinas, a piece on People and Politics and at the foot of page 4 the exhortation “We Want New Readers!”.

An important addition to the Archive.

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