History of Sinn Féin in the context of "Left-wing nationalism"

Sinn Féin (/ʃɪn ˈfeɪn/ shin FAYN; Irish: [ˌʃɪn̠ʲ ˈfʲeːnʲ] ; lit. '[We] Ourselves') is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith. Its members founded the revolutionary Irish Republic and its parliament, the First Dáil, and many of them were active in the Irish War of Independence, during which the party was associated with the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922). The party split before the Irish Civil War and again in its aftermath, giving rise to the two traditionally dominant parties of Irish politics: Fianna Fáil, and Cumann na nGaedheal (which merged with smaller groups to form Fine Gael). For several decades the remaining Sinn Féin organisation was small and often without parliamentary representation. It continued its association with the Irish Republican Army. Another split in 1970 at the start of the Troubles led to the modern Sinn Féin party, with the other faction eventually becoming the Workers' Party.

The Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed in London on 6 December 1921 and Dáil Éireann voted to approve the treaty on 7 January 1922, following a debate through late December 1921 and into January 1922. The vote was 64 in favour, 57 against, with the Ceann Comhairle and 3 others not voting. The Sinn Féin party split into opposing sides in the aftermath of the Treaty vote, which led to the Irish Civil War from June 1922 to May 1923.

The Workers' Party (Irish: Páirtí na nOibrithe) is an Irish republican, Marxist–Leninist communist party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The party formerly asserted a claim of direct descent from the original Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith. It took its current form in 1970 following a division within Sinn Féin, in which the majority faction followed the leadership in a Marxist direction. It was known as Sinn Féin (Gardiner Place) or Official Sinn Féin, to distinguish it from the minority faction of "Sinn Féin (Kevin Street)" or "Provisional Sinn Féin". It changed its name from Sinn Féin to Sinn Féin The Workers' Party in 1977 and then to the Workers' Party in 1982. In that time, Provisional Sinn Féin came to be known simply as Sinn Féin. Both groups were tied to corresponding paramilitary groups, with Official Sinn Féin tied to the Official Irish Republican Army.

Sinn Féin's manifesto for the 1918 general election was strongly separatist, continuing the party's policy of abstaining from the British parliament when elected and now pledging to create a new constituent assembly to establish the Irish Republic. After the party's reform in 1917, it campaigned against conscription in Ireland. Following the armistice of 11 November 1918, the British government called a general election for 14 December, in which Sinn Féin won 73 out of 105 seats in Ireland.

There are a number of political parties in Ireland, and coalition governments are common. The two historically largest parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, arose from a split in the original Sinn Féin. Fine Gael is the successor of Cumann na nGaedheal, the faction that supported the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty, while Fianna Fáil arose from members of the anti-Treaty faction who opposed Sinn Féin's abstensionism. The division on the Treaty had also caused the Irish Civil War (1922–1923), leading to the difference between the parties being described as "Civil War politics", to distinguish it from a more common left-right political divide. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael together are sometimes pejoratively referred to as "FFG".

As of 2024, Fianna Fáil is the largest party in Dáil Éireann, followed by Sinn Féin in second, and closely by Fine Gael in third position. The Labour Party was formed in 1912, and it had usually been the third party in parliamentary strength, though it is currently the fourth largest party in the Dáil, followed closely by the Social Democrats in fifth.

The Labour Party (Irish: Páirtí an Lucht Oibre, lit. 'Party of the Working People') is a centre-left and social democratic political party in the Republic of Ireland. It was founded on 28 May 1912 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, by James Connolly, James Larkin, and William O'Brien as the political wing of the Irish Trades Union Congress.

Labour continues to be the political arm of the Irish trade union and labour movement and seeks to represent workers' interests in the Dáil and on a local level. Unlike many other Irish political parties, Labour did not arise as a faction of the original Sinn Féin party, although it merged with the Democratic Left in 1999, a party that traced its origins back to Sinn Féin. The party has served as a partner in coalition governments on eight occasions since its formation: seven times in coalition either with Fine Gael alone or with Fine Gael and other smaller parties, and once with Fianna Fáil. This gives Labour a cumulative total of twenty-five years served as part of a government, the third-longest total of any party in the Republic of Ireland after Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.