Griffith, Arthur

Griffith, Arthur (1871–1922), journalist and politician. Born in Dublin, Griffith was a printer by trade, but turned writer and journalist. Strongly influenced by Parnell, Thomas Davis, and John Mitchel, he was a founder member of the Celtic Literary Society in 1893 and was active in the Gaelic League and the Irish Republican Brotherhood, which he left in 1910. He edited several radical newspapers, including the United Irishman and Sinn Féin. Although his ideas attracted little support in this period, they had a long‐term influence on the public mind. In 1904 he wrote The Resurrection of Hungary: A Parallel for Ireland, in which he set out his ideas on Irish independence under a dual monarchy. His protectionist economic programme was heavily influenced by the German economist Friedrich List. These two elements became central to the political programme of Sinn Féin, set up on 28 November 1905.

In defence of home rule Griffith joined the Irish Volunteers on its foundation and took part in the Howth gun‐running. However, he rejected the use of force to establish a republic and did not take part in the rising of 1916. The authorities, like much of the population, nevertheless thought the rebellion was inspired by Sinn Féin and arrested Griffith. After his release he became vice‐president of the revived Sinn Féin party which now became a republican organization.

He was again arrested in 1918, and while imprisoned was elected MP for East Cavan. He became acting president of the Dáil when de Valera toured the USA from June 1919 to the end of 1920. He was rearrested in November 1920 and released shortly before the truce which ended the Anglo‐Irish War. He was appointed head of the plenipotentiaries assigned to negotiate the Anglo‐Irish treaty, and regarded the resulting agreement as the best that could be achieved for Ireland. He was elected president of the Dáil on 10 January 1922 after de Valera resigned. He became increasingly weakened under the strains and died of a cerebral haemorrhage on 12 August 1922.

Although generally seen as one of the founding fathers of the democratic Republic of Ireland, Griffith was a nationalist before he was a democrat, and believed that the rights of nations came before those of the individual. The feasibility of his proposals for dual monarchy and economic self‐sufficiency has been questioned, and it has recently been shown that he had little appreciation for the position of unionists, assuming that there was no real conflict of interest within Ireland.

Bibliography

Maume, Patrick , ‘The Ancient Constitution: Arthur Griffith and his Intellectual Legacy to Sinn Féin’, Irish Political Studies, 10 (1995)
Younger, Calton , Arthur Griffith (1981)

Joost Augusteijn