How radical was the economic and social policy adopted by Fianna Fail after 1932 compared to Cumann na nGaedheal?

#625Lab – History. You may also like: Leaving Cert History Guide (€). Credit: Ellis Byrne.

Feedback: This essay is really well written and answers the question well. It contains a lot of relevant factual information and you make really good use of quotation. To achieve maximum cumulative marks, you should have lots of shorter paragraphs, so where possible, you should maybe split some of these longer paragraphs in half. Be careful of spelling, especially with names – you have “Ferrieter” instead of “Ferriter” and “Paedar” instead of “Peadar”, as well as “goveremt” instead of “government”. Also make sure to not use contractions like “wasn’t”. For your cumulative mark, I would give you around 47 out of 60. I’d give you about a 35 out of 40 for your overall evaluation mark, largely due to spelling errors. Total mark, 82/100.

Fianna Fail came to power in 1932, in a situation which Mullaghy describes in his book, Dev Volume 2, “left the men entering the Dail toting revolvers.” The policies of the Fianna Fail government, under the lead of Eamon de Valera, were arguably less radical than they Cumann na nGaedheal counterparts, under the lead of W.T Cosgrave. Their radical economic policies focused on the industrial sector, while they were less radical in their social policies, adapting a more helping hand. As Ronan Fanning notes in Independent Ireland, “The Economic War was a godsend to Fianna Fail, as they were able to hide their protectionist policy under a thin guise of patriotism,”

The climate in which the Fianna Fail party came into power effected their economic policy of protectionism. This was due to a number of reasons. The Cumann na nGaedheal government came into power in 1922, after losing both Arthur Griffith of a haemorrhage on August 12th and Michael Collins to an assassination in Beal na Blath, Cork. Due to the Civil War claiming over 30% of all the government costs in the years in it, Cosgrave had no choice to pursue a policy of Free Trade. He also cut taxes in 1924, which meant that his polices were seen to be very radical. Ernest Blythe wants a laissez- faire approach to their government policy, with very little government interaction. This was quite radical, as it was a large change from what the country was used to. However, the Fianna Fail movement adopted a less radical policy of protectionism. Their policy wasn’t as radical as that of Cumann na nGaedheal’s, due to the smooth transition of power that Cosgrave provided for them. As well as that, protectionism was seen as the best scenario, due to the rise of fascist and nationalist movements across the globe. While it seems radical now, at the time, it seemed the most optimum policy to adopt.

Cumann na nGaedheal had a radical, but somewhat effective, economic policy on agriculture. They had strong leader in Patrick Hogan. He introduced many acts that were radical due to progressive they were. The radical focus on agriculture was a wise move for the Cumann na nGaedheal government, as FSL Lyons notes in Ireland Since the Famine, “Upon the wellbeing of agriculture rested the wellbeing of the country at large.” He brought in the Hogan Land Act of 1923, forcing land owners to sell to tenants. He introduced the Livestock Breeding Act on 1925 and the Agricultural Produce Act 1930, both of which radically improved the quality of Irish exports. However, the Fianna Fail government had a less radical agricultural policy. Dr James Ryan was not as strong a leader as Hogan and his acts were less radical, as they simply tried to appease the people. The introduced the Industrial Alcohol Act in 1934, trying to promote the idea of people making their own alcohol and improve exports. They promised a static price for Irish wheat and restricted the import of maize into the country. Their agricultural policies were less radical, as they couldn’t afford to spend time on this sector. Most of their time was spent on the Economic War and the Industrial sector.

However, Cumann na nGaedheal’s industrial policy wasn’t radical, as it was hardly developed in their time in office. Due to the partition of Ireland in 1920 with the Government of Ireland Act, the Irish Free State lose their most industrialised part of the country. This was East Belfast. Despite there being 300,000 industrial workers in Ireland, only 80,000 of them resided in the Free State. Their Minster for Industry, Patrick McGilligan, tried to help the development of industry, but their acts weren’t radical enough to work. They were almost paradoxical, as the Fiscal Enquiry Committee set up in 1923 had a majority of 3 members in favour of Free Trade. Fianna Fail had more radical acts. They realised that their work force was largely uneducated. The Vocational Education Act of 1934 improved the basic goods for schools but numbers only rose by 5% come 1936. Under Sean Lemass, the industry sector under Fianna Fail introduced radical acts. However, these were not very effective. The Control of Manufacture’s Act of 1934 ordered that a certain amount of Irish people had to be on the company’s Board of Directors, but companies could just apply to skip it. Fianna Fail introduced more radical acts than Cumann na nGaedheal in regards to industry, but neither was effective.

Cumann na nGaedheal had a lot of radical acts for their social policy, but they were very unpopular. Ernest Blythe, under the advice of UCD educated J.J McEllgiott, decided to reduce the old age pension form 10 down to 9 shillings. They also introduced a stricter means test for people to apply for medical cards. This wasn’t used by many people, as the radical policy meant that the test was very degrading. Fianna Fail’s social policy, on the other h and, wasn’t radical and much more effective in dealing with social issues. They had the Unemployment Assistance Act in 1933 and the National Health Insurance Act of the same year. This meant that the poorer of society were looked after under the Fianna Fail goveremt. Their acts adopted a less radical stance than Cumann na nGaedheal’s, but were more effective.

Unemployment was an issue for both governments and both dealt with it in radical ways. Under Cumann na nGaedheal, they introduced the Shannon Scheme in 1927. This was proposed by Irish Engineer, Thomas McLaughlin, who applied to build Hydro-Electric Power Station at Ardnacrusha on the Shannon. This would cost £5.2 million but would employ 4,000 jobs in construction alone. It was passed and the plant was built. This was a radical policy of Cumann na nGaedheal’s as it was the first time there was a mix of foreign and Irish investment in the economy, with a Germany company Siemens building the dam. Likewise, Fianna Fail tackled the issue of unemployment by building 132,000 homes between the years of 1932 and 1938. This counted as 70% of all construction employment in Ireland at the time, only dropping after a builders strike in 1937. Both of the government had radical policies to deal with unemployment. Fianna Fail was equally radical as Cumann na nGaedheal in this regard.

The social issue of threats to society was dealt with radically by both governments. There was a threat to their society for both of them. For Cumann na nGaedheal, it came in the form of Saor Eire and the Army Mutiny. This was a social issue, as it threatened the sovereignty of their government and the people’s faith in them. Saor Eire under Paedar O’Donnell regularly attacked people in the streets and other IRA men were responsible for the killing of Kevin O’Higgins, who died on the way to mass. This was dealt with radically, as Cosgrave announced that Saor Eire was an illegal organisation. He even went so far as to get the Irish bishops to renounce them. The Army Mutiny, which was caused over the immobilisation of the army from 40,000 men and 3,000 officers to 20,000 men and 1,400 officers, was also dealt with radically. The 100 men, under the lead of Colonel Charles F Dalton, were captured and held in Arbour Hill barracks for trial. Fianna Fail, also had radical acts to deal with their threat to society: The Blueshirts under Eoin O’Duffy. The Blueshirts were a fascist group, named after Mussolini’s Blackshirts, and were xenophobic and violent. In 1933, they planned a march on Dublin to commemorate the deaths of Collins and Griffith. De Valera stopped them with the Special Powers Act, a radical move due to the fact the last time it was used Erskine Childers was killed. The Broy Harriers were called in to defend the city and the march was called off. Fianna Fail was equally radical to Cumann na nGaedheal in dealing with threats to their society.

In conclusion, Fianna Fail was just as radical as Cumann na nGaedheal in a number of ways. Cumann na nGaedheal had radical economic policies, such as the Ultimate Financial Agreement of 1926. This resulted in the continual payments of both land annuities and former RIC men pensions, which was both radical and unpopular. Fianna Fail was just as radical with their economic policies, like Economic War they engaged in between 1932 and 1938. This was caused due to Dev not paying the £3 million owed to Britain over the land annuities. This was a radical move, as it resulted in Britain placing a 20% duty on Cattle. They returned place a duty on British electrical goods. This was eased in the 1935 Coal Cattle Pact and ended with the Anglo Irish Agreement of 1938. All in all, their economic policy was, as Ferrieter comments in The Transformation of Ireland, “Their policy revealed their innately Bolshevik lines.”