essay
Defending rural interests against Nationalists in 20th-century Ireland: a tale of three movements
Rural change in Ireland • Belfast • Published In 1999 • Pages: 58-83
By: Varley, Tony, Curtin, Chris.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This article focuses on the history of three twentieth-century rural movements organized in response to the decline of the rural farming economy and the failure of national leaders to adequately respond. Muintir na Tíre began in the 1930s as a parish-based renewal movement, organized along the same principles as the Catholic Social Movement, and tried to build alliances across classes while staying clear of the state and party politics. It built its own organization of parish guilds and councils, promoting self-help activities and organizing leisure time activities. It was eventually taken over by local propertied and professional class. The National Agrarian Party (Clann na Talmhan) organized western farmers against the urban-based nationalist political establishment that was blamed for the 1930s decline in agriculture. It failed in its nationwide appeal because of different regional farming interests. Following the decline of these two movements, the 1960s Save the West campaign, inspired by the civil rights movement in the United States, attempted to save smallholding western farmers. It advocated for the right of communities to self-determination, promoted local initiatives, and built power by linking together existing groups. Nevertheless, attempts to pressure the government to sponsor pilot projects failed and the movement soon dissolved. The author concludes with an assessment of the relative success of each movement in mobilizing collective action.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- History
- Cooperative organization
- Sodalities
- Towns
- Administrative agencies
- Political parties
- Political movements
- Theological systems
- Priesthood
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Rural Irish
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2016
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Europe
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- British Isles
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Historian
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ian Skoggard; 2014
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- not applicable
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1894-1968
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Ireland
- NotesAdditional notes
- Tony Varley and Chris Curtin
- Includes bibliographical references
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 99530979
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Ireland--Rural conditions