Democratic Programme

The Democratic Programme was a declaration of economic and social principles adopted by the First Dáil at its first meeting on 21st January, 1919. The primary purpose of the programme was to espouse certain values of socialism. A text of the programme was first adopted in Irish, and then in English. Its official Irish title was Clár Oibre Poblacánaighe.

On the national issue, Sinn fein's manifesto for the 1918 election had stressed the long history of Irish resistance to British rule, "..based on our unbroken tradition of nationhood, on a unity in a national name which has never been challenged, on our possession of a distinctive national culture and social order, on the moral courage and dignity of our people in the face of alien aggression.." The party was committed to use "any and every means available to render impotent the power of England to hold Ireland in subjection by military force or otherwise." This stance was not inclusive of those who supported or tolerated the link with Britain, and 'alien aggression' became synonymous with occupation on the island of Ireland, whether by the British forces or by the descendants of the British settlers from earlier centuries. On winning 73 seats the Dáil voted for the Programme and the Declaration of Independence.

The Programme's Vision

The Programme was a vital document leading to the Irish War of Independence and the establishment in 1919 of the Irish Republic. Diarmaid Ferriter (2004) says that it "was an indication that only a certain type of nebulous, ambiguous rhetoric concerning equality and redistribution would be tolerated by Sinn Féin." The Labour Party inserted a clause that private property was to be subordinate "to the public right and welfare." Ferriter concludes that the Programme "reflected elements of a Utopian socialism, a product of the influence of the late James Connolly and ... George Russell." There was no money to put the plans into effect. The war launched by Sinn Féin led unsurprisingly to "British sanctions in the form of withdrawal of grants... inhibiting financial autonomy. The Minister for Finance, Michael Collins, found it impossible to introduce a system of income tax and the Dáil itself never advocated that the Irish should stop paying tax or indeed land annuities to the British."

The debate on its practicality

Brian Farrell felt that the Democratic Programme "did not represent the social and economic ideals of the first Dáil. Most of its members had not read the document in advance; the few who had seen it in draft form were reluctant enough to subscribe to it and there was a last minute redrafting ... only hours before the Dáil met."

Father Michael O'Kennedy, prominent in the rise of Sinn Féin from 1917, later said of the social and redistributive aspects that "It is a pity to mix up Sinn Féin in that land question. Of necessity questions of land, food and industries turn up, but all are of secondary importance and none must obscure our objective."

It is still arguable whether the programme was a cynical and unworkable attempt to secure on-going support from the poorer part of the population, or if it was a genuine plan that was shelved but which should be put into effect unaltered in today's very different Ireland. Unionists in Northern Ireland will say that its impractical financial nature confirms why their political forebears could not consider unity with the nationalist part of Ireland. Socialists argue that its implementation is long overdue.

Wikisource links

• Clár Oibre Poblacánaighe (Irish)
• D. Ferriter, The transformation of Ireland 1900-2000 (Profile Books 2004) pp196-197.
• B. Farrell, The creation of the Dáil (Dublin 1994 pp61-75.