ABSTRACT
By 1922, Ireland had achieved substantial independence from its nearest neighbour, Great Britain. The new Irish Free State experienced a bloody Civil War between 1922 and 1923 over the terms of this independence. A decade later, in 1932, and in the midst of the global economic depression, the Fianna Fáil political party came to power in Ireland. The Fianna Fáil party was composed of those who had been on the losing side in the Irish Civil War; those who had taken a more hard-line republican stance in the civil conflict a decade before. In the Irish language, Fianna Fáil means ‘warriors of destiny’, and the party’s leader and new Irish prime minister, Éamon de Valera, held that one part of this destiny was an end to colonial trade dependence on Britain. De Valera’s party’s appeal was in large part based on the promise of radical agrarianism and self-sufficiency. Fianna Fáil promised constitutional and socio-economic radicalism. As well as seeking to sever Ireland’s links with the British Crown, the new government also challenged the old economic order of the liberal market economy. 1
