Party Politics in a New Democracy by Mel Farrell

Author:Mel Farrell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

The June 1927 Election

As he addressed Fianna Fáil supporters in Mullingar on 1 January, de Valera honed his new party’s message. Its approach would essentially wrap the traditional anti-Treaty position around Fianna Fáil’s new socio-economic policies. In Mullingar, de Valera attacked the office of the Governor-General of the Irish Free State, arguing that the cost to the taxpayer of maintaining its office was exorbitant. 46 In the general election campaign, Fianna Fáil developed popular policies that were critical of the salaries paid to officials, government ministers and the governor-general. Fianna Fáil’s organising committee planned the party’s general election campaign, making arrangements for an ‘intensive campaign of public meetings’ to cover the period from January to polling day. 47 In a scheme estimated to cost £700, the party planned to hire provincial organisers and to provide financial assistance for prominent local party workers. 48

Cumann na nGaedheal had been preparing for the election since late autumn 1926. Although it was now better organised than it had been in 1923, preparations for the election mirrored those of the previous contest. Cumann na nGaedheal again campaigned as the ‘national party’ and recruited a large number of paid organisers to breathe new life into the party’s constituency structures. In Clare, local canvassers claimed that Cumann na nGaedheal was ‘not simply a political organisation’, it stood for the whole community: farmers, labourers, traders and professionals. 49 Those assembled for a Cumann na nGaedheal rally in Crusheen heard that the party was the only one capable of reconciling diverse interests and that Cosgrave’s ministers were working towards the common good. By 4 February 1927, the standing committee minutes recorded that the party had twenty-four organisers working in the constituencies. Fifteen of these organisers had been in place since November. 50 In his study of Free State politics, Warner Moss noted that these paid organisers were required to stir existing branches into action and to form new ones where there was poor organisation. 51 On 12 November, the standing committee discussed the timing of the general election. Most of those who were present indicated a preference for a post-budget election, in May or June 1927. Sub-committees were subsequently formed to raise funds for the party while overdrafts were secured from a number of banks. These measures brought the total Cumann na nGaedheal election fund to over £10,000. 52 Keen to avoid a repeat of the mistakes made during the 1923 election, when several local committees had incurred debts, the party made it clear that it was up to the local organisation to be responsible. Such local exuberance as displayed by the Clare constituency committee in 1923 was not unique to Cumann na nGaedheal. Some Fianna Fáil units came into financial difficulty in the late 1920s. In 1929, Fianna Fáil had to use the national collection to clear the Donegal organisation’s debts. 53 In 1927, Cumann na nGaedheal repeatedly reminded the organisation that each constituency should bear the brunt of its own election expenses. 54 This message was reiterated

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