Nic Livingstone and Jim-Bob Groves : Fri Mar 31 14:29:59 2000
nicolalivingstone@hotmail.com
Reaction to the Easter Rising

“The British had dubbed the Easter Rising a Sinn Fein rebellion.”
The British government imposed Martial Law on Ireland throughout and after the Rising. Sir John Maxwell ensured that there were several executions which were brutal and carried out secretly. Such actions led to resentment among the Irish Nationalists and hence contributed to the rise of Sinn Fein. The British contributed further to the rise of Sinn Fein by blaming them for the rising.
Do you agree with this statement?

Robert McClean and Tim Rae : Fri Mar 31 14:33:08 2000
The German plot was a fabrication by the British authorities in a vain attempt to extinguish the Sinn Fein flames of radical nationalism. However this fraudulent behaviour by the British government only intensified opposition to British rule and in turn won further sympathy and support for Sinn Fein, this was mainly due to the fact that that 73 members of Sinn Fein including De Valera were arrested and deported to England. Unfortunately for the British their plot somewhat backfired as the totalitarian military figures of the party, Collins and Brugha were looked over during the process of arrest and elimination.
The Defence of the realm act closely followed in the footsteps of the alleged German plot and it in its own way caused more tension between the Irish people and the British authorities. The act condoned the Irish people showing and expressing their national heritage and many common people were arrested and detained for trivial incidents such as singing Irish songs or speaking Gaelic. Both of these incidents raised tensions and destroyed relations in a process of hate and resentment that fuelled the fire for Sinn Fein giving the party as a political and military force support and momentum

Peter, Sarah, Davina : Fri Mar 31 14:36:28 2000
The arrests of Sinn Fein leaders and the death of the Thomas Ashe attracted attention to the leadership of the party and split the political and military wings of the organisation i.e. deValera & Griffith were political leaders and he was arrested although Collins and Brugha who were republican (IRB) gunmen were still free. So the Sinn Fein had no moderate leadership anymore as it was now led by hardliners such as those mentioned above, under the heavy influence of the Irish republican Brotherhood. It therefore had a more extreme stance than ever before because the political leaders were in jail.
They used this event to build upon the support already built up by the mismanagement of the aftermath of the Easter Rising 1916 by the government and military. The death of Thomas Ashe through force-feeding during his hunger strike attracted the romanticism and martyr attitude that was so desired by Patrick Pearse before the rising – blood sacrifice. This attracted much international criticism from Irish Americans etc. and devastated the more moderate IPP support who were seen as too pro-British.

Sandra Heasley, Linda Cummins : Fri Mar 31 14:39:14 2000
Some historians argue that the government came to Sinn Fein’s rescue by threatening conscription in Ireland. Before this Sinn Fein had lost three successive by-elections and this had given encouragement to the IPP. The fear of conscription unified Irish Nationalists and people turned to Sinn Fein for leadership in the battle against conscription. Even those who cared little for politics turned to Sinn Fein when there was a fear of being drafted into the Army. Sinn Fein took all the credit for the anti-recruiting campaign and therefore built up popular support.

Ben Walsh : Mon Apr 3 08:40:32 2000
bwalsh@webfactory.co.uk
I suspect that the events of 1916, or more accurately the spin doctoring of the events of 1916 which took place from 1916 onwards will trouble us for some time. Many correspondents so far have very effectively examined the actions of the British government. A question which intrigues me is whether these actions turned people towards Sinn Fein (presumably away from the IPP), or whether British actions galvanised and radicalised support which already existed for Sinn Fein. Professor JJ Lee has pointed out that the view that 'everyone opposed the Rising but then the executions outraged Irish opinion' is a bit over simplified. I am always struck by the words of A Bonaparte Wyse, an arch Unionist working in Dublin at the time of the Rising:
"The city is quiet now, but there is a very menacing tone among the lower classes who openly praise the Sinn Feiners for their courage and bravery, and there is a lot of abuse of the soldiers. … The sympathies of the ordinary Irish are with Sinn Fein. They want independence and their only criticism of the rebellion is that it was foolish (not criminal or otherwise wrong), but just foolish because it had no chance of success."
So were Sinn Fein in the right place at the right time?

Simon peaple : Thu Apr 6 21:11:09 2000
SPPeaple@aol.com
Because of DeValera's involvement and his need to create a powerful Republican myth the very amateur nature of the Rising has been obscured. The events of 1916 have also focussed attention on Dublin whereas there were many other people ready to rise for example in Tyrone. The widespread preparations for the Rising would suggest that opinion was already radicalised and that Nationalists felt cheated by the cynical way in which Home Rule had been deferred for the duration.