While there have been biographies of anti-Treaty male figures such as Cathal
Brugha, Eamon de Valera and Harry Boland, there has been limited in-depth
analysis of on women on the anti-Treaty side. Mary MacSwiney was one of the most
single-minded anti-Treaty women, refusing to compromise on her determination
to maintain allegiance to the Second Dáil, leading de Valera to describe her as
‘incorrigible’. Rather than just dismiss MacSwiney as one-dimensional in her
opposition to the Treaty and in her continued political intractability, this biography
seeks to understand why she was increasingly viewed as a virago. Contemporary
gender roles played a part the reduction of MacSwiney to a cipher for the extreme
element within republicanism. However, her avowal of an uncompromising stance
on the evils of compromise in the Treaty negotiations was indelibly formed by the
experience of watching her brother die on hunger strike in Brixton jail in 1920, and
the trauma which resulted from it. She witnessed an intimate act of self-sacrifice
which bound her to a belief that her task was to continue her brother’s fidelity to
a separatist republic. Betrayal of the republic, for her, would have meant betrayal
of a brother she loved and admired, and it would have been almost impossible for
her to think and feel in any other way.
This biography situates MacSwiney in the context of her tightly knit
family, tracing her political evolution from suffrage and cultural revival activism
to advanced nationalism. While the focus of her early activism was Cork, from
1920 onwards she began to assume a progressively more important role in Irish
politics at a national and international level; tentatively at first, as many of the
male politicians saw her only as a mourning sister, while others, such as de Valera,
were circumspect about the merits of women in the political arena. The biography
considers her American tours of 1921 and 1925, her central role during the civil
war and within Sinn Féin, with a focus on her political relationship with de Valera.
MacSwiney’s life after 1926 saw her increasingly politically isolated and irrelevant.
She sparred with members of Fianna Fáil in the newspaper press, seeking to
justify her stance and excoriating those who she believed had betrayed the Second
Dáil, adding to an understanding of the
Brugha, Eamon de Valera and Harry Boland, there has been limited in-depth
analysis of on women on the anti-Treaty side. Mary MacSwiney was one of the most
single-minded anti-Treaty women, refusing to compromise on her determination
to maintain allegiance to the Second Dáil, leading de Valera to describe her as
‘incorrigible’. Rather than just dismiss MacSwiney as one-dimensional in her
opposition to the Treaty and in her continued political intractability, this biography
seeks to understand why she was increasingly viewed as a virago. Contemporary
gender roles played a part the reduction of MacSwiney to a cipher for the extreme
element within republicanism. However, her avowal of an uncompromising stance
on the evils of compromise in the Treaty negotiations was indelibly formed by the
experience of watching her brother die on hunger strike in Brixton jail in 1920, and
the trauma which resulted from it. She witnessed an intimate act of self-sacrifice
which bound her to a belief that her task was to continue her brother’s fidelity to
a separatist republic. Betrayal of the republic, for her, would have meant betrayal
of a brother she loved and admired, and it would have been almost impossible for
her to think and feel in any other way.
This biography situates MacSwiney in the context of her tightly knit
family, tracing her political evolution from suffrage and cultural revival activism
to advanced nationalism. While the focus of her early activism was Cork, from
1920 onwards she began to assume a progressively more important role in Irish
politics at a national and international level; tentatively at first, as many of the
male politicians saw her only as a mourning sister, while others, such as de Valera,
were circumspect about the merits of women in the political arena. The biography
considers her American tours of 1921 and 1925, her central role during the civil
war and within Sinn Féin, with a focus on her political relationship with de Valera.
MacSwiney’s life after 1926 saw her increasingly politically isolated and irrelevant.
She sparred with members of Fianna Fáil in the newspaper press, seeking to
justify her stance and excoriating those who she believed had betrayed the Second
Dáil, adding to an understanding of the
- Publisher Name:University College Dublin Press
- Product Format:Paperback
- ISBN: 9781739086381
- Author:Lane, Leeann
- Publication Date:2025-03-15
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