Clann na Talmhan

Clann na Talmhan
Clann na Talmhan
Founder and leader	Michael Donnellan; (1939–1944)
Leader	Joseph Blowick; (1944–1965)
Founded	1939
Dissolved	1965
Ideology	Agrarianism; Social democracy; Populism
Political position	Centre-left
	Politics of the Republic of Ireland; Political parties; Elections;

Clann na Talmhan(pronounced[ˈklˠaːn̪ˠn̪ˠəˈt̪ˠalˠuːnˠ],"Family/Children of the land"; formally known as theNational Agricultural Party) was an Irishagrarianpolitical party active between 1939 and 1965.

Formation and growth[edit]

Clann na Talmhan was founded on 29 June 1939 inAthenry,County Galway, in the wake of the breakdown of unification talks between the Irish Farmers Federation (IFF) and representatives of farmers inConnachton therate-payingissue. While the IFF supported full derating, the western view was that the largest farmers should not be relieved of all their rate-paying obligations. Were this to happen, the western opinion was thatindirect taxationwould inevitably increase, and small farmers and workers would find themselves appreciably worse-off.

The party was led initially by Galway farmerMichael Donnellan.Its foundation represented a revival of agrarian politics in Ireland; from 1922 to 1933 a series of parties had represented farming interests, namely theFarmers' Partyand theNational Centre Party.However, these groups mostly attracted large farmers in the east. In contrast, Clann na Talmhan appealed explicitly to the more numerous small farmers of the west of Ireland. The party's objectives included the promotion of the interests of small farmers, government support forland reclamation,lowering of taxes on farmland, a more progressive system of land rates that would help small farmers, and more intensiveafforestation.During the 1940s it began to adoptsocial democraticpolicies. It supported free secondary education and subsidised university education, as well as state investment in a public healthcare system. The party also had a distinctpopuliststreak, pushing back against establishment politicians, bankers and the wealthy in Irish society. In 1942 at a rally inDunmore, County GalwayMichael Donnellan declared "You could take all the TDs, all the senators, all the ministers and members of the judiciary and all the other nice fellows and dump them off Clare Island into the broad Atlantic. Still, Ireland would succeed. But without the workers and producers, the country would starve in twenty-four hours".^[2]

In contrast to the earlier Farmers' Party, Clann na Talmhan emphasised grass-roots campaigning and political agitation. It also developed an efficient electoral machine, largely owing to the advice and skills it gained from former members ofFianna Fáil.Although the party was hindered to a degree bywartimerestrictions on public meetings and the press, it did have five years to prepare for its first election.

In 1943, Clann na Talmhan merged with theNational Agricultural Partya rival political party setup in Leinster to represent the large farmers there, with the belief that the merger was needed in order to contest the upcoming1943 general election.The unified party won ten seats in that election and nine at the1944 general election.However, the merger of the two groups brought a great deal of instability as infighting between the small farmers from Connacht and the large farmers from Leinsters divided the party members. In light of this Donnellan resigned as leader following the election and was replaced byJoseph Blowick,a large farmer holder from County Mayo.^[3]

In government and decline[edit]

The party was one of five parties in thefirst inter-party government(1948–1951), with Blowick serving asMinister for Landsand Donnellan becoming aParliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance.Clann na Talmhan was one of three parties in thesecond inter-party government(1954–1957), with Blowick and Donnellan reprising their ministerial roles. However, this period saw a retrenchment rather than expansion of the party, which did not expand its support beyond western and southern small farmers. Like its spiritual predecessors, Clann na Talmhan could not unite small and large farmers in one party, and this restricted its electoral appeal.

The party began to lose its position after its spells in government. A lack of improvement in the economy during this period led to disillusionment with Clann na Talmhan, and people again began to vote for Fianna Fáil andFine Gaelrather than small parties. During the 1950s many activists had departed, and the party became little more than a collection of personal electoral machines. By 1961, Donnellan and Blowick were the only partyTDsremaining, and the party ceased to exist as an organisation independent of those men. When Donnellan died in 1964 his sonJohn Donnellanwas elected in his place, but for Fine Gael rather than his father's party. Blowick decided not to contest the1965 general election,and Clann na Talmhan was formally wound up.

General election results[edit]

Election	Seats won	±	Position	First Pref votes	%	Government	Leader
1943	10 / 138	10	4th	130,452	9.8%	Opposition	Michael Donnellan
1944	9 / 138	1	3rd	122,745	10.1%	Opposition	Joseph Blowick
1948	7 / 147	2	5th	73,813	5.6%	Coalition(FG-LP-CnP-CnT-NLP)	Joseph Blowick
1951	6 / 147	1	4th	38,872	2.9%	Opposition	Joseph Blowick
1954	5 / 147	1	4th	51,069	3.8%	Coalition(FG-LP-CnT)	Joseph Blowick
1957	3 / 147	2	5th	28,905	2.4%	Opposition	Joseph Blowick
1961	2 / 144	1	4th	17,693	1.5%	Opposition	Joseph Blowick

References[edit]

^Coalition Governments in Western Europeby Wolfgang C. Müller, Kaare Strom pg129
^Varley, Tony; Moser, Peter (25 January 2013)."Clann na Talmhan: Ireland's last farmers' party".HistoryIreland.History Ireland.Archivedfrom the original on 25 July 2019.Retrieved25 July2019.A flavour of the distaste for politicians and other establishment figures is well conveyed in Michael Donnellan's suggestion, at a Dunmore rally in 1942, that you could take all the TDs, all the senators, all the ministers and members of the judiciary and all the other nice fellows and dump them off Clare Island into the broad Atlantic. Still, Ireland would succeed. But without the workers and producers the country would starve in twenty-four hours.
^Varley, Tony; Moser, Peter (25 January 2013)."Clann na Talmhan: Ireland's last farmers' party".HistoryIreland.History Ireland.Archivedfrom the original on 25 July 2019.Retrieved25 July2019.

Sources[edit]

Maurice Fitzgerald, 2000. "Ireland's European Integration, 1957 to 1966" inProtectionism to Liberalization: Ireland and the EEC, 1957 to 1966.Aldershot, UK: Ashgate.Open Access Copy
Barberis, Peter, John McHugh and Mike Tyldesley, 2005. Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organisations. London: Continuum International Publishing Group.ISBN 0-8264-5814-9,ISBN 978-0-8264-5814-8
Manning, Maurice, 1972. Irish Political Parties: An Introduction. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan.ISBN 978-0-7171-0536-6

External links[edit]

Clann na Talmhan: Ireland's last farmers' party

[1] Coalition Governments in Western Europeby Wolfgang C. Müller, Kaare Strom pg129

[2] Varley, Tony; Moser, Peter (25 January 2013)."Clann na Talmhan: Ireland's last farmers' party".HistoryIreland.History Ireland.Archivedfrom the original on 25 July 2019.Retrieved25 July2019.A flavour of the distaste for politicians and other establishment figures is well conveyed in Michael Donnellan's suggestion, at a Dunmore rally in 1942, that you could take all the TDs, all the senators, all the ministers and members of the judiciary and all the other nice fellows and dump them off Clare Island into the broad Atlantic. Still, Ireland would succeed. But without the workers and producers the country would starve in twenty-four hours.

[3] Varley, Tony; Moser, Peter (25 January 2013)."Clann na Talmhan: Ireland's last farmers' party".HistoryIreland.History Ireland.Archivedfrom the original on 25 July 2019.Retrieved25 July2019.

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