La propagande visuelle du Sinn Féin : comment dessiner la nation

Abstract

This article argues that the Sinn Féin Printing and Publishing Company Limited, founded in 1906, was the linchpin of the early Sinn Féin movement. Its managing director, Arthur Griffith, used his propaganda newspapers, Sinn Féin and, from 1910, The Sinn Féin Daily, to try to create the future citizens of an independent Ireland. Independence, he argued, was a state of mind rather than a matter of state and as soon as the people of Ireland were psychologically united, an independent Ireland would simply come into being. To achieve this objective, he attempted to rally his readers around two fundamental myths : the homogeineity of the inhabitants of the island of Ireland and the abundance of natural resources that it possessed. Hibernia, in other words, could do very well without Britannia's help. Because of political and financial difficulties in 1910, Griffith felt it necessary to give his propaganda a more dynamic visual aspect and from the beginning of that year we find political illustrations in Sinn Fein. This article considers how these illustrations combined with the typography of the front page to reflect the editor's political agenda.