Fenian - Fenianism

Fenianism

Fenianism, according to O'Mahony, is symbolised by two principles: firstly, that Ireland has a natural right to independence, and secondly, that that right could be won only by an armed revolution.

The term Fenianism was sometimes used by the British political establishment in the 1860s for any form of mobilisation among the lower classes or those who expressed any Irish nationalist sentiments. They warned people about this threat to turn decent civilised society on its head such as that posed by trade unionism to the existing social order in England.