Myth and reality: propaganda and censorship in the creation of the Irish Free State, January 1919 - June 1922

O'Shea, Bartholomew (2003). Myth and reality: propaganda and censorship in the creation of the Irish Free State, January 1919 - June 1922. PhD thesis The Open University.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21954/ou.ro.0000f73b

Abstract

This thesis argues that the Irish Treaty represented a myth of reconciliation for the British Government and people, a myth based on propaganda and created by deliberate censorship of images of Irish nationalism within the then British Empire during the interwar years. Propaganda is key to understanding how the Treaty came about; in 1919 the British dismantled its wartime propaganda machinery at the same time as the Dail established its own ministry of propaganda. There were other propagandist forces at work, including the Round Table, which sought to influence key British politicians in an attempt to reconcile nascent dominion nationalism with a new vision of Empire. Dail propaganda sought to influence mass opinion throughout the world to recognise the Republic. In that respect the Dail was ultimately unsuccessful; however, the United States used the anti -British feeling generated to threaten recognition in order to prevent renewal of the Anglo-Japanese Treaty. The propaganda campaign is contrasted with the reality of British rule. The final British solution represented a myth of conciliation, one largely created by Winston Churchill and owing much to the untimely deaths of Collins and Griffith. The myth would be disseminated by censors and propagandists who themselves had been instrumental in attempting to contain the forces of Irish nationalism during the Troubles.