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National Identity in Scotland and Ireland (Final Part)

© Simon Hill

With the outbreak of war the home rule cause was taken up by the labour movement, and in fact formed part of the Labour Party's election campaign in 1918. However the labour movement was to gradually play down this demand, as it became more international in outlook, and more importantly as the English Labour Party needed Scottish support. Home rule was different in Scotland as the Scots were unwilling to give up their share of the empire so there was less commitment to it. 'Home rule for Ireland was the political scheme which rekindled national sentiment as a motivating force in politics, but in Scotland it lacked the bite of recent supporting action - of recent pre-history - to give it the necessary legitimacy for it's own parliament to be a demand or a progression.' (1). The nationalism displayed still seemed rather lightweight in comparison with Irish nationalism centring on campaigns such as the Labour Party and Trade Unions campaign to get Scotland their own representative at the Paris Peace Conference or the Scottish Patriotic Association's complaint about the lack of Scottish History taught in schools. It wasn't until 1928 that a National Party of Scotland was formed stressing the separate language and a perceived tradition of democracy. It met with little success and was absorbed into the Scottish National Party when it was formed in 1934. '...the SNP programme emphasised the desire of the Scots to be treated as equals in the United Kingdom and to retain their share in the management of the Empire.' (2). The SNP contested eight seats at the 1935 elections and polled an average of 16%.

Why had it taken so long for Scots to demand home rule? At the start of the nineteenth century Scotland was at the forefront of European civilisation due to men such as David Hume, Adam Smith and Walter Scott. Perhaps acceptance of this eliminated much of the need for a separate state, Scots already had a Scottish identity as well as a British one and the Scottish image was one of innovation and intelligence. This can be sharply contrasted with the Irish image of backward peasantry which, was largely created and circulated by the English. The English put downs of the Scots had decreased dramatically especially since Scott created the image of romantic tartan clad Highlanders. Scots could climb to high positions in the government while Irish Catholics could not. The Scots may have been reasonably happy with their national identity and world standing, the Irish were not. That fact alone does not explain events. It was also the undeniably justifiable Irish belief that many of their problems had been caused by an invading English government with no right to be there, and no understanding of the Irish people. That was what kept their fight for independence going. The violence involved seemed to strengthen the Irish resolve as it was linked closely to the Republican martyr tradition of the dead heroes who gave their lives for the cause. This glamorisation of violence as Boyle rightly points out in his book Nationalism in Ireland continually provided new generations of young men inspired by tales of martyrs and eager to become involved.

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