Charles Stewart Parnell (redirected from Charles Stuart Parnell)

Parnell, Charles Stewart 

Born June 27, 1846, in Avondale, County Wicklow; died Oct. 6, 1891, in Brighton, Sussex. Irish politician and leader of the Home Rule movement (from 1877).

Parnell was elected in 1875 to the British Parliament, where he used obstructionist tactics to exert pressure on the English ruling classes. He advocated broad autonomy for Ireland, without severing constitutional ties to Great Britain. Recognizing the need for the support of the masses, Parnell allied himself with the radical wing of the Irish movement, which included such figures as J. Devoy and M. Davitt. In 1879 he helped found the Land League and then became its president.

Parnell was arrested on Oct. 13, 1881, and confined until May 1882 in the Kilmainham jail, where he concluded the conciliatory Kilmainham Treaty with the British Liberal government. Parnell curtailed the agitation for agrarian demands and from that time on tried to attain Home Rule primarily by parliamentary means. In an attempt to discredit Parnell, English reactionaries conducted a campaign of organized harassment, accusing him of alleged immoral acts. In late 1890 the right-wing majority of the Home Rulers removed Parnell from the leadership.

REFERENCES

Marx, K., and F. Engels. Soch., 2nd ed., vols. 34–37. (See the index of names.)
Tarle, E. V. “Charlz Parnel’: Stranitsa iz istorii Anglii i Irlandii.” Soch., vol. 1. Moscow, 1957.
O’Brien, C. C. Parnell and His Party, 1880–1890. Oxford, 1957.

L. I. GOL’MAN