After the Famine, Ireland was in a tailspin. Preceding the Great Hunger, people continued to leave Ireland in droves. By 1911 the population stood just over four million. However, many that left Ireland played an instrumental role in the struggle for independence. Irish Americans were a particularly stubborn lot. They were the catalyst or the creation of the Fenian Brotherhood, which grew into the IRB and eventually the IRA.
Meanwhile, back in Ireland the struggle for independence continued. A group called the Land League started my Michael Davit who favored Home Rule and recovery of confiscated land by the Crown combined forces with an influential Protestant and small landlord by the name of Charles Stewart Parnell. Collectively, they created a highly effective and ingenious tactic of affecting change and introduced a new term to the English language – “Boycott”. This method was first used against Captain Boycott and was subsequently used against many other English landlords who controlled large tracts of land in Ireland.
In their Boycotts the Irish would have no contact (social or commercial) with the landlord in question. Moreover, they would do the same with anyone who continued a social or commercial relationship with that person. Those boycotted could not hire help or contract with any locals for services. Landlords and their agents were ostracized. This proved to be a highly effective means for applying pressure for social change. Eventually a series of land reform acts were passed and landlords were bought out. Small tracks of land were then given back to many Irish tenants.
