 What is so special about this year's Irish elections? Is there a left wing resurgence in Ireland? The general elections held to the lower house of the Irish parliament on February 8th witnessed the path-breaking victory of the left-wing party Sinn Féin. This effectively ended the decades-long two-party rule in the country. Sinn Féin registered a thumping victory with 37 of their 42 running candidates elected with a vote share of almost 25%. This was much to the dismay of the centre-right establishment parties, the incumbent Finnegale, which got 35 seats with nearly 21% votes, and Fiona Hall, 38 seats with around 22% votes. Sinn Féin had cashed in on the disenchantment among the people with the traditional parties which have failed to address the problems of the deteriorating health sector, the soaring housing crisis, workers' demands, rising militarism and hate crimes among other critical issues facing the country. The corporate media targeted Sinn Féin for its historical links with the provisional Irish Republican army and its involvement in a Northern-Iran conflict. But none of this seems to have dented the party's meteoric rise. What is Sinn Féin and what role did it play in the Irish struggle against British colonialism? Sinn Féin is an all-Iran party active in both the Irish Republic and in Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK. It was formed in 1905 as a pan-Irish party that advocated for Irish freedom from British colonialism. In the 718 Sinn Féin won 73 of Ireland's 105 seats in the general elections in British-ruled Ireland. In January 1919, its MPs conveyed a dollar in an independent parliament of Ireland and subsequently proclaimed independence. Such a move by the Republicans was immediately outlawed by the British in 1919. Drawing inspiration from that proclamation of Irish independence, radical and militant Republicans within the Sinn Féin decided to organize as the Irish Republican army in order to defend Irish freedom. IRA, the Irish War of Independence and Factionalism The ensuing conflicts between the IRA and the British culminated in the Irish War of Independence which lasted between 1919 and 1921. In this war, the IRA fought the British security forces and its paramilitaries. The war ended with the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 that led to the creation of the Irish Free State which was a British dominion. It also led to the cessation of six protestant dominated counties in the north that remain a part of the UK to this date. A section within the Irish Republican movement and the IRA had opposed this pact and vowed to continue their fight resulting in a civil war from 1922 to 1923. In 1926, a section within the anti-treaty Republican movement split away and formed Fianna Fáil due to disagreements over abstentionism, a policy of refusing to take oath in the name of the British Monarch in order to sit in the legislature of the Irish Free State. Such a split resulted in the significant weakening of the Sinn Féin and the anti-treaty movement in the Irish Free State. In 1933, the pro-treaty sections in the Irish Free State got consolidated as the Fenugale. The Irish Free State officially became the Republic of Ireland in 1949. During the 1960s, targeted attacks on the pro-Republican catholic majority neighborhoods in Northern Ireland by paramilitaries and state security forces became commonplace. The radicals within the anti-treaty sections including the Sinn Féin in the north organized as a provisional IRA to resist these assaults and to organize counterattacks. This culminated in a violent period of an informal civil war known as the Troubles, which lasted for three decades and formally ended with good Friday agreement on April 10, 1998. So is this a new era in Irish politics? The establishment parties in the Irish Republic, Fenugale and Fianna Fáil and pro-UK parties in the north were able to sideline Sinn Féin for a long time, branding them as a violent force for the radical stand on Irish reunification and their links with the provisional IRA. But as peace returned in the north following the good Friday agreement, Sinn Féin gradually emerged as the vanguard of Irish nationalism in the north and has come to be one of the two major political parties there, even while the party remains in the British parliament but abstains from taking part in the proceedings. In the most recent British general election in December 2019, the Irish Republican parties emerged to be the largest political bloc for the first time since the partition ending decades of Unionist political dominance. In the Irish Republic, the EU driven austerity policies pushed by different governments led by the traditional parties, Fenugale and Fianna Fáil have only made life worse for the people. In the run-up to the general elections, Sinn Féin, which has been a relatively smaller but growing third party, proposed a manifesto for change promising to resolve the long-standing grievances of the common people. The culmination of the campaign under the leadership of Mary Lou McDonald was the unprecedented change. In political alignments, the elections have brought up as 37 out of the 42 candidates feel it by the party won. In Irish, Sinn Féin means ourselves. Now here in the Irish Republic, Sinn Féin may or may not be able to form a government within their terms and conditions, yet acknowledging the people's mandate, Sinn Féin must take to its manifesto for change.