Devoted to the cause of an independent Irish Republic and of the union of Irishmen without distinction of creed under one national banner, the cause of Wolfe Tone, the movement attracted idealists who had so far held aloof from the older, non-republican, form of Sinn Fein. Chief among these were P. H. Pearse and Thomas MacDonagh, both poets and men of fine literary gifts, both regarded with affection for their high and disinterested devotion to the cause of Ireland. And in accordance with Irish Republican tradition it took up an attitude with regard to armed revolution somewhat different from that of Sinn Fein. While the latter held that in the present state of Ireland an armed revolution was impracticable, the Republicans, though not directly advising it, held that it had a reasonable prospect of success if England should become involved in a European War. Some Irish revolutionists who had so far held aloof from all political parties were encouraged by this to join the republican branch of Sinn Fein and try to infuse into it a more determined revolutionary spirit. The Labour Party, whose opinions were expressed by the _The Irish Worker and People's Advocate_, adopted a similar attitude. Their motto was the phrase of Fintan Lalor: "The principle I state and mean to stand upon is this--that the entire ownership of Ireland, moral and material, up to the sun and down to the centre, is vested in the people of Ireland." Their own language was equally explicit: "By Freedom we mean that we Irishmen in Ireland shall be free to govern this land called Ireland by Irish people in the interest of all the Irish people; that no other people or peoples, no matter what they call themselves, or from whence they come, now or in the future, have any claim to interfere with the common right of the common people of this land of Ireland to work out their own destiny. We owe no allegiance to any other nation, nor the king, governors or representatives of any other nation." In spite of the criticism that a purely Labour movement should confine itself to Labour questions, and leave the broader political issues to the one side, _The Irish Worker_ declared for an independent Irish Republic: "We know," it said, "that until the workers of Ireland obtain possession of the land of Ireland and make their own laws they can only hope for and obtain partial improvement of their conditions. We ask no more than our rights: we will be content with no less." The desire for a "free independent nation, enjoying a true Republican freedom" linked the Labour Party to the republican branch of Sinn Fein, but on other questions there was much disagreement. The attitude of Arthur Griffith to the Wexford Strike in 1911 was the subject of bitter comment. The Young Republicans, who objected to English Trade Unions sending "English money" to finance the Irish strikers, were bluntly told to mind their own business: the Gaelic League, which encouraged Irish