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Sinn Fein publicly opposed partition and sought a united Ireland when Ireland was divided in 1921. It fought the first election to the Northern Ireland parliament on an anti-partitionist stance and was successful in reopening the issue of Ulster during the Treaty negotiations from October to December 1921, much to the dismay of Ulster unionists. Its policy on partition, however, when one existed, was generally incoherent and its public commitment to a united Ireland was not matched by much of its actions in 1921. From its rise in popularity after the 1916 Easter Rising through to 1921, other than the counter-productive Belfast Boycott, Sinn Fein had no clear policy on how to deal with the unionist minority in the north-east of Ireland. Sinn Fein leaders stuck steadfastly and naively to the view that Ulster would readily come into an all-Ireland parliament once Britain was removed from the island. ....
There wasn t much seasonal cheer in official circles in Dublin, Belfast or London at Christmas 1920. There just wasn t time. These few weeks saw Partition become a reality for the first time, with the creation in law of Northern Ireland, and seemingly the hopes for peace on the island dashed, hopes that had flickered for a few precious months. And yet, and yet. No sooner than hope for peace had been crushed, it was raised again. The imposition of that most alien of concepts for Nationalists, the Partition of Ireland, had in fact created the conditions for making the peace with Britain, on terms well in advance of what the British had declared themselves willing to offer. ....