The British Government finally moves to suppress…

The British Government finally moves to suppress the Land League on October 20.

After the general election of April 1880 with the land war still raging, Parnell had believed then that supporting land agitation was a means to achieving his objective of self-government.

Prime Minister Gladstone had attempted to resolve the land question with Balfour’s dual ownership Second Land Act of 1881, but it had failed to eliminate tenant evictions.

Parnell and his party lieutenants, William O'Brien, John Dillon, Michael Davitt and Willie Redmond, had condicted a bitter verbal offensive against the Act and are imprisoned in October 1881 in Kilmainham Jail, together with other prominent members of the League, under the Irish Coercion Act.

Together in jail, it is easy to decide what action to take.

The famous No Rent Manifesto is issued calling for a national tenant farmer rent strike.