Papers of the Isle of Man political party Mec Vannin

The content consists of minutes of the Mec Vannin executive committee meetings, general meetings and annual general meetings. Internal and external correspondence, financial material, memos, the Mec Vannin constitution, its rules, procedures, proposals and policies are also present. Other material includes completed membership applications and lists and volumes of Mec Vannin members; including members with Manx residency and non-Manx residency. A job description for a managerial position and numerous Isle of Man and United Kingdom government reports are included in the deposit. Further printed material and ephemera present includes newspaper cuttings, the Manx Nationalist Party constitution, candidate pamphlets of the 1976 House of Keys election, Mec Vannin press statements and various newsletters (including the Manx Labour Party newsletter). Other material comprises of the journal of the Manx Electric Railway Society, a report of the Summerland Fire Commission, miscellaneous pamphlets and Mec Vannin logos and stickers.

Mec Vannin (Sons of Mann) is a political party located in the Isle of Man who advocate for Manx independence. Formed in 1962 its members felt Manx culture was being compromised by a variety of factors, including the obliteration of the Manx language (the last native speaker died in the early 1970s) and the influence of wealthy people (mostly from England) who stimulated a rise in house prices and took advantage of the Isle of Man tax benefits for individual and corporate reasons. In 1974 Mec Vannin released a statement saying that they stood for the ‘rights of self-government’ and in 1984 they made the unequivocal statement of intent that ‘the aim of Mec Vannin is to achieve national independence for Mann as a Democratic Republic' and 'To achieve this, the existing system (the Isle of Man is a British self-governing crown dependency) of undemocratic outside rule must be abolished and replaced with a system based upon the sovereignty of Man nation’.

Mec Vannin's current aims and objective are:

• To achieve national independence for Mann as a sovereign state based on a republican form of government.
• To further safeguard the interests of Mann.
• To protect the individual and collective rights of its people.

Mec Vannin has a written constitution and has policies on subjects such as Manx nationality, the population, education (which includes a proposal to establish a Manx university), health, social services and issues, transport, tourism, taxes, customs and rates. Mec Vannin also has specific policies on the Island’s environment, how to protect it, building developments, natural resources and specific measures to seek alternative energy resources. Mec Vannin is fundamentally opposed to the presence of the international finance industry on the Island believing it to be morally dubious for both the Island and for its effects upon the Third World. Its employment policy is primarily focused towards providing opportunities for 'native persons'. Mec Vannin believes the Manx industry should be geared towards the home market, be self-sufficient and stimulate the domestic economy. It also actively supports the re-establishment of the Manx language and culture and both should be developed in education and every-day life by the government. To date Mec Vannin has only had one successful candidate elected as a Member of the House of Keys, Peter Craine MHK (d.2003) in the 1976 campaign. Previous members have become MHKs after leaving Mec Vannin.

Material relating to membership information will be subject to data protection.

Advance notification of a research visit is advisable by emailing library@mnh.gov.im

The biographical information was gathered from Clive Bloom’s Terror Within: Terrorism and the Dream of a British Republic (2007: 264-266) and the website http://www.mecvannin.im/.

Fonds-level description created by Eleanor Williams (MNH Project Archivist), December 2015.

Related material held by Manx National Heritage includes numerous library resources and the historical records of the Isle of Man branch of the Celtic League (reference number: MS 10418).