parnell fought for ireland's right to be self-governing home rule movement. at first he met with fenians, but he later decided to work with michael davitt. he was elected president of davitt's movement, (called the "land league") on 21 october 1879. after becoming the mp for cork city, he formed a new group with ideas from many other groups called the irish national league which later became the irish parliamentary party. although ireland did not become independent for many years, parnell's work in parliament pushed ireland much closer to their goal by unifying irish politics.