Physical force Irish republicanism
Encyclopedia
Physical force Irish republicanism, is a term used to describe the recurring appearance of non-parliamentary violent insurrection in Ireland between 1798 and the present. It is often described as a rival to parliamentary nationalism which for most of the period drew the predominant amount of support from Irish nationalists.
has usually been marked by a number of features:
The most prominent physical force rebellions and campaigns were:
The United Irishmen of 1798 were a mass movement, largely led by liberal Protestants, who desired to "break the connection with England" and found a non-sectarian Irish Republic. To this end, they secured French military aid and launched their own rebellion. Robert Emmett's abortive rebellion of 1803 was essentially an aftershock of the 1798 rebellion. It was confined to a skirmish in Dublin, after which Emmett was hanged.
The Young Ireland
rebellion of 1848 was launched in frustration with the failure of Daniel O'Connell
's Repeal Association
movement to secure the repeal of the Union, or self-government for Ireland. The Young Irelanders had previously supported O'Connell until he cancelled plans for a mass rally under British threat of force. The 1848 rebellion was a failure, launched during the Great Irish Famine, it did not address any of the social and economic questions of the day, and weaken the strength of the parliamentary movement of the recently deceased Daniel O'Connell.
The 1867 rebellion of the Irish Republican Brotherhood
(IRB) was the culmination of several years of agitation by this secret, oath-bound organisation. The IRB, or Fenians, planned a national insurrection and the foundation of an Irish Republic with the aid of radicalised Irish units in the British Army. Although the Fenians had some success in infiltrating army units and had a considerable presence in parts of Ireland, the British took steps to remove seditious army units from Ireland and the rebellion was launched against the better judgement of the IRB leadership on the urgings of the American based Fenian Brotherhood
. It was unsuccessful in a military sense with only isolated skirmishes taking place but did become a focal point in Irish revolutionary folklore, inspiring later generations of rebels. Clan na Gael
later conducted several bombing attacks in England and attempted to free their imprisoned allies. One such raid resulted in the hanging of three IRB men, known as the "Manchester Martyrs
", for the killing of a policeman.
The 1916 Easter Rising
was launched by the IRB, the Irish Volunteers
and the Irish Citizen Army
. It had a dramatic impact in achieving Irish independence. With the execution of its leaders, the backlash against the brutality of the British response was a factor in allowing surviving rising leader Éamon de Valera
to win a majority for the separatist Sinn Féin
party in the 1918 general election
. Sinn Féin then declared the Irish Republic
to be in existence. Its parliament, the First Dáil
first met in 1919, and the British declared it an illegal assembly shortly afterwards. At around the same time, the Volunteers, now organised as the Irish Republican Army
began a guerrilla war, the Irish War of Independence
(1919–1921), against the British Government in Ireland. By July 1921, the campaign had brought the British Government to the conclusion that it would have to negotiate with the Dáil to end the violence.
The war was ended with the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty
, which created an independent Irish dominion known as the Irish Free State
for 26 of Ireland's 32 counties. The remaining 6 were to remain in the UK as Northern Ireland
. The Treaty was narrowly passed in the Dáil in January 1922. While the leadership of the IRA, Michael Collins
and Richard Mulcahy
, in the forefront in accepting the treaty, the majority of the Army did not accept the abolition of the Irish Republic. In April 1922, they formed their own "Army Executive" and renounced the authority of the Dáil to accept the Treaty. Political leaders such as Éamon de Valera
and Cathal Brugha
, also unhappy with the Treaty, supported their actions. These tensions ultimately plunged the new Irish state into civil war
(1922–1923). Ultimately, the Irish Free State put down the Anti-treaty IRA and ended the war by May 1923, though not before the deaths of many of those who had fought together in 1919-1921.
Physical force republicanism continued on after 1923. As a result of the Treaty and the Civil War, Republicans saw both states in Ireland as being British imposed "imperialist" proxies. However, by the 1930s the bulk of the Civil War Anti-Treaty republicans had accepted the Irish Free state and entered its government as Fianna Fáil
. The remnants of the IRA continued to see themselves as the Army of the Irish Republic, temporarily suppressed by force of arms (though they too banned armed action by their members against the southern Irish state in 1948). They launched unsuccessful armed campaigns in England in the 1940s and in Northern Ireland
in the 1950s aimed at achieving a United Ireland
. The Irish Republican Army (1922-1969) and its political wing, Sinn Féin
went through periodic splits, most dramatically in 1969 when two IRAs emerged, the Official IRA
(OIRA) and the Provisional IRA (PIRA), along with two Sinn Féins; Sinn Féin - Gardiner Place or Official Sinn Féin and Sinn Féin - Kevin St or Provisional Sinn Féin.
While the "Official" republican movement wanted to move away from traditional physical force republicanism and towards Marxist political activism, the "Provisionals", reacting to the outbreak of communal violence in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles, wanted to first defend the Catholic population of the North from attack and then launch an armed offensive against British rule there. The PIRA proceeded to do this from 1969 until 1997 (see Provisional IRA campaign 1969-1997), when it called a ceasefire. The PIRA is responsible for roughly 1,800 deaths in the "Troubles". Its political wing, Sinn Féin entered negotiations towards a political settlement in Northern Ireland.
In 2005 Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams
called on the Provisional IRA to move from physical force activity to exclusively democratic means. Three months later the IRA Army Council
announced an end to the IRA's armed campaign, stating that it would work to achieve its aims using "purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means" and that IRA "Volunteers must not engage in any other activities whatsoever."
The "Officials" eventually abandoned militarism altogether but not before spawning a militant splinter group, the Irish National Liberation Army
(INLA) in 1974 and its political wing the Irish Republican Socialist Party
. The INLA is a Marxist revolutionary group and has carried out over 100 killings during the Northern Ireland conflict. It has been on a "no first strike" ceasefire since 1998.
When Sinn Féin voted to recognise the Dáil of the Republic of Ireland
and enter it (if elected) in 1986, a small group that included many of the founders of the Provisional movement broke away from Sinn Féin and the Provisional IRA and formed Republican Sinn Féin
and its own small Continuity IRA. They continue to oppose both states in Ireland.
Another small splinter group emerged from the Provisional IRA in 1998, when it was clear that the organisation was preparing to accept a political solution short of a united Ireland. This group of disaffected PIRA members called themselves the Real IRA and want to continue "armed struggle" against British rule in Northern Ireland. Neither the CIRA nor the RIRA have the support, numbers or capability once possessed by the Provisional IRA.
Definition
Physical force Irish republicanismIrish Republicanism
Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
has usually been marked by a number of features:
- A commitment to an Irish republic which stressed the rights of the Irish people as a community to independence and the ownership of Ireland rather than to individual rights, such as the rights to private property;
- The holding of a series of rebellions or campaigns, sometimes with minimal support, but some of which impacted upon parliamentary nationalism;
- A demand to break all links with the United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
through the use of force. - The use of secret societiesSecret societyA secret society is a club or organization whose activities and inner functioning are concealed from non-members. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence agencies or guerrilla insurgencies, which hide their...
to plot and organise rebellions; especially the Fenians/Irish Republican BrotherhoodIrish Republican BrotherhoodThe Irish Republican Brotherhood was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland during the second half of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century...
.
The most prominent physical force rebellions and campaigns were:
- 1798 rebellionIrish Rebellion of 1798The Irish Rebellion of 1798 , also known as the United Irishmen Rebellion , was an uprising in 1798, lasting several months, against British rule in Ireland...
of Wolfe ToneTheobald Wolfe ToneTheobald Wolfe Tone or Wolfe Tone , was a leading Irish revolutionary figure and one of the founding members of the United Irishmen and is regarded as the father of Irish Republicanism. He was captured by British forces at Lough Swilly in Donegal and taken prisoner...
and the Society of the United IrishmenSociety of the United IrishmenThe Society of United Irishmen was founded as a liberal political organisation in eighteenth century Ireland that sought Parliamentary reform. However, it evolved into a revolutionary republican organisation, inspired by the American Revolution and allied with Revolutionary France... - 1803 rebellionIrish Rebellion of 1803The Irish Rebellion of 1803 was an unsuccessful attempt by a group of Irish nationalists to secure Ireland's independence from the United Kingdom.- Leaders :...
associated with Robert EmmetRobert EmmetRobert Emmet was an Irish nationalist and Republican, orator and rebel leader born in Dublin, Ireland...
and the United Irishmen - 1848 rebellionYoung Irelander Rebellion of 1848The Young Irelander Rebellion was a failed Irish nationalist uprising led by the Young Ireland movement. It took place on 29 July 1848 in the village of Ballingarry, County Tipperary. After being chased by a force of Young Irelanders and their supporters, an Irish Constabulary unit raided a house...
associated with Thomas DavisThomas Osborne Davis (Irish politician)Thomas Osborne Davis was a revolutionary Irish writer who was the chief organizer and poet of the Young Ireland movement.-Early life:...
, Charles Gavan DuffyCharles Gavan DuffyAdditional Reading*, Allen & Unwin, 1973.*John Mitchel, A Cause Too Many, Aidan Hegarty, Camlane Press.*Thomas Davis, The Thinker and Teacher, Arthur Griffith, M.H. Gill & Son 1922....
and the Young IrelandYoung IrelandYoung Ireland was a political, cultural and social movement of the mid-19th century. It led changes in Irish nationalism, including an abortive rebellion known as the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848. Many of the latter's leaders were tried for sedition and sentenced to penal transportation to...
movement - 1867 rebellionFenian RisingThe Fenian Rising of 1867 was a rebellion against British rule in Ireland, organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood .After the suppression of the Irish People newspaper, disaffection among Irish radical nationalists had continued to smoulder, and during the later part of 1866 IRB leader James...
associated with James Stephens, Jeremiah O'Donovan RossaJeremiah O'Donovan RossaJeremiah O'Donovan Rossa , was an Irish Fenian leader and prominent member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. His life as an Irish Fenian is well documented but he is perhaps known best in death for the graveside oration given at his funeral by Pádraig Pearse.-Life in Ireland:He was born at...
and the Irish Republican BrotherhoodIrish Republican BrotherhoodThe Irish Republican Brotherhood was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland during the second half of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century... - 1867–1885 Fenian Dynamite CampaignFenian dynamite campaignThe Fenian dynamite campaign was a bombing campaign that took place in Great Britain from 1881 to 1885. It was carried out by the Irish Republican Brotherhood , nicknamed the "Fenians", who launched attacks on infrastructure as well as government, military and police...
associated with the Irish Republican Brotherhood - 1916 Easter RisingEaster RisingThe Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...
associated with Padraig Pearse and James ConnollyJames ConnollyJames Connolly was an Irish republican and socialist leader. He was born in the Cowgate area of Edinburgh, Scotland, to Irish immigrant parents and spoke with a Scottish accent throughout his life. He left school for working life at the age of 11, but became one of the leading Marxist theorists of... - 1919–21 Irish War of IndependenceIrish War of IndependenceThe Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...
- 1922–23 Irish Civil WarIrish Civil WarThe Irish Civil War was a conflict that accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State as an entity independent from the United Kingdom within the British Empire....
- 1939–1941 Sabotage Campaign (Irish Republican Army)S-PlanThe S-Plan or Sabotage Campaign or England Campaign was a campaign of bombing and sabotage against the civil, economic, and military infrastructure of the United Kingdom from 1939 to 1940, conducted by members of the Irish Republican Army . It was conceived by Seamus O'Donovan in 1938 at the...
- 1942–1944 Northern Campaign (Irish Republican Army)
- 1956–1962 Border Campaign (Irish Republican Army)
- 1969–97 Provisional IRA campaign 1969–1997Provisional IRA campaign 1969–1997From 1969 until 1997, the Provisional Irish Republican Army conducted an armed paramilitary campaign in Northern Ireland and England, aimed at ending British rule in Northern Ireland in order to create a united Ireland....
during The TroublesThe TroublesThe Troubles was a period of ethno-political conflict in Northern Ireland which spilled over at various times into England, the Republic of Ireland, and mainland Europe. The duration of the Troubles is conventionally dated from the late 1960s and considered by many to have ended with the Belfast... - 1998–present Dissident Irish republican campaignDissident Irish Republican campaignSince 1997, when the Provisional Irish Republican Army called an end to its armed campaign in Northern Ireland and England, dissident Irish republican paramilitary groups have sought, via a campaign of economic sabotage and physical force violence against agents of the British and Irish...
History
It was the Volunteers of 1782 which would launch a paramilitary tradition in Irish politics, a tradition, whether nationalist of unionist, has continued to shape Irish political activity with the ethos of "the force of argument had been trumped by the argument of force". Irish republicanism an offspring of the Volunteers of 1782, owes much to influences of both the American and French revolutions.The United Irishmen of 1798 were a mass movement, largely led by liberal Protestants, who desired to "break the connection with England" and found a non-sectarian Irish Republic. To this end, they secured French military aid and launched their own rebellion. Robert Emmett's abortive rebellion of 1803 was essentially an aftershock of the 1798 rebellion. It was confined to a skirmish in Dublin, after which Emmett was hanged.
The Young Ireland
Young Ireland
Young Ireland was a political, cultural and social movement of the mid-19th century. It led changes in Irish nationalism, including an abortive rebellion known as the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848. Many of the latter's leaders were tried for sedition and sentenced to penal transportation to...
rebellion of 1848 was launched in frustration with the failure of Daniel O'Connell
Daniel O'Connell
Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell Daniel O'Connell (6 August 1775 – 15 May 1847; often referred to as The Liberator, or The Emancipator, was an Irish political leader in the first half of the 19th century...
's Repeal Association
Repeal Association
The Repeal Association was an Irish mass membership political movement set up by Daniel O'Connell to campaign for a repeal of the Act of Union of 1800 between Great Britain and Ireland....
movement to secure the repeal of the Union, or self-government for Ireland. The Young Irelanders had previously supported O'Connell until he cancelled plans for a mass rally under British threat of force. The 1848 rebellion was a failure, launched during the Great Irish Famine, it did not address any of the social and economic questions of the day, and weaken the strength of the parliamentary movement of the recently deceased Daniel O'Connell.
The 1867 rebellion of the Irish Republican Brotherhood
Irish Republican Brotherhood
The Irish Republican Brotherhood was a secret oath-bound fraternal organisation dedicated to the establishment of an "independent democratic republic" in Ireland during the second half of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century...
(IRB) was the culmination of several years of agitation by this secret, oath-bound organisation. The IRB, or Fenians, planned a national insurrection and the foundation of an Irish Republic with the aid of radicalised Irish units in the British Army. Although the Fenians had some success in infiltrating army units and had a considerable presence in parts of Ireland, the British took steps to remove seditious army units from Ireland and the rebellion was launched against the better judgement of the IRB leadership on the urgings of the American based Fenian Brotherhood
Fenian Brotherhood
The Fenian Brotherhood was an Irish republican organization founded in the United States in 1858 by John O'Mahony and Michael Doheny. It was a precursor to Clan na Gael, a sister organization to the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Members were commonly known as "Fenians"...
. It was unsuccessful in a military sense with only isolated skirmishes taking place but did become a focal point in Irish revolutionary folklore, inspiring later generations of rebels. Clan na Gael
Clan na Gael
The Clan na Gael was an Irish republican organization in the United States in the late 19th and 20th centuries, successor to the Fenian Brotherhood and a sister organization to the Irish Republican Brotherhood...
later conducted several bombing attacks in England and attempted to free their imprisoned allies. One such raid resulted in the hanging of three IRB men, known as the "Manchester Martyrs
Manchester Martyrs
The Manchester Martyrs – William Philip Allen, Michael Larkin, and Michael O'Brien – were members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, an organisation dedicated to ending British rule in Ireland. They were executed for the murder of a police officer in Manchester, England, in 1867, during...
", for the killing of a policeman.
The 1916 Easter Rising
Easter Rising
The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...
was launched by the IRB, the Irish Volunteers
Irish Volunteers
The Irish Volunteers was a military organisation established in 1913 by Irish nationalists. It was ostensibly formed in response to the formation of the Ulster Volunteers in 1912, and its declared primary aim was "to secure and maintain the rights and liberties common to the whole people of Ireland"...
and the Irish Citizen Army
Irish Citizen Army
The Irish Citizen Army , or ICA, was a small group of trained trade union volunteers established in Dublin for the defence of worker’s demonstrations from the police. It was formed by James Larkin and Jack White. Other prominent members included James Connolly, Seán O'Casey, Constance Markievicz,...
. It had a dramatic impact in achieving Irish independence. With the execution of its leaders, the backlash against the brutality of the British response was a factor in allowing surviving rising leader Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in twentieth century Ireland, serving as head of government of the Irish Free State and head of government and head of state of Ireland...
to win a majority for the separatist Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
party in the 1918 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1918
The United Kingdom general election of 1918 was the first to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918, which meant it was the first United Kingdom general election in which nearly all adult men and some women could vote. Polling was held on 14 December 1918, although the count did...
. Sinn Féin then declared the Irish Republic
Irish Republic
The Irish Republic was a revolutionary state that declared its independence from Great Britain in January 1919. It established a legislature , a government , a court system and a police force...
to be in existence. Its parliament, the First Dáil
First Dáil
The First Dáil was Dáil Éireann as it convened from 1919–1921. In 1919 candidates who had been elected in the Westminster elections of 1918 refused to recognise the Parliament of the United Kingdom and instead assembled as a unicameral, revolutionary parliament called "Dáil Éireann"...
first met in 1919, and the British declared it an illegal assembly shortly afterwards. At around the same time, the Volunteers, now organised as the Irish Republican Army
Irish Republican Army
The Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
began a guerrilla war, the Irish War of Independence
Irish War of Independence
The Irish War of Independence , Anglo-Irish War, Black and Tan War, or Tan War was a guerrilla war mounted by the Irish Republican Army against the British government and its forces in Ireland. It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence. Both sides agreed...
(1919–1921), against the British Government in Ireland. By July 1921, the campaign had brought the British Government to the conclusion that it would have to negotiate with the Dáil to end the violence.
Anglo-Irish Treaty
The Anglo-Irish Treaty , officially called the Articles of Agreement for a Treaty Between Great Britain and Ireland, was a treaty between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and representatives of the secessionist Irish Republic that concluded the Irish War of...
, which created an independent Irish dominion known as the Irish Free State
Irish Free State
The Irish Free State was the state established as a Dominion on 6 December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, signed by the British government and Irish representatives exactly twelve months beforehand...
for 26 of Ireland's 32 counties. The remaining 6 were to remain in the UK as Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. The Treaty was narrowly passed in the Dáil in January 1922. While the leadership of the IRA, Michael Collins
Michael Collins (Irish leader)
Michael "Mick" Collins was an Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance and Teachta Dála for Cork South in the First Dáil of 1919, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations. Subsequently, he was both Chairman of the...
and Richard Mulcahy
Richard Mulcahy
Richard James Mulcahy was an Irish politician, army general and commander in chief, leader of Fine Gael and Cabinet Minister...
, in the forefront in accepting the treaty, the majority of the Army did not accept the abolition of the Irish Republic. In April 1922, they formed their own "Army Executive" and renounced the authority of the Dáil to accept the Treaty. Political leaders such as Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera
Éamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in twentieth century Ireland, serving as head of government of the Irish Free State and head of government and head of state of Ireland...
and Cathal Brugha
Cathal Brugha
Cathal Brugha was an Irish revolutionary and politician, active in the Easter Rising, Irish War of Independence, and the Irish Civil War and was the first Ceann Comhairle of Dáil Éireann.-Background:...
, also unhappy with the Treaty, supported their actions. These tensions ultimately plunged the new Irish state into civil war
Irish Civil War
The Irish Civil War was a conflict that accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State as an entity independent from the United Kingdom within the British Empire....
(1922–1923). Ultimately, the Irish Free State put down the Anti-treaty IRA and ended the war by May 1923, though not before the deaths of many of those who had fought together in 1919-1921.
Physical force republicanism continued on after 1923. As a result of the Treaty and the Civil War, Republicans saw both states in Ireland as being British imposed "imperialist" proxies. However, by the 1930s the bulk of the Civil War Anti-Treaty republicans had accepted the Irish Free state and entered its government as Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil
Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party , more commonly known as Fianna Fáil is a centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland, founded on 23 March 1926. Fianna Fáil's name is traditionally translated into English as Soldiers of Destiny, although a more accurate rendition would be Warriors of Fál...
. The remnants of the IRA continued to see themselves as the Army of the Irish Republic, temporarily suppressed by force of arms (though they too banned armed action by their members against the southern Irish state in 1948). They launched unsuccessful armed campaigns in England in the 1940s and in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
in the 1950s aimed at achieving a United Ireland
United Ireland
A united Ireland is the term used to refer to the idea of a sovereign state which covers all of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. The island of Ireland includes the territory of two independent sovereign states: the Republic of Ireland, which covers 26 counties of the island, and the...
. The Irish Republican Army (1922-1969) and its political wing, Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...
went through periodic splits, most dramatically in 1969 when two IRAs emerged, the Official IRA
Official IRA
The Official Irish Republican Army or Official IRA is an Irish republican paramilitary group whose goal was to create a "32-county workers' republic" in Ireland. It emerged from a split in the Irish Republican Army in December 1969, shortly after the beginning of "The Troubles"...
(OIRA) and the Provisional IRA (PIRA), along with two Sinn Féins; Sinn Féin - Gardiner Place or Official Sinn Féin and Sinn Féin - Kevin St or Provisional Sinn Féin.
While the "Official" republican movement wanted to move away from traditional physical force republicanism and towards Marxist political activism, the "Provisionals", reacting to the outbreak of communal violence in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles, wanted to first defend the Catholic population of the North from attack and then launch an armed offensive against British rule there. The PIRA proceeded to do this from 1969 until 1997 (see Provisional IRA campaign 1969-1997), when it called a ceasefire. The PIRA is responsible for roughly 1,800 deaths in the "Troubles". Its political wing, Sinn Féin entered negotiations towards a political settlement in Northern Ireland.
In 2005 Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams
Gerry Adams is an Irish republican politician and Teachta Dála for the constituency of Louth. From 1983 to 1992 and from 1997 to 2011, he was an abstentionist Westminster Member of Parliament for Belfast West. He is the president of Sinn Féin, the second largest political party in Northern...
called on the Provisional IRA to move from physical force activity to exclusively democratic means. Three months later the IRA Army Council
IRA Army Council
The IRA Army Council was the decision-making body of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, more commonly known as the IRA, a paramilitary group dedicated to bringing about the end of the Union between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom. The council had seven members, said by the...
announced an end to the IRA's armed campaign, stating that it would work to achieve its aims using "purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means" and that IRA "Volunteers must not engage in any other activities whatsoever."
Irish National Liberation Army
The Irish National Liberation Army or INLA is an Irish republican socialist paramilitary group that was formed on 8 December 1974. Its goal is to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and create a socialist united Ireland....
(INLA) in 1974 and its political wing the Irish Republican Socialist Party
Irish Republican Socialist Party
The Irish Republican Socialist Party or IRSP is a republican socialist party active in Ireland. It claims the legacy of socialist revolutionary James Connolly, who founded the Irish Socialist Republican Party in 1896 and was executed after the Easter Rising of 1916.- History :The Irish Republican...
. The INLA is a Marxist revolutionary group and has carried out over 100 killings during the Northern Ireland conflict. It has been on a "no first strike" ceasefire since 1998.
When Sinn Féin voted to recognise the Dáil of the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
and enter it (if elected) in 1986, a small group that included many of the founders of the Provisional movement broke away from Sinn Féin and the Provisional IRA and formed Republican Sinn Féin
Republican Sinn Féin
Republican Sinn Féin or RSF is an unregisteredAlthough an active movement, RSF is not registered as a political party in either Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland. minor political party operating in Ireland. It emerged in 1986 as a result of a split in Sinn Féin...
and its own small Continuity IRA. They continue to oppose both states in Ireland.
Another small splinter group emerged from the Provisional IRA in 1998, when it was clear that the organisation was preparing to accept a political solution short of a united Ireland. This group of disaffected PIRA members called themselves the Real IRA and want to continue "armed struggle" against British rule in Northern Ireland. Neither the CIRA nor the RIRA have the support, numbers or capability once possessed by the Provisional IRA.
Additional reading
- Marianne Elliott, Robert Emmet: The Making of a Legend
- Hugh Gough, David Dickson (Eds), Ireland and the French Revolution
- Patrick Geoghegan, Robert Emmet: A Life (Gill and Macmillan) ISBN 0-7171-3387-7
- Jim Smyth, The Men of No Property: Irish Radicals and Popular Politics in the Late Eighteenth Century
- A.T.Q. StewartATQ StewartAnthony Terence Quincey Stewart was a historian, teacher, academic and a best-selling author on the politics of Ulster and Northern Ireland...
, A Deeper Silence: The Hidden Origins of the United Irish Movement - Tim Pat Coogan, The Troubles
- Robert KeeRobert KeeRobert Kee CBE is a British broadcaster, journalist and writer, known for his historical works on World War II and Ireland....
, Ireland: A History - Joseph Lee, The Modernisation of Irish Society
- Dorothy McCardle, The Irish Republic
- Anthony McIntyre, Good Friday; the death of Irish Republicanism. Ausubo Press, New York 2008.