The Road to Peace - NORAID Online

The Irish Republican Army and
Armed Struggle in Irish Politics

There has always been a tradition of armed resistance to the British military and political occupation of Ireland.

Inspired by the example of the American War of Independence and by the democratic ideals of the French Revolution, the United Irishmen of the 1790's sought to unite the people of Ireland in a common effort to achieve equality and freedom. Choosing initially non-violent means to win their aims, the United Irishmen quickly met with a repressive response from the British government. It was only then that they exercised their right as Irish people to defend their liberty by the use of arms.

Armed uprisings against British rule took place in 1798, 1803, 1848 and 1867. The 45 years between 1803 and 1848 saw the Irish population mobilized in one of the first mass movements for political reform in the history of Europe. The demand for legislative independence for Ireland was denied by the British government.

The Great Hunger of 1845-1852 saw a million people starve to death and a million more emigrate yet this catastrophe befell an unarmed people and there was only sporadic resistance. The ill-fated uprising of 1848 was localized and abortive.

The Fenian Movement of the late 1850s and 1860s won widespread support in Ireland and America for its program of armed struggle to achieve an Irish Republic. The uprising of 1867 was crushed and another 49 years were to pass before Irish nationalists attempted an armed resistance.

Political Agitation

Another long period of parliamentarian agitation ensued which culminated in the support of the British Liberal government for Home Rule in 1911. Once again the wishes of the overwhelming majority of the Irish people were to be denied. The Conservative Party Opposition joined with the Unionists in Ireland to defeat the Liberal government's plans for Ireland.

While at this time there was little organized support for armed insurrection by nationalists, the Unionists and Conservative organized the importation of arms illegally and pledged to resist Home Rule by force. The Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) was established in 1913.

This was the background to the establishment of the organization which was to become the Irish Republican Army. The Irish Volunteers - Oglaigh na hEireann in the Irish language - were established in Novembers 1913 to ''secure and maintain the rights and liberties common to all the people of Ireland''.

The Easter Rising, Conflict with Britain and Civil War

The Easter Rising of 1916, led by the volunteers, was the defining event in the history of Irish republicanism. Many would regard the Proclamation of the Republic issued then as the founding document of the IRA. It declared an independent Republic and pledged republicans to ''equal rights and equal opportunities'' for all the Irish people.

The Easter Rising was crushed after a week. Sixteen of its leaders were later executed by the British government.

By now the faith of nationalists in the Home Rule party had been completely undermined. In the General Election of 1918 an overwhelming majority of the Irish people voted for the Sinn Fein party which sought to establish an Irish Republic.

Reorganized in 1917 the Irish Volunteers had wide popular support. But it was not until well into 1919 that a widespread and effective guerrilla campaign began.

In January 1919 Sinn Fein had established an independent Irish parliament Dail Eireann and declared the sovereignty of Ireland as a Republic. They formed independent institutions including a functioning central government, ministerial departments and republican courts of law. The Irish Volunteers became the Army of the Republic, under the Ministry of Defense and pledging its allegiance to Dail Eireann.

The response from the British government was to ban all these institutions and declare war on the new Irish democracy.

Three mayors of Irish cities, all members of the IRA, were killed by the British; martial law was declared through nearly half of the country; streets, shops and factories in many towns were burnt to the ground; there were executions in prisons and torture in internment camps. In response the IRA waged an increasingly effective guerrilla campaign against the British.

The guerrilla tactics used at this time later became textbook examples of this type of warfare. The popular Irish struggle, both in its civil and military side, inspired future anti-colonial struggles throughout the world.

On the basis of agreement by the British government to negotiate with Irish leaders - and with no question of a surrender of arms - the IRA called a Truce in July 1921. Subsequent negotiations produced a Treaty which split nationalist Ireland.

The IRA split in 1922 - as did Dail Eireann. In the Civil War which followed the Irish Republican Army held out for the complete independence of Ireland from Britain and for a United Ireland. In May 1923 the Civil War ended with the IRA order to its Volunteers to dump arms.

Reorganization and continued conflict

Throughout the 1920s the IRA reorganized and once again attracted a wide following. Throughout the 1930s the IRA sought a successful political and military strategy but this evaded the organization as left/right divides in the ranks manifested themselves in splits and dissension. Among the Chiefs of Staff of the IRA in the 1930s was Sean MacBride, later a distinguished international human rights lawyer and winner of the Nobel and Lenin Peace Prizes.

In 1939 the IRA began a bombing campaign in English cities. This was effectively over by 1941. With internment without trial introduced in both states in Ireland the IRA was at a low ebb. The early 1950s saw an anti-partition campaign conducted by Irish governments and supported by all parties in parliament. Its ineffectiveness in the face of the British government's indifference contributed to the renewal of the IRA.

In the early to mid 50s raids for arms were carried out by the IRA on British installations in the Six Counties and Britain. This was in preparation for an armed campaign which was conducted between 1956 and 1962. This campaign was mainly confined to border areas.

After the border campaign ended the leadership of the IRA decided that support should be given to campaigns to highlight the status of second-class citizenship for nationalists in the Six Counties. The emergence of the Civil Rights Movement in the mid-1960s was to transform the political situation. Their demand for basic rights - to jobs, housing, voting - threw the Six-County state into a crisis. The peaceful demand for civil rights was met with violence from the forces of the sectarian British statelet.

The Current Conflict

In Belfast and Derry in 1969 nationalist districts were attacked by the state police (RUC) and by unionist mobs. The demand for defense made by nationalist communities could not be met initially by the IRA because, through the 1960s, the leadership had abandoned planning and preparation for a future armed campaign. As a military organization the IRA had been run down.

The events of 1969 precipitated a split in the IRA. Once more the peaceful pursuit of change in the form of the Civil Rights Movement had been met with violence from the British state and so it was that the armed struggle gained predominance again as the republican strategy.

Through 1970 and 1971 the IRA gained increasing support in nationalist districts in the Six Counties and among nationalists throughout Ireland. This accelerated with the introduction of internment without trial in 1971. IRA Volunteers carried out a campaign of urban guerrilla warfare against the British army and economic bombings.

In July 1972 republican leaders were flown to London for talks with British government ministers during a Truce between the IRA and the British army. It quickly became clear that the British government was simply using the Truce as a tactical device in its military campaign and the Truce broke down.

The conflict in the Six Counties intensified. In England the IRA carried out a bombing campaign. Another truce was called in 1974 - 1975, but once more there was no political will by the British to reach a just political settlement.

Despite the British military saturation of urban areas and widespread deployment in the countryside, the IRA, with wide support in nationalist communities, continued to wage an effective campaign, making some parts of the country inaccessible by road to British forces. In August 1979 the IRA inflicted its greatest number of casualties on the British Army in a single incident since the 1919-21 period when it ambushed and killed 18 British soldiers at Warrenpoint, County Down.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s confidential contacts were maintained between British government representatives and the IRA. These channels proved unproductive of an understanding on the British part of how to resolve the conflict. Both the IRA and the British Army publicly admitted that military victory for either side was not possible.

Cessation of Military Operations
and Resumption of Armed Conflict

The cessation of military operations announced in August 1994 by the IRA was a result, not of any understanding with its enemy, but of the Irish Peace Initiative which was initiated by Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and SDLP leader John Hume and supported by the Irish government.

Once more an opportunity was created for the British government to recognize the democratic wishes of the Irish people. But again this opportunity was squandered by British and Unionist intransigence. Seventeen months after they declared their unilateral cessation the IRA resumed military activity. In their statement announcing this development the IRA said:

"It is with great reluctance that the leadership of Oglaigh na hEireann (IRA) announces that the complete cessation of military operations will end on February 9. The basis for the cessation was to enhance the democratic peace process and to underline our definitive commitment to its success.

"We also made it clear that we believed that an opportunity to create a just and lasting settlement had been created. The cessation presented an historic challenge for everyone and Oglaigh na hEireann commends the leaderships of nationalist Ireland at home and abroad. They rose to the challenge. The British Prime Minister did not.

"Instead of embracing the peace process, the British Government acted in bad faith with Mr Major and the Unionist leaders squandering this unprecedented opportunity to resolve the conflict. Time and again, over the last 18 months, selfish party political and sectional interests in the London parliament have been placed before the rights of the people of Ireland.

"The resolution of the conflict in our country demands justice. It demands an inclusive negotiated settlement. That is not possible unless and until the British Government faces up to its responsibilities. The blame for the failure thus far of the Irish peace process lies squarely with John Major and his Government."

New Cessation & Initiative for Peace

After the Elections of 1997 that brought Tony Blair's Labour Party into power and the election of a more nationalist government, Fianna Fail, in the south of Ireland, the IRA announce the resumption of the 1994 ceasefire.

After three years of delay, deception and inaction by the British government, all-party talks finally began in the fall of 1997. Out of those difficult negotiations, the Good Friday Agreement was agreed on April 10, 1998. Since then, the British government has not fully lived up to it's commitments on policing, demilitarization, criminal justice reform and the equality agenda. They have also allowed the unionist political parties to continually obstruct, minimize and wreak havoc on the political institutions set up by the agreement.

Throughout all of these difficulties, the Republican Movement has shown it's unwavering support for the peace process. The IRA has taken historic, unilateral moves including agreeing to put it's weapons beyond use and stating that they are committed to a permanent peace. The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning's report on August 6, 2001, stated that they "are satisfied that this proposal meets the Commission's remit" and "initiates a process that will put IRA arms completely and verifiably beyond use." This massive gesture by the IRA came in the face of over 200 pro-British Loyalist pipe bomb attacks on nationalist communities in the first 9 months of 2001 alone and Ulster Unionist leader, David Trimble determined efforts to undermine the agreement at every turn.

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