Ireland 30 Years ago
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-55453601
What’s interesting here is the idea that the murder of Ian Gow shook the Tory party, and they had genuine concerns about the IRA indefinitely continuing the struggle. Normally the story is the IRA was infiltrated to buggery and practically surrendered by going into talks.
Also, fascinating, is the insight that the IRA council didn’t consider themselves organically linked to Sinn Fein, and were worried by it’s left-wing character…
It makes the accomplishments of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness in the peace process even more impressive.
By coincidence the 50 years ago column in the January Socialist Standard (being despatched tomorrow) is about the split in the IRA that led to the formation of the “Provisional” IRA which later became the main one. The split was over the same issue. The traditionalists thought that the “Official” IRA had gone too leftwing, even “Communist”. Twenty years later, it seems, that some of them thought the same about their own Sinn Fein merely going social-democratic reformist. The Officials party was renamed the Workers Party and still exists and contests elections:
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