The Troubles

The Troubles
Part of British Imperialism in Ireland
Date 1966-1998 Location Northern Ireland, with sporadic conflict elsewhere, including the Republic of Ireland, Great Britain, and Gibraltar. Status An end to most violence with the Good Friday Agreement
Belligerents
Irish Republicans	British and Unionist Forces
Miltary Organizations Anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army (until 1969) Saor Éire (1967-1975) Provisional Irish Republican Army (from 1969) Official Irish Republican Army (1969-1972) Irish National Liberation Army (from 1974) Continuity Irish Republican Army (from 1986) Irish People's Liberation Organization (1986-1992) Real Irish Republican Army (from 1997)	Military Organizations British Armed Forces Royal Ulster Constabulary Irish Army Garda Síochána Ulster Volunteer Force (until 1994) Ulster Protestant Volunteers (until-1969) Red Hand Commando (1970-1994) Ulster Defence Association (1971-1994) Ulster Loyalist Central Co-ordinating Committee (1974-1976 from 1991) Ulster Resistance (from 1986) Ulster Independence Movement (from 1988) Loyalist Volunteer Force (from 1996)
Political Organizations Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin (until 1969) Nationalist Party (Until 1977) Republican Labour Party (until 1974) National Democratic Party (until 1970) Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (1968-1972) People's Democracy (1968-1996) Provisional Sinn Féin (from 1970) Worker's Party (from 1970, originally Official Sinn Féin, then Official Sinn Féin-Workers Party) Social Democratic and Labour Party (from 1970) Irish Republican Socialist Party (from 1974) Irish Independence Party (1977-1985) Republican Sinn Féin (from 1986) Republican Socialist Collective (1986-1992) 32 County Sovereignity Movement (from 1997)	Political Organizations= Ulster Unionist Party Conservative and Unionist Party Fianna Fáil Fine Gael Ulster Unionist Labour Association Protestant Unionist Party (until 1971) Democratic Unionist Party (from 1971) Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party (1972-1978) Volunteer Political Party (1974) Unionist Party of Northern Ireland (1974-1981) United Ulster Unionist Party (1975-1984) Ulster Independence Party (1977-1982) New Ulster Political Research Group (1978-1981) Progressive Unionist Party (from 1979) Ulster Popular Unionist Party (from 1980) Ulster Democratic Party (from 1981 originally Ulster Loyalist Democratic Party) UK Unionist Party (from 1995)
Material Support and Training NORAID (from 1969) Palestine Liberation Organization (1970s-1980s) Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1972-1973/1980s) Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (sporadically from 1972) Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (from 1974) Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (limited)	Material Support Union of South Africa Serb Volunteer Guard
Poltical Support Most global Socialist and national liberation movements	Political Support Most Western imperialist states and reactionaries.

The Troubles was a conflict between Irish Republican organizations and the British Army and its Unionist paramilitary supporters in Northern Ireland.

The conflict was characterized by bombings and assassinations by militant groups, barricades and self-governing of certain areas of the North such as Free Derry, as well as sectarian violence committed against innocent civilians, primarily by Protestant unionist groups against Irish Catholic civilians.

Background

Early British Occupation: 1169-1898

See main article: Early History of Ireland

The first British occupation of Ireland took place in Anglo-1169 while England was ruled by Henry II, when Wexford was occupied. British influence over the island continued to grow with successive invasions, putting Anglo-Irish lords in power around 1250 and creating the Irish Parliament in 1297.

A portion of a painting depicting events in the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland

In 1541 Henry VIII had his title changed from Lord of Ireland to King of Ireland, marking the point Britain fully controlled Ireland.

Henry VIII also began the spread of Protestantism in Ireland, which continued in 1558 under Elizabeth I. The spread of Protestantism, often through the suppression of Catholicism was fought back against both by the general public in Ireland and by some Anglo-Irish Lords, beginning a series of revolts and rebellions from 1569 to the 1580s.

Several other rebellions occurred, including one led by Hugh O'Neill in 1595, a Gaelic chief, revolts supported by Spain in the early 1600s.

In 1605 plans to create plantations in Ulster were proposed and followed through with in 1606. These plantations were one of the first widespread examples of settler-colonialism, with predominantly Protestant Scottish and English settlers settling in the North.

In 1642 a civil war between Charles I and the English Parliament began. The same year a rebellion in Ireland, mostly organized by the native Irish Catholics, began. Among the leaders of this uprising was Owen Roe O'Neill, who due to his exploits became a folk hero in later years.

After the end of the Civil War in 1649 and the execution of Charles I, Oliver Cromwell emerged as the dominant political figure in England. He led an invasion of Ireland with the goal of destroying the rebellion and crushing Catholic dissent. The massacres committed by his army are widely recognized as genocide. After the invasion, the development of Protestant plantations increased.

in 1658 Cromwell died and in 1660 Charles II became king. In 1661 the Irish Parliament was reestablished.

Oliver Plunkett

Suppression of Catholicism began to increase, with official positions being limited to members of the Church of Ireland in 1666. In 1678 allegations were made of a Catholic plot to overthrow Charles II. In 1681 Archbishop of Armagh Oliver Plunkett was executed for alleged involvement in the plot.

In 1685 the throne of England passed to the Catholic James II. In 1688 his daughter Mary, a Protestant, and her husband Prince William of Orange arrived in England, claiming the throne. They agreed to rule in 1689, and James II arrived in Ireland, claiming the throne. The next century included several risings by supporters of Charles II and his royal line, called Jacobites. These risings had a large base of support in Ireland, which was often on the front lines.

In 1762 the Whiteboys, and agrarian Catholic organization began to resist the oppression of the Irish peasantry.

The Enlightenment led to the growth of Liberalism, Republicanism, and Proto-socialism, setting the stage for the United Irishmen rising of 1798.

United Irishmen to Young Ireland: 1791-1848

The Society of United Irishmen was founded in 1791 in Belfast. It mostly consisted of Presbyterian radicals inspired by the French Revolution. In 1792 Theobald Wolfe Tone was appointed Secretary of the Catholic Committee, a group which advocated for rights for Catholics. He also became a leading member of the United Irishmen.

The United Irishmen went underground following suppression by the British government in 1794. Wolfe Tone and other leaders departed from Ireland to seek aid abroad, particularly in France.

Conflict between Catholic and Protestant farmers grew in 1795, with the Catholic Defenders fighting the Protestant Peep of the Day Boys. The Protestants were victorious and the Orange Order was formed.

In 1796 Wolfe Tone attempted to land in Ireland with a French fleet, but was unsuccessful. In 1797, with an uprising imminent, martial law was imposed.

A painting of the Battle of Vinegar Hill during the United Irishmen Rising

The Irish Uprising of 1798 began in May with several small rebellions throughout Ireland. A larger uprising throughout the island was planned to begin then by the United Irishmen, but this was delayed by the arrest of leaders of the organization. In August a French force arrived in Mayo. The rebellion was defeated on October 12 when a French fleet, with Wolfe Tone onboard, was intercepted. Wolfe Tone was taken prisoner and died in prison on November 19, likely of suicide.

The acts of Union were passed in 1800, forming a union between Ireland and Britain and creating the basis for Unionism. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was established in 1801 when the act went into effect.

In July 1803 the remnants of the United Irishmen, led by Robert Emmet, staged an uprising in Dublin. It was unsuccessful and the leaders of the uprising were executed.

In 1823 the Catholic Association was founded with the goal of removing legal repression and restrictions placed on Irish Catholics. In 1824, while under the leadership of Daniel O'Connell, the Catholic Association grew into a mass movement for Catholic Emancipation which would continue for several years, with the Catholic Association endorsing candidates in the 1826 general election. In 1828 O'Connell ran in a by-election in 1828. He won but was unable to take his seat due to his Catholicism. Irish Catholics were finally allowed to take seats in parliament in 1829 and O'Connell took his seat in the House of Commons in 1830. In 1841 he became Lord Mayor of Dublin.

In 1845 the Great Famine began. Early on aid was given to Ireland by the British government, but in July the new Whig government stopped this support. Using the justification of the since debunked philosophy of Thomas Malthus, Charles Trevelyan, then head of the treasury, restricted food imports and continued exporting crops unaffected by the blight. Policies like this continued, and by the end of the famine about a million people died and more than a million more emigrated. The famine is widely recognized as a genocide.

In 1848, angered by the famine and inspired by revolutionary movements throughout Europe, the Young Ireland movement attempted an uprising in 1848. It was unsuccessful and those involved were sent to Australia.

The Fenians, IRB and Home Rule Movement: 1848-1913

In 1856 James Stephens, a former Young Irelander, traveled back to Ireland and founded the Phoenix Society with Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa to promote Irish Republican ideals.

In 1858 the revolutionary organization and secret society the Irish Republican Brotherhood was founded. The organization looked for support from Irish emigrants abroad, the Fenian Brotherhood being formed as a parallel group in the United States of America.

In 1865, with the IRB planning a rebellion, many Irish Republican leaders were arrested, though IRB leader James Stephens avoided capture.

In 1866 Fenians in the United States attempted to invade Canada, then a British colony in an attempt to force Britain out of Ireland. In 1867 another rebellion was planned, but it failed after an attempt to procure weapons failed, with the organizer of the rebellion Thomas Kelly being arrested.

From this point, the IRB's strategy changed to one of attacks against specific targets, often by bombings, with most within England itself. This included a bombing at Clerkenwell Prison, which killed 12 in an attempt to free a Republican prisoner.

In the 1870s the Home Rule movement grew in Ireland, with MP Isaac Butt introducing a motion in the House of Commons for Home Rule in 1874 and Charles Stewart Parnell, a staunch supporter of Home rule, being elected in 1874.

In 1879 the Land War began. It was a period of unrest among the Irish peasantry due to economic downturn and poor harvests in combination with rent by absentee landlords. Michael Davitt organized the Irish National League and persuaded Charles Stewart Parnell to become its president.

In 1880 Parnell became the chairman of the Irish Parliamentary Party, and in the same year the first boycotts, organized by Hugh Cunningham Boycott, began, with Irish farmers refusing to pay rent.

A series of assassinations in Dublin by the Invincibles occurred in 1882, with the Irish Chief Secretary and his deputy being killed.

In the late 1880s and early 1890s, a campaign to slander and discredit Parnell began, first with allegations of his support for the assassinations by the Invincibles and later by wide press coverage of his affair with Katharine O'Shea. Home Rule politicians began to lose elections and Parnell died in 1891.

In 1905 Sinn Féin was formed.

Growing Tensions: 1912-1916

A third Home Rule bill was introduced in the House of Commons in 1912, leading Unionist leader Edward Carson to mobilize Unionist support in Ulster, founding the militant Ulster Volunteer Force in 1913 and formulating a plan to establish a separate Protestant Unionist government in Ulster in the event of Home Rule for Ireland. The Home Rule bill passed the House of Commons but failed in the House of Lords.

In response to the forming of the UVF, Irish Republicans and supporters of Home Rule founded the Irish Volunteers in November 1913. The UVF began transporting arms to Ireland for their uses in 1914.

Also in 1913, Socialist and Trade Unionist Republicans began organizing during the Dublin Lockout, with James Connolly and others forming the Irish Citizen Army.

Another Home Rule Bill was proposed in parliament, this time being passed in the House of Commons but being delayed in the House of Lords. It eventually passed in September. However, by then Britain had entered into the First World War and delayed the implementation of the act.

The Irish Volunteers split over the issue of support for Britain in the First World War, with the National Volunteers supporting Britain's war effort and the Irish Volunteers continuing to oppose all involvement in the war.

In 1915 the IRB established a military council and began planning an armed uprising to take advantage of Britain's involvement in the war with Germany. The same year IRB figure Patrick Pearse delivered an oration at Jerimiah O'Donovan Rossa's funeral, setting the ideology of abstentionist and militant Republicanism that would be primary to the Republican movement in the years to come.

The Easter Rising and Revolution: 1916-1922

The Easter Rising began on April 24, 1916, with the Irish Volunteers, Irish Citizen Army, the IRB, among others taking part. It was defeated on April 29 with most of the leaders being executed shortly after. After the brutal suppression of the uprising, the British government offered to introduce home rule in the South of Ireland in an attempt to gain public support. the Irish Parliamentary Party took this deal, but it would prove unpopular.

In 1917 lost still imprisoned for the Easter Rising were released. Sinn Féin had after the rising become an umbrella organization for Irish Republicanism, and in 1917 longtime leader of the organization Arthur Griffith stepped down, with Eamon de Valera, one of the only surviving leaders of the Easter Rising, taking his place.

In 1918 Sinn Féin leaders including Eamon De Valera were arrested. Later that year Sinn Féin won 73 seats in parliament in the general election. These candidates would not take their seats in parliament and instead formed the first Dáil Éireann in January 1919. Cathal Brugha was elected acting president of the Dáil.

The same day 2 policemen were killed by the Irish Volunteers, beginning the Irish War of Independence. Soon the Irish Volunteers and other Irish Republican groups reorganized into the Irish Republican Army, launching a campaign of guerilla warfare across the country.

In 1920 the Black and Tans were sent to Ireland by the British to put down the revolution, attacking civilians and burning cities. On November 21 the Black and Tans murdered 12 people in Croke Park in Dublin.

In a precursor to the troubles, sectarian rioting erupted in Derry and on July 21, 1920, a woman was murdered in Belfast, beginning a period of conflict referred to as the Troubles. By 1922 this conflict resulted in 501 deaths.

James Craig became the foremost figure in Unionism in 1921. In July of that year, a truce was agreed to, with Irish Republican leaders Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith traveling to London for negotiations. The Treaty of Peace between Great Britain and Ireland, commonly referred to as the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed. The treaty was controversial due to it not creating an independent Irish Republic, but instead a free state within the British Empire, as well as the fact that 6 counties in the North remained under the direct control of Britain.

In 1922 the treaty was passed by a narrow vote in the Dáil. This created a split in the Republican movement, with Sinn Féin and the IRA splitting into pro-treaty and anti-treat factions. In June anti-treaty forces took over the Four Courts in Dublin. The pro-treaty forces, then organized under the Irish Free State government, attacked these forces, beginning the Irish Civil War.

Civil War and Underground Movement: 1922-1960s

The Irish Civil War took place between 1922 and 1923 and resulted in almost 2000 deaths. During the war, Michael Collins, then Commander in Chief of the Free State Army and Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State, was assassinated, though it is possible he was killed by friendly fire by his own guards. After anti-treaty IRA leader Liam Lynch was killed in battle on April 10, 1923, Eamon De Valera, then leader of the anti-treaty movement, called a ceasefire, turning over their weapons and officially ending the war on May 24.

Pro-treaty Sinn Féin reorganized into Cumann na nGaedheal later in 1923, while Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin split between pro-electoralist factions led by Eamon De Valera, who left to form Fianna Fáil, which quickly became a prominent political party, surpassing Sinn Féin by a large margin the 1927 election.

In 1927 Kevin O'Higgins, who was Minister for Justice, was assassinated by the Anti-Treaty IRA. The Dáil passed the Electoral Amendment Act soon after, declaring that candidates for elections were required to sign an oath saying that would take their seats if elected. Fianna Fáil took the oath.

In 1931 the IRA was banned in the Irish Free State.

In 1932 Fianna Fáil was the largest political party and formed a government in the Dáil, and in the next year, Cumann na nGaedheal and several other conservative parties formed Fine Gael. These two parties have made up the majority in Irish politics to this day.

In 1937 Eamon De Valera proposed a new constitution. It would reorganize the government, creating the office of president as head of state and two parliamentary chambers. The constitution also claimed sovereignty over the whole of Ireland. It passed in a referendum.

Douglas Hyde was elected the first President of Ireland in 1938.

In 1939 the Anti-Treaty IRA began a bombing campaign in Britain and raided a fort in Dublin. Eamon De Valera introduced the Offences Against the State Act to prosecute IRA members.

In 1940 two IRA members were executed and two more died on hunger strike under the new laws. Several more Republicans were executed in the following years and many more were imprisoned.

In 1941 the IRA began a campaign in Northern Ireland.

In 1946 Seán MacBride, a prominent Irish Republican, former Chief of Staff of the Anti-Treaty IRA, lawyer and humanitarian, formed Clann na Poblachta, a Social-Democratic Republican party.

In 1948 The Republic of Ireland Act 1948 was passed, declaring Ireland a republic. The Republic of Ireland left the Commonwealth of Nations after this.

On December 11 1956 the IRA launched The Campaign of Resistance to British Occupation, commonly called the Border Campaign. By the end of it, 8 IRA members and 4 Republican supporters of the IRA were killed, along with 6 Royal Ulster Constabulary officers. The most well-known event of the Border Campaign took place on January 1, 1957, when Sean South and Fergal O'Hanlon were killed in a raid on the Brookeborough Barracks. Internment of IRA members and supporters was implemented on both sides of the border. The campaign ended in 1962.

Growing Tensions and Outbreak of the Troubles: Early 1960s

Ever since the establishment of a Protestant majority in Northern Ireland Catholics had faced discrimination and poverty. By the 1960s Catholic and Protestant communities throughout Northern Ireland were heavily segregated, Catholics faced high unemployment and housing discrimination and gerrymandering to benefit Unionists was rampant. In 1964 The Campaign for Social Justice in Northern Ireland was founded.

On September 28 the RUC stormed the office of a Republican candidate for parliament, removing an Irish flag displayed in the windows. This led to rioting throughout Belfast.

The campaign for Civil Rights grew, with the CSJ publishing Londonderry: One Man, No Vote and issues of Civil Rights being brought up in the British and Northern Irish Parliaments and widespread protests starting.

In 1966 Irish Republicans bombed and destroyed Nelson's Pillar in Dublin, a statue of British admiral Horatio Nelson. The same year Ian Paisley, a fundamentalist Protestant preacher and staunch Unionist founded the Ulster Protestant Volunteers. In May the Ulster Volunteer Force, named after Edward Carson's organization, was formed. They threatened "All known IRA men will be executed mercilessly and without hesitation. The UVF committed a series of murders against Irish Catholic and other civilians. The formation of the UVF is considered the earliest starting-date of the Troubles.

Groups Involved

Groups are listed in chronological order of their founding.

Republican Organizations:

Anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army/Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin

See main articles: Anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army/Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin

The Anti-Treaty Irish Republican Army was an armed guerilla organization that existed since the split in the IRA over the Anglo-Irish treaty in 1922. Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin, which similarly to the Anti-Treaty IRA emerged in the split over the treaty, served as its political wing, though it was at times disconnected from the Anti-Treaty IRA.

The two organizations were politically broad, serving as an umbrella group for Republicans opposed to the treaty, including Socialists and Communists as well as more conservative Catholic nationalists, with Communist figures like Cathal Goulding, Seán Garland, and Seamus Costello being leading members, as traditionalist Republicans like Sean Russel and reactionaries like Seamus O'Donovan.

It was involved in several armed campaigns including the Irish Civil War between 1922 and 1923, a Sabotage Campaign commonly called the S-plan between 1939 and 1942, a campaign in the north between 1940 and 1942 and the IRA Border Campaign from 1956 to 1962. It also fought against the Fascist Blueshirts, a group made up of Irish Free State veterans who opposed the IRA's efforts to reunite Ireland. The Anti-Treaty IRA faced repression within Ireland itself, with various laws designed to crush it being established and several IRA volunteers being executed at this time, with Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin at the same time being harshly campaigned against by most mainstream political elements.

The beginning of the Troubles was the declaration of war against the Anti-Treaty IRA in 1966. The Anti-Treaty IRA was involved in the conflict from 1966 to 1969, though at this time the militant Republican movement had little popular support and few weapons and volunteers. In 1969 the Anti-Treaty IRA and in 1970 Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin split between the Official movement and the Provisional movement over the issue of abstentionism.

Nationalist Party

See main article: Nationalist Party (Ireland)

Republican Labour Party

See main article: Republican Labour Party

The Republican Labour Party was founded by Gerry Fitt and Harry Raymond, two members of the Northern Irish Parliament, in 1964. Fitt had been a member of the Irish Labour Party, while Raymond was involved in the Socialist Republican Party.

In 1970 Fitt founded the Social Democratic and Labour Party and was subsequently expelled from the Republican Labour Party along with Paddy Wilson, causing the party to go into decline. The party won no seats in the 1973 elections and subsequently disbanded.

Saor Éire

See main article: Saor Éire

Saor Éire was a small Trotskyist political and militant organization founded in 1967. It was named after another Communist Republican organization that existed for part of 1931. It was affiliated with the International Marxist Group, a British Trotskyist grouping.

Unlike other Republican groups involved in the troubles, Saor Éire mainly operated within the Republic of Ireland, committing several bank robberies, including one which killed a Garda officer.

In 1971 Saor Éire leading member Peter Graham was murdered in Dublin during a period of infighting within the organization, beginning the decline of the organization. In 1975 another member, Larry White, was killed, likely by members of the Official Irish Republican Army. Saor Éire disbanded later that year.

Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association

See main article: Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association

The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association was the main force in the fight for civil rights for Northern Irish Catholics, who had faced discrimination, gerrymandering, and unemployment. The NICRA was inspired by civil rights groups in the United States, with many similar aims and methods in their protests. It was formed on April 9, 1967

The NICRA had a diverse range of political beliefs, with its committee including Communists, members of the Wolfe Tone Society, members of various Trade Unions, Liberal Party members, and others. Even some Unionists attended early meetings.

It organized many civil rights marches during the 1960s and early 1970s, but after the Bloody Sunday massacre against civil rights protesters in 1972 and the subsequent decline of the civil rights movement the NICRA ceased most of its organizing.

People's Democracy

See main article: People's Democracy

People's Democracy was a left-wing group within the larger civil rights movement in Ulster. It was formed by students at Queen's University in Belfast on October 9, 1968, after earlier that day a civil rights protest was blocked by Unionist counter-protesters led by Ian Paisley. It differed from the NICRA in several ways including its democratic organization and its explicitly left-wing beliefs.

PD organized various peaceful protests and faced serious repression at the hands of police and Unionist counter-protesters, both of whom attacked protesters.

The group had a broad range of left-wing ideologies within it including Marxism-Leninism, Trotskyism and, Anarchism.

Provisional Irish Republican Army/Provisional Sinn Féin

See main articles: Provisional Irish Republican Army/Provisional Sinn Féin

The Provisional Irish Republican Army and Provisional Sinn Féin were the larger of the two factions to emerge from the Republican Movement Split of 1969/1970. Throughout they were the dominant grouping in Irish Republican politics in the North, and Provisional Sinn Féin is one of the major forces in Irish and Northern Irish politics today.

The ideology of the Provisionals existence. Though started as a staunchly abstentionist grouping in opposition to the Electoralist Officials. This policy began to change in 1981 when, after the electoral momentum from the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike proved to be great, Sinn Féin began to follow the 'Armalite and Ballot Box' strategy. They abandoned abstentionism in 1986, leading to Republican Sinn Féin breaking away.

The Provisional movement always had Socialist elements, though they were less pronounced than the Officials. In 1977 the Provisional movement began to connect the class struggle in the whole of Ireland to the national liberation movement, and around this time the term 'Socialist' began being used in official documents. The Provisional movement and the national liberation movement in Ireland as a whole were supported by global liberation and Socialist movements and in turn, the Provisionals supported them.

They are commonly referred to as the 'Provisionals', 'Provos', or 'Provies'.

Official Irish Republican Army/Workers Party

See main articles: Official Irish Republican Army/Workers Party (Ireland)

The Official Irish Republican Army and Official Sinn Féin made up the smaller of the two factions emerging after the 1969/1970 split. In addition to opposing the practice of abstentionism of the rest of the Republican movement the Official movement was staunchly Marxist-Leninist.

The militant wing of the organization, the Official IRA, engaged in armed attacks against the British military until their ceasefire in 1972 after an attempted bombing of Aldershot military barracks killed civilians. Despite the ceasefire, the Officials continued sporadic attacks on British soldiers for a number of years, as well as a persistent campaign against the Irish National Liberation Army, which had split from the Official IRA due to the ceasefire.

They are commonly referred to as the 'Officials' or more casually as the 'Stickies'.

Social Democratic and Labour Party

See main article: Social Democratic and Labour Party

The Social Democratic and Labour Party was founded in 1970 by Gerry Fitt, who was then a leading member of the Republican Labour Party and who was subsequently expelled from the party. It was founded as a Republican nationalist party with Social Democratic and some Socialist principles. The party opposed internment but was not in favor of the IRA armed struggle.

The party began to move away from Socialism and its more left-wing Social Democratic principles in the late 1970s, particularly shown by the expulsion of Paddy Devlin for his criticism of the party's political shift in 1977 and Gerry Fitt's resignation from the party in 1979, opposing its move away from Socialism.

In the late 1970s the party became the second most prominent Republican political party, winning large shares of the Stormont elections, UK Parliament elections, EU elections and local elections in Northern Ireland. The party still is prominent in Irish Republican and Northern Irish politics today.

Irish National Liberation Army/Irish Republican Socialist Party

See main articles: Irish National Liberation Army/Irish Republican Socialist Party

The Irish National Liberation Army and Irish Republican Socialist Party were formed in the years after the Official IRA ceasefire, when after Seamus Costello advocated for a return to the armed struggle he was expelled from both the Official IRA and Official Sinn Féin. Like the Official movement, the INLA and IRSP were Marxist-Leninist organizations, but differing from the Officials they remained staunchly committed to armed action being the only way to achieve a United Ireland and a Socialist Republic.

The INLA engaged in attacks against the British Army and Unionist groups and leaders. They also withstood campaigns to destroy them by both the Republic of Ireland and the Official movement. Costello and other IRSP/INLA leaders tried to build bridges with other Republican Socialist organizations whenever possible, and collaborated with the Provisional movement on numerous occasions, including the Blanket Protest and the subsequent 1981 Hunger Strike in the HM Prison Maze, where 3 INLA members died.

Irish Independence Party

See main article: Irish Independence Party

Continuity Irish Republican Army/Republican Sinn Féin

See main articles: Continuity Irish Republican Army/Republican Sinn Féin

The Continuity Irish Republican Army and Republican Sinn Féin split from the Provisional movement in 1986 following the Provisional's adoption of the 'Armalite and Ballot Box' strategy, dropping abstentionism and seeking to participate in the government of both the occupied North and the collaborator South.

Ruairí Ó Braídaigh and Dáithí Ó Conaill, President of Sinn Féin from 1970-1983 and Vice President of Sinn Féin from 1978-1983 became the President and Vice President of Republican Sinn Féin, with Ó Conaill also becoming Chief of Staff of the Continuity Irish Republican Army.

Republican Sinn Féin is a staunchly Socialist and Abstentionist organization which affirms its commitment to the armed struggle in Ireland. It also opposes global Western imperialism and supports national liberation movements around the world. RSF and the Continuity IRA claim to be the legitimate successors of the Second Dáil Éireann, which they consider to be the last legitimate government of Ireland. This claim is supported by the fact that Thomas Maguire, the last surviving member of the Second Dáil, endorsed the Continuity IRA Army Council as the legitimate successor to that government.

Irish People's Liberation Organization/Republican Socialist Collective

See main articles: Irish People's Liberation Organization/Republican Socialist Collective

The Irish People's Liberation Organization and its political wing the Republican Socialist Collective broke from the INLA/IRSP in 1986. Like the INLA it was a Marxist-Leninist organization dedicated to the overthrow of British rule, but due to the circumstances of its founding it was often involved in conflict with both the INLA and the Provisional IRA, as well as internal conflict within the IPLO itself. The IPLO was also involved in drug-smuggling as part of its funding, a tactic frowned upon by most other Republican groups. In October 1992 most leading members of the IPLO/RSC were killed by the PIRA. The IPLO dissolved less than a week later.

Real Irish Republican Army/32 County Sovereignty Movement

See main articles: Real Irish Republican Army/32 County Sovereignty Movement

History

1966

The first fatal attack by the Ulster Volunteer force was the attack on the house of Matilda Gould, a Protestant civilian, which was confused with an Irish Catholic-owned bar, on May 7, 1966. Gould would die weeks later on June 27. The first death of the troubles was 28-year-old Catholic civilian John Scullion, who was murdered by the UVF. He died on 11 June, 1966, one day after being shot outside of his home.

On 28 June the Northern Ireland government moved to declare the UVF an illegal organization after the shooting of three Irish Catholic civilians 2 days previously.

On 4 July 1966 the Elizabeth II controversially made an official visit to Northern Ireland. Protests and demonstrations occurred throughout the visit, with a concrete block even being dropped on the car she travelled in. Almost exactly one month later, on 5 August, Harold Wilson, then Prime Minister of the UK for the Labour Party, visited the Northern Ireland Prime Minister Terence O'Neill. There, he urged O'Neill to increase civil rights reforms, though O'Neill later claimed that he was not told this.

1967

On 29 January 1967 the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association held its first meetings. In the following months it would lead the growth of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Movement. It sought to end discriminatory policies and practices through direct peaceful action. It would ratify its constitution and officially be established on 9 April 1967.

Casualties

3,720 people were killed in total during the conflict and approximately 47,541 were injured.