Mr FM's History of the IRA (Expedited Version)
Just picking up from my earlier post on continuing terrorist violence in Northern Ireland, I thought that this morning, we should take a little look at the history of the IRA which in so many ways, echoes 'that' scene from Monty Pythons Life of Brian. So without further ado & armed only with a bottle of Bushmills, let us plunge into the murky world of Irish revolutionary politics.
The Original IRA (OIRA) aka the Old IRA (confusingly also known as OIRA) fought in the War of Independence. After the Battle of Yorktown & a simply catastrophic map reading error, they moved to the south side of Boston where they continue to fight amongst one & other to this day.
Part of the OIRA accepted the compromise of the 1921 treaty which established the Irish Free State & Free State government. Ironically, the Irish Free State is nothing to do the Orange Free State which was so named in honour of the House of Orange. Whilst certain parts of southern Africa continue hark back to their Dutch Protestant roots, inexplicably in Dublin, King William is not remembered so fondly.
Although this was a diplomatic incident waiting to happen, their followed a reasonably stable period of Irish history until a catastrophic seating plan failure at the opening banquet of the Helsinki Conference of 1929 when the delegations for the Irish Free State & the Orange Free State were seated at the same table as the sales director for the Amstrad Solid State wireless.
Supporters of the OIRA formed the Fine-Gael Party, currently the second-largest party in Ireland. With additional recruits, it became the National Army, later known as the Irish Defence Force or IDF. As a result of the Great Storm of 1951 in the Western Approaches, a ship carrying members of the IDF was blown off course landing in Cairo, not Cork as originally intended. The resulting confusion goes someway to explaining the current ‘troubles’ in the West Bank, Gaza Strip & why you can still get a pint of Guinness in certain bars on the Golan Heights.
That part of the OIRA which rejected the compromise of the 1921 treaty on the grounds of editorial control & franchising rights went on under Liam ‘Hangman’ Lynch to fight the Irish Civil War against the Free State 'National Army' also formed of members from the OIRA (but led by Michael Collins), with the support of the anti-treaty faction of Sinn Féin, led by Éamon de Valera. Some years after losing the Civil War, a faction led by de Valera resigned from Sinn Féin, established the Fianna Fáil party, which is currently the largest party in Ireland & proof that in Irish politics if at first you don’t secede …
In the 1930's the remainder of the IRA, including that part of the OIRA organised within Northern Ireland, attempted a bombing campaign in Britain & the symbiotic relationship between Sinn Féin and the IRA was re-established – something that is denied by Nationalist ‘politicians’ to this day
By the 1960s, after the failed border campaign, Sinn Féin moved towards a Marxist Class Struggle Outlook V6.1. With the outbreak of ‘the Troubles’, Sinn Féin, or as it came to be called after the formation of the Provisional IRA (PIRA) & Provisional Sinn Féin, OIRA & Official Sinn Féin, found itself sidelined because of a lack of original acronyms. Over time the OIRA faded away, while Official Sinn Féin moved to a purely Marxist position, renaming itself first Sinn Féin the Workers Party, and then in 1982, The Workers Party where upon it slid into comparative obscurity.
After the OIRA's 1972 ceasefire it & Official Sinn Féin suffered a split in 1974 leading to the formation of the extreme left wing & equally extremely humourless Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). The more bearded members of the INLA, notable for their propensity for internal ideological feuding, in a fit of student pique went on to take themselves even more seriously & formed the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP). The IRSP was initially led by Elvis Costello’s younger brother Seamus . Whilst Elvis wrote & recorded the song ‘Oliver’s Army’, after releasing a critically acclaimed second album, he ceased taking part in any further paramilitary activity. By this stage, Seamus, still head of the IRSP, had been assassinated by the OIRA during a feud over record royalties.
Indeed, this musical theme continues as in 1992 the Workers' Party suffered a split again, resulting in the formation of the Democratic Left, the most leftist of the parties in the Republic with seats in the Dáil Éireann.. Ultimately the Democratic Left merged into the Labour Party to form Fat Larry’s Band where they enjoyed brief chart success with their hit single Zoom (& apologies to A. Sayle Esq. for recycling that joke).
In 1969, the more traditional i.e. corduroy wearing republican members split off into the Provisional IRA (PIRA) & Provisional Sinn Féin. A further split occurred in 1986, when the former leader of Sinn Féin Ruairí Ó Brádaigh - who was replaced by Gerry Adams in 1983 - walked out of the Sinn Féin Ard fheis, citing breeches of pronunciation.
The followers of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, who adhere to republican legitimatism, & opposing Sinn Féin's decision to abandon both abstentionism & post modernist abstract mimes & enter the Dáil Éireann, set up a rival party and military wing, called Republican Sinn Féin & the Continuity IRA (CIRA).
In 1997, members of the PIRA who did not accept the peace process split off to form the Real IRA (RIRA) & its snappily named political wing, the 32 County Sovereignty Movement which is sometimes known as the Peoples Front of Judea… or was that the Judean Peoples Front??
Comments
Should we just pull up the drawbridge and let them get on with it?
Posted by: Tim C | November 13, 2007 11:43 AM
Poor Ireland its really too small to be a country and too big for an Insane Asylum. Or as I was told by a trusted Relative, "There are 2 types of People. Those who are Irish and those who get down on their knees and Thank their God that they are not!"
Posted by: David | November 13, 2007 3:57 PM
...and next, Mr. Free Market will explain the rules of cricket!
Posted by: Joseph | November 14, 2007 5:04 AM
But this splitting up thing goes back to way before the English tried to impose some sort of efficient management on the place.
Ask any Irishman he'll tell you he's descended from the Kings of Ireland; and he probably won't be fibbing. As far as I can work it out, the way they used to run things was if you could claim ownership of something the size of a Wimpey Homes back garden you were a "king". Indeed, given the likelyhood of there being sevearl claimants to each "kingdom" I suspect that at certain times there were more "kings" in Ireland than actual people.
Posted by: The Remittance Man | November 14, 2007 6:36 AM