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The Provisional IRA: From Insurrection to Parliament
This book analyses the underlying reasons behind the formation of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), its development, where this current in Irish republicanism is at present and its prospects for the future.
Tommy McKearney, a former IRA member who was part of the 1980 hunger strike, challenges the misconception that the Provisional IRA was only, or even wholly, about ending partition and uniting Ireland. He argues that while these objectives were always the core and headline demands of the organisation, opposition to the old Northern Ireland state was a major dynamic for the IRA’s armed campaign. As he explores the makeup and strategy of the IRA he is not uncritical, examining alternative options available to the movement at different periods, arguing that its inability to develop a clear socialist programme has limited its effectiveness and reach.
This authoritative and engaging history provides a fascinating insight into the workings and dynamics of a modern resistance movement.
Tommy McKearney, a former IRA member who was part of the 1980 hunger strike, challenges the misconception that the Provisional IRA was only, or even wholly, about ending partition and uniting Ireland. He argues that while these objectives were always the core and headline demands of the organisation, opposition to the old Northern Ireland state was a major dynamic for the IRA’s armed campaign. As he explores the makeup and strategy of the IRA he is not uncritical, examining alternative options available to the movement at different periods, arguing that its inability to develop a clear socialist programme has limited its effectiveness and reach.
This authoritative and engaging history provides a fascinating insight into the workings and dynamics of a modern resistance movement.
256 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
August 24, 2025
A fabulous read on the politics sitting under the Provos war, with a great deal of critical reflection on the missed opportunities and regrettable decisions. Each chapter opens with a nice narrative piece, but one thing I’d wished for was more stories from the authors own life. While this is amongst the best books on the subject, it will do better if you have a bit of knowledge of this history already.
August 15, 2024
Some quotes
‘The demands of capitalism, which required a compliant and cheap workforce ensured that Northern Irish society did not become exclusively Protestant. A significant Roman Catholic minority in the Noth East acted as a reserve army of labour, filling vacancies at boom times and holding down wages at other periods... Unsurprisingly, this cheap source of labour alienated Protestant workers. Coupled with ancient fears of Papacy, this led to a situation of deep and growing hostility between two groups that would surely, under different circumstances, have found common cause in the pursuit of improvements in working conditions’
1907 state dockworkers and carters. Protestants and Catholic workers joined in unity frightened the ruling order in the early days of the strike, the refusal thereafter of the Royal Irish Constabulary to protect strike breakers drove them to panic. The ruling class called in the British Army to regain control of the city. ‘
Nationalists in towns such as Derry, Dungannon, Armagh, Newry and Enniskillen found that local authorities were not building sufficient quantities of houses. Alternatively, when houses were being built, they were being granted in disproportionate numbers to Unionist supporters. Catholics found they were being housed in high density, inferior buildings in areas where their presence did not threaten the balance of power in district council wards.
Due to high levels of unemployment among Catholics in Belfast a significant number had served in the British Army during the 1950s and 1960s.
The British government permitted...internment without trial in August 1971...[and] agreed that those arrested and interned should be subject to torture at the hands of the British Army...The methods of interrogation used in Northern Ireland had not differed greatly from those used against insurgents in Cyprus and Malaya....
Britain had fought a holding operation during the 1950s in what London had described as the ‘Malayan Emergency’. The Communist Party of Malaya...had launched an armed campaign to liberate the country from British imperial rule. With the country producing a significant proportion of the world’s rubber supply, London decided that it would not allow Malaya to fall outside its sphere of influence...
[tactics of torture used on prisoners in Northern Ireland included] bin liner suffocation....
Malaya, Kenya, Cyprus, Aden and elsewhere ...’outsourcing [and] ‘extraordinary rendition’ to have subjects tortured and killed by others...
Kenya Uprising when General China (Waruhiultote) of the Land and Freedom Party arranged a temporary ceasefire of hostilities between his people and the British. Negotiations at the time in Kenya came to nothing. During the 3 month lull in fighting the Special Branch in Nairobi gathered extensive intelligence about the group that supplied food, money, volunteers and ammunition to the fighters in the forests. When the ‘China Peace Overture’, as it was called failed, the British swept in and arrested more than a thousand suspects in 3 days.
When a protest march organised by the civil rights movement against internment took place ...in {Northern Ireland} in 1972, the British Army opened fire on the crowd, killing 14 people and wounding many others. Within minutes the British Army and its government were issuing a comprehensive yet entirely false account of what had happened. The marchers were accused of possessing bombs with intent to use them against British troops. Elsewhere it said that IRA personnel hiding amongst the demonstrators had shot at British paratroopers, who had claimed it very carefully shot and killed their attackers....Almost 4 decades were to pass before the British government publicly accepted the results of an enquiry...that those shot dead on the civil rights march were unarmed civilians and that the British Army opened fire on them without justification.
1969... in Catholic ardoyne, where RUC personnel charged into the distruct followed by the Unuionist crowd, which burned down mosr of Hooker Street. During the incident, RUC men opened fire with submachine guns, killing 2 men... A huge number of homes were burned down, 1,820 families fled their homes, 82.7% were Catholic...
Moreover many Catholic areas of Belfast...were surrounded by what the inhabitants viewed as hotile communities.
Index on Censorship 1978: ‘In practice where Northern Ireland is concerned [the media] have become committed to a perspective of the conflict, which identifies the public interest increasingly with the government interest’.
Critics of the IRA used to claim that the organisation was able to recruit from those areas because the young men had nothing to keep them occupied.
With the passing of time, governing classes began to design cities to be more difficult for insurgents to capture and defend, and with developing aerial capacity, insurgent strategies were forced to change.
It is a matter of fact that the majority of bombs planted by the IRA were delivered with a warning in advance of detonation.
Solidarity would be unquestioning as expressed, famously, in a solidarity demonstration in London by John Lennon carrying a picture of his Bloody Sunday song under the headline ‘The IRA against British Imperialism’.
And so at times the campaign seemed hopeless, as IRA bombing in England created an anti-Irish hysteria among the general population, allowing the police to use heavy handed tactics.
What continued to cause surprise during the years of IRA activity was that in spite of the frenzy caused by bombs in England and ongoing attacks on British soldiers in Ireland, there remained a strong well organised public opposition in Britian to the government's Irish policy. On occasion there were thousands of participants in protest marches and many of those involved were neither Irish born or of Irish descent. Many of the most active protestors were left wing, British working class people who recognised the need to reign in the British establishment.
There was, of course, a large Irish population in Britain but this community was kept under intense surveillance...police and public were actively watching for any suspicious activity.
Britian’s new strategy of deeming the Irish conflict as non-political and a criminal enterprise.
‘The demands of capitalism, which required a compliant and cheap workforce ensured that Northern Irish society did not become exclusively Protestant. A significant Roman Catholic minority in the Noth East acted as a reserve army of labour, filling vacancies at boom times and holding down wages at other periods... Unsurprisingly, this cheap source of labour alienated Protestant workers. Coupled with ancient fears of Papacy, this led to a situation of deep and growing hostility between two groups that would surely, under different circumstances, have found common cause in the pursuit of improvements in working conditions’
1907 state dockworkers and carters. Protestants and Catholic workers joined in unity frightened the ruling order in the early days of the strike, the refusal thereafter of the Royal Irish Constabulary to protect strike breakers drove them to panic. The ruling class called in the British Army to regain control of the city. ‘
Nationalists in towns such as Derry, Dungannon, Armagh, Newry and Enniskillen found that local authorities were not building sufficient quantities of houses. Alternatively, when houses were being built, they were being granted in disproportionate numbers to Unionist supporters. Catholics found they were being housed in high density, inferior buildings in areas where their presence did not threaten the balance of power in district council wards.
Due to high levels of unemployment among Catholics in Belfast a significant number had served in the British Army during the 1950s and 1960s.
The British government permitted...internment without trial in August 1971...[and] agreed that those arrested and interned should be subject to torture at the hands of the British Army...The methods of interrogation used in Northern Ireland had not differed greatly from those used against insurgents in Cyprus and Malaya....
Britain had fought a holding operation during the 1950s in what London had described as the ‘Malayan Emergency’. The Communist Party of Malaya...had launched an armed campaign to liberate the country from British imperial rule. With the country producing a significant proportion of the world’s rubber supply, London decided that it would not allow Malaya to fall outside its sphere of influence...
[tactics of torture used on prisoners in Northern Ireland included] bin liner suffocation....
Malaya, Kenya, Cyprus, Aden and elsewhere ...’outsourcing [and] ‘extraordinary rendition’ to have subjects tortured and killed by others...
Kenya Uprising when General China (Waruhiultote) of the Land and Freedom Party arranged a temporary ceasefire of hostilities between his people and the British. Negotiations at the time in Kenya came to nothing. During the 3 month lull in fighting the Special Branch in Nairobi gathered extensive intelligence about the group that supplied food, money, volunteers and ammunition to the fighters in the forests. When the ‘China Peace Overture’, as it was called failed, the British swept in and arrested more than a thousand suspects in 3 days.
When a protest march organised by the civil rights movement against internment took place ...in {Northern Ireland} in 1972, the British Army opened fire on the crowd, killing 14 people and wounding many others. Within minutes the British Army and its government were issuing a comprehensive yet entirely false account of what had happened. The marchers were accused of possessing bombs with intent to use them against British troops. Elsewhere it said that IRA personnel hiding amongst the demonstrators had shot at British paratroopers, who had claimed it very carefully shot and killed their attackers....Almost 4 decades were to pass before the British government publicly accepted the results of an enquiry...that those shot dead on the civil rights march were unarmed civilians and that the British Army opened fire on them without justification.
1969... in Catholic ardoyne, where RUC personnel charged into the distruct followed by the Unuionist crowd, which burned down mosr of Hooker Street. During the incident, RUC men opened fire with submachine guns, killing 2 men... A huge number of homes were burned down, 1,820 families fled their homes, 82.7% were Catholic...
Moreover many Catholic areas of Belfast...were surrounded by what the inhabitants viewed as hotile communities.
Index on Censorship 1978: ‘In practice where Northern Ireland is concerned [the media] have become committed to a perspective of the conflict, which identifies the public interest increasingly with the government interest’.
Critics of the IRA used to claim that the organisation was able to recruit from those areas because the young men had nothing to keep them occupied.
With the passing of time, governing classes began to design cities to be more difficult for insurgents to capture and defend, and with developing aerial capacity, insurgent strategies were forced to change.
It is a matter of fact that the majority of bombs planted by the IRA were delivered with a warning in advance of detonation.
Solidarity would be unquestioning as expressed, famously, in a solidarity demonstration in London by John Lennon carrying a picture of his Bloody Sunday song under the headline ‘The IRA against British Imperialism’.
And so at times the campaign seemed hopeless, as IRA bombing in England created an anti-Irish hysteria among the general population, allowing the police to use heavy handed tactics.
What continued to cause surprise during the years of IRA activity was that in spite of the frenzy caused by bombs in England and ongoing attacks on British soldiers in Ireland, there remained a strong well organised public opposition in Britian to the government's Irish policy. On occasion there were thousands of participants in protest marches and many of those involved were neither Irish born or of Irish descent. Many of the most active protestors were left wing, British working class people who recognised the need to reign in the British establishment.
There was, of course, a large Irish population in Britain but this community was kept under intense surveillance...police and public were actively watching for any suspicious activity.
Britian’s new strategy of deeming the Irish conflict as non-political and a criminal enterprise.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 11, 2016
Brilliant on the IRA up to the late 70s - early 80s. Contains the most convincing analysis about Northern Ireland for the same period. From then on though, one feels that the author has an axe to grind against some of his former comrades. It is not that he is necessarily wrong, rather that he lets his anger towards them show more than is necessary. Also, there is a touch of far-left political sectarianism in places, disdaining to engage with arguments and positions held by other leftists. That is why I have to give it 4 rather than the 5 stars which the beginning of the book deserves. All in all though, a welcome left-wing perspective on Northern Ireland and the IRA
December 29, 2011
Most anticipated analysis of where the Provos went right and where they went wrong, written by former hunger striker and political prisoner Tommy McKearney. McKearney thinks the IRA was right to put away the gun but wrong to enter parliament, at least without a mass social movement front and center. Sinn Fein is currently articulating a leftist vision of Irish society, but will this last, or will they seek to occupy the space of Fianna Fail?
March 27, 2026
The Provisional Irish Republican Army, or the Provos, was the primary militant and socialist wing of Irish Republicanism during The Troubles. To Northern Irish Catholics, they were seen as a legitimate form of resistance against British tyranny; To Northern Irish Protestants and the British establishment, they were viewed as zealous terrorists determined to unite Ireland by any means necessary.
As a former member of the Provos, Tommy McKearney provides a comprehensive background, context, and perspectives regarding the Republican struggle during the mid-to-late 20th century. I found it incredibly rewarding to learn about the resources, analyses, and diverse contexts related to how the IRA operated. I also valued how Tommy McKearney critiques the fetishization of revolutionary movements, particularly the way the IRA is often romanticized without any genuine class awareness or anti-imperialist perspective. Movements should not be appropriated for views, but should be appreciated for consciousness.
Through The Provisional IRA: From Insurrection to Parliament, I learned the movement wasn't as unified as I initially thought. For example, within Sinn Féin and the Provos, there were traditionalist factions that promoted Irish Republicanism while overlooking essential anti-colonial principles. I was also surprised to hear about the disconnect between IRA/Sinn Féin support in the North and South. The South prioritized preserving the status quo and viewed the IRA in Northern Ireland as an issue that required resolution, even though republican sentiment was present on both sides. In addition, the number of concessions made within and around the Good Friday Agreement was quite disappointing. Although it's understandable that both Unionists and Republicans were weary from The Troubles and longed for lasting peace, Sinn Féin and the IRA leadership ultimately abandoned any real opportunities to establish a united, socialist Republic of Ireland. Instead, they conformed to the electoral strategies advocated by British and American influences, falling sharply under the sway of neoliberalism, specifically Tony Blair's New Labour. It reminds me of how Fatah, once the leading revolutionary party dedicated to Palestinian liberation, shifted away from its revolutionary socialist principles. Following the signing of the Oslo Accords and the creation of the Palestinian Authority, it adopted a more tempered social democracy with neoliberal influences, fostering a similar sense of dissatisfaction among the more experienced and fervent members.
I was disappointed that The Provisional IRA: From Insurrection to Parliament wasn't a firsthand account of Tommy McKearney's time in the Provos. I wish he had shared more insights and perspectives from his time in the IRA leadership. At times, this absence made the book feel a bit dry. Nevertheless, I remained eager to deepen my understanding of the IRA and its role in the global fight against oppression. I hope that Sinn Féin and other left-wing Irish political parties can work together to foster class consciousness, not only among Irish Catholics but also among Northern Irish Protestants with Unionist leanings. By doing so, they can bridge the divide between national identities and unite both groups under the common cause of the working class, standing together against the establishment and the status quo.
As a former member of the Provos, Tommy McKearney provides a comprehensive background, context, and perspectives regarding the Republican struggle during the mid-to-late 20th century. I found it incredibly rewarding to learn about the resources, analyses, and diverse contexts related to how the IRA operated. I also valued how Tommy McKearney critiques the fetishization of revolutionary movements, particularly the way the IRA is often romanticized without any genuine class awareness or anti-imperialist perspective. Movements should not be appropriated for views, but should be appreciated for consciousness.
Through The Provisional IRA: From Insurrection to Parliament, I learned the movement wasn't as unified as I initially thought. For example, within Sinn Féin and the Provos, there were traditionalist factions that promoted Irish Republicanism while overlooking essential anti-colonial principles. I was also surprised to hear about the disconnect between IRA/Sinn Féin support in the North and South. The South prioritized preserving the status quo and viewed the IRA in Northern Ireland as an issue that required resolution, even though republican sentiment was present on both sides. In addition, the number of concessions made within and around the Good Friday Agreement was quite disappointing. Although it's understandable that both Unionists and Republicans were weary from The Troubles and longed for lasting peace, Sinn Féin and the IRA leadership ultimately abandoned any real opportunities to establish a united, socialist Republic of Ireland. Instead, they conformed to the electoral strategies advocated by British and American influences, falling sharply under the sway of neoliberalism, specifically Tony Blair's New Labour. It reminds me of how Fatah, once the leading revolutionary party dedicated to Palestinian liberation, shifted away from its revolutionary socialist principles. Following the signing of the Oslo Accords and the creation of the Palestinian Authority, it adopted a more tempered social democracy with neoliberal influences, fostering a similar sense of dissatisfaction among the more experienced and fervent members.
I was disappointed that The Provisional IRA: From Insurrection to Parliament wasn't a firsthand account of Tommy McKearney's time in the Provos. I wish he had shared more insights and perspectives from his time in the IRA leadership. At times, this absence made the book feel a bit dry. Nevertheless, I remained eager to deepen my understanding of the IRA and its role in the global fight against oppression. I hope that Sinn Féin and other left-wing Irish political parties can work together to foster class consciousness, not only among Irish Catholics but also among Northern Irish Protestants with Unionist leanings. By doing so, they can bridge the divide between national identities and unite both groups under the common cause of the working class, standing together against the establishment and the status quo.
August 10, 2023
En bra analys av PIRAs strategi, dess förtjänster och fallgropar. PIRAs väldigt centralstyrda och underjordiska karaktär med stort behov av att kontrollera kampen gjorde det omöjligt att fånga upp den rörelse som uppstod på 60/70-talet (efter Bloody sunday, medborgarrättsrörelsen) och under hungerstrejkerna på 80-talet. PIRAs styrka fanns alltid att finna i effekterna av britternas repressiva karaktär (interneringarna, Thatchers hårdföra inställning till Sands et al, den militära närvaron). Gerillakampen byggde någonstans på att det fanns ett stort stöd från den katolska gruppen som på olika sätt bidrog och höll kampanjen levande (inflöde av frivilliga, gömställen, ögon/öron på gatan osv). Kombinationen av britternas infiltrering, krigströtthet och minskat stöd för den militära kampanjen gjorde det omöjligt att komma vidare (militärt), och att GFA blev den logiska vägen ut, och in - i parlamentarism. Här skulle den republikanska rörelsen kunnat ta andra vägar, men vägen var redan utstakad av den militära ledningen och någon egentlig debatt om strategi framåt var aldrig möjlig.
Författaren menar ungefär att kampen för ett enat Irland inte längre är/bör vara den huvudsakliga frågan för rörelsen utan snarare en icke-sekteristisk socialistisk politik för att ena arbetarklassen brett.
Författaren menar ungefär att kampen för ett enat Irland inte längre är/bör vara den huvudsakliga frågan för rörelsen utan snarare en icke-sekteristisk socialistisk politik för att ena arbetarklassen brett.
May 30, 2024
Excellent discourse on what the armed struggle by the Provisional IRA achieved and also failed to achieve. A well balanced view from someone who took part in the insurrection and understands it thoroughly. Well researched and well written.
January 8, 2021
Incredible, inside reading for anyone who stills sees the IRA as a terrorist organisation and not an anti-colonial paramilitary group fighting for their own freedoms and rights. Paced perfectly.
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November 3, 2023In Dublin lief ich durch ein paar Gässchen und erkannte, dass hier ein etwas linker Wind weht. Am Eingang der Love Lane, die voll mit Zitaten zu Liebe aus Literatur und Film auf Fließen war, war „I‘D RATHER TRUST A DEALER ON A BADLY LIT STREET CORNER THAN A CRIMINAL IN A THREE PIECE SUIT“ an die Wand geschrieben. Direkt daneben befand sich Conolly Books, benannt nach dem irischen sozialistischen Gewerkschafter und Revolutionär, der einer der Hauptakteure des Easter Risings war.
Im Laden befand sich alles, was das Herz begehrt. Sämtliche Theorie von Marx, Engels bis zu Lenin war zu kaufen. Flaggen der Spanischen Republik aus dem Spanischen Bürgerkrieg oder Irisch-Sozialistische Flaggen lagen aus. Ausgaben der Parteizeitung der KP Irlands, sowohl aktuell, als auch aus 1975 waren zum Mitnehmen. Bücher zur Irischen Revolution und zum ewigen nationalen Befreiungskampf in Nordirland schmückten den Laden.
Eines dieser Bücher kaufte ich. Tommy McKearny, ein Provo-Veteran, schreibt hier im wissenschaftlich-arbeitenden Stil zum Weg der Republikanischen Bewegung von Civil Rights Movement über Militanz zum parlamentarischen Zentrismus der heutigen Sinn Féin, die glaubt sozialistisch zu sein.
Die szenischen Einleitungen, die Geschichten verschiedener Republikaner:innen erzählt, sind gut gesetzt.
Was mir sehr gefällt ist, dass er nicht in Terroranschlagsapologie verfällt, sondern eher Missglücke versteht als ein Verständnis dafür aufbringt, dass es unschuldige Opfer durch IRA-Operationen gab.
McKearny betont immer wieder Klassenbeziehungen, die eine große Rolle im Nordirlandkonflikt spielen.
Sein Ausblick am Ende über brennendere Fragen der Menschen Irlands (Soziale Fragen) als die Einheit Irland und, wie sich eine Republikanische Bewegung wieder aufbauen sollte, ist sehr interessant formuliert, weil der Ausblick trotz mancher unmarxistischer Handlung, die die Provos ja auszeichnete, doch einen marxistischen Weitblick behält.
Wenn man einen guten Einblick in die Entwicklung der Republikanischen Bewegung Irlands und die Provisonal IRA haben will, dann ist diese Abhandlung nur zu empfehlen.
Im Laden befand sich alles, was das Herz begehrt. Sämtliche Theorie von Marx, Engels bis zu Lenin war zu kaufen. Flaggen der Spanischen Republik aus dem Spanischen Bürgerkrieg oder Irisch-Sozialistische Flaggen lagen aus. Ausgaben der Parteizeitung der KP Irlands, sowohl aktuell, als auch aus 1975 waren zum Mitnehmen. Bücher zur Irischen Revolution und zum ewigen nationalen Befreiungskampf in Nordirland schmückten den Laden.
Eines dieser Bücher kaufte ich. Tommy McKearny, ein Provo-Veteran, schreibt hier im wissenschaftlich-arbeitenden Stil zum Weg der Republikanischen Bewegung von Civil Rights Movement über Militanz zum parlamentarischen Zentrismus der heutigen Sinn Féin, die glaubt sozialistisch zu sein.
Die szenischen Einleitungen, die Geschichten verschiedener Republikaner:innen erzählt, sind gut gesetzt.
Was mir sehr gefällt ist, dass er nicht in Terroranschlagsapologie verfällt, sondern eher Missglücke versteht als ein Verständnis dafür aufbringt, dass es unschuldige Opfer durch IRA-Operationen gab.
McKearny betont immer wieder Klassenbeziehungen, die eine große Rolle im Nordirlandkonflikt spielen.
Sein Ausblick am Ende über brennendere Fragen der Menschen Irlands (Soziale Fragen) als die Einheit Irland und, wie sich eine Republikanische Bewegung wieder aufbauen sollte, ist sehr interessant formuliert, weil der Ausblick trotz mancher unmarxistischer Handlung, die die Provos ja auszeichnete, doch einen marxistischen Weitblick behält.
Wenn man einen guten Einblick in die Entwicklung der Republikanischen Bewegung Irlands und die Provisonal IRA haben will, dann ist diese Abhandlung nur zu empfehlen.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews