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Tartan Gangs and Paramilitaries: The Loyalist Backlash
Tartan Gangs and Paramilitaries is a new oral history of the loyalist backlash of the early 1970s in Northern Ireland. In the violent maelstrom of Belfast in 1971 and 1972 many young members of loyalist youth gangs known as 'Tartans' converged with fledgling paramilitary groups such as the Red Hand Commando, Ulster Volunteer Force and Young Citizen Volunteers. This fresh account focuses on the manner in which the loyalist community in Belfast reacted to an increasingly vicious Provisional IRA campaign and explores the violent role that young loyalist men played in the period from 1970 - 1975. Through the use of unique one-on-one interviews former members of Tartan gangs and loyalist paramilitaries explain what motivated them to cross the Rubicon from gang activity to paramilitaries. The book utilises a wide range of sources such as newspaper articles, loyalist newssheets, coroners' inquest reports and government memorandums to provide the context for a dynamic new study of the
emergence of loyalist paramilitarism.
emergence of loyalist paramilitarism.
256 pages, Paperback
Published August 1, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 1, 2016
I've read a number of positive reviews on this book even since purchasing a few months ago, and given that it's been a while since I read anything focusing on the Loyalist paramilitary movement, I was interested to see where this study would take me.
Based on a number of first person accounts from prominent Loyalists like Ronnie McCullough, Jim Wilson and Billy Hutchinson, the book charts the rise of the teen gangs of the Shankill and East Belfast as they grew up in the shadow of the Troubles and found a natural home within the ranks of the UVF, RHC and UDA.
While on the one hand they were influenced by the teen culture prominent in the rest of the UK, both music and style wise, and by the street gangs of cities like Glasgow, the political unrest in the 60s, and the rise of the civil rights movement on the Nationalist side saw these young Loyalists grow up in a situation where they saw themselves as defenders of their communities and culture, their penchant for violence easily utilised by more sinister elements within their community. This violence was often directed inwardly between gangs, a feature that would come to haunt Loyalism throughout the years, but found a natural home in the sectarian war that developed in the 1970s.
While reading a lot of the book, I felt that I was reading about gangs of thugs and bully boys, ultimately I feel that the author did effectively show how IRA atrocities and militant Unionist rhetoric allowed individuals who might have grown out of the testosterone filled machismo of their teenage years became embroiled in a conflict which left many of them imprisoned for much of their adult life. Also, while my own politics may lie far from those that they espouse, looking at the situation with the same community today, one wonders if any lessons have been learned from what occurred almost 50 years ago.
Based on a number of first person accounts from prominent Loyalists like Ronnie McCullough, Jim Wilson and Billy Hutchinson, the book charts the rise of the teen gangs of the Shankill and East Belfast as they grew up in the shadow of the Troubles and found a natural home within the ranks of the UVF, RHC and UDA.
While on the one hand they were influenced by the teen culture prominent in the rest of the UK, both music and style wise, and by the street gangs of cities like Glasgow, the political unrest in the 60s, and the rise of the civil rights movement on the Nationalist side saw these young Loyalists grow up in a situation where they saw themselves as defenders of their communities and culture, their penchant for violence easily utilised by more sinister elements within their community. This violence was often directed inwardly between gangs, a feature that would come to haunt Loyalism throughout the years, but found a natural home in the sectarian war that developed in the 1970s.
While reading a lot of the book, I felt that I was reading about gangs of thugs and bully boys, ultimately I feel that the author did effectively show how IRA atrocities and militant Unionist rhetoric allowed individuals who might have grown out of the testosterone filled machismo of their teenage years became embroiled in a conflict which left many of them imprisoned for much of their adult life. Also, while my own politics may lie far from those that they espouse, looking at the situation with the same community today, one wonders if any lessons have been learned from what occurred almost 50 years ago.
March 1, 2021
Good book, but a bit unionist- presents a false equivalence with regards to sectarian murders which in reality were predominantly Perpetrated by Protestants
July 23, 2022
“Tartan Gangs and Paramilitaries” is a worthy, thought-provoking addition to the ever-burgeoning canon on the Northern Ireland Troubles. In this book Gareth Mulvenna sets out to show how various youth cultures in predominantly-Protestant districts of early 1970s Belfast began to coalesce into street gangs (largely as a response to the Provisional I.R.A.’s bombing campaign of that time). As the sectarian conflict escalated across the city, young members of these Protestant street gangs – of which ‘The Tartans’ were most prominent/notorious – began to be absorbed into loyalist paramilitary groups such as the UDA and the Red Hand Commandoes. Through these recruitment channel, Protestant youth gangs ended up providing the foot soldiers who carried out many of the most appallingly sectarian murders of the entire conflict.
It is to the credit of Gareth Mulvenna that through “Tartan Gangs and Paramilitaries” he has sought to provide a greater understanding of a subculture that is often maligned and disparaged (not least because Mulvenna’s background is from the opposite side of the sectarian divide to that of this book’s protagonists). Mulvenna locates the ‘Loyalist Backlash’ of the book’s sub-title in the response of Protestant working-class communities across Belfast to the I.R.A.’s violent uprising against the Stormont state. The author assuredly captures the claustrophobic, paranoid character of early 70s Belfast, and Mulvenna is genuinely insightful on how subcultures of street fighting and football hooliganism would – under the weight of the conflict – converge into paramilitarism.
“Tartan Gangs and Paramilitaries” is an often uncomfortable and unsettling read, but it does make a valuable contribution to a greater understanding of Ulster Loyalism – that bewildering ideology whose credo seems to revolve around being “prepared to fight Britain to stay British”.
It is to the credit of Gareth Mulvenna that through “Tartan Gangs and Paramilitaries” he has sought to provide a greater understanding of a subculture that is often maligned and disparaged (not least because Mulvenna’s background is from the opposite side of the sectarian divide to that of this book’s protagonists). Mulvenna locates the ‘Loyalist Backlash’ of the book’s sub-title in the response of Protestant working-class communities across Belfast to the I.R.A.’s violent uprising against the Stormont state. The author assuredly captures the claustrophobic, paranoid character of early 70s Belfast, and Mulvenna is genuinely insightful on how subcultures of street fighting and football hooliganism would – under the weight of the conflict – converge into paramilitarism.
“Tartan Gangs and Paramilitaries” is an often uncomfortable and unsettling read, but it does make a valuable contribution to a greater understanding of Ulster Loyalism – that bewildering ideology whose credo seems to revolve around being “prepared to fight Britain to stay British”.
May 25, 2025
This is a great oral history but the narrative obscures a fair amount of Loyalist atrocities. Also more could be done to provide context for the general reader.
I was especially struck by the accounts of YCV volunteers who were tortured by the Parachute Regiment. Clearly running counter to the common belief that young loyalists were given total free rein by the security services. Just shows that to the British Army a mick is a mick and they don’t care if you wave a Union Jack about.
Also thought the description of the aborted coup attempt was especially jarring. Imagine they went through with it.
Fantastic piece of writing. Great insights into how subculture fosters friendships and loyalty etc. Combine that with civil unrest and sectarianism and you’ve a body of young men ripe for paramilitarism. Defending a crown which cares not for them and was happy to use them for their own end.
I was especially struck by the accounts of YCV volunteers who were tortured by the Parachute Regiment. Clearly running counter to the common belief that young loyalists were given total free rein by the security services. Just shows that to the British Army a mick is a mick and they don’t care if you wave a Union Jack about.
Also thought the description of the aborted coup attempt was especially jarring. Imagine they went through with it.
Fantastic piece of writing. Great insights into how subculture fosters friendships and loyalty etc. Combine that with civil unrest and sectarianism and you’ve a body of young men ripe for paramilitarism. Defending a crown which cares not for them and was happy to use them for their own end.
January 14, 2025
This is a really eye opening experience of the lives of working-class Protestants. I realize that a lot of the readings I had been doing about The Troubles had been based in the Catholic perspective so it was interesting to see the difference and explore my own underlying prejudices concerning the topic.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews