Official Irish Republican Army: Difference between revisions

The sense that the IRA seemed to be drifting away from its conventional republican and [[Irish nationalism|nationalist]] roots into Marxism angered the more traditional republicans. Many in the Official IRA later referred to the Provisional IRA as "the [[rosary]] brigade" because of what they saw as the Catholic and [[romantic nationalism|romantic nationalist]] ideology of the latter. Some radicals believed that the [[Government of Ireland|Irish government]], [[MI5]], and the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) had conspired to cultivate the split because they were afraid of another [[Cuba]] in Europe's "backyard". The [[Arms Crisis]] provided evidence that some members of the Irish ([[Fianna Fáil]]) government had attempted to supply arms and funds to a variety of individuals in Northern Ireland. The radicals viewed Northern Protestants with [[Unionists (Ireland)|unionist]] views as "fellow Irishmen deluded by bourgeois loyalties, who needed to be engaged in [[dialectic]]al debate"{{Fact|date=October 2007}}. As a result, they were reluctant to use force to defend Catholic areas of [[Belfast]] when they came under attack from [[Ulster loyalism|loyalists]] - a role the IRA had performed since the 1920s.{{fact}} Since the [[civil rights]] marches began in 1968, there had been many cases of street violence. The [[Royal Ulster Constabulary]] had been shown on television in undisciplined baton charges, and had already killed three non-combatant civilians, one a child. The [[Orange Institution|Orange Order]]'s "marching season" during the summer of 1969 had been characterised by violence on both sides, which culminated in the three-day "[[Battle of the Bogside]]" in Derry.