PIRA - Blog Posts
the Irish Republican Army
The tactics and strategies that the Irish Republican Army used were expecting volunteers to go up against the British army in the fight against neo-colonialism and imperialism in the hopes for a socialist movement without other European interference. The Irish Republican Army started during the rise of guerilla warfare, from the last resort to a defeated enemy, or the archaic resource of thieves and bandits, it has now become the most advanced method of political mobilization. ‘‘Theories of guerilla warfare are common property and can be reduced to fairly simple formulate—perhaps to one word, diffusion. Diffusion in space, in that conventional military principle of the concentration of force, is replaced by dispersion, and diffusion in time, in so far as rapid military decisions thus become impossible, and an indefinite time-perspective is adopted. The purely military effects of guerilla warfare will usually be seen as subordinate to its political and psychological effects. Victory is achieved not so much by knocking the enemy’s sword from his hand as by paralyzing his arm. It might be argued that consciously modern guerrilla methods first emerged successfully in Ireland, where, between 1917 and 1921, a subversive movement grew up from grassroots and fought it’s way to the substantial achievement of its political program—the I.R.A.
Throughout its history, the IRA carried out a high-intensity campaign of terrorism, with the stated goal of bringing about the unification of the six countries of Northern Ireland with the Irish Republic and the end of British involvement in Northern Ireland. Growing out of a much longer history of conflict, the Provisional Irish Republic Army belongs separately from the Republican movement in 1969 when the group split off from what became known as the Official Irish Republican Party (Official IRA). Beyond the activities of Republican groups, the conflict also involves violence perpetrated by Loyalist organizations, which support continued English involvement in Northern Ireland.
Their words were very blunt in explaining that anyone wanting to join could die for their country; ‘’Tactics are dictated by the existing conditions. Here again, the logic is quite simple—the rule of thumb for all our actions can therefore be clearly seen to be that we must explain by whatever means we have at our disposal why we bomb, why we punish criminals, why we execute, etc. A War of attrition against enemy personnel, which is aimed at causing as many casualties and deaths as possible so as to create a demand from their people at home for their withdrawal; A bombing campaign aimed at making the enemy’s financial in our country profitable while the same time curbing long term financial investment in our country; To make the Six Counties as at present and for the past several years ungovernable except by colonial military rule; To sustain the war and gain support for its end by National and International propaganda and publicity campaigns; and by defending the war of liberation by punishing criminals, collaborators and informers.’’
