Editing Irish National Liberation Army (section)

===Origins===
During the 1960s, the [[Irish Republican Army]] and [[Sinn Féin]] under the leadership of [[Cathal Goulding]], radically re-assessed their ideology and tactics after the dismal failure of the IRA's [[Border Campaign (IRA)|Border Campaign]] in the years 1956–62. They were heavily influenced by [[popular front]] ideology and drew close to [[communist]] thinking. A key intermediary body was the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]]'s organisation for Irish exiles, the [[Connolly Association]]. The [[Marxist analysis]] was that the conflict in Northern Ireland was a "[[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] nationalist" one between the [[Ulster Protestant]] and [[Irish Catholic]] [[working class]]es, fomented and continued by the [[ruling class]]. Its effect was to depress wages, since worker could be set against worker. They concluded that the first step on the road to a [[Counties of Ireland|32-county]] [[socialist republic]] in [[Ireland]] was the "democratisation" of [[Northern Ireland]] (i.e., the removal of discrimination against Catholics) and radicalisation of the southern working class. This would allow "class politics" to develop, eventually resulting in a challenge to the hegemony of both what they termed "[[British imperialism]]" and the respective [[Irish unionism|unionist]] and [[Irish nationalism|Irish nationalist]] establishments north and south of the Irish border.<ref>''The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers Party'', Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, pp. 22–70, {{ISBN|1-84488-120-2}}</ref>

In August 1969 there was a major outbreak of intercommunal violence in Northern Ireland, with eight deaths, six of them Catholics. On 14–15 August loyalists burned out several Catholic streets in Belfast in the [[Northern Ireland riots of August 1969]]. IRA units offered resistance, however very few weapons were available for the defence of Catholic areas.<ref>''The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers Party'', Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, p. 33</ref> These events and the dissatisfaction of more traditional and militant [[Irish republicanism|republicans]] with the political direction taken by the leadership, particularly their moves to end [[Abstentionism]], led to a split and the formation of the [[Provisional IRA]].<ref>Eamon Mallie, Patrick Bishop, Provisional IRA, p.144</ref>

The "Official" IRA units who remained loyal to the Goulding leadership occasionally fought the British Army and the RUC throughout 1970 (as well as the Provisional IRA during a 1970 feud). In August 1971, after the introduction of [[Operation Demetrius|internment without trial]], OIRA units fought numerous gun battles with British troops who were deployed to arrest suspected republicans. However, the OIRA declared a [[ceasefire]] in 1972.<ref name="bbc2973759">{{Cite news |title=30 May 1972: Official IRA declares ceasefire |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/30/newsid_2973000/2973759.stm |access-date=13 June 2013 |website=On this day |date=30 May 1972 |publisher=[[BBC Online]] |archive-date=2 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080102225127/http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/30/newsid_2973000/2973759.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> The ceasefire, on 30 May,<ref name="bbc2973759" /> followed a number of armed actions which had been politically damaging. The organisation [[1972 Aldershot Bombing|bombed the headquarters]] of the [[Parachute Regiment (United Kingdom)|Parachute Regiment]] (the main perpetrators of [[Bloody Sunday (1972)|Bloody Sunday]]) in [[Aldershot]], but killed only five female cleaners, a gardener and an army [[chaplain]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Moloney |first=Ed |title=A Secret History of the IRA |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-14-101041-0 |page=111 |author-link=Ed Moloney}}</ref> After the killing of William Best, a Catholic British soldier home on leave in Derry, the OIRA declared a ceasefire. In addition, the death of several militant OIRA figures such as [[Joe McCann]] in confrontations with British soldiers, enabled the Goulding leadership to call off their armed campaign, which it had never supported wholeheartedly.

As time passed discontent with the ceasefire in the movement grew and [[Seamus Costello]], IRA veteran, operations officer for "general headquarters staff" (GHQ) and an elected representative on both [[Bray Urban District Council]] and [[Wicklow County Council]], became the figurehead of those within the Official movement opposed to it. In 1972 an Official IRA army convention voted to endorse Costello's position of continued support for armed struggle in Northern Ireland. However, supporters of Costello did not have the numbers on the Army Council to enable what was voted for at the convention. At Official Sinn Féin [[Ardfheis]] in 1972 and 1973 Costello's policy was accepted by the rank and file but blocked by the party executive. A smear campaign was initiated against Costello and he was marginalised within the movement and some of his prominent associates were expelled. Costello himself was dismissed from Sinn Féin after ignoring an order not to stand in local elections or attend meetings of the two local authorities of which he was a member. In Spring 1974 Costello was also court-martialled by the Official IRA. Meanwhile, Costello's emerging anti-ceasefire faction, amongst them several Belfast men (including [[Ronnie Bunting]], a [[Protestant nationalist]]), carried out a series of robberies in the Republic to pay for arms. At the Sinn Féin Ardfheis in Dublin on 1 December 1974, a Costello sympathiser proposed a motion overturning his dismissal. However, many of Costello's supporters had been blocked from entering, including the most articulate who would have been able to sway the members gathered. The motion was defeated by 197 votes to 15 and a split was now inevitable. Local branches of Official Sinn Féin throughout the island of Ireland announced they were resigning from the party and on 8 December the dissidents met in the Spa Hotel in [[Lucan, Dublin|Lucan]], [[Dublin]].<ref>Jack Holland & Henry McDonald - INLA: Deadly Divisions pp.10-33</ref>