Editing Official Irish Republican Army (section)

===August 1969 riots===

The critical moment came in August 1969 when there was a major outbreak of intercommunal violence in [[Belfast]] and [[Derry]], with eight deaths, six of them Catholics, and whole streets ablaze. 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. Many local IRA figures, and ex-IRA members such as [[Joe Cahill]] and [[Billy McKee]], were incensed by what they saw as the leadership's decision not to take sides and in September, they announced that they would no longer be taking orders from the Goulding leadership.<ref>''The Lost Revolution: The Story of the Official IRA and the Workers Party'', Brian Hanley and Scott Millar, p. 33</ref>

Discontent was not confined to the northern IRA units. In the south also, such figures as [[Ruairí Ó Brádaigh]] and [[Sean MacStiofain]] opposed both the leadership's proposed recognition of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. This increasing political divergence led to a formal split at the 1969 IRA Convention, held in December. when a group led by Ó Brádaigh and MacStiofán walked out. The split resulted from a vote at the first IRA Convention where a two-thirds majority voted that republicans should take their seats if elected to the British, Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland Parliaments. At a second convention, a group consisting of Mac Stiofáin, [[Dáithí Ó Conaill]], Ó Brádaigh, Joe Cahill, Paddy Mulcahy, [[Leo Martin (Irish republican)|Leo Martin]], and Sean Tracey, were elected as the "Provisional" Army Council. Their supporters included [[Seamus Twomey]].

Accounts at that time suggest that the IRA members split roughly in half, with those loyal to the Goulding-led "Official" IRA prominent in some areas while the Provisional IRA were prominent in others.<ref>"The numerous faces of the I.R.A.", This Week, 29 May 1970; J. Bowyer Bell, The Secret Army, pp. 367, 377</ref> A strong area for the Official IRA in Belfast was the Lower Falls and Markets district, which were under the command of [[Billy McMillen]]. Other OIRA units were located in Derry, [[Newry]], [[Strabane]], Dublin, [[Wicklow]] and other parts of Belfast. However, the Provisionals would rapidly become the dominant faction, both as a result of intensive recruitment in response to the sectarian violence and because some Official IRA units (such as the [[Strabane]] company) later defected to them.<ref>Eamon Mallie, Patrick Bishop, Provisional IRA, p.144</ref>

There was a similar ideological split in [[Sinn Féin]] after a contentious 1970 Sinn Féin [[Ard Fheis]]. The leadership of Sinn Féin passed a motion to recognise the Parliaments in London, Dublin and Stormont but failed to attain the prerequisite two-thirds majority necessary to change Sinn Féin's constitutional opposition to partitionist assemblies. Those defeated in the motion walked out.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=P-LZtivJYJwC&q=Self%2C+Identity%2C+and+Social+Movements Self, Identity, and Social Movements] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216042357/https://books.google.com/books?id=P-LZtivJYJwC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Self,+Identity,+and+Social+Movements&hl=en&sa=X&ei=eFfqUaXsK6uN4gTswYGICg&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Self%2C%20Identity%2C%20and%20Social%20Movements&f=false |date=16 February 2017 }}, [[Sheldon Stryker]], Timothy Joseph Owens, Robert William White, (2000), p333</ref> This resulted in a split into two groups with the Sinn Féin name. Those supportive of [[Seán Mac Stiofáin]]'s "Provisional Army Council", were referred to in the media as Provisional Sinn Féin,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=mtazQUWbUmsC&dq=provisional+sinn+fein&pg=PA118 ''Assassin''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216042710/https://books.google.com/books?id=mtazQUWbUmsC&pg=PA118&dq=provisional+sinn+fein&hl=en&sa=X&ei=AlTqUYnqH6el4gTI0YDQBw&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAjge#v=onepage&q=provisional%20sinn%20fein&f=false |date=16 February 2017 }}, John Bowyer Bell, (1979), p118</ref><ref>Sinn Féin, 1905–2005:
in the shadow of gunmen, Kevin Rafter, (2005), p76</ref> or Sinn Féin Kevin Street, and contested elections as Sinn Féin. The other group, under the leadership of [[Tomás Mac Giolla]], was to contest elections first as Official Sinn Féín, then [[Sinn Féin The Workers' Party]], and aligned itself with the Official IRA, as the Marxist faction had come to be known. The party retained the historic Sinn Féin headquarters of Gardiner Street, thus giving legitimacy to its claim, in the eyes of some,{{who|date=February 2022}} to be the legitimate successor of that party. It was briefly known popularly as Sinn Féin Gardiner Place.

The Officials were known as the "Stickies" because they sold stick-on [[Easter Lily (badge)|lilies]] to commemorate the [[Easter Rising]]. The Provisionals, by contrast, were known as "Pinnies" (pejoratively "Pinheads") because they produced pinned-on lilies. The term "Stickies" persisted for the Officials, although Pinnies (and Pinheads) disappeared, in favour of the nickname "Provos" and for a time, "Provies" for the Provisional IRA. (The paper-and-pin Easter Lily of the IRA was the traditional commemorative badge of the Easter Rising,<ref>[http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/18577 The Easter Lily] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012162840/http://anphoblacht.com/news/detail/18577 |date=12 October 2007 }} An Phoblacht, 5 April 2007</ref> whereas the self-adhesive Easter Lily of the Officials was a novel invention, symbolic of the divergence of opinion between them).