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THIS
IS a most interesting book. The editors’ objective
is to record some ‘Republican Voices’ as
they sounded in the last few years of the twentieth
century, voices of a selection of six republican activists
as they look back over thirty years of struggle in
Northern Ireland.
In
this way the editors hope to provide a not quite primary
source for future historians while revealing aspects
of the divergence of thinking in the republican community
for present political analysts to mull over.
They
have been able to add to the material they have recorded
with a foreword by Bernadette McAliskey, which is
value in its own right.
The
book has a useful introduction followed by five chapters,
each made up of a sequence of comments by each of
the contributors on a particular theme. Finally there
is a thoughtful conclusion by the editors.
The
contributors are Eamonn MacDermott, Brendan Hughes,
Tommy McKearney, Mickey McMullen, Tommy Gorman and
Anthony McIntyre, all of whom were imprisoned during
the ‘Troubles’ and who are now academics,
community workers or writers. They provide considered
reflections on their experiences and on the political
development of republicanism as they see it.
The
book lies on the cusp between history and politics.
To this reader’s mind at least it succeeds absolutely
in its carefully stated objectives and, on occasion,
reveals more about republican thinking at various
points during the struggle than perhaps its contributors
intended.
Such
is the skill of the editors that the reader is guided
by their own contributions rather than dictated to.
The result is a careful and profound piece of work.
This
small volume is essential reading to anyone interested
in Northern Irish history or politics in the last
three decades. Would that we could look forward to
a similar volume of ‘Loyalist Voices’.
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