political aim was to destroy the IRA, while avoiding two other dangers: the rise of an anti-imperialist movement against British interests in the South of Ireland, and the growth of an "anti-war" or solidarity movement amongst the vanguard of the British labour and student movement, which even numbered in thousands could disrupt the British war-strategy in Ireland. To achieve this aim without these dangers, it was necessary to isolate the IRA from the Catholic community, and then to "destroy its military capability".
REFORMS To isolate the IRA from the Catholic workers in the Norther ghettos it was necessary to promise such reforms as would threaten the Protestant Ascendancy. While the old Stormont OF IRELAND rising pogrom, the British Army proves that it can carry them out better.
This is the explanation for the New Lodge massacre, when, as an Anti-Internment League leaflet correctly pointed out, the British Army deliberately murdered six Catholics in cold blood. But these deliberate murders, far from appeasing them, merely whetted the appetite of the Orange rabble, who came out last week to get some more Taghs*.
But the result of their desperate rampage increased the pressure in British society for a withdrawal from Ireland - this pressure is reflected in the Labour Party's careful airing of the demand to 'Bring our Boys Home". This demand is highlighted by the centrist Eric Heffer who joined Wilson's stalking-