Twomey is only the latest in a string of arrests which have robbed the Provisional IRA in the re-organisation and re-structuring of the Provos. The new structure is a break with traditional IRA organisation. Based on small units, linked by a local command structure, and consisting of volunteers who know only the members of their own unit, this new organisation will greatly increase both security and flexibility. The military strength of the Provisional IRA will undoubtedly suffer from the loss of trained and experienced leaders, but, as they have shown in the past, this can be rapidly overcome. The aim of the British army will be to smash the IRA before their methods can win back sufficient mass support to restore their former position of strength.
The political pressures within the Catholic ghettoes could well create a disastrous situation for the British, in which the Official IRA was drawn into an offensive. Despite the reformist theories of their leadership, which have kept the Officials out of the military struggle, the Official IRA is not unimportant: it is well. equipped and organised.
There is pressure within the Officials for a return to broader military action, and for closer co-operation with the Provisionals. The participation of the Official Republican Clubs in The Political Hostages Release Committee' - a united front with the Provisionals and other forces - was a major turn for them. The fact that relations broke down aga in after the demonstrations does not alter the significance of this united front.
The more the British pile on the pressure within the Catholic ghettoes, the more we can expect the present artificial barriers to break down. The fact that the rank and file of the Officials now have the experience of elections North and South to show them the extremely small advances which can be gained within the electoral arena, must strengthen the hand of those who are for a return to military action. These elements are by no means isolated ultra-lefts, but people who have been in the mainstream of the Officials since the split in the Republican Movement in 1969. Recent correspondence in the Irish Times, which has drawn two leading Officials (Mairin De Burca and Seamus Costello) into public disagreement on this issue, reflects the importance of the debate now going on within the Officials. provocateurs. The key in the South remains the preparation of mass resistance to repression, and to the Government's collaboration with British imperialism.
In Britain the development of a movement reactionary propaganda and minor tactical shifts by the Government.
This does not mean that the British left and the Irish solidarity movement should be inactive On the contrary, the likely negative effects of the bombings demand a stepping up of our efforts to prepare the way for such a movement At the same time the bombings will be used as an excuse for increased repression, and a broadly based and closely co-ordinated series of defence campaigns will be called for. The failure of Whitelaw to push through his strategy in the summer months means that important opportunities remain open for a decisive intervention in the British political scene. We cannot count on a period of dramatic events or spectacular gains being before us, but if serious and consistent work is done we can help to dig the grave of British imperialism, which was sunk a few inches deeper during the month of August.
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North of its most experienced fighters. However, Twomey's arrest comes too late to prevent the