Between Party and Movement:1 Sinn Féin and the Popular Movement against Criminalisation, 1976–1982

Abstract

A hunger strike is a two‐sided weapon, and it does not work well unless those inside and outside the jail play their part with equal determination. (Sean MacStiofáin, former hunger striker and IRA Chief of Staff, 1975: 361) While most commentators agree that the hunger strikes of 1980 and 1981 heralded a time of great political change within Irish republicanism, most literature on the period focuses primarily on the jail experience or on the ‘high politics’ of the negotiations aimed at ending the deadly protest. What has been written of the ‘broad front’ that came together to oppose Britain’s policy of ‘criminalisation’ tends to be rather brief, somewhat dismissive or it simply glosses over some of the very real tensions and difficulties associated with building and maintaining this movement. This paper argues that the Relatives Action Committees and later the National H‐Block/Armagh Committee were a vital component of the anti‐H‐Block campaign. These ‘broad front’ formations had a tremendous impact on the politics of Sinn Féin and they should not be ignored.