Review of the Lost Revolution… June 12, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics, The Left.trackback
… available here. This is – perhaps – a more clearly ‘academic’ review, with all the baggage that may come with. People’s opinions? I’m particularly interested given that time has passed and people have had time to reflect on the strengths or otherwise of the book.
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I thought the more interesting sections of the book, and the ones most commented upon here, were of the activities of both WP and “grpup B” in the 80s, for better or worse (ie both their achievements and the contradictions).
The reviewer was a bit light on that area. Although he said they could “claim to be the most dynamic party”, he could have given more flavour to the inroads they were making in Dublin etc. On the other side there was a certian amount of hypocricy about the existence of Grpup B, – indeed it was one of the dynamics behind the split, which he didnt mention. As well as that the divergence from traditional republicanism under the guide of reaching out to unionists surely was deserving of comment.
Also I’m not sure if the Provos motivations could be written off as “retaliation against the protestants”. A bit simplistic on that I think (not denying elements of that but its a bit John-Paul McCarthy).