Ten Men Dead: The Story of the 1981 Irish Hunger Strike

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I.R.A. Asserts Fast Will Continue at Prison". The New York Times. 28 September 1981 . Retrieved 13 May 2020. See also: 1920 Cork hunger strike and 1923 Irish hunger strikes Terence MacSwiney, an Irish republican who died on hunger strike in Brixton Prison in 1920 The British press hailed the hunger strike as a triumph for Thatcher, with The Guardian newspaper stating "The Government had overcome the hunger strikes by a show of resolute determination not to be bullied". [49] At the time most thought the hunger strike a crushing defeat for the republicans, a view shared by many within the IRA and Sinn Féin, but Sands' by-election win was a propaganda victory, [2] and the hunger strike became a Pyrrhic victory for Thatcher and the British government. [50] [51] [52] Sands became a martyr to Irish republicans, [53] while Thatcher became a republican hate figure of Cromwellian proportions, with Danny Morrison describing her as "the biggest bastard we have ever known". [51]

The strike was called off at 3:15pm on 3 October. [42] Three days later, Prior announced partial concessions to the prisoners including the right to wear their own clothes at all times. [3] The only one of the "Five Demands" still outstanding was the right not to do prison work. Following sabotage by the prisoners and the Maze Prison escape in 1983, the prison workshops were closed, effectively granting all of the "Five Demands" but without any formal recognition of political status from the government. [43] Participants who died on hunger strike [ edit ] Name a b c d e f g h i j k l m "The Hunger Strike of 1981 – List of Dead and Other Hunger Strikers". CAIN . Retrieved 13 May 2020.

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On one occasion he wrote an editorial saying that Mandela should stand down at the end of his term as president, from 1994 to 1999. He noted later that when asked why he had done just that, Mandela replied with a mischievous grin: “Because the Mail & Guardian told me to.” Northern Ireland, of course, was one: hard, often brutal news that needed explanation and sense of history. We learned then that, put to the test, David could report vividly and investigate in close detail, as well as follow the convolutions of crisis politics. He was a man for all seasons. And if he was occasionally a little difficult to handle, then that was fine too: talent and independence set him apart. Sanders, Andrew (2011). Inside the IRA: Dissident Republicans and the War for Legitimacy. Edinburgh University Press. p.133. ISBN 978-0748646968. O'Keeffe, Terence (1984). "Suicide and Self-Starvation". Philosophy. 59 (229): 349–363. doi: 10.1017/S0031819100069941. JSTOR 3750951. S2CID 154281192. The hunger strike prompted Sinn Féin to move towards electoral politics. Sands' election victory, combined with that of pro-hunger strike candidates in the Northern Ireland local elections and Dáil elections in the Republic of Ireland, gave birth to the Armalite and ballot box strategy. Gerry Adams remarked that Sands' victory "exposed the lie that the hunger strikers—and by extension the IRA and the whole republican movement—had no popular support". [56] The election victories of Doherty and Agnew also had political impact in the Republic of Ireland, as they denied power to Charles Haughey's outgoing Fianna Fáil government. [31] In 1982 Sinn Féin won five seats in the elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly, and in 1983 Gerry Adams won a seat in the UK general election. [57] As a result of the political base built during the hunger strike, Sinn Féin continued to grow in the following two decades. [3] After the 2001 United Kingdom general election, it became the largest nationalist party in Northern Ireland.

Westminster By-election (NI) – Thursday 9 April 1981". CAIN. Archived from the original on 29 May 2007 . Retrieved 26 May 2007. Mac an Bhaird, Christy (8 May 1997). "Hunger Strikers remembered in US". An Phoblacht. Archived from the original on 31 August 2007 . Retrieved 26 May 2007. Ultimately this book is just so tragic. You feel like you get such an up-close sense of all the hunger strikers, only to watch them waste away just as their families, loved ones, comrades, jailers, and the British government did. Anyways - I’ll let some of Beresford’s own words take up the rest of this review. Hailing from a land similarly rife with sectarian divisions (South Africa), the author David Beresford, a writer for the Guardian newsletter, succeeds fully in squarely illustrating the complicated temperament of conflict that led ten men to willingly starve themselves to death in a prison protest. Not once does the discussion lapse into blunt politics, instead always taking the high ground and focusing on the more personal nature of the struggle and its larger overtones of humanity. Fusing action, drama and violence into a blistering whole, Ten Dead Men shows us Brits can hold our own in the action arena."

In January 1981, it became clear that the prisoners' demands had not been conceded. Prison authorities began to supply the prisoners with officially issued civilian clothing, whereas the prisoners demanded the right to wear their own clothing. On 4 February, the prisoners issued a statement saying that the British government had failed to resolve the crisis and declared their intention of "hunger striking once more". [22] The second hunger strike began on 1 March, when Bobby Sands, the IRA's former officer commanding (OC) in the prison, refused food. A statement from the prisoners was issued by Danny Morrison:

Provos The IRA & Sinn Féin, p. 237. "It was to be one of the bloodiest periods of the 'Troubles'. In total, sixty-one people died, thirty-four of whom were civilians". a b c d Beresford, David (1987). Ten Men Dead. Atlantic Monthly Press. pp.13–16. ISBN 0-87113-702-X. See also: Artistic reactions to the 1981 Irish hunger strike A hunger strike memorial near Crossmaglen, County ArmaghCollusion highlighted during Hunger Strike weekend". An Phoblacht. 6 May 2004 . Retrieved 1 June 2007. This book was written for a United Kingdom audience and assumes readers have more knowledge of the Irish conflict than I did. I can't really speak to the politics of the inmates' decisions, but at a human level it is really heartbreaking. Probably the best thing I’ve read on anything remotely germane to the “Troubles.” Also of unique historical value, since the late author David Beresford managed to gain access to the hunger strikers’ “comms” - intensely politically and personal revealing messages scribbled on cigarette paper and smuggled out routinely through orifices . Thus the story almost takes on an “oral history” quality, narrated as much by the inner turmoil of monk-to-be-turned-sectarian-killer Brendan “Bik” MacFarlane as by Beresford the journalist. Randall, Colin (13 August 2004). "French intelligentsia ponders what should be done with killer". The Daily Telegraph. London . Retrieved 25 May 2007.