On this day in 1994, as a key part of Britain’s ongoing pacification process in Ireland, the leadership of the Provisionals announced a full cessation of military operations, largely without consultation with Volunteers across the country.
From midnight on August 31 1994, all military operations were to be stopped, a decision that took the majority of Volunteers by surprise, as the leadership of the Provisionals had spent months arguing internally that rumours of a proposed ceasefire were speculation.
The ceasefire by the Provisionals, without a declaration of British intent to withdraw from Ireland was a break in Republican policy and was a massive signal that the leadership of the Provisionals were moving away from the Republican struggle, towards a position that would accept the British Occupation of Ireland.
The last 27 years have proven this to be correct, with the Provisional leadership becoming part and parcel of administering British Rule in the occupied six counties.
Republicans who disagreed with these breaks in Republican policy and the acceptance of British Rule have been termed ‘dissidents’ by the Provisionals, Brit Imperialism and the mainstream media, in an attempt to sideline them. In reality those who continue to uphold the Republican position have never dissented from Republican Policy and in fact are dissenting against the acceptance and normalisation of British Rule in Ireland.
That analysis is growing today and is being taken up by more more young people who can see the failure of the Provisionals, and the need to take up the struggle for National Liberation and Socialist Revolution and rebuild an All Ireland Campaign for a British Withdrawal.
No matter how it is packaged, the British Occupation of Ireland will never be acceptable to Irish Republicans. And as our history shows, so long as the Occupation continues, the people’s resistance is inevitable.
Genuine peace in Ireland will only come after a British Withdrawal, when Irish Sovereignty and National Self Determination are restored.
Britain Get Out of Ireland Now!