Irish Hunger Strikes Chapter 10

Before The "First" Hunger Strike of 1980:
A Long Tradition of Self-Sacrifice

From the very beginning of the H-Block protests in the mid-1970s, the men in Long Kesh and the women in Armagh jail knew that hunger strike to the death was a possibility in their attempt to force the British to give them political status and as a last-ditch strategy to defeat the British "criminalization" policy.

In both Irish legend and Irish Republican tradition, hunger strike to the death was used by Irish people to redress wrongs done to them or to achieve political or moral ends.

The men in the H-Blocks studied and debated the use of hunger strike in Irish history to determine if and how it could be used successfully in 1980. As time was on the Brits' side and the men could stand the brutality of the H-Blocks for just so long, hunger strike became not only a possibility, but an inevitability.

An Ancient Weapon

The Irish words "Troscad" and "Cealacha" appear in some of the earliest written records during the medieval period in Ireland, even written into the legal civil code. Roughly translated, they mean: "fasting on or against a person" or "achieving justice by starvation." As far as can be understood, it consisted of fasting on the doorstep of the person or institution accused. If the hunger striker were to die under such circumstances, the person at whose door he died was held responsible for his death and was legally required to pay compensation to his family.

There was a spiritual penalty to pay as well, for at this time there was great social and moral regard for hospitality among the Irish people, which extended even to strangers at one's door. To allow someone to starve to death at one's doorstep was a profound disgrace.

Legend has it that St. Patrick himself went on hunger strike against God to obtain redress of a grievance. Even God saw the potential moral impact of the situation and gave in after 45 days. There are other stories of Irish saints going on hunger strike to achieve the righting of an injustice "in the name of Christ." Satan, as well, seems to have been targeted by at least one pair of hunger striking Irish people when Conall the Red and his wife fasted against the Devil to lift a spell that would allow them to have children.

Hunger strike was not restricted only to the Celtic world. In India there was also an ancient tradition of hunger strike ["sitting dharna"] which was used successfully in modern times against the British Raj by Mahatma Gandhi, who went on 17 different hunger strikes.

Republican Hunger Strikes During the 1916 to 1923 Period

In modern Ireland, the hunger strike was a common form of protest from the Easter Rising of 1916 onward, used almost exclusively by prisoners in British/Irish jails who found themselves reduced by necessity to this potentially lethal action. And it often was.

The hunger striker in order to succeed needed to depend on at least an incipient sense of morality or human decency somewhere within the object individual or government.

In the case of the British, it was always a cool matter of political calculation. If they could let a man die and not be murdered themselves in the press or by public opinion, then they seemed to actually enjoy it as it suited their righteous and imperious nature. As long as it was only Irish men.

The hunger strikes of 1980 and 1981 in Long Kesh were pre-shadowed by the hunger strike of 1917, when Republican prisoners in Mountjoy prison refused to take food after being brutalized for refusing to wear prison clothing or do prison work.

Thomas Ashe and Terence MacSwiney

The leader of the strike was Thomas Ashe, the 32 year old former president of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, who died after being force feed by the British.

Often, a hunger strike might not achieve its stated goals, but yet achieve a greater goal: exposing the heartlessness of the foe while demonstrating the truth and valor of the hunger striker. Forty thousand people attended Thomas Ashe's funeral where they heard a stunning speech by Michael Collins calling for armed resistance.

Perhaps the most influential death on hunger strike during this period was Terence MacSwiney's. In 1920, Terence MacSwiney, mayor of Cork City and Commander of the Cork Brigade of the IRA, died on hunger strike in Brixton jail in England and created a sensation and rallying point for the Irish people who were now engaged in a war of independence against the British occupiers of their country.

Earlier he wrote prophetically in a now famous political essay, "One day the conscienceless of the country will be electrified with a great deed or a great sacrifice and the multitude will brake from lethargy or prejudice and march with a shout for freedom in a true, a brave and a beautiful sense."

In another essay he wrote, "A man who will be brave only if tramping with a legion will fail in courage if called to stand in the breach alone. And it must be clear to all that till Ireland can again summon her banded armies there will be abundant need for men who will stand the single test. 'Tis the bravest test, the noblest test, and 'tis the test that offers the surest and greatest victory."

MacSwiney was one of the first men whose fast went all the way, hence his death was falsely expected to come after 20 days or so without food. The British were fully prepared to let him die, but the people were brought to fever pitch of anticipation as the hunger strike went on for months. It took 74 days for him to succumb.

A British Political Disaster

His death proved to be disastrous for the British. Pope Benedict XV sent his Papal Blessing along with a "plenary indulgence". Nearly a score of bishops and thousands of churchmen attended the funeral services in London and Cork. The streets of Cork City were inundated with supporters. Two other Cork IRA men were also to heed MacSwiney's most famous words, "It is not those who can inflict the most, but those that can suffer the most who will conquer," dying on hunger strike in Cork jail soon after. One, Joseph Murphy, died on his 76th day without food, the longest hunger strike on record.

The Massive 1923 Hunger Strike

In 1923, Anti-Treaty IRA prisoners engaged in a massive hunger strike that began in Mountjoy jail and spread throughout Ireland. At one stage an incredible 8,000 or so men were refusing food to sue for their release and to protest the partition of Ireland under the new treaty with England.

Men died but little progress was made although several thousand were released soon after the strike ended.

Hunger Strikes Against Fianna Fail

In the 1930s, after the coming to power of DeValera's Fianna Fail party [supposedly an Irish Republican party], the IRA staged several hunger strikes in reaction to government executions, wholesale internment without trial and jailing of real Republican soldiers. These men all insisted on political status and to be treated as "prisoners of conscience."

Two IRA men, Tony D'Arcy and Jack McNella, were to die on hunger strike in Mountjoy prison in 1940. By that time the Dublin government had almost complete censorship control over the press and suppressed the facts and political reasoning behind the strike.

In 1946, the IRA Chief of Staff, Sean McCaughey, died on hunger strike seeking political status. He died after only 22 days, going on both hunger and thirst strike over the last days.

The next significant hunger strike by Irish Republicans would not be until 1972 during a new phase of the freedom struggle -- and it would take place in the hastily constructed internment or concentration camp known as Long Kesh.

Next: Republican Hunger Strikes During the 1970s