Seán MacStiofáin, Memoirs of a Revolutionary

Abstract

Seán MacStiofáin (1928–2001) was born lohn Stephenson in Leytonstone, east London, and raised in Islington. In 1945 he was conscripted into the RAF and posted to lamaica, where his first-hand experience of the iniquities of the British colonial system confirmed him in his anti-imperial views. On his return to London MacStiofáin immersed himself in Irish culture, although it was not until 1950 that he first visited Ireland, by which time he had formed an IRA unit in London. In 1953 he was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment for his part in a foiled raid on a military base in Essex. He moved to Cork after his release in 1959 and was appointed director of intelligence of the IRA seven years later. MacStiofáin opposed the drift towards Marxism within republicanism during the 1960s and was one of the leaders of the militarist faction that became the Provisional IRA in 1970. Following his arrest and imprisonment for IRA membership in November 1972, he went on hunger strike in Mountjoy prison. His abandonment of his strike after 57 days led to him being ousted from the leadership in 1973, after which his involvement in republican politics effectively ended. He spent the remainder of his life living and working in Navan, County Meath.

(London: Gordon Cremonesi, 1975). x, 372pp.; pp. 18–22.