Troubling rhetoric: discourse theory and Irish Republican Army narratives (1962–1972)

ABSTRACT

This paper examines rhetorical theory and narrative creation in the history of militant Irish Republicanism. The splintering of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was predicated on numerous ideological differences during the 1960s; these shifts were underpinned by modalities of discourse and performative speech. Drawing on Ronald Krebs’ work, the IRA’s internal narrative conflicts from the period of 1962–1972 are analysed. Further, it adapts the philosophy of communicative action to show how discourse – spoken and written – was deployed within the pre-split IRA organization and among the Republican community during the turbulent period of 1968–1970. The ideological changes conducted by IRA Chief of Staff Cathal Goulding and his allies offer opportunities to study the competing nationalist narratives and intra-organizational conflict. This work explores the rhetorical foundations of Goulding’s narrative contestations and argues their ‘moment’ was hampered by self-created political hurdles, due to their modes of linguistic deployment. The further application of discourse analysis – through an examination of ‘resistance communities’ – demonstrates how forms of ‘coercive speech’ allowed the fledgling Provisional Irish Republican movement to adapt during and after the split. These theoretical frameworks add to the historiography of this turbulent period and reassesses the how’s of narrative reformation.

KEYWORDS:

• Cathal Goulding
• IRA
• coercion
• rhetoric
• narrative
• performativity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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Notes on contributors

Darren Colbourne

Darren Colbourne is a doctoral candidate in history at Queen’s University Belfast. His dissertation focuses on the political identificational development of Northern Ireland's People's Democracy, comparing their evolution to othe mobilisations of the global New Left. His work uses cases not only from Northern Ireland's 'Long Sixties', but also similar movements in the Untied States.