Cathal Goulding

Cathal Goulding was a socialist republican leader who led the IRA from 1962 to 1998. He was influenced by Marxist ideas and political campaigns, and advocated a new direction of the republican movement away from armed struggle to social and economic resistance. He was also involved in campaigns for civil rights, fisheries, and national liberation. He was born in Dublin to a republican family with a long tradition of activism and militancy. He joined the IRA as a teenager and was interned and imprisoned several times for his involvement in raids, training camps, and border campaigns. He became the chief of staff of the IRA in 1962 and initiated a process of internal discussion and education to reform the movement. He sought the advice of radical intellectuals and developed a strategy of building a national liberation front with other progressive forces in both parts of Ireland. He also supported the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland and opposed sectarian violence. He split with the Provisional IRA in 1969 over the issue of abstentionism and the use of violence. He led the Official IRA and later the Workers' Party, which became a significant political force in the 1980s. He was a vocal critic of the Anglo-Irish Agreement and the Good Friday Agreement, which he saw as betrayals of the republican cause. He died of cancer in Dublin in 1998. He was widely respected for his integrity, vision, and courage.