during the six months after the split the Provos gradually became the stronger of the two factions in both Belfast and Derry. Initially the Provos did not seek confrontation with the security forces. Their first concern was to prepare the organisation for what was regarded as an inevitable recrudescence of Protestant violence and only subsequently, as opportunity offered, to take on the British. Sean MacStiofain has written: …it was agreed that the most urgent priority would be area defence… as soon as it became feasible and practical the IRA would move from a purely defensive position into a
...more
