campaign being waged by the British Army and the Orange gangs. The impact on the 26 Counties of the struggle in the north has been complex. The most notable aspect has been the general passivity and indifference of the southern masses to the struggle. Of course there have been exceptional periods: August-September 1969, the period after internment in August 1971. and after Bloody Sunday on 30 January this year. While the degree of support for the struggle did force the Fianna Fail government into many contradictory positions and (for a period) enabled the IRA to use the 26 Counties as a sate base, there was no movement strong enough to mount a dynamic campaign on behalf of the republican prisoners in the South or in defence of the free areas in the Six Counties. Also disappointing was the negative response to the northern struggle by the recent trade union conferences.
FIANNA FAIL BETRAYAL The impact of the northern struggle on Fianna Fail is instructive. Fianna Fail during its inception incorporated a republican populist working class following. This factor, for most of its history, has been a source of strength However during the recent period it has been a factor of instability. The republican struggle provoked a sympathetic response inside the Fianna Fail party. The leadership was divided on how to respond to this. Lynch, atter a period of balancing between the different pressures, has now embarked on a decisive new Y