Seamus Costello
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Seamus Costello (1939 - 1977) was a leader of Sinn Féin and the Official Irish Republican Army and latterly of the Irish Republican Socialist Party and the Irish National Liberation Army.
He argued for a combination of socialist politics on economic issues and traditional "physical force" Irish Republicanism. He is best remembered for the founding of the Irish Republican Socialist Party and the Irish National Liberation Army. He was a victim of the feud with his former comrades in the Official IRA.
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[edit] Early life. IRA Border Campaign
At the age of 16 , he joined Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Army.
Within a year, he was commanding an Active Service Unit of the IRA in South Derry during the Border Campaign, where his leadership skills earned him the nickname of "The Boy General". The most publicised actions of his unit included the destruction of bridges and the burning of Magherafelt courthouse.
He was arrested in Glencree, Co. Wicklow, in 1957 and sentenced to six months in Mountjoy Prison. On his release, he was immediately interned in the Curragh prison camp for two years.
He spent his time in prison studying. He was particularly inspired by his studies of the Vietnamese struggle. He became a member of the escape committee which engineered the successful escapes of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh and Dáithí Ó Conaill, among others. Costello would later refer to this time as his "university days".
[edit] Political activism
After his release, Costello worked to rebuild the Republican Movement, beginning by building a local base of support in Co. Wicklow as Sinn Féin's local organiser. Costello strongly supported the movement's left-wing orientation of these years - especially its emphasis on grassroots political activism. He helped found a strong Tenants Association in Bray, and also became involved with the Credit Union movement and various farmers' organisations. During this period, he found time to marry a Tipperary woman, Maeliosa, who also became active in the Republican Movement. Costello stood for election to the Bray Urban District Council in 1967 and was successful.
After the Troubles broke out in Northern Ireland in 1969, the IRA and Sinn Féin split over the use of violence and the "Official" faction's Marxist politics. During the split of the Republican Movement into Official and Provisional movements in 1969, Costello remained with the Officials, due to their greater commitment to left wing politics. He served as Vice-President of Official Sinn Féin and as a Staff Officer in the Official IRA.
As the Officials moved away from armed struggle (calling a ceasefire in 1972), Costello's opposition caused him to be dismissed from the OIRA and suspended from OSF. He was dismissed from OSF in 1974 after the OSF leadership blocked his supporters from attending the party convention.
[edit] Founds INLA and IRSP
At a meeting in the Lucan Spa Hotel near Dublin, on 10 December 1974, the Irish Republican Socialist Party was formed by republicans, socialists, and trade unionists with Costello as the Chairperson.
At a private meeting later the same day, the Irish National Liberation Army was formed with Costello as the Chief of Staff, although its existence was to be kept secret for a time. The new grouping intended to combine far left politics with the "armed struggle" against British security forces in Northern Ireland.
Within days of its founding, the fledgling Irish Republican Socialist Movement was embroiled in a bitter feud with the Official IRA. Members of the IRSM were attacked, some were killed. Before a truce was reached, three members of the young movement were dead.
[edit] Death
Despite the truce, Costello was gunned down by a member of the OIRA as he sat in his car on the North Strand Road in Dublin on 5 October 1977. He was the first (and so far only) leader of an Irish political party to be murdered.
At the time of his death, he was a member of the following bodies:
- Wicklow County Council
- County Wicklow Committee of Agriculture
- General Council of Committees of Agriculture
- Eastern Regional Development Organisation
- National Museum Development Committee
- Bray Urban District Council
- Bray Branch of the Irish Transport and General Workers Union
- Bray and District Trade Unions Council (of which he was president 1976-77)
- Cualann Historical Society
as well as still holding the positions of
At his funeral, Nora Connolly daughter of the Easter Rising leader, James Connolly said "he was the only one who truly understood what James Connolly meant when he spoke of his vision of the freedom of the Irish people."
