The Prison Struggle section brings together 226 items spanning from 1971 through to the 2000s, documenting one of the most significant and contested dimensions of the broader republican campaign. The material covers the full arc of the prison protests: internment without trial introduced in August 1971, the hunger strikes in England in the mid-1970s, the blanket and dirty protests at the Maze and Armagh, the 1980 and 1981 hunger strikes, prison escapes, and extradition campaigns. Formats include leaflets, posters, booklets, newsletters, and newspapers, reflecting the wide range of organisations and individuals who produced material in response to conditions of imprisonment and the political status question.
Taken together, the items in this section constitute a primary source record of how the prison protests were communicated, organised around, and commemorated by republican and solidarity movements over three decades. They document not only events inside the prisons but the extensive campaigns mounted outside them, and in doing so reflect the centrality of the prison struggle to republican politics throughout the period.
1971
1972
![]() Anti-Internment News No2 | ![]() Anti-Internment News No4 | ![]() Hand Drawn Proclamation (Long Kesh) |
![]() Internees Say No to EEC Poster | ![]() Barbed Wire Bulletin (January 1972) |
1973
![]() The Hut 60 Bullitin (Circa 1973) (5) | ![]() Joe McCloskey Release Order (1973) (5) | ![]() Spoil Your Vote (1973) |
![]() Roisin McLaughlin Extradition Leaflet (1973) (1) |
1974
1975
![]() Published by the Prisoners Aid Committee | ![]() Long Kesh Christmas Card | ![]() Faoi Glas (1975) (1) |
![]() An Síoladóir No 2 (May 1975) | ![]() Long Kesh Poems (1975) (7) |
1976
1977
An Eochair
![]() An Eochair No 1 (1977) | ![]() An Eochair No 4 | |
![]() An Eochair No 13 | ![]() An Eochair (No 10) | ![]() An Eochair (No 14) |
![]() An Eochair (No 9) |
1978
1979
![]() Smash H-Block Poster | ![]() H Blocks Letter (1979) | ![]() H Block Christmas (1979) |
![]() Beansaor (December 1979) (6) | ![]() SaorBhean No 3 (1979) (6) | ![]() Bobby Sands Prison Comm (1979) |
1980
1981
1982
![]() Bobby Sands Anniversary Poster | ![]() Vote Joe O’Connell | ![]() The Armagh Women (1982) (2) |
![]() Seamus McElwain Election Stickers (1982) |
1983
1984
1985
1986
![]() Irish Prisoners Appeal (24 March 1986) | ![]() Irish Prisoners Appeal (08 July 1986) | ![]() Irish Prisoners Appeal (Date Unknown) |
![]() Stop Strip Searching in Maghaberry (1986) |
1987
![]() Inside an English jail (Book) | ![]() Louth Hunger Strike Memorial (1987) | ![]() Questions of History by Irish Prisoners of War (1987) (1) |
1988
1989
![]() The Irish Prisoner (1989) | ![]() Autumn 1989 (Vol 1, No 1) | ![]() Winter 1989 (Vol 1 No2) |
![]() The Captive Voice (August 1989) Signed by Prisoners |
Birmingham Six
1990
1991
1992
1995
1996
![]() Coiste Dublin Newsletter (August 1996) | ![]() Coiste Dublin Newsletter (July 1996) | ![]() Winter 1996 (Vol 8, No 1) |
![]() Winter 1996 (Vol 8, No 3) | ![]() Prisoners Dependents Dance (December 1996) |
1997
1998
2000s
![]() IPSC Leaflet (1) | ![]() Tommy Crossan (2001) | ![]() Hunger Strike 25th Anniversary Events Leaflet (2006) |
![]() Crisis in Maghaberry (September 2003) |
Misc
(1) Donated by @irish_republican_archive
(2) Donated by Paddy Fox
(3) Donated by Seán Ó Cadhla
(4) Donated by Tallaght Sinn Féin
(5)Joe McCloskey, 1st Battalion, B Company. Internee, Cage 6.
(6) Donated by the J and L Sweeney Collection
(7) Donated by Gilles Le Biez
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