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.
The section is particularly rich in material relating to the 1981 hunger strike, which produced an enormous volume of campaigning and solidarity literature across Ireland, Britain, and internationally. The ten deaths that year, beginning with Bobby Sands in May, generated a level of political mobilisation that extended well beyond established republican networks and left a substantial documentary record. Material from the blanket and dirty protests that preceded the strikes gives context to the conditions and demands that shaped that crisis, while earlier internment-era documents situate the prison struggle within the wider conflict as it developed after 1971.
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 |
1973
1974
 Michael Gaughan Poster |  Michael Gaughan NFÉ Poster |  Political Prisoner Poster |
 Smash Internment Poster |  Michael Gaughan Letter (1974) (6) |
1975
 Published by the Prisoners Aid Committee |  Long Kesh Christmas Card |  Faoi Glas (1975) (1) |
 An Síoladóir No 2 (May 1975) |  Mísneach (February 1974) |  Mísneach (May 1974) |
1976
1977
 Prison Struggle Booklet (1) |  Blanket Protest Poster |  H Block The Facts (September 1977) (1) |
 Hunger Strike Portlaoise Poster (1977) |
1978
1979
 Smash H-Block Poster |  H Blocks Letter (1979) |  H Block Christmas (1979) |
 Beansaor (December 1979) (6) |  SaorBhean No 3 (1979) (6) |
1980
1981
1981 Hunger Strike Funeral coverage in An Phoblacht/Republican News
 Bobby Sands |  Francis Hughes |  Raymond McCreesh |
Patsy O’Hara |  Joe McDonnell |  Martin Hurson |
 Kevin Lynch | Kieran Doherty |  Thomas McElwee |
 Micky Devine |
1982
1983
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
1989
The Captive Voice / An Glór Gafa
 Autumn 1989 (Vol 1, No 1) |  Winter 1989 (Vol 1 No2) |  Spring 1990 (Vol 2, No 1) |
 Summer 1990 (Vol 2, No 2) |  Winter 1996 (Vol 8, No 1) |  Winter 1996 (Vol 8, No 3) |
 Summer 1997 |
1990
1991
1992
1996
1997
1998
2001
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
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