1981 Irish hunger strike

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The 1981 Irish Hunger Strike was a campaign by Irish republican prisoners in Northern Ireland for the British government to grant them status as political prisoners. It was a seminal event in modern Irish history. It radicalised nationalist politics, and was the driving force that enabled Sinn F�in to become a serious political force.

Background

There had been Irish republican hunger strikes since 1917, including strikes by Thomas Ashe, Terence MacSwiney, Se�n McCaughey, Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg. In 1976, as part of the policy of "criminalisation", the British Government ended the previous policy of giving Special Category Status to paramilitary prisoners in Northern Ireland prisons. The policy was not introduced for existing prisoners, but for those convicted after 1 March 1976.^[1] Special Category, or political, status meant prisoners were treated very like prisoners of war, for example, not having to wear prison uniforms or do prison work. The end to Special Category Status was a serious threat to the authority which the paramilitary leaderships inside prison had been able to exercise over their own men, as well as being a propaganda blow.