Irish Civil Rights Solidarity Campaign (ICRSC) / Irish Solidarity Campaign (ISC)

The Irish Civil Rights Solidarity Campaign (ICRSC) was an umbrella organisation active from 1969 to 1973, which sought to bring together organisations campaigning against Britain’s actions in Northern Ireland. From September 1970 it was known as the Irish Solidarity Campaign (ISC). It was spied on by HN135 Mike Ferguson HN135 Michael 'Mike' Ferguson Michael (Mike) Ferguson started as an undercover officer in March 1969 with HN336 ‘Dick Epps’. He infiltrated the Maoist Britain Vietnam Solidarity Front, the Islington branch of the Irish Civil Rights Solidarity Campaign and the Stop The Seventy Tour. His deployment ended in July 1970. Ferguson would return in the late 1970s to lead the SDS for a couple of years. He retired in 1985 and died in 1999 at the age of 60. , HN68 ‘Sean Lynch’ HN68 ‘Sean Lynch’ HN68 ‘Sean Lynch’ was the cover name used by a former Special Demonstration Squad undercover officer deployed between 1968 and 1974 into groups related to political violence in Northern Ireland. He held a managerial position as second-in-command of the SDS between 1981 and 1983 and retired from the Metropolitan Police in 1993. He is dead. Full page: HN68 ‘Sean Lynch’ , HN298 ‘Michael Scott’ HN298 'Michael Scott' ‘Michael Scott’ is the assumed name of a former SDS undercover officer who infiltrated the Putney branch of the Young Liberals, Croydon anarchist group Commitment, the Little Ilford branch of the Workers Revolutionary Party and the central London branch of the Anti-Internment League between 1972 and 1976. In 1972, he did not reveal his true identity to the court when convicted alongside three anti-apartheid activists, leading to their convictions being overturned in 2023. The reliability of his testimony about the Young Liberals was challenged in the Inquiry by core participant Peter Hain. , HN340 ‘Andy Bailey’ HN340 ‘Andy Bailey’ HN340 is the nominal given to the former undercover officer with the Special Demonstration Squad ‘Andy Bailey’. He infiltrated the North London Red Circle and spied on the Irish Civil Rights Solidarity Campaign, later known as the Irish Solidarity Campaign, between July 1970 and June 1972. One of the first two SDS officers to travel overseas while undercover, to the Red Europe conference in Brussels in November 1970, he was also the first undercover to be withdrawn because of a possible risk to his safety, in mid-1972 after the landlady of his cover accommodation reported overhearing a threat to him. Full page: HN340 ‘Andy Bailey’ and HN299/342 ‘David Hughes’. HN299/HN342 'David Hughes' HN299/342 'David Hughes' joined the SDS in 1971. He was deployed into the International Marxist Group, north London Claimants Union and Anti-Internment League between 1971 and 1975. He left the SDS in 1976, having heard lots of revolutionary talk but not witnessed any public disorder or subversion.  

The organisation was structured with multiple local branches and a central steering committee. The latter included representatives from a broad range of other groups such as the Independent Labour Party Independent Labour Party (ILP) In the early 1960s, some 30 years after splitting from the Labour Party, the Independent Labour Party (ILP) became involved in opposition to nuclear weapons, promoted workers' control and campaigned for decolonisation and against South Africa’s apartheid regime. The party was infiltrated from 1969 to 1971 by the SDS undercover HN326 ‘Doug Edwards’. He targeted the London group, focusing on east London. Full page: Independent Labour Party (ILP) , People’s Democracy People’s Democracy People's Democracy was a socialist organisation founded in Belfast in 1968 and closely associated with the Northern Ireland civil rights movement. Members included Bernadette Devlin and Eamon McCann, who are mentioned in SDS reporting on the group's activities in London. , Communist Party of Great Britain Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain. It was established on 31 July 1920 and dissolved on 23 November 1991. For most of its existence, it aligned itself with the USSR and received funding from it. The British surveillance state saw it as the main subversive threat to the United Kingdom, and was consequently the target of many operations by MI5. However, the Special Demonstration Squad did not target it. , International Marxist Group International Marxist Group (IMG) The International Marxist Group (IMG) was a Trotskyist group in Britain in 1968-1982. It was the British Section of the Fourth International and a vital part of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign. At its peak, in the 1970s, the IMG had around 1,000 members and supporters. The IMG was spied on by HN336 'Dick Epps', HN340 'Andy Bailey' and HN353 'Gary Roberts' during the 1960s and 1970s; several other SDS officers reported on it. Full page: International Marxist Group (IMG) , Poster Workshop Poster Workshop The Poster Workshop, founded in 1968 in Camden, London, was a hub of radical political art. Inspired by the events of May 1968 in Paris, the Poster Workshop contributed to a variety of social movements through the creation of hand-printed political posters. In 1968, SDS officer HN332 Cameron Sinclair was assigned to spy on it. , Revolutionary Socialist Student Federation Revolutionary Socialist Students Federation (RSSF) The Revolutionary Socialist Students Federation (RSSF) was founded in London in June 1968 and active until the end of 1969. Although short-lived, the RSSF created a national organisation, was central to the Vietnam war protests in universities and developed a critique of higher education. Several SDS undercover officers directly targeted the RSSF from July 1968. Full page: Revolutionary Socialist Students Federation (RSSF) , London Federation of Anarchists Federation of London Anarchist Groups (FLAG) The Federation of London Anarchist Groups (FLAG) was an umbrella organisation encompassing a number of groups in London between 1976 and 1978, including the Freedom Collective and Anarchy Collective. It was spied on by HN300 'Jim Pickford' and HN304 'Graham Coates' during this time.  and International Socialists. International Socialists/Socialist Workers Party The International Socialists (IS)/Socialist Worker Party (SWP) is a Trotskyist political party. It started life in 1950 as the Socialist Review Group, changing its name to the International Socialists in 1962 and then to the Socialist Workers Party in 1977. The IS/SWP was of significant interest to the policing and security apparatus, spied on by at least 35 undercover officers. This profile is a stub that will updated. Full page: International Socialists/Socialist Workers Party   Report on the founding conference of the Irish Solidarity Campaign, held at Digbeth Civic Hall, Birmingham on 10-11 Oct 1970, inc constitution and other docs (not attached), 26 Oct 1970, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, MPS-0738146.View Document  It also had close ties to the Anti-Internment League. Anti-Internment League The Anti-Internment League was formed in response to the introduction of mass internment in Northern Ireland in August 1971. Most active in the 1970s, and affiliated with the International Marxist Group, AIL worked with trade unions, republican groups, pacifists, and the broader left in Britain and Ireland. It was spied on by numerous SDS officers. Full page: Anti-Internment League  

A 1969 article on the ICRSC in the International Socialists (IS) newspaper Socialist Worker  set out the ICRSC’s six-point programme, which included: ‘One person one equal vote, one family one house, one man one job, disarm and disband the B-Specials and Royal Ulster Constabulary, and for the right of the whole Irish people to national self-determination.’ 

After changing its name in September 1970, the organisation did not dispense with the issue of Irish civil rights, but began to promote a more explicitly ‘anti-imperialist’ position and continued to seek support from a range of groups. Although there is no formal record of the dissolution of the ISC, in 1973 a new organisation, the Troops Out Movement Troops Out Movement (TOM) The Troops Out Movement (TOM) was an Irish solidarity organisation active from 1973 to the mid-2000s, campaigning for an end to British rule in Northern Ireland, a single-issue campaign that worked with a range of groups, including Irish cultural and religious organisations and trade unions. It was spied upon by HN297 'Rick Gibson', HN298 'Michael Scott' and HN25 'Kevin Douglas'. Though it sometimes distanced itself from the IRA, TOM nonetheless maintained that armed resistance was a legitimate response to British rule. Full page: Troops Out Movement (TOM) , took over leading campaigning in this area.

Sources

G Dawson, J Dover, S Hopkins (eds), The Northern Ireland Troubles in Britain: impacts, engagements, legacies and memories. Manchester University Press (2016)

John Palmer, Socialist Worker, 12 June 1969: 'Build the Irish Civil Rights Solidarity Campaign' accessed 5 September 2024 John Palmer, 'Build the Irish Civil Rights Solidarity Campaign', Socialist Worker, Transcribed for Encyclopaedia of Trotskyism On-Line, 12 Jun 1969.

Donal O'Driscoll, The Special Branch Files Project: 'Special Branch and the Irish National Liberation Solidarity Front'  Donal O'Driscoll, Special Branch and the Irish National Liberation Solidarity Front, Special Branch Files Project, 2019.