The Green Book is a training and induction manual issued by the Irish Republican Army to new volunteers. It was used by the post-Irish Civil War Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Cumann na mBan, ("League of Women"), along with later incarnations such as the Provisional IRA (IRA). It includes a statement of military objectives, tactics and conditions for military victory against the British government. This military victory was to be achieved as part of "the ongoing liberation of Ireland from foreign occupiers". The Green Book has acted as a manual of conduct and induction to the organisation since at least the 1950s.
History Because the IRA and later republican groupings have been identified as illegal organisations (the PIRA, IRA and Cumann na mBan have been proscribed - declared illegal - in the UK, the Republic of Ireland and a number of other countries)The National Archives, Terrorism Act 2000List of proscribed terrorist groups updated by the Home Office in 2016Report of statement outlining legal status of the IRA in the Republic of Ireland by former Minister for Justice and Equality, Michael McDowell in 2005Country Reports on Terrorism 2004 US Department of State report to US Congress the Green Book has been distributed and published secretly. It is published at unknown printing presses and distributed to or shared with IRA volunteers as they are accepted for active duty. Due to this secrecy only two editions of the Green Book have so far been released into the public domain. The first, published in 1956, appears to be intact. The second, publication date unknown but dating to the 1977 detention of then IRA Chief of Staff Seamus Twomey, has only been released in three parts (referred to here as the 1977 edition). With the beginning of the latest IRA ceasefire and the 2005 ending of their campaign, it seems unlikely that a new edition of the manual will have been issued in recent years by the IRA. However, it is possible that known/unknown groupings have issued a more recent version.
Volunteers' treatment of the Green Book The Green Book is issued to IRA volunteers as part of their training and is considered a secret document which should not be revealed to, or discussed with non-IRA members. In order to protect the organisation, disclosure of its training material and any other training documents, including the Green Book, would most likely carry stiff penalties up to and including Court Martial. Once issued, each volunteer is expected to study and learn from their copy of the manual, to apply the rules given in it, and to apply lessons learnt from it. While the manual is clearly not all the training a volunteer could expect, it gave a broad overview meant to go some way to preparing the volunteer for active duty with the organisation.
1977 and 1956 editions Both known issues of the Green Book were in existence while the IRA, (in the case of the 1956 edition), and the PIRA, (in the case of the 1977 edition), were engaged in a military campaign. In 1956, this was the Border Campaign, in the 1970s it was the guerrilla Provisional IRA campaign 1969-1997 which was carried out in Northern Ireland, England & several countries in mainland Europe.
Commonalities and differences exist between the two documents. This demonstrates that the Green Book is a living document updated periodically. These updates are made to reflect changes in:
political policy and social structure military strategy and tactics of the organisation military strength of the organisation the technology/tactics of the organisation's enemies
While splits in the IRA since 1922 up to the 1950s do not appear to be noted in the 1956 document, developments in the fields of insurgency and counter-insurgency are. Both T. E. Lawrence and Field Marshal Sir William Slim are quoted.T. E. Lawrence is mis-quoted slightly, the quote used is from "Evolution of a Revolt" available here , the misquote takes place in a section describing the guerrilla as leaving as small a footprint on the battlefield as possible. Lawrence is quoted as saying, "the smallest force in the quickest time at the farthest place." The quote from British Chief of the General Staff and Commander of the 14th Army, Field Marshal Sir William Slim used in the Green Book appears on this Official US Army strategy PDF document page 15 The 1977 edition appears to have been more heavily influenced by the work of Brigadier General Frank Kitson.
By the 1977 edition, the document had increased in scope, with length remaining around the same. Some doctrinal sections from the 1956 edition were still appearing, while new sections aimed at combating the counter-insurgency efforts of the British Army and RUC had appeared. Notably the 1977 edition would have existed alongside the IRA's change in tactics towards the entirely self-reliant cell structure. The 1956 edition on the other hand discusses the use of the IRA flying column - en masse attacks by large groups of volunteers against concentrations of the enemy. Another notable facet of the 1977 edition is the attention paid to the mental preparation of IRA Volunteers, this being the time of the IRA's "Long War" strategy. Readers of the 1977 edition are warned:
"The Army as an organisation claims and expects your total allegiance without reservation. It enters into every aspect of your life. It invades the privacy of your home life, it fragments your family and friends, in other words claims your total allegiance. All potential volunteers must realise that the threat of capture and of long jail sentences are a very real danger and a shadow which hangs over every volunteer..."
"Another important aspect all potential volunteers should think about is their ability to obey orders from a superior officer. All volunteers must obey orders issued to them by a superior officer regardless of whether they like the particular officer or not".
The 1956 edition contains no such warning, but appeals to the "guerrilla code." In 'Chapter Five - Organisation and Arms', the reader is advised:
"Leadership will not come so much by appointment as by the trust the guerrillas place in their commander. He must be worthy of that trust if he is to succeed. Instead of discipline of the regular army type there will be a more stern battle discipline: agreement on the job to be done, and the need to do it, and obedience to the guerrilla code, these take the place of the unthinking army type discipline. Breaches of the guerrilla code — desertion, betrayal, breach of confidence in any way — must be severely dealt with on the spot".
Contents of the Green Book The book contains information on:
political philosophy of the IRA Irish history in terms of struggle against the occupation of Ireland the military objectives of the organisation the military strategy for guerrilla fighters the military equipment and tools that can be used by guerrilla fighters the military equipment and training for tools available to the IRA propaganda techniques within the theatre of operations interrogation techniques and how to resist them
The book has also included references to the training, development, and tactics employed by Regular & Irregular/Specialist forces in modern armies - particularly those of the British Army.
Green Book historical context
The 1956 document couches the violence and occupation of the island of Ireland in a long history of armed resistance to occupation. The first chapter is entirely taken up with providing this history from the viewpoint of the organisation. It provides information on the Kerne, the battle of the Yellow Ford, Owen Roe O'Neill, the 1798 Rebellion and United Irishmen, James Fintan Lalor, and the "Tan War". All are described as being within the context of legitimate resistance to the occupation of Ireland. This discussion is largely romanticised and aimed at demonstrating a lineage of "armed struggle" from which the IRA assumes its legitimacy in the fight against "occupying forces in Ireland". One entry in this discussion is the fact that the efforts of IRA guerrillas were the direct cause in ending the British occupation of the 26 counties of Ireland—the territory that would become the Irish Free State, and later the Republic of Ireland. The 1956 manual also implies that the bulk of the IRA's work in "freeing Ireland from occupation" is over. This indicates both a "southern" perspective on Irish independence and an underestimation of the resistance they would encounter during the Border Campaign, that was aimed at the end of British rule in Northern Ireland. With the publication of the 1977 edition this assumption of an easy victory in ending partition had been dropped and the "Long War" strategy adopted.
The 1956 edition summarises the result of the violence during the 1919-1921 Irish War of Independence (referred to by republicans, who considered independence as having been only partially achieved, as the Tan War) with this passage:
"The hammer blows of the guerrillas destroyed the British administration. The guerrillas acted in small numbers in the right localities and compelled the British to disperse to find them. Then as the British searched, they hit them at will by means of the ambush. Communications were systematically destroyed and even the British army's transport system in the country was disorganised."
"The enemy's intelligence service was completely dislocated. The R.I.C.- the eyes and ears of British rule- was demoralised. British justice courts could not operate--for the people ignored them. The British gradually were forced to evacuate the smaller, more isolated garrisons. They concentrated in the larger towns. The areas evacuated came under sole control of The Republic. The next step was to isolate the larger centres and keep cutting communications and constantly hitting the enemy. In time these would have been evacuated too. Thus ended the last great phase of guerrilla operations against British rule in Ireland."
Compare to the Marxist interpretation in the 1977 edition, published during a new campaign and new conditions of waging war. The "struggle" is couched in more socio-economic terms, terms which would have made more sense to a generation living through unemployment and economic hardship in post industrial revolution Northern Ireland (referred to here as the "six counties"). It is also an indication of the influence of Marxist Philosophy that permeated the IRA in the late 1970s:
"The objective of the 800 years of oppression 'is economic exploitation with the unjustly partitioned 6 counties remaining Britain's directly controlled old-style colony' and the South under the 'continuing social, cultural and economic domination of London'. This last led to Irish savings being invested in England 'for a higher interest rate' and many hundreds of thousands of boys and girls from this country had to emigrate to England to seek the employment which those exported saving created."
"Another aspect of economic imperialism at work is the export of raw, unprocessed materials: live cattle on the hoof - mineral wealth, fish caught by foreign trawlers, etc. Further, from 1956 on, the Free State abandoned all attempts to secure an independent economy, and brought in foreign multi-national companies to create jobs instead of buying their skills and then sending them home gradually. Africanisation' is the word for this process elsewhere. Control of our affairs in all of Ireland lies more than ever since 1921 outside the hands of the Irish people. The logical outcome of all this was full immersion in the E.E.C. in the 1970s. The Republican Movement opposed this North and South in 1972 and 1975 and continues to do so. It is against such political economic power blocks East and West and military alliances such as NATO and the Warsaw Pact."