Was there ever a Scottish IRA? | Scotland's Paramilitaries (1969-2014)

one of the most famous paramilitary organizations of the last century was the Irish Republican Army founded in 1919 as the armed wing of the government of the Irish Republic who refused to take their seats in the Westminster Parliament and instead said that Ireland was an independent republic and own Nation they would fight against British armed forces and their paramilitary allies in the Irish war of independence and later they would fight each other in the Irish Civil War however when most people think of the name the IRA they think of the northern Irish branch that fought during the troubles a period of sectarian violence from around 1969 to 1998 in Northern Ireland the IRA were the biggest Republican aligned paramilitary organization that fought in Northern Ireland committing attacks in other parts of the world as well now in a previous video I talked about why these troubles didn't spread over the Irish sea to Scotland despite the fact that many of the same factors that had fueled the fighting in Northern Ireland were also present in Scotland and in today's video I'd again like to look at Scotland during this period of the troubles and specifically to ask the question why wasn't there an equivalent of the IRA that formed in Scotland during this time well to summarize what I talked about in the previous video some of those factors were present in Scotland that were also present in Northern Ireland before the troubles however some very important factors were substantially different in Scotland and Northern Ireland which meant that that intercommunal violence never came in Scotland one of those is that the number of Catholics as opposed to Protestants was much smaller in Scotland they were a much smaller minority whereas in Northern Ireland the minority of Catholics was much larger perhaps more importantly the discrimination against Catholics in Northern Ireland was far more severe than it was in Scotland and as a result the kind of polarization between different parts of these communities in Northern Ireland simply wasn't seen to the same extent in Scotland with a few exceptions in Glasgow being one sectarian Heartland in Scotland for some of this time as I mentioned in the previous video sometimes violence did spread over to Scotland and in 1979 it seems that a Glasgow branch of the uvf or olster volunteer force was responsible for blowing up two Catholic pubs in Glasgow however following this attack by these unionist aligned militias and then being arrested by the police many in Scotland thought this would Mark the beginning of the troubles in Scotland with the IRA then committing retaliatory attacks against Protestant pubs in Glasgow however this never came this led some to believe that the IRA had a specific rule that said no attacking Scotland because if you look at the amount of attacks outside of Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland the IRA never actually attacked any locations in Scotland with one small exception which was a bomb planted in Shetland that didn't kill anyone and was aimed at Queen Elizabeth visiting there in STK contrast they often planted bombs in English pubs and English cities uh but not in Scotland this is similar to the order that said that uh Ira operatives should never attack Irish servicemen in the Republic of Ireland those in the army or the police forces now this was actually made even more clear in an article written in the herald which I'll post the link to below which was an interview with Willie Carlin who was an MI5 agent inside the IRA at the time who talked with Martin mcginness he quotes from his book thatchers spy my life as an MI5 agent inside Shin Fain about the relationship that the IRA had with Scotland and why they didn't attack Scotland he recalls in particular a conversation he had with Martin mcginness someone who was initially in the IRA and would later become a very important politician in Northern Ireland following the peace process he said that well I don't know about policy but it would certainly go against the grain the Scots were disenfranchised just the same as the Irish the English took away their language and killed off their culture so I think it's more of a principle than a policy he continued after all they're a Celtic Nation just like the Irish except they haven't got the balls that we have to fight for self-determination Colin explained the Tactical thinking behind the Ira's decision not to get involved in Scotland this was because a lot of funding was coming out of Scotland even out of certain Corners that were perhaps unexpected because many people people in Scotland also had family in Ireland Catholic Family who they then supported financially furthermore the IRA were able to make use of safe houses in Scotland the several faeries going between Northern Ireland and the southwest of Scotland being an excellent opportunity both to smuggle people out and in as well as Weapons a lively arm trade going over these boats by creating more violence in Scotland by retaliating against these Pub bombings for instance that would up a troop presence of British soldiers in Scotland who would crack down on this illicit smuggling of people and weapons and funds and that was something the IRA didn't want and so they largely left Scotland alone Willie Carin also explained something of the mentality saying so what would have happened if a cop was shot in glasgo the whole thing just wouldn't have been right it would have backfired in terms of propaganda there were politicians in Scotland a lot of whom were very sympathetic to the Nationalist cause and even the Shan Fain cause and they would have just turned against the movement therefore IC Al the IRA decided to stay away from Scotland but in this video I'd like to look at even if the IRA didn't set up their own branches across in Scotland despite having some support were there ever any ever any scotsmen who thought of making a similar organization well it perhaps did come closer than we might think but it was always a fringe movement of course within Scotland the main nationalist organ to try and create a a separate Scottish independent state is the SNP or Scottish national party who have always been very liberal in their Outlook left-wing and non-sectarian which is quite different to the IRA however there was a branch of the S SMP who in 1967 formed a secret organization that was Invitation Only inside their ranks this organization was called the 1320 club named after the year 1320 in which the Declaration of our bro basically a letter that was sent to the pope by various Scottish Nobles calling on the right of the Scottish people to have an independent Kingdom that was independent of the English who at that time were attempting to conquer Scotland the group had several aims for Scotland the foremost of which was Independence and they actually wrote up a constitution for what an independent Scotland would be like they also advocated for political abstentionism that members of the S SMP who were elected to Parliament would not take up their seats in Westminster and that they would not recognize British rule over Scotland and as part of that they said that such an independent Scotland as it would be if they were elected into the government would have a right to self-defense basically calling for a paramilitary Organization for an army that would ensure the independence of Scotland which is rather similar to how things went in Ireland in 1918 1919 one of the advocates for this was Frederick boothby who actively called for the creation of a liberation Army that would defend Scottish interests against British rule this led to them being evicted from the SNP in 1968 he went on to form an organization that would be called the army of the provisional government note how similar this name is to uh the organization that would become the largest branch of the IRA the provisional Irish Republican Army so there may have been some inspiration from this there this organization would go out to uh commit several bomb attacks as well as several robberies although it would remain incredibly minor and I don't believe there were any casualties in these attacks and boothby himself would be uh convicted in 1975 now four years later another organization would come about this was because in 1979 a referendum was held on Scottish Devolution now note this isn't the same as Independence this is simply looking at if more power would be given to a parliament in Scotland rather than being decided in Westminster which of course was in England this referendum was held and despite a majority of those who voted voting in favor there was not a high enough turnout of 40% and so that meant that the uh result was not actually registered and Devolution was not put forward this led to a year later in 1980 the foundation of another Fringe movement the snla the Scottish National Liberation Army once again the name of this organization sounds very similar to to one that was active in Northern Ireland at the time the Irish National Liberation Army which was the largest Republican paramilitary after the various branches of the IRA and was one of their Rivals the Scottish version would become known as The Tartan terrorists and they' be founded by Adam Busby a former British soldier who was disenfranchised with the way that the British had handled the 1979 uh referendum vote on Devolution claiming the result had been fixed and this was grounds for Scotland to take paramilitary action against them they did a lot of crazy things a really interesting thing to talk about but I think it's going to be too much to put in this video so if you'd like to see a separate video on the snla then let me know in the comments below and I'll make that they also had a political Wing called the SFP or the Scottish Freedom Party their main names being Scottish independence limiting English migration and preservation of Scott gallik some things that I can get behind in certain ways however the ways in which they attemp Ed to achieve these goals was through sending various letter bombs other types of bombings particularly a fire bombing of conservative HQ and other threats of violence being sent to various political figures around the same time in 1978 another organization was founded although with a slightly different twist the sng standing for sha this is the Scots galic name for the GAC seed seed in this case having a more ambiguous meaning so that of uh the descendants of the descendants of The gales this organization would in 1982 merge with the remnants of the 1320 Club who had been ousted from the SNP and their newspaper that they put out in the 1980s variously contained anti-communist and what some have referred to as Crypt fascist or Proto fascist literature in various ways they also formed their own armed movement which was the army of the the Gale and they would carry out several petrol bombings throughout the 1980s although this ultimately fizzled out and I believe again there were no casualties in this as with the other movements the sng would remain very small and not have a very large impact on politics or gain much ground swell support the SNP the main body of the Scottish national party would go from strength to strength throughout the 20th century and then into the 21st century in 1997 they achieved Devolution and in 1998 of course the Good Friday agreement was signed in Northern Ireland with throughout the '90s the support of the IRA and indeed the uh unionists ebing away as the conflict became more and more violent and more and more civilians were being killed this meant that any kind of power military activity in Scotland was becoming less and less of a desirable option and clearly no one wanted a repeat of the troubles happening there at all now in 2014 when Scotland had its independence referendum they narrowly voted not to become an independent nation but there wasn't any kind of flare up of these uh paramilitary groups or people really calling for violence in any way the Democratic process seems to have been the main way in which Scottish national have exercised their right to ask for a Scottish independent nation anyway let me know in the comments below did you find this video interesting I thought it was something interesting to look at as obviously I've I've made a few videos on the troubles in Northern Ireland and how uh that affected at various places around Northern Ireland as well and looking at Scotland I mean it's interesting a lot of people I think particularly in the states have an idea of Scotland a very Celtic Nation and that it has certain connections with Ireland and this is true to a certain degree but obviously the story is a lot more complicated and the way in which nationalism in Scotland has sort of manifested really quite differently to the way that it manifested in Ireland as a whole and then later as in in Northern Ireland specifically anyway I'd be interested to know what other videos you'd like on similar topics or if you'd like us to do something completely different then obviously you're welcome to post that as well anyway until the next time I have been hbert and I will see you in the next onea