Fifty years ago, on the evening of 5 January 1976, twelve workers were travelling home by minibus when they were stopped at Kingsmill, near Whitecross in south Armagh. They believed this was a security force checkpoint. In fact, the uniformed men who stopped them were members of the Provisional IRA.
The workers were asked to identify ‘the Catholic’ in the group. Fearing the armed men may be loyalist paramilitaries, his Protestant coworkers tried to shield him. Instead, the gunmen ordered him to leave, and his Protestant coworkers were callously riddled with bullets. Only one – Alan Black – would survive, despite being shot 18 times. No one has ever been charged with these killings.
At the time, the Provisional IRA was formally engaged in a ‘truce’ with British forces to allow for negotiations. This horrific and nakedly sectarian attack was carried out by a local unit using the cover name ‘South Armagh Republican Action Force’. The same cover name was used to claim responsibility for the killing of five Protestant civilians at an Orange hall four months prior to Kingsmill.
Collusion – the hidden hand of the state
The massacre at Kingsmill was the culmination of a series of brutal tit-for-tat killings in South Armagh. Although the plan for the attack had clearly been formulated at an earlier point, republican sources claimed it was carried out in direct response to the loyalist attacks on the Reavey and O’Dowd families the night before, which left six dead. These killings were carried out by the loyalist Glenanne gang, which included serving UDR and RUC officers, a nexus of collusion between paramilitaries and the state.
Lurking behind all these atrocities is the murky role of the British state, particularly its ‘intelligence’ wing. It is clear that elements within the security forces were deeply uncomfortable with the ‘truce’ with the IRA, which began in February 1975, seeing it as a sign of weakness. Such elements may well have sought to intentionally destabilise the situation and provoke the IRA to respond. There was an upturn in sectarian killings by loyalist paramilitaries during this period, with clear evidence of state collusion.
Indeed, there are credible suggestions that some involved in the Kingsmill attack itself may have been state agents, with later opportunities to arrest them being inexplicably missed. A state agent within the UVF allegedly suggested attacking a bus of Catholic schoolchildren in response to Kingsmill, although the leadership stepped in to say this would be going ‘too far’.
Working-class response
Despite the intentions of those behind the attacks, the Reavey/O’Dowd killings and the Kingsmill massacre created a wave of revulsion and anger across the community against the futile and sectarian brutality on display. Immediately, Newry Trades Council called a protest strike, which closed most workplaces in the town and brought thousands onto the streets in opposition to the killings. Thousands also marched in Lurgan, under the leadership of local trade union activists.
This gave partial expression to the desire of the overwhelming majority for an end to the seemingly endless killings. If the leadership of the trade union movement – the only force which held huge authority in working-class communities across the sectarian divide at this point in time – had called for an anti-sectarian strike across the North, it would have received an enormous response. This could have isolated the sectarian forces and given workers a sense of their power, potentially laying the basis for a movement which could unite workers around their common interests and in opposition to paramilitary and state violence. Unfortunately, as was so often the case, the heads of the trade union movement missed this opportunity, taking only symbolic action.
The ongoing fight for truth and justice
Decades on, atrocities such as Kingsmill and the Reavey/O’Dowd killings continue to scar families and communities. Truth and justice continue to be denied to victims and their families. While the Labour government has pulled back from some of the most egregious aspects of the Tories’ Legacy Act, it continues to obstruct attempts by victims and their families to obtain a full understanding of what took place, particularly with regard to the role of the British state forces themselves. Neither the Southern nor the British governments, nor any of the paramilitary forces want a spotlight shone on all aspects of their actions during this period.
While we support every effort by victims and their families to discover the truth and seek justice in whatever ways they can, a real accounting with the past will only be possible as part of a new peace process, based upon bringing together working-class communities – not capitalist and sectarian politicians – in the struggle for a better future. The most important tribute we can pay to the dead of the conflict is to refuse to ever be dragged back into the nightmare of sectarian conflict, instead striving to build a socialist alternative which can overcome poverty, division and oppression.
