[Marxism] Gino Gallagher: Fallen Comrade of the IRSM

[Danielle Ni Dhighe <danielle@xxxxxxxx>]

Fallen Comrade of the Irish Republican Socialist Movement

Gino Gallagher
National Organiser - Irish Republican Socialist Party
Chief of Staff - Irish National Liberation Army
Assassinated on 30 January 1996

Gino Gallagher was an extremely charismatic and popular republican
socialist activist, admired across republican lines and within the
broader working class community. He was assassinated on 30 January
1996 by a mercenary criminal acting on behalf of a small group of
counter-revolutionaries.

He was born on 12 October 1963 and grew up in West Belfast with a
strong interest in Irish history. Inspired by the 1981 hunger strike,
he joined the IRSM's youth wing, the Patsy O'Hara Youth Movement
(named for one of the INLA prisoners who died during the hunger
strike), later joining the IRSP and the INLA. Imprisoned by the
British on three separate occasions, he emerged from prison a very
dedicated and well-read activist.

After his last release from prison in 1991, he became the prisoner
welfare officer for the IRSP and a staff officer in the INLA. By 1995,
he was the party's national organiser and a member of its national
executive, as well as the army's chief of staff.

He was credited with helping to politically re-establish the IRSP,
renovating and re-opening Costello House (the IRSP's headquarters on
the Falls Road in West Belfast), and pushing the primacy of politics
within the movement in the tradition of Seamus Costello and Thomas
Power. He was also credited with helping to restore the reputation of
the INLA and ensuring that it remained subordinate to the political
direction of the IRSP.

His energy and commitment to the causes of socialism and national
liberation were unequalled and acted as an inspiration and example for
others to follow.

A memorial to Gallagher and other comrades was unveiled in the Lower
Falls area of West Belfast on 10 April 2003.

He died as he lived: a Republican Socialist. Remember him with honour
and pride.

http://www.irsm.org/fallen/gallagher/

Article about the memorial unveiling:
http://www.teachnafailte.org/lowerfalls.htm

Irish News biography of Gino Gallagher:
http://www.morrigan.net/irsm/gallagher-irishnews.htm

Funeral oration for Gino Gallagher:
http://www.morrigan.net/irsm/gallagher-oration.htm



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