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Paul Mallon 🏴Anti-imperialist to the end: Kieran Conway (1949-2025)

Kieran Conway
The death of Kieran Conway in June passed almost entirely unnoticed. That silence is no accident. Part of the ‘peace process’ was always to censor voices like his — men and women who refused to capitulate, who named betrayal for what it was, and who remained anti-imperialist and socialist to the end.

Conway belonged to the generation radicalised by the civil rights struggles of the late 1960s — in the United States and in Ireland. When British troops were sent to defend the Orange state in 1969, he understood, like thousands of others, that Ireland’s oppressed minority had no choice but to defend themselves. He became a revolutionary. He left behind a comfortable middle-class existence to join the IRA, first in England and then as part of the leadership. Conway rose to the IRA’s GHQ staff and at one point served as Director of Intelligence, playing a central role in the mid-1970s reorganisation of the movement.

He endured prison and exile, and when the Adams leadership steered the movement into constitutionalism, Conway broke ranks. He resigned after the Downing Street Declaration in 1993, correctly recognising that it represented a historic surrender: the acceptance of the unionist veto, the principle of consent, and with it the defeat of republicanism as a revolutionary force.

His 2014 memoir, Southside Provisional, was written without apology or repentance for his role in the armed struggle. It exposed the mendacity of Gerry Adams and Co — the lies told to their own base as they edged ever closer to administering British rule. Tellingly, Conway struggled to find a publisher willing to take the book, a reflection of the censorship imposed on any account that challenged the official narrative of ‘peace’.

Conway opposed the Good Friday Agreement and the sanitised ‘peace’ it produced. He never disguised that opposition. He stood as a reminder that the struggle was for national liberation and socialism, not for seats in Stormont or careers in government.

In later years he trained and practised as a criminal defence solicitor in Dublin, continuing to defend the oppressed against the state. But his greatest legacy is political: the testimony he left that cuts through the mythology of the peace process and the silencing of revolutionary voices.

Kieran Conway’s passing matters because it underlines what the ruling class and its nationalist partners want buried — the fact that the so-called settlement in Ireland was not a victory for the oppressed, but a managed defeat. The lesson for today’s movement is clear: revolutions are betrayed from within as well as defeated from without. Those who still stand for an anti-imperialist, socialist Ireland must study Conway’s life and his critique, not to mourn, but to prepare.

☭ This obituary featured in Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism in October 2025.

Kieran Conway

Paul Mallon 🏴Anti-imperialist to the end: Kieran Conway (1949-2025)

Kieran Conway
The death of Kieran Conway in June passed almost entirely unnoticed. That silence is no accident. Part of the ‘peace process’ was always to censor voices like his — men and women who refused to capitulate, who named betrayal for what it was, and who remained anti-imperialist and socialist to the end.

Conway belonged to the generation radicalised by the civil rights struggles of the late 1960s — in the United States and in Ireland. When British troops were sent to defend the Orange state in 1969, he understood, like thousands of others, that Ireland’s oppressed minority had no choice but to defend themselves. He became a revolutionary. He left behind a comfortable middle-class existence to join the IRA, first in England and then as part of the leadership. Conway rose to the IRA’s GHQ staff and at one point served as Director of Intelligence, playing a central role in the mid-1970s reorganisation of the movement.

He endured prison and exile, and when the Adams leadership steered the movement into constitutionalism, Conway broke ranks. He resigned after the Downing Street Declaration in 1993, correctly recognising that it represented a historic surrender: the acceptance of the unionist veto, the principle of consent, and with it the defeat of republicanism as a revolutionary force.

His 2014 memoir, Southside Provisional, was written without apology or repentance for his role in the armed struggle. It exposed the mendacity of Gerry Adams and Co — the lies told to their own base as they edged ever closer to administering British rule. Tellingly, Conway struggled to find a publisher willing to take the book, a reflection of the censorship imposed on any account that challenged the official narrative of ‘peace’.

Conway opposed the Good Friday Agreement and the sanitised ‘peace’ it produced. He never disguised that opposition. He stood as a reminder that the struggle was for national liberation and socialism, not for seats in Stormont or careers in government.

In later years he trained and practised as a criminal defence solicitor in Dublin, continuing to defend the oppressed against the state. But his greatest legacy is political: the testimony he left that cuts through the mythology of the peace process and the silencing of revolutionary voices.

Kieran Conway’s passing matters because it underlines what the ruling class and its nationalist partners want buried — the fact that the so-called settlement in Ireland was not a victory for the oppressed, but a managed defeat. The lesson for today’s movement is clear: revolutions are betrayed from within as well as defeated from without. Those who still stand for an anti-imperialist, socialist Ireland must study Conway’s life and his critique, not to mourn, but to prepare.

☭ This obituary featured in Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism in October 2025.
Obituary Paul Mallon

4 comments:

  1. Barry Gilheany9:27 PM, December 27, 2025

    I was not aware that Kieran Conway had passed. RIP.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AM10:33 PM, December 30, 2025

      It passed largely unremarked.
      He was dead a few months before I heard.
      His book was very good.
      Eternal Dreamless Sleep to Kieran.

      Delete
  2. VFP12:52 PM, December 31, 2025

    Anthony
    How could Kieran Conway s passing on 13th June 2025 be devoid of the fanfare that was afforded to other Republicans who passed away in the same year. Southside Provisional as you said was a fantastic read. A compelling character. Who like yourself saw the writing on the wall in the early years of 1993. He stated in his book that in the late 1980 s/ early 1990 s why was there was no surge in activity whilst the country was full of weapons from Libya, later stating that these weapons were to be used as bargaining tools in negotiating terms for the GFA .He spoke glowingly of O Braidaigh , yet disparagingly of Adams. Maybe that explains my question.
    PS on another note I have just started to re read Good Friday, The death of Irish Republicanism, I found it in the back of a cupboard after 16 odd years.
    Happy new year to you and your family

    ReplyDelete
  3. Caoimhin O'Muraile4:14 PM, December 31, 2025

    I too had no idea of Kierans passing, the first I've heard. Heard him speak on a few occasions on the GFA and it's huge failings and shortcomings. Another loss to those of us antiimperialissts. RIP Kieran Conway.

    ReplyDelete

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