Despite it being forty five years ago I have vivid memories of that period running about the streets and being on remand in Crumlin Road gaol from July 1981 until October 1982.
Much has been written about the hunger strike in which seven IRA and three INLA volunteers died. At the same time people were being killed outside the prisons and many families are still feeling the affects of that turbulent time.
A friend asked me if I wanted his copy of the book Guthanna '81 saying it was very good. I had read reviews of it and I wasn't in a hurry to read it but I was wrong with my scepticism. There is 300 pages and because it was so engrossing I read it in two sittings and would highly recommend it.
I was on the blanket protest from January 1977 until August 1979 and this book brought back many memories of the brutality we endured by the screws. Shortly before my release from the H-Blocks there was a lot of talk about a hunger strike because the British government wasn't giving in to our demands whilst we were on the blanket and no-wash protest. The wing I was on was mostly men of my own age, 21 and 22. Although young we were determined lads and despite what the screws threw at us they were never going to break us.
This book has chapters detailing the protests from men who were there. They also spoke of the debates about hunger strikes and it came as no surprise to me that one took place in 1980. Because I knew some of the lads on the strike I was often asked to speak publicly about it but I was advised by my comrades not to do it because I was involved in other things. When the 1980 hunger strike ended I genuinely thought the lads had won but within days we all found out the truth - or at least some of it.
As the weeks and months went by I was on the run but stayed in Belfast. I was writing the odd comm to some of the lads on the blanket and it was clear in their replies that another hunger strike was to take place. So on the 1st March Bobby Sands embarked on it. We all know that Bobby and his nine comrades died and this book goes into a lot of detail from men who were there and some who went on hunger strike.
There are also parts of the book about the impact the struggle was having on the street and very emotional pages about the killing of 14 year old Julie Livingstone who was shot with a plastic bullet.
There were other chapters I wasn't impressed with, especially from some people that continue to claim that the ten lads' death led to the election strategy for Sinn Féin. I ended back in the H-Blocks in 1987 for ten years and many former hunger strikers and blanketmen were still there and I never heard any of that talk.
Despite that I would recommend this book and do what my friend done and pass it on. It will not only be interesting to people of my age but to those much younger. We will see the British and Free State governments for what they were- devious - and they haven't changed you know.
Danny Morrison, 2025, Guthanna '81. Publisher: An Fhuiseog. ISBN-13: 978-1838483548
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