Cathal Goulding

Cathal Goulding (; 2 January 1923 – 26 December 1998 ) was an Irish republican activist, socialist, and Chief of Staff of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), holding the position from 1962 to 1976. Born into a working-class Dublin family with a deep republican tradition, he spent a total of sixteen years in British and Irish prisons for IRA activities. He is best remembered as the figure who steered the republican movement away from physical-force nationalism and toward socialist political agitation during the 1960s, recruiting a new generation of activists to a range of social and economic campaigns and drawing the movement into engagement with the Northern Ireland civil rights movement.

Following the IRA split of 1969 to 1970, Goulding led the Official IRA, which declared a ceasefire in 1972. He subsequently guided the gradual transformation of the Official republican movement through a succession of political incarnations, from Official Sinn Féin to Sinn Féin the Workers' Party (1977) and ultimately the Workers' Party (1982). Though this process was marked by repeated splits and diminishing electoral relevance, Goulding remained committed to his socialist republican convictions until his death. The Workers' Party described him posthumously as "the leading republican of his generation who led the IRA away from military campaigns and into socialist politics."

Early life Cathal Goulding was born on 2 January 1923 at 1 East Arran Street, north Dublin, one of four sons and three daughters of Charles Goulding, a housepainter, and Bridget Goulding (née Costello). His family had a long tradition of republican activism and working-class militancy. His paternal grandfather had been involved with both the Fenians and the Irish National Invincibles, and his father and an uncle fought in the Easter Rising of 1916. Both parents were jailed during the Irish Civil War, and thereafter were sympathetic to social republicanism. His father, blacklisted by employers owing to his Civil War allegiance, subsequently worked as a self-employed contractor. Goulding was educated locally in north Dublin city until the age of fourteen, after which he served an apprenticeship and practised as a housepainter and decorator. From youth, he had a close friendship with writer Brendan Behan, with whom he shared a common background, trade, and politics.

In 1956, an attempt by the IRA to free Goulding from Wakefield Prison was aborted when alarms were sounded. During his time at Wakefield, he befriended EOKA members and Klaus Fuchs, a German-born spy who had passed information about the American nuclear programme to the Soviet Union. Through these associations, Goulding developed a growing interest in the Russian Revolution. Goulding's imprisonment meant he was not involved in the early years of the IRA's border campaign, thereby escaping culpability for its failure, and remaining neutral between the rival IRA factions engaged in bitter recriminations over the conduct of the campaign.

Chief of Staff of the IRA and the "new direction" Goulding was appointed the IRA Quartermaster General in 1959 and, in 1962, succeeded Ruairí Ó Brádaigh as IRA Chief of Staff, a position he held until 1969. He assumed command of a demoralised and depleted organisation, and undertook a thorough reassessment of the history and future direction of the republican movement, involving a prolonged period of internal discussion and education.

Personal life Described as a small, intense man, both convivial and philosophical in temperament, Goulding was a self-deprecating raconteur with a boisterous sense of humour who revelled in company and conversation. He enjoyed the company of young people, who in turn valued his humour, storytelling, and humanity. He socialised widely with writers, artists, and fellow drinkers, and was a recognised figure of Dublin bohemia. Around 1950, he married Patty Germaine, from whom he eventually separated. They had one son, Cathal Óg Goulding. In the 1960s, he had a relationship with Beatrice Behan (the widow of his longtime friend and colleague Brendan Behan) with whom he had a son, Paudge Behan. From 1971 to 1991, he lived with Moira Woods, a feminist doctor, and her six children by previous relationships. He and Woods had one son and one daughter together, Aodhgán and Banbán Goulding Woods.