Thomas 'Ta' Power

Thomas 'Ta' Power was an Irish Republican Socialist who was a leading member of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) and Irish National Liberation Army (INLA). According to the IRSM biography page on Power, he was "from Friendly Street in the Markets area of south Belfast, he had been in the OIRA but joined the INLA in 1975 while a prisoner in Long Kesh."

At age 33, he was shot killed in County Louth [ [http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/issues/violence/feudkillc.htm Cain detail] ] alongside INLA leader John O'Reilly by the Irish People's Liberation Organisation which was largely comprised of former INLA members as he arrived to negotiate a truce (Henry - The INLA, Deadly Divisions).

Ta Power was a theorist and historian within the Irish Republican Socialist Movement, who advocated dramatic changes in its strategy and structure. This is the current blueprint for the IRSM. These ideas can be read in the 'Ta Power Document' and include the principles of 'collective leadership', 'politics in command' and other concepts Power believed would steer the IRSM away from disaster and onto a successful course. These ideas were adopted by the INLA just before Power's death and were finally implemented within the movement as a whole under the direction of Gino Gallagher (The Starry Plough, Jan / Feb 2006 Gino Gallagher: Examining His Impact on the IRSP Ten Years On By Gerry Ruddy, Belfast IRSP).

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