The story of contemporary Ireland is inseparable from the story of the official republican movement, a story told here for the first time – from the clash between Catholic nationalist and socialist republicanism in the 1960s and ’70s through the Workers’ Party’s eventual rejection of irredentism. A roll-call of influential personalities in the fields of politics, trade unionism and media – many still operating at the highest levels of Irish public life – passed though the ranks of this secretive movement, which never achieved its objectives but had a lasting influence on the landscape of Irish politics. **’A vibrant, balanced narrative’ Diarmaid Ferriter,* Irish Times* Books of the Year ‘An indispensable handbook’ Maurice Hayes, *Irish Times* ‘Hugely impressive’ *Irish Mail on Sunday* ‘Excellent’ *Sunday Business Post* **