On Monday, the Nobel laureate and co-architect of the Northern Ireland peace process, John Hume,

passed away at the age of 83. A giant of the political scene in Northern Ireland, he was most well

known for his role in the Good Friday Agreement that brought the so-called troubles to a close,

and for his commitment to non-violent support for a gradualist route to a United Island.

I spoke to Daniel Finn, author of one man's terrorist, a political history of the IRA, about Hume's legacy, the simplistic

contrast made between the politics of Hume and supporters of the armed campaign against

British rule in Northern Ireland, and the class and generational factors that informed

Humes' political outlook.

You can find links to Daniel's recent articles on John Hume in Jacobin and the London Review

of Books in the description of today's episode.

In an article in The Guardian, Shamus O'Reilly wrote that Hume enjoyed a reputation that was

not far off Sainthood. Former American

President Bill Clinton compared Hume to Martin Luther King and Hume's life has been celebrated

across the political spectrum in a way that it's pretty hard to imagine regarding many other

politicians and certainly none of Hume's political contemporaries in Northern Ireland.

In your article in Jacobin, you're also complimentary about Hume and his political stance,

but you do try to complicate the contrast that's commonly made between the so-called men of

violence and the men of peace.

Could you outline what you were driving out there?

And in particular, in the contrast that you make between Hume and Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness,

who of course was one of the leaders of the Provisional IRA's Derry Brigade in the 1970s.

Yeah, well, I think the reputation that Hume enjoyed and the affection in which he was held,

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