the IRA attacked Mountjoy Prison where Gilmore was held and shot the warden after a story emerged that Gilmore had previously been the victim of a vicious beating by the guards. Gilmore was released in 1929 but re-arrested and re-imprisoned almost immediately, resulting in a retaliatory beating by the guards that left Gilmore unconscious. Sometime between 1929 and 1930, Gilmore was sent by the IRA to Russia to receive military training and to seek aid. Gilmore was arrested yet again upon his return to Ireland in April 1931, charged with having resisted arrest ten months previously. In October tried to escape with the help of his brother Charlie and almost succeeded, using a plot involving mock pistols wrapped in silver to intimidate the guards. In the aftermath of the failed escape, his treatment in Arbour Hill prison from 1931-32 was abysmal. Gilmore once again refused to wear prison clothing because of his political status and remained naked in a windowless cell from October 1931 until February 1932. In June 1931 of a cache of weapons were discovered near Gilmore's home at Killakee in the Dublin mountains, which resulted in George and his brother Charlie being placed before a military tribunal which sentenced George to five years in prison and Charlie to three. Neither recognised the authority of the court, with George stating "I do not want anybody to think I excuse myself for such a charge as having arms, I am admittedly hostile to British imperialism and international capitalism". Gilmore's fortunes were dramatically altered when Fianna Fáil emerged victorious in the February 1932 general election. In the aftermath Frank Aiken, former Chief of Staff of the IRA and new minister for defence went to see Gilmore on March 9 and on the next day all republican prisoners were released as part of a general amnesty. 30,000 supporters greeted the prisoners at College Green, Dublin. Expulsion from the IRA and Republican Congress Finally out of long-term imprisonment, Gilmore was eager to resume working towards a socialist Ireland. Gilmore had supported Peadar O'Donnell's shortlived socialist republican group Saor Éire from prison, but in the aftermath of its demise, he concluded that the group has spent too much time imagining what it might do if in government, and not enough time considering what the immediate aims of the IRA should be. With his close personal ties to their leadership, Gilmore had a positive