Mr Gerry Adams told a republican rally in central Belfast last night that "securocrats" were working to an agenda to defeat republicanism, but that they would never succeed.
The Sinn Féin president made no direct reference to the "Stakeknife" controversy surrounding the allegations that the IRA leadership was penetrated by British intelligence at its very heart.
But in an implicit reference to the issue he spoke of how at different times in the "republican struggle" there were "frenzied" British attempts to "cause confusion, to drag people down, to divert people".
"We have to work our way through a very profound crisis. What is it about? They are trying to defeat us," he told a republican audience of about 1,200 people in the Ulster Hall to commemorate the 10 people who died in the hunger strikes 22 years ago.
"It's the same as it was in 1981, in 1968, the same as it was in 1916, the same as it was at any time in Irish history that people like rose up and said we want our rights. They are trying to defeat us. The only difference is that this time they are not going to succeed," Mr Adams said to a loud ovation.
He said the British government must provide a full disclosure of the strategies and activities of Britain's secret agencies in the North over the last 30 years. The political process was in "deep trouble" and elements within the British system were applying a "wreckers' agenda" to destroy the process.
"The multiple suspensions of the Assembly by the British government; the rejection by the governments and the unionists of seismic initiatives by republicans; the failure to implement the Good Friday agreement; and the cancellation of the elections, have all created a political vacuum," he said.
"This is being filled by those who letter-bombed the UUP office; by the continued activities of unionist paramilitaries; and by the securocrats. There is now a period of uncertainty with the upcoming marching season and the threat, which is posed to beleaguered nationalist communities as summer approaches.
"By creating a vacuum, the British government has given an advantage to those who want to stop the change. Evidence of this is abundant in the avalanche of briefings by the securocrats of a largely compliant and unquestioning media," said Mr Adams, who again condemned the British government's decision to postpone Assembly elections.
"I thought it was very presumptuous of David Trimble to say that he would not nominate a First or Deputy First Minister. Do you know why? Because I was going to do that," he said.
There was now a battle between those who want to maximise change and those who want to minimise it.
"The conflict here requires a political solution - that is self-evident. But for years attempts to bring about a political solution were prevented. Those within the British system who want to cover up the practice of illegal and criminal behaviour, including the killing of citizens, are opposing it now," he said.
" Mr Blair has to call a halt to the activities of the wreckers."