It is not extraordinary that Michael Collins became a national icon as
he himself was extraordinary given his exploits in politics in the short time
given to him before his death. Few leaders have achieved as much as Collins at
such a young age. He fought in the Easter Rising, organized the IRA and
out-spied British intelligence, negotiated the Anglo-Irish treaty, and ran the
first independent government in Ireland: “The superspy who confounded British
intelligence. The gun runner who bought the first tommy guns right off the
production line. The financial wizard who bankrolled the Irish revolution from
a hundred secret accounts..... Collins the indispensable, the irreplaceable,
the Lost Leader unknown before 1917 and mourned by a nation in despair in 1922”
(Hart, p xiii). The following review is an account of Collin’s attributes which
made him an ideal candidate to become the father of the Irish nation, and his
heroic deeds which continue to instil inspiration for the people of Ireland.
Collins was a true democrat and
loved his people. He did not regard himself above them as their leader but
rather their comrade who shared in the hardships of their struggle: “Mick
Collins was a very good natured type. He always appeared to have a stock of
cigarettes and other things in his cell and would never see any fellow short of
anything that he could give him” (Hart, p 98). It was nature and nurture that
developed Collins into the leader he became. His leadership styles were a
mixture of the kind nature he possessed along with his experiences as a freedom
fighter which made him more cold and calculated but fearless and a force to be
reckoned with. To become a renowned figure proved difficult as Collins was seen
as just another rebel but he soon got his chance to show Ireland and England
that he would spearhead the fight: “He had conspired to overthrow Dublin
Castle, worn the uniform of a rebel army in battle against the British army,
fought for his rights in an English prison..... But one scene he had never
played was the courtroom speech from the dock, defying his persecutors and
declaring fealty to the undying cause” (Hart, p
159).
Arrested for ‘Inciting to raid
for arms’, Collin’s accompanying speech caused outrage deemed worthy of arrest
as the police interpreted his remarks as inciting Volunteers to attack police
to get their guns. His actions in court won him growing admiration which
swelled when they came to arrest him outside the National Aid’s new office on
Bachelor’s Walk. The crowd shouted ‘Up the rebels’ as he was led away. The
police were nervous. Even though he was being arrested, Collin’s was in command
of the situation. A word from him and the crowd would have battered the police
and aided his escape but he knew better for he would use the incarceration to
his advantage. Volunteers almost always won early release after riots, hunger
strikes and public pressure with their sentences being regarded as badges of
honour (Hart, p 167).
Such circumstances showed that
Collins was apt in the management of individuals and groups. His position gave
him power even in arrest and he exploited this with one of the detectives detaining
him: “Bruton endeavoured to act the bully but I soon stopped that. Of course
the moral support of the crowd was an acquisition. The miserable hound knew
that a word from me meant a mauling for him” (Hart, p 162). He knew exactly how
to derive respect from his enemies: “Be disdainful with members of the force
and then patronize them, in this way you’ll command respect from them and your
wants will, generally speaking , have attention” (Hart, p 163). He contributed
to An tOglach’s Organization Notes until May 1919 where he laid out the
official formula for unit organization and the duties of officers which were
unchanged since before the Rising and needed to be adapted to local realities:
“Our object is to bring into existence, train and equip as riflemen scouts a
body of men, and to secure that these are capable of acting as a self-contained
unit” (Hart, p 175). Organizers would visit local areas to show the flag and
demonstrate how things were done. As a man of the people and to rally support
for the struggle, Collins went on several such excursions (Hart, p 175). By
example Collins proved to his men the qualities he possessed. His comrade
Florence O’Donoghue wrote: “Behind the dashing exterior there was keen
intelligence, great strength of character, steadiness, determination and
vision. He had the qualities I then thought we needed most in our leaders” (Hart,
p 171).
Collins drew motivation from his aspiration to become an example for the
Irish people. He knew that to truly lead his people to freedom and
independence, he would have to become more than just a rebel. He revelled in
the public arrest and trial in the knowledge that it had propelled him to a new
level imagining himself as a hero. This was clear from his diaries that “the
revolution had to be imagined before it could be enacted, and the
revolutionaries had to imagine themselves into history to give themselves the
power to change it” (Hart, p 168). He knew prison was one of the vital
transformative experiences that made clerks and farmers’ sons into soldiers and
martyrs, and he wanted the world to see him wearing a martyr’s crown: “Playing
the role of the defiant rebel was far more than mere theatricality. It was a
source of power and energy and solidarity- part of the basic chemistry of the revolution”
(Hart, p 168). By re-enacting the clichéd role of the patriot cast into prison
for defying the Crown, one could rise to immense power becoming the hero they
envisioned. This is what gave Michael Collins the motivation he needed to
become that idol.
Collin’s communication skills
were reflected in his diligence in the office. His obsession with tidiness and
punctuality displayed a neat and tidy office inhabited by a meticulous
gentleman who was always on time (Hart, p 244). He moved about constantly to
various meetings working wherever he went “and all his colleagues would pay
awed tribute to the unmatchable quantity of work he was able to produce or
transact” (Hart, p 244). The secret to his success was that he worked harder,
longer and on more tasks than anyone else reflecting personality traits of
ambition and confidence which made him a prisoner of his own sense of urgency
to solve problems by sheer effort rather than reflection: “His work was his
life in more ways than one” (Hart, p 246). He communicated largely through
correspondence at which he was extremely efficient: “Collins prided himself on
turning things around quickly, so output matched input. He had no trouble
keeping three secretaries very busy. He was a great dictator- able to rattle
off whole sentences in rapid succession on a long list of disparate topics, one
letter after another” (Hart, p 247). Collin’s had finely tuned communication
skills seeking to resolve matters as quickly as possible. He liked crisp, quick
meetings lasting an hour at most that started and ended on time: “He stuck to
the agenda and the main issues: he wanted decisions, not discussion. No small
talk or digressions, let alone inconclusive debate. In a statement that could
stand as a personal motto, he told de Valera that ‘it is practical work that
counts, not speaking’” (Hart, p 248).
As a prominent plenipotentiary,
Collin’s was sent to London to negotiate terms of a free state with the British
government. Negotiations were tough as he was not in a position to dictate
terms and the enemy could not be easily dissuaded by his reasoning. This was
evident when Collins challenged Churchill stating “it would look very bad for
you in the eyes of outside nations if this conference broke, not on the
question of freedom of Ireland but on the question of the amount of freedom
which Ireland was to possess” and that “it would look very bad for you if other
Countries thought that you were endeavouring to secure places in Ireland as a
jumping-off ground for an offensive war” to which Churchill merely replied:
“No: I think we can deal with that” (Hart, p 299).
Collins knew that negotiations
could only take him so far and that compromises would have to be made which is
why he didn’t want to go to the talks in the first place. He felt he was more
the soldier with experience in the field and that de Valera was the spokesman
who should have went which was initially the plan: “The fact that de Valera
stayed in Ireland remains one of the greatest talking points of Irish history,
and became one of Collin’s main defences for his ultimate decision: If you
wanted a better deal and thought it was possible to get it, why didn’t you go?”
(Hart, p 284). Collin’s used a step by step rationale when signing the treaty
which offered peace with honour and real sovereignty as a Commonwealth Dominion
for he knew: “Immediate unity and total independence were preferable, but were
not attainable by negotiation. The only realistic alternative was another war
with Britain: this time a total war, which would be far more destructive and
which the IRA was bound to lose” (Hart, p 307). He wanted to resolve conflict
and violence as quickly as possible and signed the terms that negotiations
could alter no further in Ireland’s favour at that time.
Since his inauguration as
Commander-In-Chief Collins had a tough time in dealing with the stakeholders of
Ireland’s future. Civil strife had the Country in turmoil and he was
desperately working to resolve the upheaval on peaceful terms. The conflict
involved his own people, the people he had vouched for when fighting for their
freedom. He understood their pain and would only resort to deadly force as a
last resort: “Collins was constantly calculating the politics of the situation:
hence his constant insistence on retaining public support and giving opponents
a decent opportunity to end the war on honourable terms..... ‘We will meet them
in every way if only they will obey the people’s will’” (Hart, p 403). He faced
problems with stakeholders in his own government who were bloodthirsty for more
forceful action against the Anti-Treaty IRA: “No more could he just say
something was an army matter, as in 1920 or 1921, and have everyone shut up:
now they wanted reports and accountability” (Hart, p 404).
Collins wanted his old colleagues back in government with him even if
they opposed him. He didn’t want to use force and knew that such a tactic would
be futile: “Surrendering would never be acceptable to the embittered IRA
leadership, but Collins may have hoped to draw off rank-and-file support, and
to bring de Valera or other Republican TDs back to the Dail” (Hart, p 409). Collins
adopted a policy that he hoped would bring all the stakeholders together in
peace placing himself above factions, and manoeuvring to make a settlement fit
for republicans: “He was manoeuvring to position himself at a politically
optimal distance from both moderates and extremists, so as to maintain support
from both quarters and from the general public-who might love a hero but were
looking for a peacemaker” (Hart, p 416). Unfortunately Collins rivals were
never ushered by his peacemaking to come back to the Dail as his colleagues but
rather laid an ambush at mBaol na mBla. He took a bullet to the head and his spilt
blood filled the history books declaring him as Ireland’s first heroic leader,
a peacemaker, a martyr, a gentleman. His blood may have stopped running in his
veins but it remained the lifeblood of Ireland herself. It symbolizes the
struggle for freedom and a hero born of a revolution who achieved that freedom
for the people he loved.
Title: Mick: The Real Michael
Collins
Author: Peter Hart
Publisher: Pan Books, London
Year: 2006
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