Killing Rage

I was a very politically naïve working class English youth who went to Uni in NI at this time, like Collins. This book is very much a period piece. The existence and doings of a particular hue of communist intellectual rings true historically to me. They are more prevalent in Ireland, or were then, and not too far from guns, unlike England. I was affected myself by contact with such types but not in a paramilitary sense. I was not affected by the conflict. Even now this aspect bounces around my imagination. The 70s was a high point of revolutionism, 'communism', though it was actually on its way to collapse. If you were young then you could be drawn in, if only intellectually if you were lucky. The Americans had lost the Vietnam war. There was the US civil rights movement, the strikes in the UK etc etc. That's the background atmosphere but you also have the crucial affect of a state you don't want laying hands on you or your family. He describes this. I suppose assuming the 'inalienable' right to sneak up and kill people who have roughed you up and humiliated you must be very liberating in a horrible sense, lets admit it. A lot of people rejected Collins' path. Let us not forget them. The book is very readable. You will make your own take and judgement.

As someone well versed in the ins and outs of Northern Ireland politics over the years, I somehow missed this particular book and its associated TV programme at the time, so was happy to get hold of a hardback of Killing Rage. A brief summary would say, this was the story of a gullible, not very bright Irishman, who joined the IRA and ended up being murdered by the very people he thought he was a part of, but, smarter than. Now I say not very bright because despite his own claims to be an intellectual political thinker Mr Eamon Collins was nothing of the sort and by his words and deeds, has shown himself (in the court of public opinion) to be a shallow easily influenced individual with absolutely no moral compass whatsoever, added to which he was incapable of understanding that actions have consequences. By consequences, I mean: do not give evidence in a court of law against the leader of your terrorist organisation and then expect to live a long and fruitful life, it is never going to happen, especially if you have also, grassed up nearly every other member of the organisation to the RUC. Collins portrays himself as a true Irish patriot, but, in truth he was an insignificant individual that utilised Irish nationalism to give his life some purpose without really understanding where he was going and where it would all inevitably end. Whilst in Belfast he was heavilly influenced by a Marxist, Leninist Socialist, which he saw as a natural support for the Irish struggle, but, again failed to understand the complete and utter depth of brutality required to carry out such Leninist revolutionary doctrines. He becomes a euphemistically titled IRA Intelligence Officer, whilst possessing little of the required intelligence, being more of an information gatherer for hits on soft security force (or ex security force) targets. Interestingly Collins lacked the guts to actually carry and use a gun, but, continually criticises other IRA members that did and carried out the executions using information provided by Collins! Collins would have us believe that he gradually falls out of love with his homicidal pals in the IRA due to their bungling incompetence and indiscriminate killing ways, but, this also coincides with his eventual arrest by the RUC, where he discovers that becoming a super grass is a good excuse for throwing in the towel. Up to this point the book is interesting as a picture of an active IRA member in South Armagh, but, then Collins real lack of character shines through as he starts to blame everyone except himself for his plight, never really having looked beyond his immediate position. Like many of these books you need a good level of related knowledge to read between the lines and understand what is not being said especially when Collins bad mouths his fellow IRA members for being the very thing that he himself is, but, lacking the intelligence to see it. The end of this sorry delusional life is pretty predictable, but, not to Collins who on release from a short prison sentence is warned by the IRA to leave South Armagh, however, he eventually returns and ends up being executed by his former comrades on a quiet road, just like many of those whose murders he had helped carry out. Collins was not smart, he was not clever, he was merely one of Lenin's `useful idiots`, but, unfortunately for him he could never see it. Despite all of this implied criticism this book is well worth reading, just, be aware that much of what you read is obviously designed to show Collins as a man captured by time and circumstance, when in reality he was the willing architect of his own downfall and died with the blood of many innocent people on his hands.

I have read about 6 books on the troubles and this is a good one, brutal at times, but riveting, another good about stake knife is also an excellent read, FRU (force research unit) very sketchy tactics especially by the FRU, seems everyone was collateral damage.

Collins comments in his introduction that none of the "endless books and films" about Northern Ireland "had touched the heart of the true horror". Collins' autobiography of a deeply disillusioned IRA volunteer contains a variety of dimensions that capture a lot of that horror. This book is a mix of terrorist action, pettiness and incompetence, some good sociological insights and critical analyses, together with a pretty frank and honest inner psychological narrative.It starts with a very readable account of Collins' family and upbringing and then the factors that lead to his joining the IRA. These are interesting, because, besides his arrest together with his father and brother at the age of 18, and the brutal treatment received at the hands of the British army, we find the crucial influence of the small but (at universities) ubiquitous and ever-pernicious Revolutionary Communists. Absurd as it may seem, an Irishman from republican border territory is led towards the IRA by a middle-class English member of the revolutionary communists, and Collins' account of the brainwashing effect of repeated marches and meetings is most interesting. We then get a fascinating in-depth and detailed story of his ambivalent thoughts and feelings towards, and accumulating disillusionment with the republican movement. This account includes detailed descriptions of IRA operations and also a diverse array of IRA volunteers. Collins' roles within the IRA included planning, intelligence, recruiting and de-briefing and he doesn't hold back on any of the details. His story shows an IRA devoid of glamour, peopled by a range of characters whose psychology and personalities Collins manages to bring alive. He is deeply conscious of the suffering in which he played a key role and there is none of the mechanical 'people get killed in war' type of cop-out in his description of death. Such incidents range from the anguished reaction of a UDR man's wife and child as they witness his death, to the IRA man who incinerates himself in a fire-bomb attack and, abandoned by his colleagues, runs three miles home, naked and charred. (He dies of his injuries several weeks later.) The latter part of the book contains a graphic account of Collins' interrogation by police, including the psychological dimension, and his subsequent collaboration with the state. Although he eventually retracts, there are some fascinating glimpses into a rather quirky social grouping which crosses sectarian divides - the supergrass community! This is thus a wide-ranging book which gives innumerable insights into the world which Collins inhabited.