An Irish Revolutionary Leader - Essay Example

Queues for guerilla warfare, as he organized assassinations of Irish people known as G-men, who worked for the British as informers and then later, of the members of British intelligence. And due to this; there is often a debate about whether Collins was a hero or villain. The treaty that he brought back from London, which was a compromise of a divided Ireland and an Irish Free State which is not a Republic, divided the country into two halves that just could not see eye to eye and resulted in the Irish Civil War, which was bloodier than the War of Independence before it, and the impact of which is evident in Irish society till this date.

Michael Collins remains an Irish hero and not a villain, but what must be understood is that great men often take actions for the greater good, even if that means making some sacrifices in the short term. The movie portrays him as a man who was forced to take some actions, like negotiating self-government for the south of Ireland, but inclusive of an oath of allegiance to the Crown. This wasn't complete freedom, which was what everyone wanted, but it was the best negotiation possible with the British at that time, a negotiation he had been forced to conduct on behalf of the Republic's president Eamon De Valera, who wanted him to take the blame for the compromise settlement.

Michael Collins, Carlos Marighella, and Che Guevara were all proponents of guerilla warfare. The model of political violence which was propagated by Collins was more similar to that of Guevera as both became revolutionary leaders who strived to change a form of rule that they did not agree with. Collins was unhappy with the rule of the British and organized inexperienced townspeople into a group who worked their best with scant resources. Guevera did the same.