Quote:
Originally Posted by grants70
I'm not talking about outsiders. As I said in a previous post: "If I'd grown up there as one of the disadvantaged, I'd probably have joined the fight against the establishment."
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Ok, if you had grown up there, then yeah, it's possible. You would have had a fair idea of who to approach, and the local volunteers would have known you or your family since childhood. But actually getting sworn in was far from a sure thing.
The IRA had a surprisingly effective intelligence network, there would have been a vetting process. If accepted most likely you would been given very very low level tasks, more or less an errand boy. You don't get a ski mask and an Armalite and get pointed toward the nearest RUC barracks.
IRA membership was never very large, it didn't need to be. The number who were actually involved in operations was smaller yet. In the latter years of the troubles the IRA had moved away from their traditional military organization of brigades, battalions and companies to more of a cell structure. No one knew more than 5 or 6 other members. The change was brought on by increasingly effective British penetration of the organization.