CREATING A
MOVEMENT
WITH TEETH

A Documentary History of the
George Jackson Brigade

edited by Daniel Burton-Rose

e
o

Creating A Movement With Teeth.
A Documentary History Of The George Jackson Brigade
Edited by Daniel Burton-Rose
This edition © PM Press 2010

ISBN: 978-1-60486-223-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2010927765

Cover design by Josh MacPhee/Justseeds.org
Interior design by Josh MacPhee/Justseeds.org

10987654321

PM Press
PO Box 23912
Oakland, CA 94623
www.pmpress.org

Printed in the USA on recycled paper.
Contents

Permissions
Admowledgments

Preface, Ward Churchill
Introduction, Daniel Burton-Rose
Conventions

L PROFILES OF THE GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE

i Law Enforcement Perspectives

Federal Bureau of Investigation, Freedom of Information
Act Document, “Domestic Security”

Seattle Police Department Intelligence Division,
“George Jackson Brigade”

Federal Bureau of Investigation, "RE: GEORGE JACKSON
BRIGADE January 4, 1978

ii. Difficult to Digest: The Corporate Media on the George
Jackson Brigade

Walter Wright, “Ed Mead: Two Faces of a Dangerous Man”

Walter Wright, “Pages in the Life of Bruce Seidel: Two Sides
of a Revolutionary”

Neil Modie, “Janine and Jori: The Two Faces of a Jackson
Brigade Suspect”

Comnaumry Response Chris Beahler et al,, “Open Letter To
Dr. Jennifer James”

John Arthur Wilson, "Sherman—Ready When the
Time Comes™

iii Invisible Peaple: A Working Class Black Man and a White Dyke

Michelle Celarier, “Does the State Conspire? The Conviction
of Mark Cook”

rita d. brown, “a short autobiography”

1L COMMUNIQUES

Olympia Bombing, June 1, 1975

Capitol Hill Safeway, September 18, 1975
“We Cry and We Fight"

Counaumiry Resronse: Left Bank Collective

New Year, 1976

1
17
25

27

34

35

38

a7

51

54

57

59

65
7

75
kd

80
83
84
Communiqué Fragment, “On the Weather Underground
International Women's Day, March 1976
“We're Not All White and We're Not All Men”
Commsnry Response snapdragon, “A Letter to the George
Jackson Brigade”
May Day, May 12, 1977
Compeonry Respons The Walla Walla Brothers
Summer Solstice, June 21,1977
Capitalism is Organized Crime, July 4, 1977
“Tell No Lies, Claim No Easy Victories,” July 4,1977
Comssnry Response Vinegar Beard Collective
Comssonry Response Stagecoach Mary Collective,
August 10,1977
Open Letter to the John Brown Book Club,
September 1,1977
Bust the Bosses, October 12,1977
Letter to the Automotive Machinists Union Local 289,
October 16,1977
You Can Kill a Revolutionary, But You Can't Kill a Revolution,
November 1977
An Open Letter to Bo (Rita D. Brown), November 1977
“To Bo Wherever We May Find Her"
Open Letter To Jailers Spellman and Waldt,
December 23,1977
Bust the Union Busters, December 24, 1977
Our Losses Are Heavy . .. Easter Sunday 1978

1IL THE POWER OF THE PEOPLE IS THE SOURCE OF LIFE
‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life:
Political Statement of the George Jackson Brigade
History and Summation of Brigade Unity
The Left
Weather Influence
‘The Police (and Other Backward Elements)
Terrorism
‘The Road Forward—Strategy
Tactics
Anti-Authoritarian Statement
“Serve the People—Fight for Socialism”
Chronology of Brigade Actions

86

%0

95

97
104
105
107
110
112

114

117
122

124

126

129

133
137
140

143

147
148
151
152
153
155
156
159
164
169
178
Comnunrry seseonse The Valerian Coven

IV WHEN IS THE TIME? SEATTLES LEFT COMMUNITY
DEBATES ARMED ACTION
John Brockhaus and Roxanne Park,
“Ed Mead Speaks from Prison”
Roxanne Park, “Terrorism and the George Jackson Brigade”
Michelle Whitnack, “On Armed Struggle:
A Continuing Dialogue”
Left Bank Collective, "We ... Support Armed Action ... Now”
Ed Mead, “Ed Mead Replies”
Roxanne Park and Emmett Ward, “Grand Jury:
‘Three Who Refused to Speak”
Papaya, “More Than ‘Critical Support’ for GJB"
Bill Patz, “Captured Members Explain Their Politics”

VPROCESSING

Daniel Burton-Rose, A Collective Interview with
George Jackson Brigade Veterans Bo Brown,
Mark Cook, and Ed Mead

Notes

Selected Newspaper Articles on the George Jackson Brigade,
1975-1978

Selected Bibliography

Index

184

189

193
202

210
214
222
231
240
241

251

253
269
293

303
306
Permissions

Walter Wright, “Ed Mead: Two Faces of a Dangerous Man,” copyright
Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Reproduced with permission.

Walter Wright, “Pages in the Life of Bruce Seidel: Two Sides of a
Revolutionary,” copyright Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Reproduced with
permission.

Neil Modie, “Janine and Jori: The Two Faces of a Jackson Brigade
Suspect,” copyright Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Reproduced with
permission.

John Arthur Wilson, “Sherman—Ready When the Time Comes,”
copyright Seattle Times. Reproduced with permission.

Acknowledgements

‘Thanks are due first of all to Jamie of Abraham Guillen Press in
Quebec, whose reprinting of the Brigade's Political Statement and com-
muniqués precipitated this expanded collection. Dan Berger prompted
fuller editorial comment with his pointed queries on the manuscript, as
did André Moncourt, who also read through, corrected, and comment-
ed on the manuscript. Moncourt and J. Smith's monumental documen-
tary history of the Red Army Faction also inspired fuller annotation.

Tam grateful to Alyssa, Ava, Lauren, Sha, and Trinh for keying in
the communiqués, articles, and editorial commentary. 1 realize it's a
blast from the sexist past to thank a number of women for typing ser-
vices, but as an e-gimp with a persistent repetitive strain injury, hiring,
assistants was better than suffocating silently.

Josh MacPhee provided the engaging cover, and more than a de-
cade ago played a catalytic role in putting me on the path of encoun-
tering former Brigade members. Thanks as well to Ramsey Kanaan and
Craig O'Hara, who enthusiastically greeted this project. | am also in-
debted to Ward Churchill for his preface. Despite the slander campaign
directed against him after his essay “Some People Push Back” attracted.
the attention of Fox News et al, he remains one of the most careful
and knowledgeable scholars of 1970s social movements and the re-
pressive forces arrayed against them.
Preface

REVISIONING A MOVEMENT wiTH TEETH
Ward Churchill

The government of the US.A. and all that it stands for, all that
it represents, must be destroyed. This is the starting point, and the
end. We have the means to this end; the problem is to develop ac-
ceptance of their use.

—George Jackson, Blood in My Eye

Thm was a time, not so long ago, when an appreciable segment of
those professing opposition to the policies pursued by US. dlites
proved capable of transcending the banality of iberal analyss, arriving
ata genuinely radical understanding both of what they were up against
and what would be required to transformit. Thus were the obtund con-
Straints of “responsible” protest discarded in favor of armed struggle
undertaken not only by such iconic organizations as the Black Panther
Party and the Weather Underground Organization (WUO), but also a
host of other groups around the country, many of them tiny, highly
localized, and now all but forgortten

Considered in light of Santayana's famously irrefragable observa-
tion that those unknowing of their history are doomed to repeat it,
the “forgotten” dimension(s) of the armed struggle waged against the
domestic status quo during the late 19605 and early ‘705 represents a
problem of genuine significance. If we may agree that to draw reason-
able conclusions from or about any phenomenon, historical or other-
wise, it is essential to have s complete and accurate an apprehension
of it as possible, the nature of the deficiency should be clear. Its rami-
fications are no less apparent in the discourse of the few who might
presently assert that armed struggle constitutes the signifir of revolu-
tionary purity and the sole means through which fundamental change
can be precipitated as it is in the anodyne catechism mouthed by the
multitudes who smugly dismiss recourse to arms as being both “unre-
alstic” and “self-defeating.”

While much good work, and no shortage of bad, has been done in
documenting and assessing the strengths, weaknesses, and potentials
of the Panthers and Weather Underground over the years,” nothing
of the sort can be said regarding the welter of autonomous entities
that followed more or less comparable trajectories during same period.
Creating a Movement with Teeth

Indeed, it is arguable that the degree of attention afforded the former
has to some extent precluded anything resembling a proper analytical
emphasis being placed on the latter. The result has been, and remains,
a decided skew in how the interplay of sociopolitical elements in the
struggle has been perceived by those secking, often urgently, to dis-
cern its meaning, They have in a sense been placed in the position of
the proverbial three blind men attempting to determine and describe
the physical characteristics of an elephant.

The magnitude of the imbalance is indicated, though by no means
defined, by the facts that during the fall of 1968, there were at least
41 political bombings on ULS. campuses alone—an undetermined
‘number of others occurred off-campus—and that this nearly doubles
the number carried out by the Weather Underground during the en-
tire seven years of its operational existence. The spring of 1969 saw a
further 84 on-campus bombings, making a total of 125 for the school
year. During academic year 1969-1970, the tally of bombings on USS.
campuses rose to 174.° At least seventy off-campus corporate facili-
ties were also bombed in 1969, as well as several military facilities; on
November 11 that year, a small, non-Weather-affiliated collective in
New York—having already bombed the Whitehall Military Induction
Center, the Federal Building, the offices of United Fruit, and a Midland
Marine Bank earlier in the fall —hit the corporate offices of Chase
Manhattan, Standard Oil, and General Motors, all on a single day.*

From 19701975, while the number of political bombings at-
tributable to “the Left” underwent a noticeable decline, there was an
equally-noticeable rise in proficiency, both technically and in terms of
target selection. Such efforts were, moreover, sustained at relatively
high levels through the end of the decade. Since the WUO carried out
only a miniscule fraction of these actions—estimated as having added
up to well over a thousand by 1980—a question obviously arises as to
who carried out the rest? Part of the answer, of course, i that the clan-
destine Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional (FALN), a highly dis-
ciplined and efficient component of Puerto Rico's national liberation
‘movement, can be credited with more than 120 of them.*

That acknowledged, however, aggregating all the bombings
claimed by centrally-directed cadre organizations like the Panthers,
Weather Underground, FALN, the Black Liberation Army (BLA), and
including even such problematic entities as the Symbionese Liberation
Army (SLA),* produces a total amounting to no more than a quar-
ter of the whole. Throwing in the known and probable contributions

2
Preface

of EBI/police agents provocateurs like Tommy Tongyai (“Tommy the
Traveler") and Darthard Perry ("Othello”) still leaves less than a third
of the bombings accounted for.”

‘There is, of course, far more to armed struggle than bombings.
Many groups emblematic of the posture during the 1960s and ‘705
placed lttle, if any, weight at all on such actions. These included the
Panthers, as well as such nationally-prominent organizations as the
Republic of New Afrika (RNA) and the Revolutionary Action Movement
(RAM), all of which concentrated primarily on developing their re-
spective capacities to engage in armed self-defense. In this, they were
joined by a plethora of localized organizations like Robert Williams's
“renegade” NAACP chapter in North Carolina,’ the Deacons for Self-
Defense and its various spinoffs,!* the Lowndes County Freedom
Organization (the “Original Black Panthers,” established in 1965 by
Stokely Carmichael and others in one of Alabama’s most Klan-ridden
areas). ! Substantially different postures were assumed by entities like
the BLA® and the Puerto Rican Macheteros.'”

Nonetheless, the question plainly dangles: Who carried out the
great bulk of all politically-motivated bombings between 1968 and
19807 Others follow: What motivated them to do so? What fate be-
fell them? Can such questions be answered? If so, how completely?
If not, in what sense can it be said that genuine understanding of
the phenomenon of armed struggle in the United States during the
eritical period been attained, or that such is even possible? And, to
reiterate, if something approaching an accurate picture of the phe-
nomenon is lacking, on what basis can it be assessed in terms of its
potential viability—or lack of it—in whatever altered form either
now or in the future?

Fortunately, a few of the blanks have already been filled in to
some extent. It has long been known, for example, that the earlier-
mentioned string of bombings culminating on November 11, 1969,
was carried out by an autonomous four (or six)-member collective
nominally headed by Sam Melville, that the collective was infiltrated.
by a police agent, that three bona fide members of the collective were
captured and two imprisoned while one jumped bail and went under-
ground, that Melville was one of the forty-three prisoners slaughtered.
by the New York state police during the assault with which they quelled.
the 1971 Attica prison insurrection, i and that his former lover—and
collective member—Jane Alpert later redeemed herself in the eyes of
the status quo not only by apologizing for her actions and repudiating

3
Creating a Movement with Teeth

the whole notion of armed struggle, but by traducing Melville in the
‘most personal possible terms.'*

‘True, much of the story is far from inspiring, but the issues at hand
are whether it adds to the knowledge-base necessary to constructing a
comprehensive view of armed struggle, and whether there are impor-
tant lessons to be gleaned from it. The answer is obviously affirmative
on both counts. The same pertains to a handful other autonomous en-
tities—Madison, Wisconsin's so-called Vanguards of the Revolution (or
“New Year's Gang," as it was popularly known),* for instance, as well
as the Sam Melville/Jonathan Jackson Unit cum United Freedom Front
(UFE, or “Ohio 7" as the latter is often and simplistically referred to),”
the Revolutionary Armed Task Force (RATE), *and the Armed Resistance
Unit/Red Guerrilla Resistance!*—the reasoning and attendant actions
of which have been to some extent recorded. Much more needs to be
known about each of these groups, but at least there's a start.

On the other hand, almost nothing is known, other than to par-
ticipants, about the New World Liberation Front (NWLE), a Bay Area
entity which announced itself in September 1974 with the bombing of
aSan Francisco stock brokerage and, over the next three years, carried
out nearly fifty additional bombings of such targets as power stations,
banks, corporate offices, and the South African embassy, all without
causing a single injury to anyone, and without a single underground
‘member being caught 2 The same applies to the Luis Cabanas Unit,
the Nat Turner/John Brown Unit, the Sam Melville/Jonathan Jackson
Unit, and other autonomous groups aligned and/or functioning in sol-
idarity with the NWLE? while a still greater void is evident with re-
spect to New England’s Red Star Brigade, the so-called Radar Gang in
downstate Illinois, and scores—perhaps hundreds—of others.

In truth, a paucity of information exists with respect to a num-
ber of entities associated in one way or another with armed struggle
and exhibiting a relatively high degree of name recognition; Yippiel
and New Yorks Up Against the Wall Motherfucker spring readily
to mind in this regard, as do Chicago’s Young Lords Organization
(YLO), Young Patriots, and Rising Up Angry collective, the Detroit-
originated White Panther Party,” and the South Bay's Venceremos
Organization. The most conspicuous omission of all, perhaps, is that
of “Soledad Brother” turned Panther field marshal George Jackson's
People’s Army, an entity distinct from the BLA and known to have
been in formation by 1970, but about which a thundering silence has
been maintained for the past three decades.”’

I
Preface

Al things considered, then, there is ample cause for a sense of
relief bordering on jubilation at the release of Daniel Burton-Rose’s
Creating a Movement with Teeth. Subtitled A Documentary History of the
George Jackson Brigade, the volume is a fine compilation of the state-
ments, communiqués, and other such material wherein one small, au-
tonomous, grassroots insurgent formation explained its thinking—
plainly inspired by that of Jackson—during the period of its opera-
tional existence. While the book is perfectly capable of standing on its
own, moreover, it is intended both as a complement to and as a rein-
forcement/amplification of its editor’s separately published Guerrilla
USA: The George Jackson Brigade and the Anticapitalist Underground of
the 19705, an in-depth narrative history of the Seattle-based Brigade
andiits context

Taken together, the sheer comprehensiveness with which the sub-
ject group is examined—and empowered to speak in their own voices,
both then and now, individually and collectively—in the two volumes
is not simply unparalleled, it is unprecedented. A unique window has
thus been opened on a corner of what might rightly be described as
the “hidden dimension” of armed struggle in the United States. This
is exactly the sort of work that is necessary, and Burton-Rose is to be
commended for having undertaken it. His breakthrough achieved, it is
to be hoped not only that he himself will continue to pursue such ef-
forts but that others will be inspired to follow his lead.

Only through excavations of many comparable sites can the real
history of what was unquestionably the most coruscating revolution-
ary moment in recent American history be revealed, its meaning(s)
honestly/accurately evaluated, its theoretical/tactical defects iden-
tified and corrected, its utility recalibrated for more effective pres-
ent/future application(s). The process is self-evidently important in
Santayana’s sense, still more so in terms of Mar’s oft-recited dictum
that the point of all such endeavors is not merely to understand the
world but “to change it As George Jackson observed in the passage
epigrammatically quoted above, we have long possessed “the means
to this end; the problem is to develop acceptance of their use™ This
remains the task at hand.
Introduction
Daniel Burton-Rose

The enemy can never be driven out by words alone, no matter
how sound the argument. Nor can the enemy be driven out by force:
alone. But words of truth and justice, fully backed by armed power,
will ertainly drive the enemy out. When right and might are on the.
same side, what enemy can hold out?

—Ngugi Wa Thiongo, Matigari (1987)

Writing from his cell in Soledad Prison in 1970, George Jackson
delivered a threat to his captors: “The monster they've engendered in
me will return to torment its maker, from the grave, the pit, the pro-
foundest pit. Hurl me into the next existence, the descent into hell
won't turn me. I'll crawl back to dog his trail forever™ In the event
of his death, Jackson desired "something to remain, to torment his
ass, to haunt him . . " On August 21, 1971, he was gunned down by,
a correctional officer during an escape attempt from San Quentin's
Adjustment Center. Four years later, in the Pacific Northwest, an ex-
convict and his grad school dropout partner decided it was past time to
fulfill the wishes of Comrade George.”

Ed Mead was politicized in the McNeil Island federal penitentiary
in the late 1960s, where he was serving time for a pharmacy burglary
(guilty) and an escape attempt from jail (innocent).* He eagerly fol-
lowed the developments of the U.S. antiwar movement, as its demands
crescendoed in tandem with the increasing destruction being inflicted.
on North Vietnam. When he came out of prison, he gravitated to those
who advocated revolution at home to disable imperialism abroad; in
particular, the politics of Weather Underground supporters exerted a
strong pull. In this circle, it was considered that the corporations and,
state agencies culpable in perpetuating global inequality were so well
known as to require no further discussion. The relevant question was
what militants would do with this knowledge.

As Mead read the situation, the path forward was clear: the Left
needed to deliver on its angry rhetoric.’ Bombings by members of the
New Left had become common by the late 1960s, but by the mid-"70s
campus radicals’ bombing collectives had largely ceded to a second,
deadlier generation of armed militants with their roots in the prison
‘movement.” In 1974, Mead visited San Francisco to try to join up with

17
Creating a Movement with Teeth

one of these later organizations, the Symbionese Liberation Army.”
Instead he found the New World Liberation Front (NWLE); they taught
him how to make pipe bombs.*

Upon returning to Seattle, Mead consulted with his good friend
Bruce Seidel, a former graduate student in economics at the University
of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, who was also doing prison work in
Seattle. They resolved to enact their politics of confrontation. As a dec-
laration of intent they called themselves “The George Jackson Brigade”;
they would deliver on the promise of the hyper-militant Black Panther
Lieutenant, now deceased. Fittingly for their immersion in prison ac-
tivism and, in Mead's case, experience as an incarcerated activist,” the
first bombing they committed was of the Washington Department of
Corrections in Olympia.

The second was of the Safeway on Capitol Hill in Seattle. It was
spectacularly careless and widely denounced. Mead placed a pipe bomb,
ina fifty-pound bag of dog food and set it to go off during store hours.
He phoned in a warning which he insists was dismissed as a prank; the
Seattle press reported that the call was to the wrong store. A number of
customers were physically and emotionally wounded. In their accom-
panying communiqué, the Brigade wrote darkly: "as the contradictions
heighten it becomes harder and harder to be a passive and innocent
bystander in a war zone"® Even those sympathetic to “armed strug-
gle.” in the prevailing Lefty lingo of the time, were unable to discern
any positive support for the epic struggle of the United Farm Workers,
the ostensible reason for targeting Safeway."* Nor did it promote sym-
pathy for Ralph “Po” Ford, amember of a nascent cell of the NWLF (no
ties to the San Francisco chapter) who died at the same Safeway three
days earlier when the poorly constructed bomb he was planting behind
the store detonated in his hands.*

One of Mead and Seidel’sfrst steps in expanding their organization
was to recruit women. Seidel solicited the membership of Rita Brown,
2 working class ex-convict from southern Oregon active in the Seattle
prisoner support community. Therese Coupez, a college-educated local
and Brown's girlfriend, would also join. The two women were cofound-
ers of Women Out Now, which facilitated community involvement in
the newstate of the art women's prison in Purdy. Brown made her mem-
bership conditional on the Brigade apologizing for the Safeway action.
She joined the Brigade and it did apologize—This action was wrong,
because we brought violence and terror into a poor neighborhood™*—
in the course of bombing Safeway regional headquarters in a diligently
Preface

safety-conscious manner. The apology earned the Brigade the distinc-
tion of being the first and only group of non-state-armed actors in the
United States to publicly concede that an action was mistaken while
insisting on the overall legitimacy of their tactics.**

For our current generation, inundated as it is with images of ter-
rorists blithely unconcerned with human life, who actively target
people rather than institutions,” the ethical dimension of the stra-
tegic debates the Brigade laid out in its writings and in interviews by
captured members will likely seem discordant. Indeed, even Brigade
cofounder Mead acknowledged in an early interview that when start-
ing out he was not indisposed towards the terrorist label, imagining
himself a dispenser of “counterterror” to those most responsible for
society's ills.* Yet in their third claimed action, only three and a half
‘months after the Safeway disaster, the expanded organization stated
clearly: “We are not terrorists” They also wrote, unequivocally, “We,
have no qualms about bringing discriminate violence to the rich™”

As the reader will see, debate and polemic over just what consti-
tuted "terrorism” and “armed struggle” occupied a prominent role in
discussion of the Brigade in the progressive community.** At issue was
thelegitimacy of the organization's endeavor: could they be dismissed
as enemies of the Left—either deliberately or by virtue of their dras-
tic wrong-headedness—or were even those who resented the conse-
quences of Brigade members' decisions compelled to grudgingly ac-
knowledge that the Brigade was on the same side politically, regardless
of tactical differences over how to achieve shared goals?

Around the time Brown joined up, two other ex-convict prison ac-
tivists were also drawn into the circle: John Sherman, a former cellmate
of Ed Mead's on McNeil Island Penitentiary and a fellow Washington
State Prisoners Union member, and Mark Cook, organizer of the an-
nual CONvention conference of prison activists.

Mead and Sherman had first met in McNeil Island Penitentiary,
then again on the outside at the Steilacoom Prisoners Support
House. Afterwards, Sherman got a job doing research and develop-
ment on missiles at the Boeing plant in South Seattle. A member of
the Revolutionary Union by this time, a giddy Party leadership as-
signed Sherman to landestinely-organized workers in his new “shop
floor.” At the time individuals who joined the RU (later Revolutionary
Communist Party) were issued a rifle; when it became clear that other
members didn't intend to use theirs, John grew impatient with the
organization and quit in a huff.
Creating a Movement with Teeth

While imprisoned at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla
Walla, Cook had founded a chapter of the Black Panther Party and col-
Iaborated on an underground prisoner-produced newsletter, The Bomb,
which agitated for expanding prisoners' civil rights.** With others he
pushed for and won a (relatively) democratic self-governing body for
prisoners, the Residents Governance Counsel. After his release he be-
gan organizing CONvention. He supported the Brigade out of a com-
mitment to the legacy of George Jackson and the conviction that
aboveground and underground work were equally important.

In the winter of 1975, Mead, Seidel, and Sherman robbed a li-
quor store to obtain money for Brigade activities. They netted a bag of
coins—a fair amount of work and risk for little reward. In response,
they determined to secure a chunk of money that would give them
some breathing room to plan actions and to travel, orienting them-
selves in a national landscape of urban guerrilla organizations. They
planned a bank robbery of not just the teller drawers but of the vault.
Their effort, on January 23, 1976, in the small South Seattle suburb
of Tukwila, resulted in the death of Seidel, the wounding of Sherman,
and the arrest of both Mead and Sherman. The police came in shoot-
ing, which Brigade members had not anticipated. Seidel's death added
a new weight of responsibility for at large Brigade members and fos-
tered an unwillingness to let go of the project because of the dramatic
cost one of their own had already paid.

At that point, everything began to accelerate. John's repeated vis-
its to Harborview Hospital to have his face surgically reconstituted
presented an opportunity to free him. March 10, 1976, Cook jammed
apistol in the back of Sherman's police escort and informed him: “T'm
taking your prisoner” The officer reached for his keys to comply, but
the keys were next to his gun. Cook misinterpreted his movements
and shot him in the stomach. Sherman was whisked away as planned,
but police picked up Cook a few days later. He spent the next two and a
half decades in prison. Before this event, the Brigade was more or less
on the offensive; for the next year they were on the defensive, retreat-
ing to Oregon and committing small but consistent bank robberies to
support themselves.

Brown, now known by some of her intimates as "Bo." dressed
in drag when she acted as the triggerperson. Her girlfriend Janine
Bertram, with whom Brown had gotten together after she and Coupez
split and Sherman and Coupez became a couple, joined the small group
underground and became the designated getaway driver.

20
Preface

By the fall of 1977, the Brigade felt sufficiently powerful to head
back to the Seattle area. They bombed the Capitol Complex in Olympia
in support of striking prisoners at Walla Walla, committed several
bombings in an attempt to bolster the auto machinists’ union, and set
off another pipe bomb at a Mercedes-Benz dealership in retaliation for
the deaths of three Red Army Faction members in Stammheim prison
in West Germany™

‘Their frenetic pace was interrupted on November 3, 1977, when
Brown was captured while casing a bank in North Seattle. On March 21,
1978, Bertram, Sherman, and Coupez were arrested at a Tacoma ham-
burger chain just before executing another robbery. The flyer printed
as the last communiqué in this pamphlet on Easter Sunday of 1978
and signed by "the rest of us” was bluster”! There were no "rest of us,"
just some support people who wished to perpetuate the paranoia and
confusion of law enforcement. Bertram and Coupez went on to serve
six years in prison; Brown eight; Sherman a decade and a half, punctu-
ated by two escapes; Mead sixteen years; Cook twenty-three. Cook was
released just before the protests against the World Trade Organization
flooded Seattle in 1999 and brought a new global cycle of anticapitalist.
activism into public view.

‘The Brigade was both a product of its times and exceptional. In a
period when the movement (anti-imperialist, prisoners' rights, femi-
nist and queer liberation) was dividing along political, racial and gen-
der lines, the George Jackson Brigade was striking for its diversity.
Out of seven members five were queer or bisexual (according to Mead,
Seidel was moving in the direction of the latter before death interrupt-
ed). Four were ex-convicts (and soon to be convicts again). Three mem-
bers were women, one member black. College-educated intellectuals
worked equally with underclass theoreticians. As Brown and Bertram
put it in a poem published in the International Women's Day commu-
niqué “dykes niggers cons ... a collection of oppressed people turning
inside out with action”>

Armed opposition to the policies of the U.S. government in the
late 19605 and early 1970s s generally presented by media and police
as coming from two organizations: Weatherman (later the Weather
Underground Organization) if the practitioners were white, and the
Black Panther Party (followed by the Black Liberation Army) if they
were black. The media is comfortable with this categorization be-
cause it is simple and, because clear, less threatening; in a related

21
Creating a Movement with Teeth

contemporary analogue, as the 2004 BBC documentary trilogy The
Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear argued, the osten-
sible coherency of al-Qaeda was largely summoned into existence by
Cold War leftovers nostalgic for an enemy that reflected their own
organizational proclivities. Conversely, the PATRIOT Act and other
“counterterrorism” measures are premised on the potential omnipres-
ence of diffuse enemies.

As far as the 1960s and 1970s were concerned, there was a ground-
swell of armed protest against the U.S. government from 1965 into
the early 19705 These actions briefly spiked again in the mid-1970s,
then slowed to a trickle throughout the 1980s. Among the groups ac-
tive in the 1980s were the United Freedom Front, Armed Resistance
Unit, and Revolutionary Fighting Group Red Guerrilla Resistance.
Targets were chosen based on opposition to U.S. military involvement
in Central America, to South African apartheid, the Isracli occupation
of Palestine, and oppressive domestic policing.**

‘The organizing principle of the Brigade was the imperative to create
“amovement with teeth,” as they stated in the “International Women's
Day” communiqué and again in “The Power of the People is the Force
of Life” (both while speaking of Seidel's vision). The Brigade saw armed
struggle as an integral component of an effective mass movement. In
the oft-quoted words of George Jackson: “Any serious organizing of
people must carry with it from the start a potential threat of revolu-
tionary violence.™ It was an element they deemed too often absent,
and they aimed to correct the imbalance. In doing so they were in line
with the Weather Underground Organization, the Black Liberation
Army, and other like-minded organizations prior to and contempora-
‘neous with the Brigade. Their own expansive sense of their peers s evi-
dent in the long list of shout-outs to other armed groups throughout
the world contained in their political statement.

Though they committed propaganda of the deed and physical at-
tacks against infrastructure, many of the activities in which they ex-
horted people to engage are calmingly doable. In the Capitol Hill
Safeway Bombing communiqué they presented their vision of what it
would take “to force Safeway out of the Capitol Hill Community"

All that is required is the will to do so. Using a coordination of
both peaceful and violent tactics, people educate and build toward
a winning strategy. Progressive forces would have to reach out be-
yond themselves; talking to people at bus stops, going door to door

22
asking people about their daily lives and their problems. A program
should be developed and implemented around their grievances.

In"Bust the Bosses” their pleas got rowdier but remain on the con-
tinuum that today is called “diversity of tactics

1. Don't cross a picket line for any reason!

2. Tie up the dealers’ phones! Callin as a concerned person and
complain, o call from phone booth and leave the line hanging.

3. Put sugar in the gas tanks of dealers’ new cars, o potatoes
in the tailpipes!

4. Break the dealers’ windows! Use bricks, slingshots, small
arms, etc. Slash their tires too!

5. Lock the bosses out! Put super glue in any and all locks of
buildings or cars. (This is easy and it works great!)

Similarly in their “Open Letter to Jailers Spellman and Waldt” they
asked people to make phone calls to local prisoncrats urging the im-
provement of conditions of confinement at King County Jail. They in-
clude a tacit personal threat to Spellman and Waldt by providing their
addresses and asking people to “stop by their homes and discuss these
demands with them.” Too impatient to maintain the questionable sub-
tlety of this suggestion, no. 3, no. 6 is "Sabotage Spellman and Waldt's
offices, homes, cars, etc.” No. 8, for good measure, reads “Sabotage
(Superglue for example) any and all ruling class institutions (banks,
supermarkets, insurance companies, etc.) and their capital equipment
until these demands are met.”

‘The document concludes: “If [these measures] are taken up by
enough of us, they would mean a hundred times more than any bomb "
If one is to have bombers active in one's own city, it seems desirable
that they at least be ambivalent and self-denigrating, as Brigade mem-
bers were in these moments.

‘This collection is intended as a companion volume to Guerrilla
USA: The George Jackson Brigade and the Anticapitalist Underground of
the 1970s. It provides the original documents upon which that work
is in part based so that interested readers may access the writings of
the Brigade and their interlocutors relatively unmediated. My goal in
collecting these documents is not apologia: reproducing the communi-
qués implies no more an endorsement of their contents than reprinting,
the accompanying poems implies aesthetic appreciation. Likewise, the

23
Creating a Movement with Teeth

choice of title speaks to the self-conception of the Brigade, and is not
tobe taken as an assertion that I, or any former Brigade members, con-
sider bombing and bank robberies to be the only, or primary, elements
of powerful oppositional social movements. Rather, I am attempting,
to supplement an anemic record of the radical social movements of the
1970s, and to preserve and pass down a collective engagement with
the ever-vexing problem of community self-defense and revolution in
the United States.

None of the Brigade members had the answers, but by discounting
a hegemonic program and acknowledging their own limitations, un-
certainty, and fears, they did have an answer. They would have agreed
wholeheartedly with the assertion in “The Urban Guerrilla Concept,”
the foundational statement of the Red Army Faction released in April
0f 1971, that: “Whether it is right to organize armed resistance now
depends on whether it is possible, and whether it is possible can only
be determined in practice ™ By their own criteria, the Brigade achieved
its goal of feeling for cracks in the system. Their discovery that the fis-
sures were not as great as they had hoped was still a contribution to
revolutionary praxis.

The Brigade arose from the prison movement and its members
were themselves soon incarcerated; in the cases of Brown, Cook, Mead,
and Sherman, for a second, third, or fourth time. The centrality of the
experience of incarceration is a key to understanding this organization
and its matter of fact willingness to employ violence against law en-
forcement when in a pinch. Brigade members did not see themselves
as initiating a cycle of violence; the violence had already begun, and
had dictated the circumstances of their lives to an extreme extent.
‘They considered themselves to be taking decisive steps to interrupt the
cycle. And as long as the United States persists in its indefinite policy
of caging millions, the frustration and rage engendered will have to
be faced not only by the state, but by social movements which seek to
transform or dissolve it

24
Conventions

Thave based the communiqués reproduced here on the originals.
‘These documents were preserved in former Brigade members' person-
al papers and a file kept by the now-defunct Toronto-based political
prisoner support collective Arm the Spirit. I note if they were pub-
lished along with date and place of publication. The primary venues
were: Dragon, a Berkeley-based newsletter that specialized in cover-
ing domestic armed struggle; Orca, the publication of a Seattle collec-
tive which focused on distributing information on the GJB;* and The
Sunfighter, a publication of the Washington State Prisoners’ Union.
Many also appeared in the FBI's file on the Brigade (¥105-295956) and.
all in that of the Seattle Police Department Intelligence Division

1 have sought to reproduce documents as they were, but opted
against the dunning pedantry of inserting sic after every misspelled
word or inadvertently duplicated preposition. Instead, I have silently
amended errors unless they are significant, such as misspellings of the
names of individuals or organizations. In these cases, | provide the cor-
rect spelling in the body of the text and a note with the original spell-
ing, I have maintained a few quirks, primarily differences like "Left"
or "left” and "guerilla” or “guerrilla,” some of which change within a
single article. I have also kept alternate conventions that are clearly
deliberate, as in Brown's use of lower cases and spellings like “womyn."
None of the original texts wrote “communiqué” with the accent. I have
preserved this practice but used the accent in my own interventions.
Punctuation has also been standardized.

Thave sought to provide introductory information on individuals
and organizations that may not be immediately familiar to readers.
‘The most detailed information appears upon the first occurrence of
the name in this collection. For those who do not read this collection
straight through and come upon a person or organization on which
they would like further clarification, the first page given under the rel-
evant entry in the index should provide it

Brackets indicate insertions for clarity, while parentheses repre-
sent insertions reproduced from the original. Ellipses are also pro-
duced from the original, except for one case given in brackets, in which
that which is omitted is indicated. In order to provide a broader sense
of the debate sparked by this material, in both Parts Iand II, periodi-
aally include public commentary in the form of letters to the editor in

25
Creating a Movement with Teeth

various publications responding to the documents being reproduced.
All URL were checked just prior to the publication date.

Former Brigade member Therese Coupez has expressed a wish not
to be associated with this project. As a result, I have chosen not to in-
clude two Northwest Passage articles which were particularly personal
in nature, Michelle Celarier's “Mothers, Daughters, and the GJB in
the April 10-May 2, 1978 issue, and Coupez’s reply, which appeared as
“The Daughter Responds,” May 1-22, 1978, 2-3. T have also excised her
photograph from the “Our Losses Are Heavy .. " fiyer reproduced in
Part I have not, however, deleted quotations from her in Bill Patz's
jailhouse interview, “Captured Members Explain Their Politics,” repro-
duced in Part I, as | consider this an indispensible aspect of the public
face Brigade members presented at the time.

26
Partl

PROFILES OF THE GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE
Tlns section is divided into three ways in which the Brigade was
seen and made visible: ) the clipped and error-prone reports of
law enforcement on the group as a whole; i) press coverage from ma-
jor print media corporations; and iii) accounts in the countercultural
press focusing on statements published by supporters. The latter two
are intertwined to a certain extent in that the corporate press did at
times give significant space to interviews with Brigade members in
custody and even printed communiqués

‘The first section, “Law Enforcement Perspectives,” begins with a
chronology of Brigade actions, prepared by Intelligence Division of the
Seattle Police Department. It s undated but can be no earlier than late
December 1977: e, three months before the arest of the last remain-
ing Brigade member. It is a small fragment of a il weighing in at ap-
proximately 750 pages.

‘The following report, by an anonymous agent of the Seattle offices
of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (regional headgquarters for the
Pacific Northwest), providesan overview of the George Jackson Brigade
that is conceptual as well as chronological. It dates to the days before
the final arrest when the ideology and the membership of the organiza-
tion had become gradually clearer but members were still at large and
presented an immediate threat. The report is rife with inaccuracies
George Jackson was killed August 21, not 11, 1971; CONvention, not
“Convention Movement'; “The Family” at the Washington State Prison
in Walla Walla began in 1973. Yet for al these faults, the author(s) of
this document also understood something of the distinctiveness of the
George Jackson Brigade—that it grew out of the prison movement,
and, as the report states, did "not envision itself as an elite’ faction for
an ultimate revolutionary government.”*

The proverbial “Agent Smith,"or group of agents, completely missed
other elements. For example, he (there were no female agents in the
office) referred to “the witer for the GJB” though the Brigade’s politi-
cal statement, which was released two months before this report was
completed, was so clearly a collective project that it contained separate
statements o two distinct ideological perspectives: antiauthoritarian

29
Creating a Movement with Teeth

and socialist. The assertion that “The communiques and notations
written by the GJB indicate a strict dedication to the precepts and dis-
ciplines included in the writings of KARL MARX" would make an or-
thodox Marxist cringe, though the agent is correct in observing that
the Brigade’s Marxism-Leninism had been processed through South
American revolutionaries (the Brazilian theorist-practitioner Carlos
Marighella more so than Che Guevara, while Asian and African theo-
rist-practitioners influenced them as well). Note, as well, that the au-
thor finds the Brigade’s activities so reprehensible that he does not
even permit them ideals, only "imagined ideals."

‘The Bureau apparently still remembers the Brigade as a major case,
andhas chosen to post their entire file on the Brigade on their website.”
‘The author of the introduction to the Brigade, however, seems to have
read the file too literally, claiming for example that the Brigade carried
out an attack against a “custom house,” when the object of their atten-
tion was the adjacent FBI offices

‘The next section, “Difficult to Digest: The Corporate Media on the
George Jackson Brigade” contains mainstream press profiles of Ed
Mead, Bruce Seidel, Janine Bertram, and John Sherman, all of whom
were in custody—or in Seidel's case, deceased—at the time. The stories
are framed as explorations of the “two-faced” character of revolution-
aries: the journalists struggle to reconcile friends’ and family mem-
bers' testimonies to the warmth and humanity of the Brigade mem-
bers with prosecutors’ and law enforcement officers’ condemnation of
the violence inherent in their chosen path

The tone of the coverage varies by the class background of the
Brigade member under scrutiny. Bertram and Seidel came from mid-
dle class backgrounds. Appropriate to the demographic of daily news-
paper readers, their profiles reveal a discernable undercurrent of pa-
rental introspection: ‘What did we do wrong? Ed Mead came from
a working class background, and is placed at a further remove from
the reader; he is more of an ominous curiosity than a prodigal son.
Sherman hovers in between: his golden tongue clearly won a degree
of sympathy from the reporter.

‘The last section “Invisible People: A Working Class Black Man and
2 White Dyke," deals with the members of the Brigade the corporate
press could not perceive as multidimensional people. The mainstream
press paid significant attention to Mark Cook, but he also remained
a2 mystery to them for reasons they could not have overcome. Unlike
Mead, who claimed responsibility for Brigade actions and declared his

30
Profiles of the George Jackson Brigade

politics to anyone who would listen, Cook kept his own counsel, and,
consistently denied membership in the Brigade. Cook exhibited an
equal respect for, and commitment to, aboveground and underground,
work. This was not schizophrenia, as implied in the press profiles in
the second section, but a focus on a purpose which—in the percep-
tion of Cook and his peers—demanded to be realized by the distinct,
but complementary, means too often categorized simplistically as “re-
formist” and “revolutionary”

‘The irony of Cook’s case is that, though guilty as charged, he was
also framed. He was pulled in by police because he was on a watch list
of African-American radicals known informally as the “crazy nigger
list” He was then released and rearrested several days later after be-
ing fingered by a former friend from his days in the Washington State
Penitentiary in Walla Walla, Autrey “Scatman” Sturgis. Cook states
that he never disclosed his involvement in the Brigade to Sturgis, and.
speculates that Sturgis, also in custody and in forced withdrawal from
heroin, followed the leads of investigators in asserting that Cook had
confessed to him. Because he maintained his innocence, a full portrait
of Cook was thus not possible until 1999, the year he acknowledged
his past involvement in the Brigade and was released from prison.’
Michelle Celarier’s article included here gives a thorough overview of
the prosecutorial dirty tricks in the case, and reflects the understand-
able uncertainty of the aboveground Left as to the degree of Cook's
involvement in the Tukwila robbery attempt.

Rita “Bo” Brown, a butch lesbian as well as a proletarian, was
even more difficult for the press to digest than was Cook. According
to Brown, law enforcement officials, concerned by the press coverage
that had been received by Mead and Sherman, obstructed press access
after her arrest. Facing trial in Portland, Oregon, she was also far from
her base in Seattle. As a result, no corporate profiles exist comparable
to those on her fellow Brigade members. I have chosen to include an
autobiographical sketch Brown wrote for her defense committee in or-
der to compensate for her elision from the public eye.

1
LA ENFORCEMENT PERSPECTIVES
Creating a Movement with Teeth

Domestic Insecurity: A page from the FBI files of the George Jackson
Brigade abtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

34
Profiles of the George Jackson Brigade

GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE
Seattle Police Department Intelligence Division

This is the first of three chronological lists of Brigade actions in this col
lction, the other two being the one by the FBI in the following document
and the Brigade's own tally in its political statement.*

Saturday May31,1975 WASHINGTON STATE
CORRECTIONS OFFICE
Olympia, Washington

Wednesday June 11,1975 UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
Administration Building®

Tuesday Sept.5,1975 E.B. 1. OFFICES-TACOMA,
WASHINGTON
Wednesday Sept. 6, 1975 BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS OFFICE

Everett, Washington

Saturday Sept.13,1975 FEDERAL OFFICE BUILDING
Seattle, Washington

Monday ~ Sept.15,1975 SAFEWAY STORE
(Death)
Seattle, Washington®

Thursday Sept.18,1975 SAFEWAY STORE
Seattle, Washington

Saturday Dec.31,1975 SAFEWAY OFFICE BUILDING
Bellevue, Washington

Saturday Dec.31,1975 CITY LIGHT SUBSTATION
Seattle, Washington

Thursday May12,1977 RAINIER NATIONAL BANK
Redmond, Washington

35
Creating a Movement with Teeth

Thursday May 12,1977

Monday July3,1977

Thursday October 6,1977

Thursday October 13,1977

Saturday October 16,1977
Tuesday November1,1977
Wednesday November 2,1977
Friday November4,1977
Friday December 23,1977

Saturday December 24,1977

ROBBERIES

Friday January 23,1976

Wednesday March 10,1976

36

RAINIER NATIONAL BANK
(Attempt)
Bellevue, Washington

PUGET POWER SUBSTATION
(Attempt)
Olympia, Washington

WESTLUND BUICK
(Attempt)
Seattle, Washington

5. L. SAVIDGE DODGE
Seattle, Washington

BB.C. DODGE

Burien, Washington

PHIL SMART MERCEDES
Bellevue, Washington

DIEBOLD, INC.
Seattle, Washington”

GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE
Residence-ARREST AND SEARCH*

POWER SUBSTATION
Renton, Washington

NEW VEHICLE ON RAILROAD CAR
Kent, Washington

PACIFIC NATIONAL BANK
Attempt Robbery, Shootout
Tukwila, Washington

KING COUNTY DEPUTY SHOT
During escape of JOHN SHERMAN
Tuesday

Thursday

Tuesday

Monday

Thursday

Tuesday

Monday

Saturday

Monday

Thursday

Monday

June 8,1976

July 8,1976

July 13,1976

August 1,1976

October 28, 1976

January 4,1977

February 7, 1977

May 21,1977

June 20,1977

Profiles of the George Jackson Brigade

WESTERN BANK
Coos Bay, Oregon

MARK COOK arrested for
Tukwila Bank and Shooting
King County Deputy

CARTER NATIONAL BANK
Ashland, Oregon

THE OREGON BANK
Medford, Oregon

FIRST STATE BANK OF OREGON
Portland, Oregon

U. 5. NATIONAL BANK OF OREGON
Portland, Oregon

U. 5. NATIONAL BANK OF OREGON
Wilsonville, Oregon

WASHINGTON STATE
LIQUOR STORE
Bellevue, Washington

RAINIER NATIONAL BANK
Bellevue, Washington

September 8, 1977 OLD NATIONAL BANK

Kirkland, Washington

September 19,1977 PEOPLES NATIONAL BANK

Skyway Branch
Seattle, Washington

37
Creating a Movement with Teeth

RE: GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE
Federal Bureau of Investigations, Seattle Office

The base of the first page bears the warning: “This document contains
neither recommendations nor conclusions of the FBI. It is the property of
the EBland is loaned to your agency; it and its contents are not o be distrib-
uted outside your agency.” It is included in the FBI's file on the Brigade.

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
Seattle, Washington

January 4,1978

RE: GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE

GEORGE JACKSON, a member of a group of dissident prisoners
termed the “Soledad Brothers” at Soledad State Prison, California, in
1970, was a prolific writer, who stated that the U.S. Government is
“fascist” and should be resisted by "people’s urban-guerrilla activity”
JACKSON was incarcerated at San Quentin Prison, California, when
during a violent riot and attempted prison break, he ran into the pris-
on yard and was shot and killed by a guard, on August 11, 1971

Development of the George Jackson Brigade (GJB)

In October, 1972, an organization was formed at Washington Sate
Reformatory (WSR), Monroe, Washington, as an outgrowth of Adult
Basic Education, Seattle Opportunities Center, Seattle, and Work
Release Programs at the WSR. The organization, called “Awareness
Project” published a newspaper called “Sunfighter” The staff of that
newspaper included various persons, including JOHN SHERMAN,
EDWARD ALLEN MEAD and BRUCE SEIDEL. Two references were
listed as RITA BROWN and THERESE COUPEZ. COUPEZ was also
listed as an “outside sponsor.”

During 1973, certain volunteers from the Awareness Project, led by
JOHN WILLIAM SHERMAN of the Washington State Prisoner's Labor
Union Support Committee, Seattle, Washington, attempted to form a
prisoner's union within the WSR at Monroe, Washington. Denied this by
prison authorities, the group of volunteers then attempted to promote a
sitdown program and encouraged prisoners to commit acts of sabotage
within the prison, but without success. EDWARD ALLEN MEAD was

£
Profiles of the George Jackson Brigade

also a member of that group. Proved ineffective, and growing radical, the
Awareness Project volunteer lost support and began to fade out about
1974. The "Sunfighter” newspaper continued as a radical prisoner-pro-
test publication, whose staff in 1974, included MARK EDWIN COOK.

RE: GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE

During 1974, an organization called “Convention Movement”
headed by MARK EDWIN COOK, a prisoner on work release from the
Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla, Washington, emerged
in Seattle. This group formed to protest treatment of prisoners in
Washington, and promoted aprisoner's union, offering the ‘Convention
Movement” members as mediators between the state government and,
state prisoners, in disputes over demand for prison reform. On various
occasions, COOK led loud and disorderly protest groups into the offices.
of the Washington State Adult Corrections Authority at Olympia, to
make demands related to the “Convention Movement” program. COOK
was also aleader in the highly militant “Black Panther” chapter formed
inside the walls of the WSP at Walla Walla

About Summer of 1974, MARK COOK became an active volunteer
with a program known as “The Family Group,” an organization formed,
by a former inmate at WSP to provide a program of self-help to in-
crease wages for prisoners at the WSP. This program lasted about seven
‘months and was dissolved.

‘The “Sunfighter” newspaper continued publication through 1974
andinto 1975,

About the latter part of 1975, an underground group emerged
from the above semi-legitimate prison reform groups, calling itself the
“George Jackson Brigade.” The group, founded on a communist phi-
losophy, was apparently dedicated to the commission of acts of urban
guerilla warfare, including acts of violence to further the realization of
the imagined ideals of the organization.

Members of the George Jackson Brigade
From information resulting from members who have been arrest-

ed, or from records discovered in a search of a house previously occu-
pied by members of the GJB, the following persons were determined.
to be members of the George Jackson Brigade:

JOHN WILLIAM SHERMAN, aka Karl Joseph Newland, Barry
Albert Grimes, Jay R. Newmarch, Paul Davis, William Harris, George

ES)
Creating a Movement with Teeth

Lindsay: white, male, American, born August 28, 1942, 510"-11" 170
pounds, brown hair, hazel eyes, medium build (Fugitive).

THERESE ANN COUPEZ, aka Carol Alice Newland, Katherine E.
Wilson: white, female, American, born November 30, 1952, 5'6,” 120
pounds, blue eyes, brown hair, usually wears glasses, slender build
(Fugitive).

RITA DARLENE BROWN, aka Anna Joyce Blakely, Carole Alice
Nevwland, Nikki Marie Simpson: white, female, American, born October
14, 1947, at Klamath Falls, Oregon, 5%6," 150 pounds, hazel eyes,
brown hair, stocky build, * (Captured, awaiting trial).

BRUCE RICHARD SIEDEL, white, male, American, born April 17,
1949, at Chicago, Illinois, 5'6,” 150 pounds, hazel eyes, brown hair, me-
dium build (Deceased—Died of wounds from police bullets received at
bank robbery January 23, 1976).

MARK EDWIN COOK, Male, Negro, American, born October 26,
1936, at Seattle, Washington, 5'10," 170 pounds, brown eyes, black
hair, medium build, ** (Captured and convicted of
bank robbery and assaulting an officer).

EDWARD ALLEN MEAD, male, white, American, born November
6,1941, at Compton, California, 6', 160 pounds, blue eyes, blond hair,
slender build (Captured and convicted of bank robbery).

Since the capture of RITA DARLENE BROWN, the only known
active members of the GJB are JOHN WILLIAM SHERMAN and
THERESE ANN COUPEZ. One other female s referred to in notes kept
by the GJB, as apparently residing with Sherman, Coupez and Brown
within the past year. Her identity is not known and it is not known
whether that person has engaged in any criminal activities o criminal
conspiracies with the GJB.1

Several writings found as a result of a search of a house previously
occupied by GJB members indicate that certain "meetings” were held
between members of the GJB and apparent “above ground” support
persons in August, 1977. The identities of the persons are unknown,
and it is unknown whether those persons engaged in any criminal ac-
tivities or conspiracies with the GJB.

a0
Profiles of the George Jackson Brigade

PHILOSOPHY OF THE GJB

In their “communiques” the members of the GJB justify their vari-
ous acts of violence by stating they are done to further the ends of a
revolution of the “masses” to overthrow the present governmental and
international business structures and establish a system of commu-
nism. Robberies of banks and liquor stores, they explain, are merely
“expropriations” of money from “the ruling class” to finance the "revo-
lutionary activities” of the GJB.

‘The communiques and notations written by the GJB indicate a
strict dedication to the precepts and disciplines included in the writings
of KARL MARX. The writer for the GJB claims adherence to Marxist-
Leninism, and to the example of South American communist guerilla
leader Che Guevara. According to the GJB communiques and writings,
the GJB sees the international business monopolies of the world, hold-
ing the worlds masses, particularly those in the “third world” (includ-
ing Africans, Asians, Latinos, and in a large sense, women in general)
in a vice of oppression. The GJB, by committing violent acts and pub-
lishing communiques, apparently envisions itself as a kind of fulcrum
upon which a great communist inspired uprising can be successfully
mounted, as promised in the writings of KARL MARX, and the masses
will thereby be freed to live in peace, without want.

Unlike other recent student-revolutionary groups, the GJB does
not envision itself as an “elite” faction that will provide a leadership
faction for an ultimate revolutionary government, and criticizes those
groups who would place themselves in such a role. Rather, the GJB
sees itself more as a catalyst to make the masses aware of their op-
pressed state, and inspire them to create their own general uprising to
overthrow their “oppressors.”

ACTIVITIES OF THE GJB: A CHRONOLOGY

All of the following events were claimed by and/or have been di-
rectly attributed to the GJB:

May 31, 1975, a bomb exploded in the offices of the Adult
Corrections Department, Capitol Center Building, Fourth and Sylvester
Streets, Olympia, Washington.

August5, 1975, a bomb exploded in a men's washroom adjacent to
the resident agency offices of the FBI in the U.S. Post Office, Customs
House and Court House, 1102-A Street, Tacoma, Washington.

September 15, 1975, a bomb exploded inside a Safeway Grocery
Store, 1410 East John Street, Seattle, Washington. (This explosion,

a
Creating a Movement with Teeth

which injured several customers of the store, was reportedly in sup-
port of a young self-styled communist, RALPH PATRICK FORD, who
blew himself up three days previously, while attempting to place a
bomb at the same location.)**

December 31,1975, abomb exploded at an electrical power substa-
tion of Seattle City Light, Northeast 41* and 45 Northeast Avenue,
Seattle, Washington

December 31,1975, a bomb exploded at the Safeway grocery stores
Distribution Center, Bellevue, Washington.

January 23, 1976, an armed robbery of the Pacific National Bank
of Washington, Tukwila Branch, 13451 Interurban Avenue South,
Seattle, Washington, occurred. The robbers were thwarted in their at-
tempt by the prompt response of Tukwila Police. The robbers refused
to surrender and began to shoot at the police officers with handguns.
One of the robbers, BRUCE RICHARD SEIDEL, was killed by police
bullets. Two more, JOHN WILLIAM SHERMAN and EDWARD ALLEN
MEAD, were captured by the police. Another suspect, seated in the get-
away car across the street from the bank, fired several shots at the po-
lice, missed, and struck JOHN WILLIAM SHERMAN in the jaw with
one of his bullets. The suspect drove away from the bank, and escaped.
He was later identified as MARK EDWIN COOK.

March 10, 1976, while awaiting trial, JOHN WILLIAM SHERMAN
was being escorted to the Harborview Hospital at Seattle, by an armed
Sheriff's Officer, for treatment of SHERMAN's bullet wound, when a
‘man stepped up and shot the officer down, enabling JOHN WILLIAM
SHERMAN to escape. The man was later identified as MARK EDWIN
COOK. COOK was subsequently arrested and was convicted of bank
robbery and shooting a police officer.

July 13, 1976, the Crater National Bank, South Ashland Bank,
South Ashland Office, 1632 Ashland, Ashland, Oregon, was robbed by
alone gunman, later identified as RITA DARLENE BROWN.

August 2, 1976, the Oregon Bank, Rogue River Valley Branch,
1025 Cort Street, Medford, Oregon, was robbed by a lone gunman,
Iater identified as RITA DARLENE BROWN.

October 28, 1976, the First State Bank of Oregon, Sunset Office,
805 NW Murry Road, Portland, Oregon, was robbed by two armed per-
sons, later identified as RITA DARLENE BROWN and JOHN WILLIAM
SHERMAN.

January 4, 1977, the USS. National Bank of Oregon, Raleigh Hills
Branch, 4870 SW 76" Avenue, Portland, Oregon, was robbed by a lone

az
Profiles of the George Jackson Brigade

gunman, later identified as RITA DARLENE BROWN

February 7, 1977, the U.S. National Bank of Oregon, Wilsonville
Branch, 30120SW Boone's Ferry Road, Wilsonville, Oregon, was robbed
by a lone gunman, later identified as RITA DARLENE BROWN.

May 12,1977, a bomb exploded in a safe deposit box, inside the
Rainier National Bank, 2245 NE Bellevue-Redmond Road, Redmond,
Washington.

May 12,1977, an attempt was made to bomb the Rainier National
Bank, 815 - 116" Avenue NE, Bellevue, Washington.

May 21, 1977, the Washington State Liquor Store, 5608 119 SE,
Bellevue, Washington, was robbed by a lone gunman.

June 20, 1977, the Rainier National Bank, Factoria Branch, 3724
128" SE, Bellevue, Washington, was robbed.

July 4, 1977, an unexploded bomb was discovered at a substation
of Puget Power and Light Company, 16 and Cherry Streets, Olympia,
Washington, and was rendered inactive by a police bomb disposal squad.

September 8,1977, the Old National Bank, Juanita Branch, 13233
- 100% NE, Kirkland, Washington, was robbed.

September 19, 1977, the Peoples National Bank, Skyway Branch,
12610 - 76" South, Seattle, Washington, was robbed.

October6,1977, there was an attempt made to bomb the Westlund
Buick Company, 9600 First NE, Seattle, Washington.

October 13, 1977, a bomb exploded at the S.L. Savidge Auto
Dealership, 825 Lenora, Seattle, Washington.

October 15,1977, a bomb exploded at the B.B.C. Dodge Company,
14650 First Avenue South, Burien, Washington

November 1, 1977, a bomb exploded at the Phil Smart Mercedes
automobile dealership, 10515 Main Street, Bellevue, Washington.

November 2, 1977, there was an attempt to bomb the offices of
Diebold Company, 1520 Fourth South, Seattle, Washington.**

November 4, 1977, acting on information of a suspicious person
seen in several north Seattle banks, the FBI arrested RITA DARLENE
BROWN in Seattle, Washington. She was traced to a residence being
used by the GJB members at 13746 Roosevelt Way North, Seattle,
Washington, and that house was searched the following day. The
search revealed a short wave radio which members of GJB had used to
‘monitor and keep logs concerning police calls, and a large quantity of
equipment and written material.

December 23, 1977, a bomb exploded in an electrical transformer
in South Center, Tukwila, Washington.

a3
Creating a Movement with Teeth
December 24, 1977, a bomb exploded inside a railroad freight car

containing new automobiles, in a railroad yard, Kent, Washington.
Current Status

JOHN WILLIAM SHERMAN and THERESE ANN COUPEZ have
both been declared fugitives, and are presently being sought by the FBL

as
DIFFICULT TO DIGEST:
‘TE CORPORATE MEDIA ON THE GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE
Profiles of the George Jackson Brigade

ED MeaD: Two FACES OF A DANGEROUS MAN
Walter Wright
Post Intelligencer, April 11, 19765

Ed Mead.

Is he "self-anointed deliverer of life and death,” a dangerous fa-
natic “not possessed of an orderly, logical and reasonable mind” whose
“perverted sense of right and wrong” gives him "an absolute, total cal-
Tous lack of concern” for others?

Oris he child of a broken home, a man who has “never hurt anyone
in my life,” product of poverty and prison oppression, whose experi-
ence fits a Marxist view of reality and places him, as a member of the
George Jackson Brigade, in the vanguard of the revolution?

Oris he part of both?

‘The two pictures of Mead emerged when he took the stand Thursday
in his own unsuccessful defense on charges he tried to kill two Tukwila,
police officers responding to a bank robbery alarm.

One picture was painted by King County deputy prosecutor Phil
Killien, the other by Mead himself, who now faces sentences of 20
years to life on each of two counts of first degree assault

Both men agreed on one point: Mead is dangerous.

“The state sees me as a dangerous person. I am—to the state” Mead,
34, told the nine-woman, three-man jury as he attempted to explain thelife.
and politics which brought him, gun in hand, to a Tulwila bank Jan. 23.

No, Killien argued, Mead is not simply dangerous to the state, but
to anyone who happens to get in his way, from a policeman trying to
stop a bank robbery to a child who might be killed by a blast from a
bomb planted by Mead's paramilitary George Jackson Brigade.

Mead's comrade across the street, Killien said, was “shooting
Officer Mathews in the back.”

No, Mead corrected, he was “resisting the excessive use of force by
police™

Mead described another comrade, one-time economic student
Bruce Seidel, as “gentle and loving” Killien said "peaceful, loving gen-
tle Mr. Seidel, the economist, went into the bank with his belt of am-
munition on and carrying his long-barreled gun."

And Mead expressed his “desire for social change” by carrying ina
9 mm. pistol with three clips of ammunition, Killien said.

Mead's defense, Killien said, was that “it’s all right to rob banks,
and if police show up they don't have the right to take action”

a7
Creating a Movement with Teeth

Who did Mead think he was when he talked about holding the
bank manager hostage to “negotiate” a surrender? Killien demanded.
Did he think he was Henry Kissinger?

Or did he think he was some political messiah, this man "with a
fanatical obsession with violence, hurting others, death,” this classic
adherent to Marxist thought, leading the “vanguard” toward “the dic-
tatorship of the proletariat” on the grounds that “we know what's best
for them, and we make the rules, [because for] some reason we are bet-
ter than others.

“Heaccepts the right tobomb rich neighborhoods, ” on the grounds
that shrapnel and glass are less (dangerous) to rich three-year-olds
than to poor three-year-olds,” Killien argued.

Killien said he wasn't arguing about Mead's politics. “He can be-
Tieve anything he wants as long as he leaves other people alone

“I don't care how revolutionary he wants to be, but his idea he can
shoot people on his own choosing isn't politics—it's intent to kill"

Killien didn't understand, for instance, Mead’s view that crime
is bred of poverty and the solution to crime is not police repression
which defends ruling class property and diverts crime toward working
class victims. The solution, in Mead's view, is revolution.

He had not always thought so.

Asa child growing up with his mother in Alaska, Mead said, he had
been taught “that it's all right sometimes, if someone has more than
you do, to equalize the wealth”

And everyone had more than Ed Mead did, he felt. His parents had
separated when he was seven, and his mother had later taken him from
California to Alaska for the “big money” she thought she could earn there.

‘The big money wasn't there, and Mead's mother, trained as a weld-
ex, worked as a B-girlin clubs, he said. When she got a chance to home-
stead some land outside Fairbanks, they moved out there, “carrying a
chest of drawers on our backs" The first summer they lived in a tent,
the second in an abandoned bus, building a cabin.

“We were hungry a lot of the time; I remember eating tapioca pud-
ding right out of the box because we had no milk, and once we were on
astraight diet of potatoes for a while.”

Mead said he quit school in the 9" grade partly because he got
tired of hitchhiking 14 miles to school in subzero weather from the
unheated shed where he lived and worked in a gasoline station.

At 13, he bumed down a government airplane hangar and did
$120,000 damage. He was sent to Utah State Industrial School for six

a8
Profiles of the George Jackson Brigade

‘months, then released to his father in California, where he stole a car
and was shipped back to Alaska. He was arrested several more times
as ajuvenile.

In 1961, at 19, Mead was charged with theft of a U.S. govern-
‘ment property after he broke into an armory, apparently for weapons.
Paroled in 1965, he was out for less than a year when he was convicted.
of a burglary of a pharmacy.

His conviction was later reversed because he was denied time
to prepare for trial, he said, but the reversal had little actual impact.
His federal parole had been revoked and an attempted escape result-
ed in another five-year federal sentence in 1969. He came to the U.S.
Penitentiary at McNeil Island.

Mead says he had no politics then. His view on the Vietnam war
then was "bomb the dirty gooks and get it over with." He was content
to work in the law library, writing writs for himself and others, a genu-
ine jailhouse lawyer.

Convinced of the injustice of his own plight, Mead decided to re-
sist what he considered ruling class attempts to use the prison to make
him conform to a sick society.

He had suddenly ‘discovered, he says, that the problems were so-
ciety's problems, not his own. It was society that was out of step, not
Ed Mead.

He read Marx, Lenin and Mao, writings which the conviction of
anti-war radicals had helped bring to the prisons.

One day, it dawned on him “that I was not criminal anymore. I
saw that I was a radical” He had, he says, “stepped over a line.”

He turned from filing suits against the warden to helping to or-
ganize “non-violent” prisoner strikes. “They came down on me, and [
came back at them.”

He was later transferred to Leavenworth in an attempt by authori-
ties to break up the nucleus of convict activists. His politics hardened.
in an isolation cell at Leavenworth where he says he was placed when
guards found him writing a prisoners’ activist handbook.

Hebegan o feel that nonviolence didn't work, that nonviolent pris-
oners lost. He began to feel sympathy for those who talked of riots.

When he was paroled in 1972, Mead went to Steilacoom House, a
hostel near McNeil for prisoners’ families and visitors.

He had met John Sherman, now also identified as a member of the
George Jackson Brigade, in McNeil, and now he and Sherman and oth-
exs worked in a prisoner-help organization called ‘Inside Out”

a0
Creating a Movement with Teeth

Mead, with Sherman and Seidel and another ex-convict named
Mark Cook, tried unsuccessfully to organize a Washington State
Prisoners Union beginning at Monroe.:*

Cookis now Mead's codefendant on bank robbery charges, indicted
as the man who shot at police from across the street and then fled **

Precisely what happened to Mead's thoughts of the possibilities of
prison reform after the prisoners union failed is not known.

What s known is that on May 31, 1975, a pipe bomb tore out a wall
of a State Department of Corrections office in Olympia, and the bomb-
ing was claimed by a group no one had ever heard of before, called the
George Jackson Brigade.

EY
Profiles of the George Jackson Brigade

PAGES N THE LIFE OF BRUCE SEIDEL:
TWO SIDES OF A REVOLUTIONARY
Walter Wright

Post Intelligencer, April 22,1976

“There will be a special page in the book of life for the men (wom-
en) who have crawled back from the grave. This page will tell of utter
defeat, ruin, passivity, and subjection in one breath; and in the next
overwhelming victory and fulfillment. So take care of yourself and
hold on

‘The words belong to George Jackson, prisoner, writer, revolutionary.

‘They were chosen by Bruce Seidel as an introduction to his own last
political testament, written days before he died of gunshot wounds
suffered in a bank robbery shootout with police.

The testament, portions of which were published by The Post-
Intelligencer yesterday [see “Communiqué Fragment” in Part II], de-
clares the writer to have been a member of the revolutionary George
Jackson Brigade and implicates him in at least three bombings.

But it does not tell what should be written in the book of life of
Bruce Richard Seidel, 26, variously described as would-be cop killer,
gentle scholar, radical fanatic and lost soul.

‘The state prosecutor has portrayed Seidel as a man who cold-blood-
edly entered a Tukwila bank Jan. 23 with belt of ammunition draped.
around his waist and a .38 caliber long-nose revolver in his hand.

When police arrived, juries have agreed, Seidel stepped from the
bank and tried to kill one policeman with his gun and later tried to kill
another after being hit by a bullet himself.

But one of Seidel's comrades in the brigade, Ed Mead, describes
Seidel as a murdered, martyred, revolutionary folk hero bandit who
tried to surrender and then died with a blazing gun in one hand and a
sack of money in the other.

Another, John Sherman, described him as “a revolutionary who
had alot of convictions, a lot of courage,” and was “into struggle more
than a lot of people were"

Many friends and relatives in the small Illinos city where Seidel
grew up know little if anything of this side of Seidel.

‘They have been told by his distraught family that Seidel died not in
abank robbery but in a traffic accident on his motorcycle.

Seidel's parents refuse to talk with reporters about him.

“He came from a very religious Jewish family, an upper middle-

st
Creating a Movement with Teeth

class background, very achievement-oriented, and he had cut his ties
with all that,” a friend in Seattle says of Seidel.

Perhaps the ties were cut. But Mead remembers Seidel kept with
him always an 8-by-10 glossy photo “of his dad and mom and a whole
bunch of relatives standing in a doorway."

“He knew there was a possibility we wouldn't survive,” Mead said,
“and immediately after this appropriation Bruce was going to go back
and see his family”

‘The family included an aging grandmother who sent Bruce $5 ev-
eryweek, and probably wouldn't understand why this promising schol-
arhad left school just short of his master's degree.

Seidel attended the University of Illinois at Urbana from 1966 to
1971, majoring in economics.

Sources there say he became active in anti-war activities there. He
told friends he was beaten by police during a demonstration in Chicago,
and others say he was beaten by police after smashing a police car win-
dow in Washington, D.C., during the May Day "Stop the Government”
demonstrations in 1971.

Arriving in Seattle from Illinois, Seidel immediately became ac-
tive in anti-war activities, organizing on the University of Washington
campus, joining demonstrators camping on the federal courthouse
lawn in 1972, taking up signs in peace marches.

Seidel's streak of impatience was not limited to the political sta-
tus quo. Acquaintances say the small man (5'3", 125 pounds) often
refused to hear others out, was contemptuous, sarcastic, antagonistic,
astrutting “tough guy.”

Mead envied Seidel's ability to relate to others. But one person
who met Seidel in 1972 described him as “a lost soul type, the kind of
person who did better relating to communist theory than relating to
other people. He made points instead of making friends.”

But others say Seidel was basically unselfish, loving, committed to
helping others

By early 1972, Seidel had moved out of campus organizing and into
the “workplace,” learning a trade as a welder at Seattle Opportunities
Industrialization Center. This economics student, friends say, wanted
to “proletarianize the proletariat” and felt he had to work with them
todo so.

At the same time, Seidel had become intensely involved in prison
reform and prisoner-aid project, the cause that succeeded the Vietnam
War for many on the left

52
Profiles of the George Jackson Brigade

He showed up at Monroe State Reformatory to help with a “con-
sciousness raising” program for white prisoners,” and soon helped
launch a prisoner newspaper called “Sunfighter”

His prison experiences, he said once, “had a really great impact on
my life. I have truly learned a great deal .."

He was clearly impressed with Mead and Sherman, both fresh from
federal penitentiaries and bent on organizing state prisoners into ala-
bor union, when he met them in Seattle in 1972.

And Mead, a ninth-grade drop-out, was clearly impressed with
Seidel as a scholar and “revolutionary teacher”

But yet another friend called Seidel “kind of strange—not crazy
but very intense, devoted to radical causes but not necessarily with a
consistent ideology.”

No, counters another, “his consistent political ideology was one of
being unselfish."

Seidel was barred as a Monroe volunteer because of “rumors”
about narcotics being smuggled to inmates.

Seidel helped to organize CONvention, an annual gathering of ex-
prisoners, and was active in prison reform efforts while a student at
Seattle Central Community College in 1974,

His work on Sunfighter and in CONvention brought him in con-
tact with another SCCC student, ex-convict Mark Cook, a CONvention
founder who now is charged in federal court as one of Seidel's suspect-
ed accomplices in the Jan. 23 Tukwila bank robbery.

Many of Seidel’s former friends—afraid to identify themselves for
fear of being subpoenaed by a federal grand jury now investigating the
bank robbery and several bombings—condemn both the bank job and.
the bombings.

“The results of the political line put forth by the George Jackson
Brigade,” one said, “are that Bruce is dead, Mead is headed for prison,
and Sherman has escaped only to be forced underground for the rest
of his life”

“And the grand jury is investigating a lot of people on the left who
had nothing to do with the Brigade, but who will go to jail before they
say anything to authorities.”

But the George Jackson Brigade says it doesn't end there. Their
“rage” over Bruce's death won't end, the Brigade has threatened, "until
his killers and the class they serve are destroyed.”

53
Creating a Movement with Teeth

JANINE AND JoRt:
‘The Two FACES OF A JACKSON BRIGADE SUSPECT
Neil Modie

Post-Intelligencer, March 30, 1978

Jori Uhuru is thin, severe-looking, with dark hair chopped short
and baggy, turtleneck sweater and slacks—a visual stereotype of the
radical, bomb-planting, bank robbing revolutionary the government
has charged her with being,

Janine Bertram was a fraillooking, soft-spoken, neatly dressed
young woman with shoulder-length hair, a compassionate and reli-
gious woman with a strong but not radical social conscience, too inde-
pendent-minded to be given to extremism and dogma.

Jori Uhuru s accused of being a member of the George Jackson
Brigade, a violent band of radicals the FBI says it has finally broken.

Janine Bertram evolved from a church-going Lutheran to a civil
rights worker to a teacher of African villagers to an occasional pros-
titute to a founder of a local chapter of COYOTE, a prostitutes’ civil
rights organization—always with an individualistic, adventuresome
spirit, a relish for experiencing something new.

Jori Uhuru used to be Janine Bertram. How she changed from one
to the other is baffling to those who knew her.

“T'm very surprised because Janine was basically not that kind of
personality” Dr. Jennifer James commented yesterday after learning
that Bertram, 27, was arrested last week with purported George Jackson
Brigade members John W. Sherman and Therese Ann Coupez.

James, a University of Washington psychiatrist and a national au-
thority on prostitution, worked with Bertram four years ago when the
Iatter founded a Seattle branch of COYOTE, which offers legal protec-
tion and refuge to prostitutes.

“I found her sensible,” James said. “I always found her to be a good
person.... She was a very decent person.”

“I simply don't understand it," her mother, Vina Bertram of
Tacoma, said yesterday, two days after finding out for the first time in
ayear and a half where her daughter was.

But the young woman's mother added—and others agreed—that
Janine Bertram wasn't one to accept established views passively, and
she was motivated more by a deep compassion for others than by the
way the rest of society saw things.

“She would always help people who were in trouble. She would

54
Profiles of the George Jackson Brigade

have put herself in danger to protect the others,” James said.

“She was very receptive to new ideas and always wanted to think a
thing through for herself” said the Rev. Kent Spaulding, a Lutheran min-
ister in Seattle who formerly was the Bertram family's pastor in Tacoma.

A federal grand jury Tuesday indicted the young woman, along
with Sherman and Coupez, for conspiracy, robbing four Tacoma banks
since last December and manufacturing three pipe bombs last October
on dates when three local auto dealerships were bombed.

On March 21, FBI agents in Tacoma surrounded a car in which
Sherman, Coupez and Bertram were parked at a drive-in restaurant.
After arresting the three, the agents found three handguns in the car.

When booked into the King County jail, where she now is be-
ing held under $100,000 bail, Bertram gave her name as Jori Uhuru.
“Uhuru" s the Swahili word for freedom.

When Janine formed the Seattle branch of COYOTE in 1974, her
‘mother recalled, “I was a little taken aback by it . .. But after some long,
talks with her about it, I felt she had some right to stand up for what
she believed in, because that's the way we tried to raise our kids, to
stand up for what they believed in"

Jennifer James said Bertram was “never a very dedicated or hard-
line” prostitute.

James felt Bertram became interested in COYOTE through "a com-
bination of social conscience and an interesting thing to do"—factors
which also may have been a reason for the latter’s civil rights concerns
in high school and a period spent teaching in a remote African village
in Kenya after she attended Fairhaven College in Bellingham.

Mrs. Bertram, a widow, said her daughter disappeared abruptly
on October 9, 1976, when the two of them were visiting a relative in
Vancouver, Wash., and a man and a woman who gave their names as
“Bill" and "Rachel” showed up there to see Janine.”

“She left the house with these people, then she called the house
and left a message saying she was leaving for California with these peo-
ple.” Mrs. Bertram said.

She has never seen Janine since then although she received two
letters from her—but with no forwarding address. The young woman
has talked with her mother by phone from jail twice since Monday.

Jennifer James was surprised that Janine been an apparent asso-
ciate of the George Jackson Brigade members.

‘The psychiatrist-sociologist was acquainted with Therese Coupez
as wellas Rita Brown, another brigade member and a self-styled lesbian

55
Creating a Movement with Teeth

feminist revolutionary who now is serving a prison sentence for bank

robbery.

“There was no comparison between that pair and Janine. Terry
(Coupez) and Rita were very rough characters,” James said.

She last saw Bertram about three years ago when the young wom-
an said she wanted out of COYOTE, and James took that to mean
Bertram was “settling down.” But apparently she didn't

“With someone like Janine," Pastor Spaulding observed, “You
Know there’s a great potential there for something. But you never
Know quite what”

s6
Profiles of the George Jackson Brigade

Community Response
AN OPEN LETTER TO DR JENNIFER JAMES,
U.0F W. AND THE CoMMUNTTY

The reproduction below is based on the original, signed copy of this
letter. It appeared as “Objections to Bertram Interview" in Northwest
Passage, April 10-May 2, 1978. I have omitted the address in the header.

April 1,1978
Dear Dr. James,

We are writing to protest the recent interview you gave in the
Seattle P-I concerning Janine Bertram. It gave a distorted history
of Coyote and several women's involvement in it, including Janine
Bertram, Therese Coupez, and Rita Brown.

We object to your statement that “Janine was never a very dedicat-
ed or hard-line prostitute " Besides implying that nice girls aren't pros-
titutes, it also implies that Janine never took the risks or dealt with
the oppression that is part of a prostitute’s lfe. This is simply not true.
Janine's commitment to the real lives of prostitutes was evidenced by
her fight to keep the Coyote office in the Urban League building on
14th and Yesler, though she lost to your efforts to move it to the 17th
floor of University Hospital. This same commitment was shown by her
appearance on Coyote's behalf at Purdy women's prison, while you de-
clined in favor of a cocktail party.

We also object to your reckless and misleading comments about
“that pair” Therese Coupez and Rita Brown. As two of the founding
members of Coyote, Therese and Rita deserve more respect. If you
were going to do a character analysis of Therese, “Jenny,” you could at
least use her correct name. As to your statement that “Terry and Rita
were very rough characters,” maybe what you mean to say is that they
were very open lesbians. It was unfair to bring your own prejudices
into a public interview.

‘The whole interview makes Janine appear passive, a dupe, the
stereotyped good girl gone bad. If you were as close a friend of
Janine's as you want to believe you are, you would not be making
such statements.

We would like to know why you did the interview. We get the im-
pression that you did it to cover yourself and to draw attention to your

57
Creating a Movement with Teeth

status as a “national authority on prostitution.” Your careless attitude
discounts the significance of the work that Janine and others have
dedicated themselves to.

inlove and struggle,
[signed]

Chris Beahler
Janine Carpenter
Shelle Finch

Jane Hope

cc: Janine Bertram, Therese Coupez, Rita Brown, Margo St. James
(San Francisco) 2 Flo Kennedy (New York)**

‘media

community

s8
Profiles of the George Jackson Brigade

‘SHERMAN—READY WHEN THE TiMe COMES
John Arthur Wilson
Seattle Times, April 5, 1978

In soft-spoken tones, John Sherman speaks of revolution in
America, of taking up arms to fight the ruling class and of destroying
capitalism bt by bit.

“I don't think that we're going to run around with guns and over-
throw capitalism, the George Jackson Brigade member told The Times
in ajail interview. “But I did come to the decision that when the time
comes, the guns and the skills are not going to fall from the sky”

Sherman said the only way "to learn how to do it was doin’ it, and
here 1 am, still doin’it."

For the past three years, Sherman has been one of the central fig-
ures in a small revolutionary band, the George Jackson Brigade.

Named after the late California prisoner and author, the brigade
has claimed responsibility for numerous bombings and bank robberies
here and in Oregon since it first surfaced in 1975.

For Sherman’s part, there are numerous charges pending against
him with a staggering amount of possible prison time.

He faces federal charges for a January, 1976, Tukwila bank rob-
bery, in which he was wounded, potential state charges for his daring
March 10, 1976, escape, more federal bank-robbery charges, a conspir-
acy indictment and charges in connections with three area bombings
last October.

‘The road to his revolution conversion began 35 years ago, a conti-
nent away from where he sits in jail today.

Bornin New Jersey during World War IL, John William Sherman was
an only child. His father was a machinist and his mother a secretary.

Sherman remembers leading a “relatively normal childhood,” and
eventually moving to California in the early 1950s. He dropped out of
school in 10* grade and enlisted in the Army at 16 because “there was
nothing better to do.”

“I spent a lot of time drinking, carrying on like everyone else” he
recalled of his military stint. “I didn't mind it too much”

Following the service, he returned to New Jersey and worked in
the Camden shipyards as an apprentice machinist. In 1969, he was
arrested on an interstate, auto-theft charge. Other criminal charges
caught up with Sherman, who says he was “criming, checks and stuff
like that” during that period.

59
Creating a Movement with Teeth

‘The federal charge finally sent him to McNeil Island federal peni-
tentiary for three years.

It was at McNeil where Sherman became politicized by readings
of Karl Marx and Mao Tse Tung. I started to gain a determination
to fight back, and not to just complacently sit there and let what hap-
pened happen,” Sherman said.

While there, Sherman met a man who would figure into the bri-
gade, Edward Allen Mead. Mead, an avowed member, is serving lengthy
prison terms for the Tukwila bank robbery.

Both Sherman and Mead became involved in a 1971 prisoner
strike. About this time, the controversial shootings at Attica State
Prison in New York happened.

“Attica really angered us,” Sherman said. While Sherman and other
inmates discussed the weaknesses of the previous strike, prison offi-
cials moved switly to snuff any future trouble

A handful of strike leaders, including Mead, were transferred to
other prisons. Sherman, with only months left in his sentence, was
placed in segregation.

Sherman wasn't out of jail long before he was involved with prisons
again, this time organizing inmates at the Monroe state reformatory.
Working with Mead and Bruce Seidel, a brigade member klled during
the Tukwila robbery, Sherman helped inmates stage a work slowdown.

But the administration cut off their access to the inmates, effec-
tively killing the prisoners’ union.

To support himself, Sherman worked as a machinist in Pacific
Car & Foundry's Renton plant and in Boeing’s research-and-develop-
‘ment facility.

About this time, Sherman, who had been a member of the
Revolutionary Union, was entering another phase of his political
‘metamorphosis.

“I was getting more dissatisfied with my political practice,” he re-
called. After recontacting Mead, the two discussed with others the ne-
cessity of "armed work” and ultimately decided "to do it."

In May 1975, a bomb exploded in Department of Social and Health
Services corrections offices in Olympia. For the first time, a group call-
ing itself the George Jackson Brigade took responsibility. They said it
was in support of state-prison inmates’ demands.

Their ‘armed struggle” led to other bombings, including the
September, 1975, Capitol Hill Safeway bombing in which several per-
sons received minor injuries.

60
Profiles of the George Jackson Brigade

‘The bombing, in response to Patty Hearst's arrest and the death
of another young man attempting to plant a bomb at the store, drew
sharp criticism from Seattle’s above-ground left.

It also drew self-criticism from the brigade, which later apologized
for bringing “terror to a poor neighborhood.”

With that, momentum was building toward the fateful month of
January, 1976.

A few minutes after midnight on New Year's Day, two bombs were
detonated. Oneknocked outaCity Lightpower substationin Laurelhurst.
‘The other damaged Safeway distribution facilities in Bellevue.

“Laurelhurst was the big turning point,” said Sherman, who had
been critical of the grocery-store bombing.

“I think it was at this point that we really articulated the fact that
we weren't terrorists. We didn't see ourselves as saviors of the people.”

Sherman considered the Laurelhurst bombing a success. "It had to
be clearly directed against a class enemy,” he said.

‘The brigade bomb did $250,000 damage to the substation, knock-
ing out power in the well-to-do neighborhood, no one was physically
injured and the group felt it had struck the ruling lass.

‘The substation bombing was to be the first step in increased bri-
gade actions, a possible prelude to a Bicentennial push by the revolu-
tionary group.

If Laurelhurst was a success, the aborted Tukwila bank robbery
three weeks later was a near-fatal blow to the brigade.

When the gunfire quicted, Seidel lay fatally wounded, Sherman
had been wounded and captured along with Mead. They had gone to
the bank to "expropriate” money for weapons and explosives, a com-
munique later said.

In March 1976, Sherman escaped, spending two years on the run,
refining his political philosophy, before being recaptured in Tacoma
last month.

As Sherman spoke this week, he expressed his continued dedica-
tion to waging war against the American ruling class and the economic
system it upholds.

“Iwant to do away with the rich and the right to be rich,” Sherman
said. Capitalism, with so much money and power concentrated in the
hands of a few, is the “roof of oppression” against poor people and,
women, Sherman added.

Until that changes, Sherman says in a soft, often disarmingly re-
laxed voice, there will be a need for groups like the George Jackson
Creating a Movement with Teeth

Brigade. And eventually, Sherman says, history will vindicate him.
“They're going to give John Sherman a bucket full o (prison) time,”
he said looking ahead to charges pending. “But John Sherman is going

to keep on fighting”
“T'm still disgusted by capitalism and I'm still determined to do

whatever I can do to help sweep it away."

62
INVISIBLE PEOPLE:
A WORKING CLASS BLACK MAN AND A WHITE DYKE
Profiles of the George Jackson Brigade

DoEs THE STATE CONSPIRE?
‘Tie ConvicTion oF Mark Cook
Michele Celarier

Northwest Passage

Usually there’s a crime and an investigation to see who commit-
ted it. In this case there was a crime and a suspect and an investiga-
tion to prove the guilt of the suspect.
— John Henry Brown, Chief Attorney, Seattle-King County
Public Defender’s Office

In the case of Mark Cook, convicted June 28 on three counts sur-
rounding the George Jackson Brigade's attempted January 23 Tukwila
bank robbery, the line between being set up and not getting a fair trial
is hard to draw. During both the pre-trial investigation and the four-
day trial, political persuasions bounced off and reinforced each other,
raising the ever present question: Why Mark Cook?

“Mark Cook was the most dedicated, effective prison organizer in
the state; he's black, and he's not afraid of them” was Bernice Funk's
explanation. A member of his defense committee and a co-worker
with Cook on the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Justice
Committee studying paroles, she’s known him for three years.

Both defense committee members and Mark Cook think he got
less than a fair trial. It's not hard to understand why: the main witness
against him was a heroin addict who received personal gain for his tes-
timony, the key witness for the defense was not allowed to testify, two
officers were taken off the case after they were unsuccessful in proving,
Cook's presence at the crimes, and eye witness identification was spu-
rious and contradictory.

It was only two days after John Sherman escaped from custody
March 10 at Harborview that Cook was picked up and charged as the
“get-away” man in the January robbery. Sherman was being treated
for a wound received while caught inside the bank with Ed Mead and,
Bruce Seidel, who was killed there. Two months after being charged in
the robbery, Cook was also charged with aiding in Sherman’s escape.
He goes to trial in September for that charge, although he has repeat-
edly denied involvement with the either the Brigade or the robbery.

Mead also denied that Cook was a member in his trial testimony,
calling Cook a “reformist whowants to work aboveground " Countering,
Mead's charge, Cook wrote inaletter to the defense committee the day

65
Creating a Movement with Teeth

after his conviction: “I will continue to work as hard, if not harder than
ever, in changing ‘prison. Even in the face of having to live down Ed
Mead's accusation of ‘reformist.”

Mark Cook's prison activism began while an inmate at Monroe
State Reformatory, where he served on an inmate council. The 39-
year-old Seattle native has spent 18 years of his life in confinement
and knew of Sherman and Mead through his prison work. He had es-
tablished CONvention, a yearly meeting of ex-cons, after he got out on
parole three years ago and is most interested in securing voting rights
for prisoners. It was through CONvention that he became involved
with the Friends (AFSC).

Sherman and Mead, both ex-cons, worked on prisoners’ unions
and Sunfighter, a prison support newspaper. Produced as a court ex-
hibit was a copy of that newspaper which listed Mark Cook as a “staff
‘member"—the only established link between him and the Brigade
members. Defense committee members, however, maintain that
Cool's involvement with Sunfighter was minimal.

These political activities shed some light on the confusing chain
of events which led to Cook’s arrest on the bank charges and the two-
‘month delay before being charged in the March 10 escape. In the letter
Cook wrote June 29, he commented: "All of you may get the impres-
sions that I don't believe I got a fair trial. 'll go a step further than that.
Tdon't believe I was treated fairly as a suspect during both arrests.”

‘The issue of fairness goes all the way back to the two government
informants in the case, Suzanne LaBray and Autrey Sturgis. Sturgis,
Cool’s childhood friend and heroin addict, was the prosecution's
‘main witness and testified that Cook had confided in him the details
of the robbery.

It was revealed at the trial that shortly after Cook's arrest, Sturgis
had visited public defender John Brown, who was then Cook's attor-
ney. Brown testified that Sturgis told him that Cook was innocent and
that he had heard there were two government informants, one of them
his lover, LaBray, also a heroin addict. In court, Sturgis denied that he
had proclaimed Cook's innocence in his meeting with Brown. He also
denied becoming an informer until March 15, three days after Cook
was arrested.

Whether ornot Sturgis was, in fact, the second informant or wheth-
er he went to Brown with the fear that LaBray had turned against him
is still uncertain. Defense counsel Bob Czeisler told the NWP that his
conversations with LaBray led him to believe that her testimony would

66
Profiles of the George Jackson Brigade

have cleared up these muddled facts. He says she would have testified
that before Cook's arrest she'd been approached to be an informant
and offered money if she could produce a conviction, that she too was
aheroin addict.

Her testimony would eventually have shown “the improbability
that the events were as Sturgis portrayed, i.e,, that Cook would have
spilled the beans to two known heroin addicts and two people known to
be informants.” says Czeisler. But Federal District Court Judge Donald
s would not allow her as a defense witness because he said Czeisler
would attack her credibility. Part of the defense’s appeal will be based.
on the ruling regarding LaBray’s testimony.

The case of the two police officers who were investigating the
Harborview escape also corroborates Cook's beliefs about the pre-tri-
al treatment. Officer Strunk testified that he and an Officer Whalen
“thought we were” in charge of the case but were dismissed when they
could not get eye witness identification of Cook. They had showed pho-
tos of Cook and another suspect to Police Officer Virgil Johnson, who
was wounded in the escape. Johnson originally said the other suspect
was definitely the man who shot him, not Cook. In May, however, the
investigation of the other suspect was mysteriously dropped and Cook
was identified by Johnson and charged in the escape. Strunk testified
that he didn't think Cook was involved in the escape.

‘The situation of Officer Whalen is even more curious. He could
not be located to testify, but Sturgis identified him as the government,
agent who approached him before the robbery, “indirectly” offering
$20,000 for information which would lead to the conviction of per-
sons involved in the bombings claimed by the Brigade, placing Sturgis’
initial conversations with the government at an earlier date.

‘The trial itself raises many questions about the validity of some
standard judicial and police procedures and how they can be manipu-
lated for the verdict desired. Eye witness testimony, paid informants,
government harassment and intimidation are all legal procedures
which served to put Mark Cook back behind bars.

Four persons gave eye witness testimony, two regarding the rob-
bery and two regarding the escape. Although Cook was not being tried
for the escape, one of his charges was “conspiracy” to rob banks and,
evidence surrounding the escape was thus admissible.

‘The conflicting eye witness stories attest to the difficulties in re-
‘membering minute details during times of trauma and the possibili-
ties of racism entering identifications.

67
Creating a Movement with Teeth

‘The two robbery eye witnesses, Doug Flouiatte and Jack Stockham,
contradicted each other on minor details—such as which side of the
getaway car the driver was on while firing. In addition, Flouiatte never
‘made a positive identification of Cook, and Stockham, a former police-
‘man, changed his story repeatedly. Stockham was coincidentally never
“available” for interrogation by defense counsel prior to the trial

Furthermore, according to Janis Lien, AFSC and defense commit-
tee member who is studying irregularities in the trial, “The way they
identified Mark was not a fair and impartial use of photos and line-
ups.”Itis another link in the chain of the pre-trial investigations which
indicate that Cook was treated unfairly, to say the least.

She explained that the witnesses were given a series of seven
photos, which included Cook's pictures, as is the usual procedure in
‘making identification before line-ups. None could identify him. A few
weeks later, they were given another series with Cooks the only pic-
ture duplicated. The process continued, which Lien called “an obvious
way of biasing eye witnesses.”

At least one of the witnesses, Ernestine Sanders, never identi-
fied him until she was given a single color photo of Cook by federal
agents and asked if he was the man she saw. This picture was “lost” and
couldn't be produced at the trial. Lien also commented that Sanders’
testimony had many contradictions.

‘The black Harborview employee had said she noticed and she was
attracted to the person aiding Sherman'’s escape because he posed as a
black doctor, an oddity at Harborview. She also said that she was not
attracted to men with beards and that this man did not have a beard.

In both the robbery and the escape, the suspect was said by eye
witnesses to be clean shaven and without glasses. Cook wears glasses
and has a full beard. An ophthalmologist testified that he could see
only a short distance without his glasses.

What is further jarring about the eye witness testimony s what
Funk called the "increasing certainty” of the witnesses. The prime il-
lustration of this phenomenion was the wounded Officer Johnson, who
only saw the man who shot him for 3 seconds yet changed his story to
finger Cook.

‘Although the eye witnesses proved quite valuable to the prosecu-
tion, its mainstay was the testimony of Sturgis, also an ex-con who had
participated with Cook in robberies before. He gave a lengthy account
of the Tukwila bank robbery which he said Cook had described to him.
However, the defense noted that the information which he revealed

68
Profiles of the George Jackson Brigade

could just as easily have been obtained from a communiqué from the
Brigade distributed through Left Bank Books shortly after the robbery.
Caeisler believes that LaBray’s testimony could further discredit Sturgis”
story by possibly showing that he received this information from her.

The use of informants in itself is an ugly procedure; when they are
heroin addicts, poor people, ex-cons or other vulnerable persons, it be-
comes even more despicable. But in this case, the court refused to rule
on Sturgis as an informant.

“Here you have a case of a man doing in his best friend,” said Funk.
‘The reasons for Sturgis’ behavior will never be known, for he is now,
in the government's “Witness Protection Program.” Which means he's
being given a new job, home, even a new name.

‘The use of government intimidation and harassment, both in and
out of the courtroom, is yet another procedure commonly used against.
blacks and political activists of all kinds. Punk said Treasury agents vis-
ited her at her job at Monroe and added that the FBI visited Cook's lov-
ex, Sandra Hastings, 15 minutes before she was to testify in his defense,
asking “Where is John Sherman?” Prosecuting attorney Jack Meyerson
also visited the AFSC office, asking questions about Cook for which he
later was forced to apologize in court, due to defense objections.

Another form of government harassment was the prosecution
misconduct during the trial, on which grounds Czeisler repeatedly de-
manded a mistrial. “Meyerson deliberately asked questions which were
improper after the court made rulings against them,” said Czeisler. "He,
tried, through questioning, to inject that Cook tried to change his ap-
pearance. There was no evidence to support this."

Meyerson insinuated that Cook had taken a razor to his hair to re-
move a white patch which Sanders testified she saw, that he was wear-
ing contactlenses. He went so far as to ask Cook's supervisor at Pivot, a
training center for ex-cons, if it was true that Cook was fired for threat-
ening him with a pair of scissors, which the supervisor flatly denied.

“Even though these things are stricken from the record,” Funk
said, “You can't strike them from the minds of the jurors.”

And o, after four days of confusing, contradictory and circumstan-
tial evidence, and four hours of debate, the all-white jury returned a
guilty verdict on Mark Cook. He was sent back to solitary confinement
and is being held in the King County Jail in lieu of $200,000 bail. Cook
now awaits sentencing July 23 for the charges of: attempted bank rob-
bery, bank robbery conspiracy and aiding the escape of another sus-
pect in the attempted Tukwila bank hold-up.

)
Creating a Movement with Teeth

Aside from his dedication to the prison movement and his involve-
ment in the AFSC, one learns little about Mark Cook from the news-
paper articles or from the trial. His has not become the cause célébre
Of the Left in Seattle; most of supporters thus far have remained those
who worked closely with him, many of them members of the American
Friends Service Committee, a pacifist organization.

Although the government case against him is shaky and the prej-
udice and discrimination he has received far outweigh all other con-
siderations, proving he was the victim of a set-up is another matter
Because his prior record of bank robberies would have been revealed
through cross examination, Mark Cook could not testify in his own
behalf without further prejudicing the jury against him. So there was
little way for either the jury or the general public to understand specifi-
cally how his politics differ from those of the Brigade. A news release
from the Defense Committee contains a segment of a letter from Cook
regarding his 12-year-old son which is perhaps the most insightful:

You know, I have tried to develop ‘spiritual politics'in my son Marcus.
We talked a lot about violence and guns, and he figured that wasn't the way
peaple shouldlive, even though he found he often couldn't avoid some fights
at school. So our reasoning was—guns aren't toys because guns are bad;
then why should toys be guns?" He threw all his guns in the garbage two
years ago and hasn't had one since, knowing that I won't prevent him from
either buying one or prevent his playing with one. If he was an organizer
Ibet he would organize against the sale of toy guns = Bad Guns for Fun.
It would probably be more successful than adults' weak attempts at gun
control. Killing and hurting are the most perverse acts people can commit
against each other, and toy weapons are a symbol of that perversity. We re-
ally teach our children young, huh?

70
Profiles of the George Jackson Brigade

ashort autobiography
ita d brown

This document was written at the request of the rita d. brown defense
committee, which formed to support Brown while she was jailed in Oregon
in the winter and spring of 1977-1978.

Iturned 30 on October 14% and have discovered my first grey hairs
in recent weeks. I grew up in Klamath Falls, a redneck Weyerhacuser
town in rural Oregon; my parents fled the poverty of the South a cou-
ple of years before I was born. I have one sibling who lives in that same
town, raises a family and works for that same mill. My mom was a
passive, nagging, battered wife and my dad an uneducated, insecure
alcoholic most of my life. They have both made huge changes in their
lives in more recent years. I started working outside the home about
age 14; my first encounter with the police was age 16 about a stolen
car. Luckily, the owner dropped the charges—his daughter (my lover)
was also joy riding. As far as I knew we were the only queers in the
world and I had never heard of a clitoris. My parents took out a small
loan and sent me to a small local business college. They did this be-
cause I was good in school and it was all they could do. I transferred to
the Salem branch where I graduated with accounting and IBM skills.
Almost got kicked out of the dorm for a hot romance with a wonderful
womyn; we never made it to bed and she had to stay there so I called.
them a bunch of liars and squeaked by.

I moved to Seattle in '68 where a lifetime/school/neighborhood
male friend lived. He helped me learn the city and eat—no strings at-
tached and certainly no sex. Got a job in a bank balancing the sav-
ings department to a computer, that lasted nine months and then i got.
hired by the Post Office. I discovered the gay bars and went through
changes with my bi-sexual lover (the same one from high school) until
she finally split, then I became a working class bar butch dyke. I drank
alot, got even tougher and went to work every day for over a year.

Eventually there was another lover; e lived closer to the hippie-
dopers and tripped out frequently. I “came out” verbally at the job.
‘There were other queers there and we were pretty strong and took care
of one another even though we never organized as such. All through
this period I had several more encounters with the police, mostly
around traffic violations and once for shoplifting. Id always hear sto-
ries in the bars and see bruises on the people whod been in various

7
Creating a Movement with Teeth

police hassles—mastly because they were queer. The police were still
Kicking in and tearing up gay bars on a fairly regular basis. In '71 1
got busted for stealing from my boss who was still the US.PO. Did 7
‘months of a one year and one day sentence in Terminal Island Federal
Penitentiary, Calif. Learned a whole lot about racism, queer hating,
‘mean police, junkies and other such facts of life; I learned a lot from
sisters there, like that self-hate, disgust and feelings of helplessness
experienced throughout my youth could have easily led me (if Id been
raised in a city where it was readily available) to dope and getting
strung out. George Jackson was murdered—shot in the back—and the
Attica massacre happened while I was locked up.

Came back to Seattle to find no lover, no home, only a couple of
friends and no job. So I went through a couple of government pro-
grams and a few lovers and finally learned from another dyke that
“womyn are not chicks.” The first womyn's event I went to was at the
Ulniversity) of Wlashington]—an I(nternational] W{omen's] Dlay]
conference. There was a prison workshop going on, run by some social
workers who had all their experience on the outside of the bars. Well |
told them they didn't know what they were talking about and I became
a public speaker and the token ex-con that very day.

Shortly after this, I was at Sleattle] Clentral] Clommunity]
Clollege] where they paid (work study jobs) people to do prison work.
After a bullshit trip with an egomaniacal man there, a womyn's prison
project was formed with a fine strong sister/lover. I was part of the
politico lesbian community. I worked on lots of different projects with
children, womyn, men and 3" World peoples but prison work was al-
ways the most important in my life. In a couple of years, I heard a lot
of folks in a lot of places talk about the revolution, but nobody did
anything except talk. The BLA and Assata were working their asses off
but nobody in Seattle did a thing. Then the SLA stormed over the rul-
ing class's toes and met a fiery death; still nobody did anything. Then
the GJB started happening right under our very noses—it made sense
tome that you just can't talk rockefeller et al. into giving up what they
have stolen from the people. I knew it was time for me to put my words
into action.

—rdb

72
Partll

Communiquis
Communiqués

OLvMPIA BoMBING

This communiqué was released in the early morning of May 31, 1975,
posted toa telephone booth near the intersection of First Avenue and Cherry
in downtown Seattle." It appeared in the periodical of the Washington
Prisoners Labor Union, which Mead and Seidel edited themselves: "Olympia
Bombing,” Sunfighter 3, no. 2 (July-August 1975). It was also printed in
Dragon (Berkeley, CA), no. 3 (October 1975): 28, with the same titl.

Settle your quarrels, come together, understand the reality of
our situation, understand that fascism is already here, that people
are already dying who could be saved, that generations more will die
or live poor butchered half lives if you fai to act. Do what must be
done, discover your humanity and your love in revolution. Pass on
the torch. Join us, give up your life for the people.

—George Jackson

‘There has been an ongoing debate recently over national and lo-
cal law enforcement policies. On the issue of the criminal sentencing
process, for example, there appears to be a conflict of opinion between
conservative law and order advocate [Christopher] Bayley (the recent-
ly promoted county prosecutor) and liberal [King County Superior
Court] judge [Donald] Horowitz. Bayley adopts a get tough attitude
toward crime, the old lock ‘em up syndrome which has proven so in-
effective in the past. Horowitz, on the other hand, says warehousing
criminals is not only ineffective, it is cruel, and suggests “treatment” of
the offender. Neither Bayley or Horowitz deals with the type of hypoc-
risy that allows Nixon and gang to escape justice while the poor and
confused are made example of by the courts.

Crime is not some sort of a disease that suddenly possesses an
individual and causes them to act criminally, and which requires treat-
ment in order for the offender to be rehabilitated. Nor is crime a prob-
lem resolvable by increasing the sentences of the offender. Every day
prisoners are released from prison. Give them longer sentences and,
people would still be leaving the prisons every day; the only difference
would be in the degree of anger felt by the released prisoner. The anger
gets taken out on the community. The problem has not been solved,
simply prolonged and aggravated, like the way [President Gerald] Ford
deals with the economy.

Crime is the natural response for those caught between poverty
and the Amerikan culture of greed, aggression, sexism, and racism.

7
Creating a Movement with Teeth

The increasing level of crime is a measure of the sickness of our so-
ciety; treating or punishing individuals will have little effect on the
rate of crime. Sexual aggression against women, for example, has its
roots in the sexist attitudes of men. Rape is the logical extension of
the sickness of viewing women as objects to be used or abused like
any other possession.

What is going to stop crime is when people get together and drive
our criminal ruling class and s fascist government up against the wall
Crime will be eliminated when people create a society based on human
need rather than greed; a society in which our children are taught that
the object in life is something other than making a buck or being sexy.
The Amerikan people support the most notorious criminals in exis-
tence: U.S. imperialism. Our high standard of living comes from the
outright plunder of the “free” world, especially Third World countries.
We share the loot stolen from the mouths of hungry children in Africa,
Korea, and even here in Amerika, and then wonder why our society is
50 violent. If people want a better society, they can start by becoming
active feminists, anti-racists, and anti-imperialists. The ruling class is
white, male and imperialist.

Notwithstanding the rhetoric of the great debaters, the state’s ac-
tual response to crime is to respond with terrorism. Just as the recap-
ture of the Mayaguez was an international act of terrorism,” 50 too is
the shooting of unarmed blacks such as Joe Herbert. The national and
state governments are so unstable that the only way in which they can
‘maintain “order” is through the selective use of terrorism. Those who
‘maintain rule through the use of terror are fascists. Revolutionary
counter-terror is the appropriate response to fascist lawlessness.

Maintaining order is not only a problem of the urban and rural gov-
ernments, it is a growing problem inside the nation’s prisons as well,
In an attempt to maintain order within the nation’s prisons the gov-
ernment has implemented the practice of behavior modification tech-
niques on prisoners who resist the command to be silent in the face of
slavery and mind torture. The effect of behavior modification is to grant
freedom to those who are dishonest and deceitful enough to mouth the
‘master’s line, and to punish with long term confinement those who are
politically or legally active in trying to create a better society.

The “treatment concept” is a euphemism for psychofascism. It con-
sists of electro-shock, psychosurgery, massive druggings, averse con-
ditioning, sensory deprivation, and more. Such practices have found
their way into the nation’s schools, especially in high poverty areas. In

78
Communiqués

fact, it was to stop such abuses that the Symbionese Liberation Army.
executed school superintendent Marcus Foster.”

In order to effectively apply the treatment concept, the Adult
Corrections Division needs the power to move prisoners from prison
to prison (or hospital). The prisoners at Walla Walla realize this fact,
and in an attempt to transfer prisoners, they made the following de-
mands central to their struggle: Demand IV (k) “That no member of
the population shall ever be transferred to another mental or psychi-
atric facility out of state unless personally requested by the prison-
e in writing” Demand IV (1) goes on to say “That no member of the
population shall ever be transferred to another penal facility in any.
location unless personally requested by the prisoner in writing” These
demands were so important to the prisoners that they followed them
up with the only threat of violence in the entire list of demands. VI (m)
“That if the foregoing insistence indicated in items (k) and () are not.
honored, the Resident Government Council* shall see to the destruc-
tion of the Washington State Penitentiary.” Prisoners also demanded
the removal of the chief doctor, the head nurse, and the associate su-
perintendent of custody. When negotiations failed, prisoners seized 8
wing and the hospital and used hostages in an attempt to push their
demands forward.

Today is exactly six months from the final deadline prisoners set
for the implementation of their demands. Not a single demand has
been met. Today's bombing of the offices of the Washington State
Department of Corrections is a measure of our determination to see
the implementation of the just demands of the Walla Walla prisoners.
We of the George Jackson Brigade hereby demand: (4) That the state
give prisoners the power to decide for themselves whether or not they
want to be transferred; (B) Stop the use and threatened use of psy-
chofascist techniques on the minds of prisoners and school children;
(C) The removal of three administrators: Dr. August Hovnanian, hospi-
tal surgeon, James Harvey, associate superintendent for custody, and,
Mrs. Eva Nelson, chief nurse. And (D) That the prison administration
follow the Resident Government Council's constitution and otherwise
follow the law (the R G.C. must be permitted to exist)

79
Creating a Movement with Teeth

Caprrow HiLL SarEway.

The following communiqué appeared as “Communique from the George
Jackson Brigade,” Dragon, no. 3, October 1975, 9. It was Mead and Seidel's
immediate response to an attack gone terribly awry: the store was not evac-
uated as intended, and a number of customers were injured. Both the at-
tack and this communiqué were perceived as callous by Seattle’s progressive
community, while non-leftists simply denounced its authors as insane. The
Brigade apologized for this action in its "New Year" communiqué.

Thursday, September 18, 1975

At 9:15 this evening we placed a call to the Safeway store at 15th
and E. John and dlearly told the employee who answered that “high
explosives were planted in the store and would go off in 15 minutes—
Evacuate the storel” Simultaneously we called the newsrooms of KING-
TV and articulated the same message.

At 9:30 PM. the bomb exploded inside Safeway. There had been
no effort to heed our warning and no evacuation even in process. Our
warning procedure was based on our own experiences and similar ex-
periences of guerillas in other parts of the country where injuries have
also occurred. We clearly realize that our attacks must be discriminate
and both serve and educate the everyday person. We also realize that
as the contradictions heighten it becomes harder and harder to be a
passive and innocent bystander in a war zone.

Ourattack on the Capitol Hill Safeway had two purposes: First and
foremost it was an act of love and solidarity toward the courageous
comrade who risked his life in the furtherance of his political convic-
tions.* Second, the bombing was in retaliation for the capture of four
‘members of the Symbionese Liberation Army.*

We will not belabor the ways in which Safeway criminally exploits
farmworkers and its clerks, rips off the public through price fixing, and
sells food poisoned by preservatives. Safeway is not only an agribusi-
ness, but its tentacles reach out through the entire world and suck the
spirit and blood of poor and oppressed peoples. These crimes are all
well documented and have been the subject of numerous educationals,
‘marches, demonstrations, boycotts, strikes, and even anti-trust suits.

Four days ago Po died while arming a bomb he had just planted
behind this same Safeway. He died because his oppression, today not
just someday, was so real that he found it necessary to risk his death in
order to free himself

80
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We grieve over the murder of this comrade; just as we grieved over
the murders and capture of George and Jonathan Jackson, the SLA,
three dead Weatherpeople,” and countless fallen warriors. But grief is
not enough. We must transform grief into righteous anger and our an-
ger into directed action.

It is clearly within the power of the left to force Safeway out of
the Capitol Hill Community. All that is required is the will to do so.
Using a coordination of both peaceful and violent tactics, people ed-
ucate and build toward a winning strategy. Progressive forces would
have to reach out beyond themselves; talking to people at bus stops,
going door to door asking people about their daily lives and their prob-
lems. A program should be developed and implemented around their
grievances. People should be educated about Safeway and the need for
selected violence.

It is time that people start thinking in terms of gaining control
over their commaunities. A victorious struggle against Safeway—even
i it takes reducing those two stores to burned-out ruins—would be a
‘major step in the direction toward people’s power.

Safeway Off Capitol Hill!
‘The George Jackson Brigade

We Cry and We Fight

We have a right to cry for our dead,

for every life is unnamably precious

and the death of even one woman or one man
who loved the human race

is an intolerable loss.

Only the frozen robot rulers of Amerikkka
have no tears for human suffering.
Only the fascists watch gleefully when people die.

For us, the life of each comrade is everything,
and is always remembered.

Someone somewhere thinks today of every fallen comrades
of each of the thousands killed in 1927 at Shanghai,
Creating a Movement with Teeth

of the vanguard at Moncada,
of the Vietnamese sapper blown up inside Bien Hoa.

Someone somewhere cries today for every fallen comrade:
for Che and Tania

for Malcolm, George and Jonathan,

Fred Hampton, Sam Melville,

Diana, Ted and Terry

Sandra Pratt,* Zayd Shakur,” Twyman Meyers.'*

The memory of our immortal sisters and brothers
helps us to find our tears and rage.

Today our weeping and our anger are for Fahiza, Cinque, Mizmoon,
Camilla, Willie and Gelina, " gone into History with the others.

Our grief is real, and it makes us stronger and more human.

Our rage is real and it makes us righteous and powerful.

We cry, but keep on moving, building, loving!

We cry in the night and go see Ruchell [Magee] in the morning!”

We cry one day and defy the grand jury the next!

In the dark of the night we put our arms around our friends to
comfort them,

and in the dark of night we spraypaint with them!

We turn our grief for the dead into love for the living

and write a letter to Assatal (346 W, 20th St. N.Y)

We cry for our comrades, and we step into their places!

WE CRY AND WE FIGHT!

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Community Response
LEFT BANK STATEMENT
Left Bank Collective

‘The following appeared as "Left Bank Statement," Northwest Passage,
September 29-October 13, 1975, 11.

We of the Left Bank Collective were close friends of Po (Ralph Ford),
who was killed attacking the Safeway store last Sunday. We know, from
our friendship with Po, that his first concern at all times was the safety.
and security of people with whom and for whom he struggled. The ac-
tion last Sunday (Sept. 14)** most certainly was in outrage against the
giant Safeway corporation which exploits and rips off the people, par-
ticularly poor people.

If the Sept. 18 action by the George Jackson Brigade, in its choice
of location, was intended to be an act of solidarity with Po, as well as
with the SLA, then its gross disregard for the safety of the people was
in total contradiction of everything Po stood for.

Pos bomb was placed so that only mechanical equipment could be
damaged. It was done at night, so that the safety of passerby would
be assured. The Sept. 18 action failed to take even minimal precau-
tions, and injured seven people. As Po's friends, we know he would
have strongly disagreed with such lack of responsible concern. There
can be no connection between the hasty actions of people whose cal-
lousness injures others, and Po, whose concern for others was so great
that concern for himself became secondary.

“The true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love”
—Che Guevara

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

New Year 1976

The following communiqué appeared as “George Jackson Brigade” in
Dragon, no. 6, January 1976, 21. In contrast to the impatience of the
“Capitol Hill Safeway” communiqué, this document explains the reason for
targeting the chain. It includes an unqualified rejection of the Brigade’s at-
tack of several months earlier, and carries an explicit rejection of the “ter-
rorist” label.

At 12 midnight December 31, 1975, we exploded two bombs
at Safeway's main office for the Seattle area in Bellevue, Wa.
Simultaneously, in support of the City Light workers and their long,
and courageous strike,* we bombed the main transformer supplying
power to the very rich Laurelhurst Neighborhood.

City Light, Laurelhuarst

We of the George Jackson Brigade are not City Light workers, but
we dolive and work in Seattle and City Light is our enemy too. For the
past two years we have watched City Light workers stand up and fight
for their rights. This has been in the face of a massive campaign by the
ruling class to force poor and working people to shoulder the burden of
this economic crisis. So we have chosen to bring in the New Year with
respect and solidarity for the brave example the City Light workers
have set by sabotaging the power source for Laurelhurst.

We urge the City Light workers to rely on the people; to tap, ex-
pand and direct the widespread support you have as a means to win
your strike and to further the complex process of revolution and lib-
eration for all oppressed people. And we urge all workers, poor, op-
pressed and progressive people in Seattle [to] openly and materially
demonstrate their support for City Light workers.

Safeway Offices and Depot, Bellevue

They call us bandits, yet every time most Black (and poor and

working)** people pick up our paychecks we are being robbed. Every

time we walk into a store in our neighborhood we are being held up.

And every time we pay our rent, the landlord sticks a gun in our ribs
—Assata Shakur,” Black Liberation Army Sister

Safeway is one of the largest corporations in the world. It is the
world's largest food chain and a powerful agribusiness and imperialist.

84
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Safeway has effectively monopolized all facets of the food processing,
distribution, and retailing industry on the west coast. As a large inter-
national landowner, it is the recipient of large federal subsidies and
[has] actively forced the small farmer from his land and livelihood. As
a large grower, Safeway has consistently and violently oppressed the
farmworkers and fought their struggle for a union. Safeway makes its
superprofits by charging poor and working people outrageously inflat-
ed prices for nutritionally deficient and chemically poisoned food.

So it is not surprising that Safeway has been the target of mas-
sive resistance by the people including pickets, boycotts, education-
als, demonstrations and anti-trust suits. And it is not surprising that
Safeway has been the target of bombings and armed actions up and,
down the west coast throughout 1975

Early this summer, at the 15" and John Safeway in Seattle a plain-
clothes mercenary shot an “alleged” shoplifter. In September our com-
rade Po in an independent action, died while arming a bomb behind
that store. A few days later, and only a few hours after the capture of
the SLA, we exploded a bomb inside that store in an attempt to com-
plete the job Po began. Safeway disregarded our warning, and people
inside the store shopping were injured.

‘This action was wrong because we brought violence and terror into
apoor neighborhood; a neighborhood already racked with the violence
of hunger and the terror of the police.

We have tried to make this New Year's attack a reflection of theles-
sons we learned this past year. We are not terrorists. Safeway and City
Lights are our own class enemies and the class enemies of all who have,
felt hunger in their bellies or who have been cold in the winter because
they couldn't pay their electric bill. We have no qualms about bringing,
discriminate violence to the rich.

For us there is always armed struggle. There are two kinds of
armed struggle; the armed struggle in which the people fight empty
handed, unarmed, while the imperialists or colonialists are armed
and kill our people; and the armed struggle in which we prove we
are not crazy by taking up arms to fight back against the criminal
arms of the imperialists.

—Amilcar Cabral,” Guinea

LOVE AND STRUGGLE
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
THE GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

O THE WEATHER UNDERGROUND, CLASS STRUGGLE AND ARMED STRUGGLE.
Unfinished draft . .. January 1976

The following is a draft statement on behalf of the nascent George
Jackson Brigade, which Bruce Seidel had been working on at the time he
was killed. Turned over to the press after his death, it directly implicated
him in the Capitol Hill Safeway bombing and the New Year's Eve attacks.
Though the Brigade caimed all of these, they had remained unsolved.

The document is in response to a 1975 statement by the Weather
Underground stressing the need for “politics in command.” The Weather
Underground first made this turn, though without employing this particu-
lar phrase, in their "New Day, Changing Weather” communiqué, in which
they blamed the mindset which allowed the townhouse disaster to occur on
‘military considerations being in command. This debate came to the United
States via Régis Debray's Revolution in the Revolution? Armed Struggle
and Political Struggle in Latin America. Translated into English in 1967,
this popular text distilled the contributions of the Cuban Revolution and
related them to non-conventional anti-imperialist warfare throughout
Latin America. Debray insisted that the military apparatus—the "foco™
be in control of political considerations. The text reproduced below is con-
tained in Walter Wright, "Slain Man'’s Document: Self-implication in Three
‘Bombings," Post-Intelligencer, April 21, 1976.

“There will be a special page in the book of lie for the men
(women) who have crawled back from the grave. This page wil tel
of utter defeat, ruin, passivity, and subjection in one breath; and
in the next overwhelming victory and fulfillment. So take care of
yourself and hold on.”*

For many years, thru both our words and deeds, we have con-
sciously supported and respected the example set by the Weather
Underground Organization. After collectively reading and discuss-
ing Weather's last two articles, “Politics in Command” and "Armed
Struggle and the SLA™* we found points which we wholeheartedly
agree, points which we disagree, and we have many questions and con-
tradictions that we wish to address.

To begin, we certainly agree that “the only path to the final defeat
of imperialism and the building of socialism is revolutionary war.” And
we wholeheartedly agree that revolutionary war s a class war which is
“complex and ongoing” and, as Martin Sostre™ wrote, that it includes

86
Communiqués

mass struggle and clandestine struggle, peaceful and violent, political,
economic, cultural, and military, where all forms are developed "har-
moniously around the axis of armed struggle”

We ourselves are a product of this complex and ongoing strug-
gle. We are a product of various cultures, neighborhoods, ‘fronts’ and
forms of struggle. We have learned and directed the issues, grievances
and rage that eat away ourselves and all oppressed peoples. Like most,
our practice has varied from leafleting, boycotting, participating in
strikes, bombing and coordinated guerrilla attacks . . . whatever the
situation called for.

From all this we have learned what the Weather Underground has
re-affirmed, the important lesson of Ho Chi Minh: “A military without
politics is like a tree without roots—useless and dangerous.” This is
Marx, Engels, Lenin and Mao Tse Tung It is the lesson of Cabral, who,
very consciously distinguished between militarists and armed mili-
tants. And it is the lesson of George Jackson, who taught his fellow
prisoners that it is not enough to be fearless warriors; rather, we must.
become organizers, educators and revolutionaries. And, of course, put-
ting politics in command is the opposite dictum the U.S. military and,
police forces teach their soldiers and recruits.

For us in the George Jackson Brigade, we understand politics in
command to mean something different than just paying lip service to
struggles of oppressed peoples, writing radical and/or Marxist essays,
or even placing pipebombs in a shit-house adjoining the local FBI of-
fice. For us, Politics in Command means understanding that continu-
al struggle and contradictions exist on three fronts: internal, among,
friends, and against the enemy. And, being revolutionary means eriti-
cally and self-critically analyzing these contradictions, resolving them
and transforming the resolution into unity and strength. In essence, it
‘means honesty or purpose, change and growth.

Internally and collectively sexism, impatience, and individual-
ism remain our prime contradictions. Our contradictions among our
friends primarily stem from our not achieving self-reliance sooner.
Consequently, we have bickered and quarreled with friends over re-
sources and support. Unlike stated in "Armed Struggle and the SLA,"
we do not and have not in the past, “evaluated other forces primarily
by their support for armed struggle” And it has not been our prac-
tice to “ridicule the process of developing political analysis and orga-
nization ...." We do, however, evaluate "other forces"; specifically the
local Prairie Fire group, the now defunct Seattle Liberation Coalition

87
Creating a Movement with Teeth

and their false leaders ___,
servicing the people and their pronouncements on supporting armed
struggle. Our judgments are based on honesty; on the gap or lack of
gap between their words and deeds. In more than one situation, we
were told or led to believe that we had support but when we arrived
with a communique or resource needs for ourselves [none was to be
found]; or last winter for Indian brothers on the run, we found many
old doors locked tight.* While some new ones opened up, all in all we
relearned to go directly to the people and to rely on the people.

Our key error in fighting the enemy—an age old error—has been
in not clearly identifying and isolating the ruling class from behind
the many classes of people, laws, and gimmicks where he hides. Last
September we understood and wrote, “that our attacks must be dis-
criminate and both serve and educate the every day person.™ But,
we wrongly planted a bomb inside Safeway located in a poor neigh-
borhood. On New Years Eve we took two bombs to Safeway's main
offices for the Seattle area in the very white suburbs of Bellevue; and
simultaneously in solidarity with a long and progressive city work-
ers strike, we destroyed the main power source for Seattle’s very rich
Laurelhurst neighborhood. On New Year's Eve our attack was “spe-
cific, comprehensible . .. and humane”; to quote the local media, "it
was well planned and bloodless ™

In 1848, with all of Europe in turmoil and on the verge of revo-
lution, Marx and Engels published the Communist Manifesto not as a
theoretical treatise, but as a working paper. It reflects organization,
a program, and a solution. And, as we all know, Lenin spent his en-
tire lfe teaching the need for an organization "which spans periods of
great activity and uprising, draws lessons and corrects errors ... which
recruits organizers and deepens their ties with the people . . ” And,
Lenin successfully built and sustained a party of “professional revolu-
tionaries . .. capable of leading the whole fight of the people.” During
the same time, Lenin was in Europe, an old woman traveled from
strike to strike, from mining camps to mils to sweat shops all thru the
cities and countryside of Amerika. Mother Jones exemplified what Le
Duan® must have said many times: “organize, organize, organize.”

S0 we wholeheartedly agree with the Weather Underground on the
need for organization and the future goal of building a party to lead,
direct, learn and be accountable to working people and all oppressed
peoples. And we too, "would disagree with those who would have
armed struggle wait for the creation of a leading proletariat party.” For

.7 from their commitment to

Communiqués

as Cabral said and Attica, McAlester™ and San Quentin® taught us:
“there is always armed struggle”

any serious organization of peaple must carry with it, from
the start, a potential threat of revolutionary violence—after all the
‘stakes are high.”

—George Jackson

LOVE & STRUGGLE

Bruce

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN's DAY

The full text of the following communiqué was printed as "Text of
Brigade Communique” in the Post-Intelligencer, March 31, 1976, and in
Dragon, no. 8 (April 1976): 7-9.

On March 10%, members of the George Jackson Brigade rescued
our comrade John W. Sherman from police custody. John had been
captured during our unsuccessful attempt to expropriate $43,000.00
from the Tukwila branch of the Pacific National Bank of Washington.
A brutal attack by Tukwila police and King County sheriffs left our
comrade Bruce Seidel dead, Sherman shot in the jaw, and Sherman
and comrade Ed Mead in custody. All other participating units of the
Brigade escaped after firing on police from the rear in an attempt to
assist our three comrades trapped in the bank *

There can be no revolution without money—for weapons, explo-
sives, survival, organizing, printing, etc. The people are poor. We will
‘make the ruling class pay for its own destruction by expropriating our
funds from them and their banks.

We have so far identified the following tactical criticisms of the
Tukwila action: 1) We were unprepared for the level of violence that
the pigs were willing to bring down on us and the innocent people in
the bank. We should have had better combat training. 2) We waited
t00 long to open fire on the pigs. We should have fired without hesita-
tion on the first pig to arrive. Failure to do this allowed the police to
‘murder our comrade while he was trying to surrender, and endangered
everyone in the bank. 3) A silent alarm was tripped when we removed
all of the money from a teller's drawer. When the phone began to ring
to authenticate the alarm, our comrades should have split immediately
with whatever they had in their hands. Instead, they stayed to clean out
the safe. 4) Our comrades across the street should have had more fire-
power than they did. We had an enormous tactical advantage which we
were unable to exploit because it took so long to bring the superior fire-
power that we did have into action. 5) Our getaway route was excellent.
Comrades™ were able to remain in the area, firing on the pigs until the
three comrades inside the bank were taken into custody, and still get
away clean. Over all, this action failed because we were not prepared to
‘meet police terrorism with a sufficient level of revolutionary violence

In the course of the escape raid it became necessary to shoot the
police officer guarding Sherman. We did not shoot officer Johnson in

%0
Communiqués

retaliation for Bruce’s murder. In fact, it was our intention to avoid shoot-
ing him. He was shot because he failed to cooperate as fully as possible
with the comrade who was assigned to him. One of the many lessons
we learned from Tukwila is that we cannot afford to give the police any.
slack when confronting them. While we don't particularly want to shoot.
police, we don't particularly care either. We will shoot without hesita-
tion any police officer who endangers us. Also, we fully intend to get jus-
tice for Bruces murder, but we prefer to retaliate against the murderler]
s themselves: officers [Joseph L] Abbott and [Robert W.] Matthews.

Bruce saw himself as an inevitable product of the mass movement.
Years of struggle for progressive change taught him that poor and
working people will not listen to communists who are unwilling and.
unprepared to back their demands with revolutionary violence. Bruce
understood the need for a movement with real (not symbolic) teeth,
and he set about changing this understanding into a reality. His con-
tribution to this process is beyond measure. Had he survived beyond
his mid-twenties, he would have changed far more than the shape of
Northwest politics.

Bruce recognized and implemented the need to expropriate banks
as a means of furthering specific political goals. He also understood
the possible risk of capture or death involved in such an undertaking.
Unlike s0 many of his racist counterparts, Bruce did not believe the
lives of U.S. communists to be somehow more precious than those of
comrades throughout the world who are fighting and dying in the in-
ternational class war against imperialism.

‘The death of our comrade weighs like a mountain on our shoulders.
We loved Bruce in life and we love him in death. His passing leaves us
with more than grief and sorrow; it has kindled a rage that will not be
abated until his killers and the class they serve are destroyed along
with the misery and suffering they bring to all humanity.

We are learning to avoid the self-appointed “left"; to go directly to
the people and to rely on them for our strength. The people in our com-
‘munity have made enormous sacrifices and have given us shelter and,
sustenance and safety from the pigs. Because of this, the escape raid is
a complete success. The victory belongs to the people.

We're also learning to rely on ourselves. Using urban guerrilla in-
genuity, members of the George Jackson Brigade removed the torsion
arch bars from comrade Sherman's mouth.

Our comrade is free, the pigs have been badly beaten and they're
throwing a temper tantrum. They are using their Grand Jury to try to

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

terrorize the people by issuing subpoenas to numerous progressive peo-
ple and hauling them before their star chamber. Now they have started
taking hostages from among progressive above ground fighters. But
they will soon learn that the people don't terrorize so easily. And they
would do well to remember that what goes around—comes around.

We send our greetings and love to our comrade Ed Mead still in
custody and to all freedom fighters above ground, underground and
locked down. Take heart Ed, we miss you and we will continue fight-
ing. Later.

We urge all progressive people in Seattle to organize and fight the
Grand Jury. Struggle for correct politics. Don't talk to the FBL. Don't
testify. Don't collaborate. Support the hostages.

CELEBRATE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
CELEBRATE THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN STRUGGLE

Love and Struggle,

GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE
March, 1976

In order to authenticate this communique, we are sending a bullet
recently fired from a gun used across the street from the bank to the Post-
Intelligencer (Seattle). We are also sending one of the torsion arch bars
from comrade Sherman’s mouth to KZAM, a Bellevue radio station.

We're not all white and we're not all men
said a white male member

of our collective

toa liberal masked media man

Why struggle with
arms, tools, commie Q's?

dykes niggers cons

when you could slip away with

left support action

or vague mass movement construction

Tanlove
Tcan slip into class, bitch privilege

02
Communiqués

love don't mean unity with another
privilege doesn't change alienation
both mean slipping into darkness
alienation is masses of couples buying
coca cola and grapes at safeway

and owning own stereos t.v's and cribs

Just like slumlords pimps LT.T.
organized us

We will dis organize

learn struggle and skills

move ment action new ways

Not the vague vanguard
We are a collection

of oppressed people turning
inside out with action

this united few breaks
barriers of

race class sex

workers and lumpen

all going together
combating dull sameness
corporations, government
and the established rule of
straight white cocks

I cannot be one
acting alone with my

little toe outside the line

its both feet

whole body

ain't no turning back now

1o more mass meetings stale mating action

Loving learning laboring
with a few comrades

oh won't you harbor me?
joining you sistah brother
in freedom, Sue,” Assata®*

o3
Creating a Movement with Teeth

o4

George, Jill* Martin®*
new family being sane
‘small, not like charlie’s
leader ship™

We are cozy cuddly
armed and dangerous
and e will

raze the fucking prisons
to the ground

[signed by hand] Love and Struggle, GJB
Communiqués

Community Response
ALETTER TO THE GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE
snapdragon

This letter, dated April 21, 1976, was printed in Dragon no. 9. Ed Mead
penned a detailed reply in the following issue: "A Note to Snapdragon,”
Dragon, no. 10, September 1976, 38-43.

Sisters and Brothers of the Dragon:

My love to you. I have some eriticisms of actions that have taken
place recently: this is to the George Jackson Brigade (Seattle).

First I have some heavy criticisms of the rest of us that did not par-
ticipate in these actions. We failed to support, communicate doubts
or encouragement, and for the most part we completely avoided any.
responsibility for actions that took place. I would say we did not really,
believe in the reality of what was happening until we were forced to, by,
fear of our own individual safety.

At this time there are more people who take responsibility, and a
clearer conception of reality.

Criticisms of the GJB:

1. I think there is prevailing confusion between aboveground sup-
port and underground action. It s irresponsible for any individual or
group to provide both aboveground and underground action at the,
same time. A guerrilla does not need to prove her/himself by public
words. She may appear harmless, liberal, spaced out, ineffectual. He
should be overlooked. The ruling class and their police dogs will wake
up to your courage and brilliance in the night—let them sleep and be-
fuddle themselves during the day.

Don't expect the Dragon to provide safe shelter. Don't ask an un-
derground fighter to make a speech at a demonstration.

Ttis inevitable that many of us will move through a period of above-
ground support of armed struggle before deciding to act. This is danger-
ous. (Recognize this danger, brothers and sisters, and deal with it.)

Also: aboveground support is just as dangerous. We all know what's
coming, People, don't guilt-trip yourselvesinto choosing danger because
it's dangerous. There is enough danger to go around already. Make deci-
sions on other grounds than to prove to yourself you have courage.

2. People supporting you should know only as much as they need
toknow. They need to know: How much danger they are in. What risks

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

are you taking with their lives? They need to know: What to do if/when
something goes wrong. Plan for arrest. Plan for death. Take care of
business. People must not be left lost and ignorant as to how to protect
you (and themselves).

Watch out for vulnerable people and maneuver them to safe plac-
es. When a house s potentially unsafe to live in, don't invite children,
parolees, aliens or fugitives to live there.

Watch out for careless, frivolous people. Don't let them get too
dlose to you.

3. Why are you doing this? We are not satisfied with your reasons.
Expropriation is not enough: Robin Hood was wrong. Robbing from
the rich to give to the poor will not work, because the rich are far more
efficient at robbing than we are. They own the guns and the laws.

4. Don't give information to the press that you would not give to
the policel Don't say how many people were involved in an action if
they don't know—don't give away details of how you did it and who
you are. You are the people. That's enough. You don't have to specify
that you are Chinks and Faggots. This tends to make vulnerable sub-
communities of the people betrayed and endangered, and certainly
exposes specific people to harassment they do not need. Remember,
remember, remember—you are the underground. Let them guess who
you are. And why leave out some of us? You are all of us—or not, as
Your actions prove.

The early stages of armed struggle seem to be as destructive and
alienating as an urban riot. We are losing people, and faith in each oth-
er, and they lose, TEMPORARILY, a few dollars. Which they get back,
from us.

“Are they stupid,” someone asked [referring to the Brigadel, and
she needed to know, “or are they not with us?"

T know you are with us, and I know we can learn from our mis-
takes, no matter how costly they have been, because we have each oth-
er. Venceremos

Tove you,
snapdragon

%6
Communiqués

May Day

The following communiqué was printed in Orca, no. 1, Fall 1977, 10~
12. It also survives as a teletype dated May 13, 1977, from the Seattle of-
fices of the FBI to headquarters in Washington, DC. Former Brigade mem-
bers consider this one of their most successful communiqués; the demand
that the Seattle Times interview prisoners about the on-going strike at the
Washington State Penitentiary was eventually met, though not immediate-
Iy and the Times did not acknowledge pressure from the Brigade as a reason
for doing so

In reporting on the contents of the “May Day” communiqué, Seattle
Times reporter” John Arthur Wilson explained the Times's failure to in-
terview prisoners by stating: “Prisoners were in lockup and unavailable for
interviews when a Times reporter went to Walla Walla last week.™ Wilson
was referring to Paul Henderson, who on May S began reporting on what
had by then become "the longest running lockup in the prison’ history.™

The first reference to the inmates' perspective on the strike in the Times
did not come until May 23, and it still was not a quote and did not indicate
direct contact with anyone incarcerated. The penultimate paragraph in an ar-
ticle by Wilson stated: “Tnmates say they have been on strike to protest shake-
downs i the segregation unit and harassment of prisoners by officials.™

On May 24, the slated reopening of the institution was thwarted by a
walkout of approximately forty percent of the guards on the morning shift ¢
That day for the first time in their coverage of the strike the Times printed
words from a prisoner. Though signed by “the Walla Walla Brothers,” an ac-
tivist group of inmates confined in the institution’s Intensive Security Unit,
the twenty-three page letter to the Times was authored by captured GJB
member Ed Mead ¢ It acknowledged that, “We have all been convicted of
erimes and understand that the state is lawfully entitled to its pound of
fesh,” but complained: “they are taking far more than their rightful pound.”
The letter demanded the abolition of a contract between prisoners and the
administration which stated that an inmate could be heldin segregation for
the remainder of his minimum term f found guilty of violating institutional
codes. Regarding placement in the isolation wing, the letter asserted: “The
point we are trying to make. . is that there are no standards for release be-
yond the subjective judgment of the administration. If this judgment were
anywhere near fair, we would not complain.”

Other demands included:

Release of ll prisoners who have spent more than ten consecutive days
in isolation.

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

Visitation rights for prisoners in maximum-security blocks, as is given
the rest of the population

Full use of the maximum-security yard and “adequate recreational
equipment” and exercise periods.

Access to personal property, such as tape recorders, televisions, books
and hobby supplies, and complete commissary privileges.

Direct access to the prison law library so inmates can do legal research
on pending litigation.

In closing, Mead wrote that he and his comrades in the isolation unit
needed "breathing space” and wished for the administration to "treat us as
human beings and [to] relate to us in an honest and lawful manner.

The first direct interview with a prisoner came only after the strike
ended on May 25. Henderson spoke with Wayne Steeves, a Canadian-born
professional thief on his eighth incarceration. In contrast to the "Walla
Walla Brothers” quoted by Wilson, Steeves was, in Henderson's estimation,
@ "non-assertive inmate.™ Steeves shared his experience of forced inactiv-
ity: "I found it very rough. You've got to try and keep busy somehaw in there,
otherwise you'llstart to flp out. You can only sleep so many hours a day and
your mind starts playing tricks o you when you're not asleep. The silence
gets to you and so does the noise.”

The Times by no means became an organ for prisoners' voices, but in
the constant conflicts that wracked the state penitentiary through 1979
they did occasionally convey perspectives of prisoners, including Mead, and.
outside advocates such as the United Friends and Families of Prisoners
at Walla Walla. I the immediate wake of the 1977 lockdown, the latter
helped secure a commitment for a legislative subcommittee and a citizens”
review panel to investigate charges of harassment and bratality of prison-
ers by staff

Today the George Jackson Brigade bombed two Bellevue branch-
es of Rainier'® National Bank in support of the prisoners’ struggle at
Walla Walla state prison. We chose Rainier National Bank as a target
because of its links to the Seattle Times, a bourgeois daily newspaper.
‘The Seattle Times has led the propaganda campaign in Seattle against
the prisoners.

Walla Walla

The past year had seen the strengthening of prisoner struggles
throughout the state of Washington. There have been hunger strikes,
work strikes, demonstrations and uprisings at Purdy, McNeil Island,

o8
Communiqués

and Walla Walla. For more than six months the prisoners at Walla
Walla have been in the forefront of these struggles.

InOctober andin December, 1976, prisoners in the segregation units
(the Hole), staged a hunger strike to protest guards tampering with their
food and the overall brutality of the hole. In January, the Walla Walla
brothers issued demands from the hole which included: shutting down
the infamous behavior modification programs; firing three brutal em-
ployees of the mental health unit (Psychiatric torture unit); collectiviza-
tion of the therapy programs; and due process in the hole. Throughout
this period the Resident Government Council (RGC) tried to negotiate
with the prison administration around grievances. The prison adminis-
tration and the state government steadfastly ignored these efforts.

And things continued to get worse in the hole.

On April 5, a cigarette lighter bomb blew up in the hand of a par-
ticularly hated Walla Walla segregation guard. This happened while he
was escorting a prisoner from the prison to Walla Walla county court-
house. (Although police there immediately claimed "good leads” and,
a “suspect” inside the prison, they haven't so far charged anybody.
Perhaps they are waiting for the right scapegoat.)

Using this incident as an excuse, the prison administration, led
by [Superintendent] B.J. Rhay, immediately launched an attack on all
prisoner resistance and organization. Starting with the hole, they have,
systematically ransacked and looted all cells and meeting areas.

On April 10, while the administration was still busy with the hole,
prisoners in the general population responded to this attack with a
well planned and executed raid on the prison store. About 300 prison-
exs participated in this raid using fires as diversions.

Tmmediately following the raid, all maximum security prisoners
went to their cells and locked up, starting a strike. A few days later,
prisoner representatives issued a list of 14 “grievances” and a demand,
to meet with DSHS official and outside observers.” This list included.
protests against racial discrimination, the lack of meaningful work in-
side the prison, and poor medical treatment.

By April 27, a “Blue Ribbon Commission” appointed by Governor
D.L. Ray had met twice with the RGC over these grievances. This com-
mission was led by Harlan McNutt, a person the prisoners had specifi-
cally asked not to see. (His appointment was billed in the Seattle press
as an “act of defiance” by the Governor.)

On May 7, as a result of these meetings, McNutt ordered the fol-
lowing "changes” at Walla Walla:

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

Transfer of “mental patients” to Eastern State Hospital

Accelerate work release opportunities

Improve dental care; hire a second dentist for 1,000 men

Regular sanitary inspections

Be casier on visitor searches (but allow orifice searches for “reason-
able cause”)

Transfer Associate Warden Paul Harvey (supposedly “coincidental”;
at the same time, he denied the existence of racial discrimination.)

These “changes” are absurd. They actually consist of three attacks
and four empty promises.

The involuntary transfer of “mental patients” to Eastern State is
a fascist attack on prisoner resistance. Involuntary transfer of any
kind allows the administration to ship out “troublemakers” and break
up prisoner organization. In December, 1974, Walla Walla prisoners
seized parts of the prison and took hostages after negotiations failed
to resolve their demands against behavior modification and involun-
tary transfer. Twenty years ago, Eastern State Hospital was notorious
as a torture factory used to break prisoner resistance. They shall not
get away with it again

Denying the existence of racial discrimination at Walla Walla au-
thorizes the blatant racism that is the daily practice of the administra-
tion and guards there.

Harvey is being foisted off on Shelton where he can do his dirty
work on younger, less experienced prisoners.*

As for sanitary inspections, better dental care, better visiting con-
ditions, etc., we've heard it all before. We'll believe it when we see it

The Seattle Times

‘The press plays a particularly important role in prisoner struggles.
Prisoners are isolated from society and have no printing presses or mon-
ey or outside organization to tell their story to the people. If people knew
what really goes on in prison and understood what their true effects on
society are they would shut them down tomorrow and send the parasites
who run them to work. (Real work, useful work, hard labor, maybe?)

‘The role of the press is to keep us from knowing by telling us only
what the rulers of the prisons want us to know. Period. When the lev-
el of struggle inside the prison forces them to admit that struggle is
going on, they make it appear to be spontaneous, isolated incidents.
Clearly, the present strike at Walla Walla is part of ongoing and pro-
gressive mass struggle there

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Al of thisis true of all of the bourgeois press in Seattle. The Seattle
Times however, has led the propaganda campaign. The Times is not, as
its bosses and editorial writers would have us believe, an independent
and objective observer and reporter of fact. It is a weapon used by the
ruling class tolie to us.

Throughout the struggle the Times has consistently printed and
supported whatever the prison bosses had to say about what was go-
ing on. It had printed long diatribes by paranoid guards who are fear-
ful of retaliation for their crimes. It has told us that prisoners have no
real grievances; that the problem is really just “overcrowding”; and that
prisoners are just animals anyway, duped into struggle by a few trou-
blemakers. By not printing the RGC grievances, the Times has refused.
to even pretend to be objective.

‘The Seattle Times s tied with a thousand threads to the big capital-
ists who run this country. They are owned, like most bourgeois news-
papers in this country, by one huge conglomerate; in this case Knight-
Ridder Newspapers, Inc. William Pennington, President of the Times,
s a director of Rainier National Bank (RNB) and other large corpora-
tions. Through these companies, he is tied to Sea-First, SafeCo, Bocing,
Weyerhaeuser, Paccar, etc., etc. The owners and bosses of these com-
panies are the real criminals—the real enemies of society. Capitalism
and capitalists cause crime and prison. We attacked RNB because we
are determined to seek out and attack this real enemy, behind all his
fronts and flunkies.

We demand that the Seattle Times print the entire text of the RGC
grievances and any RGC responses to the latest “changes” We demand
that the Seattle Times print the text of this communique and any fu-
ture communique the GJB issues. We also demand that the Seattle
Times interview prisoners in struggle in the hole at Walla Walla and,
print those interviews.

We have no illusions that the Times will, because of this action,
agree to any of these demands. But we will continue to attack the Times
and its bosses until they do give in. However long that may take

At the same time, we understand that, Runkies though they are,
DSHS, the Department of Adult Corrections, the Governor, reaction-
ary Warden B.J. Rhay, and the guards and staff at Walla Walla are the
general staff and front line troops of the ruling class. They direct and,
carry out the bourgeoisie’s attempts to crush prisoner resistance.
‘They are responsible for their own actions and will someday meet the
peoples’ justice.

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

The Brigade

“There are two things to remember about revolution: we are going.
to get our asses kicked, and we are going to win."

So the GJB is back. We got our asses kicked real bad at Tukwila a
year ago, and we've spent this last year licking our wounds and learn-
ing our trade. We've accumulated a lot of equipment and an enormous
‘amount of experience. We've done 6 teller robberies in Oregon banks for
‘more than $25,000. Without firing a shot. In the course of this, we've
learned a lot about the police, the front line troops of capitalism.

Although we are armed and will defend ourselves if attacked, we are
not crazy. We do not, as the FBI has claimed, “Believe in shooting it out
with an army of police.” We understand that we are vastly outgunned
and out numbered and, if we are trapped, we will make a positive ef-
fort to surrender. But we have corrected the error that we criticized at
Tukwila. We have a higher level of combat training and will never again
be caught unprepared by the violence of an individual police officer. If
captured, we will continue to fight wherever we end up.

Overall, we live pretty much like everybody else. We have landlord
hassles, the car needs repair, the wiring in our home is bad. We are
stunned (like everybody else) by the prices when we buy groceries.

For several months now we have been concentrating on political
study and struggle to clarify what we think about revolution in this
country. As individuals we have many disagreements. We will have
‘more to say in the future about political struggle within the Brigade.
We need criticism and analysis of our words and our actions.

We believe that capitalism is the source of all oppression at this
time, and that revolution requires that it be overthrown by force of
arms by the masses of poor and working people in this country. We
believe that the struggle against racism, national oppression and sex-
ism in allits forms are part of the struggle against capitalism. We are
firmly united on these points.

“.__.if people on the outside do not understand the necessity
of defending them (prisoners) through force of arms, then it is be-
cause these people on the outside do not yet realize that they are
in an immediate danger of being thrown into concentration camps
themselves, tortured, or shot down in the streets for expressing
their beliefs”

—Communique 10, SLA

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Remember the Compton Massacre! (May 17, 1974)

In the Spirit of Mayday!
Love and Struggle,

the George Jackson Brigade
May 12,1977

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Community Response
MESSAGE TO THE PROGRESSIVE COMMUNITY ON THE MEDIA AND THE
‘GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE

‘The Walla Walla Brothers

This is excerpted from a longer statement written by incarcerated
Brigade member Ed Mead in conjunction with other prisoners in the isola-
tion wing in the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. The cir-
cumstances point to the risk of a closed-circuit feedback loop faced by urban
guerrillas: their own members get captured, then write on behalf of prison-
ers generally, providing a constituency encouraging the continued actions
of the outside group—actions that will inevitably send more members to
prison. This cycle engulfed the Red Army Faction in West Germany.

The reaction of ISU prisoners upon learning of the [May 12]
bombingls] was positive, enthusiastic and unanimous. Te target was
perfect and the timing ideal. [The George Jackson Brigade] showed
themselves familiar with the essence of our struggle as well as the
identity and nature of the enemy. We view the Brigade action as anoth-
er level of the support we so urgently need. They were able to put the
rulers on the spot for their criminal abuse of the power of the press,
and they did so in a manner that could not have been as quickly and
effectively accomplished by conventional means. We see the Brigade
action as an example of armed propaganda at its best.

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SuMmER SoLsTicE
The following communiqué was printed in Orca, no. 1, Fall 1977, 12.

Yesterday the George Jackson Brigade expropriated about $4,200
from the Factoria branch of the Rainier National Bank.

A month ago, May 21, 1977, we expropriated about $1,300 from
the Newport Hills state liquor store.

Armed expropriation is a vital part of our work. Apart from the
everyday cost of living (which is as a terrible burden for us as for every-
one else); weapons, ammunition, explosives, medical supplies, vehi-
cles, etc. cost an enormous amount of money. We will continue to take
this money from the ruling class and its state. Most people understand
that banks and the state are the real robbers of all society; and that the
profit motive is the biggest robbery in history.

But we will under no circumstances steal so much as a penny from
small businesses or from the working people. When we robbed the li-
quor store, for example, it was necessary to take the manager's entire
purse because the liquor store money was in it. The day after the rob-
bery we returned the manager's purse with all of her own personal
money (about $45)

We are not prepared at this time to present a detailed analysis of
the politics of armed robbery, but we feel it is necessary to claim these
robberies to counter the attempt of the police to hide these actions
from the people.

Both the King County Police and the FBI know that we did both
these robberies. Exactly why they have chosen to hide this fact is a
mystery to us, but we can see at least two possible advantages to them
in their silence:

They would like very much to convince people that serious and
successful revolutionary armed struggle is impossible and does not ex-
st in this country, let alone in the Northwest.

One of the principal functions of the police is to repress progres-
sive struggles and the left—sometimes openly, sometimes secretly by
infiltration and harassment. Their strategy at this time is to do it se-
cretly. If they tell people about our actions, they will also alert them to
be more vigilant against these tactics.

Although any bank, ruling class corporation or state agency is fair
game for revolutionary expropriation, we chose RNB this time because

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

the Seattle Times (RNB's crime partner) still refuses to print any com-
‘munication from the Walla Walla prisoners. In particular they have ig-
nored the prisoners' strike that continued in the hole after the lock-up
ended. The strike is part of the continuing struggle against the brutal
conditions in the hole.

EXPROPRIATE THE EXPROPRIATORS
Love and Struggle

George Jackson Brigade

June 21,1977

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Communiqués

CaPITALISM Is ORGANIZED CRIME
The following communiqué appeared in Orca, no. 1, Fall 1977, 13-14.

any serious organizing of people must carry with it, from
the start, a potential threat of revolutionary violence—after al the
stakes are high.

—George Jackson

Today we bombed the main substation for the state capitol com-
plex in Olympia. The purpose of this action is to support the struggle
of prisoners in the hole at the Walla Walla state prison. These men are
still on strike as a focus of their militant fight against illegal confine-
ment, barbarism and torture.

‘The ISU (Intensive Security Unit—the hole) prisoners have issued
the following ten “Immediate demands.” In solidarity with their strike,
we demand the same changes—now!

1. Abolish the use of contracts and release all prisoners being held
on contract violations.

2. Stop arbitrary punishments and conduct hearing committees in
accordance to WAC rules

3. Release all prisoners on Ad[ministrative] Seglregation] status
unless the warden can show a clear and present danger to prison secu-
ity and order.

4. Remove all prisoners from “A” tier who have served more than
10 consecutive days on isolation status.

5. Give ISU prisoners the same visitation rights accorded the pris-
oners on the mainline.

6. Full use of ISU yard, not the cage,and provision of adequate
recreational equipment on each tier. Exercise periods should be sub-
stantially longer than one hour.

7. Full access to personal property in the general population such
as cassette recorders, TV, packages from home, books, hobby mater-
als, art supplies, etc.

8. Complete commissary rights for prisoners on Ad Seg status un-
less the warden makes a written finding that a specific item is an actual
danger to order.

9. Direct access to the prison law library for prisoners in the ISU
who have active litigation pending in the courts.

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

10. Clean up and paint the ISU; provide adequate clothing; and
stop the constant harassment of prisoners.

These demands require no special “blue ribbon commissions”; no
new legislation, and no budget increases. They demand only that the
prison administration obey its own laws and adopt minimum stan-
dards of human decency. We will continue to provide armed support
for this just struggle until all of these demands are fully met.

The main response of the prison bureaucrats and their guards to
this struggle has been to deepen and intensify the repression and bru-
tality; and to provoke the prisoners to violence with deliberate insults,
constant harassment, and assaults. When these men rise up in self
defense, the administrators are fully prepared to slaughter them as a
final solution to resistance.

Public attention must be focused on Walla Walla; the actual con-
ditions of torture and humiliation must be widely publicized. Armed
work s only one of many forms of support necessary to the struggle of
the Walla Walla prisoners. We urge people to seek out the truth about
the Walla Walla struggle and to actively fight for the lives and safety
of these prisoners. In particular, it is the absolute duty of progressive
people on the left to join this fight.

Also, we give notice to the ruling class and its state that we hold
them responsible as individuals for the safety of our comrade Ed Mead,
and his comrades in ISU.

‘The struggle of ALL prisoners against their oppression in this coun-
try is a struggle for justice. It is a struggle that demands that society
live up to its obligation to provide full productive lfe for all citizens—
an obligation that capitalism can not meet.

Capitalism causes crime. Overwhelmingly, the victims of crime
are poor and Third World people. Street crime is caused and perpet-
uated by joblessness and underemployment; by a ruling class that
uses people for its own profit and discards them when it has no more
profitable use for them. The capitalist prison and its bureaucracy is a
loathsome parasite on society. Its sole purpose is to administer the
warehousing and repression of human beings for whom capitalism
has no use and no solution.

We congratulate the Walla Walla prisoners for winning their long
struggle to get rid of bloody B. J. Rhay. But the new warden, Douglas
Vinzant, is hardly an improvement. Although he is pretending to be a
good guy, both he and his boss Harlan McNutt continue to ignore the

108
Communiqués

hole and claim it isn't a problem. Be careful of these hoodlums com-

rades; no matter what they say, it is impossible to serve both the capi-
talists’ prisons and the prisoners.

There wil be a special page in the book of

life for the women and men who have

crawled back from the grave.

‘Tnis page willtell of utter defeat,

ruin, passivity and subjection

in one breath; and in the next

overwhelming victory and fulfillment

S0 take care of yourself and hold on.
~George Jackson®

SUPPORT THE STRUGGLE OF THE ISU PRISONERS
Love and Struggle,

‘The George Jackson Brigade
July 4,1977

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“TeLL No Lies, Cram No Easy ViCTORIES™
—AMILCAR CABRAL, GUINEA-BIssAU

The following communiqué appeared as “Letters from the GJB—Tell
No Lies,” Northwest Passage, August 1-21, 1977, 3, and in Orca, no. 1,
Fall 1977, 14-15.

On July 4, 1977, we attempted to destroy the main substation
supplying power to the state capitol complex in Olympia. Our reasons
for this action are set forth in the communique attached to this letter.
The bomb did not explode. Although there is always a chance for me-
chanical failure in any pipe bomb, we are virtually certain that this was
not the case here. This was probably our most carefully built bomb.
After the failure at Bellevue, we spent hours on this bomb checking
and rechecking every piece of wire, every circuit, every connection, ev-
ery possibility for failure. We are convinced that the police disarmed it
before it was to detonate.

‘We had three main reasons for choosing this particular target:

1. We wanted to cause sufficient material damage to begin to make
it unprofitable for the ruling class and its state to continue their bar-
barous treatment of the men in the hole at Walla Walla. Even though
we abviously cost the police some sleep and labor time, the action was
clearly a failure in this regard.

2. We wanted to breakthrough the bourgeois media blackout and
reach the ordinary people in this state with the truth about what's go-
ing on at Walla Walla. It's too early to tell what effect, if any, this action
will have on the blackout.

3. We wanted to localize the effects of this action to state owned
and operated buildings only. So far as we can tell, this substation sup-
plies power exclusively to the state complex. This is supported by the
statements of three Seattle TV stations,

We made every effort to insure the safety of innocent people
in the area of the target. The substation itself is located on the very
edge of a residential district. The entire backside of it is deserted
trees and brush. Across the street s the block long Washington State
Patrol Capitol Security Offices which we determined to be empty at
the time. There are two houses and one small apartment building in
the immediate area. The nearest house is significantly farther from
the target than the nearest house at Laurelhurst. The Laurelhurst
explosion caused no damage to nearby dwellings other than window

o
Communiqués

breakage from the concussion. Also, we took care to direct the explo-
sion into the transformer and away from the houses. We gave the po-
lice detailed instructions on the location of the substation and exact-
Iy which houses needed to be evacuated and which streets should be
blocked to insure everyone's utmost safety. Al of this is as it should be.
We also gave the police a ful thirty minutes warning to be sure they
had ample time to disarm the bomb. This represents one of the many.
contradictions in any bombing. One way to resolve this is to booby.
trap the bomb with mercury switches or trip wires or the like so that it
will explode if tampered with. In the past, we have not booby trapped.
our bombs for fear that some crazy or “heroic” police officer would try
to disarm it anyway and blow himself (we don't know of any wom-
en bomb squad members) up. We have instead used false booby trap
warnings to keep them away. With the mechanical failure of one of
our bombs in the Bellevue RNB however, they learned that it was not
in fact equipped with a tamperproof switch as we had told them. We,
discussed this and decided that for this bomb we [would] continue to
use a false booby trap warning on the assumption that no one would
be crazy enough to try to disarm a bomb that could be booby trapped,
even with the Bellevue experience. We were wrong. Now we are faced.
with the dilemma of either being willing to see some police officer
killed trying to disarm a bomb that is truly booby trapped, or being
willing to watch them disarm our bombs with impunity.

We welcome all constructive criticism and ideas about this and the
other contradictions that surround bombing as a revolutionary tactic.

Love and Struggle,

‘The George Jackson Brigade
July 4,1977
Creating a Movement with Teeth

Community Response
IN RESPONSE TO THE GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE COMMUNIQUE OF JULY 4,
1977

Vinegar Beard Collective:

The Underground and the GJB

Many have the impression that underground political work and
armed struggle are synonymous. This is not the case. Much under-
ground work is performed by providing aid and comfort to fugitive
politicals and harassed above-ground activists. Money, equipment
and even political leafleting materials are often expropriated as un-
derground work. The GJB has done much outside of armed struggle
and in turn have received much support in maintaining their security.
‘The very purpose of the political underground is to secure a functional
political organization that opposes the state. To secure it from counter
insurgent destruction. In this the GJB is succeeding with the aid of
other underground as well as aboveground support. We, who oppose
the oppressive economic and political state and ruling class, are as-
sured by the very existence of the GJB and other underground activity
that our political security has not been totally breached.

Armed Struggle & Bombing as a Revolutionary Tactic

The GJB in waging armed struggle in support of the politically vul-
nerable prisoners at the Washington State Penitentiary is exemplary
action. Armed struggle waged against the state and the ruling class is
avery clear and imperative political statement that the people will not
tolerate the intolerable. In this vein bombing as a revolutionary tactic
‘emphasizes to the oppressor that the limits of our resistance will be by
any means necessary. The visibility of bombings, and even attempted
bombings coupled with political statements ensure people in struggle
that the people do control the force to neutralize an oppressive state
and capitalistic progress.

“You'll gt freedom by letting your enemy know that you'll do any-
thing to get your freedom ..” MALCOLM X SPEAKS

‘Booky-trapping Bombs

We oppose the booby-trapping of bombs because when a state-
‘ment forewarns the people of the approximate time a bomb will det-
onate, it is betrayal of the margin of safety to detonate it sooner.
But we do feel that in the future the GJB might consider forewarning,

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Communiqués

the people and the state that time to evacuate the area has been sub-
stantially reduced because of past police interference with the timing
devices. This also will compel the police to double their manpower (I
don't believe the police have that much womanpower) and efforts in
order to speed up the evacuation. Another alternative is to study the
technology of “shaped charges” and thus not be concerned about deto-
nating time as it is predictable which way the blast will go.

ALL POWER
TO THE PEOPLE:
‘The Vinegar Beard Collective

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

Community Response
A RESPONSE TO THE GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE.
Stagecoach Mary Collective

The following statement, dated August 10, 1977, circulated in the
Seattle political community in mimeographed form. It was reprinted in
Orca no. 1, 8-9. The membership of this collective has not been disclosed.

It composed at least one other letter related to the GJB, a harsh criticism of
the first issue of Orca, the periodical dedicated to documenting the exploits
of—but not critically processing the impact of—the Brigade. The letter,
dated December 5, 1977, appeared on page 32 of the second issue of Orca.

Aresponse from the Orca collective, dated December 16, 1977, followed on
the next page, while a member of the Left Bank Collective weighed in that
the Stagecoach Mary Collective’s criticism had been uncomradely.

To date, there has been little principled discussion, coupled with
an effective news blackout, on the subject of armed struggle, and in
particular, the George Jackson Brigade.* The establishment news me-
dia has isolated the George Jackson Brigade (GJB) by defining and re-
porting on it simply as a "terrorist” group, completely ignoring the po-
litical principles by which it operates and the connections the Brigade
sees between its actions and community organizing. We hope this ar-
ticle sparks continuing discussion.

In writing about the GJB, we feel it is necessary to analyze the role
of armed struggle in the United States today. The media and the U.S
government would like s to believe that those involved in armed ac-
tions against the State are the ones that are initiating the violence and
terrorism. In actuality, the government of this country and the ruling
class behind it ranks as the most powerfully destructive force in the
world. In the interest of maintaining the huge profits of multi-national
corporations it has taken control of the economies and sought to de-
stroy the cultures of Third World countries through genocidal warfare
(as in Viet Nam). Forced sterilization, drug experimentation, destruc-
tion of the land and natural resources and outright killings of whole
populations are just a few of the ways the U.S. government has terror-
ized the world.

‘This same system has used these tactics on poor and Third World
people here in the US. Children, women and men are killed daily
on Indian reservations, in prisons and mental hospitals, and on the
streets. Violence is institutionalized through the racist and sexist

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court, welfare, education and public health systems. This violence is
a fact of life for poor and non-white people. Our children are shot on
the streets, workers are killed by unsafe conditions on the job, women
die from back alley abortions because they can't support another child
and can't afford a safe abortion. Third World and poor women are con-
sistently sterilized without their knowledge or consent—for example:
40% of Native American women, 33% of Puerto Rican and 25% of
Black women of childbearing age have been sterilized.

‘The other side of this violence inherent in these repressive con-
ditions is a long history of resistance. Oppressed people have always
had to fight to survive. It's time to broaden the struggle by giving up
the benefits that come with white skin, being male and have economic
privilege. Combating these privileges means joining the fight on the
front lines and that takes many forms—organizing on the job, in pris-
ons, around welfare; demanding adequate health care, housing and,
food for all people; defending ourselves and our children against at-
tack; and taking up arms against the system that robs us daily of our
basic human rights

It is necessary to make connections between all of these strug-
gles, and armed struggle has been especially isolated. It should be the
shared responsibility of those involved in armed struggle and those
involved in above ground organizing to make the links clear between
our actions/work.

Itis in this spirit that we give critical support to the George Jackson
Brigade with the understanding that the Brigade is involved in an on-
going process. We have specific criticisms of the GJB's past actions. We,
feel they were closed to input and criticism from the communities they
were claiming to represent. They made unclear and antagonistic eriti-
cisms of the Seattle Left community. They seemed to present armed
actions as the most revolutionary means of struggle while giving lit-
tle critical support to above ground organizing. This is a particularly
dangerous attitude, because above ground work is vitally important to
build mass support for revolutionary change, especially at this stage of
the struggle. The Brigade's actions were not clearly connected to com-
‘munity or national issues, and the destruction of property sometimes
seemed an end in itself.

We support the self criticisms of the GJB and the changes they have
made. The most recent communiques have asked for community input
and they have made good, clear connections between their latest ac-
tions and the strike at Walla Walla State pen. The Brigade has asked for

s,
Creating a Movement with Teeth

specific feedback on the use of tamperproof switches on bombs which
would resultin the death of a policeman if he were to attempt to de-acti-
vate the bomb. The alternative is to bluff the police with a phony switch
and possibly watch them de-activate another device. The GJB needs re-
sponse, also, on the issue of bombing in a residential area where there
is the possibility of death or injury to people who live there. We feel
it's important to respond to these questions. However, after discussing
them collectively, we have not yet arrived at consensus, and so will con-
tinue to struggle. We urge other community groups and individuals to
consider these problems and respond in whatever way they can.

We cannot allow the government and the media to be successful
in their attempts to portray armed struggle as “terrorist” events. We
‘must help clarify the political motivations behind the George Jackson
Brigade’s actions, and all revolutionary armed struggle. We must cre-
ate the means for an exchange of mutual principled criticism. WE
STRONGLY URGE PROGRESSIVE GROUPS AND THE ALTERNATIVE
MEDIA TO CONTINUE THIS DISCUSSION

e
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OpeN LETTER TO THE JoHN BROWN BoOK CLUB

The Prairie Fire Organizing Committee (PFOC) grew out of the Prairie
Fire Distribution Committee, which formed to facilitate the aboveground
circulation of the Weather Underground’s Prairie Fire: The Revolutionary
Politics of Anti-Imperialism (1974), composed by members while they
were underground. As a militant antiracist organization, PFOC would
outlast Weather itself* The John Brown Book Club (JBBC) was a PEOC
project which reissued copies of the journal Osawatomie, “the voice of the
Weather Underground Organization,” in 1975 and 1976, and produced
the February 1977 pamphlet The Split of the Weather Underground
Organization: Struggling Against White and Male Supremacy. This for-
ty-five-page document pushes the line of the Clayton Van Lydegraf splin-
ter of Weather the "Revolutionary Committee,” as opposed to the "Central
Committee” of Bernardine Dohrn and others.*

While there was clearly bad blood between the JBBC and certain
Brigade members, the Brigade members I interviewed could not recall fur-
ther details. An article contained in The Split provides a partial answer.
Entitled jb.b.c. self-crticism,” the relevant passage reads:

JBBC came into being, grew and developed, now ends ts prac-
tice and sums up in a period that has been tumultuous here and
elsewhere. Events in Seattle and the struggle surrounding them
like the development of the George Jackson Brigade, its destruc-
tion by the state, the deaths of two revolutionary comrades, and
a federal grand jury assault on the left al helped shape our poli-
tics. Physical injuries caused by misdirected revolutionary violence
of the GJB sparked a reactionary response from us and much of
the rest of the Seattle left. We participated in building a militant
‘movement against the grand jury on the one hand, while on the
other e attempted alliances with organizations of the left, which
in the face of rising repression would not challenge the state. Our
mistakes showed that we accepted, piece at a time, the slow, sure
sell-out of revolutionary armed struggle that the WUO made during
the 1974-76 period ™

The theoretical cause of dispute between the JBBC and the Brigade was
the appropriate time and place for domestic armed struggle. The practical
ramifications for differences in interpretation, alluded to by the Brigade in
the polemic below, were: the behavior of JEBC members in the anti-grand
jury coalition; their presentation of the Brigade as already dead, when

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

it had more than a year of lfe left in it; their newfound treatment of the
Brigade dead, Seidel, as a “comrade”; and lack of concrete support for local
indigenous militants 5

The following survives as a mimeograph dated September 1, 1977. It
bears the words “Please post or distribute this letter.”

(The use of “JBBC” throughout this letter refers to those of you who,
during 1975, held the Weather/Prairie Fire political line, did distribu-
tion of Weather [Underground] literature, and participated in Prairie
Fire study groups. You later helped form and are now involved in the
Prairie Fire Organizing Committee and the John Brown Book Club.

(We're not publishing this letter yet because it s a direct criticism
of you. We sincerely hope you will find time to publicly respond to it.
Because we think the issues involved here are of vital concern, and
therefore the business of the entire community, the letter will be re-
leased publicly in one month.)

The GJB is encouraged to read that JBBC has taken some re-
sponsibility for itself through the “initial sketch” as printed in
“The Split” We are encouraged because we had been forced to
give up all hope that such a change was possible. This loss of
hope was based, as you may well know, on several shit experi-
ences with JBBC people. We are encouraged but not dazzled.
We understand clearer now some of the reasons for your "reactionary
responses” to the GJB. Your actions falling so far behind your words
was largely based on national orders. But, they were your words and
actions; coming from your mouths. In having never publicly criticized
yourselves until the “trusted leaders” did, [you provide] another sub-
tle example of not taking responsibility for your politics. We strongly
believe that your criticisms must go much deeper. We also feel that
you should address some specifics in your future self-criticisms. These
specifics are written vaguely for security reasons, but you know as
well as we do that these events did occur, and that the true facts of
them (if we could spell it out) are much worse than the vagueness
written here implies.

1. You outright refused support and therefore failed to put your
theory into practice in an extremely serious and real situation around
‘Third World struggles in this country. In fact, you went so far as to de-
stroy the equipment that was needed for this support.

2. You not only passively accepted the “slow sell-out of revolution-
ary armed struggle.” you actively organized against the GJB, and along
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with other reactionary groups, publicly “disassociated” yourselves.

3. You attempted to blackmail a progressive aboveground group by
refusing to distribute their publications unless they ceased all coverage
of the GJB. We also know of instances where you attempted bribery as
a form of political struggle.

4. You played a leading role in expelling people from the 1976
Grand Jury Defense Committee by imposing a gag rule because some,
folks had publicly stated support for the GJB. This is not an isolated
instance. It has been your practice for [some] time to bureaucratically.
purge dissenters in the name of political struggle from groups where
you play a leadership role.

Any time a bureaucratic “style of work” is used it automatically
alienates women, Third World people, prisoners, and other sufferers
of special oppression. Historically, bureaucracy has been the weap-
on of male supremacy and class society. Red tape and volumes of
high falutin’ words help keep the oppressors in control. Organization
from above will never succeed in producing freedom for anyone. By
squeezing the validity out of Third World and women's liberation
movements, you have played into the white male ruling class game,
by helping to create greater divisions and real lack of trust. In view
of these repeated kinds of fuck-overs and sell-outs, your rectification
cannot come overnight.

We find it not only disgusting but opportunist for you suddenly
to embrace our dead” as your “revolutionary comrades” We don't
know about Po because he was not a member of the GJB, but Bruce
had many criticisms of you which you refused to acknowledge and,
thus never attempted to struggle with him about. In fact, you shined
him on and even trashed him. You did nothing supportive or in any.
way positive that we know about at the time of either Bruce’s or Po's
death; except to attend a public memorial for Po. Your reaction was
to close your mouths and turn your backs—the common reaction of
sell-outs and/or cowards. The passage of time and the cloak of mysti-
cism and romanticism should never be allowed to change dead free-
dom fighters into glorified martyrs as delayed announcement of these
men as comrades implies. We righteously believe that much deeper
and stronger, more sincere and honest self-criticisms are necessary
before JBEC can call either fallen freedom fighter a real comrade.
You have finally recognized the "development of the GJB"; but your
assumption that we have been destroyed by the state is, at best, a sad
example of unquestioning belief in the state’s propaganda. When, in

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fact, it should have been very clear to you that all kinds of police were
continually looking for us in Oregon. Also obvious is that our locked
down brother, Ed Mead, has not been destroed.

As you well know, Comrade Ed has many times been wrongly at-
tacked personally and politically by you. Perhaps a move toward rec-
tifying these attacks would be a show of real change in your practice
around prison struggles. In the past year, there have been organized
struggles in all Washington joints; the strongest at Walla Walla (pri-
‘marily around behaviour modification torture and general conditions).
Edis one of the Walla Walla Brothers now actively engaged in struggle
against an all out attack by the state. You could be helping to build ac-
tive/public support for this life and death struggle.

‘We will so0n issue a more lengthy political statement. The follow-
ing is a draft of the section on the Weather Underground. We think you
should consider these more general political criticisms of your ideology.

What followed is the “Weather Influence” section of “The Power of
the People I the Source of Life"—Part III of this collection—minus the

closing quote from Cabral. I have omitted this "Weather Influence” sec-
tion here, but reproduce the remainder of the “Open Letter” below.

We would also like to say something about the Brigade's role in
this relationship between us and JBBC. It was by no means exem-
plary. Sometime before the January 1976 Laurelhurst action, the
GJB ceased all attempts to relate to JBBC. Prior to this, individual
Brigade members made numerous approaches to JBBC people. These
approaches were always for the purpose of asking for support of one
Kind or another: resources, money, use of their equipment, contacts,
advice, etc. When these requests were refused (as they always were),
our consistent response was angry outbursts calculated to force/
shame JBBC into acknowledging what we saw to be their revolution-
ary duty. We made lttle or no attempt to engage them in honest,
principled political struggle; instead, our practice was characterized
by the kind of liberalism and opportunism that grows from seeing
immediate tactical needs as ends in themselves. We saw their refus-
als as proof of their deep-seated and unchanging opportunism and
thought that forthright political struggle would be a waste of time.
‘This kind of sectarian cynicism usually goes hand in hand with a “more
revolutionary than thou” arrogance, and both are all too common in
groups doing armed work. We continue to be determined to root out

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these errors in the Brigade; this letter should be seen in this light.
Our criticisms have not been liberal, they have been harsh. Our words
should not be interpreted as divisive; our intention is that your re-
sponses to these honest criticisms will move forward your rectifica-
tion. We are encouraged because your statement is one step in mate-
rial proof of real change. We are encouraged to see you begin this hard
struggle. We are eager to hear more. We are also anxious to see a closer
link between your words and your actions.

In The Spirit Of Struggle,
‘The George Jackson Brigade

21
Creating a Movement with Teeth

BusT THE Bosses

The following communiqué was printed as "Jackson Brigade Supports”
in Northwest Passage, October 24-November 7, 1977, 2, and appeared
under the title “Dealer bombed"” in Seattle Sun and Orca, no. 2, Winter
1877-1978, 10-11.

Tonight we bombed the S L. Savidge new car dealership in support of
the four month long strike by the Automotive Machinists Union, Lodge
289. Sheet metal, Teamsters and Automotive Painters unions have also
been on strike against the dealers for several months. We chose S.L.
Savidge in particular because he was identified by striking workers as
one of the leaders of the car dealers' attempts to break the union.

Also, on October 6, we attempted to test an incendiary bomb at
Westlund Buick as punishment for Westlund's role as president of the
52 member King County Automobile Dealers’ Association. The device
failed to detonate. (To verify that we placed the device: the timer wasa
white plastic, 60 minute kitchen timer with red numbers; and the gal-
lon bottle of gasoline and sulfuric acid was wrapped with cheesecloth
containing a potassium chlorate solution.)

It is clear that the bosses only want more profit for themselves at
the expense of their workers. In this particular strike, the bosses are
dlearly trying to break the union in an attempt to get more profit for
themselves. The best strategy against this union busting attempt is to
cost the bosses more than they gain by employing scabs

We therefore encourage all people to support this workers’ strug-
gle. There are many ways to express support, some are more comfort-
able than others. Choose one of the following and act.

1. Don't cross a picket line for any reason! Take your business else-
where or wait until the strike is settled.

2. Tie up the dealers’ phones! Call in as a concerned person and
complain, or call from a phone booth and leave the line hanging

3. Put sugar in the gas tanks of dealers' new cars, or potatoes in the
tailpipes! This will destroy the engine.

4. Break the dealers’ windows! Use bricks, slingshots, small arms,
etc. Slash their tires too!

5. Lock the bosses out! Put super glue in any and all locks of build-
ings or cars. (This is easy and it works great!)

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We are not members of any of the striking unions, but we have talk-
ed (anonymously) with striking workers all over town. We are claiming,
these actions so that the workers will not be blamed for them.

AN ATTACK AGAINST ONE OF US
1S AN ATTACK AGAINST ALL OF US!

‘THE BOSSES NEED US,
BUT WE DON'T NEED THE BOSSES!

Love and Struggle,

‘The George Jackson Brigade
October 12,1977

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LETTER TO THE AUTOMOTIVE MACHINISTS UNION LOCAL 289

October 16, 1977
Automotive Machinists Union
Local 289

2701 1%

Seattle, Wa.

Erien

We were responsible for the fire bombing last night at BBC Dodge
in Burien. We were also responsible for the pipe bombing of S.L.

Savidge earlier this week, and the attempted fire bombing at Westlund
Buick on October 6

In last night's action we used three gallon juice bottles contain-
ing a gasoline sulphuric acid solution. The bottles were wrapped with
cheesecloth saturated with potassium chlorate and sugar as an igniter.
A small pipe bomb was taped to the bottles to break them. Each of the
bombs were detonated by a Westclox Travelalarm; two of the clocks
were still in the red plastic cases they came in, one of them was taped
in a piece of styrofoam. At least two of the timers were recovered by
the King County Police.

We gained entry to the storage lot by cutting a chain link fence
on the North side of the lot, about 20 feet east of a cluster of black-
berry bushes. One bomb was placed on the hood of a sedan parked
against the chain link fence; and the third was on the hood of sta-
tion wagon parked toward the center of the lot next to a large recre-
ational vehicle

We are certain that there is enough specific information in this
letter to completely clear the union and its membership of any com-
plicity in these actions. This letter itself is being typed on a type-
writer used extensively by the Brigade, and the FBI has samples of
this type, including bank robbery notes. To eliminate all question, we
are including two copies of the right thumbprint of John Sherman, a
known member of the Brigade. One thumbprint is at the bottom of
this letter, and the other is on the enclosed xerox copy of this letter.
You should give this letter to the police and keep the xerox for your
own protection.

Also attached is a copy of our October 12 communique which sets
forth our reasons for these actions

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We wish you complete success in your efforts to hold the line
against ever increasing and ever sleazier attacks by the bosses.

Love and Struggle,
‘The George Jackson Brigade

Ce: BBC Dodge
John Reed, Special Agent in charge, FBI, Seattle
King County Automobile Dealers Association
KOMO TV News

[actual thumprint]
John W. Sherman’s

right thumbprint

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

‘You Can KLt A RevoLUTIONARY, BuT You Can'r KiLL THE RevoLuTION!

On May 9, 1976, the prominent former journalist and Red Army
Faction cofounder Ulrike Meinhof was discovered hanging in her prison
cell. While the state called it suicide, her fellow prisoners cried murder. An
International Commission eventually backed them up, presenting evidence
that Meinhof had been raped and strangled before being hung up in her
cell.® Meinhof's death came in the midst of a long-delayed trial and after
years of dramatic activism by RAF prisoners and their outside supporters
‘against the new isolation regimen implemented to neutralize political pris-
oners. Prominent radical intellectuals such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone
de Beauvoir voiced their condemnation of the death in custody. A wave of
firebombings hit West German governmental and corporate offices across
Western Europe, militant mass demonstrations took to the street, and other
prisoners launched hunger strikes in protest and mourning**

On October 18, 1977, a government official announced the deaths
of Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin in Stammheim Prison, as well as
the unsuccessful attempt on the part of fellow RAF prisoners Jan-Carl
Raspe and Irmgard Maller to participate in a suicide pact. Raspe died of
his wounds, while Maller lived to challenge the state's version of events.
As with Meinhff’s purported suicide, official accounts of the Stammheim
deaths were deeply unconvincing * Protests, kidnappings, and bombings
racked Europe.®: The Brigade attack, explained below, seems to have been
the only armed act of protest against the deaths in North America

The following communiqué, dated November 1977, appeared in Orca,
no. 2, Winter 1977-1978, 12-13.

On the night of November 1, we bombed the Phil Smart Mercedes
Benz dealer in Bellevue in retaliation for the murders of our German
comrades of the Red Army Faction. This punitive action is in solidar-
ity with the thousands of freedom fighters throughout Europe and
around the world who have taken up the counter attack against the
real terrorists: the international imperialist ruling class and all its in-
struments of terror.

‘This action is dedicated to:

Ulrike Meinhof, a political prisoner who was raped and strangled
in her maximum security isolation cell in Stammheim, the special for-
tress prison in Stuttgart, Germany on May 9, 1976. The official coro-
ner's verdict was suicide.

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Andreas Baader and Jan Carl Raspe, political prisoners who were
shot in the back of the neck in their separate isolation cells in the same.
prison on October 13, 1977. The official coroner’s verdict was suicide.

Gudrun Ensslin, a political prisoner who was hanged from an elec-
tric extension cord in her isolation cell on the same day that Baader
and Raspe were shot, in the same fortress prison. The official coroner’s
verdict was suicide.

We send a special message of support and revolutionary greet-
ings to Irmgard Moller. She is a political prisoner at the same prison in
Stuttgart, Germany. The state failed in its attempt to stab her to death
with a bread knife. However her statement, made from her hospital
bed that she did not try to kill herself, means that her lfe s stillin dan-
ger. The ruling class freely uses murder and torture to silence people
who expose their terrorism.

Al four murdered freedom fighters, as well as Moller, were cap-
tured urban guerrillas, members of the Red Army Faction (referred to
by the ruling class media as the “Baader-Meinhof gang"). They were
tried and convicted under “exceptional” laws—laws designed to give
the German ruling class a freer hand in crushing popular dissent.
These people were subjected to increasing physical and mental tor-
ture, sensory deprivation and isolation from each other, their friends
and their lawyers. The German government's excuse for the torture
was the charge that these guerrillas were directing armed activity in
Germany from inside the prison.

‘The German ruling class has a bloody history of disposing of their
political enemies. In the early days of Hitler Germany, the Nazis be-
gan this murderous practice by herding their enemies into concentra-
tion camps, shooting them, and labeling it “an escape attempt.” (Just
like the murder of George Jackson at San Quentin.) Because the inter-
nationalist capitalist class wants us to forget its experiment with fas-
cism, they now murder enemies through “suicides,” instead of staged
“escape attempts.”

We chose Mercedes-Benz as a target because it is a German luxury
car which is a favorite item of conspicuous consumption for ruling class
bosses, and because of its association with Hanns-Martin Schleyer, late
captain of German industry and unpunished Nazi war criminal 2

Schleyer was president of Daimler Benz, the manufacturers of
Mercedes Benz. He was also head of the Union of German Employer's

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

association (a combination national chamber of commerce and man-
ufacturer’s Association.). He was also an economic advisor and close
personal crony of the boss of the West German government. During
World War IL, he was a high ranking Nazi SS officer in charge of war
industries in Nazi occupied Czechoslovakia. He was the perfect repre-
sentative of "democratic” German capitalism.

Schleyer was taken hostage by the Red Army Faction to win free-
dom for eleven of their captured comrades, including Ensslin, Baader
and Raspe, who were murdered two weeks ago. Schleyer was executed
in retaliation for those murders

LOVE AND RAGE—FIRE AND SMOKE
REMEMBER THE STAMMHEIM MASSACRE

Love and Struggle,

‘The George Jackson Brigade
November, 1977

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A Open LerTeR To Bo (Rira D, Bows)
FROM THE REST OF THE BRIGADE

The following letter was printed in Orca, no. 2, Winter 1977-1978,
16-19.

It could have been me, but instead it was you.
So Il keep doing the work you were doing as if were two,
Tllbe a student of life, 2 singer of songs,
A farmer of food and a righter of wrongs.
It could have been me, but instead it was you.
And it may be my dear sisters and brothers before we are through.
Butif you can fight for freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom,
Ifyou can fight for freedom, I can too.

—Holly Near

It was your hair, comrade. Somebody around that fucking bank
spotted you with that hair like Carol Newland, and the Feds came and.
staked out that bank waiting for you to come back. And you did, and,
now they've got you. Zip, just like that another one of our strongest.
fighters is locked up. They must have tried to follow you home from
your walk on the beach with the dog, and you spotted them and dou-
bled back away from the house insuring your capture and our safety.

We heard about it on the scanner when 2 Adam 23 was sent to
“meet the FBI agent at 175" and Aurora” and impound our vehicle.
Since we had neglected to remove Dillinger's (our dog—also in the
slammer now) rabies tag, we realized that it wouldn't take the Feds
long to trace it back to our house.

‘That was about 3:30 in the afternoon. Frank®® was out in the Dodge
and wasn't due to call or be home until about five. The people left in
the house spent the next hour and a half trying to determine from
the scanner whether you were still being held at 175" and Aurora and,
could use some help, trying to locate Frank who had the only usable
vehicle, and trying to judge how much time they had before the Feds
showed up. Just before 5:00 they decided they could wait no longer.
‘They burned some shit, left a cryptic note for Frank, gathered up all
the weapons and ammunition and tried to walk away.

‘They had to turn back after one block because the equipment was
too heavy. About this time, Frank got home with the car, so we loaded.
it up with weapons and ammunition and a bare minimurm of clothing,
and other equipment and left. By the time we got to a safe place and

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unloaded, it was only about 5:30 or 6:00 pm, just four or five hours
since you were nailed, so Nora® and Frank took the car back to the
house to try to get one more carload of equipment out.

‘They did an area check approach to the house and discovered four
or five suspicious cars apparently meeting in the school parking lot
that faces Meridian (just where we always figured the police would use
asa staging area to raid our house). Nora and Frank drove by these cars
twice and were able to confirm that they were Feds by following one of
them (a big, dark four door, Inspector Erskine type sedan) as it moved
into position behind and to the North of our house. Its license num-
ber (IVU 004) was almost the same as the license number of an almost
identical Fed car we had spotted downtown some time ago (IVU 001).
Nora and Frank left the area just as the raid began.

S0 now we're in the process of summing up our mistakes and be-
ginning to rebuild, once again from close to the ground.

‘We have so far identified the following specific mistakes that led to
your capture and the raid on our house:

1. We failed to take your day to day appearance seriously enough
and didn't realize how distinctive your hairstyle was and how closely it
resembled a picture we knew the Feds had of you. This mistake cost us
you, our greatest loss, both materially and conditionally, in a long time.

2. Although we had sense enough to remove the dog’s license tag
anytime anyone went out with him, it never occurred to us to remove,
his rabies tag, This mistake cost us our base.

3. We overestimated the security of our house and failed to devel-
0p clear emergency plans that would have allowed us to evacuate the
‘most valuable equipment, tools, clothes and supplies first. This mis-
take cost us 90% of our supplies and equipment.

We seem to pay dearly for small mistakes in this work.

Overall, we made the mistake of too much doing with too little
thinking and discussion. Since returning from Oregon, we quadrupled
our workload with little or no change in our methods of work. During,
the last two months we did two bank robberies, four or five bomb-
ings,a thirty page political statement, a major criticism of John Brown
Book Club, and worked throughout on putting together another bank
robbery. We were also working on a couple of other major actions that
we can't talk about for security reasons."> We also did four or five full
tune ups on our vehicles, built a canopy for our truck and did all the
shit work maintenance that takes two or three hours out of every day.

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During this period we had almost no division of labor; tasks were
completed on a pretty much hit or miss basis of who was free and capable
of doing them. By and large, the tasks themselves were identified and de-
fined spontaneously, as they came up, with very little advance planning.

We worked six days a week, a minimum of nine or ten hours a day,
and our discussions were always the “minimum,” which usually meant
brief reports on today's tasks and assignment of tomorrow’s. We took
no time for serious discussion and analysis of the kind of problem that
led to your arrest and the raid on our house.

We will correct these errors. As we rebuild our base, we will incor-
porate the following changes in our day to day methods of work:

1. We will develop and implement a realistic division of labor based
on the number of people we have and logical definitions of areas of
responsibility in our work. In this way, we will have clearly defined re-
sponsibility for such things as security practice and will be much less
likely to make the kind of stupid mistakes that came from relying on
spontaneous insight (for example, to remove the dog’s rabies tag).

2. We will unfailingly set aside one day each week solely for meet-
ing, We will use these meetings for political struggle, for discussion
and analysis of our strategic development, and for reports, practical
criticism, and planning of next weeks tasks.

3. We will immediately develop a set of evacuation plans, establish
priorities for the removal of supplies and equipment, and will, from
time to time, conduct evacuation drills so that we all understand what
s to be taken, and how, for every possible situation.

Throughout the period of rebuilding, we will continue the process
of analyzing and defining the mistakes that led to this defeat. In this
way, we will transform the raid and your capture from a defeat into a
solid foundation for the new base.

Mao Tse Tung says that to be attacked by the enemy is a good thing
because it makes clear the distinction between us and the oppressor, and.
because it lluminates our weaknesses and provides us with knowledge
gained from criticism/self-criticism to move forward and grow stron-
ger. He says that we learn a thousand times more from a defeat than
we o from a victory. This is true, but only to the extent that we make it
true in our practice. And we will make it true because we love you, and,
we love freedom, and because we are part of the masses of people and a
handful of sleazy capitalists and their lackeys are no match for us.

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

S take care of yourself and hold on. Victory is certain.

The wheel of law turns without pause
after winter comes spring ..

What could be more natural,

after sorrow comes joy.

Love and Struggle,
‘The George Jackson Brigade
November 1977

To Bo, Wherever We May Find Her

They snatched you
Leaving that hollow empty gap
TUGs know

My pillowis drying
Spent grief is turning into rage

Eyes, lips, hips, thighs, flower

Arms enfold me

Remembering you on the beach

(Your first boat ride)

Halloween painted faces

Laughter, tears and

Good loving

My lover no longer shoots pool

witha 357

But you still make me feel like dancing

Aches turn to comfort
Bodacious sister woman you are
In my mind as [

Plant bombs, rob banks

Your strength and discipline will
Keep me fighting

—Jory

132
Communiqués

OPEN LETTER To JAILERS SPELLMAN AND WALDT

The following appeared under the title "Horse's mouth” in Seattle Sun,
December 28,1977, 2, and in Orca, no. 2, Winter 1977-1978, 22-25.

John D. Spellman Lawrence G. Waldt
King County Executive Sheriff Director, King County
7048 515t Ave. N.E. Dept. of Public Safety
Seattle, WA 6535 Seaview Ave. NE #7098
Seattle, WA
Jailers Spellman and Waldt:

Tonight we bombed the transformer supplying power to
Southcenter and the Andover Park Industrial Complex to protest the
criminal and inhuman conditions at the King County Jail. Southcenter/
Andover Park Industrial Complex was chosen because it is a center of
capitalist activity in King County. Capitalism causes crime with unem-
ployment, poverty and oppression, and the capitalists are responsible
for the conditions in their jails.

‘The media has been reporting on the dehumanizing and over-
crowded in the King County jail for some time now. Even the King
County Superior Court judges snivel about the “outdated, overworked,
and vastly overcrowded” conditions in a jail designed for a maximum
of 550, and now confining over 700 people. The jail also is in gross
violation of the Fire Code, refuses to correct these violations, and is a
potential death trap for those imprisoned there.

Itis clear that King County intends to do nothing about these con-
ditions. A bond issue for possible improvement funds won't even be
considered until a year from now, if at all.

Further exposure of the brutal conditions and practices at the jail
are contained in a letter from Mark Cook in the November 14 issue of
the Northwest Passage. Mark Cook has been confined in segregation in
the King County Jail since March 12, 1976,

Tam kept in segregation, isolated from other ‘mainline’ prison-
ers because [am a political threat to the ‘order and security of the jail”
Although the keepers admit I have broken no jail rules and regula-
tions, and have caused no disturbance to warrant being kept in disci-
plinary cells, | have been in such confinement for twenty months

133
g a Movement with Teeth

1 spend twenty-three hours a day in my cell (six feet by sev-
en feet): I am given midnight showers every two or three days: no
daylight enters the cell; ell lighting is poor: there is no ventilation:
there s no hot water: there is a sink and a toilet: I eat my meals on
the floor (there is no table). T have suffered various harassments
from jailers and jail authorities (people in the news media who in-
tervened in my behalf didn't want to believe what was happening).
Fellow prisoners in adjoining cells are mostly the uncontrollable
psychotics who are locked back here without supervision. They of-
ten rage for hours at a time, flood their cels, set their cells on fire; a
few have played in and eaten their own feces. Under these and other
pressures at times [ have reacted futilely, but my awareness of the
incompetent and oppressive controls of the state seeps through and.
I quiet down, struggling inwardly with repressed anger.

Iam an African, descendant of Aficans trapped here in North
America in the slave colonies. I am of the working class, an uphol-
sterer and common laborer when I have to be. So the contempt
and indignities I suffer at the hands of the government, though di-
rected at me in this instance, are a sample of the indignity and con-
tempt the government feels for African and working class people
who are ‘politically suspect.

Mark Cook is a black, ex-convict prison organizer who was convict-
ed of participation in Brigade activities on the testimony of a bribed
heroin addict. His trials were and continue to be marked by govern-
‘ment misconduct and deceit. Mark Cook has steadfastly maintained
his innocence throughout. His case is still being appealed.

Ed Mead, an admitted GJB member, is in general population at the
state penitentiary at Walla Walla. Rita Brown, an alleged member of
the GJB charged with numerous bank robberies, is in general popula-
tion at the Marion County Jail in Oregon. Mark Cook, who denies com-
plicity with the Brigade and has a history of clearly non-violent politi-
cal activity, had been held in solitary confinement in the most brutal
of dungeons in the King County Jail for over twenty one months. Both
Rita and Ed are white. Mark Cook is black. His black skin is the sole
“justification” for the arbitrary and degrading treatment he is subject-
ed to. This kind of blatant racism is [an] all too common practice by the
ruling class generally, and in their prisons and jails in particular.

You should inform your ruling class bosses of the following initial
demands

1. Release Mark Cook into general population with full “privileges”
immediately.

134
Communiqués

2. Publish in the two major Seattle newspapers a detailed report of
exactly what fire codes are being violated, and what is being done to
correct them and bring the jail up to code.

3. Publish in the two major Seattle newspapers detailed plans for the
emergency evacuation and rescue of prisoners in the jail in case of fire.

4. Make an examination by licensed medical personnel from out-
side the jail available to all of the people in segregation. Have licensed.
‘medical personnel from outside the jail do a thorough investigation of
the medical conditions in segregation and publish a detailed report of
their findings in the two major Seattle newspapers. This group should,
include people from at least the following medical disciplines: internal
medicine, neurology, opthamology, and psychiatry. This group must
also include people from the alternative medical community.

You should inform your capitalist bosses that we hold them re-
sponsible for these demands, and that if they are not met within a
‘month's time, we will continue attacking ruling class institutions, cap-
ital equipment, and persons throughout the Pacific Northwest. These
attacks will continue until these reasonable demands are met

We urge all progressive people in Oregon and Washington to join
with us in this campaign to bring King County Jail up to minimum
standards of human decency. Some specific things that people can
do include:

1. Call Spellman (344-4040) and Waldt (344-3855) daily and ha-
rass them about these demands.

2. Continually call the King County Jail (344-2641) and ask if Mark
Cook s in general population yet—and why not.

3. Write to Spellman and Waldt; stop by their homes and discuss
these demands with them (see addresses at the top of this letter)

4. Call the Fire Marshall (County—344-2573; City 625-4077) and
demand to know why they've allowed the jail to remain in operation
when it's in violation of the Fire Code. Demand that they enforce the
Code at the jail. (If our homes were in violation of the Fire Code, we'd
be thrown out of them for not correcting violations.)

5. Call the Health Department (County—344-5210; City 625~
2161) and demand that they take action to correct the lack of medical
attention for those in segregation.

6. Sabotage Spellman and Waldt's offices, homes, cars, etc.

7. Call and lodge a citizen's complaint with the County (344-3452)
and City (625-2161) Ombudsman.

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

8. Sabotage (Superglue for example) any and all ruling class insti-
tutions (banks, supermarkets, insurance companies, etc) and their
capital equipment until these demands are met.

These actions are by no means petty. If they are taken up by enough
of us, they would mean a hundred times more than any bomb. Mass ac-
tivity will make the difference.

CAPITALISM IS ORGANIZED CRIME
JAIL THE JAILERS

Love and Struggle
‘The George Jackson Brigade
December 23, 1977

136
Communiqués

BusT THE UNION BUSTERS

The following communiqué appeared in Orca, no. 2, Winter 1977~
1978,20-21.

Tonight we bombed a railroad car containing new cars at the
Convoy Transport Company in Kent, Washington. New cars are
brought by railroad to Convoy and transported from there to new car
dealerships in King County. This action was in support of the seven
month long strike by the Automotive Machinists Union, Local 289,
against the King County Automobile Dealers’ Association.

From the start of this strike, the bosses have clearly been attempt-
ing to bust the Automotive Machinists Union as a part of their continu-
ing drive to get more profits for themselves at the expense of workers.
‘Their tactics have included slanderous attacks against the machinist in
the news media, and court injunctions against mass actions at some,
dealerships. More recently, they have conspired with the news media
in trying to suppress any mention of the continuing strike.

‘The local union hacks haven't done much better than the deal-
ers. They have limited the “official” battle to picketing, while ne-
glecting to publicize rallies and mass actions, or to spread the word
about the strike among other unions. The hacks on the King County,
Labor Council didn't even bother to put the struck dealers on their
unfair [practices) list until after the machinists had been on strike
for six months,

But the workers have stood firm against these attacks and contin-
ued to build support for the struggle throughout their long and cou-
rageous strike. In August, over 800 workers marched in the streets of
Seattle in support of the striking auto machinists. The machinists held
a mass labor rally November 12 outside the dealer-sponsored Auto
Showat the Kingdome. Striking machinists have frequently been joined.
on their picket lines by workers on strike against Boeing, and by the
Firstbank Independent Emploees Association (Seafirst Bank Union),
as well as others. Workers in the American Postal Workers Union and,
the Meatcutters Local 81 proposed and passed resolutions in support
of the machinists. On November 17, a mass celebration was held at the
Westlake Chevrolet picket line, where machinists “celebrated” having
been on strike for six months and vowed to continue sticking it out.
On November 23, a group of striking machinists picketed City Hall in
an attempt to get the news media to cover their strike.

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

This attempt at union busting by the Dealers' Association is not an
isolated event. Because capitalism (like an old Ford that's been patched
up once too often) is falling apart again, there have been more and
‘more attempts at union busting by bosses everywhere. As the capi-
talists scramble to increase their declining profits, strikes everywhere
are becoming longer and harder fought. Currently in Seattle, Seafirst
National Bank is attempting to bust the Firstbank Independent
Employees’ Association, which has been without a contract since
August 1. The unions in auto dealerships in Portland, Oregon, were
busted out two years ago. Spokane has one union left in a dealership
after the rest were busted out five years ago. Southern California has
0 auto machinists unions left at all.

But the striking auto machinists have drawn the line against
union busting, and have been joined in their common battle by work-
ers throughout the King County area. The best strategy against the
Dealers' union-busting attempt is to cost the bosses more than they
gain by employing scabs. We therefore continue to encourage all peo-
ple to support this workers' struggle. There are many ways to express
support. Choose any of the following and act

1. Don't patronize the struck dealers. Don't cross a picket line for
any reason! Take your business elsewhere or wait until the strike is

2. Tie up the dealers’ phones! Call in as a concerned person and
complain, or call from a phone booth and leave the line hanging,

3. Put sugar in the gas tanks of the dealers’ new cars, or potatoes
in the tailpipes! This will destroy the engine.

4. Break the dealers’ windows! Use bricks, slingshots, small arms,
etc. Smash their tires, tool

5. Lock the bosses out! Put Superglue in any and all locks of build-
ings or cars. (This is easy and it works great!)

6. Call and harass the various news media until they give adequate
news coverage to the strike and the real issues involved.

At this time, the unions which our parents and grandparents
fought and died for are one of working people’s strongest and only
protections against attacks by the bosses. In the end, the bosses’ at-
tacks can only be overcome by doing away with the bosses and their
rotten system. In the meantime:

138
Communiqués

BUST THE UNION BUSTERS AND KEEP SEATTLE A UNION TOWN!
AN ATTACK AGAINST ONE OF US IS AN ATTACK AGAINST ALL
OF US!

‘THE BOSSES NEED US, BUT WE DON'T NEED THE BOSSES!

Love and Struggle,
‘The George Jackson Brigade
December 24,1977

139
Creating a Movement with Teeth

“OUR LOSSES ARE HEAVY
BUT WE ARE STILL HERE
AND WE INTEND TO KEEP ON FIGHTING!""

Captured Recaptured Captured

Therese Coupez b Sherman Jaine Bertiam

e ae s, ot ot bl of he

o of th o 4

Seatti - Easter Sunday - 1978

Flyer produced by Brigade supporters after the arrest of the last
‘members, Coupez, Sherman, and Bertram. The photograph of
Coupez has been removed at her request.

140
Part lll

‘HE POWER OF THE PEOPLE IS THE SOURCE OF LiFE:
POLITICAL STATEMENT OF THE GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE
‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life

The Brigade’s political statement surfaced just days after the ar-
rest of Rita Brown. It claimed a number of actions not previously
linked definitively to the Brigade, thus complicating Brown’s prospects
for a successful defense. Aboveground supporters printed it and made
it available at Left Bank Books and other sites of radical convergence
in the city. Nortwest Passage collective member Jim Hansen selected
portions of the political statement as “an appetizer” for readers. He
editorializeds “My intent is that you obtain a copy and evaluate it for
yourselves, using it s a focal point for political discourse.™ As the last
three Brigade members would be arrested three months after its re-
lease, and since the Brigades most spectacular actions were already
behind it, it caused less of a st than it would have in 1875 or 1976,
before the collective had internally clarified many of the positions set
out in this document.

1as
‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life

Tk POWER OF THE PEOPLE I THE FORCE OF LIFE:
POLITICAL STATEMENT OF THE GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE

arevolutionary liberation movement must deal with the en-
emy concurrently on alllevels, including armed violence. Otherwise:
when the inevitable showdown with the ruling class comes, the rev-
olution will be left defenseless and the lives of our beloved com-
rades needlessly sacrificed.

—Martin Sostre

‘The George Jackson Brigade has been around for more than two
years now, and we have not as yet issued an overall statement of our
political philosophy and principles. There have been three issues of The
Angry Turke,? but these have been written by individual Brigade mem-
bers reflecting their individual political development and were never
intended to represent the unity of the Brigade as a whole. We think
The Angry Turkey is extremely valuable as a basis for discussion and
struggle on the questions raised in armed work and we urge people to
use them for that purpose. But people have correctly criticized us for
failing to make a clear statement of our political unity as a group, and.
we hope that this document will provide that.

We dedicate this Statement to the memory of our comrade, Bruce
Seidel. Bruce was murdered by police hoodlums as he tried to surren-
der during the Brigade’s January 23, 1976, attempt to expropriate a
Tukwila bank.

Bruce saw himself as an inevitable product of the mass move-
ment. He understood the need for a movement with real teeth, and,
set about changing this understanding into a reality. Unlike so many.
of his racist counterparts, Bruce did not believe the lives of U.S.
commaunists to be somehow more precious than those of comrades
throughout the world who are fighting and dying in the international
class war against imperialism.

Bruce not only backed his words with commensurate deeds, he
transformed himself as well. He was easy to be with and easy to respect.
He gave people everything he had, including large chunks of himself.
He taught that each of us has a tremendous revolutionary potential,
and that with a little effort we can apply the scientific principles of dia-
lectical and historical materialism to ourselves, thereby enhancing our
political growth and productivity. He said the main problem with our
‘movement is people putting themselves first and revolution second.

147
Creating a Movement with Teeth

The death of our comrade still weighs like a mountain on our
shoulders. We loved Bruce in life and we love him in death. We don't
‘mourn Bruce; rather we remember his contributions, put his example
into practice, and celebrate the joy he brought to our lives.

CAPITALISM

creptinto my soul

lunging at my heart

digging into my throat

and stabbing at my lungs

as the blood flowed

my heart refused to stop

‘my voice remained determined

Then CAPITALISM

lost ts balance

hopped into his Cadillac

and retreated back to the police station
—Bruce Seidel, 1976

History and Summation of Brigade Unity
The Brigade was formed in early 1975 by a small group of unem-
ployed working class communists. In and around the Brigade were
working class ex-convicts, ex-students and other more or less perma-
nently jobless people. All of the people publicly associated with the
Brigade (B.S., R B, E.M, &J5.)*and the overwhelming majority of the
rest of us,* have long histories of involvement in mass political strug-
gle in the Seattle area. In one way or another, it was this involvement
in the struggles of women, prisoners, Third World people, gays and
young people that led all of us to a commitment to armed struggle.
‘The Brigade is composed of women and men working together to-
wards revolution. At least 50% of our members are women;” atleast half
of the women are lesbians;* at least half of the leadership and decision
‘making comes from women; and at least 50% of the planning and partic-
ipation in all actions is done by women. We have no “mastermind” and
no single leader; rather, we operate in a collective and democratic man-
ner, using and developing the skills and capabilities of all of us. We share
skills and jobs so that all of us are working towards being capable of per-
forming any of the tasks, mental and manual, that our work requires.
‘The main point of unity for the Brigade has alays been the deter-
‘mination to fight capitalism—with force of arms—here and now. We
reject the notion prevalent in the left that the skills and experience

s
‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life

necessary to wage successful revolutionary war will drop from the sky
when needed. We do believe that the central task for revolutionaries at
this time is mass organizing. We also believe, however, that it is vitally,
important that some of us begin the complex process of developing
the theory and practice of armed struggle. Armed struggle is not the
“axis around which all other forms of struggle harmoniously develop,”
but it is an absolutely essential part of the struggle to destroy capital-
ism and its heavily armed state.

We also are, and have always been, united on the following
points

‘The struggle to destroy capitalism provides the foundation for the
struggle to end all oppression. The destruction of capitalismis our cen-
tral strategic goal. It is vital that we unite and mobilize against our
common enemy, the international imperialist class. At the same time,
we must constantly intensify our struggle against all the forms of spe-
cial oppression that class society gives rise to.

Although there are several classes and strata that have no objec-
tive interest in capitalism (ie. petty-bourgeoisie, bureaucrats, man-
agers, etc.), the only truly revolutionary class is the proletariat—the
working class. That is, all of us who own nothing but our labor and,
who, as a class, produce everything that gets produced in society. Only
when the working class includes all of us, and when we all share equally
the responsibility as well as the rewards of production—the heart and,
soul of society—is there a basis for freedom.

‘There are millions of people in this country whose lives literally
depend on the destruction of capitalism and who are ready and will-
ing to fight it given the opportunity. These are the more or less per-
manently jobless working class people—prisoners, ex-prisoners, old
people, young people, people trapped into the lowest paid, most tem-
porary shit jobs, people forced on welfare and forced to remain there.
Al of these people are discarded by capitalism in its monstrous de-
velopment and thrown into its ever-increasing reserve army of labor,
which capitalism uses to keep wages at a minimum and as an emer-
gency work force in the event of war and other disasters. It is among,
these people that armed struggle arises spontaneously and it is here
that armed struggle in general, and the GJB in particular, have taken
root in this country. We firmly believe that these people will form a

1a9
Creating a Movement with Teeth

powerful revolutionary army and provide the armed force necessary
to sweep the capitalist parasites forever into the “dustbin of history”
Without their strength and courage we cannot succeed.

We recognize that sexism and the special oppression of women
are the most pervasive and fundamental bulwarks of all class society;
and that the struggle against the special oppression of women is one
of the most potent revolutionary forces in this country. This is not to
say that sexism is “more oppressive” than racism, or more anything
than anything else, but simply to point out that the special oppression
of women was the historical foundation on which class society arose.
Sexism is the ideology of the special oppression of women and is a
‘major tool of the ruling class to divide and exploit us. Sexism must be
‘smashed in each of us.

The struggle of oppressed nations within the US. (Black people
and Native Americans, for example) and around the world for libera-
tion and self-determination is part and parcel of the world revolution-
ary movement and must be actively supported by North American
revolutionaries. Racism is the ideology of national oppression and is a
‘major tool of the ruling class to divide and exploit us. Racism must be
‘smashed in each of us.

The highest form of internationalism for North American revolu-
tionaries is to make revolution here, and destroy U.S. imperialism's base.

We are unalterably opposed to the oppression of gay people.
Capitalism contains within it the seeds of fascism, and gay oppression
is one of the clearest examples of this. While capitalism promotes gay
oppression all the time, in a period of advanced economic deteriora-
tion and turmoil the ruling class historically encourages hysterical at-
tacks on gays as a tool for promoting reactionary views and dissension
in the working class. It diverts our attention from the real situation
and crimes of the ruling class, and lays the foundation for further rul-
ing class attacks on larger and larger segments of the population. We
also reject the reactionary and fascist notion put forward by much of
the left that gay people cannot be revolutionaries. History and our
own practice clearly prove otherwise.

We reject the “foco” and “military vanguard” theories. We see our
job as providing armed support for existing mass struggle that has

150
‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life

clearly developed to the point where armed struggle can have a posi-
tive effect. Whenever possible we determine this by talking to the peo-
ple actually involved.

In the beginning, the Brigade was also united around the need for
socialism and a workers' state (the dictatorship of the proletariat) as
a transition to classless society. In fact, the people who formed the
Brigade were Marxist-Leninists. They saw the need to fight capitalism
with armed force as a necessary step in the struggle to build socialism.
‘They did not, however, require agreement on this for people to partici-
pate with them in armed work. And, prior to the Oregon retreat, the
Brigade worked with various people from time to time at the minimum
possible level of political unity—i.e. the necessity to develop armed.
struggle here and now, and unity on an action at a time.

‘The defeat at Tukwila dramatically changed the composition and
disrupted the political development of the Brigade. In the aftermath
of Tukwila, we had to start all over again to seek out our political uni-
ty. We no longer agree on the need for socialism and a workers' state.
Although we are sharply divided on this question, we have not as yet
found it necessary to resolve it either by reaching unity or disband-
ing. We have, however, spent a lot of time in the last year and a half
struggling to better understand the nature of this division so that we
can deal with it correctly when the need does arise in practice. On the
question of the need for socialism, the workers' state, and other relat-
ed questions, there are now essentially two views in the Brigade; these
are contained in the two statements attached to this document.

We are firmly united on the eight points of nity listed above, and
on the whole of the Brigade's Political Statement

The Lef

To build up the resistance of the people to the required pitch
needs more than guerrilla activity. The aims of the movement must
be popularized, the objectives clearly stated, and the world must be
informed of what's happening and why.

—Notes on Guerilla Warfare, Irish Republican Army

‘The left includes both formal organizations and independent, pro-
gressive people. We recognize both the positive and negative aspects
of and roles played by each of these parts in moving the revolution-
ary struggle forward. We have deep respect for those honest people in

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

all parts of the left who have committed themselves to and are work-
ing towards revolution. We do not see support for armed work at this
time as a dividing line between honest and dishonest people. There are
‘many honest revolutionaries who do not yet recognize their responsi-
bility to support armed struggle.

But around the question of armed struggle, the organized left
has ignored their responsibility to provide leadership and support for
armed work; and it s only from progressive independents and ordi-
nary people that we have received any kind of support.

For the most part, the organized left in Seattle has ignored us. Our
experience with them has led us to become somewhat cynical about
them, so their behavior hasn't bothered us too much. This cynicism
is an error we are working to overcome. But their behavior has also
forced us to learn the hard lessons of self-reliance: a strength we are
proud of and will continue to develop.

At the same time, we recognize the important contributions made
by those few independent segments of the left, and the ordinary peo-
ple, who have supported us, whether verbally or materially. It was the
support that was given, knowingly and unknowingly, that made it pos-
sible for us to survive long enough to learn self-reliance.

‘The aboveground left can and will be a mighty weapon in the hands
of the people. This can be seen very clearly in their work during the Viet
Nam war. They played a leading role in exposing its true imperialist
and aggressive character and in helping to unite and mobilize people
to oppose . The Vietnamese people have publicly stated their recogni-
tion of the key role this resistance played in helping to end that war.
We are confident that the vast majority of people and organizations
in the left will come to see just as clearly their responsibility around
armed struggle in this country. It is those people who critically sup-
port armed struggle now who are providing leadership examples for
the rest of the left around this responsibility:

Weather Influence

When we first came together, we were heavily influenced by the
Weather Underground Organization and its politics. Practice with local
Weather support people, however, soon exposed to us their cowardice
andhypocrisy. Both Bruce and Ed have written denunciations of Weather
and we fully support these documents.” But we feel that no mere practi-
cal criticism can succeed in revolutionizing that organization, and that
the entire thrust of Weather politics is wrong and opportunist.

152
‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life

Weather played an important and progressive role in its beginning
because they took up the question of armed struggle in the United
States at a time when maost “revolutionaries” seemed to think that it
was something that happened somewhere (anywhere) else. We feel as
much comradeship and respect for honest rank and file Weather peo-
ple as we do contempt for its opportunist leadership—leadership that
brought us, for example, dope dealing and turning oneself in to the
police as revolutionary tactics.

We do not believe that this opportunism is an accident—it flows di-
rectly from their view that revolutionitself s something that happenselse-
where and that the only role for the North American people s to bearoot-
ing section and fifth column in national liberation struggles against US.
imperialism. Weather's view that people in this country are too fucked up;
too fucked over; too backward; too whatever to make revolution is noth-
ing more than an excuse for ignoring Weather's own class background.
Both these views clearly underlie Prairie Fire* and everything else Weather
has written, induding stuff from the so-called “revolutionary commit-
tee”” The majority of Weather leadership comes from the upper classes
and they refuse or fear to give up their privileges. They use their politics to
liquidate class struggle and allow themselves to refuse to change.

We don't think the latest spectacle WUO has provided for us, “The
Split,” means very much. We think the only way the “revolutionary
committee” can live up to its name is to repudiate Prairie Fire politics
and turn their energy to building revolution in this country. Instead
the main issue in the split is, so far as we can tell, that the "revolution-
ary committee” claims to be “more Prairie Fire than thou”

Ishould just like to make one last point about solidarity be-
tween the international working class movement and our national
liberation struggle .. The main aspect of our solidarity is extremely
simple: it is to fight ... We are struggling in Guinea with guns in our
hands, you must struggle in your countries as well—1 don't say with
guns in your hands . . . but you must find the best means and the
best forms of fighting against our common enemy: this is the best
form of solidarity.
— Amilcar Cabral, 1964

‘The Police (and Other Backward Elements)

‘The police in this country divide pretty sharply into two. (Here we
are talking primarily about rank and file patrol people, dispatchers,
etc, and not the FBI, AT, supervisors and other elite corps.) The police

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

are the most visible and oppressive arm of the ruling class: armed and
extremely dangerous strikebreakers, thugs, hostage takers and mur-
derers for capitalism. Backed up by the courts, prison structure, social
services and the rest of the state apparatus that enforces the control
and oppression of people who are poor, sick, too old, too young, or un-
employed, the police are the front line troops of capitalism. Also, their
consciousness, is (obviously, given the reality of their day-to-day lives)
overwhelmingly reactionary and resistant to change.

But the police have o objective interest in maintaining capitalism,
and they are not the enemy. The police do not profit directly from the ex-
ploitation of labor, but are themselves exploited workers, denied even the
right to strike. The police have one of capitalism's shittiest jobs. A good
70% of their time is taken up with socially necessary but mindless and
tedious shit work like directing traffic, putting tickets on abandoned cars,
getting dead animals off the road, and writing inane reports about all of
this. (We know this to be true because for the past two years a healthy
percentage of our lives has been spent lstening to them on a police scan-
ner) For the rest they are charged with standing right up there on the
front lines and keeping the lid on the volcano of violence and discontent
capitalism produces. It’s ttle wonder that so many of them turn to booze:
and other forms of self-destruction. A central dilemma in police officers’
lives is that they have more in common with the day-to-day street crimi-
nals they send to jail than with the bosses they do it for. This is more or
less openly understood by both the police and the street criminals.

Givenall this it seems pretty clear that, as the contradictions sharp-
en, more and more of the police will come to see the truth and come
over to the side of the working class where they belong. We should
be prepared to welcome them—very cautiously. At the same time, we
‘must make it very clear in our practice that individual police officers
are fully responsible for the murders and torture they commit, and for
the general torment they cause people. This means that people should
retaliate against police crimes

We think it is completely wrong and one-sided to view the police,
state bureaucrats, bureaucrat capitalists (managers), foremen, etc., as
nothing more than flunkies of the ruling class. Although for the most
part these strata play backward and reactionary role at this time and
‘must be dealt with [with] extreme caution, they should not be summar-
ily rejected by revolutionaries. In the long run, capitalism holds nothing
but grief for any of them and they should be struggled with to see this, to
change their class stand and come over to the side of the working class.

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‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life

Terrorism

‘The bourgeois media gets a lot of mileage from calling us terror-
ists—as if that were the obvious truth, not open to question. In fact,
we are opposed to terrorism.

Terror is a tactic, no more and no less. People employ terror to
strike fear and confusion in the minds of their enemies. Terror, like
most any other tactic, can be revolutionary or not depending on con-
crete conditions

Terrorism, on the other hand, is never revolutionary. Terrorism is
the view that the use of terror alone is the strategy for revolution: that
through the use of terror alone, we can sweep the strongest oppressive
force in history from the face of the earth. We think not.

Terrorism is the flip side of reformism. Terrorism, like reform-
ism, operates on the absurd notion that capitalists and capitalism can
change, given the right motivation. For reformism, this motivation s
reason and/or parliamentary activity. For terrorists, the motivation is
terror. But they are united in the belief that they can change capital-
ism without destroying it. Capitalism cannot change for the better. It
operates on laws of historical development that are outside the will of
terrorists, reformists, the people, and even the capitalists themselves.
Capitalism can only be overthrown—by the masses of people, armed,
organized and united in their own interests. Armed struggle s valid
only to the extent that it supports and enhances mass struggle.

Terrorism results from the capitalist sicknesses of individualism
and self-service. Underlying terrorism is an abiding contempt for the,
masses of people. Terror is an extremely easy tactic to use. It requires
no special investigation to shed light on the possible effects of your
actions; it requires no effort to be responsible for your actions, or ac-
countable to anyone. Terrorism requires no principles to speak of and,
verylittle work. Pretty much all you need to be a terrorist is the ability
to hit a target about the size of your back door at 50 or 60 yards, and
a sufficiently strong arm to toss a bottle of gasoline across the street.
Revolution will come here only when the force and enthusiasm for it
reach throughout the country, and when the vast majority of us are
taking part in it—terrorism will not bring that day one second closer.
We reject terrorism and the notion of contempt for the masses which
underlies it. We also think that the tactic of terror itself is dangerous
and should be used very sparingly,if at all, in this country.

For people fighting against extinction, such as the Palestinian peo-
ple, the use of terror is an entirely different question, however, and,

155
Creating a Movement with Teeth

we support peoples’ right in such struggles to use whatever means are
necessary to insure their survival.

The Road Forward—Strategy

Settle your quarrels, come together, understand the reality of
oursituation ... that people are already dying you could have saved,
that generations more will die or live poor butchered half lives if
you fail to act. Do what must be done, discover your humanity and
your lfe in revolution. Pass on the torch. Join us, give up your life
for the people ... Take care of yourself and hold on.

“George Jackson

We've learned a lot about armed struggle in the past year and a
half. We have become pretty proficient tactically, and we've identified
and started to resolve some of our main strategic weaknesses. Tactical
problems and questions continuously come up in the course of our
work. We've made it our policy to try to develop dialogue with people
about our tactical problems as they arise. An example of this is the
bombing questions raised in our July 4 [1977] communique.

We believe that the main task of the urban guerrilla at this time
is to master the art and science of revolutionary war. We can do this
only by doing it—summing up our lessons—and doing it some more.
We are more than ever committed to taking part in this education by
practicing revolutionary armed struggle.

Our practice has confirmed for us three critical strategic goals:

1. BREAKING DowN OUR IsoLATION: We have come to believe that
the main obstacle to developing armed struggle here is the isolation
of underground fighters from the rest of the world. This problem is
particularly acute for fugitives. This contradiction arises from the need
for security and it must be resolved within that context so that we can
survive and keep on fighting, The contradiction has two parts:

Most importantly, we are isolated from the masses of ordinary
people who are the revolution. On the one hand, we are weak and vul-
nerable and cannot go out among the people to do investigation and
learn from them as much as we need to. The simple mechanical task of
growth—recruitment—represents an enormous security problem for
us. On the other hand we cannot survive for long, much less be success-
ful, unless we can find ways to o these things. We need to develop cre-
ative and concrete methods for reaching people. One example of this

156
‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life

that we're starting to look into is citizens band (CB) radios. Once we,
solve the security problems around it, we can use CB radio to reach re-
allybroad segments of the population. We can talk to people, listen and.
respond to their criticisms, and in time develop a valuable dialogue.*

Secondly, we are isolated from the aboveground left. This problem
isn't nearly so deep as our isolation from the masses of people, but
resolving it can provide a basis for breaking down our isolation from
the rest of the world. The aboveground left at this time represents our
main (even though indirect) contact with the masses and with the de-
velopment of the revolution. We learn what's happening from them
through their publications and other media, and, to a certain extent,
they help us distribute our communications to the people. Also, we,
believe that only by deepening our ties with people doing mass po-
litical work can we avoid for long “putting the military in command.”
‘This means that if we don't get input and direction from other people,
we will be making all these decisions ourselves. Since we are military
workers, this is precisely “putting the military in command.”

We seek to unite with all who can be united around the eight
points of unity put forward in this document. We are anxious to work
with—develop organizational ties with/talk with/whatever with—all
progressive people who can agree with our eight points of unity.

2. ENLARGEMENT OF THE ARMED STRUGGLE: Enlargement of the armed
struggle can occur on two levels. First by enlarging the Brigade itself
through recruitment, etc. Both the problems and the advantages of this
are pretty obvious, and we don't want to talk about it too much for se-
curity reasons. The second is by developing ways to take part in unified
and coordinated strategies and/or actions with other groups already
doing armed work. We are very anxious to explore this, and we hope to
have some specific suggestions along these lines in the near future.

3. DEVELOPMENT OF A RURAL BASE: As to the development of a rural
base, we see this as an obvious long term need that we should start
working on now so that it doesn't catch us unprepared. In the begin-
ning stages, armed struggle can develop only in the cities. This is be-
cause of the ready availability of equipment, hiding places, targets,
banks, etc. Sooner or later, however, the number of people involved
becomes unwieldy and even the problem of finding a place to meet se-
curely becomes insurmountable. In the final analysis, only rural areas
can support large-scale armed struggle.

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

‘This shift can begin very simply by finding isolated areas for equip-
‘ment stashes, meetings, target practice, weapons testing and so forth.
We will continue to live and work entirely in the city for some time,
but we must start soon to develop our ability to go to the country, hide
there and attack from there.

A common argument against armed work in the USS. at this time is
that armed work has no place during a non-revolutionary period. We
disagree. A revolutionary period is when: (1) the contradictions of cap-
italism grow so intense that the ruling class cannot continue to govern
and maintain its control in the same old way; (2) the people cannot
continue to live and work as they have; and (3) the people are suffi-
ciently organized to exploit the situation and carry through the revo-
lution. Revolutionary periods are characterized by massive upheavals,
world-wide depression, imperialist war, and the general deterioration
of ruling class control.

Although we agree that North America is not in a revolutionary pe-
riod, itis in our future like a ship on the horizon. This is the time to get
ready, to intensify aboveground mass organizing and to begin to learn
the military skills we will need to prevail. A revolutionary situation
can end in only one of two ways: either we will win, or they will. Their
victory this time will mean either full blown fascism, or the wholesale
‘murder of the working class through world war. Or both.

‘We can only win if we develop as evenly as possible both mass or-
ganization with the depth and breadth necessary to demand an end to
capitalism, and the armed force necessary to enforce that demand. We
firmly believe that revolution will come to this country in the form of
protracted and bloody warfare and we are determined to start learn-
ing how to fight. This time it will be them and not us that bite the
dust—forever.

None of this is to say that armed struggle is just practice for later.
Guerrilla actions do cause material damage to the ruling class. We help
to break down their class power by clearly supporting mass struggle
or by punitive actions against them. Also, we help destroy the myth
of their invincibility and our powerlessness. We are a small example of
the potential power, strength, and determination of the people.

We urge people doing legal, aboveground work at this time to partic-
ipate in this process of learning to fight by arming themselves, learning
to use their weapons, and doing “armed” actions against the enemy.

158
‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life

Tactics

“It's an historical reality that the easiest way to arm the revolu-
tionis by taking weapons from the enemy—likewise the most scien-
tific way to finance revolution s by expropriating capitalist banks
The pigs have the guns and the banks have the money.”

—Black Liberation Army

‘The main tactics available to the urban guerrilla are as follows:

1. Expropriation and confiscation.
2. Taking prisoners.
3. Liberating prisoners.
4. Enforcing revolutionary justice.
5. Bombing and sabotage. (This can be either punitive in nature or
in support of peoples’ struggles.)
6. Propaganda and counter-propaganda

‘The four main political principles that should guide the urban
guerrilla in using and developing these tactics are:

1. Take nothing from the people; destroy nothing belonging to the
people—"not so much as a thread." In the event anyone other than the
ruling class or its state loses anything as a result of a guerrilla attack,
they must be reimbursed immediately and fully.

2. Oppose terrorism, reformism, and all other forms of contempt
for the masses.

3. Politics in command—rely on the people. This means that guer-
rillas must develop ways to take their leadership from the masses of
people and from people doing aboveground, mass political work. This,
also means that we have a responsibility to be accountable to the peo-
ple. Communiques are our tool for doing this. Through them we ex-
plain to people what we are doing and why; and counter the mystifica-
tion and lies spread by the bourgeois media.

4. The ruling class is made up of real people, who conspire and
plan their crimes behind closed doors and behind the facade of inter-
locking directorates and the like. Our task is to seek out the enemy,
behind all his fronts and attack him here. We must expose to people
the thousands of threads that bind the ruling class together and to
its state. This means that we do not limit ourselves only to the most

159
Creating a Movement with Teeth

immediately obvious targets, but that we should in fact always try to
demonstrate the class character of the enemy.

‘The main tactical principles we follow are:

1. We see propaganda and counter-propaganda (important as they
are) as secondary aspects of our work. Primarily we strive for our ac-
tions to have a material effect on the world.

2. We concentrate our forces on the enemy's weaknesses. We
choose when, where, and how we will attack; this is our main tacti-
cal advantage. Where necessary, we divert the police away from the
target.

3. Overall, we are in a period of defense and consolidation, and we
avoid actual confrontation and battle if at all possible. By choosing ar-
eas of low police concentration, we try to insure that if we are taken by
surprise and have to fight, the outcome will not be in question.

4. We develop our tactics 50 as to keep the initiative. That is, to
Keep the enemy reacting and guessing, never quite sure where we are,
who we are, or where we will strike next. In this way we deny them the
space to develop an effective plan against us.

5. The Compton Massacre of the SLA clearly shows that the police
are more than willing to use terror and murder when it suits them. If
taken by surprise by a superior force, we will make a positive effort to
surrender—we see no advantage to more freedom fighters being fried
on the six o'clock news.

6. On the question of security, consciousness s primary and de-
termines whether or not security will be upheld; specific security mea-
sures are secondary. Consciousness, however, develops and comes from
the practice of specific measures and techniques. Security is a state of
‘mind. Being security conscious requires that we integrate security into
our whole lives; into everything we do. It doesn't apply just during cer-
tain meetings, or with particular people or when the heat is around.

Overall, security practice is common sense. Concrete methods
‘must be different for different circumstances. We think people should
develop and apply concrete security practices based on the following,
principles. We have developed and confirmed these principles in our
practice and they have served us well:

a. Security is very important to our work; it provides the context
in which we survive and act. Action, however, is primary. In the end,

160
‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life

any contradiction between security and action must be resolved in fa-
vor of acting.

b. No matter who or what the circumstances, DON'T TELL
ANYONE ANYTHING THEY DON'T NEED TO KNOW.

& Who to trust: “Trust” NO ONE. “Trust” as a subjective judgment
should not enter into security decisions. Assume anyone could be a po-
tential informant unless you've had long (years) experience with them,
or have thoroughly checked them out. This way no one questionable
will see or hear anything they shouldn't

d. When doing secure work with other people, form an organiza-
tion s0 you'll have a vehicle for excluding people and/or thoroughly
checking backgrounds when necessary.

e. Do background checks if you have a reason to question anyone.
Be thorough and positive before trusting anyone you don't have com-
mon experience with.

£ Struggle against paranoia. Paranoia is unreasoning and counter-
productive to security. It's a tool the enemy uses to keep us inactive.
Adopt good security practices and develop an all-sided, realistic view
of the world.

g Assume the enemy knows nothing and that he knows every-
thing he could possibly know. Operating on both these assumptions
means that, on the one hand, we will be as careful as possible to deny.
him access to all sensitive information. We will avoid the laxness that
comes from thinking that he must already know such and such so it
isn't worth the trouble to keep it secret. If at the same time we assume,
he already knows everything he could know, we will avoid being lulled
into a false sense of security and will be constantly vigilant.

7. Good intelligenceis the foundation of a successful guerrilla orga-
nization. The vast majority of intelligence work involves the gathering
and organization of readily available pieces of information. Although
this is mostly shit work, there is no way to overstate its importance.
(An important task for people who want to remain aboveground
while participating in and supporting armed struggle would be to de-
velop these skills. Start files on developing mass strugglels]; pay par-
ticular attention to the organization of the ruling class as it opposes
them; investigate the police and strive to understand their strengths
and weaknesses [start by getting a police scanner]; develop target in-
formation: suggestions, terrain, weak spots, etc; talk to the masses
about armed struggle; publish the results of these investigations so
Creating a Movement with Teeth

that underground fighters and everybody else can see them.)

8. Seattle is our main area of work. There are two reasons for this:
First, Seattle is where we have all worked, lived and fought before. It is
where we understand best. It is where our roots and our base and our
debts are. Second, for as long as we can remain free and fighting where
we choose, we attack for all to see the myth of police invincibility.

At the same time, we have to stay vigilant and alert to the progress
the police are making in tracking us down, and be prepared to retreat
at a moment's notice to a safer rear area where we can recuperate, lick
our wounds, build back our strength and wait for the heat to die down
50 that we can return again. Our year and a half in Oregon is an exam-
ple of this. The entire rest of the country is a potential rear area for us.
We are trying to develop the ability to make these retreats ina planned
way, and on our own initiative.

‘This Political Statement is a summation of our present political uni-
ty. Itis the result of over two years of practicing armed work. We are in
aprocess of constant struggle and gravity, and do not see these views as
static or final. Rather, they will continue to change and develop as our ex-
periences and the development of the revolutionary movement lead us
t0.a deeper understanding of revolution, and the role of armed struggle

We remind people that, in this Statement, we have not given up
any specific information to the police. Rather we have let the people
Know as much of the specifics about us as the police already know, and
are hiding from people.*

We encourage people to respond to this Statement. We will do our
best to reply to the criticisms, comments, ideas that folks have about
any parts of this Statement, our work, or questions raised in our com-
‘muniques. It should be understood that responses need to be distrib-
uted publicly if they are to reach us; and that we don't see things as
500m as they appear. For example, we've just recently seen A Response
to the George Jackson Brigade” by the Stagecoach Mary Collective
(August 10, 1977), and are now in the process of responding to it."*

Inthe spirit of support, criticism, and understanding, we sendrevo-
lutionarygreetings toStagecoach Mary Collective, Walla WallaBrothers,
Left Bank Books, Open Road (Canada), BARC (San Francisco),” New
World Liberation Front, Black Liberation Army, Assata Shakur (BLA),
Sundiati Acoli (BLA), Red Guerilla Family,"® Fifth Estate," Martin
Sostre, Attica Brothers, Dacajewah (John Hill, Attica),' Bar None,'*

162
‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life

Fred Hampton Unit (Maine), Sam Melville-Jonathon Jackson Unit
(Massachusetts), FALN,” Puerto Rican Socialist Party, Lolita Lebron,
Irving Flores, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Andres Figueroa Cordero, Oscar
Collazo, CATSHIT (Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary), Emily Harris,*
Joe Remiro, Russ Little, Bill Harris, Midnight Special * Eddie Sanchez,
Carol Crooks, Marilyn Buck, Cameron Bishop,” Susan Saxe, Kathy
Power,”” American Indian Movement, Leonard Peltier, Red Army.
Faction (Germany), ETA (Basque guerrillas) * Red Brigades (Italy) *
Red Armor (Mexico), Japanese Red Army, IRA (Ireland), Montoneros
(Argentina), FRETILIN (Timor), International Che Guevara Brigade,
Committee for the Self Defense of Society (KSS, Poland), our comrade
Ed Mead, and all other groups and individuals who are involved in the
practice or discussion of armed struggle against imperialism.

hurlme
into the next existence
the descent into hell
won't turn me

1l crawl back

to dog his tail

forever

¥m part of the
righteous people

who anger slowly

but raged undammed
we'll gather at his door
in such a number

that the

RUMBLING
of our feet

will make the earth tremble.
—George Jackson

STILL AIN'T SATISFIED
DARE TO STRUGGLE, DARE TO WIN

Love and Struggle,

‘The George Jackson Brigade
November 1977

163
Creating a Movement with Teeth

ANTI-AUTHORITARIAN STATEMENT*®

The most obvious task (often the hardest to see or act on) of revo-
lutionaries in ameriKKKa is to smash the state. Only by destroying
this capitalist/imperialist economic power and its institutions can we
strike a total blow to the ruling class and the state (u.s. government)
which protects and maintains it. It is also obvious that if we recognize
a ruling class, we must recognize a working class. This working class
Knows no boundaries of color, age, or sex. This does not mean that
the working class does not have problems (e.g, rape, lynching, and
child molestation) that are as serious as the boundary between those
that got and those that ain't. But it is certain that only by destroying
capitalism can we complete the changes necessary to our survival as
peoples of dignity and respect. We do not believe that the majority of
working people are stupid or unfeeling—in fact [we believe] just the
opposite based on historical and personal knowledge. We are certain
that the people will overcome all of these problems and the many oth-
ers that exist.

Most of us are born, educated, work our lives away and die as part
of the working class necessary to maintain capitalist economny in amer-
iKKKa. The economy of profits for a few, consumers and consumed, in-
flation, unemployment, phony shortages, never enough wages, welfare
and food stamps, abortions only for the rich or purposes of genocide.
The economy of increasing illiteracy; where upwards to 50% of high
school graduates cannot read or write. The civil rights and/or equal
rights of today can only produce tokenism in a system that depends
on slavery. Wage slaves and free slaves (e.g., housewives and children)
cannot be collectively unshackled until all systems that continue to
create them are totally destroyed.

We should learn from all present struggles as well as the revolu-
tionary history of peoples around the world. We should also recog-
nize that ours is an advanced industrial society, unlike many countries
where revolution has happened or is happening. Advanced industrial
society in ameriKKKa also means advanced divisions, advanced iso-
Iation, and advanced lack of trust. It is time to stop believing in the
“ameriKKKan dream,” that we are the smartest and best. We need to
deal with reality as itis; recognizing differences that exist and begin to
work to build respect thru unity whenever possible.

Organizational forms that will realistically deal with the advanced
ills of capitalism in ameriKKKa must be developed from our own

164
‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life

concrete conditions and experiences. Perhaps some will be the same as
those used in other places and times, but we must never deny the pos-
sibility of new ideas and forms. All of us who labor in a million differ-
ent ways will decide what to do. No idealistic vanguard will lead us; we,
will lead ourselves. We are very unsure of the "need” for a centralized
government at any time under any conditions except maybe severe
famine or plague. Famine or plague can not occur very easily nowa-
days as we have the technology for eliminating most human ills and
suffering almost immediately; or at least the capability to develop such
rapidly by redirecting research efforts. It seems to us that centralized.
government almost always means centralized power. All the power in
one place/group can only fester like a boil and eventually corrupt even
those who started out with good intentions. Decentralization (spread-
ing the authority and power as thin as possible) seem to us to be a
better, safer, healthier concept. This would mean less possibility of any
group or individual becoming too entrenched in positions of influence
and thus, over time, power. Abolish power. We must make every effort
possible to encourage all of us to develop our imaginations and to ex-
pand the people’s creativity.

Serious revolutionaries must devote time and energy into the cre-
ation and implementation of organizational forms that will guarantee
all of us who choose to fight equal participation in bringing the ruling
class toits knees, Internal workings and how we relate are justas neces-
sary as smashing the state. If we don't do this, smashing the state will
serve no purpose. The reformists and “capitalist roaders” could easily
regain control by playing on the weaknesses of traditional capitalist
attitudes and conditioning, The people are the revolution. Because this
is 50 they will have, as one of their strongest weapons, revolutionary
consciousness. You cannot buy the revolution. You cannot make the
revolution. You can only be the revolution. It is in your spirit or it is
nowhere. Without revolutionary consciousness (the basic understand-
ing of all oppressions), there will be no revolution, only a changing of
the guard. This revolutionary consciousness is vital and must grow on,
thru, and far beyond the smashing of capitalism/imperialism.

‘ThepowernecessarytodestroyameriKKKancapitalism/imperialism
is an awesome authority. But our new classless society will not be pa-
triarchal o hierarchical, nor should our struggle to build it. The only
way for the revolution to be ripped off from the people is if elitist lead-
exs gain control at any point. We don't believe that the transition pe-
riod from capitalism to communism need be along or closely regulated.

165
Creating a Movement with Teeth

one. The people will be armed and have a fairly clear idea of life as
it should be or they will not have the love and determination neces-
sary to smash the state. Philosophies are set up to be fulfilled; if some
say a transition will be long, then they must work for it to be long
or their philosophy will not be fulfilled. Our belief/goal is to be rid of
any state as quickly as we can. Only a state can develop bureaucrats
who close their doors to the people. Authority can't be destroyed by
any movement which s in itself based on authority. Patriarchal, capi-
tal and state power can never be overthrown by organizations that are
themselves hierarchical and authoritarian (of, relating to, or favoring
a political system that concentrates power in the hands of a leader”
or small groups). Instead revolutionary organizations must mirror the
organization of the future,

One form which has been developing in recent years is small,
tightly knit, autonomous (the freedom to act in your own and others’
interests in agreed upon matters without special approval, permission,
or quorum) collectives; co-operating and supporting each other in as
‘many ways as possible. (This idea is not a new one to this era; it has
quite the world history). This form guards against police infiltration
and the domination of the majority by a few “leaders.” It just ain't pos-
sible to be a snitch or a boss where people know (have checked) where
you come from and talk and work together on a regular basis,

These groups should focus on identifying leadership when it occurs
and making sure it is temporary or for a particular task. All should be
encouraged to assume such leadership for short-term jobs. How else
can we learn to have confidence in ourselves? Skills have to be shared
and tasks rotated, except in periods of extreme crisis. Rotation of all
jobs is as vital as no special pay, privileges, or titles; all these help elimi-
nate experts. We fail to see how rotation of all jobs can be anything but
strengthening—as we all learn only then can we all be stronger. When
we all are strong with skills and knowledge there can be no profession-
al class of leaders. Non-oppressive ways of relating must be found and
used daily. We've all had a lifetime of learning overt and subtle ways
of manipulating others. Only with practice and struggle can we over-
come our bourgeois socialization and relate to comrades and allies on
an equal and honest basis. “None of us is better than all of us ™"

At the same time, the groups should learn how to work and co-
operate with other groups toward the common goal of smashing the
state. What seems to logically come out of all this is a federation of
some type as described in the SLA communique #5

166
‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life

“S. To place the control of all the institutions and industries of
each nation into the hands of its people. To aid sovereign nations of
the federation to build nations where work contributes concretely to
the full interests and needs of its workers and the communal interests
of its communities and its people and the mutual interest of all with
in the federation of nations . .. 15. To build a federation of nations,
who shall formulate programs and unions of actions and interests that
will destroy the capitalist value system and other anti-human institu-
tions and who will be able to do this by meeting all the basic needs
of all of the people and their nations. For they will be able to do this
because each nation will have full control of all its industries and in-
stitutions and does not run them for profit, but in the full interest of
all of the people of its nation . .. 16. To destroy all forms and institu-
tions of Racism, Sexism, Ageism, Capitalism, Fascism, Individualism,
Possessiveness, Competitiveness and all other such institutions that
have made and sustained capitalism and the capitalist’s class system
that has oppressed and exploited all of the people of our history.” (We,
encourage all folks to read and discuss the rest of this communique
and any others you can find by the SLA)*

As groups increase in size and number, they would collectively de-
cide how to co-operate (e.g, trade) and defend themselves and each
other without losing their self-determination. We think this is a very
high degree of unity—trading and defending ain't small things! It
means determining an economic system that is not based on profits
and combating the enemy in all his hiding places. A federation seems
to be a working method for recognizing existing differences, respect-
ing them, and struggling toward overcoming them.

Althoughit's much to early to tell this federation form could prob-
ably be expanded and used before, during, and after the smashing of
state power. It seems to be a common view among Marxist-Leninists
that anti-authoritarians, and other such opportunist, slanderous rab-
ble don't care about “the baby” and are foolishly simple enough to throw
out the dearest thing we have, the infant of tomorrow. We would prefer
to not drown “the baby” nor to smother it in our bosom; but to teach
it to be strong, self-reliant, and uninhibited. It's true there are sev-
eral questions that need answering. We encourage folks to be thinking
about the following: What happens when the revolution involves up-
wards to 200 million people? How will the people determine sections

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

of the federation? Special oppression? Production? Geography? We are
just beginning to form thoughts on these questions and would like
plenty more input. We need to hear your ideas

A current example of this form at work is the recent birth of 3rd
World gay organizations in the San Francisco Bay area. These sisters
and brothers no doubt encountered many obvious and presently un-
solvable contradictions trying to work with predominately straight 3rd
World groups and predominately white gay groups. The solution has
been to build several (Black, Asian, and Native American that we've
heard about) autonomous 3rd World gay organizations. This enables
them to do their work without a lot of bullshit and also insures that
the needs relating to their special oppressions will be met. Another
thing this form gives is a real base of support developing from 3rd
World gays' concrete conditions and experiences. No oppressor can
fully understand the pain, anger, or uncertainty of being oppressed.
White people cannot understand what it's like to be a person of color
in ameriKKKa, nor can heterosexuals understand what it is to be an
ameriKKKan lesbian or faggot.

The time for fighting this revolution is never tomorrow; what-
ever tool/forms are necessary must be leamed and used today.
Communication s an example of one of the most important areas of
what we need to do well and quickly. Regardless of structure, any time
expansion occurs, keeping in touch with reality/others becomes a real
problem. The responsibility is two way: to let others know where we are
and to find out about other peoples. Working coalitions of oppressed
peoples are a necessity in every job from painting picket signs to build-
ing and planting bombs. But they can only last a short time unless all
involved are treated as equals. This means listening to and struggling
with each other in an atmosphere of sincere support. This is known as
respect; a necessity for all of us and something that is missing in the lives
of ameriKKKa's oppressed peoples. We have to learn to take control over
our own lives now, and how to develop a collective power base without
fucking over each other. We have a job to do here in the belly of the beast,
to destroy capitalism/imperialism at its roots. Let's get on with it!

Pss. cooperating, autonomous groups of mosquitoes can drive an
elephant insane.

168
‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life

SERVE Tr PEOPLE—FIGHT FOR SocIaLIsM
From the George Jackson Brigade Marxist Leninists™

As communists, we fully agree with the final goal of liberation
and a classless, stateless society put forward by our comrades in
their statement: that goal is our reason for being here. We also share
the same deep concern and determination that our revolution not be
ripped off by capitalists, patriarchs, hierarchists, or any of the other
forces of evil that serve the international ruling class. There is no
disagreement within the Brigade over the need to build structures
that mirror our revolutionary goals; the necessity of involving all
of us in making revolution; the need for people to be nurturing and,
respectful of each other, etc. Our disagreement is on how to achieve
all of this. In this statement, we will limit ourselves to discussion of
our differences.

Our differences are in effect a disagreement between anarchism
and communism. Anarchism develops in honest people because of an
honest and righteous concern that democracy, individual initiative and.
the power of the people be upheld. Anarchist solutions, however, unre-
alistically deal with only one side of the complex set of contradictions
facing us. In this statement, we are not denying any side of any contra-
diction, but merely pointing out in each case the side that is ignored by,
anarchism. In each case here, that part is also learly primary.

‘There is nothing especially new in anarchism. Every pre-revolu-
tionary period in capitalism has seen the re-emergence of anarchist
as well as Marxist-Leninist ideas. Although anarchism has assumed
various names and forms throughout the years (Anarchism, Anti-
authoritarianism, Anarcho-such and such, etc.), its central character-
istic has always been a confused and paranoid view of the state.

‘The state (any state) is an instrument of class rule—no more and
noless. Itis, therefore, state agencies who are the visible agents of op-
pression now: police, prisons, courts, schools, welfare, etc. If we take
this superficial appearance and accept it as the true nature of things,
we would naturally conclude that it is the government itself that causes
oppression, and that the key to ending oppression and exploitation is
to do away with government. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Government is itself the result (and often the form) of the oppression
that class society produces. Doing away with government will be the
result of doing away with class society, and not the other way around.
We seek to destroy capitalism because it stands in the way of liberation

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

and an end to oppression. We smash the bourgeois state, not because
‘smashing the state will automatically produce freedom, but because if
we are to destroy capitalism and its ruling class we must first destroy
the means by which it rules.

Since the state is no more or less then the instrument of class rule,
the state will continue to exist, no matter what we might prefer, for as
long as class society exists. And a revolution cannot immediately do
away with class society, it can only replace one ruling class with an-
other. What's unique about this historical period is that the new ruling,
class will be the masses of laborers instead of a few bosses.

We want to state as clearly as possible that, although we do not
believe that anarchists are “opportunistic, slanderous rabble” we do
firmly believe that anarchism s grounded in the ideology of the capi-
talists, and that its persistence in honest people is the clearest exam-
ple we can think of just how deep that ideclogy is driven into all of
us. The real danger of anarchism is that it saps the strength of honest
revolutionaries, and diverts revolutionary energy away from concrete,
realistic goals. The following seven points represent the main areas of
struggle between anarchism and communism within the Brigade.

1. Not even the anarchists can completely ignore reality, and when
pushed to the wall, they often start talking about a federation of small
“affinity” groups as a solution to the problem of transition from capi-
talism to communism. This is because they view (and fear) centralism,
the dictatorship of the proletariat, and revolutionary leadership as
things in themselves, divorced from the concrete reality in which they
exist and out of which they flow. This is at the heart of the disagree-
‘ment within the Brigade.

Centralism, like anything else, serves one class interest or another.
Airplanes, tanks, bombs, guns, all of these [are] terrible things in the
service of the imperialists. In the hands of the people, however, they
are tools of liberation. Centralism, in the service of imperialism, is a
terrible thing. In the hands of the people, centralism is a tool of lib-
eration no less than any other weapon. Anything is “good” or “bad”
depending only on how and in whose interest it is used. To jump to
the simplistic and one-sided view that the abstract concepts of central-
ism, the dictatorship of the proletariat and revolutionary leadership
are "bad” and must be rejected is to throw the baby out with the bath
water. Seeing things as abstract, divorced from the reality surrounding
them, is the way the bourgeoisie teaches us to view the world.

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‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life

Not that we have any choice in the matter. The briefest glance at
the reality that exists in this country leaves no room for doubt as to
whether our new government will be centralized or fragmented. When
we abolish private ownership of the means of production in this coun-
try, we will come into control of a huge, immensely complex, integrat-
ed and unified system of production. The reality before us includes an
international bourgeoisie (the present ruling class), with its own orga-
nizations; a socialized and integrated national and international econ-
omy; twenty million “white collar” bureaucrats; a highly centralized
and effective police and military apparatus; etc. Even assuming there
were some justification for dividing us into small, autonomous groups
(which there is not), the mind boggles at the problem of separating out
areas of responsibility and control from the vast system of production
in this country and assuring that each affinity group fully acts in the
interests of everybody in each of the other “affinity” groups; in a fed-
eration. We think it's absurd on the face of it

‘The immense task of transforming society will require the collec-
tive input of everybody; democratic centralism s the tool for assuring
that everybody is represented, and that our representation has an ef-
fect on the world we seek to change. Democratic centralism combines
the strength and diversity of democracy with the strength and unity of
centralism. Revolutionary democratic centralism is not hierarchy and
power vested in a few leaders over the rest of us. The democratically,
centralist proletarian state s precisely power seated in the whole of
the people, united. Proletarian democratic centralism is a weapon to
do away with hierarchy and guarantee the widest possible participa-
tion in revolution.

Because of the lack of unity and communication, federation may
well be a necessary tactical step at this time—particularly for groups
engaged in armed work. In a period when we don't have enough politi-
cal unity to form one organization, this would allow us to achieve unity
of action while preserving small group autonomy. But we believe that
federation should be seen as a temporary step, required because of
our weaknesses. Federation is a necessary evil that promotes and per-
petuates our divisions and it should be discarded as soon as possible.
Instead of building unity, federation institutionalizes our differences.

Socialism s the general form we will use to rid society, ourselves and
our children of the cancer of bourgeois practice and ideology. Its hard,
for us to see how this could be accomplished within small autonomous
affinity groups. What if, for example, the Black Flag Tractor factory in

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

Ogden, Utah decided that the sexual division of labor was perfectly nat-
ural, and correct; that woman's place was in the home, and that they
were not going to mess with the “natural order of things"? Is this their
right as an autonomous affinity group if the majority of them agree?
We think not. What if the Red Star Locomotive company in Santa Fe,
New Mexico, decided that, due to their strategic location in the nation's
transportation system they could hold the rest of us up for an exorbi-
tant price for their services? Would this be liberation or extortion?

None of this means that we should ignore the problems that spe-
cial oppression and the longstanding divisions that have been imposed
on our class have produced. The struggle to rid ourselves of our op-
pressive notions and behaviour, and learn new, revolutionary ways of
being, will be a long and hard one. And we recognize the need, both
before and during socialism, for separate organizations of specially op-
pressed peaple. But these separate organizations will not be indepen-
dent governments; rather their function will be to lead all of us in our
common fight to overcome all forms of special oppression. They would
have the same goal as the socialist state of which they are a part: to do
away with the reason for their existence; to reach a time of real unity
and communism.

We are fundamentally opposed to a federation of small “affinity”
groups as a revolutionary goal; clearly a system that requires not one
but numerous bureaucracies, governments and bureaucrats is much
easier to rip off. Ifitis true (and we believe it is) that the working class
“knows no boundaries of color, sex or age that “all who depend on
their labor (paid or unpaid) for survival are members,” then any at-
tempts to divide us into small groups is doomed to fail.

‘The sole exception to this is in the case of oppressed nations with-
in the United States. We fully support the right of oppressed nationali-
ties to secure territory within North America, form their own govern-
‘ments and determine their own destinies,

2. We disagree with the view implicit in anarchism, and explicit in
our comrades’ statement, that the transition from full-blown capital-
ism to a classless, stateless society will take a relatively brief period of
time. The overthrow of capitalism will take a considerably long time;
and the road there will have many twists and turns, false starts, back-
tracks, etc. But this task, long and arduous though it will be, repre-
sents only the first and simplest step in our struggle to be free. We
need clearly to understand the distinction between the overthrow of

72
‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life

capitalism (the seizure of state power), and the advent of a classless,
stateless society. The former is only the first, tiny step in a journey
that will take many years, perhaps generations. It's very important to
be clear on this question. Otherwise, not only will we be out of step
with reality on the question of what is to replace capitalism; we will
very likely pass up the opportunity to destroy capitalism when it aris-
es. Lenin once said that the difference between the Bolsheviks and the
anarchists was that the anarchists wanted the revolution to wait un-
il people were different, while the Bolsheviks wanted the revolution
now, with people as they are. Ain't it the truth.

3. Revolutionary leadership occurs when the development of the
revolution produces people with the experience and clarity of insight
necessary to sum up the collective experience of the entire class and
identify the way forward. Revolutionary leadership is a product and a
weapon of the revolution, and if we are to succeed, we must learn to
identify it and encourage it among us. At the same time, we must learn
tobe vigilant and to distinguish between revolutionary leadership and
self-serving opportunism; we must strip leadership positions of all
privilege and permanence; and we must never allow power to rest in
the hands of state o party officials. The key to developing responsible
leadership s to encourage the initiative of the masses of people. Only
the masses of people, armed, organized and conscious of our class and.
our role in society can for long guarantee responsible, revolutionary
leadership. We oppose the arbitrary "rotation” of leadership positions
because we believe it weakens the revolutionary struggle. The masses
of people will choose people for leadership positions based on their
practice, experience, and grasp of reality; and they will change them
when they see fit.

4. American exceptionalism is nothing new. Traditionally, howev-
ex, it's been used to deny the need for armed struggle in the US., i.e.
“America has a long history of democracy, almost universal literacy,
universal suffrage, and a tradition of encouraging, at least in words,
civil dissent. Therefore, American bourgeois democracy is much more
unstable in its class character, and socialism can be snuck into America
without the ugly necessity of armed struggle.” And so on.

Our comrades’ brand of American exceptionalism is a little more
subtle. They turn the premise on its head and persistently claim that
since the American working class (although "not stupid or unfeeling”)

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

is so fucked up, individualized, competitive, racist, sexist, etc., the
centralization and unity of socialism is unnecessary or dangerous or
something, If all this slander were true (which it is not), we would ex-
pect to find anarchists arguing for more centralization to keep al these
fucked up people from ripping off their own revolution

5. While it is true that security is much easier in very small,
tightly knit groups that are isolated from each other, it's also true
that small, tightly knit autonomous groupings can't be very effective
against a united, monolithic force like the U.S. Army. There is a con-
tradiction between the revolutionary goals of developing individual
initiative and promoting the fullest possible democracy on the one
hand, and the need for strength and unity of action that comes from
centralized organization on the other. Anarchism’s view of this is too
one-sided; it completely ignores the second part of the contradiction
They would have us take on an (already “insane”) elephant with a
gang of mosquitoes.

6.“Arevolution is certainly the most authoritarian thing there s;it
is the act whereby one part of the population imposes its will upon the
other part by means of rifles, bayonets, and cannon—authoritarian
‘means, if such there be atall ..” (V.. Lenin, State and Revolution). This
seems pretty obvious and we don't understand how anarchists pro-
pose to accomplish a non-authoritarian revolution—it seems a contra-
diction in terms. If what they mean is a revolution that is non-author-
itarian toward the toiling masses, while being ruthlessly authoritarian
toward the ex-oppressors, then we would agree with them 100%. That
is a definition of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

7. We have used the phrase “the masses” extensively throughout
this statement, and we'd like to clarify what we mean by that. Very
simply, we mean the whole of the people (excluding the ruling class
and its agents, and including ourselves) as a whole; as distinct from
any of its parts. No part of the people will carry through the revolu-
tion by themselves—not the industrial working class, not women, not
men, not oppressed nationalities, not gay people, not communists,
not anarchists, not anyone by themselves—only all of us, massed to-
gether, can win. Only when each of us has truly integrated the slogan
“Serve the masses” into our thought and practice; only when each of us
truly sees our individual interests, needs and desires as secondary to

174
‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life

the interests, needs and desires of all of s will the revolution be com-
pleted. This is the heart of revolutionizing our consciousness.

A struggle recently occurred in the Brigade over the phrase and the
idea that our work should be “in the service of the people.” This phrase
was omitted from the Brigade's statement of unity because the anarchists
among us held that we are “the people;” or at least part of them, and that
thisidea therefore falsely sets us above everybody else and is eltist. Ifwe
are to have any hope of putting our own interests, needs and desires sec-
ondary to those of all of us, we had better understand clearly that being
a part of the people is much different from being "the people.”

Our point of departure is to serve the people wholcheartedly
and never for a moment divorce ourselves from the masses, to pro-
ceed in all cases from the interests of the people and not from one’s
self-interest or from the interests of a small group

—Mao Tee Tung, 1945

As communists, our goal s to see the masses of working people
in full ownership and control of all of society and all that society pro-
duces. In order to accomplish this, we must smash the bourgeois state
and replace it with a fully democratic workers’ government.

Itis impossible to leap in one bound from capitalism to a classless,
stateless society. The resistance of the international ruling class (the
bourgeoisie) will not disappear simply because we destroy the oppres-
sors’ state apparatus. Far from . In fact, their resistance and determi-
nation to regain their power will increase a thousand-fold. Given half
a chance, they will succeed, as they have in the Soviet Union. This is
one of the clearest and most important lessons passed onto us by the
Russian Revolution.

‘The bourgeoisie have vast international connections with almost
unlimited money and resources. Most importantly, they have our deep
force of habit passively to accept bourgeois ways of thought, relation-
ships and social organization. Day to day life in their system (capital-
ism) has created and constantly reinforces this in all of us. While we,
must begin transforming our consciousness now, it seems no more
than common sense to us that this ideclogy cannot be fully overcome
within capitalism, since capitalism is its source. Only years of practice
and prolonged struggle within a non-exploitive social context can fi-
nally and completely overcome .

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

Socialism—a workers' state—is necessary to make the transi-
tion from capitalism to communism (classless society). This workers'
democracy will have a twofold purpose. First, it will be the weapon
whereby people will eliminate private ownership of the means of pro-
duction and the unemployment, poverty, destruction of the envi-
ronment, war, and all the misery capitalism produces in the name of
profit. It is only within this context that we will all be able completely
to transform ourselves and throw off the shackles of “traditional capi-
talist attitudes and conditioning” that blind and cripple us. Second,
it will safeguard and defend our revolution by ruthlessly suppressing
the attempts of the international bourgeoisie to restore their system
of greed and human misery.

“The principles of socialism and the workers' state were not “in-
vented” by Marx, Lenin, or anyone else. They were discovered, by the
people, in bloody struggle against the bourgeoisie; and they have been
used and refined in every anti-capitalist revolution since the Paris
Commune of 1871. There are lots of positive as well as negative les-
s0ns to learn from these experiences. This is not to say that some
“blueprint” for revolution is mechanically passed on to us. Revolution
is much harder work than that. Marxism-Leninism is a science that
analyzes reality as it exists, and which changes as historical reality
changes. Marxism-Leninism s the concrete analysis of concrete con-
ditions. Concrete conditions are different here than they have been
anywhere else—but that's been true everywhere. Concrete conditions
in China were vastly different from those in the Paris Commune; those
in Vietnam much different from the Soviet Union; and so on. And the
specific forms of socialism in these countries have reflected these dif-
ferences. The specific forms of socialism in the United States wil be
very different from anywhere else, and will be discovered by the people
here in the process of struggle and practice. The way to assure that our
revolution will meet the needs and represent the interests of all of us,
is for all of us to participate in the leadership of our revolution. To be
successful demands that we also be firmly rooted in reality, and learn
from and use the lessons of history and our own experience, to devel-
0p a successful strategy for revolution here.

Socialist Revolution is the “self-conscious, independent move-
‘ment of the immense majority in the interest of the immense major-

ity.” (Karl Marx)

176
‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life

Obviously, the reaction of bourgeois elements to these statements
of differences will be to play them up as some kind of a split. We think
people should struggle against this sleazy divisiveness when it occurs.
We are firmly united on the eight points of unity and on the whole
of the Brigade’s Political Statement. Our political differences are not
around questions that are primary at this time (although they will in
the future mean the difference between success and failure for revolu-
tion in this country). Our political differences are theoretical at this
time, and have no effect on our work. We intend to be together and
fighting for a long time to comel The answers to these questions will be
resolved in practice and decided by the masses of people in this coun-
try and around the world in the process of making revolution.

We encourage people to deal with the question of armed struggle
in this country at this time, and to fully discuss, criticize and respond.
to the Brigade’s Political Statement and our work. We need this re-
sponse and criticism. Discussion of our theoretical differences s plen-
tiful and ongoing in existing Marxist-Leninist and anarchist writings,
while discussion of the issues raised in this document and our work
is almost nonexistent. In any event, we are not interested in and will
not respond to any comments on our statements of differences for at
least six months.

CCOMBAT BOURGEOIS DIVISIVENESS AND SENSATIONALISM!

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

CHRONOLOGY OF BRIGADE ACTIONS

Early Spring 1975—Firebombed Seattle Contractor

Firebombed and destroyed the offices of a local contractor in sup-
port of alocal struggle to win jobs for Black people in the construction
industry. This was a prolonged struggle that had received wide support
in the community. Throughout the struggle there were mass demon-
strations and many demonstrators were arrested. This action was un-
claimed at the time because we didn't want to draw attention away
from the jobs issue; it was also receiving extensive media coverage be-
cause of its mass character. Just after the action, we did privately cir-
culate a criticism of the leaderships' strategy of pitting Blacks against
whites for jobs, instead of uniting around the demand of jobs for all

Late Spring 1975—Sabotage And Destruction Of Heavy Equipment At
Contractor’s

Sabotaged several pieces of equipment, burned and destroyed a
large truck and heavily damaged a D G Cat belonging to the contractor
referred to above. This action occurred just prior to the trials of peo-
ple charged in connection with the mass demonstrations around the
struggle for Black construction jobs. After the action, charges against
the protesters were dropped because the contractor refused to testify.
He told reporters his refusal was based on the tens of thousands of
dollars of damage suffered and he wanted no more trouble.** This ac-
tion was also unclaimed at the time

June 1, 1975%—Pipebombed Washington State Department Of
Corrections Offices, Olympia

In January of 1975, prisoners at Walla Walla state prison took
hostages, seized the prison hospital and a wing of the prison to put
forward a number of just demands including: a halt to behavior modi-
fication programs, particularly the brutal one in the prison's Mental
Health Unit; an end to involuntary transfers; and firing the director
and several abusive employees of the Mental Health Unit. This rebel-
Tion occurred after lengthy peaceful negotiations with prison officials
failed to produce any results. The rebellion was crushed, a complete
‘media blackout imposed, and the prison bureaucrats continued to ig-
nore the prisoners’ demands.

On June 1, the Brigade burglarized and pipebombed the main of-
fice of the Washington State Department of Corrections in Olympia.
The bomb destroyed the office of the deputy director of Corrections,

78
‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life

damaged much of the east wing on the second floor and part of the
first floor. Damage exceeded $100,000. This action was in support
of the demands raised by Walla Walla prisoners’ six months earli-
ex. This action also publicly announced the existence of the Brigade.
(Communique issued)

August 1975—Pipebombed Federal Bureau of Investigation & Bureau of
Indian Affairs

We simultaneously bombed the FBI office in Tacoma and the BIA
offices in Everett, Washington, in response to FBI terrorism at the
Rosebud and Pine Ridge reservations in North Dakota. We had the ac-
tion to coincide with a 100 mile mass march from Seattle to Portland,
organized by local Native American leaders. This action was unclaimed
at the time because we didn't want to draw attention away from the
primary issue of FBI terrorism against Native Americans.*

September 18, 1975—Pipebombed Capital Hill Safeway Store

Bombed a 50 pound bag of dog food inside the Capital Hill Safeway
store in Seattle. This action was intended to show love and solidarity
with a man who, in an independent action, had died four days earlier
attempting to arm a bomb behind the same Safeway store.* On the
day ourbomb was to be planted, we received word of the SLA capture,*
and our rage increased. Although Safeway is a perpetual target because
of the super-exploitation of farm workers, Safeways' use of poisonous
pesticides and chemicals for profit, and monopolistic practices that
squeeze every last penny out of their customers, this was the closest
thing to a spontaneous action ever indulged in by the Brigade.

Our bomb caused minor injuries to several customers. This action
was wrong because we brought violence and terror to a poor neighbor-
hood, and we have thoroughly criticized ourselves and changed our
practice. (Communique issued)

January 1, 1976—Pipebombed Safeway's Main Office & The Laurelhurst
Transformer

Exploded two bombs at Safeway's main office for the Seattle area
in Bellevue—one under a coolant tank, and one in a construction site
at their administrative offices. Simultaneously, we destroyed the main
transformer supplying power to the rich Laurelhurst suburb of Seattle.
‘The Safeway bombs were intended to be a self-criticism in practice of
the Capitol Hill Safeway bombing, as well as a continuation of the at-
tack against Safeway. Damage was apparently minimal.

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

‘The Laurelhurst bomb was in support ofa long and courageous strike
by City Light workers in Seattle. The $250,000 substation was complete-
Iy destroyed. Striking workers refused to perform emergency repairs on
the substation and picketed it 0 as to prevent scabs or supervisors from,
repairing it during their strike. ("New Year 1976” communique issued)

January 23, 1976—Tukwila Bank Robbery Attempt

Unsuccessfully attempted to expropriate $43,000 from the Tukwila
branch of the Pacific National Bank of Washington. A brutal attack by
King County police and Tukwila Police left our comrade Bruce Seidel
dead, John Sherman shot in the jaw, and John and Ed Mead in police
custody. All other participants successfully escaped after firing on po-
lice from the rear in an attempt to aid our comrades in the bank. The
expropriation was intended to finance armed work. This action was
attempted with insufficient knowledge of the police, armed robbery
tactics, and combat training. We paid dearly for our lessons.

March 10, 1976—Prisoner Liberation

We rescued John Sherman from police custody during a doctor’s
appointment at Harborview Medical Center. During the action it be-
came necessary to shoot and wound a King County police officer be-
cause of his failure to cooperate fully with the comrade assigned to
him. (‘International Women's Day” communique issued)

June 1976 to February 1977—Tactical Retreat

Tukuwila nearly destroyed us, and the rescue drained the last of
our meager resources. The organized left almost unanimously reject-
ed us, and this forced us to learn to rely on ourselves, ordinary peo-
ple, and progressive independents in the left. Many ordinary people
did help us, knowingly and unknowingly, and this made it possible
for us to survive, rebuild our strength, and learn the hard lessons of
self-reliance. This move to self-reliance was probably the most impor-
tant thing we accomplished during the retreat. We also accumulated
lots of equipment, experience and knowledge of the police. We did six
teller robberies for more than $25,000, and ran checks for survival,
equipment and supplies. We later claimed these actions because we
are determined to be accountable to the people, and because the po-
lice knew we were responsible and were withholding this information
for reasons of their own.

After the Tukwila action, the government had launched a mas-
sive attack on the left with their Grand Jury. Numerous people were

180
‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life

subpoenaed, and many of them refused to cooperate. In June 1976, the
Brigade sent handwriting samples to help clear a woman falsely accused
of signing one of our communiques. Another woman spent six months
in jail for refusing to cooperate; and a Black ex-convict prison activist.
was convicted of participation in Brigade activities on guilt by associa-
tion with the prison movement, the testimony of a junkie (for which
the Feds paid $10,000 and a new identity!), and because of the color
of his skin 7 Our captured comrade Ed Mead was also convicted and,
sentenced to several lifetimes in the state penitentiary at Walla Walla.
While some people fought the Grand Jury only out of narrow, individu-
alistic self-interest (some even cooperated), many others correctly saw.
itasa collective struggle and based their resistance on that view. Many.
people took up the fight even though they weren't being directly at-
tacked. In the end, the peoples’ united resistance defeated the Grand,
Jury attack and forced the Feds to turn to other, sneakier tactics. We,
send our deepest love and support to all those who fought against the
Grand Jury, and who were or continue to be attacked by the state.

May 12, 1977—Pipebombed Rainier National Bank

Pipebombs were placed at two Bellevue area Rainier™ National
Bank branches. One failed to explode because of faulty equipment, and.
the other exploded causing damage to the safe deposit vault and an ad-
joining wall. This action was to support the longest strike in the history
of Washington prisons by maximum security and ISU (the hole) pris-
oners at Walla Walla state prison, and in response to a series of attacks
and empty promises passed off as 'changes” by prison bureaucrats. The
strike was primarily around brutal conditions in the hole, and (again)
behavior modification programs. We chose Rainier National Bank be-
cause of ts corporate ties to the Seattle Times—the leader of the ruling
class propaganda against the prisoners.

‘The ruling class response to this attack was to up the price on
the heads of two Brigade comrades.” Striking prisoners in the hole
at Walla Walla issued a statement fully supporting the action. ("May,
Day” communique issued)

May 21, 1977—Armed Expropriation
Expropriated $1,300 from the Newport Hills (Bellevue area) state
liquor store. This action was to finance armed work.

June 20, 1977—Armed Expropriation
Expropriated $4200 from the Factoria (Bellevue area) branch of
Creating a Movement with Teeth

the Rainier National Bank. We chose RNB because of the Seattle Times'
continued refusal to print any of the truth of the struggle and strikeat
Walla Walla. This action was to finance armed work. We claimed both
of these expropriations because the police were hiding their knowl-
edge that we were responsible for the actions, and we wanted to warn
people to be alert to their investigations. (*Summer Solstice” commu-
nique issued)

July 4, 1977—Attempted Bombing, Olympia

Unsuccessfully attempted to destroy the main substation supply-
ing power to the State Capitol complex in Olympia. The thirty-minute
warning given police to allow them ample time to evacuate the imme-
diate area also gave them ample time to throw the safety switch and
turn off the bomb. The action was in support of the continuing strike
by men in the hole at Walla Walla and in support for their demand for
decent living conditions and humane treatment.

By August, the long-time, hated warden, bloody B.J. Rhay had been
successfully ousted, a new warden appointed, and the hole had been
cleaned and painted. The men ended their strike when these minimal
demands were met. Subsequently, some other prisoner demands were
‘met, including the release of our comrade Ed Mead and a number of
others from their arbitrary and prolonged confinement in the hole.
‘There was and is a complete blackout of this news and continuing pris-
oner grievances in the Seattle media. (“Tell No Lies, Claim No Easy
Victories” communique issued)

September 8, 1977—Armed Expropriation
Expropriated $1100 from the Juanita branch of Old National
Bank. This action was to finance armed work.

September 19, 1977—Armed Expropriation
Expropriated $8200 from the Skyway branch of People’s National
Bank. This action was to finance armed work.

October 6, 1977—Attempted Weapons Test at Car Dealership

Unsuccessfully attempted to test an incendiary bomb on some
recreational vehicles at the Westlund Buick new car dealership. This
action was in support of a si-month strike by Seattle automotive ma-
chinists and several other automotive unions. Westlund was chosen
because he is head of the Dealers’ Association.

182
‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life

October 12, 1977—Pipebombed Car Dealership
Pipebombed and caused minor damage to the main building of
S.L. Savidge new car dealership. This action was in support of the six-
month strike by Seattle automotive machinists and other unions.
Savidge was chosen because of his role in the union busting attempts
of the Dealers’ Association. (*Bust the Bosses” communique issued)

October 15, 1977—Firebombed Car Dealership

Firebombed and destroyed several new cars at the BBC Dodge new
car dealership. This action was in support of the six-month strike by
Seattle automotive machinists and several other automotive unions.
‘The strike continues. (Verification that we were responsible for all
three dealership bombings was sent to the Automotive Machinists
Union after the dealers publicly accused the union and striking work-
exs of complicity in the actions. Subsequently the union took the of-
fensive and filed a half-million dollar slander suit against the King
County Automobile Dealers’ Association, and its chairman and former
chairman. They also filed an N.L.R.B. complaint charging the Dealers’
Association with bad-faith bargaining )

Noverber 1, 1977—Pipebombed Mercedes-Benz German Car Dealership

Pipebombed and destroyed a $24,000 Mercedes-Benz, and
damaged several other new cars and the building at the Phil Smart
Mercedes-Benz dealership in Bellevue. This action was to demonstrate
support and solidarity with the Red Army Faction in Germany, and
the thousands of people fighting in the streets in Europe and around,
the world in retaliation for the West German government's murders
of Red Army Faction guerrillas Gudrun Ensslin, Jan Carl Raspe, and
Andreas Baader, in their prison cells. ("You Can Kill A Revolutionary,
But You Can't Kill The Revolution” communique issued)

November 3, 1977—The Power Of The People Is The Force Of Life

Issued “The Power Of The People Is The Force OF Life," Political
Statement of the George Jackson Brigade.

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

Community Response
To THE GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE
‘The Valerian Coven

To the George Jackson Brigade:

Dear Comrades,

We are writing you after much discussion and reading of the
George Jackson Brigade political statement and communiques issued.
We feel this discussion is a good place to start but critical support is
‘more than this. We feel it is important to share our criticism with you
in hopes that you'll get the feedback you asked for months ago. We
criticize ourselves for the time lag in responding. We realize it is our
responsibility to respond to you to help break down the isolation cre-
ated between aboveground and underground political activity. We also
realize that effective, open communication cannot happen unless we
respond to what you have put time and energy into writing. We want
you to know that we extend to you our support and appreciation for
writing the political statement and communiques explaining who you
are, and what you see as your work and reasons and decision-making
process. We also feel supportive of the risks you have taken and con-
tinue to take in the name of revolutionary struggle. We send greetings
toRitaand Ed. Stay strong ... feel our strength on the other side of the
walls move through you.

Out of our discussions came serious questions and criticisms
about how we see you implementing point of unity #8 in your political
statement: “We reject the 'foco’ and ‘military vanguard’ theories. We
see our job as providing armed support for existing mass struggle that
has clearly developed to the point where armed struggle can have a
positive effect. Whenever possible we determine this by talking to the
people actually involved.” We are in agreement with this point of unity.
We also feel this is an area where open communication between above
and underground work is vital. We feel more discrimination and inves-
tigation must happen in order to evaluate the effectiveness of armed
struggle in regards to a particular issue. Some of us feel we cannot sup-
port the armed actions around the machinist union strike. Those who
don't give the following reasons:

1) There are more issues than striking workers at stake. One of
the struck dealers is on property robbed from older poor residents of a
neighborhood that is struggling daily to survive and keep big business

184
‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life

from suffocating them out of existence. The visible striking workers
are only a small percentage of people affected by the bosses that "we
are trying to bust.” We criticize you for not taking into account other
people who suffer from the greediness of the profitmakers. The resi-
dents of that neighborhood are too poor, too old, and too sick to ever
walk a picket line and for some ever to hope to see the possibility of
having a job to strike at.

2) Most of the machinists walking the picket line are white men.
‘They are making $7-10 an hour. It is very difficult to make your way
into the machinists union if you are a woman (white or third world) or
a third world man. The sexist ridicule that a woman has to put up with,
whether it's talking to a striker, applying for a job or buying parts from
the parts department, makes it pretty difficult to support the workers’
earning power based on racial and sexual privilege.

3) Though in theory we support your bombings of the dealerships
and attacks against bosses, we wonder if you're open enough to hear
the non-support from the strikers and re-evaluate your work. This has
not been a violent strike. The strikers have not been motivated to fight
back or commit any acts of sabotage or self-defense, as in, say, the
miner’s strike. So where does the armed action fit in? The strikers and
union bosses, from what we've read and seen televised, condemn your
actions and are not exactly rallying behind them. Some of us feel that
for armed support work to be effective it should come at a time when
those workers are themselves fighting back and underground folk sup-
plementing those actions. Otherwise there is danger in further ham-
pering and alienating workers whose struggles you wish to support.
We also see this as a military vanguard attitude saying to the strikers,
follow us, we know best how to win your battles.”

We are all in agreement that the communiques, stating specific
tasks (armed and unarmed) outlining what folks can do to plug into
this long, weary strike were good and clear. One suggestion we would,
like to make, however, concerning all of your written material is about
the heavy use or rhetoric. Without a “revie” dictionary most folks are
ataloss in figuring out what you mean. Can you hear that the so-called
“masses” don't know what the hell you're talking about when you use
terms such as imperialist, nations, vanguard, reactionary, oppression,
fascism, etc? It would be helpful if you would define your terms if you,
feel it's necessary to use rhetorical jargon. Be aware that it turns a lot.
of folks off and can come off as elitist. We in the aboveground share

185
Creating a Movement with Teeth

this responsibility in making ourselves heard and understood. We do
feel you were clearly understood when you wrote the jail letter, the May
Day communique and the discussion on terrorism in your statement.

We do feel that your most effective work has been around prison
issues. We give the following reasons:

1) Violent aggressions call for violent retaliations. The prisons
are full of violent dehumanizing conditions. The pipe bombing of
the Wash. state Dept. of Corrections offices in Olympia, the 1977 at-
tempted bombing of the main substation supplying power to the State
Capitol in Olympia were clearly warranted actions against state insti-
tutions and mobilized support for the Walla Walla strike—on both
sides of the prison walls.

2) The communiques that followed these actions and the jail letter
dated Dec. 23 were excellent examples of effective communication in
an area where the aboveground can and is working to end the brutal-
izing conditions suffered by inmates

We have some strong disagreements with your analysis of the
police and their revolutionary potential. You talked in your political
statement about their class origins and ultimate class interest with-
out directly dealing with racism and sexism. Most rank and file police
are white males. Many of them spend time beating up queers, shoot-
ing black robbery “suspects” in the back, harassing prostitutes, and ig-
noring, ridiculing and/or actively participating in the life and death
struggles of rape victims and battered women. For the police to see
these people as their allies in the class struggle would require leaps of
consciousness that we don't expect from many of them.

‘The folks in power, for the most part white rich men, have spent
‘much time and money developing, encouraging, training and giving
sociallicense to certain people to express the violence that keeps us all
down. This form of violence also protects their precious private prop-
erty—the source of their power. While we agree that for the most part
the police’s economic interest is not served by keeping the less pow-
erful down, we must recognize the benefits they do reap from their
position. This society gives us all reason to be violent but robs us of
the right and power to protect ourselves and retaliate against these
constant attacks. Police, on the other hand, are hired and trained to
express violence, especially racially and sexually, their lack of power
economically would give them all the more reason to hold on to what

186
‘The Power of the People Is the Source of Life

they've got. But there is much more to an analysis of the police force
than along economic lines. We feel you did not analyze the develop-
ment of the present police force and brutality adequately. We strongly
urge you and anyone else reading this letter to read and discuss lron
Fist and Velvet Glove: An Analysis of the Police.*

We'd like to finally comment on “mass struggle” We are aboveg-
round workers and a part of that ‘mass.” We must do our work differ-
ently than you do yours. We are employed workers and students who
take daily risks in providing services to poor and working class young,
and old people. We feel we do not confine our politics to meetings and.
organizations. We take them with us to the job. Which means putting
ourselves on the line one day and going back the next to face the con
sequences of our overt actions. We cannot hide our identity or make
hit and run attempts at change. We believe our aboveground work is
essential and vital to a revolutionary overthrow of Amerikkka

We also see underground work as an essential and necessary part
of the whole, entire struggle. We need to know if you're into struggling,
and acknowledging our work. Will our input about the usefulness and
timing of armed support for our struggles and work be heeded?

In the destruction of a government that robs us daily of our money,
pride, and freedom, we must not overlook the importance of mobiliz-
ing and supporting each other in this long struggle. It took us months
to get to a place of writing this response. Many of us read the jail let-
ter and said “great communique” and never called the jail or did any of
those “good suggestions, feeling it was addressed to those masses. We,
have since acted on some of the suggestions and are self-critical for the
delays. We also are currently re-evaluating our work and trying to find
more effective ways of supporting each other. This is one attempt. We,
urge folks to examine what it is we mean when we say we are “critically.
supportive” or “politically active” Because if we can't organize, commu-
nicate, or mobilize ourselves, how the hell do we expect to do the same
with the masses of people we hope to reach out for and work with?

Love and Struggle,
‘The Valerian Coven

187
AY AY AY &
i

Part IV

Wen IS THE Tive?
‘Th LeFT COMMUNITY DEBATES ARMED ACTION
The selections in this section originally appeared in Northwest
Passage, an antiestablishment, countercultural periodical based
in both Bellingham and Seattle from the late 19605 on into the 1980s.
The first five pieces reflect what was—despite the Brigade’s complaints
of being ignored—a concerted effort to explore the implications of a
guerrilla presence in the Pacific Northwest.

The pieces were timely. In an editorial after the first installment
a member of the Passage editorial collective remarked with ironic
ambivalence: “The Forum on Armed Struggle/Terrorism has sparked
the hottest debate from our readers since the legendary Passage de-
bate over two years ago on the subject of Monogamy. Does this rep-
resent progress? Perhaps.” She continued: “Already we have received
more letters than we can print on the topic..... We only wish that this
amount of enthusiasm and input could be generated around other
topics as well..

‘The Passage’s coverage of the Brigade begins with an interview
with cofounder Ed Mead conducted in the King County Jail. Mead was
captured on January 23, 1976, in the course of an over-ambitious rob-
bery attempt at the Pacific National Bank in the south Seatle sub-
urb of Tulaila; the same event which lefc Bruce Seidel dead and John
Sherman wounded and in custody. After Sherman was freed by re-
maining Brigade members on March 10, Mead became the Brigade’s
de facto spokesperson. As he was already planning a political defense
that would not substantially challenge the circumstantial evidence ar-
rayed against him, he felt little incentive to keep quiet

In'the next article, Roxanne Park, one of Mead's interviewers from
the Passage, lays out why she considers the Brigade a liability to the
Left community. Michelle Whitnack, a former member of the anar-
chist Left Bank Collective under subpoena by the grand jury investi-
gating the Brigade, took exception to Park’s piece, as did the Left Bank
Colective tself. Mead, too, responded forcefully to Park’s apologia for
the status quo.

‘The campaign against the grand jury produced the next article, an
interview with three subpoences, Brenda Carter, Kathy Hubenet, and
Creating a Movement with Teeth

Katie Mitchell. Carter had been the girlfriend of Ralph “Po” Ford (an-
other Left Bank member) before he died setting a pipe bomb behind
the Capitol Hill Safeway; the same one the Brigade bombed three days
Iater. Hubenet and Mitchell were pulled into the investigative net by
virtue of living with (Mitchell) or having lived with (Hubenet) Carter
and, thus, in the prosecutorial imagination, knowing Ford. The George
Jackson Brigade included Ford's friends, investigators reasoned. (Mead
had in fact known Ford, though they were not particularly close.)

Nearly two years passed before the next major discussion of the
Brigade in the Passage. The bimonthly tabloid covered the grand jury
inquisition heavily, but found little to say about the Brigade while it
“licked its wounds” and robbed banks anonymously in Oregon. When
the Brigade returned to Seattle in the summer of 1977, they received
‘much less ink than they had a year earlier, i either antiestablishment
papers o the corporate press—evidently bombings could be down-
played and ignored just like every other form of protest the media
covered then tired of. The Passage did, however, reprint two Brigade
communiqués and portions of their political statement, which it en-
couraged people to read*

‘The letter from “Papaya” pushing for more clandestine collabora-
tion with the Brigade (by, among other methods, carrying out the il-
legalities called for in preceding Brigade communiqués) may well have
been written by a Brigade member or one of their close supporters.

Janine Bertram, Therese Coupez, and John Sherman—the last
three members of the Brigade—were arrested on March 21,1978, ata
drive through burger joint in Tacoma, as they prepared to rob another
bank. The final piece is a jailhouse interview that represents one of the
last efforts by Seattle’s aboveground Left to wrestle with the issues
raised by the Brigade while the organization was still an immediate
presence in the city. It has a post-operative evaluative tone, in contrast
to the insistent "Which side are you on?” queries which preceded it.

192
When Is the Time?

ED MEAD SPEAKS FROM PRISON
Interview by John Brockhaus and Roxanne Park
Northwest Passage, May 24-June 7, 1976

Do you happen to know why the [International Women's Day]
Communique was signed, because that's the single piece of evidence which
is giving them (law enforcement] their heyday right now?

Mead: I don't know why . .. It was a mistake for anybody to have
done that unless it was someone like John Sherman, because for him
it makes no difference.”

‘The Brigade is being described as a terrorist group. Id like you to com-
ment on whether you consider yourselves a terrorist group, and what your
vision is for armed struggle.

I'm a person who has done years of mass work. I've done mass
work inside the prisons . . . and mass work on the outside. As a result
of these years of experience, of social practice, I came to the conclusion
that something more was needed. That the mass movement by itself
could only go so far without the threat or potential threat of revolu-
tionary violence. I joined with others in an attempt to develop this
capability. Over a lot of resistance from the Left. My thoughts are con-
stantly changing as 1 learn things. Initially my thinking was more “you
fight fascist terrorism with revolutionary counter-terror.” Terrorism is
traditionally the weapon of the weak—it's what the Palestinians used.
[It's what you use] when you don't have anything else. As the Brigade
grew stronger it drew further and further away from terrorist acts—
its initial bombings were not accompanied by any warnings.

It's out there, it exists to serve the mass movement. There's a real
tendency for people to say: “There's two kinds of people—there's those
doing armed work and they can take all the risks and make all the sac-
rifices and we can sit back and criticize them. We don't have to do any.
real work, we can just go about our work and revolution is some nebu-
lous hope or passing fad or whatever.” I'm not really critical . .. some,
people have misinterpreted my feelings to the extent that they would
say that (I think] everybody should be doing armed work. Which isn't
the case. I think that what communists should be doing right now is
to strengthen their weakest point and.. . the weakest point right now.
is the armed front ... That's not to say that there isn't very important

193
Creating a Movement with Teeth

work to be done at the mass level. There is no struggle going on in this
town. There's a defensive struggle going on with the grand jury with
this recent wave of repression which will probably grow larger. But the
‘mass movement—all the different ethnic groups, all the different po-
litical variations—nobody's doing anything, to my knowledge. And
that's why I criticize the mass movement.

So you wouldn't describe yourself as a terrorist group then?

T adhere to the teaching of George Jackson that we should meet
terror with terror. If it comes to [the ruling class] using terror against
the Left, then we should turn it back on them. If there's going to be
funerals, there should be funerals on both sides.

Could you imagine a series of events which could cause the Brigade to
change its opinion about the validity of armed struggle at this point? Daes
that seem to you to be a possibility?

Notatall. What I can't understand ... with welfare just cut back by
50%, with unemployment growing.....as things continue to decay, how.
are we going to be able to overturn this thing if not by armed force?
Are they going to peaceably give it up? Are we going to go the Chilean
route and try to elect a socialist government?

Anybody that's not a revisionist understands the need for armed
struggle and the forcible seizure of power. The question seems to be as
towhether or not thisis the time. I think we're really behind the times

. Ithink the reformism and opportunism on the Left is racist. When
people are fighting and dying in South Africa, in Angola, in Viet Nam,
in South America, against U.S. imperialism, and we here in the United
States don't ... [It's] like we abhor American Exceptionalism yet our
practice is exactly that.

Could you explain American Exceptionalism?

American Exceptionalism is the doctrine that says that it's all right
to wage armed struggle in other countries, but when it comes to wag-
ing armed struggle at home then that's a different thing, That outlook
is racist. (It implies] that our lives are more important than those
gooks or niggers or whatever.

194
When Is the Time?

Or it could be argued that we're in a different situation, the heart of
imperialism, and that calls for different tactics.

‘That is one thing I don't think that we should define ourselves
as anti-imperialists. Our slogan should be more Class War. How long,
how long do you think we should wait? Their position is to be mur-
dered and oppressed by U.S. imperialism and they've taken up arms
against it. “Til they invade our borders to destroy the class enemy of
all humanity? The best way that we can help the people of Puerto Rico,
the people of South Africa, of South America, of all the oppressed peo-
ple of the world, is not by marching, not by mouthing anti-imperialist
slogans, but waging armed struggle against the common enemy.

“And by saying this I don't mean that armed struggle is the only
level of struggle. I mean that armed struggle as a supplement to the
mass movement, but that the mass struggle has clear class orienta-
tion, that it's class-defined, and that it directs the brunt of its impact
against the class enemy, and not seek reforms—like a “Bicentennial
without Colonies"—but rather seeks the seizure and retention of state
power by the people

Do you have any comments on the recent grand jury subpoenas and
house search on Capitol Hill?

Good old uncle Ho said that adversity is a true test of a people’s
fidelity:* The adversity experienced by the aboveground community—
which has been handled very well—is not so difficult as what might be
in the future, with barbed wire, and National Guard patrols on Capitol
Hill and the Central Area. House to house searches, doors being kicked.
in. .. These are the kinds of things that are going to happen and the
grandjury struggleis essentially defensive and d kinda hate to see peo-
ple focus on the grand jury as being a token of mass work .. thoughit's
essential that people . .. who have a boot on their neck be defended.
It's obvious that they're going to be taking more and more hos-
tages from the underground as they re unable to get to the real people.
‘The people that they're going to be going after are those who are the
most visible . .. And of course the obvious purpose of this is to scare
people from being visible. If people allow this to happen and remain
invisible then the people who have stood out become isolated and re-
ally vulnerable. That's why it's important that all elements in the com-
‘munity move to support those people who are being persecuted.

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

You're saying then that they're getting the wrong people, that theyre
not hitting the people in the Brigade?

(laughs) That's what I'm saying,

There's some questions that Id like to ask and they might end up being.
things that you can't answer.

Twon't violate security.

Can you comment on whether or not the communique was written in
the Capitol Hill house as they've claiming?

Tdon't have any knowledge . .. T don't know. I'm out of touch with
things. But I can say that I don't know those people [who were subpoe-
‘naed on May 1]. I know of them, but that's all

Was Po @ member of the Brigade?

No. He was a comrade in that he was attempting to do the same
things we were, but he wasn't a member.

Which groups were you influenced by? Were you inspired by the SLA or
the Weather Underground?

1 personally grew out of Weather. I wanted to go further and I
wanted to do more. Prairie Fire inspired me. I helped put Prairie Fire
together—not any of the writing but the shit work. I felt this restless-
ness, I felt this need to do something more than just talk. I didn't feel
good about the level of my political work—my efficiency or productiv-
ity. I felt that this was the direction to go, and my friends were not will-
ing to make the move. The SLA inspired me, though as they say, they
went too far too fast. The Brigade has tried to go further and faster
than Weather, but not to go as far and as fast as the SLA.

To maintain some sort of balance, we always have to be testing the
outer limits of struggle: we don't want to go beyond what is sustain-
able. There's no clear line. The only way to find out what is the sustain-
able level of struggle is to get your feet wet. I think the Brigade has
done a pretty good job of measuring and defining what is sustainable.

196
When Is the Time?

What eriticisms of the Brigade do you have?

Well, I'm part of the Brigade. And we criticize ourselves. Probably
if 1 were going to cast a vote on a collective decision, I would not have,
issued that last communique.

‘The Women's Day one?

Yeah.
Why?

Idon't know. Or if I had issued it, I would have tried to ensure that
it was issued more carefully or something, I think the Brigade’s doing
just fine. I can think of nothing 1 would suggest that they do differently
than what they're doing right now. I guess there's always an important
line to be drawn between the need for security and the need to edu-
cate. It's important that people know that the Brigade is made up of
people of different races and sexes. And different sexual orientations
within those races and sexes.

What kind of support do you think you have among working and poor
people?

Some people think that in order to have the support of people,
poor people should organize themselves and march around in circles
with signs saying “We support the George Jackson Brigade.” That's just.
another form of rhetoric, and the kind of pattern the Left tends to
think in. In terms of food, shelter, guns, money—that's support. And.
we're getting it. The Brigade couldn't exist without it.

Do yousee your criticisms of the Left as being primarly directed at the
Seattle area or do you think the same things would have happened in other
areas?

1 think it would have happened essentially the same. Seattle has
traditionally been "laid back,” kind of nice place where lefties go be-
cause of the mountains and hiking The struggle should come other
places before it comes here. The Seattle Left has to deal with these
things just like the San Francisco community had tolearn to deal with

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

them. What I think's going to happen is the Brigade is going to totally
bypass the Left—which I think is happening now—and new leaders
will emerge.

How do the prisoners here react to you? Do most of them know what
you're i for?

T'm locked in what they call the “Annex"—we filed a writ demand-
ing that they give reasons for locking me up and isolating me from the
prison population. When I was in the general population I was well-
received by the prisoners. One of the reasons that the administration
has given for locking me up is because of the influence that Id have
that would be “detrimental” to the prisoners. 1 wish 1 was in the gener-
al population—the prisoners feel good about me and I feel good about
the prisoners. I'm not bullshittin'—I have nothing to lose by telling
it like it is and they respect that. The prisoners respect the George
Jackson Brigade—more than non-prisoners can ever understand.

One of the biggest criticisms the SLA had of themselves was the way
they let the corporate media use them rather than the other way around.
How do you think the Jackson Brigade has fared in getting its story out
through the media?

1 think the Brigade has done really well. I they have been manipu-
Iated by the media—do you remember the “Great Gauntlet Challenge”
thrown down by Chief Reed of the FBI?* He says the Brigade’s thrown
down this challenge and we're going to pick it up and ram it down their
throats. The SLA probably would have responded to that by bombing
an FB office or something. The Brigade s not responding to the media
and [ think that's a real credit.

What do you expect for yourself in the next few years?

Well, I expect the power of the Left to increase, its power and in-
fluence. My options range from going to prison to being murdered
(laughs) . . which I sometimes feel is a possibility. To me . . . what's
the difference between the inside and out? I get to fuck on the outside,
but I don't do much of that anyway. It’s all the same. The work I do is
the work 1 do .. is the work I do. It doesn't . .. You can do it on the
inside as well as on the outside ... Id like to survive and I'm going to

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When Is the Time?

do everything in my power to insure that that's the case. Short of re-
nouncing the struggle ... 1 don't know what the future has to bring,

Could you describe your political development?

I was raised on a homestead in Alaska, in conditions of poverty, I
guess. Sometimes it became necessary to help myself. I did burglaries,
stole cars, did time in a youth institution. That sort of thing. | would
probably describe my politics—I didn't have any conscious politics—
but I believed in Free Enterprise. My ripping off was just a logical
extension of that conviction: its ultimate expression. My ripping off
didn't have any real class direction; 1 would just as soon rip off some-
one poor—vwell, not someone poor but anyone who had more than me,
which was just about everybody.

When I was about eighteen, I got into doing gas stations. I was in
a different town and needed money to get home. And I broke into a
gas station. I got into the cigarette machine and stole thirty dollars.
T got caught and was sent to Lompoc federal prison in California for
three years ...

L.r

Inthe process of the struggle, one day I looked at myself and I saw
that I wasn't a criminal anymore. I was something else. I wasn't sure
what that was—the closest I could come to it was radical. I didn't know
if I was an anarchist or a communist—I didn't have a clear understand-
ing,Istarted reading more. I was offered the choice once at McNeil, togo
to the farm [minimum security camp] and be recommended for parole,
or go to [the United States Penitentiary at] Leavenworth [Kansas] and
have hard times. It all depended on my attitude, what kind of prisoner
Iwas going to be. We organized a strike; I was shipped to Leavenworth
shortly after that. The struggle continued at Leavenworth ..

How long were you there?

Iwas only there for about nine months—1 got out on a writ. About
half that time I spent in the slammer. I was writing a book, a prisoner
activist handbook . .. They got into this degrading practice of doing a
digital sodomy trip [rectal search] anytime they'd go to or from court.
‘They confiscated part of my book and 1 filed suit claiming I had a First
Amendment right to possess these writings. On the way to the hear-
ing they gave me what they call a “finger wave” and I resisted and they

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

brought the goon squad and we had a tussle ... Just constant ... T was
‘more non-violent than anything.

T came out onto the streets, did work with the Steilacoom pris-
oners support house.* I helped to get them incorporated—non-profit
tax status. I came to Seattle and helped to organize the Washington
State Prisoners Labor Union. We fought as hard as we could—we orga-
nized prisoners on the inside and we organized people on the outside.
They worked together to try to bring about real change in the relation-
ship between prisoners and the administration. We took it as far as we
could go—and there was another element that was needed. I didn't
understand what that was. I knew that armed struggle was necessary,
but it was always some distant thing that would some day just natu-
rally evolve without any conscious effort by anybody.

1felt pretty badly . .. My mom has a farm in eastern Washington.
She has nine horses, 80 acres, and I went out there; me and Jil* Just
Kind of laid back and tried to put the whole thing in perspective. We
spent nearly a year on the farm. People would come out there from
town, go horseback riding and wed talk some politics now and then.
Still the lessons were really hard to learn

Then the SLA hit town. And I read in the newspaper their
Revolutionary War Declaration and I read their program. And I cried.
And I wanted to go to San Francisco. Jil said: "No, that's unreason-
able, your place is here. We've got this responsibility with the farm that
we've got to maintain.” So we stayed on the farm a little while longer.
Finally Tleft Jill with the place—she wanted to stay there and she liked
itand I came to Seattle. I got involved in various political activities that
Twon't name for security reasons.

Talways tried to move more and more militantly. I went to Buffalo
and worked on the Attica Brothers Defense for a while. Then 1 traveled
around the country looking for revolutionary leaders—I was looking
for a leader—like where's somebody who knows what's going on here,
‘who knows where we're going, The people I talked to seemed not to have
as much understanding as me. Which was really a shock, because they
seemed more conservative than me, though given their background
they haven't suffered the oppression that people who come from my
background have. So it's only natural that the most oppressed—the
women, the gays, the Blacks—are the first because their oppression
is the greatest. The problem is that communists have a tendency to
ignore this and say: “Oh well, he's a prisoner and therefore he's kind
of different.” Or: "He's queer and that makes him different.” or “she’s a

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When Is the Time?

Lesbian," or “a Black," and not really examine the conditions of peoples
oppression that cause them to resist first. That's not to say these are
the forces that are going to make the revolution; it's just to say they're
initiating the struggle. But communists I think have an obligation to
be involved in each of these struggles and to direct them.

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‘TERRORISM AND THE GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE

Roxanne Park!”
Northwest Passage, June 7-28, 1976

In the last issue of the Passage we carried a jailhouse interview
with George Jackson Brigade member Ed Mead. In that interview
Mead described his group’s political commitment to armed struggle.
Following that up, I want to discuss the political ramifications of the
George Jackson Brigade’s actions, as well as outline some arguments
countering their analysis. This criticism is not solely directed at the
Brigade; obviously many other individuals and groups in the country
share their analysis.

Isee this critique as an initial effort, hoping to set some parameters
tothe discussion. The subject is vital to the Left community today: oth-
er people will need to discuss the issues and put forth additional per-
spectives. We must be able to analyze the events which have grown out
of the Brigade's action, giving ourselves guidelines for future work.

Armed Struggle vs. Terrorism

It is necessary to initiate this discussion by making a distinction
between armed struggle and terrorism. The Brigade calls its activi-
ties armed struggle while others consider them in the realm of terror-
ism. Determining which label more accurately describes the Brigade
involves an analysis of the level of political resistance in the country
asa whole.

Usually when people use the term armed struggle they mean a
revolutionary effort which is actively using violence as a means for the
eventual seizure of state power. Armed struggle implies highly orga-
nized, extensive resistance. You must have a sizeable proportion of
the people of a country involved in the actions, or at least highly sup-
portive. Vietnam was a good example of a country engaged in armed
struggle, and certainly we can find similar armed resistance in Angola,
Rhodesia, and the Philippines.

Terrorism is the selective use of symbolic violence (or threat of vi-
olence) by a small, clandestine group, aimed at making a political mes-
sage. Terrorism hopes to convince other people of the vulnerability of
the system and to inspire them to similar actions. Terrorism then, usu-
ally precedes armed struggle. Therefore, if someone believes that the
Brigade is engaging in armed struggle they are also indicating there is
ahigh level of conscious resistance in the country. The Brigade cannot

202
When Is the Time?

initiate armed struggle as a single unit: the population must support,
the move for eventual seizure of state power.

I cannot accept that analysis because I do not see this country even
close toastate of armed struggle. I believe the Brigadeis terrorist group,
and that their use of terrorism p to this point has been highly damag:-
ing to the Left. 1 would like to outline my reasons for this conclusion.

1 At this time, terrorist tactics will not further the struggle for a revolu-
tion in this country

First of all, | want to clarify that | am not advocating non-violence
as an absolute. I believe that force, or the threat of force, will be the
only way a revolution will succeed in this country. The ruling class will
not give up power because it recognizes the moral decency of social-
ism. 1 am convinced that there will come a time when we need to be
ready with arms, with our lives, if we intend to radically transfer power
in this country.

‘The problem with George Jackson Brigade is not, in fact, that
they engage in illegal action or are willing to defend their beliefs with
guns, or that they commit armed bank robberies, or even that they
shoot police. The problem is that these actions, at this point in time in
America, will not lead to a revolution. And in fact, they work against a
revolution.

In the Passage interview, Mead indicated that the objective condi-
tions of this society make it perfectly obvious that we need a revolution
and to postpone armed struggle is racist and counter-revolutionary.

A determination of when we should seriously attempt to seize
state power through armed struggle requires an analysis of the rela-
tive success such an attempt would have. Obviously to start a full-scale
war without any chance of winning is suicidal.

When one examines the conditions of the country which might
favor such efforts, one needs to look at factors which are objective (e.g.
inflation, unemployment, crisis in the schools) as well as those which
are subjective—the attitudes people have toward these conditions. If
few people seriously object to unemployment or women's role in our
society then a radical obviously needs to raise people’s consciousness
before there will be enough outrage to generate a move for an alterna-
tive government. We could have the most oppressive country in the
world, but if most Americans don't view it as such, we don't have a
country ready for armed struggle. Similarly, a highly conscious people
could revolt under less severe conditions,

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

1 would argue that the subjective conditions in this country are
not in any way conducive towards armed struggle at this point. The
Left has an enormous amount of work to do in simply raising people’s
awareness of the level of oppression which exists in America. There are
vast similarities for our work at this stage to that of Russia in the early
19005 when Lenin wrote: “Calls for terror are merely forms of evading
the most pressing duties that now rest upon Russian revolutionaries.”

1L Terrorism evades the necessary work needed to increase popular sup-
port for a revolution

When we asked Mead what support he thought the Brigade had
among poor and working people, he answered that it was a tremen-
dous amount. “The people give us food for our mouths, a place tosleep,
‘ammo for our guns and a car for our butts.” His vision of support comes,
from the people hiding the group from the police.

Though this support is necessary to their survival, it does ot in-
volve many people. Their choice of illegal actions forces them to only
rely on people they can absolutely trust; which can't be very many.
Certainly it does not come anywhere near the amount needed to qual-
ify as popular support.

A Terrorists lack a base of support

‘The Brigade does not have a substantive support base. There do not
exist, to my knowledge, groups of people who have been educated and
positively influenced by them. Without their bombs, without their rob-
bery, but most importantly without the media to publicize their events,
they would be unknown.

Terrorists think that they can use the media because of the sen-
sational aspects of their actions, but in the end, the media wins the
game because it publishes the story with its own bias. The SLA has
criticized itself for getting caught up in the sensationalized portrait
the media painted of its organization and then acting in accordance
with that myth.

Anyone reading the Seattle Times or PLs account of the Brigade
could see how the media used these events to paint a picture of a dan-
gerous, disturbed group. The P1. carried a three part series on Bruce
Seidel, the Brigade member who was killed during the robbery.'* The
story was of a “middle-class college student from a devout family who
ended up in a bank with a blazing gun in one hand and a sack of money
in the other” He was portrayed as a man who was always trying to

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When Is the Time?

compensate for being too short. Does anyone really think that kind of
publicity furthers the revolution?

As Walter Lagueur pointed out in an article on the subject,
“Terrorists and newspapermen share the naive assumption that those
whose names make the headlines have power, that getting one’s name
on the front page is a major political achievement.”

In one sense, the Brigade members have given everything to the
political struggle: they put their lives on the line. On the other hand,
theactions they have chosen turn their back to the slow real work which
is needed to turn this country around. It is relatively easy to hold up.
abank, shoot police, bomb a few buildings. Compare that to changing
people’s minds about the viability of capitalism, organizing workers,
creating a national party that will be able to threaten the other two
parties. Compare it to sustaining political activity and interest over
the numerous years it is going to take before there is a revolution.

In the Brigade’s [International] Women's Day communique, the
poem read in pa

Icannot be one
acting alone with my

little toe outside the line:

its both feet

whole body

ain't no turning back now.

no more mass meetings, stale mating action

Damn right, no more mass meetings. No more waiting around for
others to learn. A lot of the people who lean towards terrorism are
those who do ot have the energy to sustain their political commit-
ment. They get tired of trying to change things and not having im-
mediate success, so they want to do something BIG, something that
will prove they are a real force and need to be feared. This turning to
violence out of frustration fits so well into the male tradition of need-
ing to prove power.

B Terrorists lack a moral community

I remember one individual who hung around the Bellingham com-
‘munity several years ago. He was very interested in terrorism; he talk-
ed asifall of us should have hiding places in the hills. When there was
a peaceful demonstration, he would start throwing rocks, hoping to
incite others to the same activity. If there was one thing we did not

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

need to o at that point it was throw rocks. He had no interest in what
led up to the demonstration or what would happen after it. He had no
commitment to the day to day lives of the people he supposedly was
“helping” He did not have time for anything but the final explosion.

Ramparts published an article a few years ago which emphasized the
SLA's lack of a "moral community,” characterizing this lack as a serious
flaw. The term implies a base in a community to whom a political group
has a sense of responsibility. Such a community personalizes issues so
when decisions are made, real people who might be affected are taken
into account. A moral community is what our government needs.

Again, one of the problems of a terrorist group is that they must
protect themselves by being isolated. So they don't have easy access to
such grounding in a community.

‘The Brigade has been isolated from poor and working people, but
in addition, it has isolated itself from the Left. The Seattle Left has
been largely unsupportive of the Brigade’s armed struggle analysis,
causing the Brigade to become even more hostile/offensive. Listening,
to Ed Mead I sometimes thought he considered the Left a greater dan-
ger than capitalism.

One of the reasons the Left is largely unsupportive is because
the Brigade, by taking their “politics in command,” has seriously
harmed other people. The Brigade’s actions obviously threaten the
entire Left community; the FBI is not going to distinguish them
from other radicals.

The Brigade of course does not want any of Seattle’s radicals to
cooperate with the grand jury investigating the bank robbery. It could
‘mean their death. Because of the structure of the grand jury, a person
is [not] excused by simply answering that they do not have personal
Knowledge of the Brigade. The grand jury intends to ask them ques-
tions about any and all Leftists they know, the reasoning being that
even if they don't personally know Brigade members they will know
someone else who does. So those who refuse to testify end up protect-
ing the Brigade. They also are exercising far more caution and respect
for other people than the Brigade has ever done.

In their [International] Women's Day communique, the Brigade
speaks critically of the Left and claims that it has bypassed the Left
and has instead gone directly to “the people” for support. Later on in
that same communique, it encourages "people” not to cooperate with
the grand jury and to hold tight. Well, those “people” who are being
subpoenaed are people on the Left. It seems like the Brigade members

206
When Is the Time?

care about “people” if doing so suits their purpose, but not f it gets in
the way of their being heroes.

When we asked Mead how he felt about the grand jury subpoena,
he made two comments

The adversity experienced by the above ground community
is not so difficult as what might be expected in the future with
barbed wire, and National Guard patrols on Capitol Hill and the
Central Area.

(Things aren't as horrible as they could be: so what?)

Ilost my best friend (Seidel) and it is hard for me to sympathize
with people who whine about something as inconsequential as be-
ing put in jail.

Mead claims that being in or out of jail makes little difference to
him. But it's damn important to other people. Four of those subpoe-
naed are single mothers with children. If they refuse to testify and end
up going to jail, they face the possibility of their children being taken
away from them because of their “desertion.”

One person who was called to testify said that "every time Mead
opens his mouth, he hurts someone.”

Mead chose to engage in illegal activities, so he knew what con-
sequences he was facing. Other people were merely friends of Po’s or
went to a hearing or answered a telephone call: they did not make a
similar choice. And yet they are having to suffer the consequences of
someone else’s decision. The arrogance of the Brigade seems most obvi-
ous: they think they know what is needed in America at this point and,
they intend to involve all the rest of us in their decision. They will “take
command” and lead us all to hell

In addition to the people directly affected by the Brigade through
subpoenas, countless others have put in hours in grand jury defense
work. Almost all of the lawyers are donating their time or working for
pennies. The time the Brigade’s actions have taken away from the Left
cannot be underestimated, not to mention the emotional strain.

Someone could argue that my criticisms are misplaced; the Brigade
did not call the grand jury, they are not the ones putting people in jail,
that the legal system is the culprit, and it is good for people to realize
how repressive the system is. I am not intending to say that the grand,
jury system is anything but unconstitutional, that the tactics of the

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

FBI and US Attorney General's Office have been anything but reminis-
cent of the of the Gestapo. However, the fact remains that all of these
repercussions were initiated by the Brigade’s choice of terrorism.

L. Terroris tactics work against the increase of popular support for @
revolution

A Terrorism causes people to fear revolutionaries and identify with the
police

When I heard people in stores, hospitals, and buses discussing the
Brigade, they did not consider the Brigade class heroes. They did not
comment on their newly-gained awareness of the evils of capitalism
or the extent of unemployment. The comments indicated a confusion
about why anyone would do such a thing, a mild horror about the po-
tential damage and an implicit fear of the Brigade members.

‘They did not identify with the revolutionaries—but rather with
the police and investigators who would catch those "crazies.” With ter-
rorism the revolutionaries become the enemies and the police friends.
Such an emotional bias will obviously not make Americans more open
to radical change

T am not suggesting that people will consistently side with the
police over revolutionaries and militant reformers. In some situa-
tions that has not occurred, especially during the anti-war movement.
However, unless the events and strategy are well-planned, you must
expect that result. Anyone with a lttle foresight can imagine what re-
action will come from a bombing at Safeway during store hours.

It s absolutely imperative that the people we are trying to reach
not be afraid of us. Naturally we will run up against fear of change, fear
of the unknown. But some basis of trust must exist between the revolu-
tionaries and the people. There must be concrete reasons to believe that
the revolution would create a society which provides more life-quality.
Otherwise, people are not going to entertain the risks involved.

More than one person has told me that they would prefer our pres-
ent government to having the George Jackson Brigade in control. The
Brigade members appear as a collection of ruthless souls who have lit-
tle concern for life—especially their own. And who wants such people
in power?

B, Terrorist tactics invite police repression and consequently hurt the Left

Any political group with much sense is not going to take on the
State at this point. “The State is always so much stronger than the

208
When Is the Time?

terrorists, whose only hope for success is to prevent the authorities
from using their full powers” (Laqueur)

If the government does not have enough excuses for coming down
on Leftists, terrorists give them a license for unlimited attack. Actions
such as the Tukwila bank robbery easily enable the government to jus-
tify a grand jury investigation. Over and over again the federal pros-
ecutor in the case has made statements to the press that their investi-
gation of such a serious crime must involve any and all resources. The
unconstitutional issues of the grand jury fade in light of the potential
danger of the Brigade. Look back to the SLA: the police conducted a
mass slaughter with little public protest. America watched it on her T.V.
screen. People in this country end up believing that we need to sup-
press such dangerous persons as revolutionaries.

The other more invisible aspect of repression comes from the
infiltration of Leftist groups. The FBI should be much more knowl-
edgeable about the Left in Seattle after the grand jury gets through.
After the Brigade's actions, it is obvious that more infiltration will oc-
cur throughout the Seattle Left community. The long-term negative
affects of the Brigade will not be understood for a long time.

Conclusion

When discussing violence, one needs at some point to take the
issue out of the abstract and squarely face it. Violence and armed
struggle are not just words. They mean increased risks. People being
maimed, killed. They mean being prepared to leave everything and go
underground at any point. Or to end up in jail, perhaps for the rest of
your life.

If a revolutionary movement has large-scale support for its strug-
gle, it is likely to need less violence to achieve control. So to postpone
violence until a receptive time may mean significantly fewer deaths
and less terror. The revolutionaries also could maintain state power
with less resistance, thereby lessening the need for repression.

Ahumane revolutionary would not increase the level of violence in
people’s lives without being able to reasonably expect a “greater good”
to come from the suffering, In the words of Jill Raymond,* a Lesbian
feminist jailed for over a year because she refused to talk to a grand
jury investigating the Saxe and Power'” case: “We should only risk lives
when it's going to get us somewhere, when we're strong enough.”

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

ON ARMED STRUGGLE:
A CONTINUING DIALOGUE

Michelle Whitnack

Northwest Passage, June 28-July 19,1976

Dear Roxanne (and other passage folks, if appropriate):

Tjust finished reading your article, “TERRORISM: The Question of
Tactics,” and feel a need to make a formal reply to what I consider the
‘most offensive article I've ever read in what's usually a real fine paper.
Tll do it point by point, in an attempt to stay reasonably coherent.

1 think that your definitions of the terms “revolutionary violence”
and "terrorism” were at best wrong—at least in terms of verbalizing
the feeling I, or anyone else I know, have for the terms—and at worst,
opportunistically contrived to better serve in the weaving and justi-
fication of your own political opinion. I'm not going to get into what
T would consider more accurate definitions, as I basically agree with
what the Left Bank response will have to say to that issue.

You say that you "... do not see this country even close to a state
of armed struggle” Just who are you talking to? Other lefties? Do you
have any contact to speak of with the people locked up in prison any-
where across the country? Do you hear the Black or Native American
communities unanimously voting to “postpone violence until a re-
ceptive time™? After more than three years in the prison movement,
Twon't say that my impression is any less one-sided than yours; but I
sure as hell will say that there’s plenty of people in this country, in and
out of the prisons, who wouldn't quite agree with your analysis, and
T don't hear you even considering them. What I do hear you saying is
that it's all right for poor and oppressed people to fight—just o long
as the fighting's not close to home, where it might be a threat to all the
folks who've been mouthing left rhetoric for years without realizing
that to one hell of a lot of people in this country, every day is next to
intolerable, and the concept of revolution is not a romantic, abstract
little ego trip.

You point out that *. ... to postpone violence until a receptive time
‘may mean significantly fewer deaths and less terror.” If you want to
discuss the few days, weeks, or months during which the actual physi-
cal overthrow of the government itself occurs, I might agree with you:
if everyone in the world but Rockefeller were revolutionaries, I'm
sure we could pull off a real bloodless revolution. In that sense, use of

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When Is the Time?

violence is an admission of powerlessness. But the fact of the matter is
that right now, the other side does have the power—and will continue
to have, exactly as long as we allow them to ... and until we reach that
enviable situation where no one is willing to play mercenary to the
capitalists, it's going to take violence to stop them. But there is a se-
rious shortcoming to your humane concept of “postponing violence”
to lessen deaths and terror: here again, it's real obvious that whoever
you're dealing with in your life either feels at least reasonably com-
Tortable with the status quo—or else you're totally insensitive to their
suffering. Every day that goes by, the rich and their politicians and po-
lice forces and armies are killing, torturing, starving, and imprisoning,
people. Do these people not count against your toll of “(fewer) deaths
and (less) terror"??? Ask Ernest Graham and Eugene Allen (two black
prisoners sentenced a few months ago to the gas chamber in California)
to explain to you how postponement means “fewer deaths.” Ask the
scores of prisoners subjected to lobotomies, drug experimentation and.
other Behavior Modification techniques in Butner, Vacaville, and other
American prisons, to argue for patience, in order to make it all easier
in the end and create “less terror.” Before you purport to speak for
the people, Roxanne, I suggest you try dealing a little more with the
people who are hurting on account of the way things are.

You say, “The arrogance of the Brigade seems most obvious: they
think they know what is needed in America at this point and they in-
tend to involve all the rest of us in their decision.” I'l be the last to
take issue with you about arrogance on the part of the Brigade, and.
in fact I feel real strongly that the tendency of people doing armed
stuff to become arrogant and "heavier than thou is the greatest dan-
ger of that kind of work. What we aboveground can do to cut down this
tendency and make the underground more answerable to the aboveg-
round—as well as vice versa—is to offer principled constructive criti-
cism. That doesn't mean self-righteous trashing such as your article
offered. I don't think that the George Jackson Brigade has shown it-
self to be unwilling to accept criticism: for instance, after the unspeak-
ably awful bombing of Safeway during business hours, the Left Bank
Collective, of which I was then a member, issued a criticism (which
actually was more a condemnation than a constructive criticism), and,
in fact we issued it to the straight press rather than trying to get it to
the Brigade through the "movement” press. This was not even done,
in fact (at least on my part), with any expectation that anyone who
could do something that wrong was going to be receptive to criticism.

E
Creating a Movement with Teeth

But the fact of the matter is that they did take a long hard look at that
action, admitted later that it was wrong, and have since changed their
practice in their actions to show the concern for peoples’ safety which
the Safeway action lacked. As a result, I had to reevaluate my opinion
of the Brigade upwards ... which still doesn't put them among my top
ten favorite folks, but I have respect for them as people who are strug-
gling to be revolutionaries—which I think is the most that can be said
for any of us, over or underground.

And, Roxanne, I think that everyone who is trying to be part of a
revolution in this country—or any country—has an idea of what they
think is needed at any given point: you condemn the Brigade for think-
ing they know and intending to involve all the rest of us in their deci-
sion, but can you tell me how exactly you are above the same “accusa-
tion"? To advocate inaction is certainly no less telling than to advocate
action, once you realize that there's real suffering going on every mo-
‘ment that the status quo continues.

Your statements and analyses of the grand jury situation:

2) "Because of the structure of the grand jury, a person is excused
by simply answering that they do not have personal knowledge of the

Brigade” I'm sort of assuming that this was a typographical error. If
not, please find out the facts before you venture to write next time.

‘This statement is simply, totally false.

b) “So those who refuse to testify end up protecting the Brigade.
‘They also are exercising far more caution and respect for other people
than the Brigade has ever done.” First, there are a pretty overwhelming
‘number of arguments in favor of refusing to testify even aside from
any such concern, whether or not my/our refusal in effect protects the
Brigade. For myself, at least, | would refuse to testify even if | thought
the only people who could stand to lose by my testimony were the
Brigade; but first, that's far from the case, and second, specifics of this
case aside, I'm refusing to cooperate at all for the simple reason that
I don't talk to the government about my friends, or anyone else. The
second part of your statement was, to me, reminiscent of childhood
scenes of being held up as an example to other children; pat someone
else on the head, Roxanne. I don't want to, and will not, be used by you
as a reproach against the George Jackson Brigade.

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When Is the Time?

) "Mead chose to engage in illegal activities, so he knew what con-
sequences he was facing. Other people were merely friends of Po’s, or
went to a hearing, or answered a telephone call: they did not make a
similar choice. And yet they are having to suffer the consequences of
someone else’s decisions ... [Tlhe fact remains that all of these reper-
cussions were initiated by the Brigade’s choice of terrorism.” Bullshit.
1 for one have spent the last several years of my life trying real hard
to tromp on the Government's toes any way I could—mostly by doing,
prison work. Considering that, if I had been really surprised to even
tually get a subpoena for my efforts, Id feel pretty damn sure I either
wasn't too bright, or was at least real naive, and never really had any.
idea of just what kind of beast it was Id been fighting against all along.
Most of us subpoenaed are leftists, or possibly in some cases, are sub-
poenaed for living or hanging out with leftists. If we don't want trou-
ble from the government, we don't belong on the Left, we belong in
the suburbs. If it wasn't the Brigade, the government would eventually
find another excuse. Your willingness to advocate inaction to keep the
government off our backs floors me. A revolutionary, if you ever elect
to call yourself such, is someone who works to create change. An apolo-
gist for the status quo, on the other hand.

)1 have real difficulty with your compulsion to cultivate "poor lttle
girlism." I at least was real insulted by your plays for sympathy for us
poor vulnerable little girls who are being picked on by the big bad gov-
ernment, which struck me real heavly as the tone of this segment of
your article (secondary, of course, to the ever-present trashing of the
Brigade). Maybe this brand of sympathy would be in order, were we of
the weaker side. But I believe that there is going to be a successful revo-
lution in this country, and I intend to be part of it one way or another;
and what this means i that I think the government, whether they know
it or not, is ultimately the weaker of the two sides. So I don't go begging,
for sympathy because I'm getting nipped at a little bit by a frightened.
animal on the Endangered Species list. Support, yes, by all means: I need.
itand I welcome it with open arms. But if that brand of sympathy is what
you're offering, if you want to feel sorry for me and cater to my weak-
nesses, keep it. There are people around who understand well enough to
offer me the love and support to reinforce my strengths.

In the Struggle,
Michelle Whitnack

23
Creating a Movement with Teeth

“We ... SuppoRT ARMED AcTION ... Now”
Left Bank Collective
Northwest Passage, July 19-August 8, 1976

The June 7th issue of the Northwest Passage contained an article
arguing against the need for clandestine urban guerilla activities in
the United States such as have been carried out recently in Seattle by
the George Jackson Brigade. We believe that the article was rife with
confused definitions and analysis, and that it neither reflected any un-
derstanding of the historical nature and role of armed struggle, nor an
‘understanding of the unique conditions in the advanced industrial na-
tions at this time. We would like to present another viewpoint, in sup-
port of armed actions by revolutionaries now, as an important aspect
of the development of the revolutionary movement.

At the outset we feel it is necessary to define armed struggle and
terrorism in a radically different way than was suggested in the NWP.
Armed struggle is not of necessity a mass uprising, but rather includes
2 whole spectrum of militant resistance to the ruling class, including
bombings, armed occupations of buildings and land (such as Attica,
Wounded Knee'* and Menominee™), prisoner breakouts, armed rob-
bery, kidnapping, assassination, assaults on police and military instal-
Iations, etc. Armed struggle, as carried out by left revolutionaries, may
use the same spectrum of tactics here in Seattle as in Latin America,
Europe, Palestine, or Vietnam, with the central proviso that the revo-
lutionary must always make concern for the welfare of innocent people
avital part of the planning and execution of actions.

“Terrorism,” in its pejorative sense, is armed action which deliber-
ately or callously ignores the welfare of the people, and is not focused
on the groups and individuals against which the actor is fighting, It is
primarily a right-wing phenomenon, and in addition to the institution-
alized terrorism of the ruling class and its police forces, it has been car-
ried out again and again by police agents posing as revolutionaries, to
discredit the principled actions of guerillas. The state would like people
to see all acts of insurgency as “terrorism,” but revolutions around the
world have consistently made the distinction between revolutionary
violence against the ruling class, and the terrorism of random violence
employed by the state against the people.

Tt would be nice if acts of “terrorism” never occurred on the left, but
obviously on occasions they have. The G.JB’s bombing of Safeway last
fall was such an action, coming out of their rage at the death of a guerrilla

214
When Is the Time?

in Seattle, and the capture of the §.L.A. in California. It was not defensi-
ble; but mistakes are made in the development of an armed insurgency;
and the fact is that the G.JB. has publidly criticized themselves for the
action, and learned from it. When was the last time you heard a police
agency apologize for its acts of terror against the people?

Given this distinction then, it is important to talk about some of
the implicit assumptions behind the initiation of armed struggle. It is
by now a trite truism of sectarian Marxist-Leninists that they believe
that armed struggle will be necessary but not now! This particular litany.
has been repeated over and over again by dogmatists since the success-
ful revolution of 1917 in Russia, in other countries in every stage of
technological development, and has been proven wrong repeatedly by
armed militants who were not prepared to wait for the ‘right time.”

‘The rationalizations for this are extensive. In China, after the
failure of the Shanghai insurrection of 1927, Mao and a small group
of militants went into the countryside without the support of the
Chinese Communist Party and against the declared policy of Stalin's
Comintern, to begin the armed struggle. Their numbers grew almost
continually as the people saw the incredible success which small groups
of armed militants could have against the state. In Vietnam, in Laos, in
Angola, Mozambique, Algeria, etc., the pattern of guerilla warfare has
invariably involved a very small group of fighters, outside the doctri-
naire left, growing with their successes to become popular revolution-
ary movements. Cuba is a classic example: the armed struggle there
was begun by 8 fighters, survivors of the Granma expedition, and the
Cuban Popular Socialist Party (the main communist party in Cuba) de-
nounced them continually as “adventurists” until it became clear that
the guerrillas were going to win.

In other Latin American struggles, the pattern recurs. The legend-
ary Tuparmaros (MLN) of Uruguay, whose numbers were believed to
be in the thousands, were begun by a group of no more than 12 people,
whose first actions included theft of food trucks and food giveaways,
bombing of office buildings, and a gun club robbery. The Movement of
the Revolutionary Left (MIR) now considered the resistance to Chilean
fascism, was rejected by the traditional left during the Popular Unity
period because of its “extremism.” The People’s Revolutionary Army.
(ERP), which is now waging outright guerilla war against the Argentine
junta, began as a small urban “terrorist” organization.

Guerrilla warfare has always been initiated by small groups, from
whose example other people get the idea and begin to take actions

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

independently. Eventually the groups and individuals begin to link up,
and out of growing activity and growing success a movement forms.
More people join; the level of activity increases. And for those in the
society not engaged in the struggle, the actions produce a change in
political climate, a radical challenge to society’s assumptions. Actions
can be a catalyst for the personal transformation and radicalization of
individuals. To fail to see revolutionary warfare as a dialectical process,
growing from small to large and continually transforming the material
conditions in which it operates, is to ignore the lessons of history.

‘The argument that the development of armed struggle must wait
until some later time when the people are at that stage simply does
not hold up under examination. We wonder if folks who have this no-
tion have ever considered how people develop the capability to wage
a revolutionary war. People simply do not learn these sorts of skills
in the abstract against some later time when they might want to use
them. The only time people have the time or the interest in developing
such skills is when they are preparing to wage war immediately, or are
already engaged in it. Thus preparation and ability to carry out armed
struggle begins when people are ready to fight, so that if people are
ready to fight, there is no "better time” than the present.

The Red Guerrilla Family, an urban guerrilla organization which
has been operating in the Bay Area since early last year, summed it
up well when they said: "W have chosen to join the armed struggle now,
because there is no reason to wait. Armed struggle is not a substitute for
mass struggle, but a necessary part of it. We do ot claim to be leaders or
followers, but simply the allies of all peaple who want freedom and social-
ism. Together, we will win.”

What Are We Fighting For?

The author of the NWP article dearly considers a “revolution” to be
consummated by the transfer of state power from one ruling group to
another. The task of aboveground "organizers” is to sell their particular
brand of leadership to the “masses.” to gain support and legitimacy for
their particular “vanguard” in seizing state power in the name of the
people. While that has historically been the outcome of revolutions in
the undeveloped nations, that is not what revolution in the advanced
industrial nations s about

In the advanced industrial nations, there has never been a success-
ful Communist Party of "Marxist-Leninist” led revolution seize “state
power.” To the contrary, whenever real revolutionary movements have

216
When Is the Time?

been underway in advanced nations (suchas Franceand Czechoslovakia
in 1968), they have been led by socialists advocating the abolition of
state power, true worker's democracy, and they have been actively un-
dermined by the traditional left

If seizing state power is what is conceived of as the goal, then the
armed struggle must wait indefinitely for such phenomena as “Building,
amass base,” “building a revolutionary party to lead the struggle,” etc.
Such a conception leads also to the posing of inane questions such as
whether we prefer to have Gerald Ford or the George Jackson Brigade
in control. These are the wrong answers and the wrong questions: we,
do not seek to have anyone "in control” and the armed struggle cannot.
wait for the formation of a “vanguard party” under which we have no
intention of being subjugated.

In fact, the traditional left has never had much significant appeal
to the American people since the 305, and the reasons for this have to
do with some fairly strong anti-authoritarian traditions. People who,
are literate and live in a technologically sophisticated society do not.
need a new group to tell them what to do—they aspire to be free, to
take control of their own lives! Leftists who are continually drawing,
elitist distinctions between the “organizers” and the “masses,” and
who see themselves as distinct from the people, are unlikely to inspire
anyone to follow them in an age fundamentally cynical (and rightly s0)
about leaders,

Furthermore, the sectarian left offers nothing to counteract that
cynicism. People are looking for concrete ways to change the condi-
tions of this society, to bring about social control of the means of pro-
duction and individual liberation. The “leadership” of the sectarian left.
instead offers the people the chance to join any one of 17 different
vanguards, each of which claims to be the true one, and all of which
spend most of their energy arguing among themselves over doctrinal
disagreements. This is not the place to debate libertarian vs. authori-
tarian socialism; suffice it to say that there are many people in this so-
ciety who are looking for ways to drastically change this society, even
though they show no inclination to become part of the “mass base” or
this or that "Marxist-Leninist” vanguard party.

The Value of the Guerilla Movement

‘The guerrilla struggle offers one way, although by no means the
only way, in which revolutionaries can make militant demands on the
system, put cracks in the walls, and break down the capitalist system.

27
Creating a Movement with Teeth

‘The activities of the New World Liberation Front in California are a
striking example. For two years they have been consistently bomb-
ing, sabotaging, and disrupting major ruling class institutions such
as Pacific Gas and Electric, various landlords, and the San Francisco
Police Department, and demanding that the conditions in which poor
and working people live be improved at the cost of these agencies. In
that period, no known members of the organization have been caught,
and no injuries have resulted to innocent bystanders.

Inreturn, they have gottena tartling amount of credibility with peo-
ple on both sides of the class war. The San Francisco Police Department
transferred a policeman who had committed police brutality in Bernal
Heights out of the community the same day that a death threat was re-
ceived from the NWLE A recent NWLF campaign for a new health facil-
ity was supported by massive plugging of parking meters by people in
the community, in response to a call from the NWLE And thus far, two
‘major slumlords in San Francisco have capitulated to NWLE demands
that they renovate their buildings at no cost to the tenants, rather than
endure sustained attacks. The San Francisco papers are so familiar with
the skill and safety of their actions that they even point out the differ-
ence between NWLF and right-wing terrorist bombings!

‘What this proves is that even now, at a time which is not approach-
ing one of mass insurgency, armed militants can both alter the mate-
rial conditions of our society, and inspire others to begin participating
in the armed struggle as well. The traditional left likes to talk about
how the SLA didn't accomplish anything, and all ended up dead or in
prison. On the contrary, the level of guerilla activity has more than
doubled since the SLA blazed its way into our national consciousness
with the Hearst kidnapping and food giveaway. The fact of a ruling
class reactionary being forced to feed thousands of people may have
turned some people off—revolution usually does—but millions of
others were really excited about it. And millions of people got a first
class demonstration of “due process of law” with the Los Angeles shoo-
tout on their evening news

It is perplexing that many of the quotes used in the NWP arti-
cle were from Walter Zeev Laqueur. Laqueur is a well-known Isracli
Zionist journalist, and the main thrust of many of his articles was di-
rected against the PLO. The Palestinian guerillas are an excellent exam-
ple of an initially small group of activists who, through dramatic me-
dia-covered actions, drew worldwide attention to their plight, which
eventually translated to growing worldwide support, and isolation of

218
When Is the Time?

the Zionists. Al during this period, the straight media was attacking
the “terrorists” and distorting the coverage they provided; yet even so
they could not disguise the revolutionary content of the actions. It is a
mistake to believe that since the bourgeois media is tremendously bi-
ased against revolution, that it can entirely subvert the revolutionary
impact of audacious actions on people’s consciousness.

The Problem of Fear

One of the underlying elements of the argument against armed
struggleis one which s never brought outin the open: fear. Undertaking
clandestine illegal activities goes against lifetimes of conditioning to
accept authority, at the risk of massive retaliation by the state. Facing
up to our own fear openly and honestly, and dealing with each other’s
fear in a loving and comradely manner goes a long way toward over-
coming fear. Trying to hide our fears behind mounds of theoretical
evasion and amacho front s a sure way to remain trapped in paralyzed
inaction or in destructive competitive games.

Lenin once said “A revolutionary is a dead man on furlough.” Any
kind of activity which genuinely threatens the state and the ruling
class will be met with heavy repression, and always has. People need to
be able to say: “I'm willing to struggle for revolution, but such and such
is just more risk than I can deal with,” without shame, and without
being put down in a hierarchy of “more revolutionary than thou” In
doing so, they both give sanction to comrades who are taking greater
risks, and keep themselves out of situations with which they are not
prepared to cope. In addition, folks need to realize that there s a wide
range of illegal activity which goes into revolution, not all of which
is as risky as carrying out a guerrilla operation. Every revolution has
an underground, and not all of the people are combatants—there are
technicians, writers, printers, forgers, harborers, drivers, suppliers,
and a host of others. They are all equally important, and have always
been done by ordinary working people, not mythical hero types. But
what revolutionaries must begin to confront is that, whatever they are
doing, REVOLUTION IS ILLEGALL!

Repression and Resistance

One of the fundamental errors of the article in the NWP was in
suggesting that the Brigade was responsible for the repression which
the state has brought down on the left in Seattle. In fact, the grand,
jury inquisition and the FBI-ATE-SPD' investigation have merely

219
Creating a Movement with Teeth

illustrated the fundamentally repressive nature of this state, and have
proven that the George Jackson Brigade and other groups like them
are among the viable groups on the left.

The events in Seattle are acquainting many white radicals with
the nature of police repression which the Black, Chicano, Native
American, and Puerto Rican communities have lived under constantly
for decades. Although single mothers are certainly entitled to special
support and sympathy from the community in the face of this appall-
ing tactic of selecting them for subpoenas, arguments blaming their
plight on the Brigade ignore the fact that this repression and abuse are
the status quo in other communities, and will continue until the state
which sponsors these outrages is destroyed, a process from which fur-
ther repression and abuse can be expected in abundance.

Another point which should be considered is why the state is tak-
ing the trouble to send dozens of agents in from across the country to
track down a group which they believe numbers about ten people. We
believe that the reason is that the ruling class takes the threat which
groups like the GJB pose to the continued existence of the state ex-
tremely seriously. Furthermore, the indications are that such groups are
growing, and that the state is nearly powerless to halt their activities.
‘This fact in itself is an indication of a “base of support” in the commu-
nity, and one which, if not destroyed, may grow into a permanent base
of operations for the guerrillas.

One other argument suggested in the NWP article is that people
become guerrillas because they can't last in the “slow, real work which
is needed to turn this country around”; it being "relatively easy to hold
‘upabank, shoot police, bomb a few buildings.” This is ridiculous. People
like Bruce Seidel, Ed Mead, and John Sherman came from long back-
‘grounds of doing aboveground organizing, and clearly see their armed
work as a natural extension of their past work. Secondly, to assert that
robbing banks, shooting police or whatever is “relatively easier” than
aboveground work is ludicrous. It just ain't so. At best, the comparison
is pointless; for the committed revolutionary aboveground and the
fugitive guerilla underground must both constantly contend with the
full weight of the state arrayed against their efforts. What is “easiest”
is primarily a function of the skills of the individual and not the area
of struggle in which the revolutionary is engaged

Finally, the entire article proceeds on the notion that there is a cor-
rect strategy for revolution which can be figured out in detail from this
point in time, if we just have the correct theory. Revolution is not an

220
When Is the Time?

absolute which exists at the end of some length of time: it is, as Marx
said, a dialectical process. To assume that it can be anticipated by an en-
lightened few is to ignore the fact that people make history. The George
Jackson Brigade, and the guerrilla movement, are of the people, and.
they have the right to participate in the process in the way which seems
‘most effective to them. We support them in their decision.

221
Creating a Movement with Teeth

Ep Meap Repies
Northwest Passage, August 9-29, 1976

Reading Roxanne (and John [Brockhaus|'s) criticism of the George
Jackson Brigade left me with mixed feelings. On the one hand I was
put off by the hostile and fearful tone of the Passage criticism * At the
same time | was please that after more than a year of the Brigade’s ex-
istence, someone had finally made an attempt to enter into dialogue
around the question of armed struggle. Prior efforts in this direction
have consisted of little more than verbal abuse masked in the rhetoric
of criticism

The net effect of all this one way “criticism” has been to further
the government's basic repressive strategy—to divide. By dividing the
aboveground from the underground, the resulting isolation renders the
Iatter more vulnerable to attack. The divisive effect of criticism can be
counterbalanced when it is done within the context of general support
andis coupled with a self-examination of the writer’s political practice.

Criticism is an important tool if used correctly. But when abused
it can become destructive. From its inception the George Jackson
Brigade has welcomed and responded to legitimate criticisms from the
left. Careless use of this weapon, however, by those more interested in
rationalizing their own passivity than they are in finding a revolution-
ary reality, has made it necessary to ask critics of the armed front to
counterbalance their hostility with a little love, and to remember that
criticism is a two-way street. The Passage article did neither.

The following comments are those of an aboveground worker
who has had some experience working within the armed front, and
do not necessarily reflect the Brigade's position on any matter here-
in raised. While my heart is with them, circumstances dictate my do-
ing mass work until such time as the rest of me is reunited with the
underground.

Definitions

‘The Passage criticism starts its analysis under the caption "armed
struggle vs. terrorism” and then proceeds to define the Brigade's work
in limited either/or terms—it is either armed struggle or it is terror-
ism. Then by giving the term ‘armed struggle’ an overly narrow defini-
tion, they leave terrorism as the only valid label to use for those doing
armed work. We should first examine their basis for rejecting use of
the term armed struggle in connection with the Brigade.

222
When Is the Time?

Roxanne argues that the term armed struggle is usually used in
situations where an entire population is engaged in or supportive of
the military effort, such as in Angola, Viet Nam, etc. While it may be
true that we usually hear the term in connection with a highly devel-
oped or full scale revolutionary war, this is so because armed struggle
is generally not mentioned on the news or in the books until such time
as it has reached an advance stage of development.

Like pregnancy, armed struggle grows in stages. An embryonic
pregnancy is nonetheless pregnancy, even though we usually think
in terms of bulged out bellies in connection with a pregnancy. When
Brigade members go out on a bomb run or other dangerous mission
[in which] they are armed, they are also engaged in the process of revo-
lutionary struggle. Is it too simplistic to call this an embryonic stage
of armed struggle? The seeds of Viet Nam's liberation army did work
similarly to Brigade actions, yet Ho Chi Minh did not call them “terror-
ist units”

For the sake of argument let's assume that armed struggle does
not exist until it reaches advanced stages of development. It would
then follow that the Brigade is not involved in the process of armed,
struggle. It would not, however, follow that the Brigade is a terrorist.

organization.
Roxanne defines terrorism as “the selective use of symbolic vio-
lence by a small, clandestine group ... " This definition is the one used

by law enforcement agencies and the pig media. It is wrong. According
to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary terror has one distinguishing
characteristic: “a state of intense fear.” Terrorism is the political use
of this fear

Not all revolutionary violence is terrorist. The various levels of ter-
rorism are weapons of the weak, and are generally employed under
conditions of extreme desperation. Terror can be an important tool for
raising the consciousness of the masses when the action clearly dem-
onstrates the cause and effect relationship between ruling class vio-
lence and revolutionary violence. While revolutionaries cannot match,
the state in the level of violence, they can slow down some of its more,
Ragrant abuses through the selective use of terror.

‘The attack mounted by the Brigade against the FBI and BIA i re-
sponse to FBl and BIA terrorism at Pine Ridge and Rosebud Indian res-
ervations, while not perfect, were good examples of the selective use of
limited counter-terror. These two actions are the only time the Brigade
has ever used the weapon of terror (the terror resulting from the first.

223
Creating a Movement with Teeth

Safeway bombing, where the store ignored the warning, was uninten-
tional and wrong). Every other Brigade action has been in support of
some mass struggle (as were the FBI and BIA attacks), be they prison-
ers, workers or the left, and were accompanied by advanced warning,

While terror is one of the weapons in the Brigade’s arsenal, it is not a
terrorist organization.

‘There was a political party in pre-revolutionary Russia that elevat-
ed terror to a principle.* This was incorrect. The use of terror as the
principle form of struggle is incompatible with Marxism inasmuch as
it cannot be the means for the liberation of the masses. When terror
is elevated to the level of principle it becomes, as Lenin said, a form of
spontaneism. But Marxism-Leninism rejects no form of struggle, not
even terrorism. The use of this weapon, however, should be strictly
limited to those rare instances demanding its application.

Where the Brigade Comes From

The only path to the final defeat of U.S. imperialism and the
building of socialism is revolutionary war.

Revolution is the most powerful resource of the people. To wait,
to not prepare people for the fight, is to seriously mislead about
what kind of fierce struggle lies ahead.

Revolutionary will be complicated and protracted. It includes
‘mass struggle and clandestine struggle, peaceful and violent, politi-
cal and economic, cultural and military, where all forms are devel-
oped in harmony with the armed struggle.

Without mass struggle there can be no revolution.

Without armed struggle there can be no victory.

—Prairie Fire

What was passing itself off as the non-revisionist left was in reality
nothing more than a verbal critique of reformism and revisionism, its
practice indistinguishable from that of the left opposition arm of bour-
geos politics What is needed is a practice conforming to such lofty
theoretical positions as the one quoted above. A small group of people
came together and set themselves to the task of developing the mini-
‘mum clandestine infrastructure necessary to answer in practice the
difficult questions of form, base, coordination with the aboveground
‘movement, and the sustainable level of struggle. They were guided by
the teachings of George Jackson:

224
When Is the Time?

In the opening stages of conflct, before a unified left can be s-

tablished, before most people have accepted the inevitability of war,

before we are able miliarily to organize massive violence, we must

depend on limited, selective violence tied to exact political purpose.
—Blood In My Eye”

The George Jackson Brigade saw such “exact political purposes”
as being the armed defense of the aboveground left; the dispensing of
revolutionary justice; military support of mass actions; retaliation to
extreme manifestations of fascist violence; and armed propaganda. It
was also felt that armed actions would help to polarize the left, and
that direct action would contribute to the building of revolutionary or-
ganization. The Brigade then launched a series of military probes, each
of which met one or more of the above purposes, and each of which
helped the group to further define itself and test the limits of struggle.

It was not just theoretical considerations that led to the formation
of the Brigade, nor was the group’s development the simple product
of the deepening economic, political and cultural crisis of monopoly
capitalism. While revolutionary theory and the growing international
retreat of ULS. imperialism were important considerations, the key fac-
tor was the collective experience gained from doing years and years
of purely mass agitation and organizing. This experience verified that
words alone are not enough to achieve even modest reforms. If this
means being a “frustrated” radical, then I cannot understand why, giv-
en the isolation of the aboveground movement from the masses, more
people do not become frustrated with an ineffective practice.

In Response to Criticism

‘The best place to start is with your [Park’s] claim that developing
the capacity for revolutionary violence in the present “works against
the revolution.” You recognize the need for violence at some point,
and admit that objective conditions are ripe. But argue that “the sub-
jective conditions . . . are not in any way conducive towards armed
struggle at this point.” You suggest everyone work at raising people’s
level of awareness.

Ithink most people are conscious of the level of oppression and ex-
ploitation, or at least there is enough awareness within the advanced
sectors to win over the intermediate and neutralize the backwards
elements within the progressive communities. What people do not
see is a winning way out of the existing situation. This is the task of

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

communists. But so far radicals have focused on raising the awareness
of people who want concrete solutions instead of communist rhetoric
and marching in circles. What we need is a whole new style of work—
one that will demonstrate our determination to make revolution
People are not going to follow anyone who lacks the faith to fight for
their convictions.

Let's assume you are correct in saying that what's needed is more
of the same old ineffective methods of raising the consciousness of the
‘masses. If raising consciousness is your goal, as you say, then it would
seem only natural to accept assistance of the Brigade. They can reach
‘many people with one well-placed and timely bomb. Think what could
be accomplished in terms of awareness if the aboveground and under-
ground could only work together.

‘The reason why it has been difficult to work together is because
alot of people look at things with tunnel vision. They see struggle in
‘narrow either/or terms—it i either mass or armed—without under-
standing the dialectical interdependence between the two. The Brigade
has not tried to pose as an alternative to mass organizing, but as a
necessary supplement to it—as another front in the total liberation
process. The two are interdependent. The failure to support one is a
failure to support the other.

‘The Black Liberation Army says: “We as a movement will not be
able to fight in the future if we do not develop the capacity for revo-
lutionary violence in the present.” This is true. The underground isn't
going to just pop up one day when we need it—on command. Just as
the aboveground movement s not going to become a truly mass move-
‘ment overnight, the underground will require time to develop its po-
tential. Each take time, energy, risk and sacrifice—trying this, trying
that, making mistakes and pushing forward. It's a long hard process,
and it is one we all have to do together. What the Brigade is saying is
that it is time to start seriously pushing the process forward. The soon-
er begun the sooner done, as Jonathan Jackson always said.

A'group specializing in the armed aspect of struggle s a revolu-
tionary division of labor. It leaves other groups free to do purely mass
agitation and organizing The armed front will not draw energy from
the aboveground * The tiny handful who response to "the call to arms”
will leave behind them, to do purely mass work, all those who are not
yet willing to risk the hardships of life in the underground. Reinforcing
our weakest point—the armed front—will strengthen the movement
asawhole, it will enable the movement to walk on both legs. Moreover,

226
When Is the Time?

when the time comes for the next round of Palmer raids, there will be
shelter for aboveground workers driven underground.

‘The Brigade criticism says: “This turning to violence ... fits so well
into the male tradition of needing to prove power.” The women in the
Brigade might not stoop to responding to such a sexist slur, and as a
“male” I do not wish to do so. Instead, I offer you the perceptive in-
sights of my sister and friend, Emily Harris:

‘any mass movement can be strong and long lived, vital and
growing only in so far as it builds at ts very heart support for the
armed struggle. Right now this means a growing consciousness
among women of the nature of the enemy and the relationship be-
tween the women's movement and the armed actions that comple-
ment our struggles. Again, progressive women act as the catalyst
in developing this as a pricrity. A women's movement that is built
without fnally recognizing the necessity of armed struggle cannot
be revolutionary.

‘Women have a crucial role to play in building and participating
in the armed struggle—part of that role i developing right now in
the building of the underground as a front capable of surviving and
confronting the enemy through armed actions that are responsive to
the anti-sexist, anti-racist and anti-classist clements of our commu-
nities. The underground presently lacks much of the critical support
it deserves because many elements of the aboveground feel that to
support armed action will scare people away. This type of thinking
denies our progressive role as revolutionary women and men.

—Dragon, No. 9%

It is next claimed that the Brigade lacks a solid base of support.
‘This is true. But this is not a reason to reject the Brigade; rather it is
an indication of the important need to build a strong base of support.
for the armed front. Combat units can obtain material support from
one or more of three sources, each of which has its own special disad-
vantages. The first is to draw support directly from the people. This is
what the Brigade has primarily relied upon for the duration of its exis-
tence 2 The drawback of a base in the urban poor is the sacrifice of se-
curity needs. The security needs of a clandestine group dictates that its
contact with non-politicized elements be as limited as possible. Also,
poverty limits the amount of support poor people can provide, espe-
cially when it comes to expensive equipment needs. The second source
of support is from the left's aboveground and underground support
network. The major disadvantage of left support lies in the chance of

227
Creating a Movement with Teeth

betrayal from the rear. As experience has demonstrated, the left tends
to abandon instead of support its friends especially during time of
stress. The third alternative is direct expropriation and self-sufficien-
cy. The danger of this method of support is of course the possibility of
capture or death if the action is incorrectly executed.

‘The left not only refused to give the Brigade material or even verbal
support, it actively petitioned and organized against them, and at one
point it actually demanded the group leave town. This criminal failure
on the part of advanced sectors within the left forced the Brigade into
the third alternative. People then criticized the bank robbery, not be-
cause it was incorrectly executed, but because it was an “untimely” and
“unnecessary” escalation of the struggle. Herein lies the source of my
bitterness toward those who advocate revolutionary violence in their
rhetoric, but in practice work against it. Perhaps Carlos Marighella was
right when he said " itis impossible for an urban guerrilla to subsist
or survive without taking part in the battle of expropriation.” 1 am
inclined to think so, at least at this point.

While it is no doubt true that most working people do not et accept
the need for revolutionary violence or the necessity of class war, we need
not wait until such time as all those with their motor homes are ready
before moving in this direction. Most people were not aware of the real
nature of the Viet Nam War, but the left did not put off confrontation
politics until a majority saw the light. In fact, it was the new left’s mili-
tancy that caused them to give the matter some serious thought.

Most people are racist, sexist and anti-communist. Certainly you
would not argue from this that racism and sexism are good and the
fight for socialism is wrong. Then why use the same twisted logic in
your arguments against armed struggle? The "subjective” conditions
of which you speak, which s really the basis for your anti-armed strug-
gle line, is rooted in the most backwards aspects of the masses. Most
people have been inculcated with bourgeois ideas from birth; it is an
error to predicate your non-struggle position on this backwardness.
All you have succeeded in demonstrating is the pressing need to com-
bat bourgeois ideological hegemony within the working class. Armed
propaganda s one means of achieving this end.

I the left is really interested in raising consciousness they can
start by discontinuing the destructive habit of focusing their theo-
retical energies on attacking the Brigade. If there are not any more
Marxist-Leninist fighters, they could at least use their knowledge for
the purpose of finding solutions to the left's isolation from the masses.

228
When Is the Time?

‘They might even go so far as to support and explain the need for armed.
actions (of course this might cost them their legitimacy in the eyes of
the ruling class).

Another thing folks could do is to start implementing the lessons
of radical therapy. Find the source of oppression responsible for your
alienation, become angry instead of internalizing it, and direct this an-
ger against its real source. Organize around your own oppression and
fight back. Organize people around their own needs and the struggle for
power. People organize to fight. When leaders fail to initiate the conflict,
people fall away from these organizations and the remainder bog them-
selves down in study groups. The answers will not be found in books,
butin practice. Theory is a guide to action, not an end in itself. Without
arevolutionary practice groups fallinto endless debate and internal con-
Rict, they get locked into a cycle of reformism and opportunism. When
revolution fails it is the fault of communists, not the people. Leaders
who blame the people instead of themselves should be replaced.

As far as the grand jury harassment is concerned, people must
come to understand that resistance breeds repression. If some folks
want to blame the Brigade for the existence of increased repression, it
s their choice to do so. Itis only a matter of time before they recognize
the real source of this problem. The answer to the problem of repres-
sionis not adopting a non-struggle line, as you propose, but in making,
the advanced sectors of our communities more secure and less avail-
able to the eyes of the state. If people followed your reasoning there
would never be a revolution as people would never resist.

In any case, the Brigade has been very careful to insure leftists
have no information concerning its membership, shape and base.
‘The Brigade knew there would be a grand jury, what surprised them
s that it took so long and freaked out 50 many people when it final-
Iy did come. Anyway, the point is that those called before the grand
jury know nothing. Anyone not wishing to go to jail need only say they
known nothing in order to avoid the possibility of confinement. Those
who have stood up have done so out of principle. If they go to jail it
will be out of the strength of their convictions, and not because of the
Brigade. People who stand up and spit in the face of repression have
my love and respect.

Conclusion

Your article has characterized the Brigade as a group of arrogant
and suicidal power mongers bent on leading the left to hell. The Brigade

229
Creating a Movement with Teeth

‘members I know are gentle, caring, loving, and kind. They have the
same doubts, fears, and uncertainties as their aboveground counter-
parts, the only essential difference being that the former are perhaps
‘more anxious to close the gap between theory and practice. Above all
they are people and deserve the respect due a comrade—even if you
happen to disagree with them.

We stand at the threshold of the beginning of the end. Many folks
are fearful, and rightly so. Po and Bruce are dead, many more will not
survive the uncertain future. This is fascism! Legitimate revolutionary
activity will not be tolerated. In the Brigade people deal with their fear
by directly confronting it, experiencing it, and then leaving it behind
until the next time—which is made a little easier with practice.

Experience s gained from practice, not passive evasion of it. We
are human and will make errors. If an error is to be made it should be
on the side of action. As Marighella teach
enly than to do nothing for fear of doing wrong™ This is not ‘action in
command, but a simple recognition of the Marxist principle that we
learn from our mistakes, and it is practice which enables us to verify
the correctness of our theory.

‘The appetite of the bourgeois has grown larger than its opportuni-
ties. In this contradiction lies the source of conflict. The time has never
been better for initiating offensive struggle. There exists no unity of
governmental will, it is a regime of social crisis. Its massive apparatus
Of repression is a sign of weakness, not strength. The opportunities
to bring about a change in the existing correlation of class forces have
never been better. What remains is for the direct interference of the
‘masses. This s the task of communists, to start the process of contend-
ing for power; organizing to empower the powerless, for class war.

Discover your proletarian enthusiasm. Reach out. Organize around
your own oppression and the immediate needs of poor and working peo-
ple. Organize above and below, organize to fight. Revolution s aggres-
sive and imaginative, it requires risk, and sacrifice, love and honesty.

t s better to act mistak-

Blood in my eye,
Edward Mead

230
When Is the Time?

GRanp Jury:
‘TrreE WHO REFUSED TO SPEAK

Interview by Roxanne Park and Emmett Ward
Northwest Passage, June 28-July 19, 1976

What's the scenario when you go into the grand jury room?

Katie: Well, you walk in . . . it's really light and there’s all those
people sitting there. Something about the atmosphere makes you feel
really frightened, really scared. There is no judge, and you don't have
lawyer. There are no friends of yours, and no press. There's nobody but
the court reporter, the prosecutor and the jurors. If you want to talk to
your lawyer, you have to ask their permission to go out of the room. . ..
[Tlhe prosecutor gives you the distinct impression you are holding up
the proceedings as if you want to talk with your lawyer. Everybody gets
uptight with you, and you feel like you're not asserting your rights, but
you're asking for a privilege .. . to go down the hall every time you talk
with your lawyer. And you try to write down the questions, which is
hard, because the prosecutor is asking them so fast.

Brenda: One of the things that really bothers me about going in is
that from the moment you walk in the door you're on. You don't get a
chance to sit down and orient yourself, or look who's there or what the
set up is. All the time you're in there, they're asking you questions. I
found that really frightening, I felt like I was on totally alien territory.
‘There's just no chance to get a sense of your space.

Katie: t's like you're on stage. The focus is on you from the second
you walk in that door.

Brenda: 1t's strange when you walk in. Everybody else is sitting
there really comfortable. The prosecutor knows everybody there, ev-
erybody knows everybody else. They know exactly what's going on,
they have all this breathing space and you have absolutely none.

I'm getting the idea that it's very difficult to outfox them. I've heard
people ask “Why don't you just go to the jury and answer what questions
you want—Kind of play games with them—because you know what you
know and they don't.”

231
Creating a Movement with Teeth

Katie: You could answer a question or two, which seemed pretty
harmless, like if they ask about some bombing and you say you don't
Know anything, But somewhere down the line they will ask a question
and you say “Hey, they have no business asking this” or you jut don't
want to tell them. So you say, “Wait a minute, I'm not going to answer
that question,” and try to assert your 5% amendment rights. But they
say, “Sorry, you can't do that; by talking to begin with, by answering
even one question, you have waived your 5* amendment rights.” So
there you are. You've got no legal ground to stand on.

Have you been told the questions they're interested in asking you?

Brenda: The prosecutor has said that one of the things he wants to
Know from us is who Po’s friends were, because if he knows who was
close to him at the time he died, he would then know who would be
grieved enough to do the second bombing and thus find the George
Jackson Brigade. Which is one of the reasons I don't want to testify. |
don't want to talk about who Po’ friends were. That's the same kind of

reasoning that led them to me and put me in this situation and I have
no interest in doing that to somebody else.

What do you think about the government’s [claim] that the Brigade is
all connected up with Po?

Katie: Even Walter Wright, the reporter from the Post-Intelligencer,
has come out and said, “Look, the Brigade never claimed Po as a mem-
ber. Although they've claimed all kinds of other things, they've never
claimed him or the bombing he did as one of their actions.” After the
Brigade bombing at the Safeway store Po’s friends issued a statement
saying that Po would never have approved of that sort of bombing
because it endangered people’s lives and he was a gentle person. And
Michelle [Whitnack], the other woman subpoenaed, has come out in
the press and said that she'd stake her life on the fact that Po wasn'ta
‘member of the Brigade.

When I interviewed Ed Mead he said that Po was not a member of the
‘Brigade; he was a comrade trying to achieve the same ends, but not a member.
It sounds like the grand jury subpoenas are a combination of sloppy
investigative work and a fishing expedition. Do you have a sense from the
government's point of view what they/re trying to get from ll this?

232
When Is the Time?

Brenda: What goes on in their minds is a really good question. I
think they don't have a very good understanding of the left commu-
nity. We went before Magistrate [John] Weinberg on the hearing to
get some of our things taken in the search. U.S. Attorney [Peter] Mair
justified keeping the things because we showed an interest in dialecti-
cal materialism and feminism, because we had radical writings in our
house, because we read poetry, because there were the words in some-
one’s diary that said "cozy and comforting’—which is similar to “cozy,
cuddly, armed and dangerous,” which is in one of the communiques of
the Brigade—because we were sorry, grieved that Po died, because we,
had a criticism of some group which [we put in a form similar to those
of the Brigade], since it started out with a quote from a revolutionary:
all these things put together showed there was a good chance that we,
are the George Jackson Brigade. That leads me to believe there must be
George Jackson [Brigade] houses all over Capitol Hill, and that many.
of us who had no idea that we were members, must be.

Katie: Td like to put another twist on that. From the very begin-
ning . .. when they did this garbage search, the affidavit, and all this
business, they've been trying to create this web around us, this fog
around us. Prosecutor [Jack] Meyerson came out on the radio and said:
“We know that communique was written in that particular house we,
searched.” They're [presenting this in such a way as to make it appear]
that we must have something to hide, that we know all these things.
What they're doing is trying to make it so that when we go in and try
to assert our rights, they can say, "Sure, they're taking the 5% because
they have something to hide”—not because we think it's important
that people refuse to cooperate with the grand jury.

Id like to talk about what's happened in your own lives as a result of
the subpoenas,

Katie: Two kinds of things have happened. We've gotten a lot of sup-

port from some friends, from some people we don't even know at all, al-

though other people, other friends have disappeared into the woodwork.
Do you think that's because they've afraid?

Katie: 1 don't know. I assume that's why. I get uptight about it occa-
sionally, but on the other hand I've been overwhelmed by the number

233
Creating a Movement with Teeth

of other people who have just done incredible things for us, supported
s alot. So that's one side of it. The other side of it is that we are virtu-
ally on trial in front of the press for something that we never did. Hell,
T've never even been arrested for anything. Nobody's every besmirched
‘my—um, integrity—and suddenly here I am on trial for writing some-
thing I never wrote. And yet the government—I mean the FBI, the CIA,
there was the Watergate thing—everybody knows that the government
ies and cheats and steals and does everything, and yet people are will-
ing tolisten to them and believe them. But in our personal lives ... our
Tandlord got real freaked out about the search of the house and the stuff
that's happened, so he's evicting us, we have to be out by the end of the
‘month. That's happening on top of everything else.

Before all this happened, the plans for the immediate future of my
life, were to be a gardener, because I like to do that; and I would go to
carpentry school in the fall. What's happened is that my garden is over-
grown with weeds, [ won't get it harvested because I won't be living in
this house any more. If [ go to jail I won't go to carpentry school. I have
a son—Tdlike to say before this happened he thought police were won-
derful, and in fact when they walked through the door he wasn't upset
atall, he was the coolest person here. He thought it was great to have all
these cops in his house. But since then I came home one day and there
was a sign that he made on the front door that said “no police in here”
It's had a big impact on his life and if they send me to jai, it’s going to
have a real big impact because I'm not going to see him for probably a
year or more, which means [ won't see him til he's 7%

When you think of your future, do you expect you'll end up in jail?

Katie: T include that as a real strong possibility. I'm superstitious
enough to want to say, “Of course I'm not going to jail” But I want
to leave the option open in my own mind. I'm making the necessary
arrangements

Brenda: I'm assuming I'm gonna go and the legal advice I get is to
‘make that assumption. Il be very surprised if I don't and I'm building
what's left of my life around this fact. My whole lifestyle has changed
and the way I look at everything has changed because of this. Before
the police broke into the house, I had always known about police re-
pression and that being a revolutionary, or radical, or whatever it turns,
out that we are . .. included that occupational hazard. But since this

234
When Is the Time?

has happened I feel like my life has been totally invaded and there are
all kinds of things that are no longer my private things.

‘The police have gone through my garbage and read things that I
threw away, they broke into my house, they ripped off personalletters
from my friends, they ripped off diaries, address books, all that kind,
of stuff is theirs. They could walk around the house and do whatever
they wanted. They may be bugging my phone, they might be observing
outside. I don't know what is going to happen to me for the next year
and a half of my life. I may be spending it totally under other people’s
control. I am being dragged up in front of the grand jury and being told
to say what I know about my friends.

One of the reasons I do ot want to testify is that I want them to
know that there is a part of me that is myself, that they cannot touch,
that they cannot have. Since this happened I have had to find myself
inside of myself. T have had to find my center really strong inside. I can't
use a journal, I can't keep letters to my friends to use as “maps” to my,
life. It all has to be inside of me, and that is really changing the way [
look at the world. It was very hard when I realized they had taken let-
ters from people that I care very much about, and I don't know what it
will mean that they had those letters. I don't know what it will mean
that they have addresses of my friends. Friends may be subpoenaed be-
cause of their association with me. People who have only had personal
associations with me can be dragged into this. It has given me a lot to
think about. I realize that we need to find ways to take care of ourselves,
to protect our friends and to fight back. If we are serious about chang-
ing this country, that that's going to have to be part of our lives.

Do you have any specificideas of what changes that means?

Brenda: 1 don't want to spread a lot of paranoia around and sug-
gest that everyone is going to get their houses broken into, but I think
that people who are radicals ought to think real carefully about what
kind of written information is lying around in their house. That people
should pick their friends wisely: when people that they know are under
attack that they should take that very seriously and support them in
every way that they can. That can mean a lot of things, from showing,
up to demonstrate to making dinner, giving money, coming up to peo-
ple and just talking to them: letting them know that you are there.

235
Creating a Movement with Teeth

Do you think that your experiences wil scare people into retreating?

Katie: Personally I have not been active in the Left for quite awhile.
1 did not like being in the Left especially, although I carried with me
those feelings. 1 just did not want to do anything, It has not scared me
abit, it turned me into a full-time activist. It was really hard for me for
a couple weeks, I went through a personal hell getting myself to give
up what I wanted to be doing, and accept the situation that I am now
in. And I pretty much have accepted it and I have a whole lot of energy
for fighting. This has not scared me, it has made me real angry, and re-
ally committed to doing everything I can to change it

Brenda: 1 am really scared. It is important to let people know that
you are scared. If we are serious about what we are doing, then we
have to realize that there are going to be times in our lives when we
are going to be real, real afraid. What we have to learn to do is keep
going in the face of that fear. That's what courage it. When we look at
the Vietnamese and we respect them for the courage they had, itis not
because they were able to fight in this wonderful situation when they'd
had lots of support and help. We respect them because they fought
when everything was against them. That is the kind of consciousness
people have to develop. We fight to win.

Katie: We run into some people who try to do this super-woman
trip on us, because we are not testifying. And we try to say that we
are not super, that we are just like everybody else. And that we need
people’s support to do what we are doing, We need to not feel isolated.
Itis symbiotic: people care about what is happening to s, therefore we
care about people and we keep on refusing to testify.

Does it really make a difference to have people coming down to the
demonstrations?

Kathy: Oh yeah! I mean, that is putting yourself on the line. That
is the strongest form of support. People coming to you privately and
saying that they support what you are doing is good energy, but to say
that publicly is an act of courage. Particularly to someone who has not
gone to demonstrations a lot, it's scary. And that [fear] is important to
[work] through.

236
When Is the Time?

One of the surprising things to me is how much support I have
gotten at Group Health, which is a pretty straight hospital. I am a reg-
istered nurse and I work in the emergency room. People have been real
supportive, people have given money and have given a lot of personal
support and I really appreciate that. My initial response was “Eeek! I am
going to lose my job.” And that has not been the case. Even the people
Twork with who are real right-wingers have been pretty supportive or
have kept their mouths shut; they haven't given me their usual hassle.

How have you gotten across to people, because the whole set up is that
you are a dangerous person?

Kathy: They know me, they know me real well. 1 am open about who
Iam. The initial response I have gotten from people is “This is ridicu-
lous" Just from knowing me on some fairly intimate level, because we,
work the night shift and spend lots of time talking to each other. It's
like a pajama party, you get to know people pretty well.

‘The other thing that helps is the response of other friends and the
support that takes the form of ordinary day to day activities. Support
s if you are crying all night and you can't get to sleep and you call
someone at 3:30 in the morning and they come over. Support is cook-
ing dinner, doing daycare. You really need your Mommy at a time like
this, you need people to be your Mommies.

‘The other big effect has been with my son Joshua. It seemed to me
that the reasonable way to handle it was to be honest with him to say
“Imight go to jail,” and to try and minimize the change it will make in
his life, but it is a big deal for him.

‘The fact of being a single parent and of facing the possibility of
having to leave your child is really heavy. He went through this period.
of being a clinging two year old, and he is four. He was wetting his bed
two or three times a week, which he had totally stopped doing, Those
are signs that he is really upset about this. He has also has done some
neat things. He made this sign to go to the demonstration which said:
“KILL THE DRAGONS. POLICES DON'T PUT KATHY IN JAIL. BREAK
‘THE JAIL DOOR OPEN.” He knows what is going on. He plays around.
with letters on paper and pretends he is making aleaflet. It hasits good.
sides for him. He is real ambivalent about police now, he talks about
police allthe time. “That's a good police, that's a bad police.” He dreamt.
that "the polices” went into Debray's house and lost his gun there.

237
Creating a Movement with Teeth

And that has been the most painful, the heaviest part for me.
Because a year at the age of four is a real big hunk of time.

[to Brenda and Katie] Are you two similarly planning to spend time in
jail?

[Katie?]: 1 feel like I must be ready, whether I go to jail or not is at
the whim of the prosecutor ... it is not anything that is under my con-
trol. To the extent that I have said, “I draw the line, there is a line that
Twill not cross in terms of my integrity." I will not testify about my
friends, [ will not hurt my friends, or subject them to what I am going
through. Iwill not do that.

Support really helps you to make the stand. I feel that other peo-
ple's strength really flows through me. When it comes down toit, Iam
going to be in jail. Any day when you are in jail for civil contempt you
just have to call up the D.A. and bingo you're out to testify, you're free.
S0 it's very difficult kind of jail sentence; it's not like you're in jail for
ayear and you have to wait it out. You have to be strong every minute
of every day. I feel like its real important to go through the emotional
work to be ready to do that. And so I don't go? Well, Il be ready if it
ever happens again. The whole muddle is like herpes, you get it once
and you're more likely to get it again.

Even if this whole thing is dropped it has changed my life. I feel
like 'm more vulnerable, I'm politicized by what has happened. If the
federal government thinks that this is a method of repressing political
activity, they are mistaken. They are radicalizing me and they are radi-
calizing all these non-political people who are my friends. Itis like this
eagle soaring down from the sky and puts its claws on your head. It is
really a random feeling,

Thad known about Leslie Bacon and Ihad heard Leslie Bacon speak.
So I knew what to do. It made a big difference to me. I was previously
educated about grand juries before I was subpoenaed, and had essen-
tially decided three years ago that if I was ever subpoenaed by a grand
jury, I was not going to testify. That is very helpful now, because it
would be much harder to make that decision now, under pressure, un-
der stress, being pulled different ways. People who I work with, people
who are pragmatists, say “Talk and stay out of trouble.” To have made
that decision in the past gives me strength.

T would encourage people to inform themselves about whether or
not they are going to testify. Think about it now, talk about it with

238
When Is the Time?

their friends now, so they are in a position to get support when it hap-
pens. You can be subpoenaed this morning and have to appear this af-
ternoon. So you better be ready to figure out what to do. You certainly
better know that you better get a lawyer. The easiest way to do that is
to contact the National Lawyers Guild because they have had the most.
experience with grand juries

Do you expect there will be other peaple subpoenacd?

Brenda: 1don't think that they will stop with us. They are really try-
ing to get the Brigade. In the meantime, they want to know as much as
they can about the Left

‘They have not been doing a whole lot of footwork in their investi-
gation, they seem to be relying on the grand jury. Since they won't be
getting much from us, | guess they will have to keep going.

Iwould like to say a commercial. I have been keeping the books for
the Committee to End Grand Jury Abuse and we have gotten so many.
financial contributions, not to mention all the other work people have,
done. There is now way, as far as I can see, that they Committee can
send personal letters to all the people who have contributed. But the
appreciation is there real dseep in our hearts.

239
Creating a Movement with Teeth

MoRE THAN "CRITICAL SUPPORT FOR GIB

Papaya
Northwest Passage, February 6-27, 1978, 22

Dear NWP,

Debate about the politics and practice of the George Jackson
Brigade will be continuing for as long as the GJB exists. My concern in
this letter is not which position folks should be taking. I am address-
ing myself to those who have taken the position of “critical support”
for the GJB. 1 am getting more and more confused about what “critical
support” is supposed to mean. So far it seems to mean that the GJB
political statement gets discussed in a few study groups, the brigade
gets abit of praise here and a bt of criticism there, and armed struggle
comes up as a topic for a few more discussions.

‘This is certainly more than was happening even one or two years
ago, but it's not enough. There are many people who are confused about
the armed struggle or don't support the GJB and that's where they're
at. But there are also many people who say they do support the GJB.
1It's time to demonstrate this support. The recent GJB communiques
st several things the aboveground can be doing, from letters and
phone calls to the jail to sabotage of auto dealers. There seems to be
widespread praise for the communiques—why aren't folks acting on
them? There are other fronts too. The GJB's Political Statement and the
communiques need to be distributed outside of the Left community,
to welfare and unemployment offices, laundromats, high schools, et.
It's up to the aboveground to do it. The GJB, as they themselves often
state, are isolated and need feedback. They obviously read underground
‘newspapers—where are our letters? [ urge anyone who has been saying
they critically support the GJB to think about what they've been doing
about it, and choose the actions they can best participate in.

Love and struggle,
Papaya

240
When Is the Time?

CAPTURED MEMBERS EXPLAIN THEIR PoLITICS
Bill Patz
Northwest Passage, June 13-July 10, 1978, 18-20

In the shadow of the Red Brigade's assassinations and crippling
of Italian establishment figures, three members of the Northwest-
based George Jackson Brigade come to trial. Therese Coupez and John
Sherman will face a judge and jury on June 19%, while Janine Bertram
(Jory Uhuru), who recently pled guilty, will be sentenced on July 11%.
Meanwhile the regular press has lumped together the bank robberies
and property-destroying bombings of the GJB with the kidnappings
and shootings of the Red Brigade as the work of “left-wing terrorists.”

It may come as a surprise then, that John Sherman is opposed to
the kind of campaign the Red Brigade is waging. Although unwilling to
comment specifically about the Italian group for lack of in-depth infor-
mation, he said that “in principle the GJB stand opposed to provoking
police repression ... We feel the masses of working people already know
how fucked up things are . .. What they fail to see is the power they
have to do something about it ... Day to day, tedious, long-range orga-
nization and education is what's needed, not get-rich-quick schemes."

‘This, of course, is not the sort of statement that gets into the big
daily newspapers. It shows that despite the generous amount of front-
page coverage given the GJB, we have not really heard much about their
basic thinking. Most reporting so far has aimed at providing a good.
cops-and-robbers story, or a human interest angle, such as what the
group’s favorite films are. A few articles, though, have actually made at-
tempts to show Brigade members as serious, intelligent people. These
articles brought to light some of their life experiences among prison-
exs, battered women, prostitutes, and people in mental hospitals. Yet
the connection between these experiences and the Brigade's declared.
commitment to “revolution” and “armed struggle” has generally been
left dangling—with almost intended sarcasm. After all, it is implied,
who is going to take seriously the Brigade's idea of makinga revolution
in this country, or challenging the authorities with arms?

My Own Reaction

On several occasions my first reaction to GJB actions has been
an inward smile at their having tweaked the noses of the ruling class
with seeming impunity. But I also had thoughts similar to those of
Del Castle, secretary-treasurer of the Longshoremen's Local 52 and,

2a1
Creating a Movement with Teeth

longtime socialist. In alunchtime conversation with me he said (speak-
ing for himself and not as a union official), "of course everyone gets a
certain feeling of pleasure when they see their enemy dealt a blow. But
these more immediate surface reactions are not the kind of thing you
want to base a serious political strategy on.”

‘When another three members of the Brigade were arrested and the
‘media heralded the end of the group (though members at large have
denied this through communiques),” I couldn’t help but get caught up
in the general curiosity about who these people were. And how could
they seriously consider armed work now? The answers were hardly to
be found on newsstands or tv, so like others before me, including in-
dependent authors who contributed to a Passage series on the use of
violence two years ago, | started reading and asking questions about
the GJB. Linterviewed the three now in jail as well as talking to others
who have thought about o been affected by the GJB actions. The fol-
lowing article poses some of the questions that arise around the idea
of “armed struggle” and sketches the Brigade's basic positions.

What Is Meant By ‘Armed Struggle’ And Why Practice It Now?]

Central to the existence of the George Jackson Brigade is the belief
that in replacing a capitalist society with a more humane one, force of
arms will be needed to some degree. The group’s Political Statement,
published November 1977, declares that the “main point of unity” in
the GJB s to develop this force "here and now.” But developing it, in
their view, does not mean that everyone should pick up a gun or learn
about explosives. Rather, this is a task for small numbers of people.
They stress that “armed struggle” is not the “axis” around which all
other forms of struggle develop.” It should, instead, support and fol-
low the lead of the main work which is “mass organizing” of people in
their workplaces and communities. But the Brigade does believe that
armed work is an "absolutely essential part of the struggle”

Why is it 5o necessary and why now? Is radical political organiz-
ing going on to the extent that it needs to be defended with arms?
‘The Brigade states that "in the end, whatever kinds of progress and
reforms are made within the society, the ruling class will resort to vi-
olence, even against unarmed movements, to maintain its control”
John Sherman supports this argument with the claim that “there are
‘numerous instances throughout US and world history that bear this
out ... To name a few we can look at the response to popular mass
actions such as the Ludlow, Colorado-miners' strike around the turn

242
When Is the Time?

of the century, the Attica, New York prison uprising, the Kent State
and Jackson State student demonstrations, the electoral victories of
Allende and the Chilean socialists, and so on . . ” He adds that, “it is
our position if we don't start to learn the complex processes of armed.
work, in the end the risk to all of us is greater

Castle of the Longshoremen’s Union, like some who disagree with
the Brigade's politics, doesn't reject out of hand the possibility of some-
day having to wage armed struggle. But, he believes that “when ‘mass
struggle’ is going on at a level of revolutionary proportions where
armed resistance is called for, the workers themselves already possess
the skills. There is knowledge of explosives, sabotage, and guns among,
different sections of workers. So when you really have them on your
side you have what forces you will need.”

Janine Bertram comments on this position, “We don't think it is
so simple ... It's scary but there is alot tolearn about the military dis-
position of the state, how the police, army, etc. are deployed

Brigade members also cite the argument of black revolutionary
prisoner George Jackson. Jackson believed that armed groups are
needed right now to protect progressive movements for which police
harassment and even assassination are realities. In a letter of warning
to Angela Davis, contained in his book Blood In My Eye, he wrote that
“the secret police (CIA, etc) go to great lengths to murder and conse-
quently silence every effective black person the moment he (or she)
attempts to explain to the ghetto that our problems are historically
and strategically tied to the problems of all colonial people.” Jackson
saw many black leaders' fate, from Malcolm X to Martin Luther King,
as evidence of this pattern. Shortly before his book was published and.
his widely publicized trial was to be held, Jackson himself was killed
while in prison. Many believe he was assassinated by prison authori-
ties because of his radical views and wide following. It was Jackson's
thinking that the ability to carry out acts of violence or sabotage could
and should be part of a force to deter the state from going this far in
confronting radical groups.

“While we feel defending vulnerable movements in this way is le-
gitimate,” says Sherman, it’s really beyond the means of armed work-
exs at this point . .. Also, the Brigade is more concerned with develop-
ing llegal actions that can be used in ‘offensive’ ways . .. We see a need.
to develop long range strategy for confronting the ruling class . .. With,
this is mind we have acted where we felt we could help advance on-
going struggles [such as worker and prisoner strikes].*"

243
Creating a Movement with Teeth

‘Does Violence Turn People Off?

As one Passage collective member said to me, “discussion of armed
struggle at this level has a basic flaw: it assumes that sabotage and
illegal actions actually benefit particular struggles.” “In fact,” he con-
tended, “even where there seems to be some justification forits use, in
trying to build a mass movement, violence tends to turn more people
off than on.”

Traised this point with Janine Bertram, who responded, “of course
violence is abhorrent to people. In ways it is to us too. But it's impor-
tant not to lump all kinds of armed political action together and con-
clude that they are all wrong, or that people are always turned off by
violence.” She referred to the Brigade’s Political Statement which says
that while "the bourgeois media calls [the GJB] ‘terrorists’, in fact we
are opposed to terrorism . .. Terror [in the form of killing or threaten-
ing people] is an extremely easy tactic to use . .. People employ it to
strike fear and confusion into the minds of their enemies [in the hope
that they can be scared into changing] .. It requires no special investi-
gation to shed light on the possible effects of one's actions; it requires
no principles to speak of and very little work . . " While the Brigade
‘makes an exception for “people fighting against extinction, such as the
Palestinians,” who they say may be justified in using terrorism, they
‘maintain that terror as a tactic “s itself dangerous and should be used
very sparingly if at all in this country”” Bertram added that in “one in-
stance where we bombed a Safeway store and innocent people were
hurt, we received a lot of criticism. We agreed with the response and
publicly criticized ourselves ... It was an experience we learned from.”

But how about the terror brought to innocent bank tellers every
time the Brigade robs a bank? Sherman's response is that, “we do have
to use the threat of violence to rob a bank ... There are these kinds of
contradictions in our work . .. But there is no way that we would ever
shoot a teller. We would hopefully surrender or give our own lives be-
fore we would shoot a bank teller”

“As far as people being turned on or off by violence,” Sherman con-
tinued, “we believe that among the working class in this country is an
acceptance of armed resistance . .. Historically workers have resorted
to arming themselves, to sabotage, and to beating up scabs when they
were forced to . . . Worker militancy has been excluded from the his-
tory books in the same way as resistance by other oppressed people.”

In their Political Statement the GJB also maintains that certain
groups in this country inherently understand and accept fighting with

244
When Is the Time?

force when necessary. “These are the more or less permanently jobless
working class people—prisoner, ex-prisoners, old and young people,
people trapped into the lowest paid, most temporary shit jobs, people
forced on welfare and forced to remain there ... (It is among] these peo-
ple, discarded by capitalism ... that armed struggle ... has taken root.”

How much has it really “taken root” though? Of course we have
witnessed spontaneous riots among different poor and Third World
communities, and on occasion sabotage and physical resistance by
workers, but do these expressions of anger and rebelliousness indicate
adeeper willingness to accept, much less support, a program for devel-
oping armed resistance?

It is hard to know how to answer this question. The reactions
of people I talked with might provide some perspective. Del Castle,
whose union has offered strong support to the auto machinists' strike,
made these observations about the use of violence. “Historically
these acts have generally worked against the interest of workers,
bringing police retaliation or loss of public support, and in fact have
often been the work of police agents and provocateurs as well .. The
Brigade, if anything, falls into the category of weakening public sup-
port for the strike”

In contrast, one auto machinist who has been on the picket line
for the duration of the strike said that, “While I don't believe in out
and out bombing . .. and I myself wouldn't do what they did .. it did
give us a shot in the arm ... It's not the kind of thing that will make or
break this strike of course.”

Ialso talked to a young white man who works as an orderly at the
Children'’s Hospital, which had to go on generator power as a result of
the GJB bombing of the Laurelhurst power substation in support of a
City Light workers' strike. (The substation mainly services a wealthy
Seattle neighborhood). He said that “people working at the hospital
definitely talked about it . .. One thing I noticed was that the people
who do the housekeeping and real shitwork there, and who are mostly.
black women, generally did not seem so offended or freaked out by
what the GJB had done. Some even talked about the violence in their
lives . . . like trying to raise a family on welfare . . . The nurses and,
nurses aides (mostly white) were more critical, though, and especially
indignant over the inconvenience caused a hospital serving sick and
injured children ... Personally I'm not necessarily turned off by sabo-
tage, but I think the message of what they're trying to do isn't always
completely clear”

245
Creating a Movement with Teeth

Then there are people less directly involved, like a middle aged
black woman who lives in my apartment building, She spent much of
her adult life working as a housekeeper and cook for wealthy Houston
families. "1 just don't know . . . Yes I remember reading about them
in the papers . .. But I really don't like any of this violence . .. People
shouldn't be fighting to work out their differences.” Or my brother go-
ing to medical school in Baltimore, who said, 'I think that stuff tends
to make people less sympathetic to a cause, but I guess I can see where
some things like the coal miners turning over those parked trucks [of
a scabbing company during the recent coal miners strike] would help
strengthen the spirit of the guys on strike ... It didn't make me less
sympathetic to their demands.”

The Brigade feels that the important thing here is the accep-
tance among those involved in the particular struggle. Their Political
Statement says that “following a bombing to protest biased coverage
Of their strike, Walla Walla prisoners issued a public statement stating,
support for our action.” Bertram mentioned the Laurelhurst substa-
tion bombing, “where City Light Workers on strike even set up a picket
around it to keeps scabs from repairing it for several days." Therese
Coupez was of the opinion that the “numerous [independent] instanc-
es of tire slashing [an entire car lot’s worth in Bellevuel, and broken
windows and property damage at new car lots . . " showed that the
Brigade bombings were in harmony with the “striking auto machinists
[whol did make sabotage a part of their strike”

“The question here, though,” as one Passage staff member put t, “is
even if there is a surface receptiveness to their actions or similar inde-
pendent acts by other workers, will workers, prisoners, and others be-
come more aware of the need for fundamental changes in the society
because of them? Will the idea of workers controlling their workplaces
or prisoners’ unity in abolishing prisons be enhanced?”

In reply, Sherman said that it is not the Brigade’s main role to
do "consciousness raising." “Though it is important to choose to act
where there is a real basis for armed work,” he explained, “the Brigade
does not imagine that it could make much difference in the area of
political education. People’s political awareness will primarily be af-
fected by above-ground organizing . . . The Brigade’s responsibility is
to develop armed struggle ... to learn about it ... to test out the lim-
its to which it can be successfully carried out . .. and to show people
that armed resistance is not something just that state has control over

.. Of course what were doing is real small, but the most important

246
When Is the Time?

aspect is the learning . .. And in the long haul,” he concluded, "to do
this, practice is essential”

Who Gives Them The Right!

“The thing that infuriates me” said a labor-journalist friend of
mine, “is who gives ‘them’ the right to decide when it is time for armed.
actions, and who gives ‘them’ the authority to bring sabotage into a
particular group’s struggle?”

‘The Brigade has said that for armed actions to be successful “those
doing it must follow the leadership” of those engaged in political con-
Ricts “aboveground.” At the same time they acknowledge that being a
small clandestine group poses real obstacles to developing armed work
in a democratic way. In fact they see the communications problem as
being the main obstacle in their activity. However they categorize this
as a “tactical” problem, not one that negates the nature of their work.

‘Therese Coupez further explains that “obviously because of the il-
legal nature of armed work we couldn't go to union meetings and ask
people what they'd like us to do. Nor could we attend meetings in the
left of the community. We took our leadership from people who were
already in struggle. We watched labor and community struggles as
they developed, learning about them from the alternative and straight
media and by talking to people, anonymously, on the picket line. We,
chose to act in support of struggles that had been going on for a long
time, where the people involved had exhausted all ‘legal’ channels and.
were still sticking it out against the bosses . . . where we could deter-
mine, as far as possible, that the general mood of those involved was
not opposed to armed attacks .. "

“In the case of the auto machinists and City Light workers'strikes,”
said Bertram, “we spent many hours talking to rank and file workers
who were picketing, trying to ascertain their general mood and their
feelings about their situation.”

‘The Brigade feels that the alternative and left media could be giv-
ing more attention to the issue of armed actions. They see it and the
left in general as the key link in their communicating successfully with
large numbers of people.

Coupez thought, for example, that “an ideal opportunity to de-
velop dialogue on armed struggle between working people and the
left was passed up around the auto machinists' strike. What coverage
there has been has ignored the question of armed support [which the
Brigade provided]; and very little of the coverage has had much at all

247
Creating a Movement with Teeth

about what the workers had to say [about it]. You can be sure they dis-
cussed it among themselves”

A Few Reasons Why the Brigade st On The Left's Top Ten Chart

The Passage staff has not really reported on the Brigade in great
depth, for several reasons. One has simply been resistance to a GJB
assumption that left journal necessarily should deal with issues of
“armed struggle.” Another was some feeling that the highly sensa-
tional nature of armed actions diverted attention from less glamorous
political issues, despite the Brigade’s proclaimed interest in support-
ing aboveground political activity. Also, though Brigade communiques
explained in detail the reasons for their actions, the use at times of
phrases like "waging class war” and "sweeping the capitalists into the
dust bin of history” seemed both self-serving and romantic. Despite
their claim to follow, there was a feeling that the Brigade had indeed
placed itself above people working in left movements.

Beyond these reactions have been the basic doubts along the lines of
the questions raised in this article. Specifically, some collective members
are critical of the entire frame of reference of the discussion of “armed
struggle”” As one said, “the GJB is part of a small political element tied
to the prison movement. All of them were either prisoners or involved
in the prison movement. As such they tend to view things with an overly
‘militaristic slant. Violence and repression are certainly very real parts of
the lives of people who are in and out of prison. But that doesn't mean
thata violent course of action is necessarily a good one. And the Brigade's
actions also reflect the societal glorification of violence.”

While the Brigade denies their advocacy of militaristic solutions,
they have recognized the influence isolation and the societal romantici-
zation of violence have on their activity. “Sometimes we do get caught
upinit,” Sherman said simply. "For ourselves and others we feel it is im-
portant to counter the heroic notions about violence as well as the one
that approves only those who use it to preserve the status quo ... "

‘The Brigade also recognizes their ties to prison work, but as Coupez
says of herself, “my commitment and motivation to armed struggle
has come from the sum of my experiences working and living in capi-
talist society” Sherman said, “T've been doing political work for ten
years. I spent 3% of them doing prison work and serving jail time. The
rest was workplace organizing.”

A prison activist sympathetic to the Brigade commented that “those
who totally discount strategies on the grounds that they have been

248
When Is the Time?

developed in prison are ignoring the realities of the extent that the state
is willing to keep people in line. What happens to prisoners speaks to
what may be in store for larger political challenges to the status quo.”

‘The isolation between prisoners and those outside, and between
an “underground” group like the Brigade and the rest of us, certainly
affects each group’s perception of the other. On the question of the
GJB's real intent to follow the direction of those working through non-
violent political channels, I asked Coupez, “what if the ‘aboveground”
groups you were in communication with asked you to cool it?” Her re-
sponse was that "if the groups involved in a particular struggle called
for us to ‘cool it, we would engage in discussion (through communi-
ques and media) with them and follow their wishes.”

“The thing that is missing from this discussion is the reason many
of us have supported the Brigade all along,” said one member of the
Public Support Committee for the GJB (which is helping with their
defense. “We don't necessarily agree with their particular strategies o
theory, but neither do we feel that any sure blueprint exist for develop-
ing a revolution in a modern industrial society . .. Armed actions may.
bea part of what's needed. .. Aside from that I, for one, simply tend to
respect their courage and the sensitivity they have shown in trying to
downplay any notions of themselves as being a vanguard for others.”

On Trial In Whose Court(?]

Though cynics will say they have brought it on themselves, it is
important to see the Brigade members’ upcoming trial in its proper
perspective. Janine Bertram, John Sherman, and Therese Coupez will
not be tried on whether they have precipitated increased police repres-
sion, or detracted from the struggles of community groups, or turned
the public off to the potential of socialism. They will be tried for rob-
bing banks and destroying the property of auto dealers or of the state
department of corrections. And no doubt the federal prosecutors and
the judge will attempt to minimize or entirely silence the Brigade’s de-
fense of their actions as building resistance to an oppressive society.

What we can learn from the Brigade's experiences will depend on
our abilities to look openly at the issues they raise. Whether or not we.
agree with their program of carrying on armed struggle at this time,
there is clearly an increase in the number of people who do. What is
important is to recognize that the violence inherent in a capitalist so-
cietyis in the end the force that motivates people to fighting back with
arms or without.

249
PartV

PROCESSING,
Processing

A COLLECTIVE INTERVIEW WITH GEORGE JACKSON BRIGADE VETERANS
Bo Brown, Mark Cook, and Ed Mead interviewed by Daniel Burton-Rose

‘The following interview was conducted October 14, 2005, before a
discussion by the former Brigade members at the AK Press warehouse
in Oakland, California. Former members Janine Bertram and John
Sherman could not be present.

What were your intentions in forming the George Jackson Brigade?
Ed Mead: Global communist revolution! (chuckles)

How was the Brigade going to provide a bridge between present reali-
ties and global communist revolution?

Mead: We need to build a capacity. It isn't going to fall from the sky
when we want it. It is something that has to be built and developed
from the ground up.

Everyone involved n the Brigade was doing day-to-day prisoners'rights
organizing, which is building and developing a capacity.

Bo Brown: Right, but you have to do more. You can take some-
body's kids to prison (to visit them). S0 what?! Anybody can do that,
and should be doing that.

‘The state was killing people. When they started shooting down stu-
dents on campuses they made a qualitative jump in their attack. Other
people in the world were putting their lives on the line everyday.

Mead: [George Jackson said] “There is always armed struggle”
‘There is armed struggle today. And as George Jackson said: “If theres
going to be funerals, let there be funerals on both sides.”

Do you see a difference between building a mass movement for change
and providing a check on the state's repressive apparatus?

Mead: Remember a few years ago when some skinheads killed an
ARA [Anti-Racist Action] kid in Las Vegas? Where are we? We have
no capability for defending ourselves or responding to situations like
that.

253
Creating a Movement with Teeth

Some years ago in Chicago somebody drove by the office of the
Socialist Workers' Party and threw a brick through the window. The
SWP went to the police and then complained in their paper: “The po-
lice are so terriblel They won't defend us against these hooligans!” I'm
thinking to myself, "Why aren't you defending yourself? Why are you
relying on the enemy state to o it?

Mark Cook: When I first heard about the George Jackson Brigade,
T wasn't the only one—some of the guys down in Walla Walla also
heard about it. I was the only one who had an opportunity to explore
it. It was Rita [Brown] and Therese [Coupez] who told me about it. It
seemed like it was an expansion of the Panther program. But these
are white folks. That's my first introduction to ‘em, right? Slowly I met
some of the final people and some of the earlier people—T seen ‘em
drivin’ around with their explosive in the back of their truck!

Twasn'ta part of it, but I contributed to it. I used to give Rita and
Therese money to help with the gas to take women [visitors] to [the
women's prison in] Purdy. And I knew they were activists and wanted
change; that they were revolutionaries. This is what drew me into it. I
had to see what was going on. I had to tell the other [Black Panther]
Party members what was going on, and I did.

As far as I could see it was good. There was no contradiction with
what George Jackson said or what the Panthers said. That was my in-
troduction, but they ran the thing, the principals of the Brigade itself.

‘They had their problems. I saw it early in the game. And they han-
dled it; to me, they handled it well. It didn't involve no police or any-
body else, they handled it by themselves

How did the character of the Brigade change over time?

Cook: Barly on there was a drastic incident and [the people in the
collective] said: “This ain't happenin’ again!” We all saw what happened
at Safeway’—it was bad planning—and that again changed the charac-
ter. They had to be more careful about what they were doing,

Therewas a constant change. To the very end you could see the chang-
es, just reading the communiques. They acknowledged their mistakes.

Brown: Accountability.

254
Processing

The George Jackson Brigade is the only armed group in the United
States in the 1960s and 70s which apologized for one of its actions, the
first Safeway bombing.

Cook: There was one incident where

Brown: The money was in the purse and we returned the purse to
the woman independently and didn't talk about it until after the wom-
an got her purse back. Then she called the police and told them: I got.
my purse back.” All her stuff was in it. We sent her a greeting card and
apologized for scaring her.

When the grand jury was terrorizing those single mothers, we
drove all the way to Las Vegas and sent a letter with the [torsion arch]
bars out of John's mouth to authenticate it. We said in this letter, which
we sent to the guy at the Post-Intelligencer [Walter Wright], “None of
these women were involved. Here's the bar out of his mouth. This is
who e are. That's not what we're about. We didn't live there. We think
that you're just harassing these people because somebody's girlfriend
lived there—not one of us.” We took responsibility in that way.

What was your code of conduct?

Brown: Human honor. Respectful humanitarian honor: How would
you like to be treated? We would try to be responsible for our own
actions because we made a decision to do what we did and we were
willing to take the weight for that. That's honor: not to throw that off
on anyone else. Not to use other people to cover us or protect us. We,
accepted the choices that we made and we were prepared to deal with
the consequences.

Cook: We didn't realize that the government was going to do these
[social profiles] of anyone we'd ever related to. They pulled ‘em into
grand jury investigations, etc. It's one of the things George Jackson, in
writing, didn't understand. He understood urban guerilla warfare; he
tried to understand it and to give an analysis and strategy as to how to
g0 about it. But these are things that we learned while we were in ac-
tion. Something that wasn't written before. Now it's written.

Slowly, today, there are four people, ex-Panthers, in San Francisco,
who are being drawn in to a homicide that happened thirty years ago.’
Inmost legal cases they call that “latching”; it's so farin the past it can't

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

be tried. But [the government] is going to call in anybody who can be
connected; they've got people in New York they're trying to connect.

Brown: The PATRIOT Act allowed them to open up unsolved cas-
es that were of a political nature or otherwise of interest. The SLA
[Symbionese Liberation Army] case here a few years ago may have
been atest of that.*

The Kathy Soliah prosecution predated 9/11/01 but more people were
drawn i afterwards.

Brown: These guys that are in jail are not from here now; they're
fromall over the country. They might have lived here then but they don't
live here now. They're not well, they re elders with health problems

Cook: Makes me a little nervous. I came down just when all of this
is happening! (laughs)

Even before 9/11/01 the statute of limitation on murder never ex-
pired. That's what makes the Brigade and the SLA and the BLA cases in San
Francisco different: the Brigade never killed anyone, but people were killed
in the other cases.

Brown: But those two guys who were accused of killing the Asian-
American cop in Berkeley in the 1970s had been investigated before
and they were let go.* I don't care what kind of case it s, you have to
have hard evidence. They knew they didn't have a case but they jacked
those guys anyway. They kept the black guy in jail for two weeks then
they arrested the white guy who was his partner and held him for three
or four days, then let them both go, again. Maybe next year they'll pick.
em up again. Who knows? They have to justify their existence

How are you affected by the psychological dlimate in the United States
today, where anything that could be construed as an independent force is
aggressively denigrated as "terrorism”?

‘Brown: It makes me a little more paranoid, it makes me alittle more

careful. It makes me understand my enemy is still my enemy ... is your
enemy, is his enemy, is her enemy

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Cook: It's more sophisticated fascism, that's what it amounts to. It
existed back then but they're getting slicker than they ever were be-
fore. The Religious Right is able to do things that were unacceptable
before. It's getting scary—not for me, but for people I feel for.

One of the distinctive things about the Brigade is that you had all had
experiences with the criminal justice system, as very committed organizers
and often ex-convicts. Can you talk about the experience of prison work in
the formation of the Brigade?

Cook: Before the Brigade was formed we were all involved in pris-
on work. That was the impetus; that's where the strongest move-
ment seemed to be coming from. Both prisoners and prison activists.
It moved that way: the SLA and the NWLE did the same thing, They
had prison activists that involved prisoners and moved toward armed,
struggle. I don't know what the phenomena is. Its there, it just hap-
pened, and we're just a part of that.

Brown: It was a reflection of the times. There were prison rebellions
all over this country—more than we'll ever know, I'm sure. People had.
been filing lawsuits around conditions and having victories. There was
hope in the prisons that things could be turned over and changed.
Prisoners didn't have anything to lose, they were already in prison.
‘They were trying to better their condition and that moved people on
the outside

Cook: One of the most volatile issues that the Panther paper wrote
about was prison issues.

Mead: As prisoners we had a more intimate knowledge of the na-
ture—of the brutality, the viciousness—of the state than our outside
counterparts who had never been exposed to that reality. We knew
who we were dealing with and we knew what kind of language to speak
to them in.

Cook: We get out [of prison] and we don't distinguish between cops
and prison guards. It took me years to understand that cops and prison
guards weren't the same. When you first get out you just see them as
guards and it's easy for ex-prisoners to get together and deal with them
ke we're still in prison.

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

You saw being outside of prison not as being free, but as being in @ min-
imum-security prison?

Brown: It is minimum-security to us.
Mead: Our leash i a little longer.

Brown: Because of the Civil Rights Movement, because of the anti-
war movement, there were people who went to jail who brought ver-
balized classical political theory in with them. There were a lot of
cases fought in prisons in the late '60s and early ‘70s about the First
Amendment. Being able to read things, gettingliterature into prison.
That's one thing that's been eroding lately: access to the press, access
to ... The Little Red Baok, to gay publications. All of those became
lawsuits in the late ‘60s. People had access to more knowledge. When
you look at that shit you apply it to where you are, you apply it to
your reality. What do you see? You see and you feel the oppressor
on your neck. You might have called it something else yesterday, but
after you read this you have a broader understanding of the enemy.
Prisoners know how to deal on a different level, ‘cause that's what
you have to do to survive.’

Cook: It's not always the political who go in as political prisoners
and come out as political prisoners. I was changed while I was in pris-
on. Td seen the Weather Underground stuff, the Panther stuff, com-
ing into prison; | wanted to be a part of it. The Panther Party issued a
ten-point program. I said, “This fits me perfectly.” It's the same things
Twanted to do. It hit a lot of prisoners in that same way. Each prison
would have a little group (to propagate the program). A lot of times
when people got out they didn't carry it with them. But if you really
believe in those principles, then you become principled. When you get
out, youlook for people (who are doing the same thing). These people
lindicating Bo and Ed] came to CONvention. I went to [John] Sherman
and Ed when I got out because they were dealing with the prisoners’
union, an idea I still had in my head.

We got politicized by a lot of the radical stuff that was going on
outside. To me, it was the Panthers, SDS, and the Weathermen. That
was the main attraction to me; what started me thinking, what started
‘me reading.

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Brown: 1 was reading George Jackson when he got killed. I was in
prison.

Mead: The same for me. Outside radicals came in, like Chuck
Armsbury, a White Panther.* | was reading progressive literature and
becoming politically conscious. It was the right wing that was saying:
“Lock ‘em up, throw away the key. Yay to the death penalty. Abolish
parole.” They were the ones who were for the war; it was the left-wing-
exs who were against the war who broke Timothy Leary out of prison,
who were demonstrating in support of prisoners, who were against the
death penalty, advocating for quicker and more paroles. It didn't take a
rocket scientist to figure out which side you were on.

Brown: In prison there are only so many role models you have about
how you walk, how you talk and who you are. Being principled, politi-
cal, honorable, became a new and better way, one which drew on an
earlier tradition of “being a solid con.”

Cook: At the time the Brigade was starting up other groups were
losing credibility. Weatherpeople lost a whole lot of credibility with
some things they did.

Mead: Like not responding to the Panther 21.7

Cook:In Seattle they refused to give Leonard Peltier [false] ID when
he needed it. Other groups lost credibility. The New World Liberation
Front [in San Francisco] was doing slingshot attacks which they called.
“armed struggle” Even though the Brigade got a lot of criticism from
the left, they got a lot of credibility from people who were not even
involved in that. One former employee of City Light told me that they
used to celebrate the Brigade's attack every year. She just loves us, to
this day.

Initspoliticalstatement the Brigade quoted Amilcar Cabral, the Guinea-
Bissau independence leader, on the importance of being sensitive to local
conditions in developing a guerrilla campaign. How did the Brigade adapt.
the guerrilla techniques in play in other countries to the United States?

Brown: Our exposé of the banks and their interlocking directorates
with the corporate press, and how that impacted their prison coverage.

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

Cook: Most of the Brigade's activities were based on struggles that
were already in process. The prisoners’ struggle, demonstrating that
they needed some change; the City Light workers on strike, they weren't
getting any action [on their demands]; the United Farm Workers, they
were having problems. Everywhere the Brigade gave people a boost.
That's my understanding of it

Mead: When the FBI and the U.S. Marshals invaded Pine Ridge and
Rosebud there was a mass march from Seattle to Portland to protest
the repression that was taking place on the reservations. The Brigade
bombed the FBI headquarters in Tacoma and the Bureau of Indian
Affairs office in Everett in support of that march and also to draw heat
away from Pine Ridge and Rosebud and onto ourselves.

Cook: It was supporting clear, mass movements that were going
on. One of my ideas was that I wanted to bomb Little Black Sambo's
restaurants. [Other people in the group] wouldn't do it. It was very of-
fensive to us, but there was no movement going on against it. Not the
NAACE, not anything.

Brown: They did eventually change their name to “No Place Like
Sam's” because of protests.

Mead: Just the fact that we could strike and remain uncaught de-
stroyed the fallacy of the invulnerability of the state. Our continued
existence was propaganda.

What was the Brigade’s strategy with the media? How did you try to
use it without being used by it? How did you communicate directly with the
peaple you wished to reach?

Cook: The Northwest is a slow news day for media up there. It
was easy for the Brigade to give ‘em some news. They snatched it up.
Eventually the FBI got them to give it less coverage
What do you feel you were able to communicate through the media?
Brown: Seattle had a decent alternative press. We had the Northwest

Passage and Open Road, an anarchist paper that came out of Vancouver,
B.C. It contained a lot of good information. Then we hooked up with a

260
Processing

guy at the Post Intelligencer and he became our guy. Eventually he was
‘moved out of town [by the company]*

Mead: Ho Chi Minh started the National Liberation Front in
Vietnam with nine armed propaganda officers. There's hope that you
can build a successful movement with that kind of work.

The revolutionary movements of the 1950s and ‘60s had a very strong
belief and will, that you could make things happen, regardless of odds.

Mead: It's always the will but you can push things forward all you
want, and if its not the right moment in history you're just beating
your head against the wall. At other times, when the moment is right,
when there are mass movements in the streets, you can accomplish a
great deal.

Cook: The Vietnam War brought out a lot of different issues. When
the war wound down the issues were still there. Some people stopped.
the movement, but other people said: “Something has to be done.”
‘That's why there were groups like the Brigade, that were so small, here
and there. There was no longer a mass movement, but the issues were
stil there.

Brown: There were thousands of things happening. We weren't the
only ones. We weren't in isolation. We were in the Northwest but there
was something happening everywhere.

Mead: As the mass movement was winding down we were trying
to pump new life into it. We were trying to substitute violence for the
absence of a mass struggle.

Brown: We weren't conscious of that. Maybe that's what was hap-
pening everywhere.

As far as media, there were more things published from other plac-
es in the world that gave insight into various levels of struggle. The
Tupamaros [in Uruguay), things that were going on in Africa . .. We,
had access to more things to make you think.

Cook: The Native movements were really strong.

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

Mead: We didn't play to the media.

Cook: Right, we didn't do it just because they had a slow day, but it
was easier to get in because there was a slow day.

You're a hot story for a few minutes then you're old news. You can't
build through the press.

Brown: Because the Brigade was different—who was involved, the
class issues, the diversity of it, that it had more women—you didn't
have to deal with the ego question to the same extent. That white male
gigantic ego: “Oh my god, I get to be the superhero today!” We ana-
Iyze things a whole lot differently and people in the collective were not
afraid to say: “No, we're not gonna do that. That's wrong”

Cook: We were more grasstoots than Weatherman. They came out
of SDS: they were all intellectuals. The government created them by
whuppin' on ‘em, by letting them know that they can get beat up too.

Most peaple in SDS wauld say that those who became Weathermen
were very definitely not intellectuals, that their inability to think critically
caused them to divide thought and action and become all action, no thought,
at least up until the townhouse disaster forced a reconsideration.

Because so many of the Brigade’s activities were violent and destruc-
tive it can be difficult for people to discern what the group was for. What are
your ideals, what is your utopian vision.

Cook: I'm a communist, a Maoist, based on the principles of the
Party. It's utopian, its not going to happen, but it gives direction.

Mead: We were probably all fighting for a different vision. The
vision 1 had is a communist society, a stateless society, in which
classes no longer existed. There was an administrative mechanism
for the distribution of goods and services, but no government as
such. No apparatus of repression and things were done for people’s
needs, not for private profit. In the society I envisioned the distinc-
tion between art, work and play was eliminated. It was a commu-
nist utopia. (chuckles)

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Processing

Brown: We were all prison abolitionists, though we didn't call our-
selves that. That doesn't mean you open the door and let everybody
out. This society has created a lot of sickness.

1 don't know if I ever thought about utopia. What would I like to
be? I'd like to not have to go to work today and Id like to be able to
eat. Id like to be in a world in which we don't have rape, we don't have,
child abuse, we don't have hunger, we don't have oppression or geno-
cide, or discrimination based on color or whatever. These are basic
grasstoots issues.

Every time [ walked down the streets of Seattle and people realized
Twas a dyke, [ was getting knocked down, I was getting tripped. There
was that kind of oppression in my life that was daily.

1 think we're making a stew that's going to feed the world and
change the world and we're putting a whole lot of different ingredients
into it based on all these movements and all these needs.

Mead: In terms of the transition, Men Against Sexism dealt with
gay oppression on the inside, rapists on the inside, we dealt with
the rapists themselves. Everybody—irrespective of the bourgeois
Constitution—has a right to lfe, iberty and the pursuit of happiness.
During this transition period there are people or groups of people who,
won't have access to liberty because the existing culture has so fouled.
them. But they will have the right to the pursuit of happiness.

Cook: Their needs will be met.

Mead: It won't be anything like prisons today. The interaction be-
tuween communities and incarcerated people would be richer. On a po-
litical level rapists, for example, at the very least, would be able to thor-
oughly verbalize, if not internalize, women's issues and understand the
harm on a gut level before they would go to the next step [of supervi-
sion]. They would not be locked up in a 6' by 8’ cage with a stranger.

Brown: It's about healing. Take drug addicts: There's a process you
have to go through to [purge the poison]. Or abuse: people who are
abused become the abuser. It's a cycle that takes years to break. You can't
eliminate it by saying: It's over” It a process. This government that we,
endure is an abuser. It doesn't get better in a minute or a day or a week.

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Creating a Movement with Teeth

Cook: Our communist future could move along. After that we
wouldn't need prisons, youd stop sending people to prison. If they
can't find a job, the community is going to give ‘em a job. It's gonna
be a livable job. Giving everyone a job at a livable wage is not a diffi-
cult thing to do. Capitalism makes billions of dollars in profits. Instead
we've got to force them. What I wanted to do when I was a Panther—
what the Panthers tried to do—is to respect ourselves and know that
we cannot be pushed around. Just because you're lower class doesn't
mean the government or the people running big business can push
you around. “You fire me, I'l blow up your transformers!” laughs) “1
do good work. I may criticize you, but don't you fire me” That's what
unions are about. The weaker unions get, the stronger capitalism be-
comes. The only real voice we have is labor. Labor should look out for
people who do not have jobs, and they re not doing that.

There have been mavements in the United States in the last twenty
years which have tried to strike a balance between above ground and under-
‘ground work, primarily animal rights and environmental activists. What's
your take on these groups?

Cook: 1 don't think they're clear enough. People see the fires and
they don't see the message. They 've got to do it another way.

Mead: Anything anybody does to develop the underground is a
good thing, Barth First! and the Earth Liberation Front are essential
elements of our movement

Cook: They are necessary.

Brown: Anything that people do to explore the necessity of the
aboveground-underground [divide] is of value. I understand, in the-
ory, about animal liberation and definitely about environmentalism. I
grew up in Oregon, which is a conservationist state.

What's your perspective on the impact of the Brigade

Cook: 1 got to do the same thing with the Panthers. It politicized
alot of people. The Brigade did the same thing: The government isn't
strong as they think they are. They can't push us around. The Panthers

said, “When something needs to be done, do it.” When someone needs

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to be fed, go to your refrigerator or beg food but feed kids. You need.
a free dlinic? We can do it. The Brigade, or other people in the under-
ground, can come up with money to support things like that. The lower
class can get itself out of this hole which capitalism has dug us into.
What we did wasn't in vain. We didn't want to go to prison, but when
we did go, we knew that what we'd done was important. We remained
principled from then 'til now.

It was a process of trial and error. We learned the hard way. The
Panthers tried to politicize street gangs. We couldn't cure ‘em: They
knew the drug scene and everyone liked to have fun. You couldn't wash
that out of them while we were trying to get Panther work done.

‘The Brigade misjudged the momentum. Not only the Brigade,
but all of us in all groups did. We looked too much to the Vietnamese
Revolution, to the Chinese Revolution, to the Cuban Revolution. There
was momentum: build, build, and build. It started that way. We saw.
that, but we misjudged [the way in which] capitalism in the United
States is different than anywhere else in the world. They keep their eye
on the people, and when the people rise up they'll do everything they
can to keep us down.

Mead: We thought that the forces of progress were on our side,
that we were in tune with the march of history. We knew that right was
on our side. We didn't see Ronald Reagan right around the corner.

Brown: One of the most important things we did was to bring the
prison struggle closer to the forefront of regular people’s minds by
talking about what was going on in Walla Walla. What was happen-
ing in Walla Walla was so extreme and so intense. We exposed that.
‘That consciousness remains, to some extent in the Northwest: that
was the bomb,

Mead: The struggle around Walla Walla was the pinnacle of the
Brigade. | can't think of a better application of the complimentary work
between the armed front and the mass front. That was outstanding.

Brown: Tactically, we shouldn't have moved so fast in some areas
and been quite so braggadocious. It's important to claim your victo-
ries, but perhaps we should have stayed further under longer.

We didn't know they had doubled their FBI force. What was that
in the Northuwest, four instead of two? We didn’t know that they had

265
Creating a Movement with Teeth

quadrupled it. We didn't know that they had a special GJB shoot-em-
up team. We listened to the police all the time, but we didn't have the
EBI's frequencies, and we were never going to get them. If we had that
information, we would have weighed it into our defenses.

Mead: A brigade has an intelligence unit, a supply unit and a com-
bat unit. All we had was a combat unit.

Brown: We were trying to be all free. We maintained communica-
tion with people above ground, through our communiqués and their
criticisms, but it wasn't enough.

Mead: The tide of history had turned. A lot of groups which were
doing armed actions just folded up their tents and stopped. That's
probably what the Brigade should have done.

Brown: We were trying to move in that direction, but we never got
far enough down the road. It was too hot, and we were trying to do an-
other bigger thing, It was time for another time out.

Cook: There are people in Seattle who criticize the Brigade, but
there are also people who want the image of the Brigade. I don't know
if you know how many guys in jail actually claimed they were Brigade
‘members and the police thought they were.

Mead: Peaple would come up to me in prison and say: “You were in
the Brigade, then you must know so and so, he was a member of the
Brigade’!

Brown: 1 know there was a lot of fear in the women's community
when we split town,

Cook: People were very supportive of the Brigade. They helped case
ajoint or o a drive away. It was a very strange but impressive move-
ment. Id support anything that came up and started again. I don't
have that much, but Id give that much to support ‘em again

266
Notes

Preface

1 For discussion, see Ward Churchil with Mike Ryan, Pacifism as
Pathology: Refiections on the Role of Armed Struggle in North America, 2nd ed.
(Oakland: AK Press, 2007); Peter Gelderloos, How Nonviolence Protects the
State (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2007).

2 Excellent overviews and analyses of the Panthers will be found in
Charles E. Jones, ed., The Black Panther Party (Reconsidered] (Baltimore: Black
Classic Press, 1998); Kathleen Cleaver and George Katsiaficas, eds. Liberation,
Imagination, and the Black Panther Party (New York: Routledge, 2001). On the,
WUO, see Jeremy Varon, Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground,
the Red Army Faction, and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004); Dan Berger, Outlaws of
America: The Weather Underground and the Politcs of Solidarity (Oakland:
AK Press, 2006). Unfortunately, the only good collection of Panther docu-
‘ments remains G. Louis Heath's now very rare OFf the Pigs! The Literature and.
History of the Black Panther Party (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1976). For
Weather documents, see Bernardine Dohr, Bill Ayers, and Jeff Jones, eds.,
Sing a Battle Song: The Revalutionary Poetry, Statements, and Communigués of
the Weather Underground, 1970-1974 (New York: Seven Stories Press, 2006).

3 These data do not include the hundred of incendiary bombings car-
ried out during the period’s many ghetto rebellions. Nor do they reflect bomb-
ings perpetrated by the Ku Klux Klan, Secret Army Organization (SA0), and
other such white supremacist groups of the extreme Right

4 Berger, Outlaws of America, 116-17; Varon, Bringing the War Home,
17-18.

5 Berger, Outlaws of America, 245. Although the group is discussed to
varying extents in studies of other organizations, no comprehensive over-
view or analysis of the FALN has been published. A useful collection of com-
‘muniqués during the period 1974-1978 was released under the title Toward
Peaple’s War for Independence and Socialism in Puerto Rico: In Defense of Armed.
Struggle by the Movimiento de Liberacion Nacional, Chicago, circa 1979, but
itis now even more rare than Off th Pigs!.

6 Again, although it is mentioned—and usually disparaged—in stud-
i of other organizations, nothing resembling a thorough overview/analysis.
of the SLA has been published. The best material presently available will be
found in a pair of more or less contemporaneous books, both of which should
be approached with obvious caution. See John Bryan, This Soldier Still at War
(New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975); Vin McLellan and Paul Avery,
The Voices of Guns: The Definitive and Dramatic Story of the Twenty-Two-Month
Career of the Symbionese Liberation Army, One of the Most Bizarre Chapters in
the History of the American Left (New York: G.. Putnam's Sons, 1977).

269
g a Movement with Teeth

7 On Tongyai, see Robert Justin Goldstein, Political Repression in
Modern America: From 1870 to 1976, 2nd ed. (Urbana: University of llinois
Press, 2001), 474-75. On Perry, see Ward Churchill, “To Disrupt, Discredit
and Destroy The FBTs Secret War Against the Black Panther Party.”in Cleaver
and Katsiaficas, Liberation, Imagination, and the Black Panther Party, 93-95.

8 There islittle material on either the RNA or RAM, per se. Although
Tusually refrain from referring readers to memoirs, in this instance I recom-
mend RNA leader Imari Abubukari Obadele’s Free the Land! (Washington,
D.C.: House of Songhay, 1984); and RAM leader Muhammad Ahmad's We Wil
Return in the Whirlwind: Black Radical Organizations, 1960-1975 (Chicagor
Charles Kerr, 2007) as the best available sources. Plainly, much additional
work needs to be done on both organizations

9 See generally, Timothy B. Tyson, Radio Free Dixie: Robert E. Williams
and the Roots of Black Power (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
1999).

10 See, generally, Lance Hil, The Deacons for Defense: Armed Resistance
andithe Civil Rights Movement (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
2004)

11 See, generally, Hassan Kwame Jeffries, Bloody Lowndes: Civil Rights
in Alabama’s Black Belt (New York: New York University Press, 2009). See also
Stokely Carmichael with Ekwueme Michael Thelwell, Ready for the Revolution:
The Life and Strugglesof Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture), (New York: Seribner,
2003),457-83,

12 Unlike most of the organizations mentioned herein, the very nature
of the actions the BLA was designed to undertake precludes anything along,
the lines o full disclosure of its personnel and/or operational history. For an
excellent disquisition on those aspects of the organization which are open to
discussion, see Akinyele Omowale Umoja, “Repression Breeds Resistance: The
Black Liberation Army and the Radical Legacy of the Black Panther Party,” in
Cleaver and Katsiaficas, Liberation, Imagination, and the Black Panther Party,
3-19. A smattering of analyses and reflections by self-identified members
of the BLA have also been published. Apart from the relevant portions of
Assata Shakur's 1987 autobiography, see, as examples, Dhoruba Bin Wahad,
“War Within: Prison Interview" and “Toward Rethinking Self-Defense in 2
Racist Culture: Black Survival in a United States in Transition,” both in Jim
Fletcher, Tanaquil Jones, and Sylvére Lotringer, eds., Still Black, Stil Strong:
Survivors of the War Against Back Revolutionaries (Brooklyn: Semiotext(e),
1993), 59-77; Kuwasi Balagoon, A Soldier's Story: Writings by a Revolutionary
New African Anarchist (Montréal: Solidarity, 2001); Jalil Muntaquin, We Are
Our Own Liberators: Selected Prison Writings (Montréal/TorontoPaterson,
NJ: Abraham Guillen Press/Arm the Spirit/Anarchist Black Cross Federation,
2002); Nuh Washington, All Power to the People (Toronto/Montréal: Arm
the Spirit/Solidarity, 2002); Russell “Maroon" Shoats, “Black Fighting

270
Notes

Formations: Their Strengths, Weaknesses, and Potentialities” in Cleaver and
Katsiaficas, Liberation, Imagination, and the Black Panther Party, 128-38. See
also Safiya Bukhari, The War Before: The True Life Story of Becoming a Black
Panther, Keeping the Faith in Prison, and Fighting for Those Left Behind (New,
York: Feminist Press, 2010)

13 Aside from occasional mentions in texts devoted to other organiza-
tions/topics, the only material available on the group is Ronald Fernandez's
Los Macheteros: The Wells Fargo Robbery an the Violent Struggle for Puerto Rican
Independence (New York: Prentice Hall, 1987)

14 See Jane Alpert, *A Profile of Sam Melville, and John Cohen,
“Introduction;” in Samuel Melville, Letters from Attica (New York: William
Morrow, 1972), 3-43, 47-80.

15 Alperts repulsively self-serving memoir was published under the ti-
tle Growing Up Underground (New York: William Morrow, 1982).

16 The group carried out a series of bombings in and around Madison,
Wisconsin, most spectacularly that of a military research center on August 23,
1970, While there s a substantial book on the "New Year's Gang ts actions,
and the outcomes, wherein much useful information is contained, readers are.
advised thatits author offers often superficial—.c. liberal —political analyses
and frequently indulges in pop psychology as an “explanatory” mechanism.
See Tom Bates, Rads: The 1970 Bombing o the Army Math Research Center at the.
University of Wisconsin and Its Aftermath (New York: HarperCollins, 199).

17 Originating in Maine, the Melville/Jackson Unit, reorganized as
the UEF in 1982, was formed in 1974. Functioning throughout its exis-
tence on a clandestine mixed-race basis, the collective is credited with sev-
eral bank expropriations and at least nineteen bombings of such targets as
the US. Capitol Building, the South African consulate, and various corpo-
rate facilities. See Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall, The COINTELPRO
Papers: Documentsfrom the FBI's Secret War against Dissent in the United States,
Classics ed. (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2003), 315-19. Also see the,
portion of UFF member Ray Luc Levasseur's presentencing statement ex-
cerpted under the title “On Trial” in Joy James, ed., Imprisoned Intellectuals:
America's Poliical Prisoners Write on Life, Liberation, and Rebellion (Lanham,
MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), 231-47.

18 The RATF is often—and, in my view, somewhat erroneously—de-
picted as being simply an element of the BLA. While the group drew person-
nel from the ranks of BLA veterans, some were from other black liberation
oxganizations (notably the RNA). Additionally, several whites—mostly for-
mer members of the Weather Underground—were active participants. The
RATF was thus discemnibly different from any of the organizations from
which it emerged. See Churchill and Vander Wall, COINTELPRO Papers,
309-12; Akinyele Omowale Umoja, “Set Our Warriors Free: The Legacy of
the Black Panther Party and Political Prisoners,” in Jones, Black Panther Party.

27
g a Movement with Teeth

[Reconsidered], 429-31. For participant analyses, see Balagoon, A Soldier’s
Story; Marilyn Buck, David Gilbert, and Laura Whitehorn, Enemies of the State:
A Frank Discussion of Past Political Movements, Their Victories and Errors, and
the Current Climate for Revolutionary Struggle in the USA (Montréal/Toronto:
Abraham Guillen Press/Arm the Spirit, 2002)

19 On the Armed Resistance Unit/Red Guerrilla Resistance, see Churchill
and Vander Wall, COINTELPRO Papers, 312-15. It should be noted that the
ARU/RGR is often conflated with the May 19 Communist Organization,
from which it arose and of which it may have been a component. The hundred-
member May 19" organization was ot a clandestine entity, however. That
most of the dozen or so participants in the ARU/RGR were—or had been—
members of May 19 does not render the two entities interchangeable

20 The best material I've been able to locate on the organization is a
1977 summary ofits actions up to that point is Celine Hagbard, "NWLF: good
hit, no pitch,” Open Road (Vancouver, BC), no 3, Summer 1977, 8, available at
htps//xadicalarchives.org/2010/02/06/mwlf-1977.

21 Actually, a bit is known about the Melville/Jackson Unit (see note
17). Much remains cloudy about its composition and relations/interactions
with similar entities, including the NWLE On March 12, 1975, for example,
one of the unit’s founders, Ray Luc Levasseur, together with Cameron David
Bishop, was arrested on weapons and conspiracy charges. Bishop, a former
SDS member at Colorado State University, was at the time one of the FBI's
"Most Wanted” fugitives, credited with the January 1969 bombings of sev-
exal towers in the Denver area power grid, but is unlinked to a particular
clandestine group. After his arrest, Bishop was prosecuted for sabotage and
sentenced to 20 years, but the case was dismissed on appeal. See Kirkpatrick
Sale, SDS (New York: Random House, 1973), 513; Churchill and Vander Wall,
COINTELPRO Papers, p. 416n70; ULS. v. Cameron David Bishop (555 F.2d 771
(10" Cir, May 5,1977))

22 Vippiel (or Youth International Party) is mentioned in virtually ev-
exy history of the period, as well as many of studies focusing on particular
organizations or events. Virtually nothing of a serious nature has been done
to describe/analyze the nature/actions of this most renowned “anti-organi-
zation’” of the late 1960s/early 1970s, however. Beyond the early screeds of
Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and a couple of others among the original par-
ticipants—as well s several autobiographies/biographies of Hoffman—there
is mostly a vacuum. As concerns the Motherfuckers, the only thing available is
Osha Nemann's recent Up Against the Wall Motherf"ker: A Memoir of the'60,
With Notes fo the Next Time (New York: Seven Stories, 2008).

23 The Young Lords, a Puerto Rican street gang in the Lincoln Park area
of Chicago, was transformed into a political organization along the lines of
the Black Panther Party by its leader, José “Cha Cha” Jimenez. The YLO, along,
with the Rising Up Angry collective (an SDS splinter group) and the Young

272
Notes

Patriots (a politicized gang of displaced Appalachian whites on the near North
Side), then functioned within the original Rainbow Coalition engincered by
Chicago Panther leader Fred Hampton in early 1969 (yes, it was later ripped
off and neutered by Jesse Jackson). Rather astonishingly, the entire context
remains virgin territory, neither chronicled nor documented. It should be not-
ed that there s arecent book about New York’s Young Lords Party, which was
organized after, and on the basis of,the YLO. See Miguel “Mickey” Melendez,
We Taok the Sreets: Fighting for Latino Rights with the Young Lords (New York:
St. Martin's Press, 2003).

24 White Panther founder John Sinclair’s Guitar Army: Street Writings/
Prison Writings (Detroit: Rainbow Books, 1972) retains a certain utilty in
explaining the group's perspective, as does accused Ann Arbor CIA offce-
bomber Pun Plamondon's recent memoit, Lost from the Ottawa: The History of
the Journey Back (Cloverdale, MI: Plamondon, Inc., 2004). Neither bool dis-
cusses the spread of White Panther collectives thoughout the Midwest in
19691970, however. Less still do they discuss/analyze the effectiveness of
the group's various armed actions, its mode(s) of organization, communica-
tion, and the lke,

25 Mostly mentioned in connection with a disastzous 1972 action in
which it freed a prisoner being transported to court from the California penal
facliy at Chico and/or the fact that most of the SLA' cadre stzength split
off from it, the Venceremos Organization clearly had a broader—and virtu-
ally unknotm—operational existence. On the 1972 action, see Eric Cummins,
The Rise and Fall of California’s Radical Prison Movemen (Stanford: Stanford
University Press, 1994). The broader scope i alluded to in Jo Durden-Smith,
Who Killed Gearge Jackson? Fantasies, Paranoia and the Revolution (New York:
Alfted A. Knopf, 1976), 109-10, 110n.3, 159-61, and passim. For an ori
nal framing of the organization's purpose, by one of its founders, see Bruce
Franklin, From the Movement Toward Revolution (New York: Van Nostrand
Reinhold, 1971), 128-29, 141-43.

26 Jackson, who was serving an “indeterminate’ —one-year-to-life—
sentence for an armed tobbery committed in 1960, when he was stil teen-
ager, became politicized in prison. In 1966, he was instrumental in forming,
the Black Guerrilla Family (BGE), a “Marxist/Maoist/Leninist revolutionary
organization with the stated goals to eradicate racism ... maintain dignity in
prison, and overthrow the U.S. government.” In June 1970 he was accused,
along with two other BGE members, Fleeta Drumgo and John Cluchette, of
illing a Soledad prison guard in retaliation for the murder of three black pris-
oners in January the same year. The "Soledad Brothers” case quickly became a
cause célébre on the left,in part because Jackson, already serving a ife term,
faced the death penalty, partly because of his gifts a5 a writer, and partly be-
cause of his highly-developed political consciousness. This combination of fac-
tors led to his appointment as a Panther field marshal, the station from which

273
g a Movement with Teeth

he began to organize the People’s Army, employing select BGF members to fll
key positions as they were released from prison. Although Jackson himself
was assassinated in San Quentin on August 21, 1971, the BGF stil exists
See, generally, George Jackson, Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George
Jackson, 2nd ed. (Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 1994); Gregory Armstrong,
The Dragon Has Come (New York: Harper & Row, 1974); Paul Libertore, The
Road to Hell: The True Story of George Jackson, Stephen Bingham, and the San
Quentin Massacre (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1996), esp. 19, 93-94,
199,264

27 As with the BLA, the nature of the operations for which the People’s
Army was designed precludes anything approaching full disclosure and dis-
cussion. Still, there are undoubtedly aspects of its organizational existence
which might be revealed without compromising the safety of former mem-
bers and from which lessons might be usefully drawn by a new generation. As
things stand, while Jackson’s conception of applying the foco method of guer-
rilla warfare to the US. context is set forth in his posthumously published
Blood in My Eye (New York: Random House, 1972), the only reasonably coher-
ent sketch of its implementation will be found in Durden-Smith, Who Killed
George Jackson?, 102-03, 158-61, 243,

28 Daniel Burton-Rose, Guerrila USA: The George Jackson Brigade and
the Anticapitalist Underground of the 19705 (Berkeley: University of California
Press, 2010).

29 “Philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the
pointis to change it.” Karl Marx, “Theses on Feuerbach (11)" in Karl Marx and
Frederick Engels: Collected Works, Val. 5; Mar and Engels, 1845~47 (New York:
International, 1976), 5.

30 Jackson, Blood in My Eye, 54

Introduction

1 George Jackson, Soledad Brother (New York: Bantam, 1970), 164.

2 Jackson, Soledad Brother, 238.

3 The background information on the George Jackson Brigade in
this introduction i a cursory overview of material covered in detail in my
Guerilla USA: The George Jackson Brigade and the Anticapitalist Underground.
of the 19705 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010). That work is the
xesult of more than ten years of interviews with former members and their
acquaintances, as well as immersion in primary sources of the sort gathered
in this collection.

4 Themostextensivesourceon Meadishisunpublished Autobiography.”
The copy in the author's ollection is dated January 2009.

S For an overview of the rhetoric and practice of antiestablishment
violence on the radical Left in the fiftcen years preceding the advent of the
George Jackson rigade, see Burton-Rose, Guerrilla USA, 1-36,

274
Notes

6 The standard reference on the first wave of domestic bombings is
Scanlan's Suppressed ssue, 1971. On the short lived Scanlan's see the brief ac-
count in coeditor Warren Hinckle's autobiography, If You Have a Lemon, Make
Lemonade (New York: Putnam, 1990 [frst published 1974), 362-63. The
source material for the publication—accounts from various urban newspa-
pers around the country—is badly in need of revisiting and extending beyond.
the cut off date of Scanlan's own publication.

‘Although couched in a defeatist narrative, Eric Cammins, The Rise and
Fall of California’s Radical Prison Movement (Palo Alto: Stanford University.
Press, 1994) remains the best source on the late 19605 and early 1970s prison
‘movement.

7 This group, responsible for the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst and
her subsequent superficial conversion to gun-totting, Stockholm Syndrome-
suffering revolutionary, was greeted by 2 hail of books directly after its
frst emergence, but absolutely no substantive reappraisal in the thirty-five
plus years since its first emergence. The one ostensible exception, William
Gracbner, Patty's Got a Gun: Patricia Hearst in 19705 America (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2008) is remarkable for the extent to which it
presents no new information. Robert Pearsall, ed., The Symbionese Liberation
Army: Documents and Communications (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1974) collects
useful primary documents, but was published before the organization pe-
tered out, so is not comprehensive. Kenneth Reeves and Paul Avery, eds, The,
Trial of Patty Hearst (San Francisco: Great Fidelity Press, 1976) assembles trial
transeripts in the Hearst case; the transeripts of other SLA members, par-
ticularly Joe Remiro and Russ Little, the first to be arrested, would also make
for interesting reading. Although sensationalist true erime narratives, Leslic
Payne and Timothy Findley, with Carolyn Craven, The Life and Death of the
SLA (New York: Ballantine Books, 1976) and Vin McLellan and Paul Avery,
The Voices of Guns: The Definitive and Dramatic Story of the Twenty-Two-Month
Career of the Symbionese Liberation Army (New York: Putnam, 1977) contain
‘much intriguing—if ultimately unreliable—information.

Hearst is the only former member to do an autobiography, though she
was not capable of writing it herself: Patricia Hearst and Alvin Moscow, Every.
Secret Thing (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1982). A handful of other former
‘members received biographies, some post-mortem: John Bryan, This Soldier
Still at War (New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1975) on Joe Ramirez;
Jean Brown Kinney, An American Journey: The Short Life of Willy Wolfe (New.
York: Simon and Schuster, 1979) (Willy Wolte); Fred Soltysik, In Search of a
Sister (New York: Bantam Books, 1976) (Patricia Soltysik); and Sharon Darby
Hendry, Sliah: The Sara Jane Olson Story (Bloomington, MN: Cable Publishing,
2002) (Kathy Soliah). Even Hearst's cuckolded ex-fiancé, an opportunist jour-
nalist who broke elements of the story of Hearst's kidnapping, and the Federal
Marshall who guarded her got their two cents in: Steven Weed with Scott

275
g a Movement with Teeth

Swanton, My Search for Patty Hearst (New York: Crown Publishers, 1976);
Marilyn Baker, Exclusivel The Inside Story of Patricia Hearst and the SLA (New.
York: Macmillan, 1974); and Janey Jimenez, My Prisoner (Kansas City: Sheed
Andrews and McMeel, 1977). This later i interesting in regards to the gender
and racial integration of the law enforcement apparatus in the early 1970s,
itself the ambivalent fruit of the preceding decades' social movements.

“Tnis list does not exhaust the books on the subject, but does contain the
‘ones I consider to be worth reading.

8 Despite their remarkable productivity and endurance there is no
detailed secondary lterature on this organization. Ideally they would be the
subject of a documentary history volume along the lines of the present vol-
ume and that of J. Smith and André Moncourt, eds., The Red Army Faction: A
Documentary History. Volume 1, Projectiles for the People (Oakland: PM Press,
2009). Yet to a certain degree the advent of these volumes and other recent
works of “guerrillaology” such as Jeremy Varon, Bringing the War Home: The
Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and Revolutionary Violence in the
Sixties and Seventies (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004), and
Dan Berger, Qutlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of
Salidarity (Oakland: AK Press, 2006), were contingent on contact with vet-
exans of the organizations under scrutiny. In the case of the NWLE, whose
members were never caught, this is not possible.

The NWLF’s communiqués fll the pages of Dragon, a Berkeley clearing-
house for missives from the underground commencing in 1975 and tapering
off a few years later, and TUG (The Urban Guerrilla, which the NWLF pro-
duced with their own underground printing press. Dragon is archived in the
University of Michigan's Underground Press microfilm collection; copies of
both publications are held by the Freedom Archives in San Francisco (http:/
www freedomarchives.org).

9 See Burton-Rose, Guerrilla USA, 46-65.

10 “Capitol Hill Safeway, September 18, 1975" in Part I1.

11 For this first Safeway bombing and reactions to t, see Burton-Rose,
Guerrilla USA, 141-44.

12 Ford's girlfriend Brenda Carter produced a memorial collection of his
writings and drawings entitled *none of us is greater than all of us.” It is not
publicly available.

13 “New Year, 1976 in Part L

14 The Weather Underground’s "New Morning” communiqué, criticizing.
itself for the “military error,” was explicily not tied to “a bombing for a spe-
cific action.” (Bernardine Dohen, Bill Ayers, and Jeff Jones, eds., Sing a Battle
Song: The Revalutionary Poetry, Statements, and Communiqués of the Weather
Underground, 1970-1974 [New York: Seven Stories Press, 2006, 162). It was,
of course, prompted by the inadvertent detonation of an explosive device in
the home of their Manhattan collective, killing three members: Ted Gold,

276
Notes

Terry Robbins, and Diana Oughton. Had the antipersonnel device reached ts.
intended destination, a dance of noncommissioned officers and their dates
at nearby Ft. Dix, the results might well have been even more catastrophic
Varon elaborates what the possible outcomes could have been:
“The bombing might hav inspired some small number of Weathermen
and others to commit similar acts. The government, which often disre
garded civilliberties n pursuing dissidents, and two months late at Kent
State would again break the taboo against killng white demonstrators,
might have abandoned all restraint in is effrts to destroy Weatherman.
Mass arvests or even murders of suspects might have been followed, in
turn, by movement reprisals, conceivably kidnappings or assassinations, In
short, had Fort Dix been attacked, it is possible that Americans would now
spesk o the 1970s as decade of terrorism, s do people in countries ike
Germany and ltaly, where "Red Armies” clashed vith their governments
in grim cycles of lethal violence. By the same token, those responsible for
the murderous plan might have been denounced and marginalized by oth.
er Weathermen, effectively stopping the escalation of the group's violence
(Bringingthe War Home, 174-75).

15 Fora grim survey, see Mike Davis, Buda's Wagon: A Brief History of the
Car Bom (London: Verso, 2007).

16 John Brockhaus and Roxanne Park, “Ed Mead Speaks from Prison;’
in Part IV

17 "New Year, 1976 in Part IL

18 In particular see Part IV: Roxanne Park, “Terrorism and the George
Jackson Brigade,” and the indignant stream of retorts it licited.

19 As far as [ have been able to determine, no copies of this publication

20 See Smith and Moncourt, The Red Army Faction, 510-20.

21 "Our Losses are Heavy .. ” in Part I

22 “We'te Not All White and We're Not All Men,” in Part I

23 For al-Qaeda’ self-presentation, see Robert O. Marlin IV, ed., What
Does al-Qaeda Want? Unedited Communigues (Berkeley: North Atlantic Books,
2004) and Bruce Lawrence, Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin
Laden (New York: Verso, 2005).

24 Again, the Scanian’s "Suppressed Issue”

25 On these later groups, see, for example, Build a Revolutionary
Resistance Movement! Communiqués from the North American Armed Clandestine.
Movement, 1982-1985 (New York: Committee to Fight Repression, no date
[mid-1980s])

26 George Jackson, Blood In My Eye (New York: Bantam, 1972), 67.

27 Smith and Moncourt, eds., The Red Army Faction, 96

28 Orcano.2, Winter 1977-1978, is housed at wwwgjbip.org

217
g a Movement with Teeth

Part]

1 Explicitly vanguardist organizations flourished in the late 19605 and
early 19705, Of those which chose armed truggle, Weatherman and Madison,
Wisconsin's “Vanguard of the Revlution’—more commonly known as the
“New Year's Gang an appellation it did not choose for itself—were large
blotches on the FEI's radar screen five years before the Brigade even began.
Indeed, the FBI was so hot to get the “Vanguard of the Revolution’ that it ex-
panded s “Ten Most Wanted list to fourteen to accommodate the suspects.
See Tom Bates, Rads: The 1970 Bombing of the Army Math Research Centerat the
University of Wisconsin andits Aftermath (New York: HarperCollins Publishers,
1992).

A whole range of vanguardist sects which did not choose armed action
existed as well for an account of their rising and declining fortunes see Max
Elbaum, Revolution in the Air: Sixties Radicals Turn to Lenin, Mao and Che (New,
York: Verso, 2002). Brigade member John Sherman had belonged to one of
these groups, the Revolutionary Union, butleftasit became the Revolutionary.
Communist Party. Sherman's dissatisfaction stemmed in part, from the dis-
avowal of the organization's leadership of immediate armed struggle.

2 Federal Bureau of Investigation, “George Jackson Brigade” htp://
foia.fbi.gov/foiaindex/georgejacksonbrigade htm.

3 Adisclosure made public in Phil Campbell, “Day of the Panthe:
Stranger, October 14,1999, 11,

4 For my own comprehensive summary, which differs from each of
these, see the table and accompanying maps in Guerrilla USA, xv-xvii

S This was clearly not a Brigade action and no press account ever im-
plied that it was. The SPDID seems to have been inclined towards attributing,
unsolved bombings to the Brigade; at this late date in the underground or-
ganization's trajectory, there was little justification for doing so, beyond the
institutional imperative to clear the books.

6 This, too, was clearly not a Brigade action; the Brigade Safeway bomb-
ing on the 18" was in response to it

7 This was not a Brigade action.

8 Thearrest of Rita Brown and subsequent raid on the deserted Brigade
safehouse at 13746 Roosevelt Way North.

9 Censored in original.

10 Censored in original.

11 The person the author was referring to was Janine Bertram.

12 Twas not able to ascertain who these support people were, but spec-
ulate that there was some overlap between them and those who composed
the "Our Losses Are Heavy .. ” statement reproduced on page 140.

13 The report is confused here: Ford died on September 15; the Brigade
xesponded on September 18

14 This bombing attempt, also listed in the Seattle Police Department

The

278
Notes

Intelligence Division Report (See Part I), was not committed by the Brigade.

15 The Seattle Times ran a similar profile. Authored by Lee Moriwaki and
John Arthur Wilson, “The Psychological Anatomy of a Revolutionary,” pub-
lished April 1, 1976, i also based on interviews with Mead and covers similar
ground. I have selected the Post-Intelligencer piece due to its detail,

16’ Mark Cook was convicted of this shooting.

17 On New Year's Eve, 1976, the Brigade bombed a transformer belong-
ing to City Light, Seattle’s public utilty. The action was in support of strik-
ing City Light workers. It caused a power outage throughout the affiuent
Laurelhurst neighborhood. See Burton-Rose, Guerrilla USA, 157-64.

18 The Washington State Reformatory in Monrac.

19 The cases were severed later in April at Cooks request. See John
Arthur Wilson, “New Trial Date Set For Suspect in Tukwila Bank Robbery,
Seattle Times, April 29,1976,

20 This insertion is Seidel's emendation of Jackson's gender-biased
language.

21 This organization was by no means racially exclusive, although, as
with the Washington State prison population, it was predominantly white.

22 “Bill’ and "Rachel” were John Sherman and Therese Coupez. See
Burton-Rose, Guerrilla USA, 229.

23 St. James founded the original COYOTE chapter in San Francisco in
1973. She remains active in prostitutes' rights work.

24 Florynce Kennedy (1916-2000) was a lfetime civil rights and femi-
nist activist in legal, legislative, and cultural battlefields. The mid-1970s were
perhaps the height of her acclaim and notoriety. Her autobiography, Color Me.
Flo: My Hard Life and Good Times (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1976),
was published shortly before this letter.

25 One of the jurors was a Safeway employee. Cook wrote, in his post-
trialletter, "It is very hard to conceive that he was or is unaware of Safeway
stores having been bombed four times, allegedly by the George Jackson
Brigade. And that he could objectively have rendered a verdict of exclusive of
eritical emotions when Meyerson flaunted the name of the Brigade before the
jury in his closing arguments. That misconduct carried too much potential of
inflaming that one juror whose subsequent personal deliberations may have
tainted the whole jury.” (footnote in original article.)

26 The periods of her life described here are covered in Burton-Rose,
Guerrilla USA, 89-126.

PartII

1 Dick Clever, “Brigade’ Takes Credit for Blast at State Office,” Post.
Intelligencer, June 2, 1975, 1; back page.

2 The SS Mayaguez was seized by the Khmer Rouge May 12, 1975. The
United States reclaimed it three days later.

279
g a Movement with Teeth

3 The SLA took issue with Foster’s proposal to implement identifica-
tion cards for students and integrate school security with that of the police.
See their “Communique #1° in Pearsall ed., The Symbionese Liberation Army,
34-39, and in Payne and Findley, The Life and Death of the SLA, 339-44

4 The Resident Government Council was the prisoner self-governing
body at the Washington State Penitentiary.

5 Ralph "Po” Ford, a member of the Left Bank Collective and 2 United
Farm Workers supporter, was killed on September 15, 1975, when a bomb
he was planting behind the Safeway at 14" and East John exploded in his
hands.

6 Bill and Emily Harris, Patricia Hearst—all three survivors of the
May 17, 1974, "Compton Massacre’ of six other SLA members—and Wendy
Yoshimra, an antiwar fugitive who was living with Hearst, were arrested on
the moming of May 18 in San Francisco

7 Ted Gold, Diana Oughton, and Terry Robbins died on March 6, 1970,
when a bomb they were producing accidentally detonated.

8 Sandra Pratt (‘Nsondi ji Jaga’)—the wife of Vietnam veteran and
Black Liberation Army organizer Geronimo Pratt—was killed in 1971

9 Shakur died on May 3, 1973, in the New Jersey Turnpike shootout
which left a police officer dead and Assata Shakur (Joanne Chesimard) and
Sundiata Acoli (Clark Squire) in custody.

10 Meyers was ambushed by a joint FBINYPD force in the Bronx
on November 14, 1973. After he was gunned down, New York Police
Commissioner Donald Cawley crowed that his men had “broken the back”
of the BLA (Akinyele Omowale Umoja, “Repression Breeds Resistance: The
Black Liberation Army and the Radical Legacy of the Black Panther Party,”in
Kathleen Cleaver and George Katsiaficas, eds., Liberation, Imagination, and the
Black Panther Party [New York: Routledge, 2001], 13). In the original Brigade
communiqué, Meyers's name was given incorrectly as “Twymon Myers.”

11 The preceding six names are noms de guerre and nicknames of the SLA
members killed in Compton: Nancy Ling Parry, Donald DeFreeze, Patricia
Soltysik, Camilla Hall (‘Gabi"), William Wolfe (*Cujo), and Angela Atwood,
respectively.

12 ‘Thisis an allusion to the title of a popular anthology on political pris-
oners, which addressed Magee's case: Angela Y. Davis, ed., If They Come in the
Morning: Voicesof Resistance (New York: Third Press, 1971).

13 In the early hours of Monday, September 15,

14 City Light is Seattles public utilty. At the time of the bombing work-
exs had been on strike since October 17, 1975.

15 A parenthetical insert by the Brigade.

16 Assata Shakur was a member of the New York chapter of the Black
Panther Party who became active with the Black Liberation Army. On May.
2, 1973, she survived a shootout with New Jersey State Troopers in which

280
Notes

she sustained two bullet wounds, and her comrade Zayd Malik Shakur and
traoper Werner Foerester were killed. After six and a half years in prison, she
was freed from the Clinton Correctional Facilty for women and given asylum
in Cuba in 1984, The United States and New Jersey govermments continue
to press for her extradition, with the FBI placing a million-dollar price on
her head on May 2, 2005, See wwnw.assatashakurorg for updates, and Assata
Shakur, Assata: An Autobiography (Westport, CT: L. Hill 1987).

17 Amilcar Cabral (1921-1973) was creative revolutionary theoreti-
cian who led the independence struggle against the Portuguese in Guinea-
Bissou. His writings available in English include: Amilcar Cabral, Unity and
Struggle, trans. Michael Wolfers (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1979);
National Liberation and Culture, trans. Maureen Webster (Syracuse, NY.
Syracuse University, 1970); Return to the Source: Selcted Speeches (New York:
Monthly Review Press, 1973); and Revolution in Guinea: Selected Texts, trans.
Richard Handyside, (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1972 [furst published
in 1969]). See also Patrick Chabal, Amilcar Cabral: Revolutionary Leadership
and Peaple’s War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), and John
Fobanjong and Thomas K. Ranuga. The Life, Tought, and Legacy of Cape Verde's
Freedom Fighter Amilcar Cabral (1924-1973): Esays on his Lberation Philosophy
(Lenwiston, NY: Edvin Mellen Press, 2006).

For an idea of how Brigade members may have read Cabral, see the discus-
sion of his significance as an anticolonial thinker in Butch Lee and Red Rover,
Night Vision: Hluminating War and Class on the Neo-Colonial Terrain (New York:
Vagabond Press, 1993), 61-66. They write: “Cabral was perhaps the most ex
traordinary revolutionary leader of his generation,” " political-military ge-
nius” whose "uniqueness doesn't fully come through in print because his writ-
ings are only a shadow of the concepts he brought alive in practice” (61-62).
Former Brigade member Brown provided a promotional quote for the jacket
of this book, asserting that it “should be read by anyone who give a damn
about a non-racist, non-sexist, non-homophobie future.

18 This epigraph is from Jackson, Soledad Brather

19 “Politics in Command, signed by “Celia Sojourn” and Billy Ayers, as
printed on the Weather Underground’s own printing press in 1975, The scven-
page document i not anthologized, but s preserved in the Tamiment Library
of New York University in the “Weather Underground” file (copy in author's
possession). The second communiqué referred to appears as “The Symbionese.
Liberation Army: Patty Hearst Kidnapping, i Jonah Raskin, ed., The Weather
Eye: Communiqués from the Weather Underground, May 1970-May 1974 (San
Francisco: Union Square Press, 1974), 96. Although The Weather Eye s repro-
duced in Dohrn, Ayers, and Jones, eds.,Sing a Battle Song, 131-227, this com-
‘muniqué has been dropped without comment, presumably in order to avoid
embarrassment to the editors. This omission highlights the desirabilty of
documentary collections by independent partics.

281
g a Movement with Teeth

20 Sostre (1923~ ) was a black liberationist who was politicized as a
Black Muslim in the course of a twelve-year sentence for drug charges. After
his release from the New York State Penitentiary in Attica in 1964 he left the
Nation of Islam and began the Afro-Asian Bookstore in Buffalo, which became
2 consciousness-raising center for black youth. On July 14, 1967, only days
after a major black uprising in Buffalo, police raided the bookstore and, his
supporters claimed, planted heroin on Sostre. In a politically charged atmo-
sphere, Sostre was portrayed in the press and before a United States Senate
committee as an instigator of the riot, an arsonist, and a high-rolling drug
peddier. He was convicted of the only charges brought against him—those
elating to drugs—and sentenced to thirty to forty-one years. He spent much
of his first year in prison in solitary, writing legal briefs, and correspond-
ing with supporters. See Letters from Prison: A Compilation of Martin Sostre’s
Correspondence from Erie County Jail, Buffalo, New York; and Green Haven
Prison, Stormuille, New York (Buffalo, NY: n.p,, 1969), and Vincent Copeland,
The Crime of Martin Sostre (New York: MecGraw-Hill, 1970).

21 Names omitted in the original

22 ‘The fugitives, according to Ed Mead, were Leonard Peltier and a com-
panion, before events on the Pine Ridge Oglala Sioux reservation in South,
Dakota made Peltier this country's most prominent political prisoner.

23 “Capitol Hill Safeway” communiqué; See Part Il in this volume.

24 In an extensive review of local media coverage of this action I have
not encountered these quotes

25 Le Duan (1907-1986), a Vietnamese communist leader who was a
driving force behind the war with the United States. In 1969 he replaced Ho
Chi Minh and led a unified Vietnam from 1975 until his death in 1986.

26 On July 27, 1973, prisoners took over the Oklahoma State
Penitentiary in McAlester. They held the prison—and, at one time, twenty-
one hostages—for several days. There were frequent instances of inmate on
inmate violence, resulting in three prisoner deaths. In terms of damage to the
prison itself, the OSP rebellion may have been the most costly in American
history, estimated between twenty to thirty million dollars. The prisoners’
clearly articulated demands and declaration 'Its a revolution!” remind that
the prisoners’rights movement of the late 1960s and early 19705 affected the
entire country, not just the East and West coasts.

27 Le, the killing of George Jackson and repression of his comrades on
August 21,1971,

28 “All other units” was Mark Cook. Rita Brown was waiting at a switch
car away from the bank.

29 Again, "comrade”

30 Susan Saxe was lesbian antiwar activist who joined forces with three
male ex-convicts and her Brandeis college roommate Katherine Power to steal
documents from a National Guard Armory and rob banks to fund further

282
Notes

activities. In the course of one of the robberies one of the ex-convicts killed
a police officer. Saxe and Power hid out on women's land, stumping the FBI,
who couldn't infiltrate lesbian communities for lack of appropriate personnel.
To compensate for this “failure of intelligence,” the FBI launched grand juries
in women's communities where Saxe and Power were believed to have visited.
These grand juries, which polarized political and apolitical elements in the
gay community, were denounced as “witch hunts” Seven of those subpoenaed.
were jailed for refusing to participate.

31 Assata Shakur; see note 16,

32 George Jackson.

33 Jill Raymond resisted the Lexington grand jury inquisition seeking
information on Susan Saxe and Kathrine Power. Jils sister Laurie was part-
ners with Michelle Whitnack, who was jailed for resisting the Seattle grand
jury investigating the George Jackson Brigade.

34 Martin Sostre; see note 20.

35 Charles Manson and his “family” Brown would later serve time with
Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme at the Administrative Segregation Unit in Davis
Hall, Federal Correctional Institute, Alderson, West Virginia. Despite over-
tures Brown and her comrade Assata Shakur reviled the Manson follower as a
white supremacist and kook.

36 This is a reference to both the “dykes niggers cons” line in the
“International Women's Day” communiqué and to Ed Mead's claiming of two.
bombings investigators had had no previous confirmation that the Brigade
committed, on which see Walter Wright, *Jailed Comrade Speaks: ‘Brigade
Bombed FEL” Post Intelligencer, March 30, 1976, AL

37 John Arthur Wilson had covered the Brigade periodically since the
1975 New Year's Eve bombings: e.g, John Wilson, "Residents Stil Face Total
Outages,” Seattle Times, January 2, 1976. His consistent coverage of the
Brigade prompted the defense in Ed Mead's fist-degree assault trial to call
him as an expert witness regarding prejudicial press coverage on the Brigade:
“Times Reporter is Subpoenaed,” Seatcle Times, April 6, 1976, A15. Wilson
testified that the Brigade had received significant media attention.

38 John Arthur Wilson, “Bombs: Jackson Brigade speaks out again,
Seattle Times, May 13,1977, A20.

39 Paul Henderson, “State-prison aide defended,” Seattle Times, May
5,197, D2. Henderson reported on Walla Walla for the rest of the week:

Prison Lockup: Tension Mounts Under Enforced Calm,” Seattle Times, May 7,
1977, A1; "Guards Fear Reform Will Mean ‘Replay’ of Prison Violence, Seattle
Times, May 7, 1977, Ad; “Changes Pledged at Prison,” Seattle Times, May 8,
1977, A1; “Guards Back Changes at Prison," Seattle Times, May 9, 1977, D1

40 John ArthurWilson, "Prison Inmates tobe Let Out of Cells Tomorrow;
Guards Wary,” Seatrle Times, May 23, 1977, AL

41 Marshall Wilson, “Lockup Still in Effect; Prison Guards Walk Out;

283
g a Movement with Teeth

ST, May 24, 1977, AL The same afternoon representatives of the guards
union, the Washington Federation of State Employees, sought an injunction
in Thurston County Superior Court to prevent the reopening. The motion was
denied and the next morning, after last minute negotiations with the admin-
istration regarding safety precautions, the staff's “indefinite” walkout was
called off and the cell doors opened. See Dean Katz, “Guard's Motion Denied:
Bid to Block Prisoner Release Fails,” Seattle Times, May 25, 1977, A14; Paul
Henderson, “Doors Unlacked: Inmates Enjoy First Day of Freedom,” Seattle
Times, May 26,1977, A14.

42 When I asked Mead what percentage of Walla Walla Brothers com-
munications he authored, he replied: I would say all of it” (Interview with au-
thor, February 2, 2006). For other public communications by the Walla Walla
Brothers, see 'In the Hole at Walla Walla,” Northwest Passage, August 9-29,
1976, 4, 23; "Letters from Walla Walla,” Northwest Passage, November 8-21,
1976, 12-13, 22. Both issues contain separate letters signed by Mead in his
own name: “Ed Mead,” Nortwest Passage, August 9-29, 1976, 22-23; “No
Medical Aid for the Beaten,” Northest Passage, November 8-21, 1976, 1.

43 John Arthur Wilson, “Officials Unfair, Says Prison Letter,” Seattle
Times, May 24,1977, CL

44 Paul Henderson, “46 Days in Lockup; ‘Your mind starts playing tricks
onyou” Seattle Times, May 27,1977, AL,

45 Dean Katz, "Probe Set at Penitentiary,” Seattle Times, May 26, 1977.

46 “Rainier” is misspelled "Ranier” in the original, as it is in the political
statement,

47 The Department of Social Health Services oversaw mental health and
penalinstitutions.

48 Shelton was the site of a newer, lower-security prison.

49 Smith and Moncourt write:

With the group of RAF fighters who seized the West German embassy
in Stockholm on April 24, 1975, “the focus of the revolutionary struggle’
had changed. During the 1970- 1972 period, the RAF had been preaccupied
with things ke radical subjectivity, workers' alienation, the exploitation of
the Third World, police violence, a Lot wing out of touch with rebel youth,
and a “nevs fascism” exemplified by socil democrati corporatism and gen
eral repression.

The initial openness now gave way to a single-minded focus on s “new
fascism” defined as attacks on the prizoners and their legal team, and hard.
Iy snything els.

Clearly,the prisoers’struggle was ot only guiding the RA, draving
in slmost al of its new recruits it was now defining its very politics.

Elsewhere they reiterate: “The guerilla became locked in on the prisoners
o the exclusion of all other sacial contradictions.” Smith and Moncourt, eds.,
The Red Army Faction, 336-37, 452.

284
Notes

50 This quote, originally prose, was converted into a stanza by the
Brigade.

51 On the press blackout, see “GJB gets silent treatment,” Open Road
(Vancouver, BC), Fall 1977

52 Berger, Outlaws of America, 201-202.

53 John Brown Book Club, “introduction,” The Split of the Weather
Underground Organization: Struggling against White and Male Supremacy
(Seattle: John Brown Book Club, 1977), held by the Tamiment Library (copy.
in author’s possession). On this publication see Berger, Outlaws of America,
232,234

54 On these last desperate gasps of Weather see the partisan account in
Mark Rudd, Underground: My Life with the SDS and the Weathermen (New York:
William Morrow, 2009), 276-80.

55 John Brown Book Club, The Spit, 40.

56 This last issue is also taken up in "Open Leter to the Revolutionary
Committed from Native American Warriors,” dated Jan. 1977 and included
on pages 41-42 of The Split, s well as, corrected, on page 44.

57 Le. Bruce Seidel

58 While the murder thesis i far from universally accepted, [ agree with
Smith and Moncourt that due to systematic misconduct the burden of proofis.
on the German government. The following observation is on point: “Without
a shadow of a doubr, the decline of the murder thesis is a direct consequence.
of the decline of the RAF and its support scene. It s a chilling example of how,
once a revolutionary tendency disappears, the state’s version simply wins the
contest by acclamation, no actual facts required.” Smith and Moncourt eds.,
The Red Army Faction, 394,

59 Smith and Moncourt eds., The Red Army Faction, 381-432.

60 On the Stammheim deaths see Smith and Moncourt eds., The Red
Army Faction, 510-20. The Stammheim death accurred against the back-
ground of the kidnapping and eventual murder of German industrialist
Hanns-Martin Schleyer by the RAF and the skyjacking of Lufthansa jet by
a Palestinian militant group, in order to reinforce the demands of Schleyer’s
kidnappers. See Smith and Moncourt eds., The Red Army Faction, 477-500.

61 Smith and Moncourt eds., The Red Army Faction, 521-24.

62 This was misspelled as Hans Martin Schleyer in the original,

63 The collective’s internal name for John Sherman.

64 The collective’s internal name for Therese Coupez.

65 This is referring to a plan to kidnap a state official o high corpo-
rate officer. See “Brigade tell of fantastic scheme to kidnap McNutt,” Tacoma
News Tribune, May 2, 1978, and Burton-Rose, Guerrilla USA, 248-49.

66 "TUG" is an acronym for “The Urban Guerrilla” It gained currency in
‘militant circles in part due to a Bay Area publication of the same name.

67 Jori Uhuru, nom de guerre of Janine Bertram, Brown's abruptly ex-

285
g a Movement with Teeth

girlfriend at the time of writing, Although in later documents Bertram spelled
her pseudonym Jory with an i/ here it appears in the original communiqué
witha 'y

Part11l

1 “Excerpts From Political Statement of the George Jackson Brigade;”
Northuwest Passage, December 21, 1977-January 9, 1975, 15.

2 Bruce Seidel and Ed Mead put out the first two issues of this pub-
lications; Ed did the third one while incarcerated in the Washington State
Penitentiary. To the best of my knowledge, none are extant.

3 Bruce Seide, Rita Brown, Ed Mead, and John Sherman.

4 At this time, only Janine Bertram and Therese Coupez

5 Seventy-five percent at the time this was written: Janine Bertram,
Rita Brown, and Therese Coupez, with John Sherman being the only male.

6 One lesbian and tiwo bisexuals

7 ForSeidel's denunciation see, “Communique Fragment” n Part L Itis
not clear which of Mead's prolific statements s being referred to. The Brigade
also authored one collectively: “Open Letter to the John Brown Bookelub, in
Part I

8 Prairie Fire: The Poliics of Revolutionary Anti-imperialism Politcal
Statement of the Weather Underground is the major manifesto of the Weather
Underground Organization. It was distributed anonymously in 1974 and re-
printed atleast once. It s reproduced in Dohen, Ayers, and Jones, eds.,Sing
Battle Song, 231-378, minus a long lis of political prisoners which appears in
the original

9 It appears that the Brigade was never able to solve the security prob-
Lems and make this a viable means of communiction.

10 In the “Chronology of Brigade Actions” that follows, the Brigade
claims actions that had not been previously linked to them in the press.

11 Included in Part I

12 The Bay Area Radical Collective, publishers of the urban guerrilla
communiqué clearinghouse Dragon

13 AMaoist guerrill cell active in the San Francisco Bay Area. Practically
nothing has been written on them beyond the proliic primary sources in
the San Francisco Chronicle, Dragon, TUG, Berkeley Barb, and other regional
publications.

14 A publication begun in Detroit as an undergeound tabloid in 1965
In 1975, it took on an anti-authoritarian position, which it continues today:
bt/ Bithestate org

15 A survivor of the Attica prison revolt whom prison activists who lat-
exjoined the Brigade brought to Seattl to speak in the carly 1970,

16 A prisoner support publication afliated with the National Lawyers
Guild.

286
Notes

17 The Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional, a Puerto Rican indepen-
dence organization, claimed responsibility for dozens of bombings in the
19705,

18 Emily and Bill Harris were a married couple who joined the SLA and
inadvertently survived the 1974 Compton massacre with Patricia Hearst by
running an errand just before the police encirclement began. They were ar-
rested in San Francisco September 18, 1975, provoking the Brigade’s first at-
tack on Safeway.

19 Remiro and Little were SLA members convicted of the assassination
of popular African American school superintendent Marcus Foster. In 1981
Little was retried for the Foster murder and acquitted. Remiro remains incar-
cerated. On the early events surrounding their case and biographical back-
ground see Bryan, This Soldier Stillat War.

20 A prisoner support publication in Massachusetts with ties to the
National Lawyers Guild.

21 Bishop was an independent antiwar radical tried for bombing power
lines leading to a defense plant in Colorado in 1968.

22 In the original the surname is incorrectly given as “Powers.

23 Buskadi Ta Askatasuna, Basque for 'Basque Homeland and
Freedom.

24 Brigate Rosse.

25 The most readily available source on this group in English, which is
not particularly recommended, is William Farrell, Blood and Rage: T Story of
the Japanese Red Army (Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1990). There s also.
Aileen Gallagher, The Japanese Red Army (New York: Rosen Publishing Group,
2003). This title appears in the series Inside the World's Most Infamous
Terrorist Organizations which, bizarrely, are introductory children’s books on.
armed nonstate actors the world over.

26 Written by Janine Bertram and Rita Brown.

27 Thisis the title of a pamphlet of Ralph "Po” Ford's writings collated by
his girlfriend, who was also a Left Bank Collective member, after his death.

28 To the best of my knowledge there is no comprehensive collection
of SLA communiqués; Pearsall, The Symbionese Liberation Army, is the closest.
contender, but is limited by having gone to press before the Compton mas-
sacre. While the continued pariah status of the SLA among activists is under-
standable and to a certain degree welcome, that scholars would ignore such a
significant phenomena is abjectionable. Some communiqués are reprinted in
Payne and Findley, The Life and Death of the SLA, 329-69, and McLellan and.
Avery, Voices of Guns, 499-523.

29 Authored by Therese Coupez and John Sherman.

30 This document appears to be no longer extant.

31 This refers to Leroy "Bud” Welcome, owner of the J. J. Welcome
Company. See Lee Moriwaki, “Tyree Scott: "We don't retaliate;” Seattle Times,

287
g a Movement with Teeth

October 3,1975, A6,

32 The bomb was placed late on the night of May 31. It detonated at
1:22 2.m. on the morning of June 1. See Dick Clever, "Brigade' Takes Credit
for Blast At State Office,” Seattle Post-Intellgencer, June 2, 1975, 1, back page,
and John Wilson, “Brigade’ says it set off explosion,” Seattle Times, June 2,
1975,

33 The takeover occurred on December 31,1974,

34 Ed Mead frst claimed these actions on behalf of the Brigade in a
jailhouse interview. See Lee Moriwaki and John Arthur Wilson, “Brigade
Bombed FBI: Jailed Comrade Speaks,” Seattle Times, April 1, 1976, C5.

35 Ralph “Po” Ford.

36 Bill and Emily Harvis, Patricia Hearst, and her roommate non-SLA
member Wendy Yoshimura.

37 Mark Cook. See Michelle Celarier, “Does the State Conspire? The
Conviction of Mark Cook,” in Part |

38 As in the original communiqué, this word is misspelled “Ranier”
throughout.

39 After the Rainier National bank bombings the Washington Bankers
Association announced a reward of §25,000 for information leading to the ar-
st of John William Sherman and Rita Darlene Brown; the only two publicly
confirmed, indicted Brigade members at the time. See “Bankers Offer $2,500
Reward,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 18, 1977, A12 and “Bankers’ group
offers reward for 2 fugitives,” Seattle Times, June 19, 1977

40 Center for Research on Criminal Justice, The Iron Fist and the Velvet
Glove: An Analysis of the US. Police (Berkeley, CA: Center for Research on
Criminal Justice, 1975). Editions followed in 1977 and 1982. Center for
Research on Criminal Justice was a radical sociology institute associated with
the University of California, Berkeley, and the publishers of Crime and Social
Justice (1974-1987), currently published as Social Justie.

Part IV

1 Eileen Kirkpatrick, "Staff Comments,” Northwest Passage, July 19~
August 8,1976, 2

2 “Letters from the GJB—Tell No Lies,” Northwest Passage, August
1-21, 1977, 3; “Jackson Brigade Supports,” Northwest Passage, October
24-November 7, 1977, 2; “Excerpts From Political Statement of the George
Jackson Brigade,” Northwest Passage, December 21, 1977-January 9, 1978,
15

3 Ina May 11 phone call to Walter Wright of the Post-Intelligencer,
Sherman claimed the signature as his own. Over a month later the ULS.
Attorney directing the grand jury reluctantly conceded this match. See
“Brigade Communique Finding,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, June 19, 1976, A3

4 Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969).

288
Notes

5 Walter Wright, “FBI Fumes Over Threats By Radicals,” Seattle Post.
Intelligencer, March 29,1976, Ad.

6 Though he was not out at the time, Mead was bisexual and would be
sexually active with men in prison. He also participated in conjugal visitation
programs in Arizona and Washington.

7 In the original Brockhaus and Park insert the note: “The next part of
the interview in which Mead described the time he spent in prison from the
age of 19 to his thirties, was lost to the clanging of doors and a fuzzy phone
connection.” They paraphrase: "While he was in prison he became renovwned
as a Uailhouse Lawyer, picking up on his own enough law to help other pris-
oners. Mead also talked about his early efforts at prison organizing strikes
and reform work” Meads self narration is similar to that given in Walter
Wright, “Ed Mead: Two Faces of a Dangerous Man,” reproduced in Part I

8 Acollective which provided lodging to people journeying to visit pris-
oners on MeNeil Island, a short ferry ride across Puget Sound.

9 Jill Kray, Mead's girlfriend before he went underground and the
first person subpoenaed to the Brigade grand jury. To Mead's chagrin, she
testified.

10 In composing this piece Park acknowledged “much help from John
Brockhaus and members of my study group”

11 It was a two-part series. The first, Walter Wright's "Pages in the Life
of Bruce Seidel” appears in Part Il of this collection; "Communiqué Fragment’
in Part I reproduces most of the second.

12 See Part L.

13 Incorrectly given as “Powers” in the original. On their case see Part I,
note 30,

14 “Terrorism and the George Jackson Brigade” the preceding article in
this collection,

15 September 9-13,1975.

16 A siege lasting from February 27-May 5, 1975.

17 On New Year's Day of 1975, the Menominee Warrior Society oc-
cupied an unused abbey in Gresham, Wisconsin, intending to turn it into a
health center. The occupiers were immediately besieged by several hundred
Law enforcement officers, who, in turn, were supplemented by armed white
vigilantes. After an exchange of gunfire, the National Guard was dispatched
under strict orders from the governor to enforce a ceasefire.

18 There were actually eighty-two men on the Granma, which sailed
from Mexico to Cuba to launch the Cuban Revolution. Jon Lee Anderson, Che.
Guevara: A Revolutionary Life (New York: Grove Press, 1997), 207.

19 Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and the Seattle Police
Department.

20 Here Passage editors objected to the characterization of Parks criti-
cisms as their own by inserting 'sic”; they had repeatedly stressed that she did.

289
g a Movement with Teeth

not speak for the editorial collective as a whole.

21 V-Narodnik (“To the People"), a group of aristoeratic youth who went
to the countayside to raise the consciousness of peasants. Frustrated with the
pace of change, they tumed to assassinations of nobles, most notably Czar
Nicholas Il after which they were crushed.

22 Le, the Democratic Party.

23 George Jackson, Blood In My Eye (New York: Bantam, 1972), 27-28.

24 This is not a convincing argument, considering the grand jury
probe that struck Seattle’s progressive community in direct response to the
Brigade.

25 “Dear Comrade,” a letter from Emily Harris dated May 22, 1976, ap-
peared in the June 1976 issue of Dragon, 11-18,

26 The Brigade primarily relied on the resources—legitimately earned
or stolen—of its own members.

27 For Marighella on expropriation, see “The Bank Assault as Popular
Model” Mini-Manual of the Urban Guerrilla (Montreal, Quebec: Abraham
uillen Press, 2002). The first English-language edition was published as the
ini-Manual of Urban Guerrilla Warfare” by the San Francisco-based Red
Guerrilla Family in 1969, the same year it was first published in Spanish in
the Cuban journal Tricontinental.

28 The relevant passage reads: “It is better to err acting than to do
nothing for fear of making a mistake.” Marighella, Mini-Manual of the Urban
Guerilla, .

29 “Jori” rather than “Jory”

30 Communiqué, singular: see “Our Losses Are Heavy .. in Part IL

31 Brackets in this article e those of Patz.

32 “Bomb Damage Repair: Strikers Refuse to Help, City Says,” Seattle
‘Post-Intellgencer, January 3, 1976, AL

PartV

1 On the weekend of July 4, 1998, Lynn “Spit” Newborn and Daniel
Shersty, both active with the Las Vegas chapter of Anti-Racist Action, were
found dead in the desert. Shersty was beaten then executed with a single bul-
Let; Newborn's body was riddled with bullets, possibly as a resul of attempt-
ing to escape. Both had had recent run-ins with neo-Nazis, who are consid-
ered responsible for their deaths. “Anti-Racist Youth Murdered in Las Vegas,”
Revolutionary Worker, August 16, 1998.

2 The September 18, 1975, bombing,

3 Cookis referring to the case that came to be called the San Francisco
8, in which eight former Panthers, two already in custody, were charged with
the 1971 killing of Sgt. John Young at the Ingleside police station. In 2009,
the two previously incarcerated Panther and Black Liberation Army veterans,
Herman Bell and Jalil Muntaqim, pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter, and.

290
Notes

1o contest to commit voluntary manslaughter, respectively. See http://ww.
freethesf8org.

4 Le, the reincarcerations of Kathy Soliah (Sara Jane Olson) and Bill
and Emily Harris.

5 Ronald Tsukamoto became Berkeley's frst Japanese-American po-
lice officer in 1969 and then, on August 20, 1970, its first offcer killed in the
line of duty. Berkeley police headquarters bear his name. On May 24, 2004,
Alameda County law enforcement officers arrested Don Juan Graphenreed
for the crime, then abruptly released him. Karl Fischer, “Arrest, but no charg-
esin 1970 killing of officer,” Berkeley Voice, May 28, 2004, A1, A11.

6 Armsbury was actually a member of the Patriots Party, who, like
the White Panthers, saw themselves as a white, working class adjunct to the
community serve, anti-law enforcement positions of the Black Panthers. On
the White Panthers, see Jeff A. Hale, “Total Assault on the Culture” in Peter
Braunstein and Michael William Dayle, eds., Imagine Nation: The American
Counterculture of the 19605 and ‘705 (New York: Routledge, 2001), 125-156.
On the meeting of Mead and Armsbury in McNeilIsland federal penitentiary
in 1970, see Burton-Rose, Guerrilla USA, 56-58. Armsbury is carrently an or-
ganizer with the November Coalition against the punitive policies of the Drug,
War: see hitp:// www november.org

7 On Weather's conundrum on whether or not to reply to a collective
letter from the jaled leadership of the New York chapter of the Black Panther
Party, urging that they not abandon armed action, see Varon, Bringing the War
Home, 185-86.

8 Walter Wright, author of the profiles of Mead and Seidelin Part L. For
alist of hisarticles on the Brigade, see the Selected Newspaper Articles on the
George Jackson Brigade, 19751978, below.

200
Selected Newspaper Articles on the
George Jackson Brigade, 1975-1978

Abbreviations
DJA Daily Journal American
EH Everett Herald

NYT New York Times

PO Portland Oregonian

SPI Seattle Post-Intelligencer
S5 Seattle Sun

ST Seattle Times

INT Tacoma News Tribune

(Bditor's Note: 1 do not have page numbers for each article but
have opted to provide those I do have.)

“Man Killed by Bomb Identified,” ST, September 16, 1975.

“Supermart Blast Victim Identified,” SP-I, September 17, 1975.

“Several Hurt in Safeway . . " ST, September 19, 1975,

“Bomb Threats Sweep the Seattle Area,” SP-I, September 20, 1975, A1

“Bombing Shows Need for Strong Safeguards,” SP-I, September 21,
1975, B2.

“Guards Conducting Searches at Bombed Capitol Hill Safeway.” ST,
September 26, 1975

“Fire Explosion Jolts City Lights Substation,” SP-1, January 1, 1976,
AL

“Laurelhurst Residents Asked to Curb Power Use,” ST, January 1,
1976.

“Weather Underground Behind Bombings?” ST, January 2, 1976

“57 Bombings Here since 1969," ST, January 3, 1976

“Bomb Damage Repair: Strikers Refuse to Help, City Says," SP-T,
January 3, 1976, AL

“No Pickets at Power Site,” ST, January 4, 1976.

“Editor, the Times,” ST, January 6, 1976.

“None Need Help from Bomb Brigade,” SP-1, January 7, 1976, A8.

“Inquest Jury to Weigh Bank Shoot-Out Evidence,” SP-I, February 18,
1976, Ad.

“Bank Robbery Probe Halts for a Week,” SP-I, March 5, 1976, B4.

“Radical Wounds Officer to Help Inmate Escape,” SP-I, March 11,

203
Creating a Movement with Teeth

1976, A1

“City Light Substation Rebuilt.” ST, March 20, 1976.

“Law Agencies on Brigade’s Trail” SP-I, March 27, 1976, A11.

“Brigade is a Challenge,” SP-I, March 30, 1976, A12

“Text of Brigade Communique,” SP-I, March 31, 1976, F6.

“Grand Jury Calls Attorney in Tukwila Case,” SP-I, April 4, 1976, Ad.

“Times Reporter is Subpoenaed,” ST, April 6, 1976, ALS.

“US. ‘Intimidation’ Charged in Bank Case,” SP-1, April 10, 1976, A3

“Mead Trial Delayed to Give Him Time to Prepare Case,” SP-I, April
13,1976, A6.

“Bar Group Backs Lawyer in Dispute,” ST, May 2, 1976,

“Government Accused of ‘Fishing,” ST, May 5, 1976.

“Review Ordered of Material Seized in House,” ST, May 7, 1976.

“Another Woman Subpoenaed in Grand Jury Bomb Probe,” SP-I, May
9,1976, A11.

“Four Denied Meeting Sherman,” SP-1, May 13, 1976, Ad.

“Sleuths on the Write Track?” ST, May 18, 1976.

“Brigade Communique Finding,” SP-1, June 19, 1976, A3,

“Bank Robbery Defendant Refuses Psychiatric Test,” SP-I, June 20,
1976, H5

“Judge Refuses to to [Sic] Hold Contempt Hearing for Grand-Jury
Witness,” ST, June 29, 1976.

“Policemen Reviewed for Mead ‘Macing,” SP-I, July 7, 1976, A7.

“A Poor Way for them to be Noticed,” ST, July 17, 1976.

“Officials Want Woman in Bombing-Case Line Up," ST, July 24, 1976

“Jackson Brigade's Mead, Cook Get 30 Years,” SP-I, August 7, 1976,
A9,

“Jackson Brigade Member Draws 40-Year Minimum,” ST, November
3,1976.

“Fugitive Phones PI Fifth Time," SP-I, November 9, 1976, A13.

“Wilsonville, Eastgate Bank Branches Robbed.” PO, February 8, 1977,
A9,

“Two More Automobile Dealers Hit," ST, May 25, 1977.

“Bankers Offer $2,500 Reward,” SP-I, June 18, 1977, A12

“Bankers’ Group Offers Reward for 2 Pugitives,” ST, June 19, 1977.

“Brigade: We Did It,” SP-I, June 23, 1977, AS.

“Bomb Defused in Olympia Power Station,” ST, July 5, 1977.

“Investigators Seeking Clues to Bomb Planting,” TNT, July 5, 1977.

“George Jackson Brigade Bombers May Get Nastier,” TNT, July 7,
1977.

294
Selected Newspaper Articles.

“Jackson Brigade Suspect in Eastside Robbery,” ST, September 9,
1977.

“Bank Heist a ‘Brigade’ Hit?" SP-I, September 20, 1977, D12

“Jackson Brigade Note Left in Bank Robbery,” ST, September 20,
1977.

“Edward Mead Loses Plea,” SP-I, September 24, 1977, A3.

“Gasoline Bomb found at Seattle Auto Dealership,” ST, October 8,
1977.

“Bomb Probe Stepped Up," ST, October 18, 1977, A3

“Striking Auto Mechanics File Slander Suit Against Dealers,” ST,
October 27, 1977.

“The Brigade again,” SP-1, November 3, 1977.

“Jackson Brigade: Bombing Suspect Seized Here" SP-I, November 5,
1977, AL

“EBI Pursues Jackson Brigade Man, Friend,” SP-I, November 6, 1977.

“Brigade-Suspect Search Fruitless,” TNT, November 7, 1977.

“Alleged Brigade Chief's Pal Sought,” TNT, November 8, 1977.

“Sherman Friend Subpoenaed?” SP-I, November 8, 1977, A3.

“Ray Among Brigade Targets?” SP-, November 22, 1977.

“Paper Studying EB.L. Request for Letter,” ST, December 4, 1977.

“Bomb Explodes at Renton Substation,” SP-I, December 24, 1977,
Al4

“Small Bomb Set Off at Renton Power Station,” ST, December 24,
1977.

“Kent Bombing Follows Brigade Call” ST, December 25,. 1977.

“Investigation Continues into Local Bombings.” ST, December 26,
1977.

“Brigade Bombs in Renton and Kent.” S5, December 28, 1977.

“EBI Ties Holdups to Jackson Bunch,” TNT, January 11, 1978

“Brigade Makes Explosive Appearance, Fizzles on Arrest,” TNT,
March 23, 1978,

“Sherman Preparing to Rob a Bank?" TNT, March 25, 1978,

“Brigade Tells of Fantastic Scheme to Kidnap McNutt,” TNT, May 2,
1978.

Alters, Diane. “Bomb Explodes at Car Dealership After Jackson
Brigade Call” ST, November 2, 1977.

Anderson, Ross. “Ruling on Radicals: Police Justified in Entering
Apartment.” ST, August 25, 1976.

. “Grand Jury may See Evidence, Judge Rules.” ST, September

11,1976.

205
Creating a Movement with Teeth

Associated Press. "Drop Charges, Bank Suspect Asks.” TNT, April 1,
1976, C12.
‘Comrade’ on Trial in Seattle.” TNT, April 5, 1976.
“Judge Denies Dismissal of Mead Assault Charges” TNT,
April 6,1976.
“Tukwila Police Tell of Holdup.” TNT, April 7, 1976, B6.
“Trial ‘Hears' Escapee.” TNT, April 9, 1976,
“Mead Trial Continued One Week.” TNT, April 13, 1976,
“Agents Wll Seek to Link Brigade” ST, May 3, 1976, A14.
“New Raid made in ‘Brigade Case.” TNT, May 3, 1976.
“Agents Went Beyond Limits” TNT, May 18, 1976
“Radical Will Plead Insanity” TNT, June 20, 1976.
“Mead Trial Opens in Bank Robbery.” TNT, July 6, 1976.
“Brigade Member Guilty of Bank Job” TNT, July 8, 1976.
“Bank-Robbing Radical Gets 40-Year Term.” TNT, November
4,1976.
“Leftist Group Defends Jackson Brigade's Latest Bombings.”
TNT, May 19,1977, B11.
“Brigade Takes Credit for Bellevue Holdups." June 24,1977,

“EBI Terrorist Hunt TNT, June 27, 1977.
“Brigade Robber Hits Bank.” TNT, September 9, 1977.
“EBI Says ‘Brigade’ Letter Real." TNT, October 19, 1977.
“Brigade Says Bombing Backed Terrorists." TNT, November 2,
1977, B8
“EBI Still Seeking George Jackson Pair” TNT, November 6,
1977.
“Bomb Explodes at Renton Power Station.” EH, December 24,
1977.
“Ineffectual Bomb Linked to Brigade.” DJA, December 24,
1977.
“Bomb was Retaliation for Capitalist Activity” TNT,
December 25, 1977.
“2 Bombings have Police on Alert” DJA, December 26, 1977.
“Jackson Bunch Claims Bombs." TNT, December 26, 1977.
“Radicals Say they Set Off 2 Bombs.” EH, December 26, 1977.
“EBI Arrests Pugitive Radicals.” PO, March 22, 1978, AL
“Radical Held on $1 Million Bail." DJA, March 22,1978, A1.
“EBI Hunt Clues to Radical Suspect’s Past.” PO, March 23,
1978, A14.

N

96
Selected Newspaper Articles.

. “Letter Claims Radicals ‘Fight on.” PO, March 23, 1978,
Metro, back page.
Associated Press and SP-I Staff. "A Second Bomb Blast.” SP-I,
December 25,1977, AL A19.
‘Law ‘Alert’ for More Bombings.” SP-1, December 26, 1977.
Associated Press, United Press International, and SP-I Staff. "State
Capital Bomb Plot Foiled.” SP-1, July 5, 1977, A1
Birkland, David. “Store Bomb Meant to Kill, Say Police” ST,
September 19, 1975, AL
- “Man in 40s Listed as Bombing Suspect” ST, September 23,
1975
. “Burglary Suspects’ Release Hurt Bomb Case, Says Chief" ST,
October 4, 1975, A3
. “Unexploded Bomb Found at Car Agency." ST, October 7,
1977.
Boyd, Paul. "Bomb Planter Believed Killed in Safeway Blast.” SP-I,
September 16, 1975
Brack, Fred. “A Lot of ‘Bits and Pieces': Store Bombing Clues Sifted.”
SP-I, September 25, 1975, A3.
Brown, Larry. "Officers’ Files Ruled ‘Off Limits.” ST, April 1, 1976,
Chadwick, Susan. “The Grand Jury: Why Are Those People Refusing
[to] Testify." S5, May 12, 1976, 8.
Clever, Dick. “Brigade’ Takes Credit for Blast at State Office” SP-I,
June 2,1975,1, back page.
Collins, Tony. “George Jackson Brigade Probe Leads to Subpoena of
Two Women.” UW Daily, May 5, 1976, 4.
Foster, George. “City Police Fear More Bombings." SP-I, January 2,
1976, AL
Gillie, John. “Brigade Bomb Disarmed in Olympia.” TNT, July 4,
1977.
Gough, William. “Security Rules Cancel Medical Appointment.” ST,
April 4,1976, BS.
Hannula, Don. “Police Fear ‘Bombing Increase.” ST, September 20,
1975
. “Support Denounced.” ST, January 2, 1976
Henderson, Paul. "Hoax: But Versions of What Happened are Vastly
Different.” ST, May 1, 1976.
- “Pipe Bombs Damage 5 Cars." ST, October 17, 1977.
Hopkins, Jack. “Jury Given 2 ‘Pictures’ of Brigade Pair” SP-1, June 24,
1978,

207
Creating a Movement with Teeth

Ledbetter, Les. “Coast Bombing Expected to Go on Despite Arrests.”
NYT, March 24, 1978, A7.

McCarten, Larry and Fred Brack. “Bomb Victim was Activist.” SP-I,
September 20, 1975, Ald.

McCarten, Laurie. "Revolutionary Hideout Sought: Hoax Calls
Triggers Police Raid on a Peaceful Couple.” SP-I, April 30, 1976,
AL0.

Miletich, Steve. “Juanita Bank Hit, Brigade Claims Credit.” DJA,
September 9, 1977.

“Bombs Explode in Bellevue Car Lot.” DJA, November 2,
1977.

Modie, Neil. “Seattle Women Defy Jury in Bombing Probe.” SP-I, June
23,1976, A10.

“Brigade Leader Captured: Sherman, 2 Women Seized by FBI
at Tacoma Drive-in." SP-I, March 22, 1978, A1, A20.

Moriwaki, Lee. “Man Killed by Safeway Bomb ‘Gentle, Polite
Concerned.” ST, September 20, 1975.

“Local Leftists Condemn Bombing of Safeway as
“Irresponsible” SP-1, October 3, 1975, A8.

“No Network seen in Safeway Bombings.” ST, December 30,
1975.

“Bomb Threat may be on Police Tape.” ST, January 2, 1976.

Moriwak, Lee and John Arthur Wilson. “Of Life and Death in Radical
Circles.” ST, March 30, 1976.

“The Psychological Anatomy of a Revolutionary.” ST, April 1,
1976.

Morris, Maribeth. “UsS. Offices Guarded: Bomb Alert in Seattle” SP-I,
September 16, 1975, A1, A16.

Nadler, Eric. “SLA Reprisal?: Bomb in Seattle Store Hurts Five” SP-I,
September 19,1975, Al

O'Connor, Paul. “Brigade is Back with a Bang” SP-1, May 13, 1977.

Pyle, Jack. “FBI Warns People on ‘Kidnap List” TNT, November 22,
1977.

Rinearson, Peter. “North End Home Yields Jackson Brigade Clues.”
ST, November 6, 1977.

“Few Clues found in Car Linked to Brigade.” ST, November 7,
1977.

Roberts, Larry. “The New Year's Bombers: Who and Why?" S5,
January 14, 1976, 6.

“Police Raid Hill Apartment.” S5, April 28, 1976, 1, 4.

298
Selected Newspaper Articles.

. “Police Department Changes Story on Apartment Raid." S5,
May 5, 1976
Sanger, S. L. "Redmond Bank Bombed; Bellevue Bomb Diffused” SP-1,
May 13,1977, AL
United Press International. “Kelly Cites Brigade.” SP-I, February 12,
1976, A2
“Member of Revolutionary Group Arrested by the EBL in
Seattle” NYT, November 6, 1977.
. “FBI Nabs Leader of George Jackson Brigade.” EH, March 22,
1978.
Webster, Kerry. “Indictments Due in Brigade Bust.” TNT, March 27,
1978.
Wilson, John Arthur. “Brigade’ Says it Set Off Explosion.” ST, June 2,
1975
. “Laurelhurst Getting by." ST, January 2, 1976.
“Residents Still Face Total Outages.” ST, January 2, 1976
“Terrorist Unit Says it Shot Officer.” ST, March 28, 1976.
“Affidavit Pushes for Testimony by Lawyer.” ST, April 2, 1976,

“Jury Selected in Mead Assault Trial” April 6, 1976, A15.
‘Mead Says Police Fired First.” ST, April 8, 1976.
‘Mead Convicted of Assault; Faces Federal Charges.” ST, April
9,1976, A10.
“Mead Granted Trial Delay.” ST, April 12, 1976,
‘Dead Radical's Roommate Sought.” ST, April 21, 1976.
. “Radical Gets 2 Life Terms for Shooting in Robbery Try." ST,
April 22,1976,
. “Federal Bank-Robbery Trial of Edward Mead Delayed.” ST,
‘April 23,1976,
“Federal Agents Raid House” ST, May 2, 1976.
‘Possible Residence of Radicals is Searched.” May 3, 1976
“Agents Seize Typewriters, Wire.” ST, May 5, 1976.
“Seized Items ... " ST, May 8, 1976, C8.
‘More Items Taken from House Sought.” ST, May 11, 1976.
‘Federal Grand Jury Under Fire again.” ST, May 18, 1976,

. “Shot Officer Testifies about Escape Attempt from Hospital”
ST, June 17, 1976.

- “Mead Sticks to Insanity Plea” ST, June 19, 1976.

. “Search Nets Guns, Radical Literature” ST, June 21, 1976,

299
Creating a Movement with Teeth

“Radical, Seized Items Subpoenaed.” ST, June 22, 1976.

“Radicals Charge Illegal Search.” ST, June 24,1976,

“Jury Chosen, ‘Brigade’ Member's Trial Begins." ST, July 6,
1976.

“Judge Refuses to Allow Mead to Plead Insanity” July 7,
1976.

“Mead Convicted of Bank Robbery” ST, July 7, 1976,

“George Jackson Brigade may be Dead, Says Mead.” ST, July
8,1976.

“Lists Seized in Raid on Radicals' Home.” ST, July 13,1976,

“Woman Appears in Line-Up in Bombing of Substation.” ST,
July 26, 1976,

“Woman Picked from Line-Up in Bombing Case.” ST, July 28,
1976.

“Radical Fears ‘Frame-Up' in Bombing” ST, August 4, 1976,
El4.

“Brigade Member Tied to Oregon Bank Robberies?” ST,
October 1,1976, B3,

“Government Still Probing Activist, Unsolved Bombings.” ST,
December 22, 1976.

“Seized Weapons Returned to Activists,” ST, April 21, 1977.

“Bombs: Jackson Brigade Speaks Out Again.” ST, May 13,
1977, A20

“Radicals Blame Bombing on Abuse of Inmates.” ST, May 13,
1977, A1

“Bank-Robbery Charge: Brigade Fugitive Indicted” ST, May
14,1977, AL

“EB.L. Steps Up the Hunt for Brigade Members." ST, June 25,
1977.

“EB.L Studying Defused Bombs." ST, July 6, 1977.

“Fugitive’s Thumbprint on Letter, Says EB” ST, October 19,
1977,D7.

“Jackson Brigade Suspect Arrested here.” ST, November 5,
1977.

“Rita Brown Ordered to Stand Trial" ST, November 14, 1977.

“Suspected Brigade List Names Local Officials " ST, November
22,1977.

“Jackson Brigaders Relate Flight from N. End House.” ST,
December 1,1977.

“Long Hunt for Remnant of Elusive Brigade Ends Quietly”

300
Selected Newspaper Articles.

ST, March 22, 1978, A1
‘Brigade Suspect was Devoted, Says Family.” ST, March 23,
1978, A14.

‘EB.L Expected Letter from ‘Rest of Brigade.” ST, March 31,

1978.
“Sherman had Lived Next Door.” ST, April 4, 1978
‘Support for Auto Strike: Sherman Admits Fire-Bombings.”
ST, April 27,1978
. “Sherman Tells of Joining Brigade” ST, July 6, 1978.
Wilson, John Arthur and Lee Moriwaki. “Brigade Deserves Respect,
Say Leftists.” ST, March 31, 1976.
. “Sent to Newspaper; Tests Fail to show Bullet was Fired in
‘Attempted Bank Robbery.” ST, n.d., A6,
Works, Martin. “A Former Convict Tells Why the Prisoners at Monroe
Want a Union.” SP-I, October 22, 1973, AL
“Bomb Fragments to be Analyzed.” SP-I, January 3, 1976,
back page.
‘Brigade Linked to Bombings” SP-I, October 19,1977, AL
‘Sherman's Car found Near Bus Depot.” SP-I, November 7,
1977, A9.
Works, Martin and Walter Wright, “Escape Case Hunt Intense” SP-1,
March 12, 1976, AL
-“AQuiet Arrest . . the Tukwila Bank Robbery Case
Develops.” SP-I, March 13, 1976, A11
Wright, Walter. “Jury Clears Tukwila Policemen in Fatal Shooting,"
SP-I, February 20, 1976, Ad.
. “Grand Jury Defied by Two Witnesses.” SP-I, March 24, 1976,
A6

‘New Twist in Tukwila Bank Case.” SP-I, March 25, 1976, A6
‘Destruction, Bloodshed, Threatened by Radicals.” SP-I,
March 28, 1976, AL
. “FBI Fumes Over Threats by Radicals.” SP-J, March 29, 1976,
Ad.
“Brigade Bombed FBI': Jailed Comrade Speaks.” SP-I, March
30,1976, AL, A12,
. “ailed Comrade Speaks: ‘Brigade Bombed FBL” SP-1, March
30,1976, AL
“Brigade’s Promised Proof; Station Gets Dental Evidence”
SPI, March 31, 1976,
. “Security Tight as New Trial Starts.” SP-I, April 6, 1976, A10.

301
Creating a Movement with Teeth

“Officers Tell of Gun Battle.” SP-I, April 7, 1976, AS.
“Accounts of Gun Battle Differ Widely.” SP-1, April 8, 1976,
A5,
“Jury Convicts Mead in Bank Robbery Case” SP-I, April 9,
1976.
“Ed Mead: 2 Faces of a Dangerous Man.” SP-I, April 11, 1976,
A6,
“Slain Man's Document: Self-Implication in Three Bombings."
SP-1, April 21, 1976,
“Mead Says He'll Plead Not Guilty Due to ‘Insanity.” SP-I,
April 22,1976, Ad.
“Mead Gets Prison Sentence”” SP-I, April 23, 1976, A7
“3 Deny Link to Brigade.” SP-I, May 4, 1976, AS.
“Capitol Hill Home Search Defended” SP-1, May 7, 1976, A7.
“Search Items, A Review.” SP-1, May 8, 1976, A11.
“Revolutionary Phones PI: Mystery Call from a Fugitive” SP-I,
May 11,1976, AL
“No Telltale Fingerprints.” SP-I, May 12, 1976, AL
“Grand Jury Hands Out New ‘Brigade’ Charges.” SP-1, May 19,
1976, A11.
“Brigade Probe Twist: Woman Sues U.S." SP-1, May 20, 1976,
A8,
“U.S. Wants Sherman's Handwriting” SP-1, June 14, 1976.
“Leftist Called in Bomb Probe After Accidental Raid." June
22,1976, C14.
“Sherman Calls to Say He'll ‘Clear Others.” SP-1, June 25,
1976, A6.
“Jury Finds Mead Guilty of Armed Robbery Try” SP-1, July 8,
1976, A12.
‘Sherman Hunt: FBl in Oregon.” SP-1, July 27, 1976
Revolutionary' May Be 60 After Prison.” SP-I, August 8,
1976, F6.
“Fugitive Sherman Denies Oregon Robbery Link” SP-I,
October 12,1976, B4.

302
Selected Bibliography

Selected Bibliography

Build a Revolutionary Resistance Movement! Communiqués from the
North American Armed Clandestine Movement, 1982-1985, New
York: Committee to Fight Repression. n.d. (mid-1980s)

Anderson, Jon Lee. Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life. New York:
Grove Press, 1997.

Baker, Marilyn. Exclusive! The Inside Story of Patricia Hearst and the
SLA. New York: Macmillan, 1974,

Bates, Tom. Rads: The 1970 Bombing of the Army Math Research
Center at the University of Wisconsin and its Aftermath. New York:
HarperCollins, 1992.

Berger, Dan. Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the
Politics of Solidarity. Oakland: AK Press, 2006

Bryan, John. This Soldier Still at War. New York: Harcourt, Brace,
Jovanovich, 1975

Burton-Rose, Daniel. Guerrilla USA: The George Jackson Brigade and
the Anticapitalist Underground of the 1970s. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 2010.

Cabral, Amilcar. National Liberation and Culture. Trans. Maureen
Webster. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University, 1970.

. Revalution in Guinea: Selected Texts. Trans. Richard
Handyside. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1972 (first
published in 1969)

. Return to the Source: Selected Speeches. New York: Monthly
Review Press, 1973,

. Uity and Struggle. Trans. Michael Wolfers. New York:
Monthly Review Press, 1979.

Center for Research on Criminal Justice. The Iron Fist and the Velvet
Glove: An Analysis of the ULS. Police. Berkeley: Center for Research
on Criminal Justice, 1975

Chabal, Patrick. Amilcar Cabral: Revolutionary Leadership and People’s
War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983

Copeland, Vincent. The Crime of Martin Sostre. New York: McGraw-
Hill, 1970.

Cummins, Eric. The Rise and Fall of California’s Radical Prison
Movement. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 1994

Davis, Angela Y., ed. If They Come in the Morning: Voices of Resistance.
New York: Third Press, 1971

Davis, Mike. Buda's Wagon: A Brief History of the Car Bomb. London:

303
Creating a Movement with Teeth

Verso, 2007.
Dohrn, Bernardine, Bill Ayers, and Jeff Jones, eds. Sing a Battle Song:
‘The Revolutionary Poetry, Statements, and Communiqués of the
Weather Underground, 1970~1974. New York: Seven Stories Press,

2006.

Elbaum, Max. Revolution in the Air: Sixties Radicals Turn to Lenin, Mao
‘and Che. New York: Verso, 2002.

Farrell, William. Blood and Rage: The Story of the Japanese Red Army.
Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, 1990,

Fobanjong, John, and Thomas K. Ranuga. The Life, Thought, and
Legacy of Cape Verde’s Freedom Fighter Amilcar Cabral (1924~
1973): Essays on his Liberation Philosophy. Lewiston, NY: Edwin
Mellen Press, 2006

Gallagher, Aileen. The Japanese Red Army. New York: Rosen
Publishing Group, 2003,

Graebner, William. Patty's Got a Gun: Patricia Hearst in 1970s America.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008,

Hearst, Patricia, and Alvin Moscow. Every Secret Thing. Garden City,
NY: Doubleday, 1982.

Hendry, Sharon Darby. Soliah: The Sara Jane Olson Story.
Bloomington, MN: Cable Publishing, 2002

Jackson, George. Soledad Brother. New York: Bantam, 1970.

Blood In My Eye. New York: Bantam, 1972,

Jimenez, Janey. My Prisoner. Kansas City: Sheed Andrews and
McMeel, 1977

John Brown Book Club. The Split of the Weather Underground
Organization: Struggling Against White and Male Supremacy.
Seattle: John Brown Book Club, 1977.

Kinney, Jean Brown. An American Journey: The Short Life of Willy
Wolfe. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1979,

Lawrence, Bruce. Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin
Laden. New York: Verso, 2005

Lee, Butch, and Red Rover. Night-Vision: Illuminating War and Class on
the Neo-Colonial Terrain. New York: Vagabond Press, 1993,

Marighella, Carlos. Mini-Manual of the Urban Guerrilla. Montreal,
Quebec: Abraham Guillen Press, 2002 (first published in 1969).

Marlin IV, Robert O, ed. What Does al-Qaeda Want? Unedited
Communiques. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 2004.

MeLellan, Vin, and Paul Avery. The Voices of Guns: The Definitive and
Dramatic Stary of the Twenty-two-month Career of the Symbionese

304
Selected Bibliography

Liberation Army. New York: Putnam, 1977.

Payne, Leslie, Timothy Findley, and Carolyn Craven. The Life and
Death of the SLA. New York: Ballantine Books, 1976.

Pearsall, Robert, ed. The Symbionese Liberation Army: Documents and
Communications. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1974.

Raskin, Jonah, ed. The Weather Eye: Communiqués from the Weather
Underground, May 1970-May 1974. San Francisco: Union Square
Press, 1974,

Reeves, Kenneth, and Paul Avery, eds. The Trial of Patty Hearst. San
Francisco: Great Fidelity Press, 1976

Rudd, Mark. Underground: My Life with the SDS and the Weathermen
New York: William Morrow, 2009

Shakur, Assata. Assata: An Autobiography. Westport, CT: Lawrence
Hill, 1987.

Smith, J,, and André Moncourt eds. The Red Army Faction: A
Documentary History. Volume 1, Projectiles for the People. Oakland:
PM Press, 2009.

Soltysik, Fred. In Search of a Sister. New York: Bantam Books, 1976

Sostre, Martin. Letters from Prison: A Compilation of Martin Sostre's
Correspondence from Erie Country Jail, Buffalo, New York; and Green
Haven Prison, Stormuille, New York. Buffalo: n.p., 1969

Steinhoff, Patricia G. “Hijackers, Bombers, and Bank Robbers:
Managerial Style in the Japanese Red Army." The Journal of Asian
Studies 48, no. 4 (1989): 724-40.

Umoja, Akinyele Omowale. “Repression breeds resistance: The
Black Liberation Army and the Radical Legacy of the Black
Panther Party” In Kathleen Cleaver and George Katsiaficas
eds. Liberation, Imagination, and the Black Panther Party. New
York: Routledge, 2001.

Varon, Jeremy. Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the
Red Army Faction, and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and
Seventies. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.

Weed, Steven, and Scott Swanton. My Search for Patty Hearst. New
York: Crown Publishers, 1976.

305
g a Movement with Teeth

Index

A

aboveground, 20, 31, 65, 95, 112, 117, 119, 145, 152, 157, 158, 159, 161,
184-187, 192,195, 211, 216, 220, 222, 224, 225, 226-227, 230,
240,247-248, 264

Alaska, 48, 49, 200

Alderson Federal Reformatory for Women (W. V), 283

Algeria, 216

Alpert, Jane, 13, 271

al-Qaeda, 22,277,304

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), 65, 66, 68-70

American Indian Movement (AIM), 163

anarchism, 169177, 191, 199, 260, 270

Angola, 194,202, 215, 223

Angry Turkey, 147

anti-imperialism, 117, 286

antiwar movement, 17, 49, 52, 208, 258, 280, 282, 287

Argentine People’s Revolutionary Army (ERP), 215

Armed Resistance Unit, 14, 22, 272

armed struggle, 11-15, 18, 19, 22, 25, 60, 85, 86-89, 95-96, 105, 112-113,
114116, 117118, 147-163,173, 177, 184,191, 193-196, 202-209,
210212, 214-219, 222-230, 240, 241'249, 253, 257, 259, 269, 278

Armsbury, Charles “Chuck,” 259, 201

Attica Correctional Facility (N.Y) uprising, 13, 60, 72, 89, 162, 200, 214,
243,271, 282, 287

Automotive Machinists Union, 122-123, 124-125, 137-139, 183

B

Baader, Andreas, 126,127,128, 183

Bacon, Leslic, 238

bank robberics, 20, 24, 35-37, 40, 42-43, 47-48, 50, 51, 53, 56, 59, 60, 61,
65,6870, 124,130, 134, 180, 181182, 203, 206, 209, 228, 241,
279,293, 294, 295, 296, 300, 301, 302, 305

Bay Area. See San Francisco Bay Area

BEC Dodge car dealership bombing, 35, 124-125, 183

Beahler, Chris, 57-58

Beauvor, Simone de, 126

Bellevue (Wash), 35, 36, 37, 42, 43, 61, 84, 88, 92, 98, 110, 111,126,179,
181,182,183, 246, 296, 298, 299

Berkeley Barb, 286

Bertram, Janine, 20-21, 30, 54-56, 57-58, 140, 192, 241, 243, 244, 246,
247,249, 253, 278, 285, 286, 287

bisexuals, 71

306
Index

Black Guerrilla Family, 273

Black Liberation Army (BLA), 12, 13, 14, 21, 72, 162, 256, 270, 271, 274, 280

Black Panther Party for SelfDefense, 11, 18, 20, 21, 39, 255, 269, 270, 271,
272,280,291, 305

Blakely, Anna. See Brown, Rita Bo

Blood in My Eye (Jackson), 11, 225, 243, 274, 277, 290, 304

Boeing, 19, 60, 101,137

bombings, 12, 13-14, 17-19, 24, 41-44, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, 59, 60-
61,67, 79, 80-82, 83, 84-85, 86-89, 98, 99, 104, 107, 110-111, 112-
113, 115-116,122-123, 124125, 126, 130, 133, 137, 156, 178-183,
1851187, 192,193, 205, 208, 211, 214-215, 218, 223-224, 226,
232, 241, 244, 245, 246, 255, 260, 269, 271, 272, 273, 275, 276,
277,278, 279, 281, 283, 287, 288, 290

Brown, Rita Bo, 1821, 24, 25, 31,38, 40, 42.43, 55, 57, 56, 63, 7172, 129132,
134, 145, 253-266, 278, 281, 282, 283, 285, 286, 287, 288, 300

Buck, Marilyn, 163, 272

Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), 179, 223, 224

[

Cabral, Amilcar, 85, 87, 89, 110,120, 153, 159, 281, 303, 304

capitalism, 59, 62, 102, 108, 128, 138, 147, 148, 149, 150, 153, 154, 157,
164, 165, 167, 168, 169,170, 172, 173,175, 176, 206, 207, 209,
226, 246, 265, 266

Carter, Brenda, 191192, 231-239, 240, 276

Castle, Del, 241-242, 243, 245

Celarier, Michelle, 26, 31, 65-70, 288

Central Intelligence Agency (CLA), 234, 243, 273

Chinese Revolution, 176, 215, 265

Cinque. See DeFreeze, Donald "Cinque”

City Light, 35, 42, 61, 84-85, 180, 245, 246, 247, 259, 260, 279, 280, 293,204

Civil Rights Movement, 258, 270, 279

Cold War, 22

Committee to End Grand Jury Abuse, 239

communism/communists, 19, 39, 41, 42, 52, 88, 91, 147, 148, 165, 169-
170,172, 174176, 193, 199, 200-201, 215, 216, 225-226, 229,
230, 253, 262, 264, 272, 278, 282

construction industry, 178, 179

CONvention, 19, 20, 29, 53, 66, 258

Cook, Mark, 19, 20, 21, 24, 30-31, 37, 39, 40, 42, 50, 53, 65-70, 133-135,
253.266, 279, 282, 288, 290

correctional officers. See prison guards

Coupez, Therese, 18, 20-21, 26, 38, 40, 44, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 140, 192, 241,
246, 247-249, 254, 279, 285, 286, 283

COYOTE, 54-56, 57, 279

307
g a Movement with Teeth

Crooks, Carol, 163
Cuba, 86, 215, 265, 281, 289, 290
Caeisler, Robert, 66-67, 69

D

Davis, Angela, 243, 280, 302

Debray, Régis, 86, 237

Defreeze, Donald “Cinque.” 82, 280

democracy, 169, 171,173, 174, 175, 176, 218

discrimination, 70, 99, 100, 184, 263

Dohrn, Bernardine, 117, 269, 276, 281, 286, 304

‘Dragon (Bay Area Radical Collective), 25, 77, 80, 84, 90, 95, 227, 276, 286, 290
drug experimentation, forced, 78, 114, 211

dykes. Seelesbians

E

Ensslin, Gudrun, 126-128, 183

Everett (Wash.), 35, 179, 260, 203

exconvicts, 17, 18, 19, 21, 50, 53, 66, 68, 69, 72, 134, 148, 181, 257, 282283

F

fascism, 77,78, 127, 150, 158, 167, 215,230, 257, 284

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FED), 13, 25, 31, 34, 35, 38-44, 54, 55, 68,
87,93, 97,108, 105, 124, 125, 128, 152, 178, 197, 198, 205, 207,
208,218, 22, 224, 234, 260, 265-266, 270, 271, 272, 278, 280,
281,283, 288, 205, 296, 298, 299, 301, 302

First Amendment, 199, 258

Ford, Gerald, 77, 217

Ford, Ralph Patrick “Po;” 18, 42, 80, 83, 85, 119, 192, 196, 207, 213, 230,
232233, 234, 276,278, 280, 287, 288

Foster, Marcus, 79, 287

Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacién Nacional (FALN), 12, 163, 269

G

gays, 71, 72, 148, 150, 168, 174, 200, 258, 262, 283. See also Lesbians

grand juries, 82, 91, 92, 117, 119, 180-181, 191-192, 194, 195, 206-207,
200,212.213, 219, 229, 231-239, 255, 294, 295, 297, 299, 301, 302

guerrillas, 80,104, 127, 150, 163, 183, 214, 215, 218, 220

Guevara, Emesto "Che," 30, 41, 82, 83, 278, 289, 303, 304

H

Harborview escape, 42, 49, 53, 59, 61, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 90
Haris, Emily, 163, 227, 287, 288, 290, 291

Harvey, James, 79

308
Index

Harvey, Paul, 100
Hastings, Sandra, 69

Hearst, Patrica, 61, 275, 280, 288

Henderson, Paul, 97, 98, 283, 284, 207

Herbert, Joe, 78

Ho Chi Minh, 87, 192, 196, 223, 261, 282, 288
Horowitz, Donald, 77

hostage-taking, 48, 79, 92, 100, 128, 154, 178, 194, 282
Hubenet, Kathy, 191, 192,237, 238

1

imperialism, US,, 17, 78, 86, 91, 147, 150, 153, 163, 165, 169, 170, 194-
195,224, 225, 286

Intensive Security Unit (ISU), 104, 106, 107-109, 181

Irish Republican Army (IRA), 151,163

J

Jackson, George, 11, 14, 15,17, 20, 22, 29, 38, 51, 72, 77, 81, 87, 89, 107,
109, 127, 156, 163, 194, 224-225, 243, 253, 254, 255, 259, 273-
274,277,279, 281, 282, 283, 290, 304

James, Jennifer, 54-58

John Brown Book Club (JBBC), 118-121, 304

Johnson, Lyndon B., 67, 68, 90

K

Kennedy, Florynce, 58,279

kidnappings, 285

Killien, Phillip Y, 47,48

King, Martin Luther Jr., 243

King County Jail, 23, 55, 69, 133, 134, 135, 191

King County Police, 37, 90, 105, 124, 133, 180

King County, 23, 37, 47, 55, 65, 69, 77, 90, 105, 122, 124, 125, 133, 134,
135,137, 138, 180, 183,102

Klamath Falls, 40, 71

KOMOTV, 125

Kray, Jill, 200,289

KZAM radio, 92

L

Law enforcement. See police

Leary, Timothy, 250

Leavenworth penitentiary (Kan.), 49, 163,199

Le Duan, 88, 282

Left Bank Collective, 69,83, 114, 145, 162, 191192, 200, 211, 214-221, 280, 287

309
g a Movement with Teeth

Lenin/Leninists, 30, 41, 49, 87, 83, 151, 167, 169, 173, 174, 176, 204, 215,
216,217, 219, 224, 228, 278, 304

lesbians, 30, 31, 55, 57, 60, 72, 148, 168, 200-201, 200, 282, 283, 286

liberals/liberalism, 11,77, 92,95, 120, 121,271

Lien, Janice, 68

Lompoc Federal Correctional Institution (FCI Lompoc, Calit), 199

M

Mair, Peter, 233

Malcolm X, 243

Mao Tse Tung, 49, 60, 87, 131, 175, 215, 278, 304

Maoism/Maoists, 262, 273, 286

Marighella, Carlos, 30, 228, 230, 290, 304

Marion County Jail (Salem, Ore.), 134

Many/Marxism, 15, 30, 49, 60, 87, 88, 176, 221, 222, 230, 274

Marsist Leninists, 151, 167, 169, 176, 177, 215, 216, 217, 218, 224, 228, 273

Mathews, Joseph L., 47

MeNeil Island penitentiary (Puget Sound), 17, 19, 49, 60, 98, 199, 289, 291

MeNutt, Harlan, 99, 108, 285, 295

Mead, Ed, 17-21, 24, 30, 31, 38-39, 40, 42, 47-50, 51, 52, 53, 60, 61, 65-66,
77,80, 90, 92, 95, 97, 98, 104, 108, 120, 134, 162, 180, 181, 182,
191,192, 193201, 202, 203, 204, 205, 207, 213, 220, 222-330,
232,2531266, 274, 277, 279, 282, 283, 284, 286, 2883, 289,291,
294,295, 296, 299, 300, 302

Medford (Ore.), 36,42

Meinhof, Ulrike, 126

Melville, Sam, 13, 14, 82, 271

Men Against Sexism, 264

Menominee Warrior Saciety (Gresham, Wis), 214, 289

Meyerson, Jack, 69, 233,279

military, US, 12, 22, 50, 87, 171,174, 214, 243, 271, 278, 303

Mitchell, Katie, 192, 231-239

Modie, Neil, 54-56, 298

Moller, Irmgard, 127

Monroe State Reformatory. See Washington State Reformatory (Monroe, Wash.)

Moriwald, Lee, 279, 288, 298, 301

Mother Jones, 88

Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR), 215

Mozambique, 215

N

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 13, 261
National Guard, 195, 207, 282, 289

National Lawyers Guild (NLG), 239, 287

310
Index

Native Americans, 115, 150, 168, 179, 210, 220, 285

Near, Holly, 129

“New Day, Changing Weather” communiqué, 86

New Left, 17,228

New World Liberation Front (NWLE), 14, 18, 162, 218, 257, 259, 272, 273,276

New Year's Gang, See Vanguard of the Revolution

New York Times, 293, 208, 299

Nixon, Richard, 77

nonviclence, 49, 203

Northuwest Passage, 26, 57, 65, 66, 83, 110, 122, 132, 145, 191, 193, 202,
210,214,216, 218, 219,220, 221, 223, 231, 240, 241, 242, 261,
284,286, 288

o

OConnor, Paul, 298

Ohio 7. See United Freedom Front

Old National Bank robbery, 43, 182

Olympia (Wash) bombings, 18,21, 35, 36, 41, 43,50, 60, 77-79, 107-109,
110111, 178179, 182, 186, 294, 297

Open Road, 162, 260, 272, 285

Orca, 25,97, 105, 107, 110, 114, 122, 126,129,133, 17, 277

“Our Losses Are Heavy” fiyer, 26, 140, 277, 278, 290

P

Pacific Gas & Electric Company, 218

Pacific National Bank of Washington robbery. See Tukwila bank robbery

Palestine, 22, 155, 193, 214, 218, 244, 284

Papaya, 192,240

Park, Roxanne, 191, 193-201, 202-209, 222-230, 231-239, 277, 289

PATRIOT Act, 22, 26, 256

Patz, Bill, 26, 241249, 290

Peltier, Leonard, 163, 259, 282

Pennington, William, 101

People’s National Bank robbery, 37, 43, 182

Phil Smart Mercedes Benz and BMW car dealership bombing, 21, 36, 43,
126127, 183

Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (5.Dak.), 179, 223, 260, 282

pipe bombs, 18, 21, 50, 55, 110, 124, 186, 192, 206

police, 13,20, 21, 24, 25, 29, 30, 31, 35, 40, 42, 43, 47, 48, 50, 51, 52, 67,
71,72,77,85,87, 90,91, 95, 96,99, 102, 105, 110, 111, 113,
116,120, 124,130, 146, 147, 152, 153,159, 161, 166, 169, 171,
180, 182, 186, 187, 194, 204, 205, 206, 209, 210, 212, 215, 216,
219, 221, 224,235, 236, 238, 242, 244, 246, 250, 255, 256, 267,
276, 278, 280, 282, 283, 284, 286, 287, 289, 290, 291, 295, 296,

an
g a Movement with Teeth

297,298, 299, 303. See also Seattle Police Department

poor people. See poverty

Portland (Ore), 31, 37, 42, 138, 179, 260

Portland Oregonian, 293, 204, 296, 297

Post Intelligencer. See Seattle Post-Intelligencer

poverty, 47, 48, 61, 69, 71, 77, 78, 83, 133, 176, 199, 200, 227

Power, Katherine, 163, 209, 282-283

Prairie Fire: The Revolutionary Politics of Anti-Imperialism, 117, 153, 196, 224

Prairie Fire Organizing Committee (PFOC), 87, 117, 118, 286. See also John
Brown Book Club and Weather Underground Organization

prisoners, 13, 20, 21, 38, 39, 49, 50, 53, 60, 66, 77, 78, 79, 87, 97, 98, 99,
100,101,102, 104, 106, 107-109, 112, 119, 126-127, 133136,
148,149,159, 178179, 180, 181182, 183,198, 199, 200,211,
214,224, 241, 242243, 245, 246, 248249, 253, 257260, 273,
280,282, 284, 286, 289, 303, 304

prison guards, 17, 38, 49, 60, 97, 99, 100, 101, 108, 257, 273, 283

prison reform, 39, 50, 52, 53

proletariat, 48, 52, 88, 149, 151, 170, 174. See also working class

Puerto Rico, 12, 13, 115, 163, 195, 220, 269, 271, 272, 287

Purdy women's prison (Purdy, Wash., 18, 57, 98, 254

R

racismy/racists, 67, 72, 77, 91, 100, 102, 114,134, 146, 150, 167, 174, 186,
194, 203,227,228, 273

radicals, 17, 24, 31, 39, 49, 51, 53, 54, 126, 199, 203, 206, 216, 220, 225-226,
234,235, 259, 270, 272, 273, 274, 275, 278, 280, 286, 287, 289,
293,295, 296, 207, 298, 299, 300, 301, 303, 304, 305

Rainier National Bank robberies, 35, 36, 37, 43, 98, 101, 105, 106, 111, 181,
182,288

rape, 78, 126, 164, 186, 263

Raspe, Jan-Carl, 126128, 183

Raymond, Jill 209, 283

Reagan, Ronald, 266

Red Army Faction (RAF), 21, 24, 104, 126-128, 163, 183, 269, 276, 277,
284,285, 305

Red Guerrilla Family, 162, 216, 290

Red Guerrilla Resistance. See Armed Resistance Unit

Redmond (Wash), 35, 43,299

Reed, John, 125, 198

Remiro, Joe, 163, 275, 287

Resident Government Council (RGC), 79, 99, 101, 280

Revolutionary Armed Task Force (RATE), 14, 271

Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), 19

Revolutionary Union (RU), 19, 60, 278

a2
Index

revolutionary violence, 22, 89, 90-91, 107, 117,193, 211, 214, 223, 225-228
Rhay, Bobby J, 99,101, 108, 182

Rockefeller, Nelson, 210

Rosebud Indian Reservation (S.Dak ), 179, 223, 260

Russian Revolution, 172-175

S

Safeway bombings, 18-19, 22-23, 41-42, 60-61, 80-82, 83, 84-85, 86, 88,
179, 180,192, 208, 211-212, 214, 223-224, 232, 244, 254-255,
276, 278, 279, 280, 282, 287, 293, 297, 298

Sam Melville/Jonathon Jackson Unit, 14, 163, 271, 272. See also United.
Freedom Front

San Francisco Bay Area (Calif), 14, 17, 18, 58, 162, 168, 197, 200, 216, 218,
255, 256, 259, 276, 279, 280, 281, 285, 286, 287, 290, 305

San Quentin State Prison (Calif), 17, 38, 89,127, 274

Saxe, Susan, 163, 209, 282, 283

Schleyer, Hanns-Martin, 127-128, 285

Seattle (Wash.), 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25,29, 31, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39,40, 41,42,
43,52,53,54, 55,57, 59, 61, 65, 66, 70, 71, 72, 77, 80, 84, 85, 87,
88, 92,95,97, 98,99, 100, 101, 106, 110, 114, 115, 117, 122, 124,
125,133,135, 137, 138, 139, 148, 152, 162, 178, 179, 180, 181,
182, 183,191, 192,197, 200, 204, 206, 209, 214-215, 219, 220,
245, 259, 260, 263, 266, 278, 279, 280, 283, 284, 285, 287, 288,
289, 290, 293, 295, 296, 298, 299, 304

Seattle Central Community College (SCCC), 53

Seattle Police Department, 25, 29, 34, 278, 289

Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 47, 51,54, 86, 90, 92, 232, 255, 261,279, 283, 288-
289, 290, 293, 294, 295, 297, 298, 299, 301, 302

Seattle Sun, 122, 133, 293, 295, 297, 298, 299

Seattle Times, 59, 97, 98, 100, 101, 106, 181, 182, 204, 279, 283-284, 288,
293, 294, 295, 296, 297, 298, 299, 300, 301

Seidel, Bruce, 18, 20, 21, 22, 30, 38, 42, 47, 50, 51-53, 60, 61, 65, 77, 80,
86-89, 90, 118, 146, 147-148, 180, 191, 204, 207, 220, 279, 285,
286, 289,291

self-defense, 13, 24, 185

sexism, 77-78, 87, 102, 114-115, 150, 167, 174, 185, 186, 227, 228, 263, 281

Shakur, Assata, 72, 82, 84, 93, 162, 270, 280-281, 283, 305

Shakur, Zayd Malik, 82, 281

Sherman, John W, 19-21, 24, 30, 31, 36, 38, 39-40, 42, 44, 49-50, 51, 53,
54, 55, 59-62, 65, 66, 68, 69, 90, 91, 92, 124-125, 180, 191-192,
193,220,241, 242, 243, 244, 246, 248, 249, 253, 258, 278, 279,
285, 286, 288, 294, 295, 298, 301, 302

shoplifting, 71, 85

5. L. Savidge Dodge car dealership bombing, 36, 43,122, 124-125, 183,

a3
g a Movement with Teeth

socialists/socialism, 30, 86, 151, 163, 169-177, 194, 203, 216-217, 224, 228,
241243, 249, 254

Soledad Prison (Calif), 17, 38, 273

Sostre, Martin, 86, 147, 162, 282, 283, 308, 305

Spellman, John D, 23,133-136

spontaneity, 100, 131,149, 179, 224, 245

Stagecoach Mary Collective, 114-116, 162

Stammheim Prison, 21,126, 128, 285

St. James, Margo, 58,279

strikes, 49, 60, 80, 84, 87, 88, 97-100, 106, 107, 115,122, 126, 137-138,
153,154,180, 181, 182, 183, 184186, 199, 242, 243, 245246,
247'248,260, 264, 280, 289,290, 293, 301

Students for a Democratic Saciety (SDS), 258, 262, 272, 285, 305

Sturgis, Autrey “Scatman,” 31, 66-67, 68-69

Sunfighter, 25, 38, 39, 53, 66, 77

Superglue, 23,136, 138

‘Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), 12, 18, 72,79, 80, 81, 83, 85, 86, 87,
102, 160, 166-167, 179, 196, 198, 200, 204, 206, 209, 218, 256,
257,269, 273, 275, 276, 280, 281, 287, 289, 298, 302, 304-305

T

Tacoma News Tribune, 285, 293,294, 295, 296, 297, 298, 299

Tacoma (Wash.), 21, 41, 54,55, 61, 179, 199, 260, 285, 293, 298

Terminal Island penitentiary (San Pedro, Calf), 72

terror/terrorism, 18, 19, 61, 75, 84.85, 90, 92, 114, 116, 126-127, 155-156,
159,160, 179, 186, 191, 193-194, 202-209, 210-213, 214215, 218-
219,222'224,241, 244, 255, 256.257, 277, 287, 289, 296, 298

Tukowila bank robbery, 20, 31, 36, 37, 42, 47, 51, 53, 59, 60-61, 65, 68,
69,9091, 102, 146, 151, 180-181, 191, 209, 279, 294, 296, 301

Tupamaros, 261

u

underground, 13, 14,20, 31, 39, 53, 92, 95, 96, 112, 117, 156, 162, 184,
185,187,195, 209, 211, 212, 219, 220, 222, 226-227, 240, 249,
265,266, 271, 276, 278, 286, 289, 303, 304

unions, 19, 21,25, 38, 39, 50, 53, 60, 66, 77, 85, 122-123,124, 127, 137-139,
182, 183, 184-185, 201,242, 243, 245, 247, 248, 258, 284, 301

United Freedom Front (UFF), 14, 22, 271. See also Sam Melville/Jonathon
Jackson Unit

University of llinois, 18, 52

University of Washington, 52, 54

Utah State Industrial School, 43

31a
Index

v

Valerian Coven, 184-187

Vanguard of the Revolution, 14, 271, 278

Viet Nam/Vietnam War, 49, 52114, 152, 104, 224, 229, 262

Vinegar Beard Collective, 112113

violence, 18, 19,22, 24, 30,39, 41, 48, 70, 79, 81, 85, 89, 90, 91, 102, 107,
108, 114,115,117, 146, 153,179, 186, 194, 203, 204, 206, 210,
211,212, 215, 224, 226, 227, 228, 229, 243, 244, 245, 246, 247,
249, 250, 262, 274, 277, 282, 284

Voorhees, Donald, 67

w

Walde, Lawrence, 23, 133136

Ward, Emmett, 231239

Washington Bankers Association, 288

Washington Prisoners Labor Union (WPLU), 19, 25, 38, 39, 50, 53, 60, 77,
200,258

Washington State Department of Corrections, 18, 50, 79, 178

Washington State Penitentiary (Walla Walla), 20, 21, 29,31, 39, 79, 97-103,
104,106, 107-109, 110, 112, 115, 120, 134, 162, 178179, 181182,
186, 246, 254, 265, 280, 283, 284, 286

Washington State Reformatory (Monroe, Wash.), 38, 50, 53, 60, 66, 69, 279, 301

Watergate, 234

Weather Underground Organization (Weatherman), 11, 12,13, 17, 18, 21,
22,81, 86-89, 117, 152-153, 196, 258, 259, 262, 269, 271, 276-277,
279, 281, 285, 286, 290, 293, 303, 304, 305

Weinberg, John, 233

West Germany, 21, 104, 126128

Westlund Buick car dealership, attempted bombing, 36, 43,122,124, 182

Weyerhaeuser, 71, 101

White Panther Party, 14, 259, 273, 286

Whitnack, Nancy “Michelle,” 191, 210-213, 214,232, 283

Williams, Robert, 13, 270

Wilson, John Arthur, 59-62, 97, 98, 279, 283, 284, 288, 298, 299-301

Women Out Now, 18

women's liberation, 119

working class, 18, 30, 48, 71,134, 148, 149, 150, 153, 154, 158, 164,172,
173-174, 187,28, 244-245, 291. See aléo proletariat

World War I1, 59, 128

Wright, Walter, 47-50, 51-53, 86, 232, 255, 283, 288, 289, 201, 301

Y
‘Young Lords, 14, 272, 273
‘Young Patriots, 14, 272-273

S
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Gordon Carr
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The Red Army Faction,
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M e oy

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we have published an impressive and stimulating array of litcrature,
art, music, politics, and culture. Using every available medium, we've
succeeded in connecting those hungry for ideas and information to those
putting them into practice.

Friends of PM allows you to dircetly help impact, amplify, and
revitalize the discourse and actions of radical writers, flmmakers, and
artists. It provides us with a stable foundation from which we can build
upon our carly successes and provides a much-needed subsidy for the
‘materials that can't necessarily pay their own way. You can help make
that happen — and receive every new title automatically delivered to
your door once a month — by joining as a Friend of PM Press. And, we'll
throwin a free Tshirt when you sign up.

Here arc your options:

all books and pamphlets plus 50% discount on

« 25 a month: Get all GDs and DVDs plus 50% discount on all
webstore purchascs.

« 40 2 month: Get all PM Press releases plus 50% discount on all
webstore purchases

= $100 2 month: Sustainer. - Everything plus PM merchandisc, free
downloads, and 3

1% discount on all webstore purchascs.

Tor those who can't afford $25 or more a month, we're introducing
Sustainer Rates at §15, 10 and $5. Sustainers get a free PM Press t-shirt
and a 50% discount on all purchases from our websitc.

Just g0 10 WWW.PMPRESS.ORG to sign up. Your Visa or Mastercard
will be billed once a month, until you tell us to stop. Or until our efforts,
succeed in bringing the revolution around. Or the financial melidown
of Capital makes plastic redundant. Whichever comes first

PM Press was founded at the end of 2007
by a small collection of folks with decades
of publishing, media, and organizing
expericnce. PM - Press co-conspirators
have published and distributed hundreds
of books, pamphlets, CDs, and DVDs,
Members of PM have founded enduring book fairs, spearheaded
victorious tenant organizing campaigns, and worked closcly
with bookstores, academic conferences, and even rack bands to
deliver political and challenging ideas to all walks of life. We're
old enough to know what we're doing and young enough to know
what's at stake.

We seck 0 ereate radical and stimulating fiction and non-
fiction books, pamphiets, t-shirts, visual and audio materials 10
entertain, cducate and inspire you. We aim to distibute these
through cvery available channel with cvery available technology
- whether that means you are sceing anarchist classics at our
bookfair stalls; reading our latest vegan cookbook at the café;
downloading gecky fiction e-books; or digging new music and
timely videos from our website,

PM Pressisalways on the lookoutfor talented and skilled voluntecrs,
artists, activists and writers to work with, If you have a great idca
for a project or can contribute in some way, please get in touch.

PM Press
PO Box 23912

wiwwpmpress.org