The Red Army Faction: A Documentary History, Volume 1: Projectiles for the People
J. Smith, André Moncourt
Language: English
Pages: 791
ISBN: 2:00261305
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
The first in a two-volume series, this is by far the most in-depth political history of the Red Army Faction ever made available in English.
Projectiles for the People starts its story in the days following World War II, showing how American imperialism worked hand in glove with the old pro-Nazi ruling class, shaping West Germany into an authoritarian anti-communist bulwark and launching pad for its aggression against Third World nations. The volume also recounts the opposition that emerged from intellectuals, communists, independent leftists, and then—explosively—the radical student movement and countercultural revolt of the 1960s.
It was from this revolt that the Red Army Faction emerged, an underground organization devoted to carrying out armed attacks within the Federal Republic of Germany, in the view of establishing a tradition of illegal, guerilla resistance to imperialism and state repression. Through its bombs and manifestos the RAF confronted the state with opposition at a level many activists today might find difficult to imagine.
For the first time ever in English, this volume presents all of the manifestos and communiqués issued by the RAF between 1970 and 1977, from Andreas Baader’s prison break, through the 1972 May Offensive and the 1975 hostage-taking in Stockholm, to the desperate, and tragic, events of the “German Autumn” of 1977. The RAF’s three main manifestos—The Urban Guerilla Concept, Serve the People, and Black September—are included, as are important interviews with Spiegel and le Monde Diplomatique, and a number of communiqués and court statements explaining their actions.
Providing the background information that readers will require to understand the context in which these events occurred, separate thematic sections deal with the 1976 murder of Ulrike Meinhof in prison, the 1977 Stammheim murders, the extensive use of psychological operations and false-flag attacks to discredit the guerilla, the state’s use of sensory deprivation torture and isolation wings, and the prisoners’ resistance to this, through which they inspired their own supporters and others on the left to take the plunge into revolutionary action.
Drawing on both mainstream and movement sources, this book is intended as a contribution to the comrades of today—and to the comrades of tomorrow—both as testimony to those who struggled before and as an explanation as to how they saw the world, why they made the choices they made, and the price they were made to pay for having done so.
capitalist associations, and the enemies of the Chilean and Palestinian people. They kidnapped the CDU leader Lorenz to gain the freedom of political prisoners. They struggle against rising prices and the increased pressure brought to bear on the people, e.g., the Berlin transit price actions.3 We demand that the press, the radios, and TV broadcast this statement! We are the urban guerilla groups Red Army Faction 2nd of June Movement Revolutionary Cells And above all struggle against those
intelligence agencies, and the judiciary in this regard are baseless. The hunger strike is an example of our solidarity • with the hunger strike of prisoners from the Palestinian resistance for prisoner of war status;1 • with the hunger strike for political status of the IRA prisoners in Irish and English prisons, status they are denied on the basis of a European antiterrorism law put forward by the Federal Republic;2 • with the demand of the ETA prisoners and other antifascist forces in
equally quick this time given his personal connection to this greasy magnate of the cream of the national business world. Siegfried Hausner Commando WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 1977 We presume that the decision not to broadcast our demands and ultimatum on yesterday’s 8:00 PM Tagesschau, as we had stipulated, is the result of a decision taken behind closed doors by the Crisis Management Team and reflects a decision by the federal government to resolve the situation militarily. The BKA’s ploy,
pigs!’ than to endure in silence the insults of an employer? And is it not better, ultimately, to meet death having fought back than to die in resignation and defeat? If we must die, then better with weapon in hand.4 Women Against Imperialist War: in the early eighties, as sections of the women’s movement attempted to bridge the distance that had separated them from the RAF support scene, this became one of the most important anti-imperialist groups in the FRG. The lurch to the right, the
majority of cases. Only if it gives a negative result are further specialized tests unnecessary. In Ulrike Meinhof’s case, further microchemical and microscopic tests were carried out, and clearly showed that the protein traces were not spermatic filaments.” (Aust, 346-7) The editors of this volume are highly skeptical of the state’s story, and yet feel readers are best situated to make up their own minds on the matter. 5 Commission internationale d’enquête sur la mort d’Ulrike Meinhof, 28. 6