Tag Archives: bomb

Capitol, Pentagon and State Department Bombings

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On March 1, 1971 the United States Capitol is bombed. WUO called ahead stating that this was in protest of Nixon’s resent bombing of Laos. Below is ABC’s reaction to the bombing on the morning news in 1971.

There were three California bombings, two of which WUO claimed credit for on August 28, 1971. The State Department of Corrections offices in Sacramento and San Francisco were both attacked with a corresponding letter from The WU. The third blast that happened in San Mateo was under investigation and no conclusion was come to in deciding if it was related or not.

On May 19, 1972 WUO took credit for the bombing of The Pentagon, which was according to New York Times‘ article “in retaliation for the U.S. bombing raid in Hanoi.” The date was chosen for it being Ho Chi Minh’s birthday. WUO called in before hand and gave them less than an hours notice to evacuate the building.

 

Declaring War: The Death of Fred Hampton

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Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois sect of the Black Panther Party, was one of the most prominent leaders in the organization during the 60’s. Even for his young age, and lack of formal education Hampton was one of the most eloquent, and intelligent members of the party. Arguably he was the primary face of the party during the 60’s, his speeches being heard and interpreted, by members of the party throughout the nation, and by almost any individual involved in left social movements during the era. On the night of December 3rd 1969, Fred Hampton was drugged with a powerful barbiturate by undercover F.B.I informant William O’neal. Later that night, or actually morning at 4 a.m. the Chicago police raided Hampton’s apartment killing him, and several others in what was arguably a cold blooded unprovoked raid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ9zPySHbuY

Fallowing Hampton’s death on May 21st 1970, the Weather Underground issued a declaration of war, against the United States, in outrage. Although Hampton was quite critical of the Undergrounds tactics and beliefs, this did not detour the organization to seek justice for this fellow revolutionary. Within the “Declaration of War”, presented by The Weather Underground, initially included the preparations for bombing the non-commissioned officers ball at Fort Dix New Jersey. This document is also the first time when the Weather first adopted there new title formally, The Weather Underground.

Also within this document The Weather stated that due the outrage another structure of American imperialism would be bombed, however no formal attack occurred till June  9th when the New York City police station was bombed.

The document ended with a quote by Bernadine Dohrn Stating, “We felt that the murder of Fred required us to be more grave, more serious, more determined to raise the stakes and not just be the white people who wrung their hands when black people were being murdered.”

Greenwich Village Townhouse Explosion

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On March 6, 1970 a group of The Weatherman was preparing a bomb intended for a police dance in Fort Dix , New Jersey when the wiring short secreted and killed three WU members. Theodore Gold (member of Columbia University student protests), Terry Robins (leader at Kent State rebellions) and Diana Oughton (Organizer of SDS 1969 national convention) were all killed, three youths that Mark Rudd notes as “beautiful” and “intelligent”. According to Mark Rudd, the Townhouse explosion was one of the biggest regrets of the Weathermen and is a source for much of the criticism they gain today. Rudd also on many occasions notes that this was an act of “doing the FBIs work for them” better than the FBI ever could have.

There were two survivors of the explosion, Boudin and Wilkerson were ID’d but unable to be charged with dynamite when successfully escaping to The Underground and put on the FBI’s most wanted list.

This explosion marks the turning point of the Weatherman living openly to the Weather Underground and false identities. Cathy Wilkerson wrote a book “Flying from the Sun” in which an excerpt is shown here: “The Explosion”. The explosion is an in depth description of what happened when the bomb went off, and Cathy’s first steps towards going Underground which started with a subway ticket. Wilkerson went Underground for 10 years but eventually surfaced and served her sentence. She now teaches how to teach math to new teachers. Despite her apologetic tone in her book for the Weatherman actions, she does not regret her own radicalism.

Fire bombing was a common occurrence at this time and dynamite was a new experiment, an interview with Cathy Wilkerson by NPR makes clear that there were differing views among the Weather Underground that included the organizational and tactical approach. While Wilkerson is noted as being more cautious in her organizing and pointed demonstrations however “…their more hot headed colleges in SDS had shown that their more impulsive destructive actions attracted big followings, they provoked the police and, in ensuing violence, made radicals out of moderates at least for a time.” This for Wilkerson was a way in which she had abandoned her own critical thinking and somewhat blindly followed the Weather Underground and their tactical actions.

This is also a period known for another change in tactics, they issued a communiqué 9 months after the explosion called “New Morning” that I talk about in the post “Communiqués and Publications“. This tactical change effected their targets. While the explosion that backfired was meant for Fort Dix, they realized that the fine line of perhaps “terrorism” was crossed. The Weather Underground were consciously retreating from this position in hopes that their reaction would be taken positively by the public.

Violence and Terrorism

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What is violence?

According to the WUO (Weather Underground Organization), by not acting against violence, you are taking the side of the oppressor. In fact, you are the oppressor.

The WUO has controversially claimed that they do not intend to inflict violence on any person, but rather on institutions. I believe this claim is held true after a tactical change which occurred in response to the Greenwich Village townhouse explosion. While the bomb that was intended to kill police officers at a ball backfired and ended up killing three of their own, they responded by writing their first Communique, stating “Within the next fourteen days we will attack a symbol or institution of Amerikan Injustice.”

In this regard you could argue that The Weather Underground is not a terrorist organization, that terrorist organizations are meant to send a message through terrorizing people, not destroying things. The WUO is not trying to bring fear into the hearts of Americans as much as show them what they are doing (or what they are doing by not doing anything). Ayers wrote in his book “Fugitive Days” that “Terrorists terrorize, they kill innocent civilians, while we organized and agitated. Terrorists destroy randomly, while our actions bore, we hoped, the precise stamp of a cut diamond. Terrorists intimidate, while we aimed only to educate. No, we’re not terrorists.”

Dan Berger also brings up terrorism in his book “Outlaws of America” in which he states that the group had “purposefully and successfully avoided injuring anyone… Its war against property by definition means that the WUO was not a terrorist organization.” However this is controversial even within the group, Mark Rudd has mixed feelings of sometimes guilt and shame, Brian Flanagan compares his past actions to terrorism, while Bill Ayers is completely unrelenting.

Calling The Weather Underground terrorists when the US has done so much worse is a ridiculous argument that is common place today. In one interview by Good Morning America, posted in the Ayers/Obama page, notes that we need to look at the Weather Underground in the context of its time– it was when the US was in the war with Vietnam and bombing Laos. In the interview this point wasn’t taken seriously but when you look at the definition of “terrorism” and see that it’s violence and intimidation you cannot say that the US did not and does not even today fall under that category. Using the word “terrorism” implies something new since 9/11, something more than violent; Terrorism implies striking fear into the people and killing mass amounts of people and The Weather Underground does not fit under those categories… the US well, that’s another argument.

Here is a discussion by Anthony and I about WUO and Terrorism.

Preparing for Rage: The Haymarket Memorial Bombing

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On October 7th 1969, the still weatherman planted a bomb that destroyed the statue, dedicated to the police officers involved in the 1886 Haymarket Riot. The Haymarket Riot was the cataclysm of Chicago’s turn of the century movement for labor activism. During the riot a bomb was planted that killed 7 police officers. Even though these deaths did occur many activists believe the statue is almost an atrocity depicting the “heroic”, demise of 7 officers, while completely ignoring, and arguably even villanizing the much larger amount of protesters killed due to police gunfire during the riot, and the even larger number killed prior because of police brutality that was facilitated by Chicago’s elite.

Due to this bigotry the weatherman destroyed the statue as a sign of protest against American imperialism, and distribution of wealth. The statue was then rebuilt on May 4th 1970, and sub-sequentially was destroyed by the Weather underground again on October 6th of the same year. The statue was then again rebuilt a third time, and a 24 hour police guard was posted, later however the statue was destroyed again. This final destruction however, may or may not have been caused by the Weather Underground.

Bombs and Arson: The First Strike of the Weather Underground

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February 1970, The Weather Underground conducted their first two violent strikes against what they considered to be prime examples of American imperialism. The first attack occurred on February 16th at the Parks County Police station in San Fransisco. When at 10:45 P.M. a pipe bomb filled with nail shrapnel exploded on a ledge on the top floor of the station fatally wounding police sergeant Brain Mcdonnell and wounding 9 others. Although this attack could not be traced back to the Weather Underground, it’s still quite speculated that the organization was behind the bombing. In fact F.B.I agent Larry Grathwohl stated in a report that “there are irrefutable and compelling reasons that establish that Bill Ayers and his wife, Bernadine Dohrn, are responsible for the bombing.”

The Second attack of February 1970, occurred at the residence of New York supreme court justice judge John M. Murtagh. Murtagh at the time was ruling over the trial of “Panther 21” a case in which members of the Black Panther Party where allegedly plotting to blow up New York landmarks, and department stores. On the night of February 21st. a molotov cocktail was thrown onto Murtagh’s front porch, as well as on his car. In addition multiple windows of his home where broken, and spray-painted in red on the side-walk in front of his home where the words “Free Panther 21”, “Kill the Pigs”, and “The Vietcong have Won”. Although no one was caught or accused of the crime, it is speculated that the Weather Underground where responsible based on the decision and speculation of the last S.D.S conference in in December.

From Guevara to Marighella: The Guerrilla Tactics of The Weather Underground

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The Weather Underground are primarily remembered for the violent militant tactics they used as a form of social activism. From bombings to prison breaks, to later arguably robbery in the case of Brinks, the question remains where did these tactics derive from? Where they the product on inspiration derived from a conflicting socio-economic climate brewing in America, and arguably the world at the time? Well to a degree yes, and to a degree no. During the 1970’s The Weather Underground took tactics from two of South and Central Americas most renown guerrilla revolutionaries, Those being Che Guevara, out of the Cuban Revolution, and Carlos Marighella, who was both involved with Guevara during the Cuban Revolution, and attempted to form his own communist revolution is his own country of Brazil. Taking tactics from these individuals and, putting their own ideology and form behind the ideals these two men presented the Weather Underground formed their own form of unique guerrilla tactics designed to succeed within a modern democracy.

To start what did the Weather Underground adapt from Guevara and the Cuban Revolution? Well to start it was in Cuba from prior revolutionaries that the Weather underground was first trained in the art of making explosive and propaganda, shortly after their conception at the Summer 1969 S.D.S convention. Furthermore the weather undergrounds entire organizational model was derived from the model primarily created by Guevara known as “Foco”. Foco itself was to a degree derived from Marxist tactics, including the Stalin tactic of a popular front, for the most part it also took in ideology from the Maoist strategy of “a peoples war”, in which large decisive battles would be strategically avoided, and the uprising would start within small groups, and then would begin to continuously grow larger. Foco changes, from traditional Maoist and Marxist tactics by focusing on an uprising entirely driven by workers and peasants without any outside or government help. Guevara believed it was a peoples war and an overthrow would occur because of the people.

Foco was employed by The Weather Underground as a basis for their organizational structure. Using small guerrilla cells throughout the nation, The Weather Underground was able to use tactics from hiding, and then disappear. Like the way Guevara planned these cells in Cuba, so did the Underground, having each cell use its own form of leadership, while communicating through a network of cells, and to the main cell located in New York. The Weather also actively advocated for the Foco idea of having the “revolution” be a people revolution, without the aid of outside government. Finally the ideology of avoiding decisive battles was taken into account. With the very limited personnel the Weather had at it’s disposal large scale decisive attacks would have to avoided. The way weather differs from Guevara and fallows more the ideology of Guerrilla tactics proposed by Carlos Marighella, was in location,ideology, and guerrilla action oriented tactics.

Within his writing, “Manuel of the Urban Guerrilla”, Carlos Marighella uses a very similar model to that of Guevara, except for a few key components. Components that would later be used by the Weather Underground. To start Marighella doesn’t believe that a successful revolution should begin in hidden suburban areas, such as woods and mountains. Marighella calls for action to be fought starting within large urban areas then spreading out towards the country-side. This is done in an effort to damage those in power where they hold the most power, and to show the greatest amount of the population how much damage a single individual can cause. This is also in an effort to in crease the speed of recruitment of new individuals to believe in the Guerrilla cause. Secondly Marighella, calls for direct hard hitting action attacks. Rather then attacking only to liberate new land, then retreating to rebuild such as the idea of Foco, Marighella calls for a continuously offensive Guerrilla movement, sometimes for no reason, but to keep the government guessing. This is in an effort to continuously pressure the enemy in order to draw them out, and have them make errors within their tactics. Finally Marighella, has a very unique ideology that differs from Guevara and greatly influences the Weather Underground. Where Guevara believes that a government is the oppressor, Marighella states that all oppressive governments have a large source of power backing them, of a more foreign government oppressor. In most of Marighella’s writings, and within the Weather Underground this oppressor is United States Imperialism.

The use of Marighella’s tactics are easy to see within The Weather Underground during the 1970’s. Almost all weather cells where located in large urban cities, The majority of the undergrounds tactics where offensive in nature, and maybe most importantly, both viewed the United States government as the primary imperialistic oppressor.

The Weather Underground did differ from these two models, however in two major ways. Firstly rather than a workers, (peoples) war, much of the weather underground believed  far more in a war of the new age a youth war, fighting against archaic ideals of American Imperialism. Secondly, especially after the Greenwich Village explosion, The Weather Underground didn’t believe in or facilitate the death of “those compliant with the oppressor”, in this case officers of the law, government officials, and military personnel. In fact the Weather Underground went to very extensive lengths to avoid such deaths. This final non-fatality based ideology is the one major separator between the Weather Underground and other South and Central American revolutionary organizations.

Communiqués and Publications

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You Don’t Need A Weatherman To Know Which Way The Wind Blows (New Left Notes, June 18, 1969) “Long live the victory of the peoples war!” This lengthy piece is the Weather Underground’s Manifesto. The manifesto focused on how to overthrow capitalism and make a communism base while using international forces, such that they had been gaining from trips to Cuba. After explaining their struggle for “Socialist Self-Determinism” they defined black liberation as revolution.

WUO reminds us that it was born out of the Revolutionary Youth Movement faction of Students for a Democratic Society –something like 50% of people were under the age of 18 in the 70’s; as well as most likely working class– which is fighting US imperialism, their goal? Communism. By stressing the impact of US imperialism internationally as well as nationally, WUO hope to provide an answer questions of the nature of the organization. WUO provides two stages that they believe will have to happen for revolution. The anti-imperialist stage and the socialist stage. One to rally up the masses and one to make change.

The Weather Underground didn’t always plan on bombing buildings. In fact their first Communiqué wasn’t about a bomb at all. Issued on May 21, 1970 it was “A declaration of a State of War”. Making known that:

“Freaks are revolutionaries and revolutionaries are freaks. If you want to find us, this is where we are. In every tribe, commune, dormitory, farmhouse, barracks and townhouse where kids are making love, smoking dope and loading guns- [where] fugitives from Amerikan justice are free to go.”

The Weather Underground found it important to ally third world countries and their rebellions in order to strengthen the fight at home. Subsequent communiques including Communiqué 2 written on June 9 and Communiqué 3 written on July 26, 1970, were announcements of bombs that they were taking credit for. Both of which they called in before hand to try to make sure no one was hurt. In response to things like the murder of Fred Hampton, Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia and Amerikan imperialism riots and bombs were communicated to the public. The communiqué’s were written not only to give reasoning for their violence but also to make connections and alliances throughout the country.

The fourth Communiqué was written on September 15, 1970 after the successful escape of Timothy Leary from prison, who joined The Weather Underground in their war, despite his previous non-violent stroke. Leary also wrote “The P.O.W. Communiqué” noting the time for peace has past, that “this is a war for survival” and calling for mass resistance.

“New Morning” issued in December of 1970 was another communiqué that didn’t accompany a bomb. This communication directly responds to the townhouse explosion that killed three of their own. In response to the incident there was a massive tactical move from their previous intentions to bomb the police ball in Fort Dix, to attacking symbols of American Imperialism. This shift is hidden by the media when they describe WUO as “terrorists”. In this article they write “Kent and Augusta and Jackson brought to all of us a coming of age, a seriousness about how hard it will be to fight in Amerika and how long it will take us to win.” This article is their first communication that personalizes their story, speaks about specific actions and brings humanity to the WUO. These are probably the same reasons it has been excluded from the media’s coverage, unlike Dohrn’s other communiqués which are quoted often.

Other publications include “Prairie Fire” (1974) and “Osawatomie” (1975). Prairie Fire, a manifesto calling again for mass resistance against US imperialism. As for Osawatomie, you can’t hear about it now-a-days without seeing Obama criticism. A newspaper written and published while they were underground was a successful way of working from the inside for revolution. The paper concerns itself with Weather Underground issues and tries to encourage action on the local level to organize a socialist movement.

Communiqués were important because they not only announce and take credit for bombs, it was a way to “share thoughts, ideas and analysis with the movement” according to Dan Berger’s article “The Weather Underground’s place in history: A response to Jonah Raskin, Socialism Democracy”. Communiqués were important for making the WUO’s ideology known and spreading their message.