Read The Red Army Faction, a Documentary History Online
Authors: J Smith
The Red Army Faction, a Documentary History
In this book Moncourt and Smith are offering some “institutional memory” for those of us who are struggling against the horrible situations that unbridled capitalism and imperialism have forced upon us. Such institutional memory is desperately needed.
They remind us that a generation ago a RAF political prisoner in Germany wrote that the world was facing a “â¦fascism that no longer requires mass mobilization of ideologically motivated fascists, but only bureaucrats and technocrats in the service of the imperialist state.”
A political observation that a generation later we still have not adequately mobilized around.
Here too, Ward Churchill lets us see that not nearly enough has been done to provide a similar institutional memory regarding those who struggled against the same forces in the United States in that same time period. Is it any wonder that the fight against prison isolation in the U.S. is hobbled by a failure to realize that this country's 80,000 isolated prisoners suffer under hellish conditions originally designed to destroy political prisoners? Knowledge that would force U.S. prisoners to recognize that their struggle requires political and not “legal” solutions.
Moncourt and Smith also remind us of the crucial strategic roles wimmin played in the struggles centered in Germany. Widespread and courageous roles that even left me stunned as to how little I really knew of that aspect! A realization that if patriarchal conditions can blind one who has been struggling over four decades against these same forces, then we all must step up our efforts to place the destruction of patriarchy and all forms of gender oppression on the same level as the fight to overcome capitalist and imperialist exploitation.
âRussell “Maroon” Shoatz, U.S. political prisoner
Dancing with Imperialism,
the second volume in the Red Army Faction documentary trilogy, continues to excavate a fascinating history of the German revolutionary left in the 1970s and 1980s. It powerfully situates the RAF within a broader orbit of revolutionary politics and world events. It gives us the inside story of how militants did and might engage with police, prisons, informants, media, and one another in the context of struggle. It is an exciting story, a global story, and very much a story for today's movements.
âDan Berger, editor of The Hidden 1970s: Histories of Radicalism
Â
The editors of this work, J. Smith and André Moncourt, have created an intelligently political work that honestly discusses the politics of the Red Army Faction during its early years. Their commentary explains the theoretical writings of the RAF from a left perspective and puts their politics and actions in the context of the situation present in Germany and the world at the time. It is an extended work that is worth the commitment required to read and digest it. Not only a historical document, the fact that it is history provides us with the ability to comprehend the phenomenon that was the RAF in ways not possible thirty years ago.
âRon Jacobs, author of The Way the Wind Blew: A History of the Weather Underground
This first volume about the RAF is about a part of WWII that did not end when the so-called allies defeated the nazis. The RAF warriors come from a strong socialist history and knew they were fighting for the very life of their country. Many victories and many errors were scored which provide this important look into REAL her/history lessons. A must read for all serious alternative history students who then in turn can use it as a teaching tool towards a better future.
âb
(r.d. brown), former political prisoner, George Jackson Brigade
This book about the Red Army Faction of American-occupied Germany is one that should be read by any serious student of antiimperialist politics.
Volume 1: Projectiles for the People
provides a history of the RAF's development through the words of its letters and communiqués. What makes the book especially important and relevant, however, is the careful research and documentation done by its editors. From this book you will learn the mistakes of a group that was both large and strong, but which (like our own home-grown attempts in this regard) was unable to successfully communicate with the working class of a “democratic” country on a level that met their needs. While the armed struggle can be the seed of something much larger, it is also another means of reaching out and communicating with the people. Students interested in this historic era would do well to study this book and to internalize both the successes and failures of one of the largest organized armed anti-imperialist organizations operating in Western Europe since World War II.
âEd Mead, former political prisoner, George Jackson Brigade
the red army faction: a documentary history
volume 2: dancing with imperialism
introductory texts and translations by André Moncourt and J. Smith
The opening epigraph is from Brigitte Mohnhaupt's December 4, 1984, trial statement, which appears in this volume on pages 304â315.
ISBN: 978-1-60486-030-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012914067
© 2013 Kersplebedeb
This edition © 2013 PM Press and Kersplebedeb
Many of the translated texts in this book
are available online at
www.germanguerilla.com
Kersplebedeb Publishing and Distribution
CP 63560
CCCP Van Horne
Montreal, Quebec
Canada H3W 3H8
PM Press
PO Box 23912
Oakland, CA 94623
Layout and Index by Kersplebedeb
Cover Design: Josh MacPhee/Justseeds.org
The photo used on the front cover is of the 1981 bombing of the Ramstein airbase.
Printed in the United States on recycled paper by the Employee Owners of Thomson-Shore in Dexter, Michigan
dedicated to the memory of Christa Eckes
“The RAF's struggle was always based on both the global balance of power and the conflict in the metropole. The war is not just about escalating things in the most developed sectors; rather it is the reality of the entire imperialist system, and will be until victory.”
Brigitte Mohnhaupt
NOTE ON TRANSLATIONS AND SOURCES
1
PREVIOUSLY ON RED ARMY FACTION
the raf and the gdr: benign neglect no more
2
TWILIGHT OF THE SEVENTIES GUERILLA
3
THE ANTINUCLEAR MOVEMENT: OLD MEETS NEW
christian klar regarding zurich
Sixth Hunger Strike (March 14, 1978)
Seventh Hunger Strike (April 20, 1979)
Attack on Alexander Haig (June 25, 1979)
Statement Calling Off the Seventh Hunger Strike (June 26, 1979)
5
SHAKE THE DUST FROM YOUR FEET
Statement Dissolving the 2nd of June Movement (June 2, 1980)
Regarding the Alleged Dissolution of the 2nd of June Movement (June 1980)
The Deaths of Wolfgang Beer and Juliane Plambeck (July 26, 1980)
Eighth Hunger Strike Statement (February 6, 1981)
Statement Calling Off the Eighth Hunger Strike (April 16, 1981)
Attack Against USAFE Ramstein (August 31, 1981)
Attack Against General Frederick Kroesen (September 15, 1981)
Letter Addressing Police Fabrications (November 7, 1981)
out and in: viett, beer, and eckes
verena becker and the verfassungsschutz
The Guerilla, the Resistance, and the Anti-Imperialist Front (May 1982)
hans-joachim klein: a german guerilla
on the question of collective responsibility
A Statement Regarding â77 (Christian Klar, December 4, 1984)
Strategic Thoughts (Brigitte Mohnhaupt, December 4, 1984)
APPENDIX I: CONCLUSIONS OF THE THIRD RUSSELL TRIBUNAL
APPENDIX III: FOR US IT WAS A QUESTION OF LEARNING EXPLOSIVES AND SHOOTING TECHNIQUES
ARMED STRUGGLE IN W. GERMANY: A CHRONOLOGY
Numerous graphics in this volume come from the book and CD
Vorwärts bis zum nieder mit,
compiled by Sebastian Haunss, Markus Mohr, and Klaus Viehmann from a variety of archives and published by Verlag Assoziation A. The interested reader can view the entire contents of this CD online at
http://plakat.nadir.org/
. All those involved in producing this artwork, and the book and website in question, have our thanks.
Many people, both in Europe, Germany in particular, and in North America, have contributed to this book by sharing their thoughts about and their experience of the historical events addressed herein. For a variety of reasons, they prefer not to be acknowledged by name, but without their input, insights, and support, the documents they provided, and situations and debates they described, we would have been unable to piece together the history we present here in anywhere near as much detail.