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The Red Army Faction, a Documentary History: Volume 1: Projectiles for the People
The first in a two-volume series, as part of a co-publishing project between PM Press and Kersplebedeb, 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 1974 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. With a preface by North American class war prisoner Bill Dunne, a revolutionary captured in 1979 following a shoot out with police in Seattle, Washington.
736 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 23, 2016
The problem with reviewing this book is that the review would need to be as long as the book itself to accommodate all of the different facets of this publication.
In short, this book is a description and analysis of the Red Army Fraction, a radical Marxist guerilla group present in the Federal Republic of Germany from the sixties to the late seventies.
In not short, it is an epic work describing in minute detail the political situation of the post war West Germany, how it was scarred by its war origin story, and satiated by former Nazis in positions of power. The authors trace the development, bloom, and fall of the RAF in this terrifying, stricken state, and their struggle for left-wing values. However, they do not constrain themselves neither to RAF, nor to Germany. A lot is dedicated to other legal or illegal leftist movements in Europe, and also in the Middle East and Africa. As I've said in the beginning, it is basically impossible to summarize the contents of the book in a short review.
What is of great value in this book, is how the authors let the fighters and their adversaries describe their clashes in their own words, the publication is filled with manifestos, communiques, newspaper articles, and other contemporary materials that show the zeitgeist of those times.
As much as the book is riveting, it is also deeply saddening and causing outrage in the reader; there were times when I wanted to throw the book away, the descriptions of the injustice and violence of the state were too much to bear. Read on you own responsibility. Then again, if I could, I would give it six stars.
If you interested in the history of post-1945 Europe, and/or in the Left, this is a must-read position for you.
In short, this book is a description and analysis of the Red Army Fraction, a radical Marxist guerilla group present in the Federal Republic of Germany from the sixties to the late seventies.
In not short, it is an epic work describing in minute detail the political situation of the post war West Germany, how it was scarred by its war origin story, and satiated by former Nazis in positions of power. The authors trace the development, bloom, and fall of the RAF in this terrifying, stricken state, and their struggle for left-wing values. However, they do not constrain themselves neither to RAF, nor to Germany. A lot is dedicated to other legal or illegal leftist movements in Europe, and also in the Middle East and Africa. As I've said in the beginning, it is basically impossible to summarize the contents of the book in a short review.
What is of great value in this book, is how the authors let the fighters and their adversaries describe their clashes in their own words, the publication is filled with manifestos, communiques, newspaper articles, and other contemporary materials that show the zeitgeist of those times.
As much as the book is riveting, it is also deeply saddening and causing outrage in the reader; there were times when I wanted to throw the book away, the descriptions of the injustice and violence of the state were too much to bear. Read on you own responsibility. Then again, if I could, I would give it six stars.
If you interested in the history of post-1945 Europe, and/or in the Left, this is a must-read position for you.
May 11, 2014
I dreaded reading this book for years for two reasons: 1) I wasn't sure how it was going to read 2) it's length. it's huge--700 pages +! Then I saw one of the co-editors, J. Smith give a lecture on the book this year at the Flying Squirrel Community Space in Rochester, NY. (Listen to the lecture here: http://rochester.indymedia.org/node/1...) J. Smith blew my mind. Not only was his talk deeply fascinating, not only did he elucidate the political context of the RAF in a coherent and articulate matter but he also wove a story that drew my total attention and sparked my imagination. Brilliant! Amazing! So, with that great event in the mind, I picked up the tome and started reading. Three things I love about how this book was written: Number 1: the writing was great--articulate, accessible, not stuffy or boring--a great writing voice; Number 2: the history as laid out by the editors is concise and not needlessly verbose--the meat of the book are the statements from the RAF; Number 3: the editors let the RAF speak for RAF in the best way they can--by publishing their words without editorializing or judging the organization for its strategy and tactics. Again, incredible read. I got through it in 3 weeks and it seemed to blow by. Just wonderful. Love the RAF or hate them, the editors of this documentary history did an amazing job.
August 27, 2012
Grim material, but presented with exemplary thoroughness.
November 19, 2022
I have long been interested in revolutionary movements and organizations that emerged from the 1960's. Most of my reading has focused on experience in the US, with maybe one book set in Canada. For those who share this sort of interest, I strongly recommend this book.
The Red Army Faction (RAF) was a revolutionary group that took up arms against the German state and its imperialist overlords the US. German guerilla groups began in 1969, and RAF came together in 1970 lasting until March 1998. This book, which is volume 1 of 2, tells the story of the RAF through 1977.
There is much to learn from the RAF. Both positive and negative examples. There is also much to learn from another German revolutionary group, the Revolutionary Cells (RZ).
The Red Army Faction (RAF) was a revolutionary group that took up arms against the German state and its imperialist overlords the US. German guerilla groups began in 1969, and RAF came together in 1970 lasting until March 1998. This book, which is volume 1 of 2, tells the story of the RAF through 1977.
There is much to learn from the RAF. Both positive and negative examples. There is also much to learn from another German revolutionary group, the Revolutionary Cells (RZ).
January 1, 2025
In order to develop a strategy of how western leftists living in the imperialist core can struggle against imperialism, it's crucial that we understand what has been tried before.
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June 1, 2025Growing up as a communist in Germany means growing up under the shadow of two entities: The GDR and the Red Army Faction. While the former has been thoroughly examined from all sides of the political spectrum, the latter, in my view, has barely received recognition at all in modern leftist literature. For a while, the only somewhat popular books on the RAF that existed were written by centrist to alt-right personalities with a questionable understanding of its ideology (looking at you, Stefan Aust and Sven Kellerhoff). Aust's book, titled "The Baader-Meinhof Complex", is particularly revolting, since it gave rise to a movie by the same name (and same stupidity).
I had almost given up hope for finding someone who dared to do an analysis of the RAF that goes beyond calling them a bunch of violent hippies, until I stumbled, by chance, upon the two works by Smith and Moncourt. They actually manage to analyze its successes and failings as a Maoist guerrilla force, coupled with the internationalism and revolutionary spirit that was ubiquitous after the 1969 movement in Europe. Their research features extensive information about the origins, background, and ideology of the group, and presents it as a necessary and inevitable force of resistance against the neo-fascist state apparatus of (then) West Germany. From the student protests to Black September, from the prison torture, hunger strikes, and plane hijackings, I loved every minute I spent reading.
It does bear a little bit of irony that the one work that gives the RAF the treatment that they deserved is also the only major book on the subject that has never been translated into German.
I had almost given up hope for finding someone who dared to do an analysis of the RAF that goes beyond calling them a bunch of violent hippies, until I stumbled, by chance, upon the two works by Smith and Moncourt. They actually manage to analyze its successes and failings as a Maoist guerrilla force, coupled with the internationalism and revolutionary spirit that was ubiquitous after the 1969 movement in Europe. Their research features extensive information about the origins, background, and ideology of the group, and presents it as a necessary and inevitable force of resistance against the neo-fascist state apparatus of (then) West Germany. From the student protests to Black September, from the prison torture, hunger strikes, and plane hijackings, I loved every minute I spent reading.
It does bear a little bit of irony that the one work that gives the RAF the treatment that they deserved is also the only major book on the subject that has never been translated into German.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews