The Red Army Faction, a Documentary History

by J. Smith

  This volume examines seven difficult years. Our narrative begins in the moments following the guerilla’s greatest defeat to date, the failed attempt to win its prisoners’ freedom in 1977. This was only the most dramatic in a series of challenges then facing all of the movements and tendencies that had emerged from the 1960s radical left. Everything was open to question, and insofar as the guerilla was concerned, these questions were all the more urgent as the consequences of pursuing failed strategies could be all the more dire.

  Reappraisal, coming to grips with mistakes and addressing weaknesses in one’s own ranks, trying to find a new footing under adverse conditions, navigating the tensions between different strategies—these are the themes of this volume. It is not always a cheery story. Our hope, however, is that it will prove a useful one.

  The present volume is intended to stand alone. While we imagine readers will want to learn all they can of the RAF’s formative ideas and experiences, and how their ideas developed in their first seven years, one need not have read Projectiles for the People in order to appreciate the tale told in Dancing with Imperialism. Where necessary, we have quoted from our first volume to provide the context necessary to understand a particular question or issue, so that the story from 1977 to 1984 should be comprehensible from the book currently in your hands.

  Those who have read volume 1, and for whom it remains fresh in their minds, may choose to skip over our first chapter, which largely amounts to a summary of what came before. That said, we have purposefully tried to include observations and perspectives in that chapter which we had not included previously, to make the effort worthwhile for those who do opt to start their reading at page one.

  We hope that our third volume, which should appear sometime in the next few years, will bring this story to its close. The formulation “we hope” is not used casually, for in recent years the German state has proven itself eager to keep the RAF’s story alive and developing into the second decade of the twenty-first century. A new trial for former RAF member Verena Becker was held in 2012, in connection with the 1977 murder of Attorney General Siegfried Buback. This was preceded by legal threats against other former RAF members, in an attempt to coerce them into providing details about their past activities. Besides sheer vindictiveness, there are political—and historiographical, in the sense of creating a historical narrative palatable to the state—motives behind all this. As some former RAF members explained in a statement in 2010:

  The RAF was dissolved in 1998, based on its assessment of the changed political situation globally. The fact that it was its own decision and that it has not been defeated by the state, obviously remains a thorn in the flesh. Hence the eternal lament of the “myth” yet to be destroyed. Hence the political and moral capitulation demanded from us. Hence the attempts to finalize the criminalization of our history, up to the mendacious proposal of a “Truth Commission”. Whereas the search for those who are still underground, the smear campaigns in the media and the legal procedures against former prisoners continue, we are expected to kowtow publicly. As, in all these years, it didn’t work by “renunciation”, we are now to denounce each other. Save yourself if you can.3

  The present volume is dedicated to the memory of Christa Eckes, one of those who was called upon to testify in Becker’s trial, and who refused. This despite the fact that she was at the time battling a particularly virulent cancer, and had been threatened with coercive detention in a prison cell if she did not comply. Eckes stood her ground, and in the end the state was forced to back down. This refusal to snitch, this example of refusing to betray one’s principles, was a final gift that Eckes gave to us all. She died of cancer on May 23, 2012.

  _____________

  3. RAF, some former members. “A note regarding the current situation—by some who have been RAF members at various points in time,” May 2010.

  ACRONYM KEY

  2JM Bewegung 2. Juni (2nd of June Movement); West Berlin-based guerilla group formed in early 1972, its name comes from the date of the police shooting of protester Benno Ohnesorg in 1967.

  AD Action Directe (Direct Action); French armed struggle group.

  AI Amnesty International; a liberal human rights organization with chapters around the world.

  AIK Antiimperialistischer Kampf (Anti-Imperialist Struggle); a Marxist-Leninist anti-imperialist group that grew out of the Knastgruppe Bochum, a political prisoner support group in Bochum. It parted ways with the RAF over disagreements around the 1982 May Paper.

  AL Alternative Liste; left-wing electoral party with close ties to the Green Party, formed in 1978, includes many former prominent members of the APO.

  APG Arbeitskreis politische Prozesse (Political Trials Working Group); Vienna-based political prisoner support group, several of its members would participate in the 1977 2JM kidnapping of Austrian businessman Walter Palmers.

  APO Außerparlamentarische Opposition (Extra-Parliamentary Opposition); the name given to the broad-based militant opposition with its roots in the student movement that encompassed the left-wing anti-imperialist and social revolutionary movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

  BAW Bundesanwaltschaft (Federal Prosecutors Office); noted for its aggressive prosecution of cases against the guerilla and the left.

  BGH Bundesgerichtshof (Federal Court of Justice); the supreme court in all matters of criminal and private law.

  BGS Bundesgrenzschutz (Federal Border Guard); border security police.

  BKA Bundeskriminalamt (Federal Criminal Bureau); the German equivalent of the FBI, particularly active in police activities against the guerilla and the left.

  BND Bundesnachrichtendienst (Federal Intelligence Service); the FRG’s foreign intelligence service.

  CC (Coordinating Committee); a body repeatedly established with the goal of coordinating (and, according to some, centralizing) activities of the West German “peace” movement.

  CDU Christlich Demokratisches Union Deutschlands (Christian Democratic Union of Germany); Germany’s mainstream conservative party.

  CSU Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern (Bavarian Christian-Social Union); Bavaria’s mainstream conservative party, the Bavarian partner to the CDU.

  DGB Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (German Union Federation); the largest union federation in the FRG.

  DKP Deutsche Kommunistische Partei (German Communist Party); the pro-Soviet communist party founded in 1968, in effect the rebranding of the KPD which had been banned in 1956.

  EC European Community. Political body bringing together numerous European countries outside of the pro-Soviet Eastern Bloc; became the European Union in 1993.

  ETA Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (Basque Homeland and Freedom); a Basque nationalist guerilla group active in Spain and to a lesser degree France, founded in 1958, it dissolved itself in November 2011.

  FDP Freie Demokratische Partei (Free Democratic Party); Germany’s mainstream liberal party.

  FMLN Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional (Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front); an umbrella group bringing together five popular armed organizations in El Salvador in 1980. The FMLN was engaged in revolutionary warfare throughout the 1980s. In 1992 following a peace agreement, it demobilized, becoming a legal political organization.

  FSLN Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (Sandinista National Liberation Front); leading force in the 1979 Nicaraguan revolution, subsequently formed the government of Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990.

  GIGN Groupe d’Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale (National Gendarmerie Intervention Group); section of the French police specialized in hostage situations.

  GIM Groupe Internationale Marxisten (International Marxist Group); West German section of the Trotskyist Fourth International active in the FRG in the seventies and eighties, fused with the KPD/ML to form the VSP in 1986.

  GSG-9 Grenzschutzgruppe 9 (Border Patrol Group 9); officially part of the BGS, in practice Germany’s antiterrorist special operations unit.

  I
KSG Internationale Kommission zum Schutz der Gefangenen und gegen die Isolationshaft (International Commission for the Protection of Prisoners and Against Isolation Torture); established in 1979 to provide support for political prisoners in Western Europe.

  INLA Irish National Liberation Army; a Marxist republican paramilitary group, founded simultaneously with the IRSP in December 1974 as the People’s Liberation Army, it declared a ceasefire in August 1998, its members now being involved in legal political activity.

  INPOL INformationssystem der POLizei (INformation system of the POLice); computer database set up by the Conference of Interior Ministers in 1972, compiling millions of pieces of police data and linked to the NADIS system.

  IRSP Irish Republican Socialist Party; a Marxist party, founded simultaneously with the INLA in December 1974.

  IVK Internationales Komitee zur Verteidigung politischer Gefangener in Europa (International Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners in Europe); founded in 1975, bringing together jurists from throughout Europe to work on behalf of the rights of political prisoners, especially those from the RAF. Became largely moribund due to repression following the German Autumn.

  KPD Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (Communist Party of Germany); a Maoist party founded by the KPD/AO in 1971 and dissolved in 1980. Also the name of the older communist party which was pro-Soviet in the time of Lenin and Stalin, that had been founded in 1919, was banned under Hitler in 1933, and then again under Adenauer in 1956.

  KPD/AO Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands/Aufbauorganisation (Communist Party of Germany/Pre-Party Formation); a Maoist organization founded in 1970, became the KPD in 1971.

  KPD/ML Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands/Marxisten-Leninisten (Communist Party of Germany/Marxist-Leninist); a Maoist party founded on December 31, 1968. It fused with the Trotskyist GIM in 1986 to form the VSP.

  LG Landgericht (Land Court); each of the Länder has its own Court.

  LKA Landeskriminalamt (Land Criminal Bureau); the equivalent of the BKA functioning at the level of a Land.

  MAD Militärischer Abschirmdienst (Military Counterintelligence Service); the military’s intelligence gathering service; antiwar and antinuclear groups have been the targets of its investigations.

  MEK Mobiles Einsatzkommando (Mobile Deployment Commando); specialized Länder police units, a kind of SEK specialized in surveillance, rapid arrests, and mobile hostage takings or kidnappings.

  MfS Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (Ministry for State Security); better know as the Stasi, was the East German secret police force that tracked both internal dissent and foreign threats. It was similar in some ways to the FBI or the BKA, but played a more central role in policy decision-making.

  NADIS Nachrichtendienstliches Informationssystem (information system of the intelligence service); computer database containing names and details about any person stored in the files of the Verfassungsschutz; accessible by the BKA, the BND, and MAD.

  NPD Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands (National Democratic Party); far-right political party, supported by many neo-nazis.

  NRW North Rhine Westphalia; Germany’s most populous Land and the site of four of the country’s ten largest cities.

  OLG Oberlandesgericht (Land Court of Appeal); each of the Länder has its own Court of Appeal.

  OPEC Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries; an intergovernmental organization of oil-producing countries founded in 1960 and headquartered in Vienna. Its primary function has been in the areas of supply and price setting.

  ÖTV Gewerkschaft öffentliche Dienste, Transport und Verkehr (Public Service, Transport, and Communication Union).

  PFLP Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; founded in 1953, secular nationalist and Marxist, the second largest tendency within the PLO after Fatah.

  PFLP (EO) Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (External Operations); originally a section of the PFLP, expelled in the early 1970s for conducting controversial actions outside of the Middle East, effectively dissolved in 1978 after the death of its leader Waddi Haddad, who had been poisoned by the Mossad.

  PFLP (SC) Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (Special Command); a successor organization to the PFLP (EO), which dissolved in 1978 with the death of its leader Waddi Haddad, it ceased operations in the 1980s.

  PIOS Personen, Information, Objekte, Sachen; Staatsschutz-Recherchesystem (Persons, Institutions, Properties); the BKA’s computer database devoted to the “terrorist” scene; a subset of INPOL.

  PLO Palestine Liberation Organization; founded in 1964 as the main body of the Palestinian national liberation movement.

  RAF Rote Armee Fraktion (Red Army Faction).

  RDF Rapid Deployment Forces; specialized military units that receive advanced training and armaments.

  RVF Rood Verzetsfront (Red Resistance Front); aboveground Dutch anti-imperialist organization that provided solidarity to the RAF and its prisoners.

  RZ Revolutionäre Zellen (Revolutionary Cells); founded in 1973, most groups within its structure ceased activity in 1991, with the final action occurring in 1994.

  SDS Sozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund (Socialist German Students Federation); founded by the SPD in 1946. By the late sixties it was an independent left-wing student federation and the most significant organization in the APO. It dissolved in 1970.

  SEK Spezialeinsatzkommando (Special Response Unit); specialized Länder police unit, similar to SWAT units in the United States.

  SPD Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Social Democratic Party of Germany); Germany’s mainstream social democratic party.

  SPK Socialistiches Patientenkollektiv (Socialist Patients’ Collective); founded in 1970, part of the antipsychiatry movement. It dissolved under extreme state pressure in 1971, a number of its core members later joining the RAF

  VSP Vereingte Sozialistische Partei (United Socialist Party); formed in 1986 through the fusion of the KPD/ML and the GIM, splintered into various groups in 1993.

  WAIW Frauen gegen imperialistischen Krieg (Women Against Imperialist War); an organization that brought together anti-imp and Autonomen women in the 1980s.

  GERMAN TERMS

  Anti-imp: short for “anti-imperialist”; the tendency of the radical left that was sympathetic to the RAF.

  Autonomen: the German wing of the autonomist movement, which was the major radical political tendency in the 1970s and ‘80s in countries throughout Western Europe, drawing on an eclectic mix of sources, including anarchism, non-Leninist Marxism, feminism, and the confrontational legacy of various social movements.

  Berufsverbot: “career ban”; legislation passed by the SPD in 1972 barring “disloyal radicals” from working in the public sector.

  Bundestag: the federal parliament of West Germany.

  Bundeswehr: the West German armed forces, reestablished in 1954.

  Jusos: Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Jungsozialistinnen und Jungsozialisten in der SPD (Workers Association of Young Socialists in the SPD); the SPD’s youth wing.

  Land/Länder: the singular and plural for the German equivalent of states or provinces.

  Ostpolitik: the FRG’s official policy toward the GDR and the Eastern Bloc.

  Sponti: “spontaneists”; the most important of the self-styled anti-authoritarian tendencies to emerge after the dissolution of the APO in the early 1970s.

  Stasi: The colloquial and somewhat derogatory term for the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (Ministry for State Security, or MfS), East Germany’s secret police force that tracked both internal dissent and foreign threats. It was similar in some ways to the FBI or the BKA, but played a more central role in policy decision-making.

  Verfassungsschutz: literally “Protection of the Constitution”; the German internal intelligence service, primary police force for intelligence actions against the guerilla and the left.

  Zielfahndung: “target search”; the name of a BKA unit whose agents are assigned to track specific individual tar
gets.

  ON THE NECESSITY OF ARMED STRUGGLE: REFLECTIONS ON THE RAF AND THE QUESTION OF MOVING FORWARD

  by Ward Churchill

  Never again without a rifle.

  Italian leftist slogan

  (circa 1970)

  Looking back from the vantage point of more than forty years, it’s clear that those of us in the so-called developed world purporting to be serious about abolishing the prevailing order had by 1970 come to know a few things now forgotten or, perhaps more accurately, consigned to the murky depths of active denial. Among the foremost of these is that absent a global system of imperialism the grossly inequitable societies in which we find ourselves could not exist in their present form,1 that colonialism/neocolonialism constitutes the veritable bedrock upon which imperialism is both foundationed and sustained,2 and that the impact of colonialism upon the colonized is inherently genocidal.3

  No less clear was the understanding that there can be no valid basis for equivocation. Faced with the systemic perpetration of what has been aptly described as “the incomparable crime,”4 we are obliged—morally and legally, individually and collectively—to intervene through any and all available means. In this, there are no bystanders. As Karl Jaspers observed of so-called Good Germans during the nazi era, those who pretend blindness with regard to genocidal processes or, worse, seek to avoid the weight of oppositional responsibility by arguing that such processes weren’t or aren’t “really” what they were and are, may be properly viewed as accomplices to the crime itself.5

  Concrete action is plainly required. In this sense, merely “bearing witness” to genocide serves little purpose (other than allowing the witnesses to claim a feeble moral superiority over proverbial Good Germans, perhaps).6 Relatedly, the notion that “speaking truth to power” about what is witnessed—as if those holding power were somehow oblivious to the effects of the manner in which they wield it—can in itself remedy the situation is at best a mythic proposition.7 And, of course, the pursuit of substantive change through electoral politics has long since revealed itself as adding up to little more than a species of alchemy or, perhaps more accurately, masturbation.