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Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity

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The Politics of the Weather Underground
Volunteers of America
By RON JACOBS

In 1997 Verso published my history of the Weather Underground, The Way the Wind Blew: a History of the Weather Underground. Weather Underground member Bill Ayers' memoir Fugitive Days, published by Beacon Press in 2001, followed. Two years later, the film The Weather Underground, directed by Sam Green and Bill Siegel, was released. The film probably received the greatest amount of coverage in the mainstream media, although the unfortunate timing of Weather Underground member Bill Ayers' memoir (September 11, 2001) certainly provided his book with its own share, most of it negative.

There have also been novels written where the WUO figured prominently (most notably The Company You Keep by Neil Gordon Viking 2003), a pamphlet written by political prisoner David Gilbert (SDS/WUO, Students For A Democratic Society And The Weather Underground Organization, Arm the Spirit 2002) and the comparative study of the Weather Underground and the German leftist armed organization, the Red Army Fraction, by Jeremy Varon (Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies; UC Press 2004).

AK Press of Oakland, California is adding another book to this growing library of Weather Underground literature. The book, titled Outlaws of America and written by up-and-coming radical author Dan Berger, is an important complement to the earlier works. The first history of the Weather Underground Organization(WUO) to be written by someone whose age parallels the ages of the children of WUO members and many other "sixties" activists (Berger is 24), this well-researched and detailed work provides a perspective on the most well-known group in the militant wing of the anti-racist and antiwar movement. The book is essential to understanding the history of the 1960s, as well as the present movements against racism and imperialist war.

Two things make this book different than the one I got published 8 years ago. The first, and probably the greatest, is that Berger had access to the research and work that went into Green's film and my book. In addition, he also had much greater access to many of the personalities involved in the Weather organization. Green had a similar access. Things were a bit different when I was writing my book (1990-1997). Queries I sent to those members in prison were returned to me by prison officials, never having reached their intended recipient. Only a few individuals who had been in Weatherman/WUO were willing to talk with me and only two were willing to go on record. Others were willing to tell me if my story was accurate or not, but refused to discuss any specifics. One reason for this was the timing of my queries. After all, many Weather members were still unsure of their legal status and, politically, the US Left was still reeling from the effects of the incredibly reactionary Reagan era--a period that saw many members of the militant US left imprisoned and its infrastructure destroyed. In addition, hardly anyone that I approached knew my politics--which were a cross between the countercultural anarchism of the Yippies and the new communist movement of the 1970s. Berger and others have mentioned that my book helped to make it okay for WUO to be discussed as a force in US radical history. I was sent dozens of emails and letters from people telling me their stories as members of WUO or other militant groups after my book was published verifying this impression.

The other major difference between my work and Outlaws of America is that Berger writes from the perspective of today's generation of radical activists. (Indeed, Berger is co-editor of the recently released collection Letters From Young Activists.) His perspective is that of an anti-imperialist who came of age in the 1990s, not the 1960s and 1970s. This obviously provides a different perspective simply because the face of US imperialism has changed, with the end of the Soviet Union and its allies, and the rise of two worldwide movements against Western capitalism--the anti-global capitalism surge and the Islamic movement against the west. Both of these movements have varied strains and are only semi-consciously aware of the connections they share. Besides providing a different perspective on the WUO because of the difference in the historical situation, Berger's viewpoint is one that is not laden with the personality conflicts and ego battles that are part and parcel of every "Sixties" activist's recollection of the WUO. On top of that, Berger's historical distance means that he sometimes places his emphasis on words and actions that have more importance now than they did when they occurred. This tends to provide a more congruous history. At times, his words may seem too uncritical, but as another historian who was accused of the same thing, it is my belief that most of those who make this criticism are either fundamentally opposed to WUO's politics and analysis or are still stuck in a past that most Weather members have apologized for over and over.

Outlaws of America begins with a gripping description of Berger's first visit to Attica State Prison to interview/converse with former weather Underground member David Gilbert, who has been in the New York prison system since a conviction for his involvement in the tragic failure popularly known as the Nyack Brink's robbery. Berger obviously has a tremendous amount of respect for Gilbert's commitment while simultaneously understanding the tragedy of his position. In fact, each chapter begins with a quote from Gilbert--a technique that provides the reader with a glimpse of Berger's general perspective while never merely repeating Gilbert's take on things.

Much of the book's beginning is a general history of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the dissipation of that organization into Weatherman, Revolutionary Youth Movement 2, and SDS/Progressive Labor. Using an academically-trained critical eye, Berger analyzes key documents published in the SDS newspaper New Left Notes and explicates the role these writings had in the political development of Weather. His generational removal from the times allows for an analysis that accepts the fervent anti-racism and struggle against white privilege that would become Weather's theoretical backbone at face value. This is important to Berger's history. Once he establishes these elements as the basis for Weather's politics, Berger is able to provide the reader with a history of the Weatherman/Weather Underground Organization that would make its former members critically proud.

Given this, one might argue that while Outlaws of America might make former WUO members proud, it certainly couldn't be a good history if it accepts their political premise. After all, how could such a history be at all critical? To Berger's credit, it is the very fact that he uses the yardstick of Weather's essential political stance as the measure by which they should be judged that this history works as well as it does. It is apparent from his writing that his interviews with former members caused them to look at their actions and political words in relation to how well they measured up to their emotional and intellectual commitment to fighting racism, imperialism, and the white privilege these isms provide to white folks in the US.

As an activist who sees things differently than Weather did in terms of emphasis on fighting white privilege, I am more than willing to admit that it was their focus on this element of US society that made me aware of the phenomenon of white privilege and reminded me to fight it in myself and the larger world. On the other hand, my relationships with workers who also happened to be white led me to draw different conclusions about the way the phenomena of racism, white privilege, and economic exploitation interact in modern capitalist society. Of course, I was (and am) but one of hundreds of thousands pondering these questions. And they are important questions, to be sure.

Outlaws of America explores the final years of Weather in greater detail than its predecessors. In addition, Berger provides considerably more detail about the law enforcement activities arrayed against the WUO and its allies. This is one important part of the text where the element of time works in the author's favor. Not only is there more information regarding the law enforcement activities against the 1960s and 1970s popular leftist and anti-racist organizations, it is also much more accessible. This fact combined with Weather members willingness to discuss their years underground helps Berger flesh out the facts of State repression against the New Left, Black, Latino and Native American organizations, and especially the WUO. As regards the final years of Weather, the fact that many more former members feel safe in discussing the activities and politics of the group provided Berger with an opportunity to uncover the material. Of course, unless he asked the right questions, he would not have discovered what he did. Fortunately, Berger not only asked the right questions, he found enough former members willing to discuss their answers with him. Consequently, the reader is provided with the most complete explanation to date of how and why the Weather Underground Organization fell apart. Like every other aspect of its existence, the fundamental reasons were political. The stories and discussions in this section are instructive for today's movements as they struggle with questions of class, race, and gender.

Berger's best writing occurs when he weaves the modern-day reflections of former WUO members into his narrative text. He does this so skillfully that those reminiscences never come off sounding awkward or irrelevant. Sometimes these reflections merely add a bit of physical detail, while more often they provide a contextual insight into what these women and men were thinking while they lived and took political action underground. This is what makes this book different and useful to the historian, the "sixties" buff, and the political activist of today. These people lived the life of clandestine revolutionaries and this book proves that they made the choices they made because of their politics. It wasn't because of some guilt due to class privilege, nor was their choice related to some psychological occurrence of their childhood. Even more than the previous works about Weatherman/WUO, Outlaws of America brings it home, especially to the US reader, that people do make choices (life-changing choices) based on their politics. This in itself is revelatory in a culture that thinks politics begins with the Republicans and ends with the Democrats.

There's some criticism in these pages, too. To be sure, it's criticism from a left perspective, and that's a good thing. Those to the right of the US Left--and there are many--will read this book only under duress and rarely with an open mind. The reviews of the aforementioned works on the subject attest to that. Although I hope that Outlaws of America is read by people of all political persuasions, it's clear that it is intended for the growing left/anarchist movements of today and the New Left with its roots in yesterday. If those of us in that readership are to learn from history, it's very important that we critique that history. It's even better when that criticism comes from a variety of viewpoints. I hope this book, besides being an excellent read, sparks a new element in that conversation.

(Reviewer's note: March 6 marks the 36th anniversary of the deaths of Weathermembers Diana Oughton, Terry Robbins, and Ted Gold in the Greenwich Village townhouse explosion.)

Ron Jacobs is author of The Way the Wind Blew: a history of the Weather Underground, which is just republished by Verso. Jacobs' essay on Big Bill Broonzy is featured in CounterPunch's new collection on music, art and sex, Serpents in the Garden. He can be reached at: rjacobs3625@charter.net

Berger's history of the Weather Underground is meticulously researched, and his writing is straightforward and clear. Weatherman is portrayed in a compassionate but unromanticized light. This important book is a must-read for everyone with an interest in 20th century social justice movements.

-a masterful book- reminding me of the other great ones on the radicals of my generation, some on the violent side: as in Baader Meinhof Complex, and others not- books by Bill Ayers, Mark Rudd (Weathers' destruction of property was NOT, in my opinion, violent) and my particular wing- the nonviolent "Catholic left" (it wasn't much "left") , e.g. Disarmed and Dangerous, With a Clumsy Grace, Felon for Peace and A Plowshares Chronology and all of Phil and Dan Berrigans' and Howard Zinn's books (underline all titles (I don't see how). The people described in this book really studied the left! That perhaps puts them more into a world movement (unfortunately?) than our movement of non-violence. But in my oopinion- violence has its place. I just think we should try to change that.

I poured blood on draft files in 1967 and spent 21 months in prison.
I think the "Plowshares Chronology" by Art Laffin is the best, in my opinion- in that it shows how the struggle continues in no uncertain terms,

I would also like to mention the play "Something You Did" which is about Cathy Boudin (roughly)(with many liberties).

Berger has done us a great service with this, as another reviewer says, "meticulously researched" book.

When you consider the Weather bombings- they hurt no one but were strategically placed to demonstrate how such American institutions as the capitol, pentagon , bank of america, itt, anaconda, kennicott, certain police hqs, departments of corrections creater REAL violence that makes our struggles in the peace, civil rights and anti war movements seem noble indeed. Persons like a nixon or bush have killed over and over again- thousands- and yet Americans (I'll capitalize that in that I look for the good in them) will criticize the Weathers and others of us as "violent".

"Lame stream" media, to borrow a phrase from the tea party and Sarah Palin (altho from a polarly opposite position- my position is on the left) can but indoctrinate and mislead Americans into thinking that our never ending wars are serving bona fide purposes. Plainly, logically, ethically, they are not- and the contents of Berger's book- the quotes from David Gilbert (who is still in prison when he killed no one while a george bush or two roam free giving interviews) sets the record straight.

The book raises crucial questions- such as how successful can the tactics of violence be? Obviously the North Vietnam's Army's tactics were- but what kind of state did they accomplish? We can be thankful they stopped the us of a. which never stops engaging in wars of imperialism and aggression.

But again- as the book makes clear- the Weathers' tactics were nonviolent. The only people they killed were themselves!...sadly.

This book deserves a far greater audience and, in time, hopefully- it will come- or will we just destroy ourselves by nuclear war or green catastrophes? While amazon my concern itself with making money selling books on the ny times best seller lists- books like this fly under the radar.

One short comment. As one of the few whites who in fact went to federal prison on bombing conspiracy charges (following an indictment by a Guy Goodwin Grand Jury and several trials), this is one of the better books written on the Weather Underground. The author provides good historical and political analysis which can help someone today with little personal familiarity of the 60s and 70s to understand the context within which "Weather" and other similar groupings came into being and why. I am particularly impressed with the authors repeated explanations of the importance of the politics of the struggle against white skin privilege, of anti-racism and anti-imperialism which marked the best of the WUO.

In attempting to construct yet another history of the storied Weather Underground and the tumultuous era of "The Sixties", author Dan Berger endeavors to become heir to the New Left and "anti-imperialist" mantle. The book, replete with stilted, politically archaic and often strident rhetorical catchphrases offers precious few new historical facts, no new perspectives and makes for generally tedious reading.

The history of the group is traced from its origins through its demise. The WUO arose from the much larger SDS. The break from Students for a Democratic Society was engineered by a classical Leninist move: a small, self-proclaimed leadership circle whose extreme views set it in opposition to most SDS members expelled elements that espoused "competing lines". Its emphasis on race and "white privilege" was expressed as support for just about any and all "Third World Liberation movements". After initially denying the traditional "Old Left" class-based social and economic analysis, the WUO "platform" as defined by the group leaders, gradually morphed into conventional Marxism. In the process, virtually all sympathetic and potentially sympathetic segments of society were alienated, as were many Weather "cadres", essentially none of whom were consulted regarding this or other policies. The vitriolic attacks on those who held differing opinions was reminiscent of Stalin's tactics at their harshest.

Basically, the rapid demise of the group was largely the WUO's own fault. The entire enterprise and the political analysis upon which it was based was fatally flawed and utterly superficial. The group's strategy was hopelessly naive. Some glimmer of insight into these matters was revealed in the interviews former members granted the author, though some true believers still (David Gilbert, especially) criticize tactics rather than strategy. The book concludes with a section on "Lessons and Legacies" and an Epilogue featuring a prison visitation vignette between the still incarcerated Gilbert and the author.

In "Outlaws", Berger makes no effort whatsoever to strive for objectivity. In fact, he is quite unabashed in his expressions of sympathy for "the Cause". Berger is generally unquestioning in his carte blanche acceptance of various contemporary fringe "liberation" groups, asserting that, as one example, the Black Liberation Army was a legitimate political "vanguard". Even such preposterous cults as MOVE are elevated to Olympian revolutionary heights. Worse, Berger ignores the prominent criminal element in the Black Panthers and other contemporary separatist groups. Berger, like the subjects of his book, unabashedly believes that the U.S. is an "imperialist" power and that the Cuban regime and even Hugo Chavez's "Bolivarian" dictatorship (amongst others) are progressive, honest expressions of their peoples' aspirations. Curious in its total absence from the book is any mention of the then-contemporary Palestinian armed factions. Even more bizarre, despite reference to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Berger alludes to but does not address the obvious question of whether or not the viciously fundamentalist Islamist movements are "legitimate" national liberation movements.

Berger, along with the WUO, seem incapable of sufficient introspection and political insight to grasp the concept that, as the French Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser once wrote, "Ideology is the imaginary relationship people have with the real conditions of their existence." The blinding effects of ideology were evident throughout the book. Despite the manifest failure of "Old Left" regimes in the USSR, China and elsewhere, WUO came to espouse Old Left ideas. For example, despite the transparently obvious and accumulating evidence and ignoring compelling insights on the issue from C. Wright Mills and others on the new structure of American power, they emphasized class struggle. Despite evidence that "class interests" absolutely did not trump self-interest,they failed to adjust their approach from appeals to revolutionary solidarity (to class, against "imperialism", to the Third World) to "what can the Revolution do for me, personally?" Despite the fact that most Americans, once the Vietnam War (and the draft) had ended no longer cared for "revolution", and that "revolutionary action theater" would not be "the spark that starts a prairie fire", they continued to conceive of themselves as an elite Revolutionary vanguard. Finally, they failed to articulate a final goal short of "socialism". All these mistakes rendered the group increasingly marginal in its appeal, domestically and in the "Third World". The WUO was seemingly "dazed and confused" throughout the brief period of its existence. In modern parlance, in an effort to remain relevant, the group justified its continued efforts by "mission-creep". Incoherence in ideology, strategy, group structure, interpersonal relations and numerous other areas is the salient problem set that Berger does make explicit.

One issue addressed in some detail by Berger does deserve commendation and that is the deplorable and outrageous incarceration policies first implemented in the Sixties and now in full deployment. The "privatization" of prisons and the public adulation of such perverted law enforcement agencies as the Maricopa County (Arizona) Sheriff's Department is a shameful chapter in American history, as are the accompanying criminalization of a wide spectrum of victimless crimes, draconian sentencing "guidelines", racist incarceration policies, imprisoning children and lack of inmate "rehabilitation" programs. It is probably also true, as Berger asserts, that prisoners such as Gilbert are paying the price for the entire movement. This is a heavy burden for men such as Gilbert but, to his great credit, he remains committed to his ideals (whether you agree with them or not), having tempered them by years of introspection, self-criticism and contemplation.

I would be remiss in failing to point out one other, at this point minor, problem with the book: Berger mis-attributes the "foco" theory of revolution to Regis Debray, rather than to its actual author, Che Guevara. This approach to initiating revolution in a Third World society worked in Cuba; it was manifestly unsuccessful in Bolivia and in The Congo, a mistake Che paid for with his life.

So, Berger asks, Why did the WUO rise to such prominence and what is its legacy? Given the zeitgeist of the 1960s with the vastly unpopular Vietnam War, the draft, racial tensions and the rise of the counter-culture", a real sense of radical social change appeared in the offing. Romantic revolutionaries such as the self-denying and photogenic Che captured the imagination of the student movement. WUO rode on the coattails of this phenomenon. By promoting their "outlaw" image, they usurped the role previously occupied by Ho, Che, Fidel and Mao as avatars of Revolution. At the time, it was easy to accept all of that since, after all, the life of privileged white students could be rudely interrupted by a sojourn in a leech-infested rice paddy.

The really perplexing aspect of all this is the return to "above ground" society by the WUO leaders themselves. After making reputations based on the denial of "white privilege", they were damn quick to exercise that same privilege in their post-revolutionary careers. This is an irony apparently lost on both them and Berger, as well.

This was a thorough history, drawing on a number of sources and directions; but Berger keeps it rather readable. Casual? No. But approachable. Scholarly? Yes. But not egg-headed. It furnishes the reader with an overarching historical narrative, as well as dipping back and forth with another, contemporary narrative involving the interviews and friendship between a former Weatherman and the author. Few of my questions are left hanging by the text, with one particular exception: I would very much have had an appendix reproducing the texts of the WUO communiques and published works. Berger refers heavily and excerpts some, as I recall, but I would very much liked to have been able to flip to the back and read a whole communique.

This is an engaging read that manages to strip back propaganda from both sides of the line and tells the story both in the WUO's own words and through the mouth of an historian.

Right from the acknowledgement --"David [Gilbert] has been a close friend . . ." we learn the author has a pro-radical viewpoint. Who is Gilbert? From Wikipedia -- "After eleven years underground, he was arrested in 1981, along with members of the Black Liberation Army and other radicals, after they killed three people in an armored car robbery. He is now a well-known prisoner in upstate New York, serving a 75 years-to-life sentence for his role in the robbery."

Gilbert in the book is quoted as saying he is a "political prisoner." I wonder how the families of the dead Brinks workers feel about that statement.

I've read many negative things during the 2008 election race about William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn. You will not find them in this book.

An example of the bias. During the Days of Rage, a Chicago city lawyer named Richard Elrod ended up paralyzed. See page 112 of this book and you will be told that Elrod missed a flying tackle against a running protester, injuring himself. This is a one-sided and cursory explanation. Elrod, now an Illinois judge, has an entirely different story. The alleged perpetrator of the stomping on a prone Elrod maintains his innocence, and a jury acquitted that person. But thorough discussions of the incident are available on the web that discuss the case in detail; I came away with the feeling from independent reading that the prosecution botched the case by allowing a biased witness to take the stand. I suggest the reader interested in the issue should do some internet research if he/she wants to properly evaluate the case.

Unless I missed it, I did not see any of the eloquent statements attributed to Dohrn over the years. The book discusses the "Flint War Council" and says that Dohrn "praised the recent murders" committed by the Manson family. That's all. Why did the author not note her infamous quote: "Offing those rich pigs with their own forks and knives, and then eating a meal in the same room, far out! The Weathermen dig Charles Manson." As others have noted, those victims were Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, a middle-aged couple -- Leno was stabbed 12 times with a knife, and 14 times with a carving fork. Rosemary was stabbed 41 times. Perhaps a more careful researcher can verify the internet allegation that Dohrn also once led a celebration of Elrod's paralysis by leading her comrades in a parody of a Bob Dylan song -- "Lay, Elrod, Lay."

The author, Dan Berger, is said to be a PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania. I hope his dissertation committee scrutinizes the work he presents there. This is a book with only one view, and apologia for the Weathermen. This book has limited usefulness.