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Helmut Pohl, 1943-2014

“I can still see myself sitting there with Gudrun and Andreas, in front of us a long report on Vietcong attacks in the US military’s hinterland in South Vietnam. Guerrilla units had attacked US military headquarters right in enemy territory. One single attack already conveyed the entire strategy.……… Read the rest

Rolf Clemens Wagner, a Life of Resistance

Former Red Army Faction member Rolf Clemens Wagner died on February 11, 2014. Wagner had first become involved in underground armed politics in the aftermath of the RAF’s 1972 May Offensive in West Germany. Dozens of guerillas had been captured, and were being held in strict solitary confinement (in some cases, entire prison wings were emptied to isolate the political prisoners) and subjected to various forms of abuse.……… Read the rest

A Word From Russell “Maroon” Shoats

In today’s world ANYONE who dares to raise their voice against ANYTHING being heaped on them by those in power needs to read this book. The repressive methods that the West German state brought to bear against the RAF—detailed by the authors—have been adopted, universalized, and refined, and can be found in use in a prison, jail, detention center or other “holding facility” not far from you.……… Read the rest

Foreword by Bill Dunne

Projectiles for the People, Volume One of The Red Army Faction: A Documentary History, is an important exposition of what it means to wage armed struggle as an urban guerilla in the post WWII western imperial-capitalist paradigm. Via the fast-turning pages of Projectiles, Smith and Moncourt usher us through the RAF ’s emergence in Germany from a moribund and constrained left opposition misdirected and suppressed by U.S.……… Read the rest

Staying Alive: Sensory Deprivation, Torture, and the Struggle Behind Bars

By 1972, practically the whole founding generation of the RAF were behind bars. Yet there was still a second generation and a third generation. Why? Primarily because of the conditions of imprisonment and state-organized terror. Dieter Kunzelmann former K.1 Communard[1] Having captured the ideological leadership of the RAF, the West German state set in motion the second element of their counterinsurgency project: one which would eventually become known as the “Stammheim Model.”……… Read the rest

Comments on Anja Röhl’s Revelations (Moncourt and Smith)

On May 11, 2010, Anja Röhl – the stepdaughter of Ulrike Meinhof, a founding member of the Red Army Faction – released a public statement describing sexual abuse she had suffered as a child, at the hands of her father Klaus Rainer Röhl.……… Read the rest

Armed Struggle, the RAF, and Projectiles for the People: An Interview with André Moncourt and J. Smith by Gabriel Kuhn

Gabriel Kuhn has interviewed André Moncourt and J. Smith, the editors of Projectiles for the People, about their book, the RAF, and armed struggle. The complete interview is reposted here; a slightly abbreviated German version of this interview will appear in the German journal Arranca!,……… Read the rest

“The Urban Guerrilla Is History…” The Final Communiqué From The Red Army Faction (RAF)

Almost 28 years ago, on May 14, 1970, the RAF was born from an act of liberation [1]: Today we are ending this project. The urban guerrilla in the form of the RAF is now history. We, that is all of us who were organized in the RAF until the end, are taking this step jointly.……… Read the rest

Interview With Political Prisoner Helmut Pohl On The Politics Of The Red Army Faction (RAF)

There was a split between the RAF and many of the prisoners, and now the political prisoners no longer present themselves as a united group. So, for whom are you speaking in this interview? First of all I’m speaking for myself, but I also know what some of the other prisoners are thinking.……… Read the rest

A Brief History Of The Red Army Faction

the following text was written for the newsletter Arm the Spirit, but was only ever published online, where it can be viewed at http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/61/191.html In April 1992, the Red Army Faction (RAF) took the step of unilaterally calling off its campaign of assassinations of key members of the political and economic apparatus as a first step towards a negotiated settlement with the state, a settlement which they insisted must include the release of prisoners, particularly those, such as Bernd Roessner and Ali Jansen, who were in poor health and those who were amongst the longest held, such as Irmgard Moeller, who after 21 years had spent close to half of her life in prison, as well as an agreement which would allow those who were underground to surface.……… Read the rest