Weatherman (organization)

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For other uses, see Weatherman (disambiguation).

Image:WEATHERUNDERGROUND3.jpg Weatherman, known colloquially as the Weathermen and later the Weather Underground Organization, was a U.S. Radical Left organization consisting of splintered-off members and leaders of the Students for a Democratic Society. The group referred to itself as a "revolutionary organization of communist women and men." Their stated purpose was to carry out a series of militant actions to achieve the revolutionary overthrow of the Government of the United States (and of capitalism as a whole). Weatherman imploded shortly after the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam in 1975, which saw the general demise of the New Left, of which Weatherman had been a part.

Originally, the Weathermen were part of the Revolutionary Youth Movement within the Students for a Democratic Society. When they split — first from the RYM's Maoists, and then from SDS itself — they distinguished themselves from other self-proclaimed revolutionary groups by claiming that there was no time to build a vanguard party and that revolutionary war against the United States and the system of capitalism should begin immediately. To that end, they carried out a campaign of bombings, jailbreaks, and riots.

Contents

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Background

The group initially emerged from the campus-based anti-war and Civil Rights Movements of the late 1960s. During this time, United States military action in Southeast Asia, especially Vietnam, continued despite the growing significance of a national and global movement against the war. In the U.S., the anti-war sentiment had a particular impact upon the outcome of the 1968 US presidential election.

After the 1969 fragmentation of SDS, Weatherman's adherents explicitly claimed themselves the real leaders of SDS and retained control of the SDS National Office. Thereafter, any leaflet, label, or logo bearing the name "Students for a Democratic Society" or "SDS" was in fact the views and politics of Weatherman, and not of SDS as a whole. Weatherman contained the vast majority of former SDS National Committee members, including Mark Rudd, David Gilbert and Bernadine Dohrn; thus the group, while small, was able to easily commandeer the mantle of SDS and all of its membership lists. For a brief time, affiliations with regional SDS cadre were maintained from the National Office, but with Weatherman in charge the relationships didn't last long, and local chapters soon disbanded. By February 1970 the group had decided to close the SDS National Office, concluding the major campus-based organization of the 1960s.

The name Weatherman derives from the Bob Dylan song "Subterranean Homesick Blues", which featured the lyrics "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." The lyrics had also been quoted at the bottom of an influential essay in the SDS newspaper, New Left Notes. Using this title the Weathermen meant, partially, to appeal to the segment of American youth inspired to action for social justice by Dylan's songs. It appears also that the "Weatherman" moniker used by the group may have been meant as a rebuke against the Progressive Labor Party, whose Worker Student Alliance SDS faction had succeeded in recruiting many former SDSers to its ranks, and had allegedly co-opted the 1969 convention.

The Weatherman group had long held that militancy was becoming more important than nonviolent forms of anti-war action, and that university-campus-based demonstrations needed to be punctuated with more dramatic actions, which had the potential to interfere with the U.S. military and internal security apparatuses. The belief was that these types of urban guerrilla actions would act as a catalyst for the coming revolution. Events such as the intensification of the Viet Cong's guerrilla warfare campaigns against U.S. and ARVN forces, which Weatherman regarded as a successful revolt against U.S. imperialism; the tumultuous Cultural Revolution in China; the 1968 student revolts in France, Mexico City and elsewhere; the Prague Spring; the emergence of the Tupamaros organization in Uruguay; the emergence of Marxist-led independence movements throughout Africa; the prominence of the Black Panther Party within the United States; and a series of riots across poor black ghettos across the country, all seemed to support the Weathermen's overall assertion that worldwide revolution was imminent.

The Weathermen were outspoken advocates of the analytical concepts that later came to be known as "white skin privilege" and identity politics. As the riots in poor black neighborhoods intensified in the early 1970s, Bernardine Dohrn said, "White youth must choose sides now. They must either fight on the side of the oppressed, or be on the side of the oppressor."

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"Days of Rage"

The opening salvo in the "Days of Rage," Weatherman's first event, came on the night of October 8 1969 in Chicago, Illinois, when they blew up a statue dedicated to police casualties in the 1886 Haymarket Riot. Although the October 8 rally failed to draw as many participants as they had anticipated, the estimated two to three hundred who did attend shocked police by leading a riot through the Gold Coast neighborhood, smashing windows and cars. That night, six people were shot and seventy were arrested. Two smaller violent conflicts with police followed the next two nights.

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Submersion

In 1970, following the police raid that resulted in the death of Black Panther Fred Hampton, the group issued a "Declaration of a state of War" against the United States government, using for the first time its new name, the "Weather Underground Organization" (WUO), adopting fake identities, and pursuing covert activities only. These initially included preparations for a bombing of a US military noncommissioned officers' dance at Fort Dix in what Brian Flanagan said had been intended to be "the most horrific hit the United States government had ever suffered on its territory". But three WU members died in an accidental explosion in a Greenwich Village safe house while preparing the bomb intended for that action. It was an accident of history that the site of the explosion was the former residence of Merrill Lynch brokerage firm founder Charles Merrill and his son, the poet James Merrill. The younger Merrill subsequently recorded the event in his poem 18 West 11th Street, the title being the address of the house. An FBI report on the incident later claimed that the group had possessed sufficient amounts of explosive to "level ... both sides of the street" .

After the Greenwich Village incident, WUO shrank considerably, becoming even fewer than they had been when first formed. There was talk of infiltration by COINTELPRO that later turned out to be both imagined and real. The vast majority of other Radical Left groups that had not explicitly distanced themselves from the group at the beginning largely did so at that point. Despite their marginalization, the Weather Underground pushed on, releasing a number of manifestos and declarations while carrying on a series of bombings, which from then on were both successful and free of human casualties. The bombing actions attacked the U.S. Capitol, The Pentagon, police and prison buildings, and later the rebuilt Haymarket statue, among other targets. To avoid any loss of life as a result of these bombings, a WU member would issue warnings to evacuate the building ahead of time via phone.

The group also took a $25,000 payment from a psychedelics distribution organization called The Brotherhood of Eternal Love to break LSD advocate Timothy Leary out of prison, transporting him to Algeria. When Leary was eventually captured by the FBI, he offered to serve as an informant to capture the Weather Underground members to reduce his prison sentence. The Weather Underground members, though, remained largely successful at avoiding police and intelligence agencies. Finally, most turned themselves in at the end of the 1970s once it was clear the revolution they had all been working towards had failed to materialize.

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Dissolution and Aftermath

After the group began dissolving in 1977, many members moved on to other armed revolutionary groups and were subsequently arrested and held for long periods. Very few served prison sentences for their time in the Weather Underground; the infiltration and destruction tactics used against them by COINTELPRO made much of the evidence gathered against them deemed illegally obtained and inadmissible in court. Meanwhile, Weatherman members that later revealed themselves to be law enforcement officers offered unapologetic testimonies of intentional incitement to violence and terrorist acts, used as a tactic at key junctures to discredit and destroy the group. Jennifer Dohrn, Bernardine Dohrn's sister, later claimed that according to documents released under the Freedom of Information Act, the FBI planned at one point to kidnap her son when she gave birth.

Widely-known members of the Weather Underground include Kathy Boudin, Mark Rudd, Terry Robbins, Ted Gold, Naomi Jaffe, Cathy Wilkerson, Jeff Jones, David Gilbert, Susan Stern, Bob Tomashevsky, Sam Karp, Russ Neufeld, Joe Kelly and the still-married couple Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers. Most former Weathermen have successfully re-integrated into mainstream society, without necessarily repudiating their original intent. For example, Bill Ayers, now a Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said in a September 11, 2001 New York Times profile that he doesn't "regret setting bombs [against non-human targets]. I believe we didn't do enough." Dohrn and Boudin also still hold to their original beliefs. Members like Brian Flanagan have expressed regret. Still others, such as Mark Rudd, believe the group's original motivation, particularly its position regarding U.S. imperialism, was justified, but its resultant actions were clearly wrong.

The WU insisted that Emile de Antonio shoot the documentary Underground in 1976. However, a much more extensive, widespread, and critically-acclaimed documentary emerged in 2002 with the Oscar-nominated The Weather Underground by filmmakers Bill Siegel and Sam Green.

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References in literature

Great Neck, by Jay Cantor is a fictional account of a group of Long Island teenagers coming of age during the radical sixties. One of them, Beth Jacobs, joins first the SDS and later the Weathermen in an attempt to make justice for the Holocaust.

[1] The Last Rock Star Book, a Camden Joy novel, references the Days of Rage in both Chicago and Canada.

The Darling, by Russell Banks (2004) is a novel telling the life story of Hannah Musgrave -alias Dawn Carrington- a member of the Weather Underground, escaping from the U.S. to Liberia.

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Chronology of events

  • June 1969 – The “Action Faction” of the SDS releases a detailed statement of their political ideology in the official SDS newspaper “New Left Notes.” This essay concluded with the quotation “You Don’t Need A Weatherman To Know Which Way The Wind Blows” which gave rise to its adherents being called “Weathermen”.
  • 18-22 June, 1969 – The SDS National Convention, held in Chicago, Illinois, sees the organization collapse as a student group and the Weathermen seizing control of the SDS National Office. Henceforth any activity run from the SDS National Office is Weatherman controlled.
  • July, 1969 – Bernardine Dohrn, Eleanor Raskin, Dianne Donghi, Peter Clapp, David Millstone and Diana Oughton, all representing the Weathermen, travel to Cuba where they meet with representatives of the North Vietnamese and Cuban governments.
  • August 1969 – Weatherman member Linda Sue Evans travels to North Vietnam. Weatherman activists meet in Cleveland, Ohio, for the purpose of making final plans for their “National Action” or “Days of Rage” protests scheduled to be held in Chicago in October, 1969.
  • 4 September 1969 – Weather women members from various parts of the country converge on South Hills High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where they run through the school shouting anti-war slogans and distributing literature promoting the “National Action.” The term “Pittsburgh 26” refers to the 26 women arrested in connection with this incident.
  • 24 September 1969 – A group of Weatherman members become involved in a confrontation with Chicago Police when they refuse to clear a street during a demonstration supporting the “National Action”, and protesting the commencement of an Anti-riot Act trial against eight individuals charged with initiating the riots in connection with the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
  • 7 October 1969 – The Haymarket Police Statue is bombed in Chicago, Illinois apparently as a “kickoff” for the “Days of Rage” riots in the city October 8-11, 1969. No suspects are developed in this matter. The Weathermen later claim credit for the bombing in their book, “Prairie Fire”.
  • 8 October-11, 1969 – The “Days of Rage” riots occur in Chicago in which 287 Weatherman members from throughout the country were arrested and a large amount of property damage was done. Some of the current underground WUO members became fugitives when they failed to appear for trial in connection with their arrests during these four days.
  • November-December, 1969 – The First contingent of the Venceremos Brigade (VB) departs for Cuba to harvest sugar cane. A small number of Weatherman members participate in this trip.
  • 6 December 1969 – Several Chicago Police cars parked in a Precinct parking lot at 3600 North Halsted Street, Chicago, are bombed. The WUO stated in their book "Prairie Fire" that they had perpetrated the explosion to protest the shooting deaths of the Illinois Black Panther Party leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark on 4 December 1969, by police officers.
  • 27 December-31, 1969 – The Weathermen hold a “War Council” meeting in Flint, Michigan, where they finalize their plans to submerge into an underground status from which they plan to commit strategic acts of sabotage against the government. Thereafter they are called the "Weather Underground Organization" (WUO).
  • February, 1970 – The WUO closes the SDS National Office in Chicago, concluding the major campus-based organization of the 1960s. The first contingent of the VB returns from Cuba and the second contingent departs. By mid-February the bulk of the leading WUO members submerge into an underground status.
  • 13 February 1970 - Several Police vehicles of the Berkeley, California, Police Department are bombed in the police parking lot.
  • 16 February 1970 – A bomb is detonated at the Golden Gate Park branch of the San Francisco Police Department, killing one officer and injuring a number of other policemen. No organization claims credit for either bombing.
  • March, 1970 – Several underground WUO members become federal fugitives when they unlawfully flee to avoid prosecution; warrants are issued in connection with their failure to appear for trial in Chicago.
  • 6 March 1970 – Thirty-four sticks of dynamite are discovered in the 13th Police District of the Detroit, Michigan police bombing. During February and early March, 1970, members of the WUO, led by Bill Ayers, are reported to be in Detroit during that period for the purpose of bombing a police facility.
  • 6 March 1970 – Another group blows themselves up when their “bomb factory” located in New York’s Greenwich Village accidentally explodes. WUO members Theodore Gold, Diana Oughton, and Terry Robbins die in this accident. The Bomb was intended to be planted at a Non-commissioned officer's dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey. The bomb was packed with nails to inflict maximum casualties upon detonation.
  • 30 March 1970 – Chicago Police discover a WUO “bomb factory” on Chicago’s north side. A subsequent discovery of a WUO “weapons cache” in a south side chicago apartment several days later ends WUO activity in the city.
  • April, 1970 – WUO members Linda Sue Evans and Dianne Donghi are arrested in New York by the FBI.
  • 2 April 1970 – A federal grand jury in Chicago returns a number of incidents charging WUO members with violation of federal anti-riot laws. Also, a number of additional federal warrants charging unlawful flight to avoid prosecution are returned in Chicago based on the failure of WUO members to appear for trial in local cases. (The Antiriot-Law charges were later dropped in January, 1974.)
  • 10 May 1970 – The National Guard Association building in Washington, D.C. was bombed to protest the National Guard killings of four students at Kent State in Ohio.
  • 21 May 1970 – The WUO under Bernardine Dohrn’s name releases its “Declaration of a State of War” communique.
  • 6 June 1970 – The WUO sends a letter claiming credit for bombing of the San Francisco Hall of Justice; however, no explosion actually took place. Months later, workmen in this building located an unexploded device which had apparently been dormant for some time.
  • 9 June 1970 - The New York City Police Headquarters is bombed in response to what Weatherman call "police repression."
  • 27 July 1970 - The Presidio Army Base in San Francisco is bombed to mark the 11th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution. [NYT, 7/27/70]
  • July 23, 1970 – A federal grand jury in Detroit, Michigan, returns indictments against a number of underground WUO members and former WUO members charging violations of various explosives and firearms laws. (These indictments were later dropped in October, 1973.)
  • 12 September 1970 – The WUO helps Dr. Timothy Leary, LSD user break out and escape from the California Men’s Colony prison.
  • 8 October 1970 - Bombing of Marin County Courthouse in retaliation for the killing of Jonathan Jackson, William Christmas, and James McClain. [NYT, 8/10/70]
  • 10 October 1970 - The Queens Courthouse is bombed to express support for the New York prison riots. [NYT, 10/10/70]
  • 14 October 1970 - The Harvard Center for International Affairs is bombed to protest the war in Vietnam. [NYT, 10/14/70]
  • December, 1970 – Fugitive WUO member Caroline Tanker, who fled the country for Cuba, is arrested by the FBI in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Fugitive WUO member Judith Alice Clark is arrested by the FBI in New York.
  • 1 March, 1971 - The US Capitol is bombed to protest the invasion of Laos. Nixon denounces the bombing as a "shocking act of violence that will outrage all Americans." [NYT, 3/1/71]
  • April, 1971 – FBI agents discover an abandoned WUO “bomb factory” in San Francisco, California.
  • 29 August, 1971 - Bombing of the Office of California Prisons allegedly in retaliation for the killing of George Jackson. [LAT, 8/29/71]
  • 17 September 1971 - The New York Department of Corrections in Albany New York is bombed to protest the killing of 29 inmates at Attica State Penitentiary. [NYT, 9/18/70]
  • 15 October 1971 - The bombing of William Bundy’s office in the MIT research center. [NYT, 10/16/71]
  • 19 May, 1972 - Bombing of The Pentagon in retaliation for the new U.S. bombing raid in Hanoi. [NYT, 5/19/72]
  • 18 May, 1973 - The bombing of the 103rd Police Precinct in New York in response to the killing of 10-year-old black youth Clifford Glover by police.
  • 19 September 1973 – WUO member Howard Norton Machtinger is arrested by the FBI in New York. Released on bond, Machtinger again submerges into the underground.
  • 28 September 1973 - The ITT headquarters in New York and Rome, Italy are bombed in response to ITT's alleged role in the Chilean coup earlier that month. [NYT, 9/28/73]
  • 6 March, 1974 - Bombing of the Dept. of Health, Education and Welfare offices in San Francisco to protest alleged sterilization of poor women. In the accompanying communiqué, the Women’s Brigade argues for “the need for women to take control of daycare, healthcare, birth control and other aspects of women’s daily lives.”
  • 31 May 1974 - The Office of the California Attorney General is bombed in response to the killing of 6 members of the Symbionese Liberation Army.
  • 17 June 1974 - Gulf Oil's Pittsburgh headquarters is bombed to protest its actions in Angola, Vietnam, and elsewhere.
  • July, 1974 – The WUO releases its book “Prairie Fire” in which they indicate the need for a unified Communist Party. They encourage the creation of study groups to discuss their ideology, but continue to stress the need for violent acts. The book also admits WUO responsibility of several actions from previous years. The Prairie Fire Organizing Committee (PFOC) arises from the teachings in this book and is organized by many former WUO members.
  • 11 September 1974 – Bombing of Anaconda Corporation (part of the Rockefeller Corporation) in retribution for Anaconda’s alleged involvement in the Chilean coup the previous year.
  • 28 January, 1975 - Bombing of The State Department in response to escalation in Vietnam.
  • March, 1975 – The WUO releases its first edition of a new magazine entitled “Osawatomie”.
  • 16 June 1975 - They bomb a Banco de Ponce (a Puerto Rican bank) in New York in solidarity with striking Puerto Rican cement workers.
  • 11 July-13, 1975 – The PFOC holds its first national convention during which time they go through the formality of creating a new organization.
  • September, 1975 – Bombing of the Kennecott Corporation in retribution for Kennecott's alleged involvement in the Chilean coup two years prior[2].
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See also

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Further reading

SDS: The Last Hurrah (DOCUMENT 4 of 5) chronicles the last tumultuous days of the original Students for a Democratic Society and the rise of the Revolutionary Youth Movement and the Worker Student Alliance as the two principal SDS factions. Document 5 of 5 is the program of the section of the RYM that would later adopt the name "Weatherman".

Osawatomie. Water Buffalo Print Collective. Journal of the Weather Underground Organization. Seattle. 1975. Osawatomie Issue #2 available on line. Retrieved July 27, 2005.

Dan Berger (2006) "Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity" Oakland: AK Press.

Jeremy Varon (2004) "Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies." Berkeley: University of California Press

Ron Jacobs (1997) "The way the wind blew : a history of the Weather Underground." London New York : Verso

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External links

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