"The Spirit of the People Will Be Stronger than the Pig's Technology"
Black Power Movement
This wall poster was created by the Black Panther Party and encourages revolution.
Black Panther Party
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
ca. late-1960s or early-1970s
poster
A assurer... la relève
Quebec Separatist Movement
This poster promotes the Front de Liberation du Quebec, a radical separatist group within the broader Quebec sovereignty movement. The FLQ adhered to a Marxist-Leninist ideology and engaged in a number of violent paramilitary attacks between 1963 and 1970. A 1963 leaflet that was widely distributed in Montreal included the following inscription:
"Suicide-commandos of the Quebec Liberation Front have as their mission to completely destroy, by systematic sabotage:
1. "All the symbols and colonial institutions (federal), in particular the RCMP and the armed forces.
2. "All the information media of the colonial language (English) which holds us in contempt.
3. "All enterprises and commercial establishments which practice discrimination against Quebec people, which do not use French as their primary language, which have signs in the colonial language (English).
4. "All the factories that discriminate against French-speaking workers"
In general, FLQ members embraced “propaganda of the deed,” a term that referred to political action that was aimed at providing an example for other liberationist groups. The group issued a variety of statements that called for a socialist insurrection against oppressors they identified with "Anglo-Saxon" imperialism. They also encouraged the overthrow of the Quebec government, the independence of Quebec from Canada and the creation of a French-speaking "workers' society.” The FLQ enjoyed popularity among the broader global New Left.
FLQ violence reached its peak during the late-1960s with the bombing of the Montreal Stock Exchange in 1969 and what came to be known as the October Crisis on 1970, when the group kidnapped Canadian Trade Commissioner, James Cross, and later Labor Minister Pierre Laporte, who was then killed by a FLQ cell. The October Crisis led to a decline in support for the French separatist movement and a severe crackdown by the Canadian government. In total, the FLQ conducted at least 160 violent incidents during this period, resulting in property damage and the deaths of eight people and a number of other injuries. As support for the FLQ waned in Canada, a small number of members fled to Cuba.
Front de Liberation du Quebec
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
ca. late-1960s or early-1970s
poster
Crazies
New Left
During the late-1960s, the Crazies was a small, anarchist, New Left cell in lower-Manhattan that included Sam Melville, a former engineering technician known as “the mad bomber”; anti-war activist and writer for RAT, Sharon Krebs; Krebs’ partner, Robin Palmer, an “ex-Navy, ex-porn star, ex-deep-sea diver” turned radical; and, George Demmerle, a FBI informant who called himself “Prince Crazy” and known for wearing a purple cape and pink Roman centurion’s helmet. Members of the Crazies believed it was necessary to “bring the war home” by staging political stunts, instigating disorder and bombings. They were critical of “corporate imperialism,” specifically the US involvement in the Vietnam War, as well as social and racial inequality. They referred to these actions, which were not aimed at taking life but destroying property, as “responsible terrorism,” patterned on the actions of IRA members in Ireland and FLQ members in Canada. Members of the group helped Canadian FLQ members, who had bombed about a dozen targets over a six-month period, including the Montreal Stock Exchange, flee the country and hijack an airplane to Cuba. In 1969, they also infiltrated a $200 a plate political fundraiser at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Disguised as waiters, Palmer and Krebs stripped naked and presented pigs’ heads on platters to the dining politicians and wealthy donors. Some members of the group also participated in the theft of explosives from a warehouse in the Bronx, which were then used by Melville and others in a series of 8 bombings in New York City in 1969 and 1970, including United Fruit, Chase Manhattan, Standard Oil and an army headquarters, among other sites. Some members of The Crazies were also connected to the Weather Underground and other radical organizations during this period. Sam Melville, who was arrested and imprisoned at Attica, was killed during the Attica Prison Uprising.
The Crazies
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
late-1960s
Button
Physical Object
Liberated Guardian, November 25, 1970
New Left
The National Guardian was a radical, left newsweekly published out of New York City from 1948-1992. The paper was established by James Aronson, Cedric Belfrage, who were committed activists for the Progressive Party and Henry Wallace presidential campaign, as well as John McManus and Josiah Gitt, both liberal newspaper men, though Gitt quickly dropped out. In addition to the Progressive Party, the newspaper also held ties with American communists and the labor movement. The Cold War took a toll on the newspaper, with the decline of the Progressive Party and the rise of McCarthyism in the U.S. During the post-WWII era, the newspaper focused coverage on opposition to the Cold War and militarism, support for emerging anti-colonial struggles around the world, defense of those targeted by McCarthyism, advocacy for the black freedom movement. The newspaper continued to hold a cozy relationship with the Communist Party U.S.A., though it did break with the group over some issues, particularly support for independent political action beyond party control. The 1960s-era brought a new period of political rancor within the editorial ranks of the newspaper. In the end, the periodical changed leadership and renamed itself The Guardian. The Guardian took an increasingly Maoist line, supporting armed struggles against colonialism. During this period, the newspaper attempted to forge ties with SDS and SNCC, writing that "The duty of a radical newspaper is to build a radical movement.” "We are movement people acting as journalists," the Guardian′s staff now proudly declared. The Liberated Guardian formed out of a workers strike at The Guardian newspaper in New York City in the Spring of 1970. The Liberated Guardian was notable for it strong stand in favor of armed struggle. An ideological and political split within the ranks of the Liberated Guardian staff led to the newspaper’s demise in late-1973. The original Guardian pressed on and took on a more hard-line Marxist-Leninist ideology in the late-1970s, eroding that newspaper’s reputation for investigative journalism. Readership and support for The Guardian declined through the 1980s and the paper ceased publication in 1992.
In this issue, articles focus on Malcolm X’s assassination; Black Panther Party; Timothy Leary and armed struggle; the privatization of imperial intervention; local short reports on revolutionary struggle in the U.S.; liberation struggle in Uruguay; draft counseling; the Seattle Liberation Front; the War Measures Act in Canada; Quebec independence movement; police repression in Canada; Palestinian liberation; lessons from the Jordan wars; the CIA in Israel; review of the film Finally Got the News, on the League of Revolutionary Black Workers; labor strike at Fiat in Italy; black workers in the auto industry; corporations that make antipersonnel munitions; report on peace talks in Paris; tenants rights; local briefs; indigenous people in Columbia and armed struggle; letters to the editor.
Liberated Guardian Worker's Collective
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
November 25, 1970
underground newspaper
Liberated Guardian, vol. II, no. 5, September 1971
New Left
The National Guardian was a radical, left newsweekly published out of New York City from 1948-1992. The paper was established by James Aronson, Cedric Belfrage, who were committed activists for the Progressive Party and Henry Wallace presidential campaign, as well as John McManus and Josiah Gitt, both liberal newspaper men, though Gitt quickly dropped out. In addition to the Progressive Party, the newspaper also held ties with American communists and the labor movement. The Cold War took a toll on the newspaper, with the decline of the Progressive Party and the rise of McCarthyism in the U.S. During the post-WWII era, the newspaper focused coverage on opposition to the Cold War and militarism, support for emerging anti-colonial struggles around the world, defense of those targeted by McCarthyism, advocacy for the black freedom movement. The newspaper continued to hold a cozy relationship with the Communist Party U.S.A., though it did break with the group over some issues, particularly support for independent political action beyond party control. The 1960s-era brought a new period of political rancor within the editorial ranks of the newspaper. In the end, the periodical changed leadership and renamed itself The Guardian. The Guardian took an increasingly Maoist line, supporting armed struggles against colonialism. During this period, the newspaper attempted to forge ties with SDS and SNCC, writing that "The duty of a radical newspaper is to build a radical movement.” "We are movement people acting as journalists," the Guardian′s staff now proudly declared. The Liberated Guardian formed out of a workers strike at The Guardian newspaper in New York City in the Spring of 1970. The Liberated Guardian was notable for it strong stand in favor of armed struggle. An ideological and political split within the ranks of the Liberated Guardian staff led to the newspaper’s demise in late-1973. The original Guardian pressed on and took on a more hard-line Marxist-Leninist ideology in the late-1970s, eroding that newspaper’s reputation for investigative journalism. Readership and support for The Guardian declined through the 1980s and the paper ceased publication in 1992.
This special issue of the Liberated Guardian includes a variety of articles that explore the murder of George Jackson and the circumstances surrounding his killing.
Liberated Guardian Worker's Collective
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
September 1971
underground press
RAT Subterranean News, February 6-23, 1970
New Left
RAT Subterranean News was published in New York, starting in March of 1968 and was edited by Jeff Shero, Alice Embree and Gary Thiher, who had come North from Austin, Texas, where they worked on The Rag, another important underground paper. Whereas the East Village Other represented the counterculture point of view, RAT had a left political orientation. In early 1970, women’s liberation activists took over RAT and turned it into a women-only periodical to challenge sexism within the New Left. This issue is the first after the take-over of RAT and covers a wide range of topics, including Afeni Shakur and the Panther 21; letters to the editor; women’s take-over of RAT; feminist critique of the New Left; the ambush of New York police in Harlem; the emergence of strong women leadership in the Weather Underground; Kathleen Cleaver in Algeria; sabotage; theft and activism; Boston students protesting a lecture by S.I. Hayakawa; Berkeley women take-over of karate class; a Gay Liberation Front protest at a San Francisco radio station; gas masks; women challenging doctors on abortion; sex and sexism; “Are Men Really the Enemy?” exam; John Sinclair release from prison; Palestinian women and armed struggle in Jordan; obscenity trial against Che; women in China; a Stockton, California, housewives strike; poetry; film review of “Prologue…”
R.A.T. Publications, Inc
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
February 6-23, 1970
underground press
Red Morning, no. 6, Summer 1971
Canadian New Left
Red Morning was a Canadian "revolutionary organization" located in Toronto during the early-1970s that operated in a "democratically centralist way." In this issue, articles focus on why the youth will make the revolution; the organizing philosophy of Red Morning; Wacheea, a tent city for young people; demonstration in Queen's Park; police repression; Toronto alternative press; Beggar's Banquet music event; Fabulous Fury Freak Brothers; free legal clinic; Edmonton riots; Sir George trials; release of Charles Gagnon and Pierre Vallieres; struggle in the U.S.; Chicano activism in Albuquerque; Latin American armed struggle; a "Free Paul Rose" insert poster and article; global armed revolution; self-defense during street fighting; women in jail; birth control; survival resources; Kingston Prison trial; Red Morning Program.
Red Morning
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Summer 1971
underground press
The Black Panther, August 15, 1970
Black Power
Inside this issue of The Black Panther are multiple articles that speak to the harassment by law enforcement against party members selling the Newspaper in Winston Salem, North Carolina, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. This issue also highlights how the Federal Bureau of Investigation infiltrated the Black Panthers with trained informants and created a fake newspaper called the "Bay State Banner." Other items include an article on “revolutionary suicide”; short pieces on the Soledad Brother; Alabama Liberation Front; Chicago Liberation School; National Chicano Moratorium Committee; police brutality in Hartford; Joan Kelley; Bobby Seale’s appeal; a call for justice for the "Los Siete de la Raza”; a two page spread of letters written to Huey Newton from children at the Black Panther Party Liberation School in San Francisco thanking him and the Panthers for the school; a critique of the American Constitution explaining institutional racism, particularly in the prison system; a message from Huey Newton to the People’s Revolutionary Constitutional Convention; a critique off integration; the N.C.C.F.; and, artwork by Emory Douglas.
The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
August, 15, 1970
underground press
The Black Panther, January 9, 1971
Black Power
In this January 9, 1971 issue of The Black Panther, articles include: a statement of support for the National Liberation Front in Vietnam in the name of international solidarity; a map of the U.S. showing incidents of "Guerilla Acts of Sabotage and Terrorism”; an open letter to "revolutionary children" highlighting the activism and history of the Black Panther Party; coverage of the trial of Ericka Huggins and Bobby Seale, including articles of support from allies of the Black Panthers and a letter from Huggins herself on "How to Love During a Revolution”; black draft resistance; the New York 21 case; the Jonathan Jackson Commune; the case of Monk Teba; the Juan Farina Defense Committee; Chicago Free Busing Program; G.I. Rights; police brutality in Baltimore, Toledo and Las Vegas; a U.N. Report on racism in the U.S.; a Solidarity Activities Calendar; international news shorts; the Ten Point Program; a statement of party rules; advertisements for The Lumpen, sponsored by the Chicano Revolutionary Party; and, artwork by Emory Douglas.
The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
January 9, 1971
underground press
The Black Panther, October 10, 1970
Black Power
Printed on October 10, 1970, this issue of The Black Panther is filled with various articles from other Black Panther Party chapters across the U.S., one particular article from the Philadelphia chapter compares police brutality in Philadelphia to the 1968 My Lai Massacre that took place during the Vietnam War. Another article from the Baltimore chapter highlights terrible conditions in the South Baltimore community due to episodes of police brutality and poor housing conditions. In Boston, the Panthers write about the right to free public school but are denied the right to walk freely to and from Curley School. The Bay Area National Lawyers Guild includes a "Guide to Know Your Rights" that outlines an individuals rights when stopped by law enforcement officials. Also included in this issue are articles about police repression in several cities; the case of Willie Turner, Jr; the Winston-Salem N.C.C.F.; General Motors; capitalism and dope; welfare system; Neo-colonialism and genocide; the trials of Bobby Seale and Ericka Huggins; a youth conference; a Boston bank robbery; a letter from the "Soledad 7" thanking the Black Panther Party for their support; international news shorts; and, art by Emory Douglas.
The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
October 10, 1970
underground press
Viva Che
New Left
On an orange field, this button contains the words, “Viva Che,” in black. Representing the cult of personality Che Guevara developed internationally following his death in 1967, this button signifies the international appeal of Guevara, particularly his armed involvement in the Cuban Revolution and Bolivia campaign. Guevara embodied the image and philosophy of intellectual Marxism coupled with guerilla warfare tactics. Wearing a Che t-shirt or button, or hanging a Che poster on the wall of a bedroom or office, was meant to signify a person's own (aspired to) radicalism.
unknown
Roz Payne
Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
ca. late-1960s
Button
Physical Object