Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA)
The Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) was a California leftist
revolutionary group active from 1973 through the mid 1970s. A primary goal of the organization was the
“gaining of freedom and self-determination and independence for all their
people and races.” The SLA utilized tactics of expropriation, direct action and
armed propaganda to stimulate public awareness and action around issues of
poverty, housing, racism, women’s rights, and prison issues. Despite undertaking
a number of controversial and sometimes polarizing actions, one of the foremost
successes of the SLA was forcing the Hearst family to give away millions of
dollars worth of food from Safeway grocery stores to impoverished communities
in the Bay Area.
Highlights of our collection include scanned copies of the
Dragon, a rare periodical produced by the Bay Area Research Collective in
support of the SLA; original SLA communiqués, statements and publications; and press
releases, flyers and statements from other Bay Area radical groups concerning
SLA actions and ideas. Additionally, we have hundreds of articles taken from
local Bay Area news sources, all pertaining to the SLA and the group’s
activities. Our collection of paper documents is supplemented by our media
holdings primarily derived from local recordings and programs. These include
memorial shows, audio from rallies and news programs and taped communiqués.
Subcollections
-
The Dragon
Periodical in support of the SLA printed monthly by the Bay Area Research Collective.
Documents
Weather Underground February 20, 1974
This pamphlet is from the Weather Underground and commends the SLA for kidnapping Patricia Hearst in order to give food to the poor people. Bernadine Dohrn offers four points in response to the war between the rich and the poor.
Dragon
Publisher: Bay Area Research CollectiveYear: 1975Volume Number: No. 1 AugustFormat: PeriodicalCollection: The Dragon
Table of Contents: BARC's Statement on Dragon, NWLF Chronology, NWLF Communique: GM Bombing, Fuck-the-World-for-Profits: GM Leaflet, NWLF Communique: PG&E Skyline Blvd, NWLF Communique: PG&E San Jose, Second PG&E San Jose Communique, Critique by Orphans of Amerika, NWLF Response, NWLF Communiqe: CDC Bombing, NWLF Communique: PG&E Berkeley, NWLF Letter to the Barb, Response by BARC & Orphans, Red Guerrilla Family Chronology, RGF Letter to the Alternative Media
Dragon
Publisher: Bay Area Research CollectiveYear: 1975Volume Number: No. 2 SeptemberFormat: PeriodicalCollection: The Dragon
Table of Contents: Introduction, Analysis of the Trial of Little and Remiro, Statement from Little and Remiro 1/18/74, Remiro and Little's Trial Statements: 4/4/75 & 4/18/75, Russ Little's Statement at Their Sentencing, Letter from Joe Remiro 8/16/75, On the Trials of Gary Garrison and Cameron Bishop, The Correct Handling of Communiques, New World Liberation Front Statement on Popeye Jackson, Peoples' Forces NWLF Respond to BARC/Orphans Criticism, Peoples' Forces NWLF Open Letter to Prisoners, A Letter to the NWLF, BARC Critique of Peoples' Forces NWLF, Jonathan Jackson/Sam Melville NWLF Communique, Poem from a Locked-Down Comrade
Dragon
Publisher: Bay Area Research CollectiveYear: 1976Volume Number: No. 10 SeptemberFormat: PeriodicalCollection: The Dragon
Table of Contents: Central Command NWLF, Open Letter to BARC, People's Information Relay-1, A Sad Duty, BARC's Reply to the NWLF, Responses on Feminism/Homosexuality, Jim Parker, Ken Como, Dyke Daughter of a CIO Organizer, Dragon: Militant Reformism, Armed Struggle -- Revolutionary Vanguard, Seattle: News Update, Grand Jury Resistance, The Brigade, A Note to Snapdragon from Ed Mead, Criticism of the George Jackson Brigade from a Seattle Collective, New Dawn Infiltrated, Maryland Penitentiary Intercommunal, Survival Collective, News From Boston, California Prisons: On Trial (Remiro and Little), Trial Statements: Emily and Bill Harris