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
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The Dragon
Periodical in support of the SLA printed monthly by the Bay Area Research Collective.
Documents
Free the SLA
This statement written from the "underground" critiques the current revolutionary groups and provides directions for how the Left should continue. Its idea to unite the masses includes building a non-racist movement, incorporating the ideology of feminism into all theory and practice, and creating organizations capable of surviving repression from oppositional forces.
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. 9 JuneFormat: PeriodicalCollection: The Dragon
Table of Contents: Feminism & Homosexuality: New World Liberation Front, The Women's Question is a Class Question: Weather Underground Organization, Responses from: BARC, Emily Harris, Left Bank Political Collective, Peoples' Information Relay-1 NWLF, A Working Class Lesbian Collective, Edward Mead, NWLF Scumlord Campaign, BARC Critique of NWLF Campigns, NWLF Open Letter to BARC, NWLF on Zapata Unit, Seattle Under Attack, To the George Jackson Brigade, Shorts, The Boston Courthouse Bombing, Criticism PIR-1, Fred Hampton Unit