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
H.E.W. is an Enemy of Women
This communique by the Women's Brigade of the Weather Underground states that the actions taken by SLA to give food to the impoverished highlight the amount of people in poverty and in need. They argue that the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare denies women their needs and rights and their should be a revolution against the organization.
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.
Some Thoughts on the S.L.A
This pamphlet by the Bay Area Research Collective analyzes the successes and mistakes of the Symbionese Liberation Army in chronological order.
Dragon
Publisher: Bay Area Research CollectiveYear: 1976Volume Number: No. 6 JanuaryFormat: PeriodicalCollection: The Dragon
Table of Contents: BARC Finances, Shorts, Racism Among Prison Supporters, On Grand Juries, On Criticism, On Bio-Dossiers, Guerrilla Activity and Analysis, New World Liberation Front/Community Health Campaign, George Jackson Brigade, On and From the Zapata Unit, Red Guerrilla Family Bombs the Iranian Consulate, Poem: Prison Is, Women In Prison at North Carolina, Atmore-Holman Bros. and Inmates for Action, Nam Bros. Part 2, How Did the Dragon Get Its Fire?
Dragon
Publisher: Bay Area Research CollectiveYear: 1976Volume Number: No. 8 AprilFormat: PeriodicalCollection: The Dragon
Table of Contents: Open Letter To the Movement: BARC, George Jackson Brigade, A Comrade on the Weather Underground, New World Liberation Front, Red Guerrilla Family, Black Liberation Army, Political Fugitives Statement, Graham and Allen Sentenced to Death, California Institute for Women
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
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
Declaration of Revolutionary War & the Symbionese Program
