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.
Don't Be Conned by Ruling Class Lies!!!
This article by the Bay Area Research Collective presents distortions of the SLA by the media then follows up with facts from SLA communique to prove the media wrong.
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. 3 OctoberFormat: PeriodicalCollection: The Dragon
Table of Contents: BARC Finances, These Days, Statement from Bill and Emily Harris, Wendy Yoshimura, from Prison, Support from Martin Sostre, Network Against Psychiatric Assault: Demonstration, Communique: George Jackson Brigade, New World Liberation Front: Communique, Coalinga bombing, Poem, Front de Liberation du Quebec, Orphans of Amerika: Open Letter to NWLF, Four Trials, Psychiatric Assault, Behavior Modification = Mind Control, George Jackson Brigade Bombs Washington State Department of Corrections in Olympia
Dragon
Publisher: Bay Area Research CollectiveYear: 1975Volume Number: No. 4 NovemberFormat: PeriodicalCollection: The Dragon
Table of Contents: Introduction, Letter from Emily Harris, October 27, 1975, Lolita Lebron and Blanca Canales, Susan Saze Statement, June 9, 1975, On Being Underground -- Katherine Power and Susan Saxe, Colation Against Psychiatric Assault: Demonstration, A Collective Letter to the Women's Movement from the Women of the Weather Underground, WUO Women's Brigade bombs Dept of H.E.W., March 1974, Poem, Statement from Sisters of the Symbionese Liberation Army, October 21, 1975, Militant Women: a Brief History, Open Letter to the Fighting Forces, Puerto Rican Solidarity, New World Liberation Front Communique: Fort Ord
Dragon
Publisher: Bay Area Research CollectiveYear: 1975Volume Number: No. 5 DecemberFormat: PeriodicalCollection: The Dragon
Table of Contents: Letter from the Smybionese Liberation Army December/75, Our Back Pages: B.A.R.C., Letters, Nam Brothers: Ashanti, Black Liberation Army, The Weather Underground Organization film, Blurbs, Politics in Command: Weather Underground, Women's Gun Pamphlet: book review, New World Liberation Front, structure, New Worl Liberation Front, community health strategy, The Zapata Unit: B.A.R.C., An Open Letter to the People, the Zapata Unit, and New Dawn.
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. 7 February - MarchFormat: PeriodicalCollection: The Dragon
Table of Contents: BARC on Patricia Hearst, New World Liberation Front Bombs San Simeon Castle, Bill and Emily Harris: A Political Statement, Joe Remiro and Russ Little's Trial Ends, Attend the Trial of Eugene Allen and Ernest Graham, Analysis of the Weather Underground by: Ken Como and Anthony Bottom, Steven Soliah Stands Trial in Sacramento, Activity of the New World Liberation Front, NWLF Communique: Scumlords, NWLF Communique: PG&E, BARC: On Reprinting Arms Instructions, The Urban Guerrilla: Now Available, Emiliano Zapata Unit Busts, Young Dragon, a Poem.