DARING TO STRUGGLE, FAILING TO WIN: The Red Army Faction's 1977 Campaign of Desperation

In 1970 a small group of West German revolutionaries decided to go underground, to set up safehouses, and learn the skills of the urban guerilla. They were the Red Army Faction.

Seven years later, almost all of the original combatants were in prison or dead, yet, through their example, they had inspired a militant and illegal support movement, comrades willing to take up arms in defense of the prisoners.

1977 was to be a year of reckoning. Through daring attacks and devastating errors, the West German guerilla brought their society to the brink, mounting one of the most desperate and incredible campaigns of asymmetrical warfare ever waged in postwar europe. That they failed is no excuse not to learn their story, to see who they were and what they fought for -- and, most tragically, to bear witness to the lenghts the state would go to silence them, to make sure no one would ever again make such an attempt to free the prisoners. This pamphlet is our very modest introduction to this story.

"On Monday September 5, 1977, the Siegfried Hausner Commando took hanns-Martin Schleyer, the President of the Federal Association, captive. Regarding the conditions for his release, we will repeat our first communique to the federal government, which we have learnt has been suppressed since yesterday by the security staff. That is, all aspects of the search for us must be immediately discontinued or Schleyer will be shot immediately. As soon as the manhunt stops, Schleyer will be released under the following conditions:

RAF prisoners: Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin, Jan Carl Raspe, Verena Becker, Werner Hoppe, Karl-Heinz Dellwo, Hanna Krabbe, Bernd Rossner, Ingrid Schubert, and Irmgard Moller must be released in exchange for Schleyer, and must be free to travel to a country of their choosing. Gunter Sonnenburg, who is unfit for imprisonment due to a gunshot injury he suffered during his arrest, must be immediately released...

We are assuming that Schmidt, who demonstrated in Stockholm how quickly he can make decisions, will be equally quick this time given his personal connection to this greasy magnate of the cream of the national business world." -- Siegfried Hausner, Commando, September 6, 1977"