Radical Feminist Rhetoric and Terrorism: The May 19th Communist Organization

Abstract

Scholars have historically focused on explaining terrorist groups by reference to a variety of external factors believed to prompt politically motivated acts of violence. This essay seeks to extend and sharpen these insights. First, members of the May 19th Communist Organization were alienated by contemporary social justice movements. The members developed strong affective bonds with revolutionary figures which created a sense of differential belonging. Second, their commitment to a Marxist-Leninist utopian ideal functioned as an encyclopedic myth. These two elements provided them with a specific sense of agency, and established a rationale for violence. Several implications follow from these observations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 William Rosenau, “The Dark History of America’s First Female Terrorist Group,” Politico Magazine, May 3, 2020, https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/05/03/us-history-first-women-terrorist-group-191037; William Rosenau, Tonight We Bombed the U.S. Capitol: The Explosive Story of M19, America’s First Female Terrorist Group (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 2019); Lila Thulin, “In the 1980s, a Far-Left, Female-led Domestic Terrorism Group Bombed the U.S. Capitol,” Smithsonian Magazine, January 6, 2020, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1980s-far-left-female-led-domestic-terrorism-group-bombed-us-capitol-180973904/

2 May 19th Communist Organization, “Principles of Unity of the May 19th Communist Organization,” Manifesto, 1979, Dokumen, 7, https://dokumen.tips/download/link/principles-of-unity-of-the-may-19th-communist-organization

3 Bryan Burrough, Days of Rage: America’s Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence (New York, NY: Penguin, 2015), 501–12.

4 The United States Senate, “Historical Highlights: Bomb Explodes in Capitol,” November 7, 1983, https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/bomb_explodes_in_capitol.htm; Associated Press, “Radicals Found Guilty by Jurors in Federal Trial,” The NewYork Times, March 18, 1985, https://www.nytimes.com/1985/03/18/nyregion/radicals-found-guilty-by-jurors-in-federal-trial.html; Associated Press, “3 Radicals Agree to Plead Guilty in Bombing Case,” The New York Times, September 6, 1990, https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/06/us/3-radicals-agree-to-plead-guilty-in-bombing-case.html; Associated Press, “Radical Gets 20-year Term in 1983 Bombing of U.S. Capitol,” The New York Times, December 8, 1990, https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/08/world/radical-gets-20-year-term-in-1983-bombing-of-us-capitol.html; “Headliners; All The Way,” The New York Times, June 6, 1991, https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/16/weekinreview/headliners-all-the-way.html; Robert D. McFadden, “F.B.I. Asserts Fugitives Had a Network of ‘Safe Houses’,” The New York Times, May 13, 1985, https://www.nytimes.com/1985/05/13/nyregion/fbi-asserts-fugitives-had-a-network-of-safe-houses.html; Selwyn Raab, “New York Doctor Held as Fugitive in Brink’s Case,” The New York Times, May 25, 1985, https://www.nytimes.com/1985/05/25/nyregion/new-york-doctor-held-as-fugitive-in-brink-s-case.html; M.A. Farber, “Behind the Brink’s Case: Return of the Radical Left,” The New York Times, February 16, 1982.

5 Associated Press, “Radicals Found Guilty”; Associated Press, “3 Radicals Agree”; Phillip Shenon, “U.S. Charges 7 in the Bombing at U.S. Capitol,” The New York Times, May 12, 1988, https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/12/us/us-charges-7-in-the-bombing-at-us-capitol.html

6 Alan Berkman, Build a Revolutionary Resistance Movement: Communiqués from the North American Armed Clandestine Movement 1982–1985 (Philadelphia, PA: Holmesburg Prison, 1985). The Freedom Archives: Gender and Sexuality Sub Collection, https://www.freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC62_scans/62.CommuniqueBook.UFF.RGR.ARU.pdf; Rosenau, Tonight We Bombed, 2019, “The Dark History,” 2020, 2; Thulin, “In the 1980s,” 2020.

7 Thulin, “In the 1980s,” para. 15; See also Associated Press, “Radicals Found Guilty”; Associated Press, 3 Radicals Agree”; Shenon, “U.S. Charges 7.”

8 Thulin, “In the 1980s,” para. 15.

9 Thulin, “In the 1980s,” para. 17; See also “Principles of Unity,” 10.

10 Rosenau, Tonight We Bombed, 214.

11 Ibid.

12 Daniel E. Georges-Abeyie, “Women as Terrorists,” in Perspectives on Terrorism, ed. L.Z. Freedman and Y. Alexander, 1st ed. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1983), 71–84; Margaret Gonzalez-Perez, “Women Terrorists,” Women’s Rights Law Reporter, 31, no. 23 (2010): 286–98.

13 R. Kim Cragin and Sara A. Daly, Women as Terrorists: Mothers, Recruiters, and Martyrs. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2009), 14–53.

14 Amanda Third, Gender and the Political: Deconstructing the Female Terrorist (New York, NY: Palgrave, 2014), 1–5.

15 Sharon Joy Pickering and Amanda Third, “Castrating Conflict: Gender(ed) Terrorists and Terrorism Domesticated,” Social Alternatives, 22, no. 2, (2003): 8.

16 Christine Sixta, “The Illusive Third Wave: Are Female Terrorists the New ‘New Women’ in Developing Societies?” Journal of Women, Politics and Policy, 29, no. 2, (2008): 271–83.

17 Paige Whaley Eager, From Freedom Fighters to Terrorists: Women and Political Violence (New York, NY: Routledge, 2008), 20. Eager’s view places women in a central role to the success of the cause. By contrast, Cragin and Daly understand women’s roles in terrorist networks as serving a necessary but ancillary function. Eager’s view also speaks to the issue of oppression outlined by Sixta, Third, and Pickering.

18 Cragin and Daly, Women as Terrorists, 8–9.

19 Associated Press, “Radicals Found Guilty”; Associated Press, “3 Radicals Agree”; McFadden, “F.B.I. Asserts”; Raab, “New York Doctor.”

20 McFadden, “F.B.I. Asserts.”

21 Burrough, Days of Rage, 307–308, 530. Burrough’s work provides a strong account of how the underground operated during this time in American history. Specifically, he notes that radical groups also disseminated additional materials amongst themselves such as the mimeographed journal Dragon which, like other journals, provided detailed instructions on bomb making and delivering communiqués anonymously.

22 Joy James, ed. Imprisoned Intellectuals: America’s Political Prisoners Write on Life, Liberation, and Rebellion (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Incorporated, 2003). Accessed August 2, 2023. ProQuest Ebook Central.

23 James, “Imprisoned Intellectuals,” 261.

24 Ibid., 262.

25 Ibid.

26 Ibid., 274.

27 Ibid., 274. From the context of Evans’ statements it is unclear if she is referring to historical acts. However, in the section where the statement is made, all events referenced were events that she claims to have personally witnessed.

28 Ibid., 275.

29 Ibid., 273.

30 See also Robin Morgan, The Word of a Woman: Feminist Dispatches 1968–1992 (New York, NY: Norton, 1992), 49–57; Alyssa A. Samek, “Violence and Identity Politics: 1970s Lesbian-Feminist Discourse and Robin Morgan’s 1973 West Coast Lesbian Conference Keynote Address,” Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 13, no. 3 (2015), 244; and Mona Rocha, The Weatherwomen: Militant Feminists of the Weather Underground (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2020).

31 Associated Press, 1985.

32 Charles J. Stewart, “Championing the Rights of Others and Challenging Evil: The Ego Function in the Rhetoric of Other Directed Social Movements,” Southern Communication Journal 64, no. 2 (Winter 1999), https://doi.org/10.1080/10417949909373125. Stewart examines the ego function in both self-directed and other-directed social movements. M19 is no different. Among the functions outlined by Stewart that also characterize M19 are: the belief in their ability to change the world; a realization of oppression; adopting a siege mentality; and creating a new sense of self identity. However, a key difference for M19 that is not captured by Stewart is the fact that as a lesbian Communist movement, M19 not only expressed concern for the oppressed, but defined their position in relation to others’ oppression. See also James W. Chesebro, John F. Cragan, and Patricia McCullough, “The Small Group Technique of the Radical Revolutionary: A Synthetic Study of Consciousness Raising,” Speech Monographs 40, no. 2 (June 1973), https://doi.org/10.1080/03637757309375788. Additionally, Chesebro, Cragan and McCullough’s work on small group, radical revolutionary consciousness raising provides a useful framework for understanding how the immediate social context can influence the development of a shared consciousness by the members of a radical group.

33 Rosenau, Tonight We Bombed, 6; See also “Principles of Unity,” 6.

34 Rosenau, Tonight We Bombed, 8; Thulin, “In the 1980s.”

35 Berkman, Build a Revolutionary Resistance Movement. See also May 19th Communist Organization “Liberation in Our Lifetime: A Call to Build a Revolutionary, Anti-Imperialist Women’s Liberation Movement,” (March, 1981), n.p., http://urbanguerilla.org/liberation-in-our-lifetime-a-call-to-build-a-revolutionary-anti-imperialist-womens-liberation-movement-1981/.

36 Rosenau as quoted in Thulin, “In the 1980s.”

37 Rosenau, Tonight We Bombed, 9–10.

38 James Mason’s newsletter, “SIEGE” is a Neo-Nazi work that has served as an impetus for disparate National Socialist groups over the years. Originally published for the National Socialist Liberation Front, beginning in 1980 and ending in 1986, “SIEGE” outlines a program of violence predicated on the actions of Charles Manson and other disconnected radical actors. Mason’s work advocates for insurgent activities that he believes will result in rousing the White race. Through violence, Whites will come to see America as a Zionist Occupied Government that seeks to dominate and control them. This parallels the depiction of the government in the writings of M19. However, the members of M19 believe Zionism is a form of White supremacy. It should also be noted that their writings do contain racist and antisemitic remarks throughout.

39 See Patrick Ewick and Susan S. Silbey, “Subversive Stories and Hegemonic Tales: Toward a Sociology of Narrative. Law and Society Review 29, no. 2 (1995): 197–226. All of the instances cited in M19’s manifesto as evidence of worldwide revolution only include those issues that the members were aware of and politically engaged with. Thus, their evidence corresponded only with those causes they knew of or cared to know about.

40 “Principles of Unity,” 7–9.

41 Ibid., 1.

42 Ibid.

43 Ibid., 11.

44 Ibid., 1–2.

45 Ibid.

46 Ibid.

47 Ibid., 9.

48 Ibid.

49 Ibid., 2.

50 “Principles of Unity,” 11.

51 Ibid., 3, 11.

52 Ibid., 3–4, 6–8.

53 Ibid., 4.

54 Ibid.

55 Ibid., 7.

56 Ibid., 2, 4.

57 Ibid., 5, 11.

58 Ibid., 6.

59 Aimee Carrillo Rowe, “Be Longing: Toward a Feminist Politics of Relation,” NWSA Journal 17, no. 2 (2005), 16.

60 Ibid., 18.

61 Ibid., 28.

62 Ibid., 26.

63 “Principles of Unity,” 8.

64 Ibid., 10.

65 Ibid., 7.

66 Carrillow Rowe, “Be Longing,” 16.

67 “Principles of Unity,” 5, 7.

68 Carrillow Rowe, “Be Longing,” esp., 33–35.

69 Mustafa Emirbayer and Ann Mische, “What is Agency?” American Journal of Sociology, 103, no. 4 (1998): 967.

70 Emirbayer and Mische, “What is Agency?” 967–968.

71 Ibid., 969.

72 James, “Imprisoned Intellectuals,” 261–262.

73 Ibid., 266–267.

74 Ibid., 268.

75 “Principles of Unity,” 6.

76 Ibid., 5.

77 Ibid., 10–11.

78 Ibid., 7.

79 Rosenau, Tonight We Bombed, 214.; See also Burrough Days of Rage, 468, 538–539; and Dennis Tourish, “How Cults Can Produce Killers,” Irish Times, July 16, 2005, para. 12, https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/how-cults-can-produce-killers-1.469140.

80 “Principles of Unity,” 10.

81 “Principles of Unity,” 7–8.

82 Northup Frye, The Critical Path: An Essay on the Social Context of Literary Criticism (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1971), 36. See also Louis J. Halle, “Marx’s Religious Drama,” Encounter no. 25 (1965): 29–37; Robert C. Rowland, “On Mythic Criticism,” Communication Studies 41, no. 2 (Summer, 1990): 101–16; Robert C. Rowland, “On a Limited Approach to Mythic Criticism: Rowland’s Rejoinder,” Communication Studies 41, no. 2 (Summer, 1990): 150–160; and Bronislaw Malinowski, Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1954).

83 Rowland, “On Mythic Criticism,” 103.

84 Mark S. Granovetter, “Threshold Models of Collective Behavior,” American Journal of Sociology, 83, no. 6 (May 1978): 1420–43. See also James W. Chesebro, John F. Cagan, and Patricia McCullough, “The Small Group Technique of the Radical Revolutionary.”

85 For evidence of censorship and its role in increasing certainty in radicalized views, see Justin E. Lane, Kevin McCaffree, and F. LeRon Shults, Is Radicalization Reinforced by Social Media Censorship? (Ithaca: Cornell University Library, 2021), https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.12842.

86 James Jasinksi, Sourcebook on Rhetoric: Key Concepts inContemporary Rhetorical Studies (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2001), 107. See also Maurice Charland, “Constitutive Rhetoric: The Case of the Peuple Québécois,” Quarterly Journal of Speech no. 73 (1987), 133–50.