NCJ Number
107565
Date Published
1986
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This historical essay on the Red Army Group (RAG), also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang, examines its roots in 19th century anarchism, ideology, organizational network, and urban guerilla strategies in West Germany.
Abstract
After reviewing the RAG's acts of terrorism, robbery, and extortion from 1968 to 1970, the paper emphasizes the RAG's belief that revolutionaries must be armed and their acts of violence must be carried out against individuals. The growth of the RAG network between 1970 and 1972 is described, as are the types of people attracted to the movement. The paper notes that most RAG activists were students from middle-class families and that symphathizers were from the professions. In discussing psychological causes, the essay examines the generation gap in West Germany, women in the RAG, and the influence of Third World revolutionary movements. Horst Mahler's and Ulrike Meinhof's writings on RAG Marxist-Leninist doctrine and urban guerilla strategy are analyzed. Other ideological issues discussed include the relationship of the avant garde and the proletariat, the role of youth in the revolution, and terrorist tactics. The paper examines how symphathetic lawyers aided the RAG movement and the West German police response to the RAG. Brief biographies of RAG leaders' are appended. Footnotes.