Jeremy Varon

Three good pamphlets on the Weather, the RAF, and revolutionary violence, but Varon doesn't really pull them together. That didn't bother me, since I'm independently interested in each of those three pamphlets; it might bother someone who was actually looking for comparative history.

But, unusually, he does a great job bringing out the emotional and intellectual roots of both groups' turn to violence. He argues that the Weather Underground ended up where they did because they wanted to show more oppose the war; help radical African-American movements; and renounce their *structural privilege*. Combine this with the general sixties fascination with transgression, and the desire to shock, and you end up with a pretty good basis for violent action. For the RAF, on the other hand, he lays more emphasis on a possible desire to compensate for the lack of German opposition to the Nazis, and to break the chain of German guilt.

Intellectually, both groups thought themselves into a corner, as did many sixites (soi disant) Marxists: violence was thought to change one's subjectivity and break internalized norms; it would function as an example for the Revolutionary Subject of working class youth, or as a sign to anti-imperialists in Vietnam or other non-Western countries that the white middle class was with them. Violence was also a way to prove one's authenticity, realness, aliveness and various other nonsensical existentialist qualities.

So far from being pathological in any way, these two groups are perfectly comprehensible.

Varon doesn't point out--probably for good reason--that most of their assumptions still circulate on the left, only instead of leading people to bomb empty buildings, they lead to constant online bickering and complaining that x isn't aware enough of his/her privilege; to endless, boring attempts epater the bourgeoisie; and they end up essentially immobilizing a large number of people who want to make the world a better place, but can't, because to suggest that you have an idea that might help someone else would be so crypto-imperialistic, unless they happened to have that idea too. Let's just hope the current, internet-enabled, low-intensity criticism-self-criticism sessions don't end up driving everyone (back) into the arms of the usual political villains. show less

The best (and certainly the most even-handed) book on its subject that I have read.