Rote Armee Fraktion: Red Army Sick Man

Stormy sixties

The second half of the sixties for the group of capitalist countries was vivid, memorable and not very pleasant. Unsuccessful war in Vietnam. The discontent of not knowing the harsh reality of the Second World Post-War Generation. Riots and protests. Pretended to undermine the hippy movement in America. 1968 student demonstrations in Europe.

And the consequence is a second wind for ultra-left ideas. Their final victory did not seem so far off. Moreover, both enthusiastic supporters and opponents. The air was electrified. It seemed that the world was on the verge of another tectonic change.

The confrontation of the left and right again gained strength. The worldview split, as in the 30s, again led to shooting and broken skulls. In June 1967, a leftist student Benno Onesorg was killed during a demonstration. Less than a year later, the right-wing (supposedly) radical shot at the young Marxist politician Rudi Duchke. Wounded in the head. The left took revenge by organizing pogroms in a conservative book publishing house - they smashed the office and set fire to the trucks.

In such circumstances, the future "Red Army" was born - an organization whose name rattled throughout Germany until the end of the 90s.

The spring of 1968 stood out for Europe during youth protests. Against this background, organizations like RAF grew

Drama with circus elements

The tragedy began with a farce on the verge of clowning.

In April 1968, shortly before major student unrest in neighboring France, four left-wing people gathered in Frankfurt am Main. One of them, the clear leader of the company, Andreas Baader, was the founder of a shelter for homeless children. Gudrun Enslin, the only woman of the four, was engaged in book publishing. Two more did not have time to become famous for this.

All these wonderful people carried out their first action against the hated capitalist system - set fire to one of the city department stores. A few days later they were found and tried to punish them by rolling 3 years in prison. It didn’t work out - Baader and his friends immediately declared that it was not a craving for destruction for the sake of it, but a “protest against the Vietnam War”. The left responded quickly. Butch rose about the "excessively cruel punishment." And in the end, the defendants went on bail.

True, Baader did not even think in a civilized manner of going to the police station. Instead, he fled from his bail with friends, having rolled out a whole concept of urban guerrilla warfare - that is, ordinary terrorism, which at that time was known to the world for more than a dozen years.

Gudrun Enslin and Andreas Baader

But in April 1970, Baader was caught and returned to prison - he ran into a routine verification of documents. But less than a month later he was released - his comrades broke into a penitentiary institution and opened fire from pistols, mortally wounding a prison librarian.

The raid was led by Ulrike Meinhof, a clever intellectual, activist, ultra-left journalist. Her "cover" - the desire to interview Baader - became the key to the success of the whole thing. Everything came out as suddenly as possible. Few of the prison guards could have suggested that, albeit a radical, but well-known journalist, would put both her and other people's lives at stake in order to get the city guerilla theorist out of prison.

But she did it. And she went underground with the rest of the RAF, the same Rote Armee Fraktion, who tied herself with the blood of innocent people. There was no turning back now.

Palestinian experience

Staying in Germany after such a “performance” would be a bad idea. The RAF quickly found where to go - to Jordan, to the training camp of Arab militants from Fatah, the Palestine National Liberation Movement. Those then were determined to develop ties with other radicals, and welcomed, if not all, then very many.

The Germans were taught the very city guerilla that Baader's followers longed for. Do not forget the "all-military" things like fire training. For a while everything went well, and everyone had the feeling that both the Palestinians and the left radicals were doing something mutually beneficial.

Then the Fatahites looked at the Germans better. It turned out that in their free time, they get drunk, sunbathe naked and do not forget about promiscuous sexual intercourse. In a word, they behave as a commune of armed and not afraid of hippie violence.

Ulrike Meinhof

Palestinians were embraced by revolutionary nationalism, but in all other respects proved to be conservative people. And very quickly, the dismissed Germans began to annoy them. Therefore, the Arabs "asked them from here" in a good way - until they had to in a bad way. And I had to return to Germany.

From robberies to terrorism

Arriving at home, the radicals recalled the experience of the experience of Russian colleagues from the past: Socialist-Revolutionaries, Anarchists, Bolsheviks and others. And they took up the "ex" - a robbery in order to raise money for revolutionary activity. Cases were carried out famously - the “peaceful people” were not spared by the radicals, no, no, but leaving someone’s corpse after another robbery. And the number of wounded generally exceeded fifty.

But what terrified the townspeople inspired other radicals. RAF has become a great role model. With each new robbery, new left-handed cells grew like mushrooms after rain. Inspired by the decisiveness of their “teachers," they also resorted to violence with pleasure.

Having accumulated money, in May 1972, Baader began to blow up cars near American military institutions and police stations. Once the radicals even tried to kill a German judge. The result of their boisterous activities were corpses and many wounded.

It was no longer possible to turn a blind eye to this. The RAF problem was taken seriously, and a large raid organized soon yielded results. By summer, most of the instigators (Baader, Meinhof, and Enslin), as well as less important members, had fallen into the clutches of justice, and, as a result, had naturally ended up in jail.

Pull out at all costs

The problem seemed to be resolved. But the leaders and in conclusion managed to keep in touch with followers through lawyers. And they made new terrorist attacks in attempts to achieve their release - knowing full well that any “legal” way would provide them with nothing but a prison cell.

Hans-Martin Schleyer, leader of the Union of West German Industrialists, abducted by the RAF. As a result, he was executed.

Again explosions, new attacks. In November 1974, the radicals finally reached the judicial corps - it was not someone who was impudently shot dead, but the whole chairman of the Supreme Court. And in February 1975, the authorities made a grave mistake. Left-wing radicals kidnapped one of the major German politicians. He was traded for the five fighters sitting in custody. They immediately flew to the Arabs, beyond the limits of German jurisdiction.

Now the RAF realized that the power can be "bent". And only intensified efforts.

After the bacchanalia fell on the head with new attacks and abductions, the authorities realized the mistake. They removed the old lawyers and did not let the new ones. The prisoners went on a hunger strike in protest - in earnest, without pretense, so that some died. Everything is useless - the security forces of Germany clearly decided that they would not play more according to the rules of the terrorists.

From time to time, old friends from Palestine also tried to pull out the RAF leaders - in the summer of 1976 they hijacked a plane and set forth, among other things, relevant requirements. But they were ingloriously killed by the Israelis after a daring raid in Uganda, where the terrorists landed with local authorities and landed a plane.

All new VIPs were stolen and killed - large industrialists and people at the level of the prosecutor general. Hijacked another plane. To no avail.

No man - no problem?

In the late 1970s, suicide ranks among members of the top of the RAF. The first was Ulrike Meinhof - she committed suicide in 1976. The rest did the same the following year - apparently, amid unsuccessful attempts at their release.

Of course, many immediately wondered over doubts: did anyone help Baader, Enslin and others? The way out seemed to be too tempting - to deprive the terrorists of the super targets in one fell swoop. However, there is no special difference: if the top of the RAF was indeed killed by the German security forces, it is difficult to feel sorry for them. Baader and friends spat in German society - it was wiped off. Then the society spat in them - they drowned.

Be that as it may, the deaths of the elite really influenced the radicals. Remaining in the wake of the RAF militants continued to blow up senior officials and businessmen right up to 1991. But this was no longer a left-wing organization at the peak of revolutionary sentiment among young people. Times have changed, and now terrorists acted more from subcultural moments. They killed in spite, and not in the name of a great goal - there was no longer any faith in the coming world revolution.

The last liquidation of RAF militants occurred in 1993, and in 1998 the organization announced the dissolution. Veiledly promising, of course, to return. But no one else heard of her.

Some militants, who received 5-6 terms for their "art", still walk somewhere among the Germans. They behaved well, repented (at least they were able to convince the prison authorities), and came up with parole - German laws in this sense are quite liberal. Nobody knows where they are: the German prison system released them quietly. For obvious reasons, former RAF members themselves prefer not to recall their past.

Comments

[andrewkor]

The role of the Stasi in all this bacchanalia has not been revealed!

[Olgovich]

It’s significant, I think, that today there are no such people in Germany who are ready to die for their ideas,

[Blacksmith 55]

Olgovich, now they are not fighting for an idea, for existence.
In recent years, there have been several attacks on collector cars. No culprits were found, but the handwriting indicates RA Fraktion.
According to the press, three of this organization are still alive and underground. You need to live on something, it’s officially impossible to get settled, they’ll catch right away.

[vladcub]

Blacksmith, and this is not a fact: 1) RAF self-dissolved really or not, the question is different. 2) Where is the guarantee that some other organizations do not work under RAF? There are many cases in the history of forensics when robbers or terrorists imitate their predecessors

[Blacksmith 55]

I agree, not a fact. But everything points to that. There the bullets were examined, the weapon was "exposed".

[vladcub]

Generally, "trunks" have a "habit" of changing owners. How many cases have S. slapped someone and sold the "trunk". Sometimes the "trunk" goes through five or six arms and into the G.
In addition, I have a doubt: in Germany, pistols are sold freely, and if this is so, then it must be down to store the illuminated "barrel". Submachine guns are not in short supply on the black market now. There was information about this in the media: at the end of the 90s, weapons entered the CIS through the FRG. It seems that there was a joint operation of the special services of Germany and Russia.

[Blacksmith 55]

I wonder where you got such information that guns are sold freely in Germany? It is in the United States that you can buy a barrel, but not in Germany, of course you can, but there are necessary conditions. Firstly, the psychologist must give the go-ahead, secondly, one must be in the corresponding society, and in addition there must be 2 safes, for weapons, and ammunition. And naturally, the police should be in the know.
Gas can be bought more freely, you need the so-called Kleiner Waffenschein, which is issued by the police, and believe me, not everyone will give it.

[Talgarets]

I have a complicated attitude towards this and similar organizations. On the one hand, there are many, too many random, unplanned victims, and on the other, a willingness to abandon a comfortable existence for the sake of an idea.
Most young people have uncomplicated goals, without imagination: an expensive chick, an expensive car, expensive food and drink. The ideal served to society is a middle-level manager who gets drunk in the trash before the weekend and on holidays, drunkenness for the sake of drunkenness.
Against this background, those who challenge the system, seek to change it, unwittingly attract attention.
On the other hand, what practical results have they achieved? They scared the public, made a bad PR for the communist movement. In fact, these are criminals behind the protest ideology.

[Aviator_]

In general, I agree with you. But what is in this communist movement? The absolute absence of any idea whatsoever on a new state structure. Rather, armed hippies.

[Reptiloid]

I accidentally learned about this organization in the first decade of this century. Literally a few lines were in one of the new encyclopedias.
I wonder the time of the end of the organization .....
. The punctuality of the Germans in collecting and storing data is known. The impression that much is not yet open.

[Sergey M. Karasev]

Rather, armed hippies.

No. Hippies can't be armed. Pacifism is a fundamental principle of the hippie movement. No wonder the words "hippie" and "pacifist" have become practically synonymous. The closest thing to the RAF from the informal crowd, IMHO, are punks, especially their politicized left-anarchist branch. No wonder the heyday of the RAF coincided with the heyday of punk culture.

[Aviator_]

It seems so. Although it is not clear what these declassified hippies and other punks lived on. Have you eaten from rubbish bins?

[Sergey M. Karasev]

Quote: Aviator_

It seems so. Although it is not clear what these declassified hippies and other punks lived on. Have you eaten from rubbish bins?

And so too. They begged ("askali"), sang songs in crowded places with a hat. Parents sponsored students and shkolota in the expectation that sooner or later they would get mad. Many of those who were older had jobs and considered it their duty to financially support the party.
But, basically, they lived poorly. Those who were wealthier, as a rule, were "posers", and not real hippies and punks.

[vladcub]

In addition, there are various Sava Morozovs. An example from the revolutionary history of Russia. When the congress of the RSDLP was held in London, the organizers were faced with a lack of money. They were copied by some local philanthropist. All delegates to the congress signed a commitment to repay the debt after the victory of the revolution in Russia. And this debt was paid by the Soviet government in the 30s. (Maikov "Memoirs of the Soviet Ambassador in London")
And why not assume that some philanthropist did not sponsor the RAF? Can anyone remember that there was a lot of information in the media that: RAF, red brigades and IRA were interconnected and sponsored by Libya?

[Kostadinov]

Quote: andrewkor

The role of the Stasi in all this bacchanalia has not been revealed!

If the Stasi played any role, it was only that they helped the West German police.

[Kronos]

The problem was that individual terror without Revolution is useless

[depressant]

Mr. Sherzad, great!
Capacitive, extremely informative style, read in one go.
I knew practically nothing about this organization. Probably, because in Brezhnev’s time these people discredited the idea of ​​socialism, and when we still saw a transition to capitalism under the USSR, then it’s his idea. There was silence. Something, of course, leaked to the press, but without the right value judgments, just the right ones. I remember talking more about the red brigades in Italy.
Thank! Happy New Year! Write more often.

[Nekarmadlen]

The material is extremely weak .. (((About Ilyich Ramirez Sanchez was not remembered, about the Stasi and sicuritate were not even mentioned ... (((

[depressant]

Or maybe the author will write more about this? )))

[Catfish]

There was silence.

You are wrong, you have written a lot about this, there was such a magazine "Abroad", there was a lot about both Bader and the Red Brigades. By the way, "Brigade Ross" became famous mainly after the murder of Aldo More, after all, he was not an ordinary politician.
Happy New Year, Lyudmila, all the best.

[vladcub]

Cat, everything is correct: about Aldo Moro "red brigades" "Abroad" wrote a lot.
Now I thought: it would be interesting to look at those publications: how then these or other phenomena or movements were evaluated

[Catfish]

Yes, it seems they condemned for terrorism, simultaneously finding excuses.

[Alexander Greene]

On the movement "Red Army" of Germany

Participants of this movement in those days were most often called the "Red Brigades", and many leftists who were not familiar with the roots of this movement were surprised why the Communists did not support them.

And the reason is as follows.

All the participants of the “red movement” were mainly representatives of small proprietors with a petty-bourgeois consciousness, who, faced with the realities of small business, began a struggle against pressure from the state. They, like all the petty bourgeois, suffered from petty-bourgeois impatience, and therefore did not accept Marxism, which directed the revolutionaries to the painstaking work of educating and organizing the working class in order to carry out the socialist revolution and overthrow the power of Capital.

Unfortunately, revolutionary youth, merging into the left movement, was often carried away by pseudo-revolutionary romance and took the wrong path, namely, the path of individual terror, turning into ordinary killers and expropriators. But the bourgeoisie is not afraid of sporadic single destructive actions, it is fenced off from them by fences, bodyguards, police, army, prisons ...

About this kind of movements V.I. Lenin wrote: “.... a small proprietor, a small proprietor, ... experiencing constant oppression under capitalism and very often an incredibly sharp and rapid deterioration of life and ruin, easily goes to the very least revolutionary, but is not able to show endurance, organization, discipline, perseverance. The "petty bourgeois" infuriated "from the horrors of capitalism, this is a social phenomenon that is characteristic, like" anarchism ", of all capitalist countries. The instability of such revolutionism, its barrenness, the ability to quickly turn into humility, apathy, science fiction, even into a "mad" passion for one or another bourgeois "fashion trend" - all this is well known. "

The bourgeoisie is afraid of an organized working class that is ready to speak at any moment. Therefore, the Communists are principled opponents of individual terror, and their revolutionary parties are distinguished not by the fact that they organize partisan detachments, but by the fact that they subordinate all their work to the tasks of organizing workers for revolution, as V.I. taught Lenin: “We need the iron battalions of the working class, and not the hysterical impulses of individual lone heroes.”

[Reptiloid]

Good afternoon, dear Alexander! Great explanations.
But this raises a question to which the answer is difficult. Did the corresponding structures of the USSR try to somehow control, direct this movement?
After all, the USSR did not seem to try to support and direct the protest movements in France in the 60s, the Paris spring? And after France they went through different countries. Was the opportunity missed by the CPSU to organize and direct them? Maybe ! Your answer will be about the degeneration of the CPSU?

[Alexander Greene]

Quote: Reptiloid

Your answer will be about the degeneration of the CPSU?

No, the USSR and the CPSU, in spite of their opportunism, did not support these protests, neither the state nor the party intervened in the internal affairs of other states, but could, for example, provide material assistance at the trade union level to the striking English miners when M. Thatcher carried out privatization all the mines.

In France, during the so-called “spring of Paris”, young people, although advocating social justice, did not approve of socialism in the form in which it existed in the USSR and other socialist camp countries.

Among Western youth, Trotskyism, anarchism, Maoism were popular. For them, the Cultural Revolution in China and such revolutionaries as Che Guevara were an example.

In addition, the working class in the developed countries of Europe, having achieved a more or less prosperous life, by this time ceased to be a revolutionary force, and its place in the struggle was taken by marginals, students and intellectuals who protested more against the puritan morality of their parents regarding sexual relations. It was then that the impetus of the “sexual revolution” was given.

Some slogans of the time are worth: Everything and immediately! Anarchy is me! Orgasm - here and now! Sexual freedom in the corridors of the Sorbonne! Give yourself to each other! Enjoy it! Long live pornography!

[Reptiloid]

Thank you for the answer, Alexander. Of course, Alexander, I need to seriously consider your words, but for now I’ll write it at first thought.
About the popularity of Maoism and the culture revolution. Now we know that the CCP and some other communist parties condemned the Khrushchev campaign against Stalin .. It is possible that the cultural revolution to re-educate the elements was also a reaction to the Khrushchev course and the degeneration of the CPSU
You are talking about non-interference in the internal affairs of others. But once, after all, ours intervened, carried out the propaganda of socialism. But probably, it’s still a matter of degeneration, about which you wrote earlier, as well as articles of the authors.
About sexual freedom. Well, and what's wrong with that. All young people want this in all countries, but everywhere there is some kind of framework .... We all know about the theory of a glass of water after the Great October Socialist Revolution. There was no slogan about the importance of the family. We just had to say about cohabitation in the housing office. But then, with the development and establishment of socialism, they began to talk about the importance of the family, as cells of a socialist society, and began to form the socialist morality, which is now being remembered. Solemn family dates began to appear.
It seems to me, having a successful pre-war experience of working with the masses, the CPSU could somehow control those protest movements ..... if not for rebirth
While my thoughts are over

[Alexander Greene]

Quote: Reptiloid

You are talking about non-interference in the internal affairs of others. But once, after all, ours intervened, carried out the propaganda of socialism.

The propaganda of socialism and interference in the internal affairs of other countries are two different things. To bring socialism from outside is a Trotskyist idea.

Quote: Reptiloid

It is possible that the cultural revolution to re-educate the elements was a reaction to the course of Khrushchev and the degeneration of the CPSU

Most likely it was a peasant reaction to urban rebirth, something similar to Kampuchea. Maoism is the specificity of a peasant country.

[Aviator_]

Support to the English miners was. As far as I remember, their families took in the USSR at the level of trade unions in various sanatoriums there. But this was not enough for victory. Again, the small victorious war for the Falklands added Thatcher popularity.

[vladcub]

"For example, at the level of trade unions" and the KGB, they definitely had connections, if not directly, but indirectly, with these organizations. There is a lot of information about this in the media.
However, ALL intelligence agencies MANDATORY monitor such moments.
Do you know: "The enemy of my enemy" does not appear now

[vladcub]

Dima, you are right: "the rebirth of the CPSU", and as a result, the collapse of the Union.
The first signs of degeneration or degeneration appeared in the late 20s, Mikoyan can also find this out, and he already knew MUCH

[Reptiloid]

Alexander, I sincerely congratulate you on the year 2020! Glad to meet in the New Year! Continuing the previous comment, I cannot but recall the articles of Ilya Polonsky about other protest movements that the USSR did not support. These articles were more than a year or two ago. City Gerily. Protest movements in Latin America. It would be interesting to know your opinion.

[Alexander Greene]

Quote: Reptiloid

Alexander, I sincerely congratulate you on the year 2020! ..... Protest movements in Latin America. It would be interesting to know your opinion.

First of all, thanks for the congratulations. Secondly, I already wrote that the USSR did not interfere in the internal affairs of states including Latin America, but supported all their major foreign policy actions aimed at strengthening peace and security in this region and strongly condemned US armed intervention in Guatemala , Panama, Grenada.

The USSR established diplomatic relations with almost all (except Paraguay) countries in the region, and after the victory of the democratic or socialist forces in them, it helped them. First of all, material and military assistance was rendered to socialist Cuba, the revolutionary Sandinista government of Nicaragua.

[Reptiloid]

Just now got to this article. Thank you Alexander for reporting important facts.
I thought that Lenin did not wait until, in accordance with the teachings of Karl Marx, Russia would take the path of capitalism and become a full-fledged capitalist country. "The Bolsheviks must take power!"
Also, China embarked on the path of socialism, differently than K. Marx thought. Yes, and some other countries.
Have you come to socialism without being able to become real capstries?

[vladcub]

And Cuba provided assistance to many revolutionary organizations. We supplied weapons to Nicaragua, and the Sandinistas supplied these weapons to the Guatemalan organization: the Farabundo Martí Front. We knew this well. Even Prokhanov wrote about it

[e-sam]

Quote: vladcub

And Cuba provided assistance to many revolutionary organizations. We supplied weapons to Nicaragua, and the Sandinistas supplied these weapons to the Guatemalan organization: Farabundo Martí Front. We knew this well.

Everyone knew this well. That is why under Reagan, the USSR (absolutely rightly) was declared the sponsor of terrorism (the evil empire) and in the USA it was decided not to keep it further. And without it, he scattered himself, after a while.

[Looking for]

I fully agree with this concept.

[Valery Potapov]

The guys went to death with open eyes. You hate the Decembrists too ... You only like the current occupation of the country. There are no successful restorations. You will not break people "infected" by the Soviet regime ...