Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Was the German Red Army Faction (RAF) Communistic?

 I saw this question pop up several months ago, and I've spent a couple of hours going back over the 1970s/1980s period....to look at the terror group that existed.

So, what you can say is that they were initially educated and given a fair amount of propaganda....to believe they were on a anti-fascism 'mission' (purpose in life), and they opposed the fascist government of West Germany.

The suggestion of them being anti-imperialistic?  Well....maybe in their hearts, they still felt the old Kaiser government (gone since 1918) or it's elements, were lingering.  

Being Maoist?  Typically it means you have large groups and threaten with some type of insurgency (maybe armed, maybe unarmed).  The key feature is that you want to bring dynamic change which can't occur with the normal republic type situation/process.

As for the Communist angle?   Most of what you'd say from a couple of their 'letters', is that they were in the belief that life was unfair, and that the economic platform was hurting the under-class.  The fact that the German (West German) under-class didn't see them as Robin Hood-like creations?  That's just one of the odd things about why they didn't achieve a lot of success other than assaults and murders.  

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