Patty-cake

Well, last night I went to see Guerilla: the taking of Patty Hearst - a cinema documentary about the Symbionese Liberation Army's notorious capture and conversion of a wealthy heiress in the 1970's.

The main theme of the film is that it was basically rich kids behind the stunt - you can almost feel that in the feed the poor motifs the come out of the demands of the kidnappers - a dole for the toiling masses. I'd think that goes some way to explaining how Hearst could have been seduced by them - beyond mere Stockholm syndrome, she was of their age and culture, ripe for identification.

There did seem to be a rash of terrorism at the time, Weathermen, SLA, Bader-Meinhoff - it's almost certain that in any political upheaval such groups will come into being - I'm sure in Spain or Russia almost every village had something like this sort of band, but in the massive tumult these things become swept up in a forwards movement -the tiny but famous terrorist cells are the symptoms of the ebbing of the ide.

Obviously, the averge Leninist can have little room for complaint - after all, the master himself organised the bolsheviks as a small gang of bank robbers, so really the SLA weren't that far off beam. Indeed, they started from the wholly reasonable position of What are we prepared to do? - given the military state, the
racist prisons, etc. etc. if we believe our rhetoric, shouldn't we act?

Also, their slogan is worth remembering, for it's overblown posturing and because it sounds cool - Death to the fascist insect that preys upon the people!