On the Action Against Braunmöhl

THE IMPERIALIST CHAIN OF STATES WILL NOT SUCCEED IN ITS ATTEMPT TO BLOCK THE REVOLUTIONARY PROCESS. IT WILL FAIL IN ITS ATTEMPT TO VIOLENTLY RESTORE ITS HEGEMONY ON A NEW LEVEL.

Today, with the Commando Ingrid Schubert [1], we shot secret diplomat Braunmöhl, political director in the Foreign Ministry and a central figure in the structuring of West European politics within the imperialist total system.

Our attack was aimed at the aggressive FRG State apparatus in its function as a core state for the political structuring of West Europe within the imperialist war strategy. Braunmöhl participated in an ongoing review of the situation and coordinated the (now institutionalized) German-French cooperation. He also met with the political directors of the American, British and French Foreign Ministries for regular “confidential four-way consultations,” with the goal of unifying and coordinating the politics of the strongest powers of the imperialist chain under the leadership of the USA, to facilitate action of the total system against the resistance that threatens their common interests and the rule of the system on all levels. He sat as a representative of the FRG on the political committee for “European Political Cooperation” (EPC), which has become the most important instrument for the political shaping and control of the State structures in West Europe. Within the “West European Union” (WEU), he worked with government representatives from France, Italy, Great Britain, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg to strengthen the lines of political security for the European pillars of NATO and the politico-military power of West Europe and, as such, of NATO itself.

Through West European political, economic and military initiatives, in coordination with the USA, the bourgeoisie hopes to prevent social explosions and any further escalation of the struggles on all the continents. It hopes to act as a total system in order to ward off the political developments, the very threat of which are increasingly breaking down US hegemony. THE WEST EUROPEAN POLITICAL LINE IN FAVOUR OF THE TOTAL SYSTEM, WHICH HAS BEEN PUSHED TO THE FORE, AND THE USE OF THE ECONOMIC MEANS AVAILABLE TO THE WEST EUROPEAN STATES AND MULTINATIONALS, ARE MEANT TO BLOCK THE REVOLUTIONARY PROCESS AND PREVENT FURTHER INROADS AGAINST IMPERIALIST POWER, UNTIL THEY HAVE THE ABILITY TO TAKE THE GLOBAL MILITARY OFFENSIVE.

The Pentagon and NATO broke the atomic pact concerning the stationing of medium-range missiles and simultaneously took the offensive against the liberation movements, against the new national states and against the international resistance to their war plans… but this offensive has not succeeded.

International capital, under the leadership of the USA, could not bring about the conditions necessary for its global reconstruction against increasing resistance and revolutionary struggle. All plans and projects for the political-economic stabilization of individual regions and countries have broken down. The result of this can be seen in the demonstrations and revolts in Latin America, South Korea, the Philippines, the Middle East, South Africa…; revolts against the aggressive economic and military politics of the USA; revolts against the IMF and the US puppet regimes, which are responsible for massive misery and terror and for the destruction of the social structures and cultures of entire peoples. The contra wars, like those in Nicaragua [2] and Angola [3], and the military aggression in Lebanon [4] could not extinguish revolutionary struggle; on the contrary, they have led to the deepening and broadening of the contradictions and struggles throughout these regions, hastening the collapse of US hegemony.

The changes in personnel among the US’s guard dogs and the maneuvers to bring economic relief are meant to stabilize the political situation against the pressure of the mass movements and the guerrilla – such is the case in Haiti and the Philippines and with the “new democracies” in Latin America. Yet this cannot fundamentally change the deep political and economic crises of the system, its lack of perspective and the collapse of US hegemony. At this point, they can only attempt to prevent the breakdown from occurring.

All attempts to achieve political stability in the metropoles through State control and the structuring of all social areas, integration programmes, sharpening of repression… all of these attempts have been destroyed. They cannot extinguish the resistance and the revolutionary struggles.

Imperialism has no solution. It now focuses on smashing the international revolutionary struggle. This is a development in all of the confrontations, it is a consequence of the role of the liberation struggles throughout the entire phase of imperialist reconstruction following Vietnam. Today, there is an entirely new political quality, as the system’s substantial crises and contradictions, which have reached a critical level, have made it possible to put the system in check.

THE IMPERIALIST BOURGEOISIE CAN NO LONGER REMOVE THE CAUSES OF THE INTENSIFYING SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CONTRADICTIONS, AND THE MISERY OF THE MASSES ON ALL CONTINENTS HAS BECOME SO INTENSE THAT THE CHOICE BETWEEN LIVING AS HUMAN BEINGS OR ACCEPTING THE ENDLESS CONTINUATION OF IMPERIALIST BARBARISM HAS TODAY BECOME A SOURCE OF ANTAGONISM IN ALL CONFRONTATIONS, A SOURCE OF DIRECT POLITICAL RESISTANCE AGAINST THE IMPERIALIST SYSTEM.

The depth of the contradiction and the process of politicization are similar in all of the struggles that are tied to the experiences and strategy of the revolutionary guerrilla, which has become a politico-military force against imperialism internationally.

It is on the basis of this development – the crisis of US hegemony, the destabilization of imperialist power on all continents, the deep economic crisis and the destruction wrought through the concept of war on many fronts – that Western Europe’s increasing importance in the global counter-revolutionary project is to be understood. IT IS THE INITIAL EXPRESSION OF THE POLITICO-MILITARY POWER OF WEST EUROPE WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF TOTAL IMPERIALIST DOMINATION IN LIGHT OF THE CRISIS FACING THE SYSTEM. IT IS THE BEGINNING OF THE COMBINING OF ITS POWER FOR PURPOSES OF AGGRESSION.

This is the political heart of the violence with which the State here creates the political, economic and military conditions necessary for the bourgeoisie’s international attack. THIS PROCESS HINGES DECISIVELY ON THE REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE IN WEST EUROPE, WHICH WILL DETERMINE WHETHER THE BOURGEOISIE CAN MAINTAIN THE CURRENT RELATIONSHIP OF POWER AND, THEREBY, THEIR INTERNATIONAL RULE. A RULE WHICH MEANS GENOCIDE THROUGH BOMBS, DOLLARS, STARVATION AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE HUMAN ESSENCE, ELIMINATING THE NEED FOR A “GREAT WAR,” OR WHETHER A BREAKTHROUGH IN THE CENTER IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE REVOLUTIONARY FRONT AND THE UNIFICATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLES WILL DEVELOP INTO A POLITICO-MII.ITARY STRATEGY FOR PROLETARIAN LIBERATION.

As we have said, BECAUSE THE STRATEGIC CRISIS OF IMPERIALISM, THE CRISIS OF THE CAPITALIST INITIATIVE, SHOULD NOT AND MUST NOT ECONOMICALLY AND POLITICALLY PREPARE THE WAY FOR A BREAKDOWN WHOSE CATASTROPHIC DIMENSION IS UNFATHOMABLE, IT MUST BECOME A MOMENT OF INTENSE SUBJECTIVE EFFORT FOR THE ORGANIZATION TO ARTICULATE, THROUGH ITS ATTACKS, THE FACT THAT THE PROLETAR IAN ALTERNATIVE AND THE POSSIBILITY OF PROLETARIAN OPPOSITIONAL POWER HERE HAVE A STRATEGIC AND INTERNATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE.

Within the total system the West European states aim at the political encirclement and surgical elimination of revolutionaries on all continents. They hope to unite the social democratic and bourgeois-reactionary forces in the context of their fascist pacification project. This is to be done politically by establishing a unified line within the terrorist American strategy against the struggles for self-determination and liberation. This is to be done operationally by establishing an effective secret service and politico-military cooperation, and through warfare. This is to be carried out economically as a maneuver to prop up bankrupt regimes, so as to keep a lid on the social crises that threaten the stability of all the countries in the Third World.

The overall contradictory quality of this development was clear in the American military attack against Libya [5], with its propagandistic preparation and execution, conducted with the logistical support of NATO and with the European Community politically covering the USA’s back.

THE AMERICAN MILITARY ATTACK IS AN INSTRUMENT IN THE STRATEGY OF THE TOTAL SYSTEM AGAINST THE INTERNATIONAL ANTI-IMPERIALIST STRUGGLE, JUST AS IS THE CASE WITH THE MANEUVERING OF THE WEST EUROPEAN STATES FOR A “NEW PEACE PROCESS” WITH THE EAST. THEY HAVE THE COMMON GOAL OF THE POLITICAL ISOLATION AND ELIMINATION OF THE REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLES, IN COOPERATION WITH THE REACTIONARY ARAB REGIMES/FACTIONS.

The difference between Rue, Genscher, Wischnewski [6] and the US government is the difference between the F-111 bombers which attacked against the Libyan people and the GSG-9 which works with Arab states to liquidate revolutionary groups, i.e., IT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRIPOLI/BENGHAZI AND MOGADISHU IN 1977 [7].

The differences lie in the fact that the US government never ceases to demonstrate its military might and to pressure the European governments in ways that are partially against their own interests, while simultaneously, as never before, being dependent on their political support and cooperation. It also lies in the fact that the West European governments are fully aware that the openly military course only exposes the political weakness of the chain of states; they can destroy things, but they cannot bring about change. So the political structure is, for them, a lonely tightrope walk between their inability to restore stability to the world system, to master competitive war and the deep economic crisis, and, on the other hand, the political fact that the military option only feeds the anti-imperialist resistance and can only lead to an incalculable escalation of hostilities.

THE GOAL OF THE ATTACK ON LIBYA WAS TO BREAK THROUGH A POLITICAL LIMITATION AND TO BRING THE CONFRONTATION WITH THE INTERNATIONAL LIBERATION STRUGGLE TO AN OPENLY MILITARY LEVEL FROM THIS POINT ON.

It also cleared the way for all of the West European States (including Great Britain), driven forward in the EC by Genscher and Braunmöhl, to embrace the initiative politically and militarily, while still “remaining clean,” in order to push forward the imperialist strategy of elimination at a political level.

THAT IS THE SUBSTANCE OF THE “EUROPEAN-ARAB DIALOGUE,” WHICH IS NOT A POLITICAL ALTERNATIVE TO THE USA, BUT IS DIRECTED AT PLANNING AND PREPARING THE LIQUIDATION OF THE ANTI-IMPERIALIST STRUGGLE AND IS AN ATTEMPT TO PREVENT A SOCIAL AND POLITICAL EXPLOSION IN THE MIDDLE EAST, WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE BOURGEOISIE’S GLOBAL MILITARY STRATEGY; MILITARY ACTION AND EUROPEAN-ARAB DIALOGUE ARE INSTRUMENTS, FUNCTIONS OF A SINGLE STRATEGY, POLITICAL EXPRESSIONS OF THE TOTAL SYSTEM, THAT, WHILE CONTRADICTORY, ARE IN ESSENCE UNIFIED. IT IS THE WAR OF THE METROPOLE AGAINST THE INTERNATIONAL REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE.

The “Working Group on the Middle East” in the EPZ [8], which was created at the instigation of the FRG, is supposed to ensure continued action on the part of the EC against the Arab revolutionary movements. That is the purpose of trips by Genscher and his secret diplomats to Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, the Gulf States… his grand appearance as the “European partner” and the “civilian alternative”… by which (among other things) they hope to use economic pressure to achieve a political front against the Palestinian revolutionaries and the States that support them. It is Zimmerman, who works side by side with the BKA, the GSG-9 and secret agents, who reorganized the police and military forces in the region along the same lines as the FRG, and who demands their cooperation. It’s Warnke and Bangemann, who with the means and the “know-how” of the FRG multinationals and the money of the large German banks, are working to achieve politico-economic stabilization. [9]

The other side of this development is that the bourgeoisie in West Europe, with their amalgamated political command structure and their unified power structure, position themselves against the resistance here as a unified power that will implement its overall imperialist interests without there being any consensus in the individual countries.

The EPZ is the political lever by which the strategic political, economic and military plans and projects of the imperialist bourgeoisie are to be implemented in West Europe. The political objectives and conditions for capital’s restructuring offensive in West Europe have been implemented there, and not in the national parliaments, taking form in projects like Esprit, Eureka and the creation of a European market, driving forward industrial/technological concentration and the centralization of capital, securing the conditions necessary for its use and strengthening its position on the world market. The EPZ is the political body creating the European pillars of NATO. It is there that in recent years the plans were drawn up for the political and material build-up of military power in West Europe. It is there that Western Europe’s security policy was formulated, creating the potential for aggression on the part of the European State and integrating it into the global war strategy of the imperialist bourgeoisie. Currently, the EPZ is becoming a political-operative center for the coordination of the total imperialist strategy in West Europe against the international revolutionary struggle, for its criminalization and elimination in the Third World and in the metropoles.

In this contradictory process, the bourgeoisie is failing to impose its structure quickly enough to address the national and/or economic contradictions of the individual States. The unification of the FRG, France, Great Britain and Italy into the hardcore of the total system in West Europe, in tight coordination and cooperation with the USA, is becoming more and more obvious.

Under the leadership of the FRG and France the total system is taking form, with the EPZ determining the tempo and level of militarization and restructuring throughout West Europe.

Because of their military and economic power, they are the ones who compel all weaker States to fall in line or be denied any part in the decision-making process, as well as access to techno-economic developments… which no state can afford to be without. This is the price that every government in West Europe is prepared to pay to remain in power.

The EC is the political shell that gives weight to the politics of the West European core States internationally, all the while disguising their aggression. It is the instrument for controlling State structures and for unifying the politics of West Europe within the total system, in the framework of the imperialist offensive against the international proletariat.

The revolutionary movement in West Europe must attack the strategic plans of’ the imperialist bourgeoisie… plans with which they hope to achieve world domination… plans based materially and politically on the metropoles… plans that are expressed through their concrete and current projects. This means we must politically obstruct and destroy these initiatives here before they can be put into action, through attacks against the central axis and driving force of imperialist power.

To organize the revolutionary front in West Europe means to lead the fight in the metropole on a politico-military level with a strategic orientation that puts the entire imperialist system completely in question and initiates the process of the reconstruction of the (working) class in West Europe as an internationalist force. Today we must build the unity of the communist guerrilla and the revolutionary movement through an offensive that is collectively determined and organized, with the goal of thwarting the imperialist strategy here, of determining the political lines and elements of the revolutionary strategy and of developing these practically. Organizing the revolutionary front means organizing the attack. This is not an ideological category or a “model for revolution”. We are talking about the material evidence of revolutionary politics, meaning its effect on imperialist power and the political and practical strength that it achieves here, in order to deepen the break in the metropole and make the qualitative leap forward in the proletarian struggle.

ORGANIZE THE REVOLUTIONARY FRONT IN WEST EUROPE AS PART OF THE INTERNATIONAL WAR OF LIBERATION!

SEIZE THE OFFENSIVE AND DEVELOP IT FURTHER!

Commando Ingrid Schubert
Red Army Faction
October 10, 1986

[1] Ingrid Schubert was one of the RAF militants who freed Andreas Baader in 1970. Arrested in October 1970, Schubert committed suicide (?) on November 13th 1977 – two weeks after Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe were murdered in Stammheim.  [return to text]

[2] The people of Nicaragua were the victims of a terror campaign waged by the Contras, a number of paramilitary groups armed and financed by the United States and international right-wing networks. Most Contra attacks were directed at civilian targets such as people involved with coffee plantations and farming cooperatives .In November 1984, the Nicaraguan government announced that since 1981 the contras had assassinated 910 state officials and killed 8,000 civilians. (For more see William Blum’s “Nicaragua 1981-1990 Destabilization in slow motion” from his book Killing Hope, or at http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blum/Nicaragua_KH.html)  [return to text]

[3] In Angola during the late 1970s and 1980s the (initially Maoist) group UNITA, led by Jonas Savimbi, received South African and American financing and arms to wage war against the Soviet-backed MPLA government (on occasion, troops from the Apartheid State provided direct support during UNITA battles with the MPLA forces). [return to text]

[4] In 1982 Israel invaded Lebanon in order to attack guerilla organizations based amongst the 300,000 Palestinian refugees then living there. [return to text]

[5] On April 15th 1986, the Reagan regime carried out air strikes against a number of ground targets in Libya. These were claimed to be retaliation for a bombing in the West Berlin discotheque on April 5th which injured 200 people including 63 American soldiers (one soldier and one civilian were killed) – nevertheless, no hard evidence of Libyan involvement in the Berlin bombing was even produced. [return to text]

[6] German politicians. [return to text]

[7]  “Tripoli/Benghazi” is a reference to targets attacked in a US air strike in April 1985 (see note #5), “Mogadishu in 1977” is a reference to the attack by West Germany’s crack GSG-9 commandos on a Lufthansa airliner that had been hijacked by a Palestinian commando in a solidarity action with the RAF in October 1977. The phrase seems meant to compare more and less refined means of repression, while underscoring the equally lethal quality of each. [return to text]

[8] EPZ: . [return to text]

[9] Zimmerman, Warnke and Bangemann were members of Helmut Kohl’s cabinet at the time. Friedrich Zimmermann was a member of the Christian Social Union (CSU) and Minister of the Interior from 1982 to 1989. Jürgen Warnke was a member of the CSU and Minister for Economic Cooperation from 1982 to 1987; Martin Bangemann was leader of the rightw-ing Freie Demokratische Partei (Free Democratic Party – FDP) from 1985 to 198, and Minister of Economics from 1984 to 1988. [return to text]