WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT HEAVY RADICALS Heavy Radicals is a concise and insightful history of a long- forgotten but vibrant radical movement. Leonard and Gallagher break new ground in revealing the extent to which law enforcement will go to infiltrate, destabilize and ultimately destroy domestic political organizations that espouse a philosophy counter to the status quo. To better understand the current state of domestic surveillance and political repression, from Occupy Wall Street to the Edward Snowden revelations, start with this little gem of a book. T.J. English, author of The Savage City and Havana Nocturne In this masterfully written and extensively researched book, Aaron Leonard with Conor A. Gallagher offers a no-nonsense critical analysis of one of the most resilient, misunderstood, and controversial anti-capitalist organizations of the last fifty years. This book is a MUST READ for anyone invested in nuancing their understanding of revolutionary political struggle and unrelenting state repression in the United States. Robeson Taj Frazier, author of The East Is Black: Cold War China in the Black Radical Imagination Based on impeccable research, Heavy Radicals explores the rise of the Revolutionary Communist Party in the late 1960s and 1970s. Militant Maoists, dedicated to revolutionary class struggle, the RCP was one of many organizations that fought to carry on the 60s struggle for radical change in the United States well after SDS and other more well known groups imploded. Leonard and Gallagher help us to understand how the RCP’s revolutionary ideology resonated with a small group of young Heavy Radicals: The FBI’s Secret War on America’s Maoists people in post-1968 America, took inspiration from the People’s Republic of China, and brought down the wrath of the FBI. David Farber, author of The Age of Great Dreams: America in the 1960s Meticulously researched, drawing on both internal documents hiding in plain sight and a wealth of information gained through laborious freedom of information requests, Heavy Radicals is a great example of history of the near past — in examining how the FBI acted, we are better able to understand the methods employed in undermining dissent today. Eveline Lubbers, author of Secret Manoeuvres in the Dark: Corporate and Police Spying on Activists In this untold and highly accessible history of Sixties radicalism, Aaron Leonard and Conor Gallagher expertly guides us through the world of the Maoists who picked up and maintained the activist cause well into the seventies, long after others had collapsed. Fascinating! Rick Shenkman, Founder and publisher of George Mason University’s History News Network Heavy Radicals: The FBI’s Secret War on America’s Maoists The Revolutionary Union / Revolutionary Communist Party 1968-1980 Heavy Radicals: The FBI’s Secret War on America’s Maoists The Revolutionary Union / Revolutionary Communist Party 1968-1980 Aaron J. Leonard with Conor A. Gallagher Winchester, UK Washington, USA First published by Zero Books, 2014 Zero Books is an imprint of John Hunt Publishing Ltd., Laurel House, Station Approach, Alresford, Hants, SO24 9JH, UK [email protected] www.johnhuntpublishing.com www.zero-books.net For distributor details and how to order please visit the ‘Ordering’ section on our website. Text copyright: Aaron J. Leonard & Conor A. Gallagher 2014 ISBN: 978 1 78279 534 6 All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publishers. The rights of Aaron J. Leonard & Conor A. Gallagher as authors have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. This book contains material previously published in Truthout.org which have been edited for this work. They are: “A Window Into Infiltration: The FBI Informant File of Sheila Louise O'Connor,” January 16, 2013 and “The Bureau and the Journalist: Victor Riesel's Secret Relationship With the FBI,” February 14, 2013. Cover image: RCP members and supporters clash with police during Deng Xioaping’s US visit January 29, 1979. Photo by John McDonnell/The Washington Post/Getty Images. Design: Stuart Davies Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY We operate a distinctive and ethical publishing philosophy in all areas of our business, from our global network of authors to production and worldwide distribution. CONTENTS Acknowledgements x Note on Chinese Names xiii Preface 1 Introduction: The Way From San Jose 5 1 Foundation 10 2 SDS, the RU, and the FBI 34 3 Beyond the Student Movement 58 4 Protracted War or Protracted Struggle? 86 5 Peoples China 110 6 Coalitions, Infiltrators, and Schisms 132 7 Sinking Roots and Making the Papers 160 8 The Short Leap from RU to RCP 183 9 The Final Split 205 10 After the Fall 224 11 Conclusion 245 Postscript 252 Glossary of Organizational Acronyms 253 Bibliography 255 Endnotes 262 Index 318 About the Authors 337 For Irka, Emily, Jarina, and Amawta ix Acknowledgements Many people helped in the course of undertaking this project and I want to thank them. To Mat Callahan who pointed me to the road and allowed me to draw a map on how to reach my desti- nation. To Dave Pugh for his deep well of experience, memory, and unending generosity, without which this would be a story of only fragments. To Lincoln Bergman who opened his home and his memory to me, giving a human picture to a critical character in our story. To Doug Monica for his generosity and insights. To Dennis O’Neill for his candor, irreverence, and willingness to introduce me to a realm beyond my grasp. To Page Doughtery Delano for sharing her precious insights and memories. To Marc Lendler for his critical memory and for helping me expand the frame of my analysis. To Mark Rudd for his insights on the metamorphosis of SDS. To Art Eckstein for his deep well of knowledge on the FBI, for his help in analyzing certain key FBI documents, and pointing me to important sections of the Felt- Miller trial transcript. To Scott Harrison and his essential archival material on the Revolutionary Union and Revolutionary Communist Party. To David Morgan, for his insights and insightful dissertation. To Bill Drew for taking the time to talk, and to put down in writing his stark and rich experience. To the late David Sullivan, for having the foresight to see his papers as something more than the detritus of a time gone by. To the staff of Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line, especially Paul Saba, for continuing to rescue the bounty of material of the new communist movement from oblivion. To Leslie Thatcher and the staff of Truthout for printing what too few others will. To the faculty and staff at NYU’s McGhee Adult Undergraduate program, particularly Ozan Aksoy, Simon Davis, Taj Fraiser, Clif Hubby, Kathleen Hulley, April Krassner, and Larry Menna, they walked me through the doorway toward new ways of thinking. x Acknowledgements To Heather Thompson, who I met only briefly, but to-lasting effect. To the staff of the NYU’s Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner archives, and their depository of radical United States history that is indeed a treasure. To Zero Books, and the wonderful people who make it a reality, for having the confi- dence to take on this project, especially Tariq Goddard, Tamar Shlaim, Liam Sprod, Dominic C. James, Catherine Harris, Mary Flatt, Nick Welch, Stuart Davies, Trevor Greenfield, and John Hunt. To the former RU and RCP comrades who called up a time in their lives that remains both essential and unsettled and shared their thoughts and memories with me—they know who they are, but likely do not know how essential they were to this project. To Hunter McCord, Ben Slater, and Alan Yee, whose reading and insights allowed me to go past the limits of my own constrained vision. To Brandon Prince for his essential research and support. To Laura Freeman for her advice and abiding friendship. To Jolie Gorchov and Anji Taylor for their example and their friendship. To Conor Gallagher, who took this project into the stratosphere with his relentless tenacity in prying secrets from the hands of the secret-keepers and his penetrating insights; this would be a far lesser book without him. And finally to my partner, Irka Mateo, for her keen ear, keener insight, and illuminating joy and humanity, I am fortunate beyond words. Of course assistance and support do not connote agreement with my particular views and analysis, and in the end I am solely responsible for the book’s content, analysis, and any short- comings. AJL Along with those acknowledged above the following individual is worthy of praise: Kathleen Gallagher who received countless FOIA letters and documents, scanned and emailed them while I was out of the country, and without whom this project would not xi Heavy Radicals: The FBI’s Secret War on America’s Maoists have been possible. Jim Wolmpman was generous in mailing me a copy of the Mid-peninsula Free University FBI file he had attained. I must also acknowledge the following archives that were immensely helpful in retrieving and reproducing document: Stanford University’s Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, and the Department of Special Collections and University Archives, the New York Public Library’s Archive and Manuscripts, and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, the University of Missouri’s Archives, the University of Washington’s Special Collections, Temple University’s Urban Archives, Duke University’s David Rubenstein Rare Books and Manuscript Library, Wayne State University’s Walther P.