revolutionary action movement (ram) - Michael Schwartz Library

17 4
to wage a war of self-defense against the U .S . government . In the imperialist
wars of the state, black men were fighting against "our bloodbrothers
." The U .S . is a hypocrite when it says it was helping to free
enslaved people when it enslaves black people . RAM declared, "let your
battle assignment be
against those who are abusing your children, wives,
mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and loved ones ." It asked, "whose
side are you on ,52 The author stated that there were three revolutionary
principles : self-defense and vengence ; all black independent action ; and
a fight for integration, "integrated pools of blood." Black soldiers had
to throw down their arms, refuse to fight and "'let, (their) manhood be
born .
,53
These themes were raised again in a letter written in 1966 from RAM
to all oppressed peoples in the U .S . and its protectorates and possessions
. In this paper RAM calls the attention of black soldiers to the
demonstrations of revolutionary solidarity that have been carried out by
the Chinese, Vietnamese and others in
support of the African-American
struggle .
From 1966 to 1969, the doctrine of urban guerrilla warfare was frequently
mentioned in the documents . It was often presented in conjunction
with the role of the Black Guards as defenders of the black community and
as a pre-black liberation army formation . In 1.966, RAM stated that the
catalyst for the ultimate armed confrontation would occur in one
and onehalf
of two years . This would be the unleashing of the racist and fascist
52 "Message to Afro-Americans in the U .S . Racist Imperialist Army,"
July 4, 1965, p . 1 .
53 1bid ., p . 2