The Weather Underground

The Weather Underground is a well done documentary about the movement of the same name. It produces a somewhat sympathetic portrait of some really screwed up people who thought that terrorism was the way to justice. Probably a little too sympathetic; some other posters have noted the absence of several quotes by members of the group praising the Manson murders, for example.

What is really disturbing about this film is how completely unrepentant many of them are. Bernardine Dohrn in particular strikes me as someone who should to this day be considered very dangerous. For some of these folks, it is clear that the only 'regrets' that they had was that they didn't kill more people.

Despite that, the movie is worth watching. I loved some of the music, it gets very moody, and does a good job of documenting the implosion of the Student Left. You may come away from it thinking that they were very brave revolutionaries, or you may decide, like I did, that they are a truly pathetic bunch of malcontents who don't deserve any sympathy. But it's an eye-opening movie and highly recommended.

In a time when I, among others, are questioning where the extra-parliamentary opposition to the Iraq War is going and why it has not made more of an impact on American society it was rather refreshing to view this documentary about the seemingly forgotten Weather Underground that as things got grimmer dramatically epitomized one aspect of opposition to the Vietnam War. If opposition to the Iraq war is the political fight of my old age Vietnam was the fight of my youth and in this film brought back very strong memories of why I fought tooth and nail against it. And the people portrayed in this film, the core of the Weather Underground, while not politically kindred spirits then or now, were certainly on the same page as I was- a no holds- barred fight against the American Empire. We lost that round, and there were reasons for that, but that kind of attitude is what it takes to bring down the monster. But a revolutionary strategy is needed. That is where we parted company.

One of the political highlights of the film is centered on the 1969 Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) Convention that was a watershed in the student anti-war protest movement. That was the genesis of the Weathermen but it was also the genesis of the Progressive Labor Party-led faction that wanted to bring the anti-war message to the working class by linking up the student movement with the fight against capitalism. In short, to get to those who were, or were to be, the rank and file soldiers in Vietnam or who worked in the factories. In either case the point that was missed , as the Old Left had argued all along and which we had previously dismissed out of hand, was that it was the masses of working people who were central to `bringing the war home' and the fight against capitalism. That task still confronts us today.

One of the paradoxical things about this film is that the Weather Underground survivors interviewed had only a vague notion about what went wrong. This was clearly detailed in the remarks of Mark Rudd, a central leader, when he stated that the Weathermen were trying to create a communist cadre. He also stated, however, that after going underground he realized that he was out of the loop as far as being politically effective. And that is the point. There is no virtue in underground activity if it is not necessary, romantic as that may be. To the extent that any of us read history in those days it was certainly not about the origins of the Russian revolutionary movement in the 19th century. If we had we would have found that the above-mentioned fight in 1969 was also fought out by that movement. Mass action vs. individual acts, heroic or otherwise, of terror. The Weather strategy of acting as the American component of the world-wide revolutionary movement to bring the Empire to its knees certainly had (and still does) have a very appealing quality. However, a moral gesture did not (and will not) bring this beast down. While the Weather Underground was made up a small group of very appealing subjective revolutionaries its political/moral strategy led to a dead end. The lesson to be learned; you most definitely do need weather people to know which way the winds blow. Start with Karl Marx.

Some fascinating facets of young revolutionaries - the collective emotion that makes them to act/ organize, the power they wield on the society to bring in the change (especially students), the problems in pursuing a unified objective and misinterpretation of these objectives by some, which eventually kills of the revoltion.
I also found it interesting that some of the struggles on the 60's and 70's continue to be the struggles of today's generation also.

The Weather Underground were a symptom of the idealism of the 60's gone belly up. The peaceful protests and activism that was the hallmark of the 60's, in the views of the members of the Weather Underground were "ineffective" so they turned to violence and terrorism as a means to combat it and only ended up alienating people and causing destruction. That said, their history is a worthy topic, though it is more than a little unnerving to see them reminesce about the past without realizing the severity of their actions. The true voice of reason is this film, is Todd Gitlin who although still a strong liberal activist continues to condemn the Weather Underground for what they did. I can't say this film supports what they did but it tends to cast them in a more favorable light than they deserve and to see that some of them are now college professors didn't exactly thrill me. However, as a primer in how the campaign for social justice and equality in the 60's fell apart and divided into factions, this is an excellent film. There is archival footage, the most fascinating of which is a clip from Emile D'Antonio's "Underground" which captured the Weather Underground while they were still "active" and in hiding in the early 70's and brought the unwelcome attention of the FBI. That said, the "Weather Underground" whatever side one takes, might make some people take off their rose colored glasses as to some of the excesses of that era and its long term consequences.

I was a relatively young part of the era to which this excellent documentary refers. I never got into the violent dimension of it--but nor do I claim to be a "pacifist." So there's lots to reflect on...

The Students for a Democratic Society was, as people from that era remember, a "radical" group during an era in which the United States was exterminating Vietnamese peasants while subjugating black activists at home. A faction of the SDS, the Weather Underground, unhappy with the glacial rate of change, in essence took over the organization and fostered violence.

The FBI kept tabs on them--for reasons not without some justification. Some of their leaders were constructing a bomb to be used at an officers club when a short circuit detonated the bomb. Those working on it were killed. Then the FBI knew they had a target.

Todd Gitlin, who'd been the president of the more "moderate" SDS, comments repeatedly throughout the film. Needless to say, he disapproved of the direction the Weather Underground was taking them. He argues that when they plot to bomb essentially innocent people, they become like, say, Hitler or Stalin. It becomes a "religious" cause that needs little more justification. (Yeah, there was the youth-culture dimension of it too, the rejection of monogamy, the "free sex," much of which was pretty naive.)

After the self-destruction of some of the Weathermen, the remaining faction decided that the bombing wasn't inappropriate, just the killing of the innocent was. So they bombed various institutions over the next few years to make their point--while making sure no one would be needlessly hurt. In the meantime, eloquent Black Panther leader Fred Hampton was murdered by the authorities, and the Weather Underground endeared that cause.

I should add what the film does: that later in "the era," there were activities that made the movement look bad, e.g., that Manson family and Altamont. I'm glad the producers didn't lose track of those tidbits on many of which we (mistakenly) reflect more than we do on the positive results of the era.

The Weather Underground members went truly underground to come out many years later.

All in all, this was a superb documentary. As one can imagine, those who were active in the movement then have "mixed feelings" about them now described best, perhaps, by Mark Rudd. Did they make mistakes? Of course they did. Do they proclaim that "all we did was wrong"? No! That's among the dimensions of their movement that I appreciate.

It's important to recognize how wrong the US foreign policy was in that era (something for which we'll be paying for decades if not centuries.) So something doubtless needed to be done.

I note too that, aside from one character, still in prison in NY for an event in which some were killed after his Weather affiliation, they are all employed in causes of many kinds, i.e., they didn't all become insurance company executives, which is the stereotype on which those who decry the 60s movements rely. And another very important dimension the film covers is that most of the Weather Underground were NOT prosecuted and jailed despite some of their activities. It seems the FBI had broken so many laws in tailing the activists that the bureau couldn't pursue a case against them! (There was coverage too of the group in Media, PA who broke into the FBI office there and exposed to the media the questionable and clearly illegal activities of the FBI. It should make one reflect on the surveillance that is being rationalized today ostensibly based on "terror" threats!)

I recommend this for students today--many of whom are more sold on the Super Bowl than on Iraq--for people who want to recollect an era and its causes without all the fluff the pop media attach to it. There's always something to learn and this film offers a few dimensions of that learning and, again, much on which to reflect.