Leaderless Resistance
by Louis Beam
The concept of Leaderless Resistance was
proposed by Col. Ulius Louis Amoss, who was the founder of International
Service of Information Incorporated, located in Baltimore, Maryland.
Col. Amoss died more than fifteen years ago, but during his life was
a tireless opponent of communism, as well as a skilled Intelligence
Officer. Col. Amoss first wrote of Leaderless Resistance on April 17,
1962. His theories of organization were primarily directed against the
threat of eventual Communist take-over in the United States. The present
writer, with the benefit of having lived many years beyond Col. Amoss,
has taken his theories and expounded upon them. Col. Amoss feared the
Communists. This author fears the federal government. Communism now
represents a threat to no one in the United States, while federal tyranny
represents a threat to everyone . The writer has joyfully lived long
enough to see the dying breaths of communism, but may, unhappily, remain
long enough to see the last grasps of freedom in America. In the hope
that, somehow, America can still produce the brave sons and daughters
necessary to fight off ever increasing persecution and oppression, this
essay is offered. Frankly, it is too close to call at this point.
Those who love liberty, and believe in
freedom enough to fight for it are rare today, but within the bosom
of every once great nation, there remains secreted, the pearls of former
greatness. They are there. I have looked into their sparking eyes; sharing
a brief moment in time with them as I passed through this life. Relished
their friendship, endured their pain, and they mine. We are a band of
brothers, native to the soil gaining strength one from another as we
have rushed head long into a battle that all the weaker, timid men,
say we can not win. Perhaps...but then again, perhaps we can. It's not
over till the last freedom fighter is buried or imprisoned, or the same
happens to those who would destroy their freedom.
Barring any cataclysmic events, the struggle
will yet go on for years. The passage of time will make it clear to
even the more slow among us that the government is the foremost threat
to the life, and liberty of the folk. The government will no doubt make
today's oppressiveness look like grade school work compared to what
they have planned in the future.
Meanwhile, there are those of us who continue
to hope that somehow the few can do what the many have not. We are cognizant
that before things get better they will certainly get worse as government
shows a willingness to use ever more severe police state measures against
dissidents. This changing situation makes it clear that those who oppose
state repression must be prepared to alter, adapt, and modify their
behavior, strategy, and tactics as circumstances warrant. Failure to
consider new methods and implement them as necessary will make the government's
efforts at suppression uncomplicated. It is the duty of every patriot
to make the tyrant's life miserable. When one fails to do so he not
only fails himself, but his people. With this in mind, current methods
of resistance to tyranny employed by those who love our race, culture,
and heritage must pass a litmus test of soundness. Methods must be objectively
measured as to their effectiveness, as well as to whether they make
the government's intention of repression more possible or more difficult.
Those not working to aid our objectives must be discarded or the government
benefits from our failure to do so.
As honest men who have banded together
into groups or associations of a political or religious nature are falsely
labeled "domestic terrorists" or "cultists" and suppressed, it will
become necessary to consider other methods of organization--or as the
case may very well call for: non-organization. One should keep in mind
that it is not in the government's interest to eliminate all groups.
Some few must remain in order to perpetuate the smoke and mirrors vision
for the masses that America is a "free democratic country" where dissent
is allowed. Most organizations, however, that possess the potential
for effective resistance will not be allowed to continue.
Anyone who is so naive as to believe the
most powerful government on earth will not crush any who pose a real
threat to that power, should not be active, but rather, at home studying
political history. The question as to who is to be left alone and who
is not, will be answered by how groups and individuals deal with several
factors such as: avoidance of conspiracy plots, rejection of feeble
minded malcontents, insistence upon quality of the participants, avoidance
of all contact with the front men for the federals--the news media--and,
finally, camouflage (which can be defined as the ability to blend in
the public's eye the more committed groups of resistance with mainstream
"kosher" associations that are generally seen as harmless.)
Primarily though, whether any organization
is allowed to continue in the future will be a matter of how big a threat
a group represents. Not a threat in terms of armed might or political
ability, for there is none of either for the present, but rather, threat
in terms of potentiality. It is potential the federals fear most. Whether
that potential exists in an individual or group is incidental. The federals
measure potential threat in terms of what might happen given a situation
conducive to action on the part of a restive organization or individual.
Accurate intelligence gathering allows them to assess the potential.
Showing one's hand before the bets are made, is a sure way to loose.
The movement for freedom is rapidly approaching
the point where for many people, the option of belonging to a group
will be nonexistent. For others, group membership will be a viable option
for only the immediate future. Eventually, and perhaps much sooner than
most believe possible, the price paid for membership will exceed any
perceived benefit. But for now, some of the groups that do exist often
serve a useful purpose either for the newcomer who can be indoctrinated
into the ideology of the struggle, or for generating positive propaganda
to reach potential freedom fighters.
It is sure that, for the most part, this
struggle is rapidly becoming a matter of individual action, each of
its participants making a private decision in the quietness of his heart
to resist: to resist by any means necessary. It is hard to know what
others will do, for no man truly knows another man's heart. It is enough
to know what one himself will do. A great teacher once said "know thyself."
Few men really do, but let each of us, promise ourselves, not to go
quietly to the fate our would-be masters have planned.
The concept of Leaderless Resistance is
nothing less than a fundamental departure in theories of organization.
The orthodox scheme of organization is diagrammatically represented
by the pyramid, with the mass at the bottom and the leader at the top.
This fundamental of organization is to be seen not only in armies, which
are of course, the best illustration of the pyramid structure, with
the mass of soldiery, the privates, at the bottom responsible to corporals
who are in turn responsible to sergeants, and so on up the entire chain
of command to the generals at the top. But the same structure is seen
in corporations, ladies' garden clubs and in our political system itself.
This orthodox "pyramid" scheme of organization is to be seen basically
in all existing political, social and religious structures in the world
today from the Federal government to the Roman Catholic Church.
The Constitution of the United States,
in the wisdom of the Founders, tried to sublimate the essential dictatorial
nature of pyramidal organization by dividing authority into three: executive,
legislative and judicial. But the pyramid remains essentially untouched.
This scheme of organization, the pyramid, is however, not only useless,
but extremely dangerous for the participants when it is utilized in
a resistance movement against state tyranny. Especially is this so in
technologically advanced societies where electronic surveillance can
often penetrate the structure revealing its chain of command.
Experience has revealed over and over again
that anti-state, political organizations utilizing this method of command
and control are easy prey for government infiltration, entrapment, and
destruction of the personnel involved. This has been seen repeatedly
in the United States where pro-government infiltrators or agent provocateurs
weasel their way into patriotic groups and destroy them from within.
In the pyramid type of organization, an infiltrator can destroy anything
which is beneath his level of infiltration and often those above him
as well. If the traitor has infiltrated at the top, then the entire
organization from the top down is compromised and may be traduced at
will.
An alternative to the pyramid type of organization
is the cell system. In the past, many political groups (both right and
left) have used the cell system to further their objectives. Two examples
will suffice. During the American Revolution "committees of correspondence"
were formed throughout the Thirteen colonies. Their purpose was to subvert
the government and thereby aid the cause of independence. The "Sons
of Liberty", who made a name for themselves dumping government taxed
tea into the harbor at Boston, were the action arm of the committees
of correspondence. Each committee was a secret cell that operated totally
independently of the other cells. Information on the government was
passed from committee to committee, from colony to colony, and then
acted upon on a local basis.
Yet even in these bygone days of poor communication,
of weeks to months for a letter to be delivered, the committees without
any central direction whatsoever, were remarkable similar in tactics
employed to resist government tyranny. It was, as the first American
patriots knew, totally unnecessary for anyone to give an order for anything.
Information was made available to each committee, and each committee
acted as it saw fit. A recent example of the cell system taken from
the left wing of politics are the Communists.
The Communist, in order to get around the
obvious problems involved in pyramidal organization, developed to an
art the cell system. They had numerous independent cells which operated
completely isolated from one another and particularly with no knowledge
of each other, but were orchestrated together by a central headquarters.
For instance, during World War II, in Washington, it is known that there
were at least six secret Communist cells operating at high levels in
the United States government (plus all the open Communists who were
protected and promoted by President Roosevelt), however, only one of
the cells was rooted out and destroyed. How many more actually were
operating no one can say for sure.
The Communist cells which operated in the
U.S until late 1991 under Soviet control could have at their command
a leader, who held a social position which appeared to be very lowly.
He could be, for example, a busboy in a restaurant, but in reality a
colonel or a general in the Soviet Secret Service, the KGB. Under him
could be a number of cells and a person active in one cell would almost
never have knowledge of individuals who are active in another cell.
The value of this is that while any one
cell can be infiltrated, exposed or destroyed, such action will have
no effect on the other cells; in fact, the members of the other cells
will be supporting that cell which is under attack and ordinarily would
lend very strong support to it in many ways. This is at least part of
the reason, no doubt, that whenever in the past Communists were attacked
in this country, support for them sprang up in many unexpected places.
The efficient and effective operation of
a cell system after the Communist model, is of course, dependent upon
central direction, which means impressive organization, funding from
the top, and outside support, all of which the Communists had. Obviously,
American patriots have none of these things at the top or anywhere else,
and so an effective cell organization based upon the Soviet system of
operation is impossible.
Two things become clear from the above
discussion.
First, that the pyramid type of organization can be penetrated quite
easily and it thus is not a sound method of organization in situations
where the government has the resources and desire to penetrate the structure;
which is the situation in this country.
Secondly, that the normal qualifications for the cell structure based
upon the Red model does not exist in the U.S. for patriots. This understood,
the question arises "What method is left for those resisting state tyranny?"
The answer comes from Col. Amoss who proposed the "Phantom Cell" mode
of organization. Which he described as Leaderless Resistance. A system
of organization that is based upon the cell organization, but does not
have any central control or direction, that is in fact almost identical
to the methods used by the Committees of Correspondence during the American
Revolution.
Utilizing the Leaderless Resistance concept,
all individuals and groups operate independently of each other, and
never report to a central headquarters or single leader for direction
or instruction, as would those who belong to a typical pyramid organization.
At first glance, such a type of organization seems unrealistic, primarily
because there appears to be no organization. The natural question thus
arises as to how are the "Phantom cells" and individuals to cooperate
with each other when there is no intercommunication or central direction?
The answer to this question is that participants in a program of Leaderless
Resistance through phantom cell or individual action must know exactly
what they are doing, and how to do it. It becomes the responsibility
of the individual to acquire the necessary skills and information as
to what is to be done. This is by no means as impractical as it appears,
because it is certainly true that in any movement, all persons involved
have the same general outlook, are acquainted with the same philosophy,
and generally react to given situations in similar ways. The pervious
history of the committees of correspondence during the American Revolution
show this to be true. Since the entire purpose of Leaderless Resistance
is to defeat state tyranny (at least insofar as this essay is concerned),
all members of phantom cells or individuals will tend to react to objective
events in the same way through usual tactics of resistance.
Organs of information distribution such
as newspapers, leaflets, computers, etc., which are widely available
to all, keep each person informed of events, allowing for a planned
response that will take many variations. No one need issue an order
to anyone. Those idealist truly committed to the cause of freedom will
act when they feel the time is ripe, or will take their cue from others
who precede them. While it is true that much could be said against this
type of structure as a method of resistance, it must be kept in mind
that Leaderless Resistance is a child of necessity. The alternatives
to it have been show to be unworkable or impractical.
Leaderless Resistance has worked before
in the American Revolution, and if the truly committed put it to use
for themselves, it will work now. It goes almost without saying that
Leaderless Resistance leads to very small or even one man cells of resistance.
Those who join organizations to play "let's pretend" or who are "groupies"
will quickly be weeded out. While for those who are serious about their
opposition to federal despotism, this is exactly what is desired.
From the point of view of tyrants and would
be potentates in the federal bureaucracy and police agencies, nothing
is more desirable than that those who oppose them be UNIFIED in their
command structure, and that every person who opposes them belong to
a pyramid type group. Such groups and organizations are an easy kill.
Especially in light of the fact that the
Justice (sic) Department promised in 1987 that there would never be
another group that opposed them that they did not have at least one
informer in. These federal "friends of government" are intelligence
agents. They gather information that can be used at the whim of a federal
D.A. to prosecute.
The line of battle has been drawn. Patriots
are required therefore, to make a conscious decision to either aid the
government in its illegal spying, by continuing with old methods of
organization and resistance, or to make the enemie's job more difficult
by implementing effective countermeasures.
Now there will, no doubt, be mentally handicapped
people out there who, while standing at a podium with an American flag
draped in the background, and a lone eagle soaring in the sky above,
will state emphatically in their best sounding red, white, and blue
voice, "So what if the government is spying? We are not violating any
laws." Such crippled thinking by any serious person is the best example
that there is a need for special education classes. The person making
such a statement is totally out of contact with political reality in
this country, and unfit for leadership of any thing more than a dog
sleigh in the Alaskan wilderness. The old "Born on the fourth of July"
mentality that has influenced so much of the American patriot's thinking
in the past will not save him from the government in the future. "Reeducation"
for non-thinkers of this type will take place in the federal prison
system where there are no flags or eagles, but abundance of men who
were "not violating any law."
Most groups who "unify" their disparate
associates into a single structure have short political lives. Therefore,
those movement leaders constantly calling for unity of organization
rather than the desirable unity of purpose, usually fall into one of
three categories. They may not be sound political tacticians, but rather,
just committed men who feel unity would help their cause, while not
realizing that the government would greatly benefit from such efforts.
The Federal objective, to imprison or destroy all who oppose them, is
made easier in pyramid organizations. Or perhaps, they do not fully
understand the struggle they are involved in and that the government
they oppose has declared a state of war against those fighting for faith,
folk, freedom and constitutional liberty. Those in power will use any
means to rid themselves of opposition. The third class calling for unity
and let us hope this is the minority of the three, are men more desirous
of the supposed power that a large organization would bestow, than of
actually achieving their stated purpose.
Conversely, the last thing Federal snoops
would have, if they had any choice in the matter, is a thousand different
small phantom cells opposing them. It is easy to see why. Such a situation
is an intelligence nightmare for a government intent upon knowing everything
they possibly can about those who oppose them. The Federals, able to
amass overwhelming strength of numbers, manpower, resources, intelligence
gathering, and capability at any given time, need only a focal point
to direct their anger. A single penetration of a pyramid type of organization
can lead to the destruction of the whole. Whereas, Leaderless Resistance
presents no single opportunity for the Federals to destroy a significant
portion of the Resistance.
With the announcement by the Department
of Justice (sic) that 300 FBI agents formerly assigned to watching Soviet
spies in the US (domestic counter intelligence) are now to be used to
"combat crime", the federal government is preparing the way for a major
assault upon those persons opposed to their policies. Many anti-government
groups dedicated to the preservation of the America of our forefathers
can expect shortly to feel the brunt of a new federal assault upon liberty.
It is clear, therefore, that it is time to rethink traditional strategy
and tactics when it comes to opposing a modern police state. America
is quickly moving into a long dark night of police state tyranny, where
the rights now accepted by most as being inalienable will disappear.
Let the coming night be filled with a thousand
points of resistance. Like the fog which forms when conditions are right
and disappears when they are not, so must the resistance to tyranny
be.
"If every person has the right to defend--even
by force--his person, his liberty, and his property, then it follows
that a group of men have the right to organize and support a common
force to protect these rights constantly." ---The Law. Frederick Bastiat
Paris, 1850.
Editors Note: This essay was written by
Louis Beam in 1983 and published at that time. Republished above in
1992. I do not take credit for the theories expounded upon here, Col.
Amoss deserves the credit for his brilliant analysis and insightful
thinking.
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