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guerilla warfare d u r i n g the urban uprisings occurring f r o m 1965 t h r o u g h 1968. I n his w o r k Black Activism, Black political scientist Robert Brisbane stated that R A M ' s objective was " t o b u i l d a black liberation a r m y consisting of local and regional groups held together under a tight chain of c o m m a n d . " I n 1967, R A M began to organize Black urban y o u t h into a paramilitary force called the Black Guards. A R A M document, titled " O n Organization of Ghetto Y o u t h , " projected developing the Black Liberation A r m y : " . . . i n the early stages of the mobilization of Black ghetto y o u t h w e must prepare for the ultimate stage, a protracted war of national liberation; therefore the type of organization that must be established is a paramilitary o r g a n i z a t i o n . " This document referred to the paramilitary organization as the Black Liberation A r m y or B L A . Due to intensive federal and state counter-insurgency campaigns, i n 1968 R A M decided to disband the organization and function under other names, i n c l u d i n g the Black Liberation Party, A f r i k a n Peoples Party and the House of Umoja. 16
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The above mentioned efforts preceded the 1971 split w i t h i n the Black Panther Party and the subsequent identification of the BLA by state and federal police. While often omitted f r o m the historiography of the Black freedom movement, the concept of armed struggle and a Black underground has a l o n g history and is a legacy that w o u l d influence the early development of the Black Panther Party. The Black Panther Party and the Black U n d e r g r o u n d The question of the underground was a principal issue for the Black Panther Party f r o m its inception. Prior to f o u n d i n g the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense w i t h Huey N e w t o n , Bobby Seale was a member of the Revolutionary Action Movement. Seale differed w i t h R A M ' s insistence on the revolutionary vanguard being clandestine. R A M preferred p r i m a r i l y to interact w i t h the public through mass front organizations. R A M structure, membership, meetings and other activities were secret. While Seale and N e w t o n differed w i t h R A M ' s clandestine posture, the BPP organized an u n d e r g r o u n d from its earliest days. By developing an underground w i n g the BPP leadership prepared for the possibility that its political activities w o u l d not be allowed to function i n the public arena. I n this context, the BPP envisioned a clandestine guerilla force that w o u l d serve as the vanguard of the revolution. I n 1968, N e w t o n stated: When the people learn that it is no longer advantageous for them to resist by going into the streets in large numbers, and when they see the advantage in the activities of the guerilla warfare method, they will quickly follow this example ...When the vanguard group destroys the machinery of the oppressor by dealing with him in small groups of three and four, and then escapes the might Ibid., pp. 67-68. Brisbane, op. cit., p. 182. Revolutionary Action Movement, "On Organization of Black Ghetto Youth," in Hearings before the Permanent Subcommittee Investigations of the Committee on Government Operations United States Senate, Ninety-First Congress, First Session, Riots, Civil, and Criminal Disorders, June 26 and 30, 1969, Part 20 (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1969), pp. 4221-24. Ibid. 16
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