Osawatomie (a complete run in six issues - all underground printings)
n.p. Weather Underground Organization, 1975-1976. A scarce complete run of the underground printings of the Weather Underground Organization’s short-lived & clandestinely printed theoretical magazine, Osawatomie, named for the small town in Kansas where white abolitionist John Brown led a battle against pro-slavery forces in 1856. The magazine followed the successful reception of Prairie Fire: The Politics of Revolutionary Anti-Imperialism (1974), the group’s magnum opus and foray into self-publishing under the newly formalized Red Dragon Print Collective. As the WUO scaled back their bombing campaign and focused on mass mobilization via media, remaining underground proved increasingly unsustainable and expensive and publishing Osawatomie somewhat precipitated the group’s dissolution in 1977.
As stated in the premiere issue published in March 1975, Osawatomie was written to “demystify the workings of the system, to expose and clarify the political meaning of things… [and] to contribute to the unity of progressive forces around a revolutionary line.” Each issue featured a Who We Are section, which outlined the group’s platform & program; a predictably tedious class-based analysis, a continuation of the WUO’s increasingly Marxist-Leninist development; reports on anti-imperialism campaigns in Puerto Rico, Latin America, Africa, etc.; a particular focus on the struggles against the racist anti-busing campaigns in Boston; and typically some kind of centerfold content, culminating with Sarah Pine’s evocative MPLA poster in the penultimate issue.
As Dan Berger documents in Outlaws of America, in order to print their publications clandestinely, the WUO rented and soundproofed an apartment, established a “social research and consulting company” and built a reception desk for appearances, and they were still forced to relocate numerous times to avoid detection. Each issue was distributed in a limited number under the cover of darkness and then aboveground support groups such as the Prairie Fire Organizing Committee, Water Buffalo Print Collective and John Brown Book Club published reprints for broader circulation. Points of the underground printings include no price or address, at least for the first three issues, the Red Dragon Print Collective slug at the bottom of the rear wrapper; and no ordering information inside the front wrapper (although in the later issues the group did direct readers to where they could find reprints of their publications).
All issues very good to near fine with issue one missing a small chunk to the top corner of the front wrapper and a small slice near the spine; most issues have some toning/browning and light soiling to wrappers with the stamp of the Woman’s Center Library, Cambridge to front wrapper of Vol. 2, No. 1; all clean internally. A rare opportunity to acquire this complete run of the theoretical output of one of the most important New Left, terrorist organizations. Item #03719
Price: $950.00