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Cr tamale reprisals from the SLA. Open Letter to the People We are ex-members of the Symbionese Federation. We resigned collectively from the Federation immediately after the assassination of Dr. Marcus Foster. We had intended simply to dissociate ourselves from the SLA in practice, by ceasing to work with them. Since the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst and the publication of the Peclaration, however, we feel compelled to make a public gtatement concerning our criticisms of the SLA and our history with the Federation, because of their destructive misrepresentation of the revolutionary movement. The obvious |first step | is to deal with the SLA's tragic misuse of violence. “Phe revolutionary roleyof. "necessary" violence is * the opposite of what the SLA believes, and practices, as recently, where they decided, separately from the rest of the. Federation, to murder Foster. Violence alone cannot heqin a” revolutionary practice, but only the failure « ef that practice: useless self-sacrifice. . ‘Violence, ‘when nec necessary, can support revolutionary strategy, but never originate “or ajustify it. By resorting to ahstract violence, the SLA not only Separated itself from the rest of the revolutionary movement, but hecame the example to avoid, the stereotype of the “mad terrorist" so indispensable to our oppressors to put us down even more with new laws and restrictions. The surest way to dictatorship is a revolutionary movement represented by provocateurs. However, we have net given and will not give information regarding our location. or the location of the SLA to the authorities, for the ‘following reasons: 1} While we no longer consider the SLA to be a genuinely revolutionary organization, we are no friends of Randolph Hearst .or the class to which he belongs, that is, the class which owns and controls the means of life -- the factories, land, schools, communications, and much of the housing -- in the United States, and throughout the world. -. 2) We are fully aware of the biased and politically repressive nature of the “justice” system which would use our pas connection with the SLA to frame us for the revolutionary ; movement and halt our activity. 3) We are in hiding since the split, expecting -