EDITORS NOTE: This essay was written by Louis Beam in 1983 and published at that time. It was Republished in ‘The Seditionist’ #12, February 1992. I do not take credit for the theories expounded upon here, Col. Amoss deserves the credit for his brilliant analysis and insightful thinking. Louis Beam, though I vehemently disagree with his application of these tactics towards White Nationalist and Racist goals, did provide insight into the theory of the topic worth reexamining. I have made certain changes to the original essay, updating it to recognize and mate with the current reality. Certain outdated references were replaced with current examples so that the reader may better interact with the topic of the essay, as at times dated examples are difficult for modern audiences to relate to. For those interested, the original can be found here.
The Concept of Leaderless Resistance
The concept of Leaderless Resistance was proposed by Col. Ulius Louis Amoss, who was the founder of the International Services of Information Inc., located in Baltimore, Maryland. This was a private intelligence agency that provided independent intelligence analysis across the globe. Colonel Amoss spent his career in US Military Intelligence and with the Central Intelligence Agency where he pioneered the concept of Leaderless Resistance after seeing top-down hierarchical resistance cells in Europe infiltrated and later executed by Communist Intelligence Agencies.
Col. Amoss first wrote of Leaderless Resistance in the early 1950’s. HIs theories of organization were primarily directed against the Communist regimes of Europe, and the threat of eventual Communist take-over in the United States. The present writer, with the benefit of having lived more than a half-century beyond Col. Amoss, has taken these theories and expounded upon them with updated references and examples of groups and organizations that have or currently do practice Leaderless Resistance, also known as “phantom cell structure”. Col. Amoss understood the immense capability and power of the Communist governments that arose during the cold war and rightly was fearful of the tyranny they enacted. This author understands the immense capability and power of a corrupted Federal Security State and rightfully fears the tyranny such an organization is capable of. Such tyranny is a threat to everyone. The writer has joyfully lived long enough to see the dying breaths of nation-state communism in much of Europe, but may, unhappily, remain long enough to see the dying breaths of freedom in America and communisms rebirth as International Globalism.
In the hope that somehow, American 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 and the tides are not yet with us. Thoe 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 away pearls of former greatness. They are there. I have seen their eyes sparkle in brief moments, sharing with them the love of liberty and natural rights as only freemen can. I have relished in their friendship, endured in their pain, and they in mine. Those who love liberty to such as degree as to lay everything on the line for what is right and just are indeed a band of brothers. They are men of honor who, native to the soil, fear a lifeless existence in monitored chains more than they fear the struggle of rushing headlong into the fray. Many saw combat during the Global War on Terror (GWOT). Others defied orders during lockdown. And yet others, those purebloods among us, refused the jab despite the overwhelming pressures placed upon them by government and international corporations. We are those who face daily the words of weaker, timid men who say we cannot win. Perhaps they are right… but then again, perhaps we can. Liberty remains so long as those who know her breathe.
Barring any cataclysmic event, the struggle will go on for decades. The passage of time will make it clear to even the slowest among us that the government is the foremost threat to life and liberty. The government will no doubt make today’s oppression 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 any they view as outgroup. This changing situation makes it clear that those who oppose state repression must be prepared to continually alter, adapt, and modify their behavior, practices, strategy, and tactics as circumstances warrant. Failure to consider new methods and implement them as necessary will make the police states efforts of suppression uncomplicated and accelerated. It is the duty of every man who loves liberty and recognizes the natural rights of mankind to make any tyrants life miserable. When one fails to do so he not only fails himself, but he fails his people.
With this in mind, current methods of resistance to tyranny employed by those who love liberty, and the natural rights of mankind, western 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 security states intention of repression more possible or more difficult. Those not working to the aid of the objective must be discarded or the government benefits from their association with the leaderless resistance.
Today in our nation, anytime capable and honest men band together into groups or associations of a political or religious nature, they are falsely labeled as “domestic terrorists”, “extremists”, or some other derogatory term that is aimed at turning public opinion away from them. Understanding this, it will then become necessary to consider other methods of organization, or as the topic of this essay concerns, non-organization: Leaderless Resistance. One should keep in mind that it is not in the governments interest to eliminate all groups. Some few must remain in order to perpetuate the smoke and mirrors vision for the masses that Americas is a “free and democratic nation” 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 that the most powerful government in recorded human history will not crush any who pose a real threat to its power, should not be active, but rather, should be at home studying basic political histories.
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 to conspiracy plots, rejection of feeble minded malcontents, insistence upon quality of the participants, avoidance of all contact with the front men for federal agencies - the news media - and, finally, camouflage (which can be defined as the ability to blend in to the public’s eye, especially those more committed groups of resistance, with mainstream “safe” 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 termed of armed might or political ability, for there is none of either at the present, but rather, threat in terms of potentiality. It is potential the security state fears most. Whether that potential exists in an individual or group is incidental. The security state tends to 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 lose.
The movement for liberty and a restoration of natural rights is rapidly approaching (and now on the federal radar) to the point where for many people, the option of belonging to group will be nonexistent. For others, group membership will be a viable option - though, likely only for the immediate future. Eventually, and perhaps much sooner than most would believe possible, the price paid for membership will exceed any perceived benefit for the average Western citizen. But for now, some of the groups that do exist often serve a useful purpose either for the newcome who can be indoctrinated into an ideology of struggle (see Antifa, Climate Change, Social Justice, Trans Rights, etc.), or for generating positive propaganda to reach potential resistance members. 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 and all means. 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 into that dark fate our would-be Neo-Feudal 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 is resistance organizations and armies, which are of course, the best illustration of the pyramid structure, with the mass of soldiery, the privates, at the bottom responsible to the NCOs, and so on up the chain of command to the generals at the top, they themselves so often responsible to politicians and organizations cloaked in power. 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 throughout the world today from the US 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, limited and distinct branches (legislative, judicial, and executive) and the States rendered to them few, specific enumerated powers. This was done as the States themselves remained sovereign and the people respectively their Natural Rights. Even so, the pyramid remains essentially untouched and uniformly adopted worldwide.
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. Three 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 Sergeant or a Captain 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.
A third, and perhaps more recognizable example of phantom cells, is ANTIFA. The Black Bloc organization which espouses anti-fascist ideals through the application of fascist tactics and street riots is well known to the current populace. Their organizational structure is neither hierarchical nor pyramidal in nature. Cells are individual, are almost entirely leaderless, and utilize anonymous apps such as WhatsApp and SIGNAL to communicate. They tend to react at the individual cell level to current events, meet in what are preestablished destinations, and then flow almost like water in and around protest environments. Their ability to antagonize police until a riot line is formed, only to then dissipate and reform blocks away at a moment’s notice is part of this unstructured groups effective strategy. Groups aren’t infiltrated and then destroyed because of the decentralized manner in which they do/don’t organize. While individuals may get arrested at protests or riots, this does nothing to the phantom cell because the ideology remains the gathering point, not any physical location or under any one individual’s leadership.
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 citizens have none of these things that the Communists had at the top or anywhere else, and so an effective cell organization based upon the Soviet system of operation is impossible.
However, the ANTIFA operational model may be of some value.
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 citizens. 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 similar to the methods used by the Committees of Correspondence during the American Revolution, ANTIFA cells operating in California, and Hawala Networks operating along the Afg-Pak border. 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. Historic organs of information distribution such as newspapers, leaflets, and pamphlets, which are widely available to all, keep each person informed of events, have morphed into digital campaigns, viral videos, and trending hashtags. The free flow of information in this way allows for an unplanned-planned response that can take many variations. No one need issue an order to anyone. Those truly committed to the cause of freedom and liberty will act when they feel the time is right 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 shown 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 (3-5 person) or even one-man cells of resistance. Those who join organizations to play "pretend civil war” or who are "groupie larpers" will quickly be weeded out. While 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 those who oppose them having a UNIFIED command structure, and that every person who opposes them belongs to a pyramid type group able to be quickly charted and modelled. Such groups and organizations are an easy target. . 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. Citizens 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 enemies 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 the propaganda pushed by the government and corporations through the media has taken hold. The person making such a statement is totally out of contact with political reality in this country, and unfit managing even a single bowl of Jello. The old "Born on the fourth of July" mentality that has influenced so much of the Traditional Americans thinking in the past will not save him from the government at present. "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." We are seeing this firsthand with those who protested peacefully on January 6, 2020, who were incarcerated, tortured, and abused - and at times left for dead in prison cells - for exercising their First Amendment Rights.
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. We saw this with the ‘Proud Boys’ who were quickly and effectively taken apart seam by seam in a matter of mere weeks. The Federal objective, to imprison or destroy all who oppose them, is made easier in pyramid organizations and with the ‘Proud Boys’ we witnessed just that.
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 everyday citizens who value the constitution and liberty. We see this will the infiltration of Catholic Churches, the arrest and imprisonment of parents who spoke out at Schoolboard meetings and worse yet the FBI utilizing the national surveillance net to spy on those very parents. 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 National Security State, 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.
In 1983, the Justice Department announced (sic) that 300 FBI agents formerly assigned to watching Soviet spies in the US (domestic counterintelligence) were then to be used to "combat crime". This was one of the earlier efforts of the federal government to prepare 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, seeing as how that domestic security apparatus has grown at near-infinite speed since the early 1980s, and if possible, even faster since the drawdown of the GWOT. The international intelligence structure that our national government established to root out and kill terrorists abroad for the past twenty years has now been turned inward. We have FISA courts which are secret and can authorize any level or surveillance, kill, or capture operation. We have the FBI targeting religious organizations, spying on parents of school children, and targeting those who challenge what are obvious discrepancies in elections. The President calls Republicans and any who are not Democrat, MAGA Extremists - placing the extremist label upon them as potential domestic terrorists for their political beliefs. The federal government has said that those who oppose open border policies are extreme racists and prone to violence against illegal aliens and immigrants generally, that those who wish to prevent abortion are religious radicals hellbent on establishing a Christian Nationalist government on US soil. And the number of times government officials have called for the usage of drones, fighter jets, and even nukes against the American people has now become too many too count.
We have 11 operational Aerostat Radar Systems in the US that monitor both the border and 270km inland, watching and surveilling the lives of everyday American people. For over a decade, we saw JLENS spy balloons operated throughout America as well, the most questionable of which was in Baltimore. The problem here is that the balloons were able to integrate with systems using Hellfire Missiles such as drones, or even Patriot Missile Batteries. Not exactly benign policing. In fact, the system became so expansive that during Operation Noble Eagle, the JLENS were able to cast an “aerial net from Boston to Lake Erie to Raleigh, North Carolina, with a particular eye toward detecting threats approaching the nation's capital. The system was able to detect ground-based vehicles up to 140 miles (230 km) away, from Richmond, Virginia to Cumberland, Maryland to Staten Island, New York.” The system could track ground-based vehicles up to 140 miles away and, while the government said that the system was strictly for aerial targets, it was used to track vehicles, boats, and other surface objects.
The federal government has worked with banking organizations to track individuals and their purchases that contained terms such as “MAGA”, “TRUMP” and at least one bank voluntarily handed over bulk customer data to the FBI without any legal process. Further, “According to a letter obtained by WIRED, a little-known surveillance program called Data Analytical Services (DAS) has been secretly collecting and analyzing more than a trillion domestic phone records within the U.S. each year.” There are countless examples of this, just a few are here: (1), (2), (3), and (4). The purpose of this essay is not outline the abuses. They are well established.
It is clear, therefore, that it is time to rethink traditional strategy and tactics when it comes to opposing a modern security state as powerful as the one we face. America is quickly moving into a long dark night of police state tyranny, where the rights now accepted by most as being inalienable are quickly vanishing. 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.
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