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Direct Action Communiqué
Direct Action Communiqué from the Litton Bombing
We claim responsibility for the bombing of a Litton Systems of Canada Ltd. industrial plant in Toronto, Ontario where the guidance system for the Cruise Missle nuclear weapon is being built.
There is every reason imaginable to tear down the systems and makers of nuclear war: for the of all life on Earth, for all peoples hopes and visions, for the possibilities of a livable future. We dedicate this action to the spirit of the people, which, if awakened, will overcome the threats to our survival.
Nuclear war is beyond question the ultimate expression of the negative characteristics of Western Civilization. Its roots lie deep within centuries of patriarchy, racism, imperialism, class domination and all other forms of violence and oppression that have scarred human history. As well, nuclear war expresses, in the most horrendous way, the general trend of modern technological civilization towards extinction -- either by war or ecological destruction. It points out, with terrorizing finality, that unless people can stop the men that dominate societies around the world -- the men who use science and technology for war and power and profit -- then the intricate natural world as we know it will cease to exist.
The insanity of nuclear war, and the continuing development of the weapons for nuclear war, stands as a horror for all to see. In the industrialized world more resources, scientists and engineers are engaged in creating the armies and weapons systems for nuclear war than for any other single pursuit. Three to ten new bombs are added daily to the arsenals of global annihilation and over $300 billion is spent every year increasing and upgrading an overkill stockpile of more than 55,000 nuclear weapons. In the U.S., Reagan has asked for a 31% increase in the Pentagon's present $1.7 trillion five-year budget and has also announced a new $1.5 trillion arms program. Who can doubt that the dictators and militarists in the Kremlin are far behind?
The terrorism of this relentless nuclear arms buildup, the nightmare of witnessing the Earth being transformed into a giant doomsday bomb, and the realization that things are out of control because those in power are greedy and violent madmen has shocked billions with fear and concern.
Yet in the industrialized world, many of the same people who profess their abhorrence at the idea of nuclear conflict are nevertheless unthinkingly, and often willingly, participating in the actual processes which are bringing about global nuclear genocide. People of the Western and Eastern empires must wake up to the reality that it is the same governments and militaries that they support, the same ideology and rationalizations that they believe in, the same materialistic, technological and consumeriatic Iifestyles that they adhere to, and the same corporations and industries that they work for that are directly responsible for the ongoing nuclear insanity that they claim to reject.
We believe that the people must actively fight the nuclear war systems in whatever forms they exist and wherever they exist. Although, in total, the nuclear militarization of the world is a vast and seemingly unfathomable an omnipotent network, it can be understood and effectively resisted when we recognize that it is designed, built, and operated in thousands of separate facilities and industries spread throughout the world. By analyzing the interests and institutions in our own regions that are contributing to the nuclear buildup, we find the smaller component pieces of the nuclear network that are realistic targets for direct confrontation and sabotage. Our opposition to the insanity of nuclear war must be transformed into militant resistance and direct action on a local and regional basis. It is not enough to only theoretically oppose the idea of nuclear war. We must take responsibility for what is going on around us.
In Canada we must specifically right against the production and testing of the Cruise Missle. But more generally, and strategically, we must recognize that the Canadian State is committed to, and actively involved in, the nuclear war preparations of the U.S. and the rest of the capitalist Western Alliance. As one of the seven Western Summit nations and through its military alliances, the Canadian state is directly participating in the desperate and deadly drive by the Western Alliance (primarily spurred on by the U.S. ruling class) to reassert capitalism's hegemony globally through the attainment of total nuclear superiority and first-strike capability. The new nuclear weapons systems such as the Cruise and Perishing 2 Missles, the Trident submarines and the Neutron Bomb, are designed for offensive first-strike, and are seen by the military strategists and leaders of the Western Alliance as a force to contain or defeat any threats to the security of capitalist interests or strategically important regions around the world -- be it from the Soviet Union or liberation struggles in the Third World attempting to establish independent economies.
Canadian economic, foreign and military policy is not commited to peace or global justice. Rather, it is completely immersed within the genocidal nuclear strategy of the Western Alliance to wage nuclear war, if necessary, to maintain the multinational corporate economy throughout the world. Through membership in the NATO and NORAD nuclear military alliances, the Canadian State is fulfilling an active supporting role in maintaining and developing the nuclear fighting capacity of the Western military forces. Primarily, Canadian support systems for nuclear war involve conununications devices which supply targeting information to U.S. nuclear weapons systems or detection of incoming attacks; as well as the deployment of nuclear missiles at Canadian Forces bases at Bagotville, Quebec, at Comox, B.C., and at Chatham, New Brunswick. The ongoing complicity of the Canadian State with nuclear warfare strategies was re-affirmed recently by renewed commitments to both NATO and NORAD, and by the govemment's support for NATO's nuclear modernization program.
Hand in hand with the government's military involvement in the nuclear operations of NATO and NORAD, Canadian capitalists are making profits from producing components for U.S. nuclear weapons systems. Current government policy places no restrictions on Canadian industrial involvement in the building of U.S. nuclear weapons. Litton is building the Cruise Missle's electronic guidance system,Hawker-Siddley Canada Ltd. of Toronto is building launchers for the Lance Missles designed to carry the neutron bomb, Vickers of Montreal is building the hull cylinder torpedo tubes for the Polaris, Poseidon and Trident nuclear submarines, Heeds International of Port Moody, B.C. built the cranes to load nuclear warheads into the Tndent subs, and a Canadian plant is working on a component for the MX nuclear missile system.
Industries in Canada that produce nuclear weapons components are fully integrated with the military and nuclear policies of the U.S. through the U.S./Canada Defense Production Sharing Arrangements. These arrangements cover the production side of the NORAD agreements for a continental defense policy and set out the division of labour between Canada and the U.S. for weapons production. The federal government directly assists and subsidizes Canadian armament manufacturers through a myriad of programs designed help these death merchants win U.S. Defense Department contracts available under the Production Sharing Arrangements. Through the Defense Industry Productivity Program, the federal government has given Litton $26.4 million to subsidize production of the guidance system for the Cruise Missile. In addition, the government has given Litton a five year $22.5 million interest-free loan for the same purpose.
Giving financial aid for the manufacture of components for the Cruise Missile and the agreements to test the Cruise Missile in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan attests to the complete hypocrisy of Trudeau and the other government officials who proclaim that Canadian policy strives for suffocation of the nuclear arms race. In the grim light of reality, the "peace" pronouncements of Trudeau amount to nothing but enticing lies and illusions designed to con us into believing that the Canadian State is an ally in the struggle for disarmament, and therefore a workable vehicle in which to direct our energies.
We've got to realize the implications of the government's decisions and actual poIicy. We must come to see the Canadian State as an active enemy to be fought, and not as misguided humanists open to our enlightenment. Far from listening to the growing protest from the Canadian public to withdraw its involvement in nuclear war, the government has done just the opposite. It has boosted military spending, reaffirmed commitments to NATO and NORAD, publicly defended the U.S./NATO nuclear strategy, given free money to Litton to build part of the Cruise Missile, and agreed to let the Pentagon warmongers use Canadian territory for the testing of the Cruise Missile, as well as other newly developed U.S. weapons systems. Counting on these officials to solve our problems is ridiculous. Any belief in the "democracy" of the system to save us is simply a belief in the democracy of lambs being led to the slaughter. We must stop our futile attempts at trying to transform the consciousness of the capitalist slime who make up the Canadian State and begin transforming ourselves and the strategies by which we operate. We will not survive if, in the final analysis, the success of our undertakings is determined by whether the nuclear enemy can be persuaded to change its sickened mind.
While we have no illusion that direct actions, such as this one, can by themselves bring about the end of Canada's role as a resource-based economic and military functionary of Western Imperialism, we do believe that militant direct actions are valid and necessary. Militant direct actions can have a constructive function both as a springboard to the kind of consciousness and organization that must be developed if we are to overcome the nuclear masters, and as an effective tool of resistance now. Whether they will or not depends on the integrity of the existing movement to develop the commitment and courage to carry the struggle beyond legality and the personal security and privilege of comfortable lifestyles still aspired to, and attainable, by middle class dissidents in North America.
We believe that it is critical that the already radical sectors of the movement for liberation and nuclear sanity recognize that direct action and militant resistance can have positive effects now, can weaken the enemy now, and that this possibility to sabotage the enemy's undertakings complements the movement's strategic long-term efforts to transform the conciousness of the people. We believe that, if undertaken seriously and well-supported throughout the existing movement, widely practised militant resistance and sabotage will become effective in slowing down the clock of death and inspire the people to respond to the threats to our survival with urgency, vitlity, and clarity.
The global situation of nuclear holocaust and extreme ecological disaster is rapidly become a reality. The new Western Allaince weapons systems for first-strike nuclear war are to be in place by 1983-6. This destabilizing, ever-encroaching reality should compel us all to move beyond protest and work hard to develop a movement with the collective means and ability to actually do something directly to stop the realiz ation of the enemy's life-threatening madness. In the absence of widespread popular refusal to participate any longer in the war projects of the ruling class, we believe that militant direct actions must be used as an attempt to keep uncompleted, or at least slow down, the programs and technologies which are bringing about our own destruction. For us, this is where the impetus to act lies.
Historically, those in power have always used warfare and repression in order to maintain their control over other people's lives, and today this situation is no different. For the corporate owners and political rulers, nuclear weapons are the ultimate tool in the repressive apparatus -- the key to maintaining their power. Thus, they will never voluntarily disarm or stand aside and watch their power be peacefully taken away. Instead, they will use whatever weapons are necessary to battle those who are threatening their rule. We are certain that only through revolt -- not referendums or protest alone -- can we stop the power-crazed from launching their WW3. It is with an eye towards the generalized development of an actively militant resistance movement that we have undertaken this action.
Addendum to the Direct Action communique
We claim responsibility for the bombing of a Litton Systems of Canada industrial plant in Toronto, Ontario, where the guidance for the Cruise Missile nuclear weapons is being produced.
We sincerely regret that any injuries occured as a result of this action. We never intended any harm to come to anyone -- especially the workers at Litton -- but instead we took great care in preparing what we seriously assumed were adequate precautions to ensure the safety of all people in the area. Unfortunately, this did not turn out to be the case.
We do not regret, however, our decision to attempt to sabotage the production of the Cruise Missile's guidance "brain." We only claim in all honesty that this action was never meant to be an act of terrorism. We were not trying to threaten or kill the workers or executives of Litton Systems. We were attempting to destroy part of an industrial facility that produces machinery for mass murder. We wanted to blow-up as much of that technology of death as possible.
Accidents happen; no systems or people are infallible. For us, however, this fact of life in no way excuses us for the mistakes that we made which contributed to causing injury in this action. We only pose these simple questions to put this tragedy into proper perspective. How many hundreds of times have entire populations been only minutes from annihilation due to nuclear war computer systems' malfunctions? How many thousands will suffer from cancer-related diseases because of breakdowns at nuclear power plants? How many thousands are maimed and killed every year in industrial accidents? And isn't it a fact that millions of people starve to death annually because so much money and human effort is put into systems of war rather than developing the means to feed the people of the world?
Although we still firmly believe that it is right to attack the technologies of death, we identify our mistakes in this action as the following:
1. The bomb exuloded 12 minutes before it was supposed to, assuming that it did detonate at 11:31 pm as stated in the media. The bomb was set to go off at 11:43 pm. If it had exploded at this time, we feel that it was reasonable to have assumed that the Litton plant and the surrounding area would have been safely secured. It is a mystery to us why it exploded early, as we had checked and double-checked the accuracy of the timing system many times.
2. The warning call was not repeated. The van was left on the lawn in front of the Litton building at 11:17 pm. We telephoned a warning to Litton security just one minute after the van was parked. This was to ensure a quick reaction by authorities, even though we felt certain that the van would have been seen as it was being driven across the lawn and parked. The van was parked 100 metres directly in front of an exposed glass-walled security guard's booth. In fact, the driver of the van could see 3 guards in the booth at all times during the approach and, as a result, knew that the van had not been noticed. Unfortunately, the Litton guard did not completely understand the instructions of the telephone warning. When he asked that the instructions be repeated, he was only told to go out front and look at the van ...
3. We made errors in judgement about the "orange box' which was left in front of the van. This box was meant to be a back-up warning system to the telephone warning -- again to help authorities understand the situation and ensure prompt and knowledgable action on their part. The box was painted fluorescent orange so it could be easily seen, and taped to all four sides of it was a sheet of paper with information and instructions. On top of the box was a stick of unarmed dynamite. We felt certain that the Litton guards, either by seeing the van being parked or by being alerted to it by the telephone warning, would guickly come upon the box -- thus having written information in their possession to guide them. Unfortunately, we wrote "Danger: Explosives" on top of the sheets of instructions. As well, it was not a good idea to leave an unarmed stick of dynamite vi!sible on top of the box ...
4. We were mistaken in believing that the Litton guards and police would be on top of things. The image of cops and guards as "super heroes" caused us to believe that they would have security and safety matters underway very quickly. This obviously did not turn out to be what happened. The Litton guards did not observe the van being parked even though it occured essentially right before their eyes. A Litton guard did not understand the phone warning even though it was given clearly. It seems that the Litton guards did little or nothing to evacuate the workers until after the police arrived. As the workers have said, they were only told to leave the building seconds before the explosion. The police took a very long time to arrive after they were alerted -- approximately 10 minutes -- and even then they only sent one car at first to investigate. Finally, neither the police, but especially Litton security, even took a close look at the orange box. We did not expect this kind of slow and indecisive response from the authorities ...
We are very disturbed and saddened that injuries occured as a result of this action. We have gone over what went wrong time and time again. Most significantly, the bomb exploded 12 minutes too early. But nevertheless, we feel we must strongly criticize the Litton security guards for the way in which they "handled" this incident. We know that there were at least three guards in the security booth when the van was parked and when the phone warning occured. We feel it is undeniable that all injury to the workers could have been avoided if the guards had promptly evacuated the Litton plant, as they obviously should have ...
We have written the above not to redeem ourselves, as we did commit inexcusable errors, but simply as an explanation of our motives and intentions for those people who may feel threatened that there are crazed terrorists on the loose against the Canadian people. Again, we repeat, that we never intended any harm to come to anyone through this action. Instead we took great care in preparing what we seriously assumed were adequate precautions to ensure the safety of all people in the area. Understand and remember, the terrorists are those who have set the world on the brink of nuclear war, not those who are fighting this insanity and inhuman madness!
Finally, we wish to state that in no way was this bombing the work of the Cruise Missile Conversion Project, or any other public peace movement organization in Toronto.
Direct Action
October 17, 1982