Leaderless resistance: Difference between revisions

What links here Related changes Page information Get shortened URL
Created by Ajay Kumar
Last edited March 21, 2026
VisualWikitext
Created a new article
 
updated details
 
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|Social resistance strategy}}
{{Short description|Social resistance strategy}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2023}}


{{Multiple issues|{{more citations needed|date=March 2023}}
{{Original research|date=March 2026}}}}
'''Leaderless resistance''', or '''phantom cell''' structure, is a [[Rebellion|social resistance]] [[strategy]] in which small, independent groups ([[Clandestine cell system|covert cells]]), or individuals (a solo cell is called a "[[Lone wolf (terrorism)|lone wolf]]"), challenge an established institution such as a law, economic system, social order, or government. Leaderless resistance can encompass anything from [[nonviolence|non-violent]] protest and [[civil disobedience]] to [[vandalism]], [[terrorism]], and other violent activity.
'''Leaderless resistance''', or '''phantom cell''' structure, is a [[Rebellion|social resistance]] [[strategy]] in which small, independent groups ([[Clandestine cell system|covert cells]]), or individuals (a solo cell is called a "[[Lone wolf (terrorism)|lone wolf]]"), challenge an established institution such as a law, economic system, social order, or government. Leaderless resistance can encompass anything from [[nonviolence|non-violent]] protest and [[civil disobedience]] to [[vandalism]], [[terrorism]], and other violent activity.


Leaderless cells lack vertical command links and so operate without hierarchical command,<ref name=":2"/> but they have a common goal that links them to the social movement from which their ideology was learned.<ref name="Joosse">{{cite journal|last=Joosse|first=Paul|date=2007|title=Leaderless Resistance and Ideological Inclusion: the Case of the Earth Liberation Front|journal=Terrorism and Political Violence|volume=19|number=3|pages= 351–368|doi=10.1080/09546550701424042|s2cid=17532687 }}</ref>
Leaderless cells lack vertical command links and so operate without hierarchical command,<ref name=":2"/> but they have a common goal that links them to the social movement from which their ideology was learned.<ref name="Joosse">{{cite journal|last=Joosse|first=Paul|date=2007|title=Leaderless Resistance and Ideological Inclusion: the Case of the Earth Liberation Front|journal=Terrorism and Political Violence|volume=19|number=3|pages= 351–368|doi=10.1080/09546550701424042|s2cid=17532687 }}</ref>


Leaderless resistance has been employed by a wide range of movements, including [[animal-liberation movement|animal-liberation]], [[radical environmentalist movements|radical environmentalist]], [[Pro-life movement|anti-abortion]], military [[invasion]] resistance, [[anarchist]] organizations, [[colonialism]] resistance, [[terrorism|terrorist]], and [[hate group]]s.<ref name="Joosse"/>
Leaderless resistance has been employed by [[Animal rights movement|animal rights]], [[Radical environmentalism|radical environmentalist]], [[Anti-abortion movements|anti-abortion]], [[Insurgency|insurgent]], [[Anarchism|anarchist]], [[Decolonization|anti-colonial]], and [[terrorism|terrorist]] movements. It is a strategy used by [[hate group]]s as well.<ref name="Joosse"/>


==General characteristics==
==General characteristics==
A covert cell may be a lone individual or a small group. The basic characteristic of the structure is that there is no explicit communication between cells that are acting toward shared goals. Members of one cell usually have little or no information about who else is agitating on behalf of their cause.<ref name=":2" />
A covert cell may be a lone individual or a small group. The basic characteristic of the structure is that there is no explicit communication between cells that are acting toward shared goals. Members of one cell usually have little or no information about who else is agitating on behalf of their cause.<ref name=":2" /> Scholar Paul Joosse argues that leaderless resistance movements can avoid the ideological disputes and infighting that plague radical groups.<ref name="Joosse" />


Leaderless movements may have a symbolic figurehead.<ref name=":2" /> This can be a public figure, a [[multiple-use name]], or an inspirational author, who picks generic targets and objectives, but does not actually manage or execute plans. [[Mass media|Media]], in this case, often create a [[positive feedback loop]]: by publishing declarations of a movement's role model, this instills motivation, ideas, and assumed sympathy in the minds of potential agitators who in turn lend further authority to the figurehead.<ref name=":2" /> While this may loosely resemble a vertical command structure, it is notably unidirectional: a titular leader makes pronouncements, and activists may respond, but there is no formal contact between the two levels of organization.<ref name="Joosse"/>
Leaderless movements may have a symbolic figurehead.<ref name=":2" /> This can be a public figure, a [[multiple-use name]], or an inspirational author, who picks generic targets and objectives, but does not actually manage or execute plans. [[Mass media|Media]], in this case, often create a [[positive feedback loop]]: by publishing declarations of a movement's role model, this instills motivation, ideas, and assumed sympathy in the minds of potential agitators who in turn lend further authority to the figurehead.<ref name=":2" /> While this may loosely resemble a vertical command structure, it is notably unidirectional: a titular leader makes pronouncements, and activists may respond, but there is no formal contact between the two levels of organization.<ref name="Joosse"/>


As a result, leaderless resistance cells are resistant to [[informant]]s and [[traitor]]s. As there is neither a center that may be destroyed, nor links between the cells that may be infiltrated, it is more difficult for established authorities to arrest the development of a leaderless resistance movement than it is with movements that adopt more conventional hierarchies.<ref name=":2" />
As a result, leaderless resistance cells are resistant to [[informant]]s and [[traitor]]s. As there is neither a center that may be destroyed, nor links between the cells that may be infiltrated, it is more difficult for established authorities to arrest the development of a leaderless resistance movement than it is with movements that adopt more conventional hierarchies.<ref name=":2" />
Given {{clarify|date=July 2018|reason=what's asymmetrical about it? asymmetrical with respect to what?|text=the asymmetrical character}} of leaderless resistance, and the fact that it is often strategically adopted in the face of a power imbalance, it has much in common with [[guerrilla warfare]]. The latter strategy, however, usually retains some form of organized, bidirectional leadership and is often more {{clarify|date=July 2018|reason=what does this mean?|text=broad-based}} than the individualized actions of leaderless cells. In some cases, a largely leaderless movement may evolve into a coherent [[insurgency]] or guerrilla movement, as with the [[Partisans (Yugoslavia)|Yugoslav partisans]] of [[World War II]].<!-- In the same conflict, the [[United Kingdom|British]] leadership had extensive plans for the use of such resistance in the event of a successful [[Operation Sealion|German invasion]].<ref>{{cite web|author=British Resistance Organisation |title=History |url=http://www.parhamairfieldmuseum.co.uk/brohistory.html |publisher=parhamairfieldmuseum.co.uk |access-date=May 7, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050315030541/http://www.parhamairfieldmuseum.co.uk/brohistory.html |archive-date=March 15, 2005 }}</ref> {trivia that doesn't relate to the main topic}-->


Leaderless resistance often involves resistance by violent means, but it is not limited to them. Non-violent groups can use the same structure to author, print, and distribute [[samizdat]] literature, to create self-propagating [[boycotts]] against political opponents via the internet, to maintain an alternative [[Digital currency|electronic currency]] outside of the reach of taxing governments and transaction-logging banks, and so forth.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Joosse|first=Paul|date=2012|title=Elves, Environmentalism, and 'Eco-terror'|journal=Crime, Media, Culture|volume=8|number=1|pages=75–93|doi=10.1177/1741659011433366|s2cid=145748563 }}</ref>
Leaderless resistance often involves resistance by violent means, but it is not limited to them. Non-violent groups can use the same structure to author, print, and distribute [[samizdat]] literature, to create self-propagating [[boycotts]] against political opponents via the internet, to maintain an alternative [[Digital currency|electronic currency]] outside of the reach of taxing governments and transaction-logging banks, and so forth.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Joosse|first=Paul|date=2012|title=Elves, Environmentalism, and 'Eco-terror'|journal=Crime, Media, Culture|volume=8|number=1|pages=75–93|doi=10.1177/1741659011433366|s2cid=145748563 }}</ref>
Line 22: Line 21:
The concept of leaderless resistance was developed by Col. [[Ulius Louis Amoss]], a former [[United States Intelligence Community|U.S. intelligence]] officer, in the early 1950s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Berlet |first=Chip |date=Fall 2008 |title=Leaderless Counterterrorism Strategy—The 'War on Terror,' Civil Liberties, and Flawed Scholarship |work=The Public Eye |url=https://politicalresearch.org/2008/09/10/leaderless-counterterrorism-strategy-the-war-on-terror-civil-liberties-and-flawed-scholarship |access-date=27 June 2022}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Mareš |first=Miroslav |date=2020 |title=Leaderless Resistance: Development, Countering and Research of Insurgent Concept |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=902504 |journal=Vojenské rozhledy |language=English |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=41–56 |doi=10.3849/2336-2995.29.2020.03.041-056 |s2cid=225320075 |issn=1210-3292|doi-access=free }}</ref> An [[anti-communist]], Amoss saw leaderless resistance as a way to prevent the penetration and destruction of CIA-supported resistance cells in Eastern European countries under Soviet control.<ref>Amoss as cited in {{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626193618/http://www.defendingdissent.org/fame/index.php?title=Leaderless_Resistance:_Amoss_Version_1953-1962|archive-date=2015-06-26|url=http://www.defendingdissent.org/fame/index.php?title=Leaderless_Resistance:_Amoss_Version_1953-1962|url-status=dead|title=Leaderless Resistance: Amoss Version 1953-1962 |website=Defending Dissent Foundation Study Guide}}</ref><ref name=":1" />
The concept of leaderless resistance was developed by Col. [[Ulius Louis Amoss]], a former [[United States Intelligence Community|U.S. intelligence]] officer, in the early 1950s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Berlet |first=Chip |date=Fall 2008 |title=Leaderless Counterterrorism Strategy—The 'War on Terror,' Civil Liberties, and Flawed Scholarship |work=The Public Eye |url=https://politicalresearch.org/2008/09/10/leaderless-counterterrorism-strategy-the-war-on-terror-civil-liberties-and-flawed-scholarship |access-date=27 June 2022}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Mareš |first=Miroslav |date=2020 |title=Leaderless Resistance: Development, Countering and Research of Insurgent Concept |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=902504 |journal=Vojenské rozhledy |language=English |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=41–56 |doi=10.3849/2336-2995.29.2020.03.041-056 |s2cid=225320075 |issn=1210-3292|doi-access=free }}</ref> An [[anti-communist]], Amoss saw leaderless resistance as a way to prevent the penetration and destruction of CIA-supported resistance cells in Eastern European countries under Soviet control.<ref>Amoss as cited in {{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150626193618/http://www.defendingdissent.org/fame/index.php?title=Leaderless_Resistance:_Amoss_Version_1953-1962|archive-date=2015-06-26|url=http://www.defendingdissent.org/fame/index.php?title=Leaderless_Resistance:_Amoss_Version_1953-1962|url-status=dead|title=Leaderless Resistance: Amoss Version 1953-1962 |website=Defending Dissent Foundation Study Guide}}</ref><ref name=":1" />


The concept was revived and popularized in an essay published by the anti-government [[Ku Klux Klan]] member [[Louis Beam]] in 1983, again in 1992, and was read as a keynote message at the 1992 gathering [[Rocky Mountain Rendezvous (1992)|Rocky Mountain Rendezvous]] of [[right-wing extremists]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Beam |first=Louis |url=http://archive.org/details/Leaderless_Resistance_The_Seditionist |title=Leaderless Resistance |date=February 1992 |journal=The Seditionist|number=12|orig-date=1983}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name="adl">{{cite web |title=Peter J. "Pete" Peters |url=http://www.adl.org/Learn/ext_us/Peters.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=2&item=8 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080628174230/http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/Peters.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=2&item=8 |archive-date=June 28, 2008 |access-date=June 27, 2023 |website=[[Anti-Defamation League]]}}</ref> Beam advocated leaderless resistance as a technique for [[white nationalism|white nationalists]] to continue the struggle against the [[Federal Government of the United States|U.S. government]], despite an overwhelming imbalance in power and resources.<ref name=":1" />
The concept was revived and popularized in an essay published by the anti-government [[Ku Klux Klan]] member [[Louis Beam]] in 1983, again in 1992, and was read as a keynote message at the 1992 gathering [[Rocky Mountain Rendezvous (1992)|Rocky Mountain Rendezvous]] of [[right-wing extremists|right-wing]] activists.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="adl">{{cite web |title=Peter J. "Pete" Peters |url=http://www.adl.org/Learn/ext_us/Peters.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=2&item=8 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080628174230/http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/Peters.asp?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=2&item=8 |archive-date=June 28, 2008 |access-date=June 27, 2023 |website=[[Anti-Defamation League]]}}</ref><ref name=":4" /> Beam advocated leaderless resistance as a technique for [[white nationalism|white nationalists]] to continue the struggle against the [[Federal Government of the United States|U.S. government]], despite an overwhelming imbalance in power and resources.<ref name=":1" />


Beam argued that conventional [[hierarchy|hierarchical]] pyramidal organizations are extremely dangerous for their participants, when employed in a resistance movement against government, because of the ease of disclosing the [[chain of command]]. A less dangerous approach would be to convince like-minded individuals to form independent cells without close communication between each other but generally operating in the same direction.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Garfinkel |first=Simson |date=2003-03-03 |title=Leaderless resistance today |url=https://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1040 |journal=First Monday |volume=8 |issue=3 |language=en |doi=10.5210/fm.v8i3.1040 |issn=1396-0466 |doi-access= }}</ref>
Beam argued that conventional [[hierarchy|hierarchical]] pyramidal organizations are extremely dangerous for their participants, when employed in a resistance movement against government, because of the ease of disclosing the [[chain of command]]. A less dangerous approach would be to convince like-minded individuals to form independent cells without close communication between each other but generally operating in the same direction.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Garfinkel |first=Simson |date=2003-03-03 |title=Leaderless resistance today |url=https://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1040 |journal=First Monday |volume=8 |issue=3 |language=en |doi=10.5210/fm.v8i3.1040 |issn=1396-0466 |doi-access= free|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
 
More contemporary examples of social movements such as [[Yellow vests protests|the gilets jaunes (yellow vests)]] in France, [[Extinction Rebellion]], or the [[MeToo movement|#MeToo movement]] seem to have spontaneously arisen as leaderless movements, perhaps due to the prevalence of social media that bring together individuals with common grievances even in the absence of organized leadership.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Ross |first=Carne |date=2018-12-13 |title=How to create a leaderless revolution and win lasting political change |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/13/leaderless-revolution-insurgency-gilet-jaunes-extinction-rebellion |access-date=2023-02-15 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>


==In practice==
==In practice==


===Animal liberation===
===Far-right===
{{Further|Animal rights movement|Abolitionism (animal rights)|Veganarchism|Anarchism and animal rights}}
The concept of leaderless resistance remains important to far-right thinking in the United States,{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} as a proposed response to perceived federal government over-reach at the expense of individual rights. [[Simson Garfinkel]], however, found in his research that for the most part the far right seldom used this tactic.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} [[Timothy McVeigh]] is one example in the United States. McVeigh worked in a small cell which based its attack on motivations widespread among far-right anti-government groups and the [[American militia movement|militia movement]].{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} [[Louis Beam]] discussed leaderless resistance in an influential essay of the same name.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/shooting/stories/loner072298.htm | newspaper=The Washington Post | title=A Most Dangerous Profile: The Loner | date=August 18, 1998 | access-date=April 4, 2010}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Kaplan |first=Jeffrey |author-link=Jeffrey Kaplan (academic) |date=1997-09-01 |title='Leaderless resistance' |journal=[[Terrorism and Political Violence]] |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=80–95 |doi=10.1080/09546559708427417 |issn=0954-6553}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{cite web|author=Jennifer Gonnerman |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/1998-11-10/news/the-terrorist-campaign-against-abortion/3 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090607003600/http://www.villagevoice.com/1998-11-10/news/the-terrorist-campaign-against-abortion/3 |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 7, 2009 |title=The Terrorist Campaign Against Abortion |publisher=Village Voice |date=1998-11-10 |access-date=2012-11-07}}</ref>


<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Hornebeagles.jpg|right|thumb|An [[Animal Liberation Front|ALF]] raid removing 82 beagles and 26 rabbits from [[Harlan (company)|Interfauna]] in Cambridge on [[Saint Patrick|St Patrick's Night]] 1990.<ref name=Arkangel>[http://www.directaction.info/barry/barry.htm "The man, the activist"], first published in ''[[Arkangel (magazine)|Arkangel]]''.</ref>]] -->
Leaderless resistance has been advocated by white supremacist groups such as [[White Aryan Resistance]] (WAR) and the British neo-Nazi [[Combat 18]] (C18). The modern [[Ku Klux Klan]] is also credited with having developed a leaderless resistance model.<ref>{{cite web | author = University of Michigan | title = Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism | url = http://www-personal.umich.edu/~lormand/agenda/9909/06.pdf | access-date = May 7, 2006 }}</ref> [[Troy Southgate]] also advocated forms of leaderless resistance during his time as a leading activist in the [[National Revolutionary Faction]] and a pioneer of [[National-Anarchism]]. [[James Mason (neo-Nazi)|James Mason]] a former [[American Nazi Party]] member and neo-Nazi was a proponent of the idea of "leaderless resistance" as detailed in ''SIEGE'' a collection of writings from the defunct National Socialist Liberation Front (NSLF) which advocated violence against political opponents, Jews and non-whites of which he deemed to be the supposedly Jewish controlled entity he referred to as "The System" which has since been embraced by the [[Atomwaffen Division]] (AWD) in the modern day.
The first recorded [[direct action]] for [[animal liberation movement|animal liberation]] which progressed (after a considerable delay) into a movement of leaderless resistance was by the original "Band of Mercy" in 1824 whose goal was to thwart [[fox hunters]].<ref name=Best>{{cite book|editor-last1=Best|editor-first1=Steven|editor-last2=Nocella|editor-first2=Anthony J.|title=Terrorists or Freedom Fighters|publisher=Lantern Books|date=2004}}</ref> Inspired by this group and after seeing a pregnant deer driven into the village by fox hunters to be killed, John Prestige decided to actively oppose this sport and formed the [[Hunt Saboteurs Association]] in 1964. Within a year, a leaderless model of hunt-sabotage groups was formed across the United Kingdom.<ref name=Best/>


A new [[Band of Mercy]] was then formed in 1972. It used direct action to liberate animals and cause economic sabotage against those thought to be abusing animals. [[Ronnie Lee]] and others changed the name of the movement to the [[Animal Liberation Front]] (ALF) in 1976 and adopted a leaderless resistance model focusing broadly on animal liberation.<ref>{{cite book|author-last=Webb|author-first=Robin|chapter=Animal Liberation — By 'Whatever Means Necessary'|editor-last1=Best|editor-first1=Steven|editor-last2=Nocella|editor-first2=Anthony J.|title=Terrorists or Freedom Fighters|publisher=Lantern Books|date=2004|page=77}}</ref>
[[Stormfront (website)|Stormfront]], [[Aryan Nations]], and [[Hammerskin Nation]] (HSN) link to Beam's ''Leaderless Resistance''. These groups promote lone wolf actions. {{clarify |date=July 2018 |reason=There needs to be more context to show how this quote is used to wink-and-nod to promote lone wolf actions. As is, it just seems like a banal quote that could be said by anyone.|text=While nominally decrying violence, the sites praise the man who "practices what he preaches, and who backs up his words with his deeds." }}<ref name=recruitment>{{Cite journal |title=Recruitment by Extremist Groups on the Internet |journal=[[First Monday (journal)|First Monday]] |volume=6 |issue=2 |date=February 2001 |first=Beverly |last=Ray |author2=George E. Marsh II |doi=10.5210/fm.v6i2.834 |doi-access= free}}</ref> Stormfront, while regretting the loss of life, explains how Benjamin Nathaniel Smith's [[1999 Independence Day weekend shootings|1999 killing spree]] was compelled by circumstances.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}} The [[World Church of the Creator]] (WCOTC) gave a mixed message, calling Smith "a selfless man who gave his life in the resistance to Jewish/mud tyranny," but noting "the Church does not condone his acts."<ref name=recruitment/> Anti-abortion [[Militant (word)|militants]] [[Army of God (USA)|The Army of God]] use leaderless resistance as their organizing principle.<ref name=":3" />
 
[[Earth First!]] and the [[environmental movement]] in the 1980s also adopted the leaderless resistance model.<ref>{{cite web | author = Southern Poverty Law Center | title = From Push to Shove | url = http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=42 | access-date = May 7, 2006 | archive-date = November 22, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091122190431/http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=42 | url-status = dead }}</ref> An animal liberation movement advocating violence emerged with the name [[Animal Rights Militia]] (ARM) in 1982. Letter bombs were sent to the then [[British Prime Minister]], [[Margaret Thatcher]]. Two years later the name Hunt Retribution Squad (HRS) was also used.<ref>{{cite book|last=Singer|first=Peter|url=http://www.utilitarian.org/texts/alm.html|title=The Animal Liberation Movement: Its philosophy, its achievements and its future|publisher=Old Hammond Press|date=1985|access-date=2007-11-09|isbn=0948062029}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article495376.ece?token=null&offset=24|url-status=dead|date=2004-10-17|title=Focus: Desecrated|last=Chittenden|first=Maurice|newspaper=The Sunday Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629144247/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article495376.ece|archive-date=2011-06-29}}</ref>
 
The [[Earth Liberation Front]] (ELF) formed in 1992, breaking from Earth First! when that organization decided to focus on public direct action, instead of the [[ecotage]] that the ELF participated in.<ref>{{cite news|last=Alleyne|first=Richard|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030301084345/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2001%2F01%2F19%2Fncam119.xml|archive-date=2003-03-01|title=Terror tactics that brought a company to its knees|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=January 19, 2001|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2001%2F01%2F19%2Fncam119.xml|url-status=dead}}</ref> A [[violent]] group called the [[Justice Department (animal rights group)|Justice Department]] was established in 1993, and in 1994 {{clarify |date=July 2018 |reason=this sounds threatening, but without more information, it's vague. Amazon.com sends razor blades to people, but it doesn't make the papers.|text=sent razor blades}} to hunters such as [[Prince Charles]] and to [[animal research]]ers.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/902751.stm|title=Animal rights, terror tactics|work=BBC News|date=30 August 2000}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=42|title=From push to shove|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091122190431/http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=42 |archive-date=2009-11-22 |website=Southern Poverty Law Group Intelligence Report|date=Fall 2002|page=3}}</ref>
 
In 1999 the leaderless resistance strategy was employed by animal liberation organisations like [[Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty]] (SHAC), which was formed from the [[Consort beagles]] campaign and [[Save the Hill Grove Cats]] to close down [[Huntingdon Life Sciences]] (HLS). Despite claiming successes<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shac.net/MISC/quantum|url-status=usurped|title=Quantum Analytics: Drop HLS|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050326153421/http://www.shac.net:80/MISC/quantum/|archive-date=2005-03-26|website=Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty}}</ref> leaderless animal liberation and environmental movements generally lack the broad popular support that often occurs in strictly political or military conflicts.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}} The [[Revolutionary Cells (RCALB)|Revolutionary Cells--Animal Liberation Brigade]] (RCALB) appeared in 2003 and sent pipe bombs to [[Chiron Corporation]] and used [[incendiary device]]s against other targets{{clarify |date=July 2018 |reason=It's unclear what the significance of this is to the page topic.|text=, whilst a year later on the south coast of [[Dorset]], the [[Lobster Liberation Front]] (LLF) was founded}}.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/dorset/3939111.stm|url-status=dead|title=Activists' 'war' to save lobsters|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203122120/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/dorset/3939111.stm |archive-date=2008-12-03 |work=BBC News|date=July 30, 2004}}</ref>
 
Within a few years of the victories claimed by the SHAC, other campaigns against animal testing laboratories emerged. At the same time, [[SPEAK (animals)|SPEAK Campaigns]] and the more radical ALF militants, [[Oxford Arson Squad]] began their campaigns towards the same goal: to end [[Oxford University]]'s animal research.
 
In April 2009, the [[Militant Forces Against Huntingdon Life Sciences]] (MFAH) became active. With the ALF, they began targeting HLS customer and financial Directors, as well as company property. Since then, groups{{Who|date=July 2018}} have reported over a dozen actions in Europe, including painting homes, burning cars, and grave desecration. Militants{{Who|date=July 2018}}, however, oppose {{clarify |date=July 2018 |reason=what this ideology consists of has not been explained, so this remains vague|text=ALF ideology}}, instead believing in [[By any means necessary|any necessary action]] to prevent suffering at HLS's laboratories.<ref name="mfah1">{{cite web|url=http://www.directaction.info/news_apr07_09.htm|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090816175231/http://www.directaction.info/news_apr07_09.htm|archive-date=2009-08-16|title=MFAH Communique|date=7 April 2009|work=[[Bite Back Magazine]]|number=14}}</ref>
 
===Radical Islamists===
{{unreferenced section|date=May 2015}}
Leaderless resistance is also often well-suited to terrorist objectives. The [[Islamist terrorism|Islamist]] organization [[Al-Qaeda]] uses a typical figurehead/leaderless cell structure. The organization itself may be pyramidal, but sympathizers who act on its pronouncements often do so spontaneously and independently.
 
Given the small, clandestine character of terrorist cells, it is easy to assume they necessarily constitute leaderless resistance models. When there is bidirectional communication with external leadership, however, the label is inappropriate. The men who executed the bombings of the [[London Underground]] on July 7, 2005 constituted a leaderless resistance cell in that they purportedly acted out of sympathy for [[Islamic fundamentalism]] but under their own auspices. The hijackers involved in the [[September 11 attacks]], by contrast, allegedly received training, direction, and funding from Al-Qaeda, and are not properly designated a leaderless cell.
 
===Neo-Nazis and White nationalists===
The concept of leaderless resistance remains important to far-right thinking in the United States,{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} as a proposed response to perceived federal government over-reach at the expense of individual rights. Simson Garfinkel, however, found in his research that for the most part the far right seldom used this tactic.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} [[Timothy McVeigh]] is one example in the United States. McVeigh worked in a small cell which based its attack on motivations widespread among far-right anti-government groups and the [[American militia movement|militia movement]].{{citation needed|date=June 2015}}
 
Leaderless resistance has been advocated by white supremacist groups such as [[White Aryan Resistance]] (WAR) and the British neo-Nazi [[Combat 18]] (C18). The modern [[Ku Klux Klan]] is also credited with having developed a leaderless resistance model.<ref>{{cite web | author = University of Michigan | title = Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism | url = http://www-personal.umich.edu/~lormand/agenda/9909/06.pdf | access-date = May 7, 2006 }}</ref> [[Troy Southgate]] also advocated forms of leaderless resistance during his time as a leading activist in the [[National Revolutionary Faction]] and a pioneer of [[National-Anarchism]]. [[James Mason (neo-Nazi)|James Mason]] a former [[American Nazi Party]] member and neo-Nazi was a proponent of the idea of "leaderless resistance" as detailed in ''SIEGE'' a collection of writings from the defunct National Socialist Liberation Front (NSLF) which advocated violence against political opponents, Jews and non-whites of which he deemed to be the supposedly Jewish controlled entity he referred to as "The System" which has since been embraced by the terrorist group [[Atomwaffen Division]] (AWD) in the modern day.
 
[[Stormfront (website)|Stormfront]], [[Aryan Nations]], and [[Hammerskin Nation]] (HSN) link to Beam's ''Leaderless Resistance''. These groups promote lone wolf actions. {{clarify |date=July 2018 |reason=There needs to be more context to show how this quote is used to wink-and-nod to promote lone wolf actions. As is, it just seems like a banal quote that could be said by anyone.|text=While nominally decrying violence, the sites praise the man who "practices what he preaches, and who backs up his words with his deeds." }}<ref name=recruitment>{{Cite journal |title=Recruitment by Extremist Groups on the Internet |journal=[[First Monday (journal)|First Monday]] |volume=6 |issue=2 |date=February 2001 |first=Beverly |last=Ray |author2=George E. Marsh II |doi=10.5210/fm.v6i2.834 |doi-access= }}</ref> Stormfront, while regretting the loss of life, explains how Benjamin Nathaniel Smith's [[1999 Independence Day weekend shootings|1999 killing spree]] was compelled by circumstances.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}} The [[World Church of the Creator]] (WCOTC) gave a mixed message, calling Smith "a selfless man who gave his life in the resistance to Jewish/mud tyranny," but noting "the Church does not condone his acts."<ref name=recruitment/>
 
Examples of modern-day leaderless resistance/lone-wolf terrorism include:
 
*1999 [[Los Angeles Jewish Community Center shooting]]  
*1999 [[murders of Gary Matson and Winfield Mowder]]
*2008 [[Knoxville Unitarian Universalist church shooting]]
*2009 [[United States Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting]]
*[[2011 Norway attacks]]
*2012 [[Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting]]
*2014 [[Overland Park Jewish Community Center shooting]]
*2015 [[Charleston church shooting]]
*[[2015 Lafayette shooting]]
*2016 [[Murder of Jo Cox]]
*2017 [[Quebec City mosque shooting]]
*2018 [[Pittsburgh synagogue shooting]]
*2019 [[Christchurch mosque shootings]]
*2019 [[Escondido mosque fire]] and [[Poway synagogue shooting]]
*[[2019 El Paso shooting]]
*[[2022 Buffalo shooting]]
*2022 [[Colorado Springs nightclub shooting]]


===Radical environmentalism===
===Radical environmentalism===
{{Main article|Radical environmentalism}}
{{Main article|Radical environmentalism}}
{{Further information|Ecotage|Eco-terrorism|Earth liberation}}
{{Further information|Ecotage|Eco-terrorism|Earth liberation}}
Leaderless resistance emerged in the environmental movement in 1976 when [[John Hanna (activist)|John Hanna]] and others as the [[Environmental Life Force]] (ELF) (also known now as the ''original ELF'') used explosive and [[incendiary device]]s. The group conducted armed actions in northern [[California]] and [[Oregon]], later disbanding in 1978 following Hanna's arrest for placing incendiary devices on seven crop-dusters at the [[Salinas, California]] airport on [[May Day]], 1977.<ref name=elf>{{Cite web |url=http://www.originalelf.org/ |title=Original ELF |access-date=2018-12-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415040756/http://www.originalelf.org/ |archive-date=2012-04-15 |url-status=dead }}</ref> A decade and a half later this form of [[guerrilla warfare]] resurfaced using the same [[acronym]].
[[Image:Earthfirstmonkeywrench.png|thumb|right|180px|The symbol of [[Earth First!]]: a Monkey wrench and stone hammer.]]The radical environmentalist group [[Earth First!]] also adopted the leaderless resistance model,<ref>{{cite web | author = Southern Poverty Law Center | title = From Push to Shove | url = http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=42 | access-date = May 7, 2006 | archive-date= November 22, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091122190431/http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=42 | url-status = dead }}</ref> as did the [[Earth Liberation Front]].<ref name="Joosse" />
[[Image:Earthfirstmonkeywrench.png|thumb|right|180px|The symbol of [[Earth First!]]: a Monkey wrench and stone hammer.]]
 
In 1980 [[Earth First!]] was founded by [[Dave Foreman]] and others to confront environmental destruction, primarily of the American West. Inspired by the [[Edward Abbey]] novel ''[[The Monkey Wrench Gang]]'', Earth First! made use of such techniques as [[treesitting]]<ref>[http://www.penbay.org/ef/treesit_first1985.html Earth First's first treesitting civil disobedience action] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051016222643/http://www.penbay.org/ef/treesit_first1985.html |date=2005-10-16 }}, ''Earth First! 1985'', Oregon, June 1985.</ref> and [[treespiking]]<ref>[http://www.things.org/~jym/ef/tree-spiking-memo.html Tree Spiking Memo] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080424015446/http://www.things.org/~jym/ef/tree-spiking-memo.html |date=2008-04-24 }}, ''Earth First!'', April 1990.</ref> to stop [[logging]] companies, as well as other activities targeted towards [[mining]], [[road]] construction,<ref name="wall">{{cite book | title = Earth First! and the Anti-Roads Movement: Radical Environmentalism and Comparative Social Movements | last = Wall | first = Derek | year = 1999 | publisher = Routledge }}</ref> [[suburb]]an development, and [[Energy development|energy companies]].
 
The organization was committed to nonviolent [[ecotage]] techniques from the group's inception. Others split from the movement in the 1990s, including the [[Earth Liberation Front]] (ELF) in 1992, which named itself after the [[Animal Liberation Front]] (ALF) which had formed in the 1970s.<ref>[http://greenfield.fortunecity.com/tree/16/fire.html ELF Burns Down Vail] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060211235040/http://greenfield.fortunecity.com/tree/16/fire.html |date=2006-02-11 }}, ''FIRE'', December 1999.</ref> Three years later in [[Canada]], inspired by the ELF in [[Europe]], the first ''Earth Liberation'' [[direct action]] occurred, but this time as the [[Earth Liberation Army]] (ELA), a similar movement who use ecotage and [[monkeywrenching]] as a tool.
 
A series of actions earned ELF the label of [[eco-terrorism|eco-terrorists]],<ref>[http://prfamerica.org/EarthLiberationFrontNo1onFBIList.html Earth Liberation Front is now FBI's No. 1 Domestic Terrorist Threat], ''Property Rights of America Foundation Inc'', March 2001.</ref><ref>[http://www.earthliberationfront.com/elf_news.htm ELF News] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211170759/http://earthliberationfront.com/elf_news.htm |date=2009-02-11 }}, ''Earth Liberation Front''</ref> including the burning of a [[ski]] resort in [[Vail, Colorado]] in 1998, and the burning of an [[SUV]] dealership in [[Oregon]] in 1999. In the same year the ELA made headlines by setting fire to the [[Vail Resorts]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], causing $12 million in damages.<ref>Paige, Sean. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_36_15/ai_56063251 "waste & abuse"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080925184013/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_36_15/ai_56063251 |date=2008-09-25 }}, ''BNet'', September 27th 1999.</ref> The defendants in that case were later charged in the [[FBI]]'s "[[Operation Backfire (FBI)|Operation Backfire]]" with other crimes; this was later named by environmentalists as the [[Green Scare]], alluding to the [[Red Scare]] periods of fear over communist infiltration of U.S.<ref name=opb>[https://www.fbi.gov/page2/jan06/elf012006.htm Eco-Terror Indictments: "Operation Backfire" Nets 11] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100817222138/http://www.fbi.gov/page2/jan06/elf012006.htm |date=2010-08-17 }}, [[FBI]], January 20th 2006.</ref><ref>[http://www.freedom4um.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=69570 Resentencing date set for Jeff Luers], ''Freedom4um'', 29 December 2007.</ref>
 
Following the [[September 11, 2001 attacks]] several laws were passed increasing the penalty for ecoterrorism, and the U.S. Congress held hearings on the activity of groups such as the ELF. To date no one has been killed as a result of an ELF or ALF action, and both groups forbid harming human or non-human life.<ref name=rel>[[Bron Taylor]], 1998. Religion, Violence and Radical Environmentalism: From Earth First! to the Unabomber to the Earth Liberation Front, <cite>Terrorism and Political Violence</cite> 10(4):1-42 {{doi|10.1080/09546559808427480}}</ref> It was announced{{by whom|date=July 2018}} in 2003 that ''"[[eco-terrorist]]"'' attacks, known as ''"[[ecotage]]"'', had increased from the ELF, ELA, and the ''"Environmental Rangers"'', another name used by activists when engaging in similar activity.<ref>[http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/1101/1101ecoterrorist.htm The eco-terrorist anthrax connection], ''ESR'', October 21st 2001.</ref>
 
In 2005 the FBI announced that the ELF was America's greatest domestic terrorist threat, responsible for over 1,200 "criminal incidents" amounting to tens of millions of dollars in damage to property.<ref name=sb3>[[Steven Best|Best, Steven]] and Best & Nocella. ''Igniting a Revolution: Voices in Defense of the Earth'', [[Lantern Books]], 2006, p. 47.</ref> The United States [[Department of Homeland Security]] confirmed this with regards to both the ALF and ELF.<ref name=cnn1>[http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/19/domestic.terrorism/index.html FBI, ATF address domestic terrorism], ''[[CNN]]'', May 19th 2005.</ref>
 
{{clarify |date=July 2018 |reason=Why is this example listed here? What does it illustrate about leaderless resistance?|text=[[Plane Stupid]] launched in 2005, an attempt to combat the growing airport expansions in the UK by using [[direct action]]. A year later the first [[Camp for Climate Action]] was held, with 600 people attending a protest called ''Reclaim Power'' and then converging on [[Drax power station|Drax Power Station]] in [[North Yorkshire]] in an attempt to shut it down. There were thirty-eight arrests, with four breaching the fence and the railway line being blocked.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1223134.ece |title=The Battle of Drax: 38 held as protest fails to close plant |journal=[[The Independent]] |date=2006-09-01 |first=Jonathan |last=Brown |access-date=April 4, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070301045057/http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1223134.ece |archive-date=March 1, 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/climatechange/story/0,,1862662,00.html|title=In the shadow of Drax, not so much a fight as a festival|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=2006-09-01 | location=London | first=Martin | last=Wainwright | access-date=April 4, 2010}}</ref>}}
 
====Movements/organizations====
*[[Camp for Climate Action]]
*[[Earth First!]]
*[[Earth Liberation Army]] (ELA)
*[[Earth Liberation Front]] (ELF)
*[[Environmental Life Force]]
*[[Plane Stupid]]
*[[Antifa (United States)|Antifa]]
 
===Anti-abortion militancy===
Anti-abortion [[Militant (word)|militants]] [[Army of God (USA)|The Army of God]] use leaderless resistance as their organizing principle. As of 2009, The Army of God's webpage hosts a reprint of an article entitled "Leaderless Resistance" from a publication called ''The Seditionist.''<ref>{{cite web|author=Louis Beam |url=http://www.armyofgod.com/LeaderlessResistance.htm |title=Leaderless Resistance |publisher=Armyofgod.com |date=1962-04-17 |access-date=2012-11-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/shooting/stories/loner072298.htm | newspaper=The Washington Post | title=A Most Dangerous Profile: The Loner | date=August 18, 1998 | access-date=April 4, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Jennifer Gonnerman |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/1998-11-10/news/the-terrorist-campaign-against-abortion/3 |title=The Terrorist Campaign Against Abortion |publisher=Village Voice |date=1998-11-10 |access-date=2012-11-07}}</ref>
 
==Countermeasures==
<!-- Based on the [[Simson Garfinkel]]'s "Leaderless Resistance Today" paper. --¿then source it !!? -->
{{unreferenced section|date=May 2015}}
 
===Network analysis in classical setting===
Leaderless resistance [[social network]]s are potentially vulnerable to [[social network analysis]] and its derivative, [[link analysis]]. Link analysis of social networks is the fundamental reason for the ongoing legislative push in the U.S. and the European Union <!-- and elsewhere (where?) --> for mandatory [[Telecommunications data retention|retention of telecommunication traffic data]] and for limiting access to [[Anonymity|anonymous]] [[Prepaid mobile phone|prepaid]] [[Mobile phone|cellphones]], as the stored data contain important network analysis clues.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}}
{{See also|MAINWAY}}
 
Network analysis was successfully used by French Colonel [[Yves Godard (French officer)|Yves Godard]] to break the [[Nationalism and resistance in Algeria|Algerian resistance]] between 1955 and 1957 and force them to cease their [[bombing]] campaigns. The Algerian conflict may be better described as guerrilla in nature rather than leaderless resistance (see ''Modern Warfare'' by Col. Roger Trinquier), and this illustrates the weakness of cell-structured insurgents when compared to leaderless ones. {{clarify |date=July 2018 |reason=What is mapping data? This term has not been explained.|text= The mapping data}} were obtained by the use of [[informant]]s and [[torture]] and were used to obtain the identities of important individuals in the resistance; these individuals were then [[assassination|assassinated]], which disrupted the Algerian resistance networks. The more irreplaceable the individual is in the adversary's network, the greater the damage is done to the network by removing them.
 
===Advantages of leaderless resistance===
Traditional organizations leave behind much evidence of their activities, such as money trails, and training and recruitment material. Leaderless resistances, supported more by [[ideology|ideologies]] than organizations, generally lack such traces. The effects of their operations, as reported by the [[mass media]], act as a sort of messaging and recruitment advertising.
 
{{clarify |date=July 2018 |reason=Who is Paul Joosse and why is he an authority?|text=Paul Joosse}} argues that leaderless resistance movements can avoid the ideological disputes and infighting that plague radical groups. They do this by {{clarify |date=July 2018 |reason=It's unclear what this means.|text=limiting interaction to the virtual realm}}.<ref name="Joosse"/>
 
The internet provides counter-insurgents with further challenges. Individual cells (and even a single person can be a cell) can communicate over the internet, anonymously or semi-anonymously sharing information online, to be found by others through well-known websites. Even when it is legally and technically possible to ascertain who accessed what, it is often practically impossible to discern in a reasonable time frame who is a real threat and who is just curious, a journalist, or a [[web crawler]].
 
Despite these advantages, leaderless resistance is often unstable.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}} If the actions are not frequent enough or not successful, the stream of publicity, which serves as the recruiting, motivation, and coordination drives for other cells, diminishes. On the other hand, if the actions are too successful, [[support group]]s and other [[social structure]]s will form that are vulnerable to network analysis.
 
==In fiction==
*The 1970 novel ''A Piece of Resistance'', re-published in the US in 2004 under the title  ''Never Surrender''  by [[Clive Egleton]] depicts resistance to a Soviet occupation of England.
*The 1996 novel ''[[Unintended Consequences (novel)|Unintended Consequences]]'' by [[John Ross (author)|John Ross]] portrays a successful rebellion by the American heartland after decades of bullying by faraway Washington.


==See also==
==See also==
* [[Anti-pedophile activism]]
* [[Asymmetric warfare]]
* [[Asymmetric warfare]]
* [[Clandestine cell system]]
* [[Clandestine cell system]]
* [[Individualist anarchism]]
* [[Individualist anarchism]]
* [[Insurrectionary anarchism]]
* [[Insurrectionary anarchism]]
* [[Lone wolf (terrorism)]]
* [[James C. Scott]]
* [[James C. Scott]]
* [[Social peer-to-peer processes]]
* [[Social peer-to-peer processes]]
Line 145: Line 51:
* [[Shaheen Bagh Protests]]
* [[Shaheen Bagh Protests]]


==References==
==Reference==
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{Reflist|30em}}
==Further reading==
* [https://archive.org/details/leaderlessrevolu00ross The Leaderless Revolution: How Ordinary People Will Take Power and Change Politics In the 21st Century], by [[Carne Ross]] (2011)


==External links==
==External links==
* [http://theriskyshift.com/2012/06/an-introduction-to-terrorist-organisational-structures/ An Introduction To Terrorist Organisational Structures]
* [https://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1382/ Networks and Netwars] - PDF book by RAND Corporation.
* [https://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1382/ Networks and Netwars] - PDF book by RAND Corporation.
* [http://www.louisbeam.com/leaderless.htm Leaderless Resistance] - the original essay
* [http://www.louisbeam.com/leaderless.htm Leaderless Resistance] - the original essay
* [[Simson Garfinkel]] - [http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/1040 "Leaderless resistance today"]
* [http://www.publiceye.org/liberty/terrorism/insurgency/leaderless-resistance.html The History, Definition, & Use of the Term "Leaderless Resistance"]<br />
* [http://www.publiceye.org/liberty/terrorism/insurgency/leaderless-resistance.html The History, Definition, & Use of the Term "Leaderless Resistance"]
 
<!-- having no leader -->
 
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leaderless Resistance}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leaderless Resistance}}
[[Category:Activism by type]]
[[Category:Activism by type]]

Latest revision as of 09:41, 21 March 2026


Leaderless resistance, or phantom cell structure, is a social resistance strategy in which small, independent groups (covert cells), or individuals (a solo cell is called a "lone wolf"), challenge an established institution such as a law, economic system, social order, or government. Leaderless resistance can encompass anything from non-violent protest and civil disobedience to vandalism, terrorism, and other violent activity.

Leaderless cells lack vertical command links and so operate without hierarchical command,[1] but they have a common goal that links them to the social movement from which their ideology was learned.[2]

Leaderless resistance has been employed by animal rights, radical environmentalist, anti-abortion, insurgent, anarchist, anti-colonial, and terrorist movements. It is a strategy used by hate groups as well.[2]

General characteristics[edit | edit source]

A covert cell may be a lone individual or a small group. The basic characteristic of the structure is that there is no explicit communication between cells that are acting toward shared goals. Members of one cell usually have little or no information about who else is agitating on behalf of their cause.[1] Scholar Paul Joosse argues that leaderless resistance movements can avoid the ideological disputes and infighting that plague radical groups.[2]

Leaderless movements may have a symbolic figurehead.[1] This can be a public figure, a multiple-use name, or an inspirational author, who picks generic targets and objectives, but does not actually manage or execute plans. Media, in this case, often create a positive feedback loop: by publishing declarations of a movement's role model, this instills motivation, ideas, and assumed sympathy in the minds of potential agitators who in turn lend further authority to the figurehead.[1] While this may loosely resemble a vertical command structure, it is notably unidirectional: a titular leader makes pronouncements, and activists may respond, but there is no formal contact between the two levels of organization.[2]

As a result, leaderless resistance cells are resistant to informants and traitors. As there is neither a center that may be destroyed, nor links between the cells that may be infiltrated, it is more difficult for established authorities to arrest the development of a leaderless resistance movement than it is with movements that adopt more conventional hierarchies.[1]

Leaderless resistance often involves resistance by violent means, but it is not limited to them. Non-violent groups can use the same structure to author, print, and distribute samizdat literature, to create self-propagating boycotts against political opponents via the internet, to maintain an alternative electronic currency outside of the reach of taxing governments and transaction-logging banks, and so forth.[3]

History[edit | edit source]

The concept of leaderless resistance was developed by Col. Ulius Louis Amoss, a former U.S. intelligence officer, in the early 1950s.[4][5] An anti-communist, Amoss saw leaderless resistance as a way to prevent the penetration and destruction of CIA-supported resistance cells in Eastern European countries under Soviet control.[6][5]

The concept was revived and popularized in an essay published by the anti-government Ku Klux Klan member Louis Beam in 1983, again in 1992, and was read as a keynote message at the 1992 gathering Rocky Mountain Rendezvous of right-wing activists.[4][7][8] Beam advocated leaderless resistance as a technique for white nationalists to continue the struggle against the U.S. government, despite an overwhelming imbalance in power and resources.[5]

Beam argued that conventional hierarchical pyramidal organizations are extremely dangerous for their participants, when employed in a resistance movement against government, because of the ease of disclosing the chain of command. A less dangerous approach would be to convince like-minded individuals to form independent cells without close communication between each other but generally operating in the same direction.[1]

In practice[edit | edit source]

Far-right[edit | edit source]

The concept of leaderless resistance remains important to far-right thinking in the United States,[citation needed] as a proposed response to perceived federal government over-reach at the expense of individual rights. Simson Garfinkel, however, found in his research that for the most part the far right seldom used this tactic.[citation needed] Timothy McVeigh is one example in the United States. McVeigh worked in a small cell which based its attack on motivations widespread among far-right anti-government groups and the militia movement.[citation needed] Louis Beam discussed leaderless resistance in an influential essay of the same name.[9][8][10]

Leaderless resistance has been advocated by white supremacist groups such as White Aryan Resistance (WAR) and the British neo-Nazi Combat 18 (C18). The modern Ku Klux Klan is also credited with having developed a leaderless resistance model.[11] Troy Southgate also advocated forms of leaderless resistance during his time as a leading activist in the National Revolutionary Faction and a pioneer of National-Anarchism. James Mason a former American Nazi Party member and neo-Nazi was a proponent of the idea of "leaderless resistance" as detailed in SIEGE a collection of writings from the defunct National Socialist Liberation Front (NSLF) which advocated violence against political opponents, Jews and non-whites of which he deemed to be the supposedly Jewish controlled entity he referred to as "The System" which has since been embraced by the Atomwaffen Division (AWD) in the modern day.

Stormfront, Aryan Nations, and Hammerskin Nation (HSN) link to Beam's Leaderless Resistance. These groups promote lone wolf actions. While nominally decrying violence, the sites praise the man who "practices what he preaches, and who backs up his words with his deeds."[clarification needed][12] Stormfront, while regretting the loss of life, explains how Benjamin Nathaniel Smith's 1999 killing spree was compelled by circumstances.[citation needed] The World Church of the Creator (WCOTC) gave a mixed message, calling Smith "a selfless man who gave his life in the resistance to Jewish/mud tyranny," but noting "the Church does not condone his acts."[12] Anti-abortion militants The Army of God use leaderless resistance as their organizing principle.[10]

Radical environmentalism[edit | edit source]

Main article: Radical environmentalism
Further information: Ecotage, Eco-terrorism, and Earth liberation
The symbol of Earth First!: a Monkey wrench and stone hammer.

The radical environmentalist group Earth First! also adopted the leaderless resistance model,[13] as did the Earth Liberation Front.[2]

See also[edit | edit source]

Reference[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Garfinkel, Simson (2003-03-03). "Leaderless resistance today". First Monday. 8 (3). doi:10.5210/fm.v8i3.1040. ISSN 1396-0466.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Joosse, Paul (2007). "Leaderless Resistance and Ideological Inclusion: the Case of the Earth Liberation Front". Terrorism and Political Violence. 19 (3): 351–368. doi:10.1080/09546550701424042. S2CID 17532687.
  3. ↑ Joosse, Paul (2012). "Elves, Environmentalism, and 'Eco-terror'". Crime, Media, Culture. 8 (1): 75–93. doi:10.1177/1741659011433366. S2CID 145748563.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Berlet, Chip (Fall 2008). "Leaderless Counterterrorism Strategy—The 'War on Terror,' Civil Liberties, and Flawed Scholarship". The Public Eye. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Mareš, Miroslav (2020). "Leaderless Resistance: Development, Countering and Research of Insurgent Concept". Vojenské rozhledy. 29 (3): 41–56. doi:10.3849/2336-2995.29.2020.03.041-056. ISSN 1210-3292. S2CID 225320075.
  6. ↑ Amoss as cited in "Leaderless Resistance: Amoss Version 1953-1962". Defending Dissent Foundation Study Guide. Archived from the original on 2015-06-26.
  7. ↑ "Peter J. "Pete" Peters". Anti-Defamation League. Archived from the original on June 28, 2008. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Kaplan, Jeffrey (1997-09-01). "'Leaderless resistance'". Terrorism and Political Violence. 9 (3): 80–95. doi:10.1080/09546559708427417. ISSN 0954-6553.
  9. ↑ "A Most Dangerous Profile: The Loner". The Washington Post. August 18, 1998. Retrieved April 4, 2010.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Jennifer Gonnerman (1998-11-10). "The Terrorist Campaign Against Abortion". Village Voice. Archived from the original on June 7, 2009. Retrieved 2012-11-07.
  11. ↑ University of Michigan. "Right-Wing Domestic Terrorism" (PDF). Retrieved May 7, 2006.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Ray, Beverly; George E. Marsh II (February 2001). "Recruitment by Extremist Groups on the Internet". First Monday. 6 (2). doi:10.5210/fm.v6i2.834.
  13. ↑ Southern Poverty Law Center. "From Push to Shove". Archived from the original on November 22, 2009. Retrieved May 7, 2006.

External links[edit | edit source]

Retrieved from "https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leaderless_resistance&oldid=459061"
Discover more