'Leaderless Resistance'

Abstract

The origins of the concept of leaderless resistance in the US are examined. Rather than assert that such strategies emerged during the 1980s, it is contended that this terrorist method developed in conjunction with the National Socialist Liberation Front's (NSLF) emergence during the early 1970s, assessing the role of NSLF leader Joseph Tommasi in the formation of leaderless resistance. However, Ku Klux Klan member Louis R. Beam's (1992) writing on leaderless resistance provided a comprehensive definition of the concept. The subsequent adoption of leaderless resistance by the Odinist movement is discussed. The question of whether Timothy McVeigh's terrorist act in Oklahoma City constitutes an example of leaderless resistance or a call for mass mobilization is also pondered. J. W. Parker