May 19 Communist Organization

The May 19 Communist Organization, a clandestine Marxist revolutionary group with roots in the Weather Underground, participated in a 1981 armored car robbery that renewed interest in the remnants of the new left terrorism.

By the mid-1970s, the infamous group of armed white revolutionaries known as the Weather Underground had split into bickering factions. One faction advocated a return to more traditional forms of political protest, while the other faction, which eventually took the name Weather Underground Organization (WUO), continued to advocate terrorist activity in the name of black liberation and anti-imperialism. This struggle included bombings and potential assassinations of political figures.

On November 20, 1977, after infiltrating the WUO, the FBI sent several members to jail for plotting to bomb the offices of California State senator John Briggs. Those who remained, including Kathy Boudin, a founder of Weatherman, came together to form the May ...