The R.F. Kampfer Revolutionary Literature Archive

Pamphlets, newspapers, books, records, and ephemera produced by radical Left movements and liberation struggles from across the globe. From the personal collection of Brad Duncan. Most frequent tags: African American, New Communist Movement, Trotskyism, 1970s, Africa, Anarchism, Middle East, Latin America, Women's Liberation, Queer, Labor, Asia, Ireland.

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Finally Got the News: The Printed Legacy of U.S. Radical Left, 1970-1979 is a new book that brings together beautiful archival reproductions of rare radical publications from the 1970s with original essays by leading historians and movement veterans. 250 pages of people’s history brought to life!

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Have you seen this book yet?! It’s 250 pages of radical history come to life!

It makes a great gift for both your artsy and communist friends! 

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You can check this book out from our collection! 

Finally Got the News: The Printed Legacy of U.S. Radical Left, 1970-1979 (Z1033 .U58 I58 2017)

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who is rf kampfer

 R.F. Kampfer was the pen name of my comrade Neil Chacker (1942-2004). He was a longtime UAW union activist and socialist and he also wrote a humor column in Against the Current magazine. “RF” stands for “rank and file” (as in member of the union, not its paid leadership) or Roter Frontkämpferbund (German communists who took up arms against the Nazis). Kampfer means fighter. 

Neil was what you might call a real character. He had a wicked yet dry sense of humor, he had sailor tattoos a half century before they were cool, basically dressed like a leather daddy, smoked a pipe, and would get arrested doing civil disobedience on a picket line at the drop of a hat. I first saw him in action at mass pickets during the Detroit Newspaper Strike in the late 1990s and he meant business. Over time I got to know him personally and was in a socialist organization with him for many years. His wife Eliza Karg, who also passed just four years after Neil, was also a socialist activist and healthcare worker who wrote a book about fighting sexual harassment in the workplace. 

Although he wasn’t a book collector, Neil loved history and was an avid reader. So when I started this blog years ago it made sense to name it after Neil. His daughter, who is also a mensch and a comrade, loved the idea and so it has stuck. I’ve built this collection over 20 years and I’ll build over the next 20, but it’s nickname will always be the same. The R.F. Kampfer Revolutionary Literature Archive. You can read about Neil here. 

Brad

PS: Sorry I haven’t been posting on this platform as much recently, be sure to check out Radical_Archive on Instagram for the latest content! 

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Finally Got the News: The Printed Legacy of U.S. Radical Left, 1970-1979 brings together over 250 crisp digital reproductions of rare radical publications from flyers to posters to newspapers as well as original essays by leading historians and movement veterans. Dig into the hidden history of the radical movements of the 1970s with this beautiful, engaging pictorial book.

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Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (Q.U.I.T.), San Francisco, [early 2000’s].

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Publisher unknown, United States, [early 2000’s].

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This blog stands with Palestine!

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‘Demonstrate! At the Knightsbridge V.A. Hospital’, White Lightning, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Mass Transit Street Theater, New York, [early 1970s].

White Lightning was a radical community organizing collective that worked in working class white neighborhoods in New York City. One of the main targets of their organizing was the heroin epidemic of the early 70s, which effected many working class Vietnam veterans. For more information on White Lightning and other New Left era (60s-70s) collectives that specifically organized in working class white neighborhoods check out the 2010 book “Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels, and Black Power: Community Organizing in Radical Times”.

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Radical Archive is on Instagram!

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Available now from Common Notions. Finally Got the News: The Printed Legacy of US Radical Left, 1970-1979 Edited by Brad Duncan and Interference Archive, featuring over 250 rare radical publications, from flyers to posters to newspapers. Alongside these incredible archival images are original essays by leading historians and movement veterans including Akinyele Umoja, Silvia Federici, Dan La Botz, Emily Hobson, Johanna Brenner, Bill Fletcher, and many more. This book is an absolute treasure trove of radical history! Order a copy today. 

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250 pages of radical history! Profusely illustrated! It’s a portable archive of the radical 1970s, from Black Power to the New Communist Movement! 

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Catalog of May Day Bookstore, Detroit, Michigan, 1975. Associated with the Revolutionary Communist Party. From the new book Finally Got the News: The Printed Legacy of U.S. Radical Left, 1970-1979.

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'Afrika News', Baton Rouge, Louisiana, [early 1970s].

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People's Solidarity Committee, Gary, Indiana, 1972. From the new book Finally Got the News: The Printed Legacy of U.S. Radical Left, 1970-1979.

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'The Political Leader Considered As The Representative of a Culture', Ahmed Sekou Toure, Jihad Productions/ [Congress of Afrikan People], Newark, New Jersey, [early 1970s].

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'Hard Times in Detroit', Radical Education Project, Detroit, [early 1970s]. From the new book Finally Got the News: The Printed Legacy of U.S. Radical Left, 1970-1979.

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'Zimbabwe Bulletin', ZANU Support Committee, New York, 1976. From the new book Finally Got the News: The Printed Legacy of U.S. Radical Left, 1970-1979.

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'Claridad', Puerto Rican Socialist Party, New York, 1975.

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'Free Dessie Woods - Smash Colonial Violence', National Committee to Defend Dessie Woods, Atlanta, Georgia, [late 1970s]. Associated with the African People's Socialist Party. From the new book Finally Got the News: The Printed Legacy of U.S. Radical Left, 1970-1979.

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'Wie Min - Chinese Community News', Wei Min She, San Francisco, 1973.