The COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI's Secret Wars Against Dissent in the United States

by Ward Churchill, Jim Vander Wall

Readers anxious about civil liberties under George W. Bush will find fodder for fears—and suggestions for activism—in The COINTELPRO Papers. Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall's exposé of America's political police force, the FBI, reveals the steel fist undergirding "compassionate conservatism's" velvet glove. Using original FBI memos, the authors provide extensive analysis of the agency's treatment of the left, from the Communist Party in the 1950s to the Central America solidarity movement in the 1980s. The authors' new introduction posits likely trajectories for domestic repression.

Ward Churchill is author of From a Native Son. Jim Vander Wall is co-author of Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement, with Ward Churchill.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, American History, Conspiracy Theories, Race, United States

500 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Ward Churchill (Keetowah Cherokee) has achieved an unparalleled reputation as a scholar-activist and analyst of indigenous issues. He was a Professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder, from 1990 till 2007; a leading member of the American Indian Movement (AIM); and has been a delegate to the U.N. Working Group on Indigenous Populations. He is the author of numerous books, including A Little Matter of Genocide, Fantasies of the Master Race, and Struggle for the Land.

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the FBI has broken laws since its inception, the COINTELPRO program documented in this book ran from the mid-fifties to early seventies. Basically, it was an effort to spy on and subvert individuals, groups and movements seen as domestic threats. One all-too-common practice was to insert FBI agents into political organizations and then have them provoke illegal activities.
FBI penetration of the Communist Party was thorough and extensive. Indeed, it is possible that FBI operatives constituted the bulk of its membership during certain period and contributed most of the funds which kept the party going.
In my own personal experience, the violence in downtown Chicago during the Democratic National Convention in 1968 was, according to the later official Walker Report, provoked by a police agent pulling down the flag at the Grant Part bandshell--an action which led to the police charging the crowd of leftie folk music lovers, the flight of thousands towards the Hilton Hotel to the southwest and the violence which intensified as night fell and the television news trucks departed.
The reason I give this book only three stars is that it is not an easy read. Instead, it is fact-filled and rather dry--suitable for its purpose, but certainly not something fun to read through as quickly as I did.

[M.L. Rio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clearly/unabashedly biased but still a fascinating read if you can maintain a healthy skepticism. Note: don’t get the Kindle edition. The formatting is so totally banjaxed the text is almost impossible to decipher in quite a few places.

[Cwn_annwn_13 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book reproduces and analyzes cointelpro documents acquired through the FOIA. It is funny how the United States government expects its citizens to obey its laws but yet it goes out of its way to target, harass and persecute people who are not breaking any laws themselves. Which is made even worse when the government is often breaking the very laws they are supposed to uphold in the process.

There are individual chapters in this on black nationalist groups, socialist and communist groups, the American Indian Movement and other left wing oriented organizations. Another plus to The Cointelpro Papers is if you are involved in political activism this book can help you identify tactics that may be used against you or the group you are involved with.

The biggest fault this book has is Churchill is one of these leftists that believes in the psychotic delusion that the US Government is some sort of pro-white/white supremacist entity. Ha ha! Yeah thats why they have made MLK into some sort of holy figure, they have created affirmative action and allow mass immigration to displace white (and black) Americans in the work place. He also more or less ignores the illegal tactics employed against the KKK in the south where they sent a virtual army of FBI agents into southern states when the Klan was resisting integration. Undercover FBI agents were responsible for the murder of the pregnant wife of a Klansman named Kathy Ainsworth not to mention undercover agents perpetrated or instigated much of the violent acts attributed to the Klan. Why wasn't this brought up in this book?!?! While there were many wrongs committed against left wing and non-white political activists the fact that Churchill ignores what was done with the Klan, and in later years with militia groups, as well as white nationalist (and environmental) groups to this very day shows that Churchill has a blatant anti-white agenda and keeps what is a good book, from being great.

[John Tipper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Churchill and Vander Wall wrote an alarming and provocative book on the secret police in the U.S. Down through the history of the FBI, COINTELPRO (or actions like it) have been active against dissidents. J. Edgar Hoover was a strong advocate of infiltrating and subverting groups on the left and civil rights activities. FBI agents were embedded as informers or even violent advocates. They targeted the American Communist Party and other organizations. Individuals such as Paul Robeson, and numerous actors, celebrities, and film directors were targeted. Most of this took place during the McCarthy era. Careers were ruined. The book covers the assassination of Fred Hampton in 1969 by the FBI. He was a member of the Black Panther Party, which the FBI really persecuted. Some writers suspect that the killing of Malcom X was an FBI assassination as well. Martin Luther King Jr. was harassed by the Hoover agents. Many activists of the 1960s were targets. The American Indian Movement (AIM) was especially hit hard by the FBI. Leonard Peltier remains in prison for killing an agent. But journalists and lawyers doubt he had a fair trial. This book gathered documents via the Freedom of Information Act that support their claims and accusations.

[Vanessa Haynes · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book EVERY American should read.

[Ross Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Using FOIA documents and picking up where the Senate's Frank Church commission left off, the authors have assembled a damning case from the FBIs own files. There are books that tell this story in a more narrative form, but if you want a description with the attending evidence at hand, this is your book.

J. Edgar Hoover's hate of "blacks, Jews, and Communists" (to quote a former agent) had devastating effects on free speech, civil rights (especially Black organizations), and the American Indian Movement. The number of illégal actions taken by the FBI number in the thousands, all taken against people who didn't support the (white, male, conservative) status quo.

[Stuart Bramhall · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Cointelpro Papers should be required reading for high school graduation. It is more important than ever for people to understand the long history of GOVERNMENT spying on American dissidents. The problem of wire tapping, stalking, infiltration of community and political groups and clandestine murders did not start when all this stuff became legal with the Patriot Act in 2002. In fact it is well documented that it was going on in the mid-twenties and possibly earlier.

The part of the book I found most illuminating was the death squad activity that occurred on the Pine Ridge Sioux reservation during the 1970s - murders that were never even investigated, much less prosecuted. Americans tend to assume this type of extrajudicial murder only occurs in third world countries. Learning of scores of documented instances on US soil is really quite scary. The book also details the FBI ambush and murder of the Black Panther leader Fred Hampton and the attempted murder (in a similar ambush) of Geronimo Pratt. As well as the scores of Black Panther and American Indian Movement leaders (with Leonard Peltier being the most prominent) who remain in prison on trumped up charges.

Relying on letters and memos obtained under the Freedom of Information act (and a few obtained when activists turned the tables and broke into an FBI office), the authors make it clear that Hoover's FBI infiltrated and did their best to sabotage every left of center group that ever held public meetings in the US.

The saddest part was the sadistic campaign of personal harassment Hoover undertook against actress Jean Seberg, a white actress who provided the Black Panthers with financial support. As a result of rumor campaigns and vicious gossip columns planted by the FBI, Seberg and her partner ultimately committed suicide.

By Dr Stuart Jeanne Bramhall, author of THE MOST REVOLUTIONARY ACT: MEMOIR OF AN AMERICAN REFUGEE

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully infuriating book that documents the FBI's aggressive and illegal efforts to discredit and destroy various civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Meticulously documented (most often with photostats of FBI memos and letters), _The COINTELPRO Papers_ illustrates that our government is no stranger to illegal surveillance, assassination attempts, egregious misinformation, illegal leaks, and blackmail on DOMESTIC soil. (For instance, the FBI sent anonymous letters to MLK, Jr. saying that if he didn't kill himself, they would expose his alleged marital indiscretions to the public.) While Churchill's tone reveals his bias, the avalanche of documented evidence in support of his argument ameliorates any frustration one might have with his sometimes un-scholarly tone. What makes this book even more frightening are all of the parallels to the current administration's efforts to quell dissent in America. An important book.

[Brian Markey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is easy to sum up.

It's about balls to the wall documentation about FBI Hooverian Shenanegans in the form of COunter INTELegence PROgrams.

Memos signed by asswipes in the highest level of the FBI detail the infiltration, assassination and sabotage of dissident groups by the FBI. The COINTEL ops were aimed at the Black Panther Party, The American Indian Movement, Martin Luther King, and the Students for a Democratic Society.

Churchill is a bit of a douchebag, but he really put out a well researched, and well documented indictment of the FBIs crimes against the American People.

P.S. documents show that the FBI had operatives write Martin Luther a letter suggesting that he commit suicide.

http://www.oilempire.us/cointelpro.html

[Matty B · Rating 5 out of 5]

JUSTICE is served. Exposes their surveillance culture that they have been ashamed of for so long. Includes a chillingly shitty comic drawn by FBI operatives, designed to incite schism between SNCC and the Panthers. The comic would be funnier if it didn't kind of work...never underestimate the power of crude drawing. Anyways this book is full of creepy prints of actual redacted memos and a polical narration of COINTELPRO, the FBI's clandestine politcal program that was exposed when activists broke into FBI headquarters and raided THERE files!

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the follow-up to Churchill and van der Wall's "Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret War on the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement". As such, it is mostly documents with enough narrative to tie it together. I would recommend "Agents.." over this, but there is more than enough in here to paint a pretty damning picture of political policing in the USA. Specifically, the authors argue that COINTELPRO type programs continued on through the 70's and beyond (even after the public revelations about COINTELPRO against the Panthers). Good stuff.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

The levels our government has gone to in order to disrupt and sabotage people struggling for liberation is disgusting. Not only did agents infiltrate leftist groups in order to provoke crime and violence, they also sold arms and weapons to ring-wing groups with the goal of them engaging with leftist groups.

Churchill and Wall lay out damning documentation from the FBI.

While COINTELPRO may be no longer, I can only imagine what types of similar efforts are occurring today.

A united coalition of working class people across race is the greatest threat and fear of our US oligarchs.

[Sasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book everyone should own if you enjoy having an anthology of damning FBI documents that show how the FBI manipulated and oppressed domestic groups in the 20th Century. Especially blood-curdling is the letter the FBI sent to Martin Luther King Jr. that suggested the best thing for him to do would be to commit suicide...

[Andaye Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

If ever you wanted to know what the CIA does what the FBI does and how they do it, this is your book. Especially, if you're interested on how the BPP, AIM, The Brown Berets, and the Rainbow Coalition got canned. You can also apply it to today and what's happening now.

[sologdin · Rating 3 out of 5]

based heavily on materials received pursuant to FOIA requests, although heavily redacted. Sufficient to demonstrate that federal law enforcement spared little expense in messing with leftwing groups and certain ethnos-based movements.

[Rogers Pittman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horribly Formatted

I was so excited to see this book on kindle. Unfortunately I didn't read the book right away so I can't get my money back. This book is totally unreadable. Do not purchase this book.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

seeing the reproduced documents, in ink on paper, in your hands, is critically spine-shuddering.

[Whitsitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

lent by a friend who insisted I read it. basically filling in the blanks of my instinctive paranoia.

[Zach · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every American citizen should read this book

[Aaron Johnson]

I've heard about this book for so many years. It might just take me a few years to get through it. Interesting reference material.