Women in revolutionary organisations

Abstract

The main aim of this thesis is to demonstrate that the female revolutionary is no different from her male compatriot. She enters the organisation in the same manner; she shares the same ideology; she participates equally within the revolutionary organisation; and, if she leaves the struggle, she does so in much the same way as her peers. The thesis uses a framework based upon New Social Movement theory to establish the social and historical context of the women by comparing the following five aspects of a new social movement: historical context, leadership, membership, collective action and group ideology and the revolutionary dimension. Before the three historical narratives on the American Movement, the West German student movement and the Palestinian Resistance Movement are undertaken, a literature review covers Social Movement theory, New Social Movement theory, theories on Violence and Terrorism Studies. The thesis also looks at how women have been gendered in criminology and war and how this gendering has influenced some of the leading research on the female terrorist. In order to show that the female revolutionary is very similar to the male, this thesis examines the three historical narratives mentioned above. After reviewing the social and historical context, the respective new social movement, the role of women in the revolutionary organisations (the Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction and Fateh and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) are reviewed in depth by studying their entry, ideology, group dynamics and exit.