Weather Underground Organization Bombs Kennecott Corporation: Salt Lake City, Utah, September 4, 1975
N.pl. Red Dragon Print Collective (Weather Underground), 1975. Pamphlet. 8pp. Octavo [21.5cm]; two nesting sheets folded together, as issued. Printed in black and white and illustrated with photographs and designs. Minor, uneven age-toning, primarily at the margins; negligible edgewear with a few small, faint stains. Otherwise clean, sharp, and complete. Very Good. Item #71485
The Weather Underground Organization (WUO) was a radical militant group emerging from the 1960s "New Left" that sought to combat U.S. imperialism through insurrectionary tactics. This pamphlet functioned as "armed propaganda," threatening the Kennecott Corporation for its alleged lobbying of the U.S. government to destabilize Salvador Allende’s administration in Chile following the nationalization of copper interests. In the early morning hours of September 5, 1975—coinciding with the second anniversary of the Chilean coup d’état—the WUO executed this threat, detonating a bomb at Kennecott’s regional headquarters in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. The device was detonated during off-hours with advance warning, reflecting the WUO’s methodology of targeting corporate infrastructure while strictly avoiding human injury or casualty.
The text bridges domestic and international grievances by invoking Utah’s radical labor heritage, explicitly citing Salt Lake City natives William "Big Bill" Haywood and Joe Hill to frame their sabotage as a modern continuation of the state's historic mining conflicts. Other regional issues and conflicts are referenced as well. The rear cover [p8] features an excerpt from Victor Jara’s "Chile Stadium," a poignant poem written by the Chilean folk singer-activist during his captivity prior to his execution by the Pinochet junta. Overall, the pamphlet is a stark testament to the era’s controversial and turbulent politics.
Rare. As of May 2026, OCLC reports only three institutional holdings: New York University, Boston Public Library, and the Wisconsin Historical Society.
Price: $450.00