Obama File 30 Former Terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn Involved in Key Pro-Obama Organisation

Obama File 29 here


In 1995 former Weather Underground terrorists Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn helped launch Barack Obama's political career at a small function in their Chicago home.

Bill Ayers also hired Obama to head the Annanberg Challenge, a $50 million fund which enabled Obama to fund organisations which could enhance his political career.

Later Ayers worked with Obama on the board of the Woods Fund, together doling out millions to leftist causes.

Obama has consistently tried to minimise his relationship with Ayers and Dohrn. The couple themselves, seem intent on maintaining a low profile-until at least after the election. Both parties realise that Obama's opponents will seize on any links to Ayers and Dorhn in order to discredit the Senator.

But are Ayers and Dohrn really out of the picture? Could they still be helping their friend from "underground"?

I recently profiled Progressives for Obama (PFO). Founded earlier this year, PFO unites all the main leftist currents behind the Obama campaign-the Communist Party USA (CPUSA), the CPUSA offshoot Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS), Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)and former members of the '60s radical organisation Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)and its terrorist splinter group Weather Underground Organisation.

PFO aims to not only put Obama in the White House, but to build a huge united "progressive" movement that can force the new President to move America massively to the left. The influence of the CPUSA on the Roosevelt administration that produced the "New Deal" and the pressure of the CPUSA and SDS/New Left that pressured Johnson into the great social changes of the '60s are the model for this new movement.

But this begs the question. Who founded Progressives for Obama?

In early 2006, a group of former SDS members and sympathisers, led by DSA activist Paul Buhle joined with some a new generation of college students to re-found Students For a Democratic Society. The movement now has over 130 chapters across the USA.

More importantly Buhle and co also founded an SDS support group for older activists-Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS). SDS is the muscle behind the new protest movement and was very prominent in the recent violence at the Republican National Convention at St Paul Minnesota. MDS is the brains behind the SDS brawn


A review of the 2006 MDS board reveals some interesting connections.

Elliott Adams-leader of the CPUSA front Veterans for Peace

Senia Barragan-(Student Representative)-new SDS

David Barsamian-a leftist brodcaster with close ties to Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky-Well known linguist, writer and activist. A member of both DSA and the CCDS Advisory Board.

Carl Davidson-A founder member of SDS, later a Maoist ativist before becoming a leader of CCDS in 1992.

Bernardine Dohrn

Bill Fletcher Jr-A former Maoist. A leader of DSA and the AFL-CIO

Bert Garskof-Involved with SDS the 60s, a close friend of Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn.

David Graeber-Former member of the SDS, turned anarchist.

Tom Hayden-Founder and leader of the SDS

Gerald Horne-A member of the editorial board of Political Affairs, theoretical journal of the CPUSA.

Michael James-A former member of SDS

Robin DG Kelley- A former member of the Communist Workers Party, more recently close to CPUSA.

Michael Klonsky-Son of CPUSA member Robert Klonsky. A former member of SDS, who later led the pro-Chinese, Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist). Mike Klonsky works closely with Bill Ayers on educational projects.

Ethelbert Miller-Chairman of the board of the notoriously leftist and Cuban linked Washington based think tank, Institute for Policy Studies.

Charlene Mitchell-A leader of CCDS, former high ranking member of CPUSA.

Michael Rossman (deceased)-A Californian New Leftist, with close ties to SDS.

Mark Rudd-A former leader of the SDS and the Weather Underground.

Howard Zinn-A well known Marxist historian.

The connections between those listed above, Obama and Progressives for Obama are many fold.

Carl Davidson worked closely with Obama in Chicago in the mid '90s and with another former SDS activist Marilyn Katz organised the famous 2002 peace rally in Chicago where Obama first came out publicly against the Iraq War. Davidson is the webmaster for the Progressives for Obama website.

Bert Garskof is active in the Obama campaign in Connecticutt. He recently wrote this comment on the website Foreign Policy in Focus.

We must realize that the only way to hold Obama, as President, to the progressive agenda is to maintian and build the grass-roots state/County organizations that were built only to elect him...We must remember that the most significant progressive changes have only been instituted into law after grass-roots activism forced the issue...we can maintain our more progressive values and work as organizers within the grass-roots election campaigns.

We need to convince the new people and the many veterans of electoral wars that this is a unique opportnity. we can create 2-way communication with the People's President - truly make him the People's President if we create methods and structures that work to connect in an on-going way - the President, his staff and grass-roots Obama groups for discussion of what the grass-roots thinks and wants.

Gerald Horne, an historian who has studied the Hawaiian Communist Party-was first to publicly reveal the connection between Barack Obama and his boyhood mentor, secret CPUSA member Frank Marshall Davis.

Mike Klonsky was a blogger on Obama's website until negative publicity forced his withdrawl. Klonsky's brother Fred and wife Susan are both listed as endorsers of the Progressives for Obama website.

Bill Fletcher was the initiator of the Progressives For Obama project which he co-founded with Tom Hayden. The other two founders of PFO were writer Barbara Ehrenreich, who is a member of both DSA and MDS and actor/activist Danny Glover who is close to some DSA members.

Mike James, Robin DG Kelley and Mark Rudd are all listed as endorsers of the Progressives for Obama website.

A quick trawl of the internet reveals several other MDS linked activists listed as endorsing Progressives for Obama.

They include MDS founders Paul Buhle and Thomas Good (a former communist turned anarchist who has referred to himself as an "unrepentant Weather supporter."), Texan former SDS activists David Hamilton and Thorne Dreyer, Chicago based Obama fundraiser Marilyn Katz, Marxist academics Rosalynn Baxandall and Immanuel Wallerstein, plus Cornel West, an academic and DSA member who refers to Obama as his "comrade."

Another interesting turn-up is Rashid Khalidi, nominated unsuccessfully for the MDS board. Khalidi was a close friend of Obama's from his time in Chicago in the 90s. Khalidi has been accused of ties with the Palestinian Liberation Organisation and has written for the pro-Obama, Chicago based DSA/IPS linked journal "In These Times".



Three of the four founders of Progressives For Obama, Bill Fletcher, Tom Hayden and Barbara Ehrenreich have served on the MDS board, as has the PFO webmaster Carl Davidson. Several MDS activists are endorsers of PFO.

Obviously, Progressives for Obama is an MDS creation.

While Bernardine Dohrn's high level role as an MDS board member is clear, Bill Ayers's is less so.

From the MDS website

Movement for a Democratic Society (MDS) held its first national convergence at Loyola University, from November 8 through 11 (2007)with the participation of the newly inspired SDS, Students for a Democratic Society.

One of the events listed is;

10 am-10:50 am Room 412 Resisting Endless War: Tom Good, Elaine Brower, Bill Ayers

Below are four Youtube videos of Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers speaking at an November 2007 SDS reunion at Michigan State University.

Note Dorhn's reference to the new SDS and MDS. Note references to the overthrow of capitalism, visits to Chavez's Venezuela and building a "new movement".
These people are still revolutionaries.









Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn are involved in an organisation uniting three Marxist parties, a host of '60s radicals and terrorists and a new generation of militant activists.

That organisation has spawned a spin-off organisation specifically designed to put Barack Obama in the White House and to bring about massive social change across the US.

Ayers and Dohrn helped launch Barack Obama's political career. Do they guide it still?

Obama File 31 here