ABSTRACT

Movement structures of any size— more than a few people organized in a single locale— exhibit complexity along three lines. One, the principles of organization observed differ between a localized organization and the organization that ties the local units together. Two, the "lower" level units of translocal Movement organizations (MOs) do not always themselves exhibit the same principle of organization. Three, the patterns of relations between the "locals" and the "centrals" vary enormously. The MO organizational apparatus subsists on member contributions of a regular, ad hoc, or "angeling" sort. The several forms of MO locals the authors have described are carried on in a relatively public way and experience only low-level or sporadic harassment or repression— or merely a living fear of it. The revolutionary mass organization is a clandestine organization with its own structure and without relation to the legal and open entities. In some communities self-defense groups are organized by local clandestine committees.