This site is dedicated to memory of comrade Bruce Seidel, who was shot in the back by police while trying to surrender during a botched Brigade bank expropriation. They shot him, without any warning. Before he went down Bruce emptied his revolver at another officer, who hit him again, with another fatal shot, this one to the chest. Bruce was in his twenties at the time of his murder. He died on January 23, 1976.

                         -Bruce Seidel

Remembering Bruce Seidel

By Ed Mead, December 2001

Bruce Seidel, was killed by the bourgeoisie's apparatus of repression during a George Jackson Brigade expropriation (bank robbery) on January 23, 1976 - twenty-six years ago. He was shot twice, by two separate police officers. Without any warning or demand to surrender, Bruce was killed by a fatal shot in the back. Before he went down he emptied his revolver at another officer, who hit him with another fatal shot, this one in the chest. He was in his twenties at the time of his murder.

I was an ex-con living in Seattle's Capital Hill neighborhood and was active in prisoner support work. One day there was a knock at my front door. When I answered it, Bruce Seidel introduced himself. He said he was the publisher of the SunFighter newsletter, a well known publication that was written for Washington prisoners. Because of his advocacy in support of cons he had been barred from entering the state prison in Monroe. Bruce and other comrades and I went on to organize the Washington State Prisoners' Labor Union. At one point 97 percent of Monroe prisoners were card-carrying union members.

Shortly after the Attica uprising we brought former Attica prisoners Big Black, Dacajaweha, and Dalou, and the Attica film into the prisoners at Monroe and the women's prison at Purdy, raising $1,500 for the Attica Brothers Legal Defense in the process. Bruce was a part of the group that took over the U.S. Correctional Association's national convention in Seattle.

Bruce was the first to use property damage as a means of communication. Before there was a George Jackson Brigade there was a racist contractor doing construction work in Seattle's Black neighborhood - the Central District. There were numerous and militant demonstrations against the contractors organized by the United Construction Workers, a Black-led organization of minority construction workers. We on the white left would attend those demonstrations wearing ski masks as we raided the construction sites of the racist contractors, doing as much damage to construction equipment and supplies as we could before the police showed up. Bruce was always at the head of our group, leading us deeper in to the construction sites. There were many arrests, but we always managed to get away.

It was when the struggle against the racist contractors was at its peak, when aspects of this ongoing battle were in the headlines of the daily papers, and when it was the single issue around which the entire Seattle left was united. It was a grand struggle. One night Bruce, me, and an unindicted co-conspirator talked about taking the struggle to a higher level. He came up with the idea of fire bombing the office of the racist contractor. The co-conspirator and he went out and did the deed that night, completely destroying the targeted office. We kept an ear to the ground to listen to what the progressive community had to say about the action. The reaction to the bombing from the United Construction Workers and the left was positive. Out of that action the George Jackson Brigade was formed.

Bruce was involved in the first formal action of the GJB. The group busted into the headquarters of the Department of Corrections in the state capitol. The explosive device was planted under the director's desk and did $125,000 in damage to the building. The GJB issued a communiqué demanding that prison officials stop brutalizing prisoners in the hole for struggling to extend some measure of democracy to prisoners. We also demanded an end to the involuntary out-of-state transfer of Washington state prisoners.

The Brigade went on to conduct about twenty acts of armed propaganda, including the bombing of the FBI office in the Federal Courthouse in Tacoma, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs office in Everett. Those actions were done in an effort to draw FBI attention away from Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations, which at the time were being invaded by feds because of the killing of some FBI agents.

The members of the Brigade supported themselves by doing armed robberies. It was during one such expropriation that Bruce was killed, another comrade was shot in the face, and I was captured. Due to the sacrifices of those who maintained the firefight with the police from inside the bank, including Bruce who died in the process, three additional participants were able to escape capture. It was an expensive lesson. We had underestimated the state's viciousness. The first shot fired was a police bullet into Bruce's back.

Bruce was from Chicago and was somehow drawn to Seattle's prison support movement. He was good at economics. He once told me that the stock market meant nothing. "It's a psychological component, nothing more," he would say. "Watch the industrial inventories and unemployment rates for the true direction of the economy." I often think about those words when listening to some newscaster babble on about the stock market.

I think of Bruce throughout each year, but especially so every January. I think about his infectious smile, kind nature, and his gentle approach to life in general. He was a good friend and a dedicated revolutionary.

One of his favorite spots in Seattle was Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill. Bruce spent as much of his free time as he could there, reading books, chatting with friends, and throwing Frisbees. The park was named after the "Volunteers" who went to subjugate Cuba for the greater glory of U.S. imperialism and the gambling industry. It has always been my hope that I would live long enough to see Volunteer Park renamed Seidel Park and that a small monument would be erected at the spot where he was killed. The former is quite unlikely, but the latter is still possible.