The Patty Hearst Tapes
Audio Tapes of Patty Hearst Made While in SLA Captivity

DAY 9

Patty Hearst Mom, Dad. I’m OK.  I’m with a combat unit that’s armed with automatic weapons.  And these people aren’t just a bunch of nuts.  They’ve been really honest with me but they’re perfectly wiling to die for what they’re doing.  And I want to get out of here but the only way I’m going to is if we do it their way.  And I just hope that you’ll do what they say Dad and just do it quickly.  And I mean I hope that this puts you a little bit at ease and that you know that I really, that I really am alright.  I just hope I can get back to everybody really soon.

DAY 13

Patty Hearst: I am being held as a Prisoner of War and not as anything else.  I mean I am being treated in accordance with international codes of war.  And so, I mean Dad you shouldn’t listen or believe what anybody else says about the way I’m being treated, this is the way I’m being treated.  And I’m not left alone, and I’m not just shoved off somewhere.  I mean, I am fine.  Also, since I am an example, and it’s really important that everybody understand that, you know, I am an example and a warning.  And because of this it’s very important to the SLA that I return safely.  And so people should stop acting like I’m dead.  Mom should get of the her black dress, that doesn’t help at all.  And just take care of Steve, and just hurry.  Bye.

DAY 34
Patty Hearst: Mom, Dad. I've been hearing reports about the food program. So far it sounds like you and your advisors have managed to turn it into a real disaster. You said that it was out of your hands, what you should have said was that you wash your hands of it. It sounds like most of the food is low quality. No one received any beef or lamb. Anyway, it certainly didn't sound like the kind of food our family is used to eating.

DAY 59
Patty Hearst: Mom, Dad. Tell the poor and oppressed people of this nation what the corporate state is about to do. Warn Black and poor people that they are about to be murdered down to the last man, woman and child. Tell the people that the energy crisis is nothing more than a means to get public approval for a massive program to build nuclear power plants all over the nation. Tell the people that the entire corporate state is, with the aid of this massive power supply, about to totally automate the entire industrial state to the point that in the next five years, all that will be needed is a small class of button pushers. Tell the people, Dad, that the removal of expendable excess, the removal of unneeded people, has already started. I have been given the choice of one: being released in a safe area, or two: joining the forces of the Symbionese Liberation Army and fighting for my freedom and the freedom of all oppressed people. I have chosen to stay and fight. I have been given the name Tania after a comrade who fought alongside Che in Bolivia. It is in the spirit of Tania that I say, 'Patria o Muerte, Venceremos.'

DAY 104
Patty Hearst: Greetings to the people. This is Tania. I want to talk about the way I knew our six murdered comrades because the fascist pig media have of course been painting a typically distorted picture of these beautiful sisters and brothers. Cinque was in a race with time believing that every minute must be another step forward in the fight to save the children. Gelina was beautiful. She taught me how to fight the enemy within through her constant struggle with bourgeois conditioning. Gabi crouched low with her ass to the ground. She practiced until her shotgun was an extension of her right and left arms. Zoya, female guerrilla. Perfect love and perfect hate reflected in stone cold eyes. Fahizah taught me to shoot first and make sure the pig is dead before splitting. She was wise and bad. Cujo was the gentlest most beautiful man I've ever known. He taught me the truth as he learned it from the beautiful brothers in California's concentration camps. Neither Cujo or I had ever loved an individual the way we loved each other. Our relationships foundation was our commitment to the struggle and our love for the People. I died in that fire on 54th Street, but out of the ashes I was reborn. I know what I have to do.

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