In 1969 , as SDS membership grew rapidly , members ' views concerning both goals and methods began to diverge widely . Rudd felt that SDS was not doing enough to protest the war in Vietnam . He was a leader of the Revolutionary Youth Movement ( RYM ) , a faction of SDS , which advocated a more militant course of action while other factions within SDS were becoming concerned about Rudd 's increasingly vocal calls for violent confrontation and hardline Communist sentiments . The 1969 SDS convention effectively splintered and ended the organization . Rudd and other former RYM members ultimately formed Weatherman , a self-proclaimed " organization of communist women and men . " The new organization was intent on overthrowing the government through violent actions . Spreading communism was a priority for the members of Weather , as when Rudd told other members of SDS , " Do n't be timid about telling people we 're Communist . Do n't deny it , be proud of it . " Rudd and other members of Weatherman participated in an SDS National Action on October 8 – 11 , 1969 , an event which became known as the Days of Rage . Charges filed against demonstrators following this action threatened the movement and its supporters . Rudd was demoted within the organization in January 1970 . Rudd , along with other prominent members of Weather , went underground in March 1970 following the Greenwich Village townhouse explosion , an incident in which three members of the organization died when an explosive device , intended for a servicemen 's ball , detonated prematurely . The dead were Terry Robbins , Diana Oughton , and Ted Gold , who was Rudd 's friend and partner in RYM and the Columbia sit-ins . Weatherman had already come to the attention of the FBI , but this explosion caused the members of Weatherman to take further precautions and to engage in more clandestine operations and according to some Weatherman members like Bill Ayers , build an underground revolutionary movement . According to Kirkpatrick Sale , Rudd was regarded as arrogant and politically ignorant by the other leaders , and was further demoted in the organization by the end of the year
Greenwich Village townhouse explosion
Greenwich Village townhouse explosion
Mark Rudd