"split on the question of armed struggle, particularly as it related to national liberation movements within the U.S. Over half the Bay Area Revolutionary Union, including all the collectives from South San Francisco through Sunnyvale and some in San Jose, merged into Venceremos. Since these collectives had been heavily involved in youth organizing within white proletarian communities, in factory organizing and in anti-imperialist struggles on the campuses, the new combined organization was multi-national, extremely diversified in its activities and base, and quite militant"〔Bruce Franklin "From the Movement Toward Revolution" (York, Van Nostrand Reinhold (1971), p.128 )〕

Venceremos’ ultimate stated goal was the overthrow of the government. On their way to armed
insurrection, their platform called for (among many other things): “The firing of…profit-motivated murderers,
like David Packard and Richard Nixon,” “an end to the fascist court system and fascist judges,” and “an
education which exposes the lies and oppression created by the corrupt court system and teaches us the true
history of oppressed people.” Venceremos were also enemies of the police and were convinced that “the
best pigs are always dead pigs.” Pretty radical stuff.
But Venceremos stressed actions over rhetoric. In 1970, they opened a revolutionary community college in
a Redwood City storefront that lasted until it ran out of money two years later. They were actively involved
in an anti-drug campaign on the streets of Palo Alto in the summer of 1971 and later with the Palo Alto Drug
Collective. They often showed up at City Council and School Board meetings in Palo Alto with a verbal
aggressiveness never before seen in the city’s politics. At an August 1971 meeting, for instance, Jeffrey Youdelman shouted down school board members as “racist, fascist pigs.” They also fought elections.
In May 1971, Venceremos ran Jean Hobson for City Council, she received 798 votes, some 7,000 short of victory. Youdelman ran as a candidate in 1973, but he fared no better.
Venceremos member Doug Garrett also ran for Palo Alto School Board and Joan Dolly in the 1972 Menlo Park council elections.
Venceremos was part of the ever-present street protest scene that marked Palo Alto counterculture life
in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Every Saturday night at 7:00 pm, Venceremos held a rally with speakers
and bands at Lytton Plaza, which they dubbed “The People’s Plaza.” This often led to clashes with police
as the hour grew late and the music got louder.
The beginning of the end for Venceremos came in 1972, when a number of its members were involved in a headline-grabbing murder. The incident centered around a Venceremos recruit and prison inmate named Ronald Beaty. A habitual stick-up artist and con, Beaty was serving time for armed robbery and kidnapping at Chino Prison. He apparently had romantic ties to Jean Hobson -- the former Venceremos candidate for council -- that lead to an attempt by the organization to help him escape.〔Palo Alto History Project Venceremos page http://www.paloaltohistory.com/Venceremos.html〕