Urban guerrilla warfare " Urban guerrilla redirects here . For the Hawkwind song , see Urban Guerrilla . " An urban guerrilla is someone who fights a government using unconventional warfare or domestic terrorism in an urban environment . During the Cold War , many were on the left - wing of the political spectrum . Theory and history of the urban guerrilla . The urban guerrilla phenomenon is essentially one of industrialised society , resting both on the presence of large urban agglomeration s where hideouts are easy to find and on a theory of alienation proper to the modern society of mass consumption . Michael Collins , a commander of the Irish Republican Army ( IRA ) is often considered to be the father of modern urban guerrilla warfare . In April 1919 an elite assassination unit , known as The Squad or " Twelve Apostles " was created in Dublin . The unit was tasked with hunting down and executing British Intelligence operatives in the city , they can be considered one of the first true urban guerrilla units . Historically guerrilla warfare was a rural phenomenon , it was not until the 1960s that the limitations of this form were clearly demonstrated . The technique was almost entirely ineffective when used outside of the later colonial environment , as was shown by the Cuban sponsored efforts in Latin America during the 1960s culminating in the hopeless " foco " campaign headed by Che Guevara in Bolivia that culminated in his death . The need for the target government to be simultaneously incompetent , iniquitous , and politically isolated was rarely met . The failure of rural insurgency forced the discontented to find new avenues for action , essentially random terrorism aimed at creating maximum publicity , provoking the targeted regimes into excessive repression and so inciting the general population to join a wider revolutionary struggle . This movement found its mentor in the leader of the ephemeral Ação Libertadora Nacional , Carlos Marighela . Before his death during a bank robbery in 1969 he wrote the " Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla " which , between the polemics , gave clear advice on strategy and was quickly adopted by others around the world . Historical examples . Italy . Leftists : Fascists : Japan . Leftists : Fascists : USA . However , not all urban political violence can be labeled as " urban guerrilla " . The Black Panther Party might not qualify , due to its public nature , although its policy of " self - defense " was interchangeable with a policy of armed struggle in militarily occupied African American communities . Similarly the Italian Autonomia movement , and the German Autonomen engaged in urban political violence , but not as urban guerrillas due to their policies of public , mass and non - deadly violence . In the 1970s BBC comedy " Citizen Smith " Wolfie Smith , the leader of the fictional " Tooting Popular Front " described himself as an Urban Guerrilla . External links . Suggested readings : Greene , T . N . ( ed ) The Guerrilla — and How to Fight Him : Selections From the Marine Corps Gazette . Frederick A . Praeger , 1964 . Molnar et al . , Undergrounds in Insurgent , Revolutionary , and Resistance Warfare . Special Operations Research Office , American University , 1963 . Oppenheimer , Martin . The Urban Guerrilla . Quadrangle , 1969 .