The late 70s saw a continuation of a wave of Left-wing political violence with its origins in the late-60s student movements. Gang of Four’s politics were in many ways a successor to those movements, but they drew a line at political assassination.

These lyrics address the actions of European Marxist terrorist organizations – in particular the Red Army Faction, and (especially) the Italian Red Brigades – for engaging in spectacular politics that ultimately served the capitalist regime.

The criticism is that these killings didn’t genuinely challenge the political or economic systems – they just provided highly sensational material for the capitalist media industries. The guerrilla war these groups claimed to be waging was merely pop-culture fodder.

The title “5.45” is a double-entendre; read with a colon (i.e. 5:45) it is the time at which primetime television begins. Read with a period, it is the 5.45x39mm cartridge used in the AK-74 rifle, just recently issued and circulated by the Soviet Union.