Oh that’s easy. Anti whatever the word ‘fascist’ means, you eedjut.
Thanks.
OK, so what does ‘fascist’ mean?
It’s at this point most ‘anti-fascists’ become patronisingly serene and irritated (a neat trick)… and often disinterested in answering beyond ‘swastikas’ and ‘Hitler’ and ‘Trump!!!’
I don’t blame them their fuzziness. There are a number of definitions. It isn’t crystal clear what ‘fascist’ means. It’s complicated. Here are a few definitions gleaned from various dictionary sites across the internet:
- A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, a capitalist economy subject to stringent governmental controls, violent suppression of the opposition, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.
- A political system based on a very powerful leader, state control, and being extremely proud of country and race, and in which political opposition is not allowed.
- A governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.
- A political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.
So… picking and choosing (reasonably) between these definitions would seem to lead to the following common characteristics of ‘fascism’ …
- Authoritarian – centralised totalitarian dictatorship (by an individual or party)
- Capitalistic – though strictly-controlled and regulated, subservient to the state
- Suppressive – of all opposition, dissent and criticism
- Collectivist – sacrifice of individual liberty to the ends of society as a whole
- Nationalistic Pride – above other nations (nationalism)
- Racial Pride – above other races (racism)
Speaking (purely) personally for a moment, the elevation of state power to absolute levels (the concept of state being above law) alongside repressive measures of social control such that the free association of citizens is prohibited are the defining qualities of ‘fascism.’ But that’s just me. So let’s just stick with the six characteristics (above) for sake of simplistic clarity.
Strangely, despite the frenetic exhortations of 21st-century ‘anti-fascists,’ there is no requirement (philosophical or political) for a ‘fascist’ to be ‘right-wing’ or ‘Conservative’ or ‘alt-right’ here; in fact, the above characteristics of a ‘fascist’ could apply equally to ‘left-wing’ or ‘Communist’ or ‘far-left’ groups.
Fascism can’t be but a blank noun and a mere name sans definition though, surely.
There is also an unfortunate (often hyperbolic) trend amongst modern ‘anti-fascists’ to require but one of the above characteristics in the determination that an individual is a ‘fascist’ such that a ‘racist’ can be called a ‘fascist’ even while being open to all forms of critical opposition; I would consider this to be a simple contradiction in terms… such a person isn’t a fascist but may well be a racist. This (often deranged) approach is clearly fatuous and nonsensical. But it happens. A lot.
There is no consistency in this kind of use of the term ‘fascist (or nazi);’ it is (at best) confusing and unhelpful and it leads many ‘anti-fascists’ to voice the accusation of ‘fascist’ at anyone and everything, irrespective of reality… thus weakening both the validity of the term and any definition… and providing neither illumination nor solution.
Modern fascism has roots in early-20th-century political movements (most often defined as ‘right-wing’) but it is quite possible to scan the past and find governmental structures with similar or identical characteristics. Even within the mid-20th to the present, it is possible to find governmental structures with such characteristics (of both ‘left’ and ‘right’ leaning political shades).
The term ‘facism’ stems from the ‘fasces’ of the late-Etruscan and early Roman periods. Fasces were a symbolic bundle of rods (birchwood, often surrounding an axe (or Greek Labrys)) symbolising a leader’s power – most often a magistrate, consul or (later) emperor – alongside the concept of strength through unity (a single rod being weaker than a bundle of rods). From the Roman Republic through to the end of the Holy Roman Empire, these ‘fasces’ were carried by ‘lictors’ whose number denoted rank, with a dictator (a republican Roman rank not to be confused with the modern usage of the term) entitled to 24 or 28 lictors. During this period, the presence of the axe within the bundle came to represent capital authority, as in sufficient rank to determine death as a punishment.
The symbol of the ‘fasces’ can be found (even today) in many and various societies, cultures and institutions around the world. The symbol was adopted by the Fascisti (aka the ‘Fascismo Italiano’) movement inspired and developed by (amongst others, such as Gabriele D’Annunzio) Benito Mussolini which led to the creation of the National Fascist Party (Partito Nationale Fascista or PNF) that held power in Italy (in two forms) from 1922 until April 1945.
The ‘fascism’ of Mussolini did not incorporate a ‘racial’ element (at least until this facet – in the form of antisemitism – was forced upon Italy by Hitler from 1942 on). Mussolini’s own definition of fascism was clear, concise and perhaps surprising;
“Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.”
For Mussolini, the characteristics of nationalism and suppression were not identifiable facets of ‘fascism’ per se but the by-products or requisites of authoritarianism alone. This might be seen as splitting hairs but it was an important distinction, at least to Benito.
Mussolini sought to restore pride in the nation of Italy by recalling and emulating the achievements of the ancient Roman Empire; this included the requirement to secure (invade and conquer) ‘living space’ from north and east African nations. Mussolini’s fascism was fundamentally-opposed to left-wing Marxism, centralistic liberalism, and right-wing moral/reactionary conservatism, and it had great difficulty in it’s somewhat collectivist aims as the Italian populace pointedly refused to cast aside their individual liberties (or jars of macassar oil) for the needs and benefit of society as a whole.
After winning an election in 1924, Mussolini dispensed with democracy completely and became hey-presto de-facto authoritarian dictator of Italy, at which point he moved to control Italy’s capitalist economy and suppress all opposition and criticism. Sorted, or so he thought.
It’s worth noting at this point that this ‘Italian’ flavour of ‘fascism’ is not that currently in vogue as a definition with modern ‘anti-fascists’ as it lacks the requirement of those more extreme and visceral elements most commonly associated with the Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler.
In short, this original brand of fascism just isn’t fascist enough for the 2020 anti-fascists.
Hitler often lauded the ‘fascism’ of Mussolini, yet the political philosophy and ideology of the NSDAP (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or National Socialist German Workers’ Party) is more-accurately (and most often, in academic usage) referred to as ‘Nazism’ due to it’s marked differences to the ‘fascism’ of Mussolini.
In comparison to the National Fascist Party of Mussolini, German Nazism was far more intense and extreme with regard to nationalism and authoritarianism, included a virulent, pervasive (and ultimately genocidal) antisemitic and neo-Darwinist racial aspect, and espoused anti-intellectualism and disdain for theoretical argument (atheoreticalism).
The authoritarian dictats of Hitler were considered to be the providential will of his charismatic genius alone. Hitler championed belligerent expansionism, rejected liberalism, rationalism, the rule of law and any concept of ‘human rights,’ subjugated the individual to the state for the good of the ‘folk’ and ‘greater Reich,’ emphasised the inequality of races (in eugenic terms of strong versus weak), deposed religion and all movements of peace, harmony and cooperation between nations (of whatever political hue), eliminated anticapitalist movements and continually masked his totalitarianism behind a cloak of ‘anti-Bolshevism/Communism.’
Hitler utilised the tools of ‘propaganda’ (film, radio and print media), which he considered to be…
“… part of a great leader’s genius to make even widely separated adversaries appear as if they belonged to but one category.”
Nazism, as a pre-requisite, was founded on the concept of a purely Aryan-based ‘herrenvolk’ (master race) that would rule over racially-heirarchic and subordinate ‘Slavic’ races in the territories to the east of the Greater German Reich, thus forming an impregnable and resource-plenty unified space (Großwirtschaftsraum) or living space (lebensraum). The ‘racial superiority’ dominant within ‘Nazism’ was not exclusively ‘white;’ it considered many ‘white’ races as ‘untermensch’ (subhuman) which were thus subject to domination and control and it conferred ‘superiority’ only upon one particular sub-group of a sub-group (in contemporary terms), the Aryan (which also included non-Germanic/Teutonic ‘races’).
In short then, Nazi-style ‘fascism’ was not an exclusively ‘white supremacist’ ideology. Ask any Pole, Latvian, Ukrainian or Russian… ‘subhumans’ all; it was, however, racist and antisemitic to its foul core.
The state as envisioned (and created) by Hitler relied on fear, brutal (often sadistic) repression, and state-control over all of the apparatus of the economy and politics, the judiciary, education, the military and police, and which included even the minutiae of society and culture, such as music, art, cooking and the institution of marriage and interpersonal relationships.
Despite obvious similarities, the differences between ‘fascism’ and ‘Nazism’ are therefore stark.
Throwing ourselves headlong into the present…
… such stark differences aside, just how likely is it that an individual in the UK or USA (for example) is truly a ‘fascist’ or ‘nazi?’
Which political party in the UK or USA is truly ‘fascist’ or ‘Nazi?’
The US Republican Party. Make America Great. Imperialism. American Exceptionalism. Donald Trump. British Conservatism. The Union Jack. The Stars and Stripes. Being ‘right-wing.’ Land of Hope and Glory. Are any or all of these things truly ‘fascist’ or ‘Nazi?’
Clearly, nationalism itself is but one possible facet of ‘fascism/Nazism.’ Pride in country as a concept is espoused by every, single nation on earth. Are they all ‘fascist/Nazi’ because of that? Is that even a complete definition of ‘nationalism?’ Capitalism is also one possible facet of a ‘fascist/Nazi’ state… but is it ‘fascist’ in and of itself? Is it possible to be a fascist country and yet practice democracy, and enshrine free-association, the sovereignty of the individual and human rights into law? Does the UK and/or the USA truly suppress all dissent, criticism and opposition? Are the mechanics of the economies of the UK and/or the USA strictly-controlled and regulated such that capitalism itself is subservient to the state?
Are the US and UK today in any way comparable to Italy or Germany during the 1920-45 period? Sufficient to term the US or UK ‘fascist’ or ‘Nazi’ with any measure of rationality or basis in truth?’
With regard to ‘authoritarian’ countries… would it be fair or true to include the UK and US in this (debateable but hey) list of modern authoritarian countries… alongside Bahrain, Cambodia, Venezuela, Iran, Laos, North Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam? What about Armenia, Belarus, Hungary, Turkey, Russia, Egypt and Poland? Are they totalitarian? Are any of them fascist? Are any Nazi states?
Is a ‘racist’ automatically a ‘fascist?’ Given the antisemitism of the USSR, and much of modern eastern-European countries, or the current efforts of China to control the Uighur population (for example)… is it true that the USSR was fascist… modern China, fascist… Poland, the Ukraine… fascist too? Can the citizens of a predominantly black country (Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Sudan, or Rwanda, as examples) be racist… and if so, automatically fascist? Or is racism itself but one possible facet of fascism, or a more absolute requirement of Nazism (as with all the other characteristics)?
Isn’t fascism less a single thing but more a conglomerate of ideologies, philosophies or beliefs across a range of characteristics?
Does a fascist or Nazi movement exist within the USA or anywhere in Europe? And if so… how large are they and are they anything other than reviled? Are they legal? Are they influential? Can you vote for them? Are they dominant in society?
What do you think would certainly happen in the UK or the US if you were to openly goosestep along a street waving a swastika flag on a pole?
How legitimate is it, in the UK or USA, to consider it necessary for any (militant or not) ‘anti-fascist movement’ to exist at all? Should you be concerned about the overturning of the UK or US governments by an actual, fascist movement? Are the brownshirts truly on their way? Imminently?
Why declare yourself a member of ‘Antifa’ or a proud ‘antifascist’ at all? Are the fascist/Nazi movements in danger of any semblance of dominance in the UK or USA? Is fascism/Nazism on the rise in the UK? Does fascism/Nazism have any legitimacy in the West?
When I was a child in the late 60’s, I came across a stack of magazines about The Second World War. I read them ardently. I was initially fascinated by the aircraft, the uniforms, and the ships. As the years passed, I bought models and plastic soldiers which I painted and proudly displayed. I had a Lancaster bomber, a Spitfire and P51 Mustang, a Messerschmidt 209 and a Dornier 17. I had a model of the HMS Hood and the Bismarck. I painted toy soldiers as accurately as I could; even painting swastika-armbands on an SS unit. The images and paraphernalia of that war often fired my imagination. When I was thirteen, I made a swastika-armband and wore it to school. It wasn’t because I was a Nazi… or that I even understood what that meant. I was taken aside by a teacher that had fought in WWII; he didn’t remove the armband but he explained to me with kind words and patience, forcefully yet with obvious sadness and compassion, what it symbolised and what it meant for him and his generation. I listened. I began to understand. He left me alone in the room. I took the armband off myself and binned it.
Such naiveté, ignorance and stupidity is perhaps understandable in a child but to remain so as an adult – on this topic – is, I believe, unconscionable… because fascism has been, and is still a repugnant scourge against which we should always be vigilant. As in, vigilant… not screamingly-destructive in a hysterical and thuggish manner.
Over the years I have studied the events of the Second World War with a bookshelf full of relevant histories, memoirs and commentaries… of events… of atrocities. I read ‘Mein Kampf.’ I read the ‘Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion (AKA ‘The Jewish Peril’).’ I visited Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora when I was 17… and Plaszow, Auschwitz, Sobibor and Treblinka, as well as the memorial at Babi Yar when I was 35.
When I use the terms ‘Nazi’ or ‘fascist,’ I think I know what they mean and how to define them. All of which would help me to spot a potential (or actual) ‘fascist’ or ‘Nazi’ today. Aptly. Correctly. With reasonable justification.
For all of the faults of Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, the Republican Party in the US or Conservative Party in the UK… let alone the systems of justice, policing, education or governance in either country – and they are many – none are either fascist or Nazi.
The dangers we face, as countries, cultures, societies, communities and individuals – and they are many – do not emanate from ‘fascists’ or ‘Nazis.’
Take another look at the characteristics of ‘fascism’ listed above… pasted below, in a helpful manner…
- Authoritarian – centralised totalitarian dictatorship (by an individual or party)
- Capitalistic – though strictly-controlled and regulated, subservient to the state
- Suppressive – of all opposition, dissent and criticism
- Collectivist – sacrifice of individual liberty to the ends of society as a whole
- Nationalistic Pride – above other nations
- Racial Pride – above other races
Now think about China. Or Cuba. Or North Korea. Or Vietnam. Or the USSR. Can you attach any of the characteristics to whichever country? How many? All of them? Strange that these are not ‘right-wing’ countries… but left-wing and Marxist at the core. Who’d have thunk it.
How many of those characteristics does it take to make a fascist?
Which group, ideologically-bound to Marxism, is currently exhibiting one, two or more of those characteristics on US streets, today?
Despite having no route to influence or power, we can – with justification – make an easy decision as to whether the Ku Klux Klan or Aryan Brotherhood are fascist but what about Antifa? What about Black Lives Matter, even?
But before we meander off in that direction… ask yourself… do numbers matter?
The US-based SPLC estimates the membership of the US KKK to be between 3,000 to 5,000. The FBI estimates a national maximum of 2,000 while estimating 15,000 members of ‘The Aryan Brotherhood’ (a neo-Nazi group) within (almost exclusively) the US prison system.
A fair national estimate for the USA would be a total of 20,000 KKK and ‘neo-Nazi’ group members amongst a population of 331,002,651.
That’s 0.006% of the population. Double, treble or quadruple that number and it would still remain insignificant. Irrelevant.
The total number of ‘neo Nazi’ members in the UK is even fewer. It would perhaps be convenient to count or include random ‘white supremacists’ in the tally… if you were desperate to inflate the numbers… but that’s a term with no valid quantifiable foundation and most commonly refers to members of neo-nazi groups or the KKK anyway.
The US-based ADL (Anti-Defamation League) produced a report in 2016 (HERE – though the full report PDF has been removed) entitled ‘Tattered Robes’ in which it stated…
“Despite a persistent ability to attract media attention, organized Ku Klux Klan groups are actually continuing a long-term trend of decline. They remain a collection of mostly small, disjointed groups that continually change in name and leadership. Down slightly from a year ago, there are currently just over thirty active Klan groups in the United States, most of them very small.”
So much for the vaunted and much-trumpeted KKK.
So why declare yourself to be ‘anti-fascist?’ Are you thoroughly surrounded by anyone declaring themselves to be ‘pro-fascist?’ Why buy a poster, get an Antifa tattoo or attach their logo to your TikToks?
Just who are Antifa, anyway?
Most ‘commentators’ tend to believe that ‘Antifa’ is a nebulous and ultimately unidentifiable amalgamation of various, far-left militant groups. According to this view, there is no such entity as ‘Antifa,’ which is itself nothing more than an umbrella term for multiple autonomous ‘cells’ that violently oppose the meetings, protests or gatherings of those groups or individuals (more recently US state and federal organisations) identified as being ‘fascist.’
This is the Scarlet Pimpernel view of Antifa. Almost… mythical.
We seek him here, we seek him there,
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
Is he in heaven? Is he in hell?
That demmed, elusive Pimpernel.
Sir Percy Blakeney, Baronet (ch.12)
It’s close… but not the full reality.
‘Antifaschisitsche Aktion’ was created during the beer-hall thuggery and street-fighting of the late (failing and ultimately-doomed) Weimar Republic. Founded in 1932 by the Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands (KPD, the Communist Party of Germany) this baby-variant of Antifa subsumed various small, regional Communist ‘anti-fascist defence leagues’ under the organisation and collective, unified control of the KPD.
This first iteration of Antifa were also known as ‘blackshirts’ – a name they shared with the paramilitary wing of the PNF in Italy and the British Union of Fascists formed in 1932 by Oswald Mosley. Oh and the SS. The Schutzstaffel. Yes, that SS. Oh and 2020 Antifa’s ‘Black Bloc.’ Communists, Fascists and Nazis with a communal fetish for black. Well heck.
Antifa engaged in thuggery (or anti-thuggery via thuggery, if that makes you feel any better) against any non-KPD affiliated political party; a list that included the Nazi Party, as well as numerous capitalist, conservative, liberal, social-democratic and trades-union-affiliated parties. You did not have to be a fascist to be beaten up by Antifa. The Nazi Party thuggery equivalent was the Sturmabteilung (SA, Storm Division), or ‘brownshirts.’ You did not have to be a communist to be beaten up by the brownshirts.
Such non-discriminatory fun and games in the Weimar Republic… or rather… thuggery and be-coshing.
In 1933 Adolf Hitler and the NSDAP gained 37% of the polls and became (by far) the largest parliamentary party. Although the KPD also gained 15% of the vote they turned their fire against the non-fascist Social-Democrats (whom they called ‘social fascists,’ whatever that meant) rather than the actual fascists, the NSDAP. This (somewhat familiar-sounding) fiasco led to a weak, disunited and fractious government and a second poll in the same year which, despite (or possibly because of) a smaller polling for the NSDAP, forced Hitler to seize power via the machinations of (conservative and social democrat) politicians who coerced/persuaded the elderly President Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Antifa therefore swiftly lost the battle of the thuggeries thanks to the ineptitude of the KPD.
It is not until the 1980’s that (three or four) small groups that shortened their names to ‘Antifa’ would briefly re-emerge. These were based in Europe and (in part) grew out of the ‘Autonomism movement’ – an anarchistic, Marxist, anti-authoritarian ideology associated with ‘urban guerilla’ terrorist organisations such as the Red Faction and Red Brigade.
In the US, from the 1960’s onward, a number of ‘anti-authoritarian’ and anarchist movements came and went (such as the Third World Marxists and the Weather Underground… both factions within the SDS or Students for a Democratic Society), many of which were born of the anti-Vietnam War movement. The Weatherman (a precursor to the Weather Underground, and yes, I know this is confusing), as an example, advocated street-fighting as a method for undermining ‘US Imperialism.’ The SDS itself believed that black liberation and a white revolutionary movement were both key to their anti-imperialist aims.
According to one account (cited in full below)…
“Weatherman launched an offensive during the summer of 1969. In one action in the Northeast, it tried to recruit members at community colleges and high schools by marching into classrooms, tying up and gagging teachers, and presenting revolutionary speeches. At the Harvard Institute for International Affairs, the group smashed windows, tore out phones, and beat professors.
From October 8 to 11, 1969, Weatherman worked to organize thousands of young people in a direct assault on the police, whom they called “pigs.” The group called this a “National Action,” but newspapers called it “Days of Rage.” The protests were to begin on the second anniversary of the death of Argentine-Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara and were to coincide with the trial of the “Chicago 8”—eight men charged with conspiracy for their actions during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago one year earlier. On October 6, 1969, Weatherman members blew up a statue in Chicago’s Haymarket Square that commemorated the policemen who had died in a riot in 1886. That message of confrontation and violence was echoed in Weatherman’s signs and slogans, which read, “Bring the war home” and “The time has come for fighting in the streets.” However, “Days of Rage” proved to be only minimally successful. The demonstrations had a low turnout—as low as 100 by some counts—as well as several incidents of random pointless rioting. By the end of the weekend, 284 people, including local youth and SDS members, had been arrested; total bail amounted to more than $1.5 million.
Frustrated with the inefficacy of traditional forms of political protest after “Days of Rage” and other antiwar demonstrations throughout November 1969, Weatherman members called for a national “war council” meeting of the SDS that December. Members of the group discussed the need to instruct themselves in the use of firearms and bombs in order to target and attack sites of power in the United States and discussed the need to kill police. Much of this discussion was fueled by the killing of two party leaders of the Black Panthers, Mark Clark and Fred Hampton, by Chicago police. In that meeting, held in Flint, Michigan, Weatherman decided to go underground and become a small-scale paramilitary operation carrying out urban guerrilla warfare.
By early 1970 Weatherman had split into several underground cells throughout the country. These cells, usually with three to five men and women living together in a house, were connected to the Weatherman leadership, called the Weather Bureau, by active members who provided aboveground support. The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which began investigating the group in June 1969, estimated Weatherman’s total strength at this time at 400 members. The cells were located predominantly in Berkeley, California; Chicago; Detroit; and New York City.
Within months Weatherman made its way into headlines and the public imagination. On March 6, 1970, three founding members of Weatherman—Diana Oughton, Ted Gold, and Terry Robbins—died in an explosion while making bombs in a Greenwich Village townhouse. Two other members, Kathy Boudin and Cathy Wilkerson, escaped. Investigators found 57 sticks of dynamite, 30 blasting caps, and timing devices in the rubble. The FBI stepped up its investigation. By April, federal indictments for the “Days of Rage” action had come down against 12 Weatherman members, and Weatherman, collectively, was charged with conspiracy.
Weatherman members began bombing targets across the country in 1970, using tactics from the handbook Firearms and Self-Defense: A Handbook for Radicals, Revolutionaries, and Easy Riders and from Brazilian Marxist writer and terrorist Carlos Marighella’s Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla. The more significant targets included the New York City Police Department headquarters, the Presidio army base in San Francisco, a Long Island City courthouse, and several banks in Boston and New York. Most of the bombings were preceded by a warning, to prevent casualties, and were followed by a communiqué, dubbed “Weather Report.” Weatherman used these “Weather Reports” to justify attacks, citing recent police and government actions such as the Kent State shootings, which involved the killing of four students by the Ohio National Guard at Kent State University, or the unlawful incarceration of other revolutionaries. The reports also often commemorated revolutionary efforts throughout the world. By year’s end, several Weatherman members had made it onto the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list, which had been expanded to 16 to accommodate them.
The bombings continued throughout 1971. Weatherman placed two bombs at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., both of which exploded on March 1. In August the group attacked three offices of the California prison system after the mysterious murder of prison revolutionary George Jackson in the San Quentin prison yard. Two weeks later, after 30 inmates were killed in a revolt at New York’s Attica penitentiary, Weatherman bombed the office of the state commissioner of corrections in Albany.
The Pentagon bombing on May 19, 1972, the birthday of Ho Chi Minh, leader of the Vietnamese nationalist movement, marked the end of Weatherman’s major actions for almost a year and a half. After the signing of the peace treaty between the United States and Vietnam in January 1973, the group grappled with its postwar identity, and soon it was virtually alone in the struggle for armed resistance, joined only by the Black Liberation Army, an offshoot of the New York Black Panthers, the George Jackson Brigade, and the Symbionese Liberation Army. By the spring of 1974, the FBI believed that Weatherman, which by then had changed its name to Weather Underground, was one of the last radical groups of the antiwar movement that still endorsed all forms of violence.
The Weather Underground continued to bomb targets for political reasons, but its efforts, though pointed, were sporadic. In 1974 the group issued “Prairie Fire: The Politics of Revolutionary Anti-Imperialism,” the first statement of Weather Underground’s politics since 1969. Soon, Prairie Fire Organizing Committees sprang up throughout the country as the aboveground arm of the Weather Underground. Dissension struck in 1976, and the West Coast faction split off to form the Weather Underground Organization (WUO), which was infiltrated by the FBI in 1977.
Starting in 1978, members began to resurface, and they either turned themselves in to authorities or were tracked down by authorities. In 1994 one of the last Weatherman members indicted for the “Days of Rage” actions was tried in court, ending nearly 25 years of pursuit by government agencies and two decades of life underground.”
Laura Lambert (EB).
I have quoted this article in full in order to illustrate (if but partially) the anti-authoritarian and neo-Marxist groups and tactics that would inspire the burgeoning ARA (Anti-Racist Action) movement, formed in the 1990’s (from members of America’s revolutionary clique) that is considered the first globule of (modern-day) Antifa. Also involved in the formation of Antifa at that time were members of the JBAKC (John Brown Anti-Klan Committee) and a variety of ARA cell members who would combine to form one of the largest Antifa networks in the US, Torch Antifa.
The modern 2020 Antifa movement that we see on the streets of New York or Los Angeles (for example) isn’t dependent upon Bob, or Sharon, or Wendy or Frank… because Bob, Sharon, Wendy and Frank could be arrested and then… poof… time to push the sisyphean rock back up the hill. Oh no… the modern Antifa movement is organised around so-called ‘affinity-groups’ – groups of (surprise surprise) like-minded people sharing a common objective. Affinity groups can come together in multi-globule swarming tactics, often called a ‘cluster.’
Specifically, affinity groups cluster towards a telegraphed event (a rally for a ‘right-wing’ or ‘Trump-supporting/Blue Lives Matter group, for example) or a place (Portland, Kenosha, Milwaukee… wherever there’s a ‘flashpoint’ which in itself could be a legitimate outrage against a perceived injustice, for example).
Sometimes affinity groups combine on the ground and then swarm off somewhere… into the night-time suburbs armed with drums, a powerful PA-system and high-power torches, for example. Wakey wakey, fascists. Or no justice, no peace, racists. Mix and match.
For a fuller and more enlightening insight into modern Antifa structures and tactics here’s a link that helps any budding agitator/thug/neo-marxist ‘protestor’ get to grips with ‘affinity-groups’ in a helpful, friendly font, replete with photos and calming how-to’s.
As an aside, that particular website has very helpful info about the most de-rigueur gear for the budding anarcho-antifa-activist. Have a browse. While you’re there, buy a poster. The ‘gender-subversion kit’ is cute (as is the ‘Deluxe Gender Poster’) and the Black Bloc tactics PDF informative… but this imagery is…. just… weird…
… as is the accompanying text…
Given the wide-variety of ‘things fascist’ that those ‘anti-‘ types point themselves at, it is worth asking in regard to 2020 US-flavoured Antifa… who are they? I mean, really really.
Clearly, they are not specifically-interested in actual ‘anti-fascism’ in the sense of being ‘anti’ to anything recognisably ‘fascist.’
Why? Because there are no ‘fascist’ groups in the US of anything even mildly close to ‘brownshirt’ SA thuggery proportions in terms of agitationary (a new word… don’t mention it) activity.
The US is not a fascist state. Trump is not a fascist (most accurately, he’s an ex-Democrat-supporting psychopathic narcissist). Police in the US are not de facto fascist organisations riddled with fascists. Lamp-posts are not fascist. Libraries are not fascist. White people are not fascist. Furniture stores are not fascist. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler isn’t a fascist (despite his evident love of macassar oil), nor is his apartment complex or the other people that live there. Dumpsters (skips) are not fascist. Fox News’ Tucker Carlson isn’t a fascist, nor are his family or pets. Non-porous borders are not fascist, even hypothetically or as a balsa-wood model. Jesus H. Christ. And no, neither is he.
Neo-nazis and ‘far-right’ KKK white supremacists are a vanishing small and insignificant ex-pustule on the backside of the US body politic that do virtually sod all of any consequence and most-certainly nothing of any influence.
Rather… the ‘Antifa’ we have seen so far in 2020 are content to point at a thing, declare it ‘fascist,’ and then come over all ‘anti’ it. The thing they point at could be a statue, or a road-sign, or a courthouse, or a President, or a ‘racist,’ or a Police car… or what they assert (in simplistic, binary terms) such things represent. Vanishingly-few – IF ANY – of the things pointed at are truly fascist but hey, grandma bought Bill a riot-helmet and baseball bat… and…
… all blackened and ready to trash anything and everything his peers declare to be fascist. Go get ’em, Bill.
Are 2020 Antifa anti-fascist? No. The vast bulk of them don’t even know what ‘fascism’ is. If only they could catch themselves in a mirror while donning their nightly ‘protest’ gear with some tiny sense of self-awareness.
But… they do know how to be ‘anti’ and are – by any rational definition – the closest modern movement to Nazi-style street-thuggery fascism we currently have.
They beat people up. They assault people. You could be black, white, gay, lesbian, adult or child, man, woman or raccoon… they’ll still give you a thumping… and have. Their thuggeryness causes serious injury and death. They burn and smash property of any and all kinds, torch businesses (doesn’t matter who the owner is or who they employ)… anything that they fixate upon or develop a whimsy for. They throw molotov cocktails, bottles full of urine and baggies full of human faeces at any opponent, Police or civilian. They set fires in buildings with human and/or pet animal inhabitants. They throw industrial grade explosives at Police men or women of all races, creeds and sexual orientation. They brick innocent passers-by. They shine blinding lasers into the eyes of policemen and women, on the ground and those piloting helicopters. They get right in your face and scream hysterically… but turn around and walk away and they’ll beat you senseless and leave you unconscious, or dead.
Here they are again. Take a look at the imagery of the flag on the left of the photograph if you have any doubt as to the unashamed street-fightery thuggeryness of Antifa.
And remember… you do not have to be a fascist to be beaten up by 2020 Antifa. Whatsoever. That’s been true since the 1930’s so hey… housepoint for consistency.
They are authoritarian with a dash of Marxism. They are in favour of controlling capitalism at the state-level. They are suppressive, of all opposition, dissent and criticism. They are collectivist… individuality and liberty are to be sacrificed for the greater good, with the greater good to be determined by themselves, natch. They are racist towards whatever skin-colour you happen to be if you oppose them… and as antisemitic as most left-leaning conglomerations are. They’ll yell homophobic, transphobic, sexist insults at any gay, trans or female opponent, to suit. They don’t give a shit. They want everything to burn. Granted they have no pride for the countries they inhabit but hey… five characteristics out of six… surely fascist, right?
They are all about violence, intimidation and provocation… succumb to their provocation and intimidation – in any way – and KAFKA TRAP, you’re now a fascist just like they screamed you were!
One thing is certain… much like the ‘anti-racist’ movement and ideology… anti-fascists offer absolutely, positively no solution. Why? Because apart from being as stupid as I was when I was thirteen… they can’t even correctly identify the problem.
“If one does not know his mistakes, he will not want to correct them.”
Seneca.
“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”
Marcus Aurelius
Medusian. September 2020.