Dave Renton
Anarchism
Anti-Globalization
Anti-Globalization and Anarchism
Anti-Racism
Anti-Racist Feminism
Black Anarchism
Cross-Issue Solidarity
Groundless Solidarity
Infinite Responsibility
Anarchist People of Color (APOC)
Anarchist Panthers
Anti-Fascist Action (AFA)
Anti-Racist Action (ARA)
Autonomen
No One Is Illegal
Northeast Antifascists
Antifascistisk Aktion (AFA)
Rote Frontkämpfer Bund
The 43 Group
The 62 Committee
Direct Action
Property Destruction
The Block Tactic
Immigrant/Refugee Solidarity
Antifa derives from the German word “antifaschismus,” meaning “anti-fascism.”
The term encompasses a broad tradition of resistance employed against perceived
fascist interests. It has become a catchword for any group or movement that
aims to defeat fascism.
Antifascism has a long and complex history. We can broadly divide it into two
tendencies. The first belongs to state-based forms of resistance exemplified
by Soviet backed antifa movements in various European countries from the 1920’s
to the 1940’s. Today this tendency is at work in most western states under
the rubric of “anti-hate” legislation, which aims to contain the
tide of fascist inspired activities. Another tendency can be observed in the
history of the Spanish Civil War (1936-38), which is also a good example of
resistance to fascism, but this time without recourse to state-directed action.
It is the latter case and tradition that interests us here, as it enables us
to speak of popular, extra-parliamentary actions that encompass everything from
the 1934 Hyde Park anti-fascist march in Britain to the 1960 Greensboro sit-ins
that challenged racial segregation in the US.
In line with the second tendency, contemporary antifascism refers primarily
to activist groups that seek to dismantle and drive-out “hate groups”
that espouse racist and nationalist ideology. Groups like anti-racist
action and anti-fascist action call for the exacerbation of divisions among
fascists by physically confronting them wherever they stage demonstrations,
marches, distribute literature, or hold meetings. Such antifascism embraces
the position of “no platform for fascists” [1], which amounts to
a zero-tolerance policy for the presence of groups such as the Aryan Nations,
the World Church of the Creator, Volksfront, the National Alliance, and Eastern
and Northern Hammerskins. This willingness to confront fascism also extends
to include confrontations with political parties such as the NPD in Germany,
the BNP in Britain, and the BCAP in Canada.
It is fair to characterize antifascist actions by various “toe-to-toe
in the streets” [2] modes of direct
action. These may involve property destruction
(e.g. the overturning of tables distributing racist literature, the damaging
of ‘fascist vehicles’) as well as bloc
tactic styled hit-and-run street battles with fascists. As Zeskind observes,
“Wherever the latter [fascists] plan to rally, the young militants [antifascists]
plan to confront them.” [3] The reduction of antifascism “to whether
one is personally willing to fight in the streets” [4] is, however, unwarranted.
Antifascist groups also perform investigative and diagnostic tasks. To completely
disrupt fascist groups, antifascists have found it worthwhile to study their
opponents. As investigators, they produce internet sites and publish journals
and pamphlets that detail the developments of racist, anti-Semitic, white supremacist,
and neo-nazi groups. These often involve information on movement leaders, histories
of various groups, commonly used symbols, as well as information on upcoming
fascist events. The diagnostic work of antifascist groups involves publishing
analyses of fascism, which asks questions such as ‘is fascism necessarily
racist’ and ‘are fascism and capitalism related?’ Recent work
tackles such issues as the fascist “third position,” [5] which seeks
to combine various leftist traditions such as anti-globalization
and earth centred practices with
toned down racist positions. Such analyses are in turn used to hold courses
on fascism and to develop further means of resistance.
For the most part, antifascism does not subscribe to a single ideological orientation.
<Anti-racist action> identifies
a broad antifascist constituency made up of “organized labour; the anti-war/social
justice folks; the anarchists; and the institutional anti-racists” [6].
However, while groups such as Unite Against Fascism and the Spotlight work closely
with liberal institutions, many affinity related antifascist groups often claim
<anarchism> as a tradition. Such
groups work against fascists as part of a broader <cross-issue solidarity>
orientation that seeks to expand the scope of anti-fascism by linking it to
pro-feminist, <anti-globalization
and anti-war>, anti-poverty, and gay positive traditions.
http://www.antifa.org.uk/
http://www.antifa.net/
http://www.spunk.org/cat-us/antifasc.html
http://www.betterworldlinks.org/antifa.htm
http://www.bethuneinstitute.org/
http://members.lycos.co.uk/mere_pseud_mag_ed/History/Renton1.htm
http://www.redaction.org/anti-fascism/contents.html
http://northeast.antifa.net/publications.html
Critique of antifascism available at: http://conservativedemocrats.20m.com/photo3.html
Guérin, D. (1939). Fascism and Big Business. New York: Pioneer Publishers.
Hasselbach, I. (1996). Fuhrer-Ex. London: Chatto & Windus
Martin, J. (2002). “Italian Liberal Socialism: Anti-Fascism and the Third
Way.” Journal of Political Ideologies, 7(3). 333-350.
Orwell, G. (1952). Homage to Catalonia. New York: Harcourt.
Renton, D. (2001). This Rough Game: Fascism and Anti-Fascism. Stroud: Sutton.
Renton, D. (2000). Fascism, Anti-Fascism and Britain in the 1940s. New York:
St. Martin's Press
For a marxist critique of antifascism consult:
Barrot, J. (1982). Fascism/ Antifascism. Available at: http://www.geocities.com/~johngray/fasant.htm
Notes:
1. For a more in depth discussion of ‘No Platform for Fascists,’
consult: http://www.s-light.demon.co.uk/presspack/mediaPackFrame1.htm
2. Zeskind, Leonard. (1998). “Fa & Antifa in the Fatherland.”
Nation, 267 (10). Retrieved from EBSCO.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. See, Gibson, R. (2001). “The Third Position.” ARA Research Bulletin:
Anti-Fascist Research, Analysis and Debate, 1, 6-7.
6. O’Bannion, P. (2002). “Neo-Nazis Return to Portland.” ARA
Research Bulletin: Anti-Fascist Research, Analysis and Debate, 3, 14.