The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Henry A. Wallace, Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Vice President (1941–45) and Goodwill Ambassador to Latin America
In over 2,700 marches and rallies throughout the country, more than seven million Americans participated in the recent “No Kings” events, the largest protest event in U.S. history. Attempting to discredit the “No Kings” events, Trump’s sycophants and Republican Party leaders characterized them as being sponsored by Antifa. For once, the Republicans got it right.
Antifa had everything to do with “No Kings” activities …
Indeed, the “No Kings” events were spurred on by antifa. But contrary to the Republicans’ assertions, antifa is not an organization. Antifa stands for “anti-fascist,” a core belief, a principle that is driving a movement. As we’ll see, the U.S. has a long history of antifa. But first, let’s examine fascism and its main features.
Characteristics of fascism…
In a 2003 article (“Fascism Anyone?,” Free Inquiry, Spring 2003, p. 20) that focused on the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), and others, political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt found fascist regimes had 14 elements in common.
As you read these, juxtapose them with Trump’s actions (actual or attempted) and assertions. In fascist regimes:
Constant use is made of patriotic slogans, symbols, songs, and such.
1. Constant use is made of patriotic slogans, symbols, songs, and such.
2. The people are persuaded that human rights can be ignored and tend to look the other way with respect to violation of human rights.
3. A “patriotic” frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat such as racial, ethnic or religious minorities, and liberals, terrorists, etc. is created.
4. The military is glamorized and given priority over domestic issues.
5. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation.
6. The media is indirectly controlled by government regulation or sympathetic media spokespeople and press corps, and censorship.
7. The government uses fear (e.g., of immigrants) as a tool to motivate the masses to support the regime.
8. The regime tends to use religion as a tool to manipulate public opinion – even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government’s policies or actions.
9. The industrial and business aristocracy often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, which creates a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
10. Labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed, because the organizing power of labor is a real threat to a fascist government,
Open hostility to higher education and academia is promoted and tolerated. Professors and other academics are censored or even arrested.
11. Open hostility to higher education and academia is promoted and tolerated. Professors and other academics are censored or even arrested. Art institutions are openly attacked.
12, The police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws, and the people often overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of “patriotism.”
13. Groups of friends and associates appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability.
14. Elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascists also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
The DNA and fingerprints of Trump’s actions (actual, attempted, or aspirational) and rhetoric are all over the above litany of fascist characteristics.
Fascist movements in the U.S.
The Ku Klux Klan (KKK), founded in 1865, right after the Civil War and is characterized by scholars as America’s first terrorist group.
Trump’s MAGA movement is not novel in the context of fascist-oriented movements that were opposed by antifa elements in the United States.
U.S.-based fascism – rooted in white supremacy, nativism, and violent political extremism – dates back to the 19th century. The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was founded in 1865, right after the Civil War and is characterized by scholars as America’s first terrorist group. The KKK had many similarities with European fascism – chauvinism, racism, a penchant for violence, a deep yearning to go back to “the good old days,” etc. Examples of other U.S. fascist organizations:
* In November 1925, the Order Sons of Italy in America helped organize the first U.S. Fascist convention in Philadelphia.
* Also in 1925, the paramilitary Black Legion group, a violent white supremacist offshoot of the KKK that sought to establish fascism in the United States was founded.
* In May 1933, an American branch of the Nazi Party, known as the Friends of New Germany in the US., was founded.
* Also in 1933, the pro-German group The Silver Legion of America, which trafficked in fascist ideals, was founded.
* In 1934 the American Civil Liberties Union issued a pamphlet detailing the many fascist groups that were emerging at the time.
* In 1936, the Associated Press reported that the KKK offshoot Black Legion was suspected of having killed as many as 50 people. Nearly 50 Black Legion members were convicted of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, kidnapping, arson, and perjury.
* Founded in 1936, The virulently antisemitic German American Bund was the most prominent and well-organized fascist organization in the United States. The high point of the Bund’s activities was a 1939 New York rally attended by about 20,000 people. The speakers referred to President Roosevelt as “Frank D. Rosenfeld” and called his New Deal the “Jew Deal.”
There are other examples, but the above make the point: the MAGA quasi-fascist movement is but a modern manifestation of a long line of fascist-oriented groups in the U.S. Antifa forces fought off these fascist groups.
WW II Antifa…
During WW II, Americans fought and defeated Hitler’s and Mussolini’s fascist regimes.
The U.S. in its entirety was anti-fascist – i.e., Antifa – during WW II, when we fought and defeated Hitler’s and Mussolini’s fascist regimes. About 16.1 million Americans served in the military in World War II, representing 12% of the total U.S. population. Nearly 350,000 of these Antifa warriors were women who served in uniform. More than 1,600 nurses were decorated for bravery under fire, and 565 members of the Women’s Army Corps won combat decorations.
[As a relevant aside: Over 750,000 WW II antifa warriors were Mexican Americans. Mexican Americans/Latinos have earned more Congressional Medals of Honor (60) and other military wartime decorations in proportion to their numbers than any other ethnic group in the U.S.]
On the Home Front, women worked in defense plants, assuring that the Allies would have the ammunition and other war materials they needed. Historian Christine Marín describes how groups of Mexican American women raised money for the war effort by selling war bonds, collecting scrap metal to sell, and picking cotton in the fields outside of Tucson AZ, donating the proceeds to the WW II war effort.
Civil Rights Antifa…
As noted above, the KKK is designated as a fascist, terrorist organization. The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s was an antifa phenomenon. The movement spurred a surge of Ku Klux Klan activity, including murders by bombings of Black schools and churches, lynchings, and assassinations of Black and white activists in the South, including the assassinations of Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s was an antifa phenomenon.