Anti-fascism

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Anti-fascism is the opposition to fascist ideologies, organizations, governments and people. Another term for anti-fascism (or anti-fascists) is antifa. Most major resistance movements during World War II were anti-fascist. There are two broad positions within the anti-fascism movement: militant anti-fascism and liberal anti-fascism.

Militant anti-fascism is a form of anti-fascism that advocates the use of violence against fascists. Militant anti-fascists are usually supporters of class struggle, and view fascism as an anti-working class political system. This often translates into support for some form of socialism, communism or anarchism. Historian Dave Renton argues that "for anti-fascists, violence is not part of their world view", and calls militants "professional anti-fascists."^[1]

Liberal anti-fascism is distinguished by its use of nonviolent, legal and democratic methods in fighting fascism. Liberal anti-fascists work within the legal and constitutional framework of liberal democracy, and their methods typically include: raising awareness of racial prejudice as a moral wrong, calling upon the state to censor fascist expression and other forms of hate speech, and calling upon the police to take action against fascists. Liberal anti-fascists see fascism as a threat to democracy, and tend to appeal to the general public instead of specific communities based on race or class. During the 1920s and 1930s, many liberal intellectuals opposed the rise of fascism in Europe. In Italy, Benedetto Croce organised a Manifesto of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals.^[2] Other key liberal anti-fascists in this period included Piero Gobetti in Italy and Sir Ernest Barker in England.^[3][4]. More recently, the Euston Manifesto claims to stand in this tradition.^[5]

Contents 1 The term antifa 2 France 3 Germany 4 Italy 5 Spain 6 United Kingdom 6.1 1970s-1990s 6.2 2000s 7 Notes 8 See also 9 Further reading 10 External links

[edit] The term antifa

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The term antifa derives from Antifaschismus, which is German for anti-fascism. It refers to individuals and groups that are dedicated to fighting fascism, and some anti-fascist groups include the word antifa in their name. During the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, the Soviet Union sponsored various anti-fascist groups, usually using the name antifa. Prisoners of war captured by the Soviets during the Eastern Front campaign of World War II were encouraged to undertake antifa training. In contemporary times, the term antifa is used almost exclusively by left-wing groups.

[edit] France

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In the 1920s and 1930s, anti-fascists confronted aggressive far right groups such as the Action Française movement in France, which dominated the Latin Quarter students' neighborhood.

In France, quite a few people who joined the Resistance against the Vichy regime came from far right nationalist and royalist backgrounds. However, they abandoned the Vichy regime and started fighting against the Germans when they saw that Philippe Pétain was entirely subservient to the Nazis and had no intent to stop collaboration.

[edit] Germany

Communist Party and Social Democratic Party (SPD) members at different times in the 1920s and 1930s advocated both the use of violence and mass agitation amongst the working class in an effort to stop Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party. Anti-fascists had physical conflicts with the Freikorps.^{[citation needed]} Leon Trotsky was one advocate of militant anti-fascism’s use of violence in Germany. He wrote: "fighting squads must be created... nothing increases the insolence of the fascists so much as 'flabby pacifism' on the part of the workers' organisations... [It is] political cowardice [to deny that] without organised combat detachments, the most heroic masses will be smashed bit by bit by fascist gangs."^[6]

In post-World War II Germany, many anti-fascist groups were formed as a reaction to the rise of far right extremism after German reunification and its deadly violence, such as the Solingen attack.^[7] According to the German intelligence agency Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, some contemporary anti-fascist groups in the autonomist movement are willing to use violence against right-wing extremists.^[8]

[edit] Italy

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In Italy in the 1920s, anti-fascists fought against the violent Squadristi. The rise of fascist leader Benito Mussolini was resisted violently by a small fraction of the workers' movement. After the signature by the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) of a pacification pact with the National Fascist Party on August 3, 1921, and the trade unions' adoption of a legalist and pacified strategy, other members of the workers' movement who disagreed with this strategy formed the Arditi del popolo in 1921. The General Confederation of Labour (CGT) and the PSI refused to officially recognize the anti-fascist militia, while the Italian Communist Party (PCI) ordered its members to quit the organization. The PCI organized some militant groups, but their actions were relatively minor and the party maintained a non-violent, legalist strategy. The Italian anarchist Severino Di Giovanni, who exiled himself to Argentina following the 1922 March on Rome, organized several bombings against the Italian fascist community.

During World War II, many members of the Italian resistance left their houses and went to live in the mountainside, fighting against both Italian fascists and German Nazi soldiers. Many cities in northern Italy, including Turin and Milan, were freed by anti-fascist uprisings.

[edit] Spain

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Large-scale anti-fascist movements were first seen during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s. Amongst others, the International Brigade and the Spanish anarchist militias formed a broad popular anti-fascist movement. The Republican army, the International Brigades, the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification (POUM) and anarchist militias such as the Iron Column fought the rise of Francisco Franco with military force. The Friends of Durruti were a particularly militant group, associated with the Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI). Thousands of people from many countries went to Spain in support of the anti-fascist cause, joining International Brigade units such as the Lincoln Battalion, the British Battalion, the Dabrowski Battalion, the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion and the Naftali Botwin Company. Notable anti-fascists who worked internationally against Franco included: George Orwell (who fought in the POUM militia and wrote Homage to Catalonia about this experience), Ernest Hemingway (a supporter of the International Brigades who wrote For Whom the Bell Tolls about this experience), and radical journalist Martha Gellhorn.

Spanish anarchist guerrilla Francisco Sabaté Llopart fought against Franco’s regime until the 1960s, from a base in France. The Spanish Maquis also fought the Franco regime from a base in from France, long after the Spanish Civil war had ended.

[edit] United Kingdom

The rise of Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists (BUF) was challenged by the Communist Party of Great Britain, socialists in the Labour Party and Independent Labour Party, Irish Catholic dockmen and working class Jews in London's east end. A high point in the struggle was the Battle of Cable Street, when thousands of eastenders and others turned out to stop the BUF from marching. Initially, the national Communist Party leadership wanted a mass demonstration at Hyde Park in solidarity with Republican Spain instead of a mobilisation against the BUF, but local party activists argued against this. Activists rallied support with the slogan They shall not pass, adopted from Republican Spain. After World War II, Jewish war veterans continued the tradition of militant confrontations with the BUF in the 43 Group. In the 1960s, the 62 Group continued the struggle against neo-Nazis.

[edit] 1970s-1990s

In the 1970s, fascist and far right parties such as the National Front (NF) and British Movement were making significant gains electorally and were increasingly bold in their public appearances. This was challenged in 1977 with the Battle of Lewisham, when thousands of black and white people physically stopped an NF march in South London.^[9] Shortly after this, the Anti-Nazi League (ANL) was launched by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). The ANL had a large-scale propaganda campaign as well as anti-fascist squads that attacked NF meetings and paper sales. The success of the ANL's campaigns contributed to the end to the NF's period of growth. Communist Party of Great Britain leader Phil Piratin denounced squadism and instead called for large actions.

Tony Cliff of the SWP, who described that period as one of downturn in class struggle, disbanded the ANL. However, many squad members refused to stop their activities. They were expelled from the party in 1981, many going on to found Red Action. The SWP used the term squadism to dismiss these militant anti-fascists as thugs. In 1985, some members of Red Action and the anarcho-syndicalist Direct Action Movement launched Anti-Fascist Action (AFA). Thousands of people took part in militant AFA mobilisations such as the Remembrance Day demonstrations in 1986 and 1987, the Unity Carnival, the Battle of Cable Street's 55th anniversary march in 1991, and the Battle of Waterloo against the British National Party in 1992.

After 1995, some anti-fascist mobilisations still occurred, such as against the National Front in Dover in 1997 and 1998. In 1997, an AFA statement officially banned members from associating with Searchlight magazine, and in 1998, Leeds and Huddersfield AFA were expelled by AFA officials for ignoring this policy. By 2001, AFA barely existed as a national organisation.

[edit] 2000s

In 2001, some former AFA members founded the militant anti-fascist group No Platform, but this group soon disbanded. In 2004, members of the Anarchist Federation, Class War, and No Platform founded the organisation Antifa. This predominantly anarchist group has imitated AFA's stance of physical and ideological confrontation with fascists, and has a policy of non-cooperation with Searchlight magazine and state-linked agencies. On September 23, 2004, Antifa was involved in a confrontation with David King, a former British National Party treasurer, and his security entourage in Basildon, Essex.^[10] On January 15, 2005, Antifa was involved in a confrontation with National Front white power skinheads in Woolwich.^[11] On March 27, 2005, 30 anti-fascists from a Yorkshire-based Antifa group attacked a British National Party meeting in Halifax. The anti-fascists threw half-bricks and rocks at the BNP security, and BNP members' cars were smashed.^[12]

Antifa Scotland appeared around September 2006.^[13] On March 13, 2008, Yorkshire anti-fascists attacked several Leeds venues that had been recently used for BNP meetings.^[14] On April 19, 2008, London anti-fascists attacked a British Peoples Party meeting in Victoria, London.^[15] In August 2008, Antifa England mobilised, but failed to shut down the BNP’s annual Red, White & Blue festival.^[16] On October 5, 2008, six anti-fascists were arrested in a street fight against BNP activists in Bethnal Green, East London.^[17]

[edit] Notes

[edit] See also

• Anti-racism
• German Resistance
• List of anti-fascists
• Resistance during World War II
• Redskin (subculture)
• Slovak National Uprising
• Squadism

[edit] Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Antifascist resistance

• Key, Anna (ed.), ed.. Beating Fascism: Anarchist Anti-Fascism in Theory and Practice. ISBN 1-873605-88-9. 
• Enzo Traverso "Intellectuals and Anti-Fascism: For a Critical Historization" New Politics, vol. 9, no. 4 (new series), whole no. 36, Winter 2004
• Bullstreet, K.. Bash the Fash: Anti-Fascist Recollections 1984-1993. ISBN 1-873605-87-0. 

[edit] External links

• Remembering the Anarchist Resistance to fascism
• Interview from Beating Fascism: Anarchist Anti-Fascism in Theory and Practice
• ‘Fascism or Revolution !’ Anarchism and Antifascism in France, 1933-39
• Liberal anti-fascism page at Red Action
• Gilles Dauve/Jean Barrot on liberal anti-fascism
• British Antifa
• AntifaNet
• Antifa Scotland
• German Federal Agency for the Protection of the Constitution