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43-610: The club calls itself an " anti-fascist , anti-racist , pro-worker community defense organization". The Guardian has called it an "anti-fascist armed leftist group " that "provide[s] security against rightwing aggression ". Willem van Spronsen, a former member of the club, attacked the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Tacoma with incendiary devices in July 2019 while armed with an AR-15 rifle. He

86-678: A legalist and pacified strategy, members of the workers' movement who disagreed with this strategy formed Arditi del Popolo . The Italian General Confederation of Labour (CGL) and the PSI refused to officially recognize the anti-fascist militia and maintained a non-violent, legalist strategy, while the Communist Party of Italy (PCd'I) ordered its members to quit the organization. The PCd'I organized some militant groups, but their actions were relatively minor. The Italian anarchist Severino Di Giovanni , who exiled himself to Argentina following

129-510: A specific political movement, but primarily as the final stage of capitalism and the KPD's anti-fascism was therefore synonymous with anti-capitalism . Throughout this period, the KPD regarded the centre-left SPD as its main adversary. Thälmann "took his instructions from Stalin and his hatred of the SPD was essentially ideological". In his sympathetic history of Antifaschistische Aktion , published by

172-598: A united front against Nazis was not needed and that a Nazi dictatorship would ultimately crumble due to flawed economic policies and lead the KPD to power in Germany when the people realised that their economic policies were superior. The relationship between the KPD and the SPD was characterised by mutual hostility. The SPD had itself adopted the position that both the Nazis and the KPD posed an equal danger to liberal democracy and SPD leader Kurt Schumacher famously described

215-567: A variety of different movements, groups and individuals in Germany as well as other countries which widely adopted variants of its aesthetics and some of its tactics. Known as the wider antifa movement, the contemporary antifa groups have no direct organisational connection to Antifaschistische Aktion . The contemporary antifa movement has its roots in the West German Außerparlamentarische Opposition left-wing student movement and largely adopted

258-662: Is a political movement in Germany composed of multiple far-left , autonomous , militant groups and individuals who describe themselves as anti-fascist . According to the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Agency for Civic Education , the use of the epithet fascist against opponents and the view of capitalism as a form of fascism are central to

301-558: Is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II , where the Axis powers were opposed by many countries forming the Allies of World War II and dozens of resistance movements worldwide. Anti-fascism has been an element of movements across

344-475: The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Federal Agency for Civic Education describe the contemporary antifa movement as part of the extreme left and as partially violent. Antifa groups are monitored by the federal office in the context of its legal mandate to combat extremism . The federal office states that the underlying goal of the antifa movement is "the struggle against

387-773: The Italian Anarchist Union emerged between 1919 and 1921, to combat the nationalist and fascist surge of the post-World War I period. In the words of historian Eric Hobsbawm , as fascism developed and spread, a "nationalism of the left" developed in those nations threatened by Italian irredentism (e.g. in the Balkans , and Albania in particular). After the outbreak of World War II, the Albanian and Yugoslav resistances were instrumental in antifascist action and underground resistance. This combination of irreconcilable nationalisms and leftist partisans constitute

430-563: The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , the Communists pursued a Popular Front approach, of building broad-based coalitions with liberal and even conservative anti-fascists. As fascism consolidated its power, and especially during World War II , anti-fascism largely took the form of partisan or resistance movements. In Italy, Mussolini's Fascist regime used the term anti-fascist to describe its opponents. Mussolini's secret police

473-602: The Soviet Union , where the epithets fascist and fascism were primarily and widely used to describe capitalist society in general and virtually any anti-Soviet or anti-Stalinist activity or opinion. This usage was also adopted by communist parties affiliated with the Comintern such as the KPD. During the Comintern's Third Period (1928–1931), the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)

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516-489: The Versailles Treaty was responsible for the rise of Nazism and instead viewed fascist dynamism as the cause of conflict. Unlike fascism, these two types of anti-fascism did not promise a quick victory but an extended struggle against a powerful enemy. During World War II, both anti-fascisms responded to fascist aggression by creating a cult of heroism which relegated victims to a secondary position. However, after

559-560: The Weimar Republic . While also opposed to the Nazis, the KPD regarded the Nazi Party as a less sophisticated and thus less dangerous fascist party than the SPD. In December 1931, KPD leader Ernst Thälmann declared that "some Nazi trees must not be allowed to overshadow a forest" of the SPD. In 1931, the KPD under the leadership of Ernst Thälmann internally used the slogan " After Hitler, our turn! ", strongly believing that

602-438: The liberal democratic basic order " and capitalism. In the 1980s, the movement was accused by German authorities of engaging in terrorist acts of violence. Antifaschistische Aktion was established by the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) based on the principle of a communist front and its establishment was announced in the party's newspaper Die Rote Fahne ( The Red Flag ) in 1932. It functioned as an integral part of

645-585: The 1910s. Organization against fascism began around 1920. Fascism became the state ideology of Italy in 1922 and of Germany in 1933, spurring a large increase in anti-fascist action, including German resistance to Nazism and the Italian resistance movement . Anti-fascism was a major aspect of the Spanish Civil War , which foreshadowed World War II. Before World War II, the West had not taken seriously

688-1286: The 1922 March on Rome , organized several bombings against the Italian fascist community. The Italian liberal anti-fascist Benedetto Croce wrote his Manifesto of the Anti-Fascist Intellectuals , which was published in 1925. Other notable Italian liberal anti-fascists around that time were Piero Gobetti and Carlo Rosselli . Antifa in Germany Central Europe Germany Italy Spain ( Spanish Civil War ) Albania Austria Baltic states Belgium Bulgaria Burma Czechia Denmark France Germany Greece Italy Japan Jewish Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Poland Romania Slovakia Spain Soviet Union Yugoslavia Germany Italy Netherlands Portugal Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom United States Antifa ( German pronunciation: [ˈantifa] )

731-526: The Association for the Promotion of Antifascist Culture, Bernd Langer notes that "antifascism was always a fundamentally anti-capitalist strategy" and that "communists always took antifascism to mean anti-capitalism. Therefore all other parties were fascist in the opinion of the KPD, and especially the SPD". A 1931 KPD resolution described the SPD, referred to as "social fascists", as the "main pillar of

774-745: The KPD as "red-painted Nazis" in 1930. The SPD-dominated Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold described itself as a "protection organization of the Republic and democracy in the fight against the swastika and the Soviet star" and both the Reichsbanner and the Iron Front opposed both the Nazis and the "anti-fascist" KPD. In 1929, the KPD's paramilitary organisation, Roter Frontkämpferbund (Alliance of Red Front-Fighters), an effective predecessor of Antifaschistische Aktion , had been banned as extremist by

817-515: The KPD during its entire existence from 1932 to 1933. A member of the Comintern , the KPD under the leadership of Ernst Thälmann was loyal to the Soviet government headed by Joseph Stalin to the extent that the party had been directly controlled and funded by the Soviet leadership in Moscow since 1928. The KPD described Antifaschistische Aktion as a "red united front under the leadership of

860-485: The Nazi régime . Communists tended to make up at least half of the committees. In the western zones, these anti-fascist committees began to recede by the late summer of 1945, marginalized by Allied bans on political organization and by re-emerging divisions between communists and others and the emerging state doctrine of anti-communism in what became West Germany . In East Germany , the antifa groups were absorbed into

903-490: The SPD. It featured a large Antifaschistische Aktion logo flanked by imagery that showed the KPD fighting the capitalists next to imagery openly mocking the SPD. After the forced dissolution in the wake of the Machtergreifung in 1933, the movement went underground. Theodore Draper argued that "the so-called theory of social fascism and the practice based on it constituted one of the chief factors contributing to

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946-770: The aesthetics of the first movement while being ideologically somewhat dissimilar. The first antifa groups in this tradition were founded by the Maoist Communist League in the early 1970s. From the late 1980s, West Germany's squatter scene and left-wing autonomism movement were the main contributors to the new antifa movement and in contrast to the earlier movement had a more anarcho-communist leaning. The contemporary movement has splintered into different groups and factions, including one anti-imperialist and anti-Zionist faction and one anti-German faction who strongly oppose each other, mainly over their views on Israel . German government institutions such as

989-443: The dictatorship of Capital". Consequently, anti-fascism and anti-fascist action in the language of the KPD also included the struggle against the social democrats. In the early 1930s, the KPD had stated that "fighting fascism means fighting the SPD just as much as it means fighting Hitler and the parties of Brüning ". While some KPD members initially believed Antifaschistische Aktion should include other leftists, this opinion

1032-580: The earliest roots of European anti-fascism. Less militant forms of anti-fascism arose later. During the 1930s in Britain, "Christians – especially the Church of England – provided both a language of opposition to fascism and inspired anti-fascist action". French philosopher Georges Bataille believed that Friedrich Nietzsche was a forerunner of anti-fascism due to his derision for nationalism and racism. Michael Seidman argues that traditionally anti-fascism

1075-490: The early period, Communist, socialist, anarchist and Christian workers and intellectuals were involved. Until 1928, the period of the United front , there was significant collaboration between the Communists and non-Communist anti-fascists. In 1928, the Comintern instituted its ultra-left Third Period policies, ending co-operation with other left groups, and denouncing social democrats as " social fascists ". From 1934 until

1118-406: The fascists gained ground and calls for a united front by Leon Trotsky , August Thalheimer and other left leaders became more urgent. It was in this context that the KPD began to emphasise the specific threat of Nazism, leading to the formation of Antifaschistische Aktion and later the turn away from the "social fascism" doctrine. The 1932 congress organised by KPD dedicated energy to attacking

1161-417: The governing SPD. In December 1929, the KPD founded Antifaschistische Junge Garde as a successor to Roter Frontkämpferbund , which was banned. Despite this animosity between party leaderships, on the ground there was considerable co-operation against the Nazis between rank and file activists of the KPD, SPD and other left groups such as in local anti-fascist committees and militias, particularly in 1932 as

1204-672: The heritage of the governing SED along with the KPD itself. Eckhard Jesse notes that anti-fascism was ubiquitous in the language of the SED and used to justify repression such as the crackdown on the East German uprising of 1953 . Anti-fascism generally meant the struggle against the Western world and NATO in general and against the western-backed West Germany and its main ally the United States in particular which were seen as

1247-469: The ideological spectrum. The defeat of the Axis powers generally ended fascism as a state ideology. After World War II, the anti-fascist movement continued to be active in places where organized fascism continued or re-emerged. There was a resurgence of antifa in Germany in the 1980s, as a response to the invasion of the punk scene by neo-Nazis . This influenced the antifa movement in the United States in

1290-558: The late 1980s and 1990s, which was similarly carried by punks. In the 21st century, this greatly increased in prominence as a response to the resurgence of the radical right , especially after the election of Donald Trump . With the development and spread of Italian Fascism , i.e. the original fascism, the National Fascist Party 's ideology was met with increasingly militant opposition by Italian communists and socialists. Organizations such as Arditi del Popolo and

1333-451: The movement. The antifa movement has existed in different eras and incarnations, dating back to Antifaschistische Aktion , from which the moniker antifa came. It was set up by the then- Stalinist Communist Party of Germany (KPD) during the late history of the Weimar Republic . After the forced dissolution in the wake of Machtergreifung in 1933, the movement went underground. In the postwar era, Antifaschistische Aktion inspired

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1376-615: The new Stalinist state. In the Soviet occupation zone which later became East Germany, the Soviet occupation authorities pressured the KPD and the remaining Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) to merge into the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) while those within the SPD who resisted the Stalinization were persecuted and often fled to the western zones. The repression in the Soviet occupation zone and

1419-549: The only anti-fascist party, the KPD". The KPD had proclaimed that it was "the only anti-fascist party" during the elections of 1930. Unlike the situation in Italy, no party regarded itself as "fascist" in Weimar-era Germany. Central to Antifaschistische Aktion was the use of the epithet fascist . According to Norman Davies , the concept of " anti-fascism " as used by the KPD originated as an ideological construct of

1462-482: The onset of the Cold War quickly exacerbated the conflict between the SED and the SPD. The term anti-fascism was widely used by Marxist–Leninists to smear their opponents, including democratic socialists , social democrats and other anti-Stalinist leftists . Anti-fascism was part of the official ideology and language of the communist state and Antifaschistische Aktion was considered an important part of

1505-530: The political spectrum and holding many different political positions such as anarchism , communism , pacifism , republicanism , social democracy , socialism and syndicalism as well as centrist , conservative , liberal and nationalist viewpoints. Fascism, a far-right ultra-nationalistic ideology best known for its use by the Italian Fascists and the Nazis , became prominent beginning in

1548-540: The threat of fascism, and anti-fascism was sometimes associated with communism. However, the outbreak of World War II greatly changed Western perceptions, and fascism was seen as an existential threat by not only the communist Soviet Union but also by the liberal-democratic United States and United Kingdom. The Axis Powers of World War II were generally fascist, and the fight against them was characterized in anti-fascist terms. Resistance during World War II to fascism occurred in every occupied country, and came from across

1591-500: The victory of German fascism in January 1933". After the defeat of Nazi Germany , groups called Antifaschistische Aktion , Antifaschistische Ausschüsse , or Antifaschistische Kommittees , all typically abbreviated to antifa , spontaneously re-emerged in Germany in 1944, mainly involving veterans of pre-war KPD , KPO and SPD politics as well as some members of other democratic political parties and Christians who opposed

1634-673: The war, conflict arose between the revolutionary and counterrevolutionary anti-fascisms; the victory of the Western Allies allowed them to restore the old regimes of liberal democracy in Western Europe, while Soviet victory in Eastern Europe allowed for the establishment of new revolutionary anti-fascist regimes there. Anti-fascist movements emerged first in Italy during the rise of Benito Mussolini , but they soon spread to other European countries and then globally. In

1677-443: Was included by the KPD in the category of "fascists" based on the theory of " social fascism " proclaimed by Stalin and supported by the Comintern in the early 1930s, according to which social democracy was a variant of fascism and even more dangerous and insidious than open fascism. The KPD doctrine held that the communist party was "the only anti-fascist party" while all other parties were "fascist". The KPD did not view fascism as

1720-1020: Was killed by Tacoma Police Department officers in the attack. The club has counter-protested Patriot Prayer marches in Seattle. This article related to the politics of the United States is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Anti-fascism This is an accepted version of this page Central Europe Germany Italy Spain ( Spanish Civil War ) Albania Austria Baltic states Belgium Bulgaria Burma Czechia Denmark France Germany Greece Italy Japan Jewish Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Poland Romania Slovakia Spain Soviet Union Yugoslavia Germany Italy Netherlands Portugal Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom United States Anti-fascism

1763-635: Was officially known as the Organization for Vigilance and Repression of Anti-Fascism . During the 1920s in the Kingdom of Italy , anti-fascists, many of them from the labor movement , fought against the violent Blackshirts and against the rise of the fascist leader Benito Mussolini. After the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) signed a pacification pact with Mussolini and his Fasces of Combat on 3 August 1921, and trade unions adopted

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1806-418: Was quickly suppressed by the KPD leadership which made it clear that Antifaschistische Aktion would also oppose the SPD and that "Anti-Fascist Action means untiring daily exposure of the shameless, treacherous role of the SPD and ADGB leaders who are the direct filthy helpers of fascism". Occasionally, the KPD cooperated with the Nazis in attacking the SPD and both sought to destroy the liberal democracy of

1849-426: Was seen as the purview of the political left but that in recent years this has been questioned. Seidman identifies two types of anti-fascism, namely revolutionary and counterrevolutionary: Seidman argues that despite the differences between these two strands of anti-fascism, there were similarities. They would both come to regard violent expansion as intrinsic to the fascist project. They both rejected any claim that

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