The Fascist Shell Game

In the early 1920s in Italy, the Fascists and the Communists were rival socialist movements. During the same period in Germany, the Communists and the Nazis were also contenders for socialist revolutionary dominance. The difference between the Communists and the Fascists/Nazis was that the former advocated a world revolution — on behalf of the international proletariat and without regard for national boundaries — whereas the latter proposed to institute socialism for the sole benefit of the Italian and German people, respectively.

To the fascists and the Nazis, Communism was an enemy alien, imported from Soviet Russia and directed by Moscow. But from a doctrinal standpoint, national and international socialism were in broad agreement: it was necessary for a “revolutionary vanguard” to seize control of the government to effect a socialist revolution; there should be state ownership of the means of production to benefit the workers; citizens were obliged to work for the common good under the direction of the state; control of speech and the media was required to serve the aims of the revolution and protect the populace from counter-revolutionary propaganda.

In other words, Nazis, Fascists, and Communists were close competitors in a hard market.

So, eighty years later, it’s no surprise that the “anti-fascists” are functionally indistinguishable from Nazis and Fascists. Once again they represent a vaguely international form of socialism, and much of their doctrinal material and iconography is drawn from the Red Nostalgia archives of their predecessors. The “fascism” that they fight, however, is largely imaginary. The epithet is indiscriminately applied to any organized political resistance to the Marxist agenda advocated by the new bully-boys of the Left.

Concerning the fascistic tactics of the “anti-fascist” squads, consider this article from The Jerusalem Post. I missed the story when it first appeared, just after the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht. Thanks to Reinhard of FOMI for pointing it out:

German kids, activists destroy anti-Nazi exhibit

Roughly 1,000 pupils and left-wing activists who unlawfully occupied Humboldt University (HU) and some of whom destroyed an anti-Nazi exhibition on Wednesday were reacting to the university’s close ties to Israel, the university president has said.

Christoph Markschies told The Jerusalem Post that one of the protesters in the lobby of the university said “Damn Israel” when asked by another student to “stop” vandalizing the exhibit “Betrayed and Sold,” about the plundering of Jewish businesses under the Nazis.

“Friendship with Israel is part of the HU’s identity,” said Markschies, adding that “no one can tell me that the exhibit was damaged because it was a mistake.”

Markschies had to barricade himself in his office to escape what he called “the mob.” He said that “HU was directly targeted” because of its solid partnership with Israel.

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The university is repairing the damaged displays and plans to remount the exhibition.

HU, which frequently mounts exhibits documenting the persecution of German Jewry in its lobby, has close ties with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and scholars from the Albert Einstein Center of the Hebrew University were at an HU-sponsored symposium in Berlin last week.

Markschies charged the pupils and a group of hardcore leftists known as the “Black Block,” a group that terms itself anti-fascist, with disguising their anti-Semitism as anti-Zionism.

With the appearance of the Black Bloc, we once again encounter our anti-fascist friends (a.k.a. Antifa, AFA, or the Autonomer). These are the anarchist youths who pull black hoods over their faces and take to the streets to combat “racism” — meaning any political opinion that does not advocate an anarchist or socialist revolution.


We’ve seen the Black Bloc in action previously in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Malmö, and Stockholm. Its preferred tactics include threats, intimidation, vandalism, arson, and general violence, all in the name of combating “fascism”.

Lee Hielscher, a spokesman for a pupil association that participated in the demonstration in Berlin, told the Post that he is currently investigating the eyewitness reports from the protest and was unable to confirm the statement “Damn Israel.”

He said the vandalism and alleged statement were not driven by anti-Semitism, but that the expression “Damn Israel” highlights the “problems of the State of Israel.”

[…]

When asked about the “Damn Israel” statement, Wuchenauer said the statement is not anti-Semitic and simply means it “would it have been more meaningful if the UN had not created two states in 1947 and had integrated the Jews into one state.”

Wuchenauer stressed that the demonstrator was expressing the opinion that creating the State of Israel was a bad decision.

[…]

The ostensible aim of the protest — to increase funding for the educational system — turned into an orgy of political violence.

Several days ago, Germany commemorated the 70th anniversary of the Kristallnacht. Directly across from HU is Bebel Square, the site of an infamous Nazi book-burning spectacle in 1933, when university students at the former Frederick William University, which was renamed Humboldt after World War II, burned the books of Jewish authors.

[…]

Markschies charged the pupils with playing down the violence of the demonstration and invoking a cheap excuse to justify the destruction of the exhibit.

Belinda Cooper, who taught at Humboldt University and is now a fellow at the World Policy Institute in New York, told the Post that, “I think they did a good job of proving their point. If schoolchildren can be so ignorant, they really do need a better educational system.”

Unfortunately, the educational system is merely a reflection of the culture at large. Rioting “pupils” are an expression of the Zeitgeist.

Why Israel? Even if I were to concede the fascist nature of the state of Israel — which I don’t — why is it singled out for absolute censure? What about Iran, China, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia? Why are the blackhoods uninterested in them?

If you believe the party line, this focus on Israel has nothing to do with anti-Semitism. The fact that the tiny nation of Israel is the world’s only Jewish state is mere coincidence. The idealistic anarchists are simply out there combating fascism, which for some reason always has Israel at its center.

It’s no surprise that AFA’s struggle against the twin evils of the United States and Israel lines up perfectly with the ideology of radical Islam. The mujahideen and the anarchists are making common cause against their mutual enemies all across Europe.

Jews in general are targets because they’re associated with Israel. And Israel’s right to existence is denied because of the “legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people”.

European Jews, take note: you’re firmly in the crosshairs. It’s 1938 all over again.