Marxist Terror Special Part Two
Take Your Compass #11 Special on Antifa Violent Marxist Groups
Take Your Compass #11 - Marxist Terror Special Part Two
In part two, we are going to see what happened to these violent groups after World War Two, where they went, and what their goals were. In part one we looked at the chaos of interwar Germany and the rise of violent paramilitary forces. Now we are going to jump to the end of WW2, but first I want to give you some visuals on these interwar groups.
Freikorps:
The first interwar German paramilitary. Often for hire, sometimes used by the government. If you are wondering about the ‘Death’s Head” in this photo and the one above, it is called a Totenkopf (literally "dead person's head"). The Totenkopf was a Germanic military symbol dated back to the Prussian King Frederick the Great circa 1740. You may know it from its later use by the Nazi SS. The Totenkopf was also adopted by the Punk Rock movement of the 1970s and 80s, and it will also show up today at Antifa and even BLM actions. It makes little sense, but these radical groups know next to nothing about history.
(Sorry… the short guy in the big helmet and long great coat is just hilarious. )
Roter Frontkämpferbund:
Iron Front:
Der Stahlhelm:
I could not find a good image of Der Stahlhelm without a copyright. You can see a lot of good photos at the link that follows. You must enter “Der Stahlhem 1932” in their search box: https://www.sz-photo.de/
SA:
And lest you think that the paramilitary violence was limited to Germany, here is Mosley’s British Union of Fascists, circa 1935:
The violence was worst in Germany but it happened all over. The UK and the US were strong enough not to let the violence descend into chaos.
After WW2
The German KPD and its Antifa of 1932/33 were banned, but they never stopped. After the war the KPD and various Antifa groups popped back up as well the SPD and the Iron Front. Still fighting each other but all absorbed into the East German Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). Many in the SPD still opposed to Stalin moved to West Germany if they could.
Marxists fighting against Marxists continued. It is key to understand that in the KPD, SED, and ultimately Stalin’s framework EVERYONE who was not pro-Stalin was a fascist! Being anti-fascist meant opposing not just the evil capitalists, but everyone including democratic socialists, social democrats, and leftists who opposed Stalin.
East Germany(Communist Germany ~1949-1990)
In East Germany the Berlin Wall was officially called “the Anti-Fascist Protection Wall” (Antifaschistischer Schutzwall). Absolute insanity, the only fascists in power were on their side of the wall.
Anti-fascism and the Antifaschistische Aktion (Antifa) were essential elements of Communist Germany. Their anti-fascism was a struggle against everyone especially the free West and NATO.
Antisemitism did not stop in Germany after the war. Particularly in East Germany, the antisemitic pursuits were rolled into the anti-zionist and anti-fascist fight. The East Germans took the laughable, but evil and serious, position that the United States, West Germany, and Israel were fascist states.
KEY POINT: If you disagree with, or oppose Antifa, they will label you as fascist. Any opposition to their goals is automatically ‘fascist.’
Once Anti-fascism was built into the Communist government, the KPD finally got what it wanted and it wasn’t pretty. Much evil was done in Communist Germany in the name of fighting fascism.
The SED party was dissolved, sort of, when the East German government collapsed in 1989/1990. What was left of it was reborn as the PDS (Party of Democratic Socialism) and it survived German reunification. After a merger in 2007, it is now Die Linke (The Left) and it is still Marxist/Communist.
West Germany (~1949-1990)
The Marists/Communists in West Germany, the ones already there along with the ones that fled from the east, reorganized their own KPD. They didn’t fair very well in elections.
A new communist party was formed in 1968, the DKP. It didn’t fair well either, but it still exists in some form to this day. West Germany kept tighter reins on the communists. Upon the reunification however there was a requirement to recognize parties from East and West so the Communists from the west assimilated into the PDS and are now Die Linke. Politically, that gets us to 1990/91. What was happening with the militaristic Marxist groups in that period?
Militant Marxist groups (1949-1990) Germany
In Communist Germany Antifa became the policy of the government. In West Germany Antifa was kept in check but it simmered under the surface. In West Germany in 1968 began a German Student Movement. These geniuses were apparently unaware of how bad things were for their contemporaries in the east.
Chiang Kai Shek and Lenin? It is maddening. You can sympathize with these young folks desire to see that Germany doesn’t go fascist again, but their support for communism is unhinged, or rather completely uneducated. It is a recurring theme that leftist Antifa types do not know history. I am sure you recognize Lenin on the poster in the photo above. The man in the poster on the left is Chiang Kai Shek. His presence here is strange, unless you understand the goal. The woman on the poster to the right you probably don’t recognize. That is Rosa Luxemburg. She was a devout Marxist, and considered an intellectual heir to Marx and Engels. She was involved in the SPD and urged it to move to more hardcore Marxism. If she had not died in 1919 she would certainly have been KPD.
Antifa, just simmering in West Germany, underwent a rebirth in the 60s beginning with the student movement, merging with the West German Communist League (Kommunistischer Bund, KB) that began 1971, then merging with the Autonomist Movement of the 80s. The Autonomist Movement being the most radical and dangerous communist group, if that’s possible.
Antifa is active to this day in Germany. The German government considers the modern Antifa movement to be radical, extremist, and violent, and is monitored by the German government as part of its efforts against extremism.
Militant Marxist groups (1949-1990) Britain
There were movements in Britain coinciding with the German groups. Groups such as Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League (part of the communist the Socialist Workers Party) which later became Unite Against Fascism that is still active today.
In the mid 1980s a collective of anarchist, Marxist, Trotskyist, communist groups was organized. This was known as the AFA (Anti-Fascist-Action). They were involved in numerous violent actions throughout the 80s and 90s. It is hard to keep such a group together, especially recalling that they love to eat each other. I would not say AFA dissolved as much as it splintered back into its pieces. Antifa, in the form of many groups still exists and is very active in Britain.
Going forward I will simply refer to the whole movement as AFA.
Militant Marxist groups (1949-1990) Other Countries
AFA is present and active in these countries: Sweden, Denmark, Australia, Greece, Spain, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland… The list goes on. Every country I have researched so far has an AFA presence. If a country isn’t already Marxist/Communist, it is a safe bet there is AFA.
And of course in the USA. I am going to cover AFA in the US in a future installment.
I am going to repeat this in every part of this series. I am against fascism. I am also against Antifa. The difference is that I am against ALL fascism, and I am against using terror and chaos to manipulate people.
The Red Revolution in photos
The photo below is from the 1968 German student protests. This is an anti-war protest. Being against war is a good thing, but as you can see they are not merely anti-war. They are very much pro something else.
Red stars, red flags, and Che Guevara images were popular symbols. They were anti-war (sort-of), pro-revolution, and pro-communist. Che Guevara was dead by 1967. He was a bloodthirsty terrorist, literally responsible for the murder of thousands of people, but hey he was anti-capitalist and down for the revolution so you will see him often in AFA actions from the period. You will still see Che today too.
The photo below is from Rock Against Racism, UK 1978. I could not find a color photo that captured the Marxist/Communist symbols without a copyright, so I linked to one further down.
The problem here is not being anti-fascist or anti-Nazi, good on them for that, but why does it mean that a communist revolution is needed? Most of these kids were just suckers, but that is part of the plan for communist organizers. Lenin is the one who began the “useful idiots” tactic. He started a propaganda corps that became known as the “Communist International.” (Hint: Look out for the term “international” in the names of some of the groups you're going to read about in future installments. They connect directly back to Moscow.)
Lenin sent out this propaganda corps to targeted countries. They pulled in “useful idiots” and pushed for “revolution!” They co-opted and subverted democratic processes. Started socialist unions and political parties. Pushed for union strikes and civil unrest. Even building little secret armies, and all the while the strings were being pulled back in Moscow. This is well researched and documented in this highly recommended book: The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression.
I wish the Black Book was not so expensive. It is an invaluable resource that documents the true, nasty legacy of communism by pulling directly from the archives of the former Soviet bloc countries.
For the 1980s it was hard to pick one photo. I decided on the the poster you see below from 1988. It is from one of the “Autonome” groups I previously mentioned. It is impossible to say they are not violent groups when they literally advertise it.
Recap
In part one we looked at the breeding ground of AFA in the newly formed nation of Germany, and the symbology that helps track the ideologies and the people advancing them. Here in part two we took a second look, in photos, of the interwar militant groups, then moved on to what happened to the groups postwar from 1949 to ~1990, and finally giving you a visual from each decade 60-70-80.
There is an ebb and flow to these movements and groups. I hope I have laid it out so that you can see that it is a continuous movement. It could be called the “Red Revolution.” It continues. It has never stopped. It is dangerous.
See you next time.
Links:
The Roots of Left-Wing Violence
Marx’s philosophy and the necessity of violent politics
The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression.
Thank you for reading, and God bless!
JW
“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” - C.S. Lewis