Mark Bray and Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook

Mark Bray is an academic, historian, and activist. He was an organizer of Occupy Wall Street. 

He wrote the title book in 2017. I checked out a paperback revised version published in 2022 with a new turgid introduction by Joshua Clover (another professor and historian). The book isn't as bad, but yes, I skipped to the short "five historical lessons for anti-fascists."

1. Fascist revolutions have never succeeded. Fascists gained power legally.
2. Many anti-fascist leaders and theorists assumed fascism was simply a variant of traditional counterrevolutionary politics and didn't take it seriously until it was too late.
3. Socialist and communist leadership [might we add Democratic leadership?] was often slower to assess the threat than the rank-and-file membership. 
4. Fascism steals from left ideology, strategy, imagery, and culture (National SOCIALIST Party, etc.).
5. It doesn't take many fascists to make fascists. [Often, they are helped by more mainstream types who feel threatened.]

Mark Bray recently took his family to Spain after death threats led him to feel unsafe. Trump is big on fighting "antifa," which some argue means he is for fascism. 

Fair. 

It's a kind of politics or activity of radical opposition to the far-right that doesn't have any qualms about physically disrupting far-right demonstrations.

OTOH, the book argues that antifa (as compared to simple "antifascism") is more than the opposition of antifascism. It involves various organizational principles that many against fascism will not support. For instance, they have a limited version of free speech, supporting silencing fascists.

[Fascism is] a form of political behavior marked by obsessive pre-occupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion.

(Quoting Robert O. Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism.) 

Mary Anne Franks, in her books, argues that we have a "cult" of free speech in this country. For instance, we support the so-called "marketplace of ideas," which is sort of a mythical ideal in practice. 

At least, we don't have a laissez-faire marketplace. Liberal free speech supporters recognize the need to heavily regulate the marketplace. Thus, the metaphor is either somewhat ironic or far from libertarian.  

Bray also notes that many people, including prisoners, do not have true free speech rights. Also, the First Amendment limits the government. Private parties play a significant role in controlling knowledge. 

Prisoners have limited free speech rights. For instance, they receive mail, usually have access to a library and other literature, and if you want, I will support their right to vote. But yes, prisoners have fewer rights. 

And, granted, there are other limits of speech (e.g., copyright), but blatant ideological limits are problematic. I also acknowledge that limits have some "political" content. Blatantly ideological limits are notably in a special category.  

The usual arguments that both Turning Point USA and Antifa groups should enjoy free speech are well-known. Bray can dismiss line-drawing arguments, but then he speaks of fascism involving the "patriarchy," and I wonder about where the Catholic Church is placed. After all, ACT UP interrupted their masses.

Fascism is significantly an emotional ideology. You are not going to convince many fascists to change their minds with rational debate. Charlie Kirk was as much of a troll and someone who silenced others as someone who truly used debate to convince people. 

I understand the justification of trying to silence blatant fascists. Free speech is a great value. But it isn't the only value we have. Still, it is a dangerous move. It ultimately turns on raw power. What stops fascists from using the same tactic? Power. 

(Antifa will defend their tactics based on necessity. So will fascists. Maybe one side is right, but it's tough.) 

The new introduction bitterly laughs at the anti-communism justification by fascists. It notes that these days (differently, I would add, than in the early decades of the 20th Century) there are nearly no communists in this country. I might say there are quite a few "antifa" in the way Trump suggests. 

The labels are variable. So, some people are appalled that Zohran Mamdani -- a self-labeled democratic socialist -- has a good chance of being the mayor of New York City. Democratic leadership endorsed Andrew Cuomo (His official name is Andrew f-ing Cuomo) because of the specter of the Zohran. Or, they still do not want to endorse Mamdani. 

There is a stronger presence of "socialists" in this country. I don't think we should treat them as a specter. They support many good things. They have the energy and passion we need in these times. They might be wrong in various cases. So be it. 

(Plus, the word is so variable. Lots of things we generally accept as great, including Social Security, were once denounced as a form of socialism.) 

The anti-fascist movement today is akin to those who support black lives matter and other such groups. There is general support for causes that are valid and that should be uncontroversial. Some activists and true believers will be purists. That is the usual thing.

There is a tiny subset that supports the use of violence and law-breaking in certain cases. We saw this in Black Lives Matter protests. And, probably, a few of these people (at least) were outside instigators. 

I generally am quite wary -- at least -- at such tactics. If you raised that sentiment in some places, well, you might be treated as if you were a racist. Violence might, over the span of history, sometimes appear necessary. Who are we to talk (1776), after all?

Still, it often is counterproductive. It can also hurt innocents. For instance, during protests, some vandalism harmed black owned businesses. 

I am open to what Mark Bray has to say, but I am not his kind of anti-fascist. I despise fascism, though.