and other collaborations between left and far-right
a research guide in progress
This is an organized list of everything I’ve found useful for documenting and understanding various forms of collaboration between leftists and the far-right. It is a perpetual work in progress, and I update it semi-regularly with new links and commentary. If you also find this page useful, I invite you to check back here every now and then.
I don’t love the phrase “red-brown alliance” as an umbrella term for this collection of phenomena, but I’ve yet to encounter a better one. It seems too narrow for the range of forms these collaborations can take. Some of the far-right tendencies described here aren’t technically fascist, but pose a similar threat nonetheless. I take the approach that fascism is not merely any sufficiently reactionary political ideology, but one that directs its discontent with “modern” society into a vision of revolutionary transformation centered around a mythology of national identity. (“Palingenetic populist ultra-nationalism,” in historian Roger Griffin’s words.) For further explanation of this, see “Seven Theses on the Three-Way Fight,” “Fascism, Ecology, and the Tangled Roots of Anti-Modernism,” and “Is Trump A Fascist?” While I’m not going to correct people who refer to the far-right as fascists (I do it myself!), I bother with specifics in this context because I believe precision helps us* better understand their ideologies, identify their talking points, and combat them. Acknowledging the “revolutionary” aspect of fascism, and recognizing that the fascist concept of national identity does not necessarily rely on a nation-state, helps us understand that not everyone who wants to destroy capitalism and the state is on our side, and demand a more clearly articulated vision of liberation to organize around rather than merely a shared enemy.
While I look for a basic standard of accuracy in the sources I cite, inclusion of a particular article on this list is not an endorsement of the author’s other work, political views, or interpersonal conduct. It only indicates that that specific piece contained some element useful for understanding these topics that I’ve yet to encounter elsewhere.
(*I have a habit, or perhaps compulsion, in my political writing to never speak of us without first clarifying who we are. Throughout this page, I am addressing anyone who considers themselves anti-authoritarian leftists – anarchists, some communists and socialists, and many of those new to leftism and unsure where exactly you stand. Much of it could also be relevant to leftists who dislike the term anti-authoritarian, but recognize alliances of convenience with the far-right as counterrevolutionary. If your mind is already made up that the ends – whatever those even are – justify the means of allying yourself with fascists and the far-right, and I am some manner of liberal for trying to argue otherwise, then I’m not really here to convince you.)
other resources like this one
Alexander Reid Ross’s book Against the Fascist Creep covers some of this, but I don’t think it’s that well-written or well-researched, as one review describes. When I revisited it for this project, it felt meandering and weak, so caught up in crafting a singular story that clear analysis and momentum towards antifascist action are lost. I also take issue with Ross’s suggestion that nihilism and egoism are intrinsically predisposed towards fascist sympathies. The author went on to work for a centrist “anti-extremism” think tank (where I suppose he just ignores the aspect of its mission dedicated to monitoring the radical left), which should call his current credibility into question.
“An Investigation into Red-Brown Alliances” covers most of the same material, except with links. I am very grateful to the anonymous person who shared what must’ve been many, many hours of tedious research! But much of the piece consists of lists of people and organizations, and links providing evidence of their questionable views and affiliations, and it’s difficult to sit down and read it all the way through. I use it as a reference and search for names and keywords in it.
A previous guide like this one, appears to no longer be updated.
And a basic overview you can send to your local progressives or something: Drawing Lines Against Racism and Fascism
against campism, toward international/antinational solidarity
Before getting into the statements of Marxist-Leninist parties desperate for relevance (or even worse, the politics of Youtube personalities), I want to orient this work around an understanding of why any of this matters. I bother with this because I’ve observed its influence, as absurd and fringe as some of these crossover formations appear. The danger is not that these organizations themselves will fully subsume the left, but that the uncertainty they sow spreads widely enough to seriously destabilize solidarity efforts of all kinds. When wading through contradictory information about something happening on the other side of the world feels too daunting, even well-meaning compassionate people who want to understand won’t know where to begin, and look to anyone calling themself an anti-imperialist for guidance. Worrying about optics is often a waste of time – after all, anticapitalist revolution is a threat to the wealthy and powerful, you can’t tone that down – but accidentally amplifying someone with a record of bigoted positions is easy ammunition against our causes.
I am tired of seeing leftists share pro-Palestine posts from people who get interviewed on Infowars. I am tired of seeing casual genocide denial go unchallenged. I am tired of seeing “we just don’t talk about international stuff” put forward as an acceptable compromise. I’m tired of the pervasive lack of curiosity and imagination regarding liberation struggles occurring in political contexts drastically different from what’s familiar to those of us who’ve lived most of our lives in the US, Canada, or western Europe. I’m tired of the assumption that that’s all of us, and that anyone for whom these aren’t abstract matters to discover through a screen is so insignificant as to be irrelevant. I’m tired of the myth that confronting gender-based oppression will alienate some idealized working class, here or on the other side of the world. It’s essential to be deliberate with the way we communicate, whose voices we amplify, what underlying assumptions about the world inform how we practice solidarity, or how we don’t.
False Front: The Left and the “Anti-Imperialist” Right
Against campism: What makes some leftists support Putin?
“The current objective trend of global imperialism compels states across the board to further consolidate their anti-democratic power in service of financial capital. In addition, the last historical instantiation of the multipolarity of bourgeois states generated a landscape of inter-imperial rivalry that resulted in an extraordinary human cost. To advocate for similar conditions—even as a transitional stage—would only be intransigent accelerationism that would crush, not empower, what is left of independent movements in some regions.” – Promise Li, “Against Multipolar Imperialism, Toward Socialist Multipolarity”
The periphery has no time for binaries
“The only meaningful entities in the shallow anti-imperialist doctrine are hierarchical bureaucratic formations with national content. Thus, the world is being interpreted as a battlefield between nation-states and alliances between such. Every other social activity which moves beyond statecraft is being either viewed as highly insignificant due to its smaller size, or as a manipulation by another state formation.” – Narrow Anti-Imperialism as Ideological Cover for Authoritarianism
the LaRouche cult
Rather than working chronologically through the history of fascism, I’m starting with the LaRouche movement because it’s important background for understanding some weird political formations currently taking shape in the US. We will learn about syndicalism and Strasserism and such after I’ve made my point about some of the people who might try and sell you a newspaper at the next antiwar rally you attend. [We’ll also get to that part later because I haven’t compiled it yet.]
Right Woos Left – a report from 1999 on far-right and fascist groups using conspiracy theories, anti-government talking points, and antiwar activism to appeal to and infiltrate leftist and progressive groups. Discusses some relevant considerations for handling information received from far-right sources and evaluating conspiracy theories.
(Some attempts to research and document red-brown alliances could benefit from considering whether they’re merely manufacturing a conspiracy theory of their own, or unknowingly using conspiracy-theorist methods to argue what might otherwise be a legitimate point. I reject the narrative of an overarching red-brown conspiracy stretching across history – while there are alliances and subterfuge, the result is a broad range of entities vying for power, not a shadowy network that operates in perfect cohesion.)
The Political Legacy of Lyndon LaRouche (podcast/radio interview with Matthew N Lyons)
Fascism Wrapped in the American Flag
LaRouche: A Warning for Us All: Marxists contemplate how to avoid doing a cult of personality. (I see some parallels to the Red Guards here: the recruitment push followed by physical attacks on leftist political enemies, the isolation and cult methods.)
Lyndon LaRouche Was the Godfather of Political Paranoia. His Cult Is Still Alive and Unwell.
“Eat the Children”: Decades of Far-Right LaRouche Provocations Renewed
The American Roots of a Right-wing Conspiracy
As a guideline, I’d avoid working with anyone who has current LaRouche connections, or a background with the group that they haven’t unambiguously disavowed. While “association does not imply agreement,” association and collaboration in political organizing is a meaningful choice that confers legitimacy. Placing your organization’s name on a rally where a far-right figure is speaking, or going to a conference that fascists are also attending openly, communicates that you view them as potential allies and that their utility to you is more important than any harm they cause.
Russia?
In search of an explanation of the complex networks of political power and influence surrounding the Russian state and its relationship to the international far-right that does not amount to “Vladimir Putin has been cursed by the wizard.”
The LaRouche network’s Russia connection
Aleksandr Dugin and the Syriza connection
Moscow conference draws fascists, neo-Confederates, US leftists
the WWP, PSL, ANSWER, and so on…
See “Some Strange Stalinist Parties” here.
What you should know about the WWP, IAC, and ANSWER – worth noting that other leftists and anarchists have been identifying the same issues with WWP/PSL/ANSWER’s views and tactics for over two decades: knee-jerk declarations of support for any leader who professes opposition to the US, pushing their way to the front of rallies and then working with police as protest marshals.
PSL’s Brian Becker, Loud & Clear Radio, and Right-Wing Entryism
Red-Brown Politics: Don’t Take the Bait!
Likewise, you have no idea what I do offline.
Cult-like practices in the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL)
(There is a multi-part piece currently circulating online that purports to prove the WWP/PSL is a US intelligence psyop. Yes, I have already seen it. No, I do not recommend it, unless you need an example of the kind of counterproductive conspiracy-theorist thinking that annoyed me into compiling this list in the first place.)
Open Letter to Gaddafi supporter Cynthia McKinney from disappointed Palestinians
Does Goldman Sachs Fund the People’s Forum, PSL, Codepink…? Answer: no; their main donor uses a Goldman Sachs philanthropy fund to transfer the money while obscuring his connection. See: The Big Business of Uyghur Genocide Denial
disinfo network
Regarding a group of journalists and online news publications that present themselves as independent anti-imperialist voices while reporting false or misleading information. Unfortunately much criticism of them relies on “Russiagate” tropes, which makes it harder to have a serious leftist discussion of the harm these figures can cause. The “Russian bots” freakout successfully convinced many on the left that there aren’t any media personalities who really are making a career out of repeating Russian state propaganda, either for pay or because it just feels that true for them.
(This is why you need a political analysis more comprehensive than simply opposing the US. Not that there’s much nuance to the urgency of destroying the country from which I am writing this, but if you shut off your critical thinking once you encounter someone who agrees with that basic premise, you become incredibly easy to manipulate.)
News outlets discussed here: RT and subsidiaries Ruptly, Redfish, Sputnik; Mint Press News, The Grayzone, Global Research, Veterans Today, 21st Century Wire, Dissident Voice, Press TV
The best way I can cite this piece as a source for much of the info here is to again recommend the search function, for each of the platforms listed above (and any others you might be curious about). They’ve collected a whole lot of links to some of these sites publishing blatantly false stories, thoroughly debunked antisemitic conspiracy theories, and just straight up fascist garbage.
The ‘Echo Chamber’ of Syrian Chemical Weapons Conspiracy Theorists
Where Foreign “Experts” and “Political Scientists” on Russian Television Come From
‘Grassroots’ Media Startup Redfish Is Supported By The Kremlin
The Inside Story of One Website’s Defense of Assad (Mint Press News)
Kevin Barrett: Repackaging Antisemitism (Veterans Today)
Is your Syrian source a fascist, white nationalist, and/or conspiracy theorist? Probably. (Global Research) part 2 (21st Century Wire), part 3
The Curious Case of “Alice Donovan” / Ghosts in the Propaganda Machine: CounterPunch editors discover they’ve been publishing plagiarized articles from one of a series of nonexistent journalists sending out pro-regime “reporting” on Syria. To their credit, they investigate further from there, but this sheds some light on what sort of editorial standards result in a track record of platforming numerous conspiracy theorist, antisemitic, and far-right voices.
Islamophobia Turns Left: Ben Norton and the Grayzone Project (Norton is no longer with Grayzone, but the criticism of both still stands.)
Grayzone, Grifters and the Cult of Tank
Meet the Sneakiest Defenders of Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine (This is the only article I’ve found so far that names all these social media personalities and why they’re not good sources for anything, but this is the kind of sensationalizing framing that’s less than helpful for combating disinfo. Look, if my political enemies made an ominous little collage of me I’d probably print it out and put it on my fridge.)
In Nicaragua, Torture Is Used to Feed ‘Fake News’
And apparently a Mint Press News staff writer did antisemitic vandalism as a false flag (?!)
Syria and Ukraine
The ‘anti-imperialism’ of idiots
The Syrian Cause and Anti-Imperialism
Excuse Me Mister, How Far Is It from Simferopol to Grozny?
Novorossiya’s ‘Leftist’ Friends
Ukraine in Syria, Syria in Ukraine
the far-right in protest movements
The Right Hand of Occupy Wall Street: From Libertarians to Nazis, the Fact and Fiction of Right-Wing Involvement and 20 on the Right in Occupy
Enough Nonsense! The Left Does Not Collaborate with Fascists
The Boogaloo Movement Wants to Be Seen as Anti-Racist, But It Has A White Supremacist Fringe
Neo-Nazi Groups Are Attempting to Worm Their Way Into Rallies Against the War on Gaza: recent writeup contains a flyer on identifying and dealing with fascists at antiwar rallies.
Warning: please also understand how the threat of fascist infiltration in protests and uprisings can be mobilized by the state for counterinsurgency.
more on this mess as it develops!
Here is where I’m putting recent and current updates on the cursed venn diagram containing the leftovers of the LaRouche movement, “patriotic socialism,” and the “antiwar” coalition between progressive and far-right groups.
Matthew Heimbach and the left’s vulnerability to fascist infiltration
I resent every moment this project demands I spend caring about the political opinions of video game streaming personalities, but if you want to hear how “patriotic socialists” explain themselves, here’s Vice learning very little from how they covered the alt-right (extending far too much good faith by even entertaining the notion that this is anything other than far-right trolling): What the Hell is MAGACommunism?
Conspiracy on the Left video and Caleb Maupin and the Conspiracy Left interview
The Gilad Atzmon and David Rovics Antisemitism Controversy, Explained
Fascists Are Attempting to Win Followers by Rebranding as Antiwar
Rage Against the Rage Against the War Machine Rally
Their Anti-Imperialism and Ours
Minnesota Not Very Nice: Opposing Medea Benjamin in Minneapolis (Being an activist celebrity carries many risks.)
Losing the Plot: The “Leftists” Who Turn Right
To be continued, I guess.
not right or left but a secret third thing
(That’s not a funny meme. That’s a slightly modified fascist slogan. Don’t use that one.)
[There will be more information on Third Positionism here, eventually.]
American Strasser (on Tom Metzger and White Aryan Resistance)
Neo-Nazi Leader James Porrazzo Mixes Racism with Leftist Ideology
nazi punks
On fascist entryism in anarchism; punk, pagan and occult, and vegan subcultures; and the matter of “ecofascism.”
on “national anarchism”:
- National Anarchism: Trojan Horse for White Nationalism
- Co-opting the Counter Culture: Troy Southgate and the National Revolutionary Faction
- Rising Above the Herd: Keith Preston’s Authoritarian Anti-Statism
- Rebranding Fascism: National-Anarchists
- California Racists Claim They’re Anarchists
- Left, Right, and Wrong: Drawing a Line Against NATA in New York
About Schmidt: How a White Nationalist Seduced Anarchists Around the World
“The Autonomous Nationalists in Germany remind us that essentialist nationalisms do not necessarily come in the form of being affirmative to state and capital. The claims to sovereignty, community and nation against neo-liberal globalisation can be genuinely fascist and national-socialist.” – The ‘Autonomous Nationalists’: new developments and contradictions in the German neo-Nazi movement
The Big Neo-Nazi Crib: report from Czech antifascists on neo-Nazi appropriation of subcultural and anarchist aesthetics and concepts.
Casa Pound and the new radical right in Italy
Why We Don’t Like Death In June
Fascists Rally at Stella Natura Festival
Neofascist: Heathen Harvest, Neofolk, and Fascist Subcultural Entryism
Related to fascism, the occult, and “apolitical” edginess – the Church of Satan founder and leadership are fascists, but The Satanic Temple also has fascist and far-right connections and is trying to use feminist causes to improve their image.
International Animal Rights Gathering: report on a 2013 split between fascist-friendly animal rights activists and vegan antifascists.
Cryptofascism in Cascadian Black Metal and Neofolk
A Field Guide to Straw Men: Sadie and Exile, Esoteric Fascism, and Olympia’s Little White Lies
“If you’ll indulge me in a taboo bit of futural thinking for a moment I’ll ask: in twenty years, when the earth is hotter, the sea is overflowing, and white people are more panicked than ever about the ebbing away of their privileges, the crumbling of the world that whiteness had built for them, in that not-far-off time when a group of white supremacist militia men again occupy land in Oregon or Nevada, or sweep through the parts of Olympia which aren’t underwater, do we want significant swaths of the “countercultural” scenes and radical avant-gardes of the northwest to express their congeniality toward the heroic men with guns (who are standing up to the government, after all!) because a supposedly harmless, novel interpretation of fascist ideology was allowed to go unchallenged where mostly white folks tread? Should we let it slide for fear of appearing as hopelessly uncool ideologues or pedantic killjoys? Do we want the next generation of rioters and arsonists, assassins and ex-convicts, midwives, healers and bio-remediation enthusiasts to incline toward a wholesome, nominally non-racist variant of neo-fascism? Or do we want them to incline toward anarchy and anti-racist rebellion?”
For a moment here I’ll take off the community organizer hat I’ve worn up until now to make this guide as useful as possible to people outside my corner of anarchism. Individualist, nihilist, and anti/post-civ anarchism is the space I refuse to cede to creeping fascism. Far from being exclusive domain of cis white settler edgelords, it’s provided queer people of many different backgrounds with the concepts to express a total refusal to acquiesce to the world as it currently exists, an alienation that runs deeper than any previous theories we’ve encountered have given us language for. Alright, yes, I do resent the insinuation that this entire constellation of ideas and worldviews is irredeemably tainted – as much as I resent that the some of the men who’ve been most vocal against that allegation are the ones it describes a little too accurately. The previous two pieces by “edelweiss pirates” articulate an antifascism that resonates a lot with my own, but that I’ve rarely found expressed elsewhere.
Fascism, Ecology, and the Tangled Roots of Anti-Modernism
Against Eco-Extremism: Mirror image of Civilisation & Religion
There’s Nothing Anarchist About Eco-Fascism: A Condemnation of ITS
On Crow, Fascist Drifts, and People Who Are Not Comrades
No, the 8-pointed chaos star is not a fascist symbol: Chaos, Nihilism, and the Way of “No Surrender”
Hope is not a prerequisite for liberatory action. Some people’s strength is in maintaining hope in the face of defeat after defeat, and for others it’s a strength to be able to lose all hope for the possibility of a liberated world and still choose to fight anyway. Most fascisms are not nihilist, with a strong emphasis on morality, shared mythology, belonging, and envisioning a future to bring about at any cost. “Far from being driven by nihilism or barbarism, the convinced fascist is a utopian, conceiving the homogenous, perfectly coordinated national community as a total solution to the problems of modern society.” (Roger Griffin)
Yes, disillusionment can draw people towards proto-fascist modes of thinking – but that’s what makes it so important to illuminate a way for anarchist principles to persist alongside disillusionment. To make space for hopelessness as a logical, reasonable response rather than a personal failing or a betrayal of the cause, to sit with it and ask ok, now what? instead of throwing our energy towards anything that makes us feel hopeful again. To allow others in our movements to feel despair without treating it as a personal attack or a deadly contagion. Maybe the worst will come to pass, maybe we’re not destined to win – how can we still make ourselves and others a little freer right now? Despair, grief, rage, vengeance – these emotional lenses are neither contaminants to be suppressed nor inherently righteous, and they can be mobilized in reactionary or liberating directions.
This is our blessing and our curse: we get to choose.
We get to fight for what we want.
There is no fate but what we make for ourselves.
(…)
TERFs as fascist entryism
Remember the time someone threw a burrito at DGR members?
This timeline tracking the convergence of the anti-trans movement and QAnon traces how DGR leadership became central to that process: The Mechanisms of TAnon: Where It Came From
How the far-right is turning feminists into fascists
far-right currents in nonwhite nationalisms
Perspectives from Black radicals, not “anti-extremism” organizations that are ultimately invested in defending the state.
On Black Hammer:
- Ex-Black Hammer members detail Gazi Kodzo’s abusive cult, which culminated in arrests for kidnapping and sexual assault
- The Devil Wears Dashikis: An Expose on the Black Hammer Cult (part 2, part 3, part 4)
- On the Pitfalls of Racial Nationalism: A Response to Gazi Kodzo of Black Hammer
- Agents of Disruption and Deception: Exposing Black Hammer’s Plot to Destroy Revolutionary Leadership and Manipulate the People
At some point I intend to add a section on early 20th century fascism.
I am also considering adding a section on Covid19 conspiracy theories as fascist entryism. For now, if you read French: Tout ce que fume n’est pas feu, ce que le complotisme fait aux luttes
against “anti-extremism”
Not So Reformed: How “Countering Violent Extremism” Groups Elevate “Former” White Nationalists
Network Contagion Research Institute: helping the state fight political infection left and right
Can You Ever Trust a Former White Nationalist?
Beware the Anti-Defamation League’s Efforts to Partner with Progressive Orgs
materials for a reckoning
“A real examination of the “fascist creep” would involve something more than a hunt for enemy infiltrators in our otherwise good movements; it would require confrontation and struggle with our own limitations and weaknesses.” – rowan, “The Alt-Creeps: A review of Against the Fascist Creep and Ctrl-Alt-Delete”
“When people see opposition to the established order as more important than egalitarian principles, then they’re much more willing to ally with fascists and people who are close to fascists than they would be if they were putting egalitarian principles at the center.” – Matthew N Lyons
“Ideological chauvinism around gender liberation is tied to why the anti-colonial Left will platform, enable, protect, and form united fronts with entire cults, or at least fail to denounce the same… Abuse and all manner of manipulation and literal exploitation can be and often is bypassed and overlooked because of this failure to consciously struggle against cisheteropatriarchal norms.” – Nsambu Za Suekama
Against the Fascist Creep ends on a vague appeal to hope and reason. Listen, fascists have plenty of hope. They have their own idealists and true believers, their own dreams of utopia. The problem is that their utopia demands the brutal mass murder of a lot of us, and they’re typically really determined to get to that part as soon as possible. Any emotion can be mobilized in any political direction. Leftists and anarchists have no unique claim on the concept of fighting for what we love and a vision of a better world.
Instead, I want a clearly articulated commitment to the liberation of all. To name the mechanisms of our oppression and understand that their interconnection means no compromises can be made. To name not only capitalism, but white supremacy, colonialism, patriarchy, gender. You’ve got to be precise about it. Resignation and cynicism may contribute to some people’s choice to seek alliances with the far-right, but what can be concretely observed is a lack of commitment to this interconnected, multifaceted dismantling of oppression.
A feminism that is not only trans-inclusive but understands the function of transmisogyny and anti-Blackness in the construction and enforcement of gender. An opposition to colonialism anywhere. An environmentalism that can be experienced personally and spiritually without hinging upon an essential “belonging” to land and place. An understanding of antisemitism apart from and in opposition to the weaponization of historic trauma to uphold nationalism. A rejection of the narrative of white working class as primary agent of revolution, or of whitewashing Black revolt into general anticapitalist sentiment.
A refusal to operate according to the logic of states and borders. A rejection of conspiracy thought, a practice of being intentional in the ways we pass along information. An informed skepticism towards activist celebrities, movement personalities, and vanguards. Resistance to the temptation of making our politics more normal and palatable by the standards of the world we seek to destroy. Some of the materials with which to set a clear boundary: not to turn away those who come to you looking for answers (not that I have them – perhaps we can look together?) but against those who promise everything’s figured out if you just deprioritize a couple of those principles and follow their lead.
Further reading:
Why Misogynists Make Great Informants
Seven Theses on the Three-Way Fight
Anti-Fascism Against Machismo: Gender, Politics, and the Struggle Against Fascism
Intimate Authoritarianism: The Ideology of Abuse
The Continuing Appeal of Nationalism
to be continued