Man at podium at large indoor rally; banner in front of speaker reads "Defend America First", portrait of George Washington is behind speaker.

On the roots of America First foreign policy

Matthew N Lyons

MAGA’s “America First” approach to foreign policy draws on antiwar sentiment but has promoted unilateralist military aggression. This essay explores the roots of the America First outlook in the “isolationist” nationalism of the early 1940s America First Committee, as analyzed by Franz Schurmann in his 1974 book The Logic of World Power.

American First Committee, anti-interventionism, Antifascist, Donald Trump, MAGA movement, militarism


Some thoughts on fascism and the current moment

Three Way Fight

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This is the text of a talk I gave at the Left Forum in New York City on 29 June 2019, as part of a panel entitled “What Is Fascism and How Do We Fight …

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How the Irish Became Troubled

by Kristian Williams The May 23 issue of the London Review of Books contains a lengthy article by Clair Wills, briefly sketching out a different sort of three-way fight during the Troubles in Northern Ireland: “The Catholic …

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Federal Judge Grants Defense Motion and Dismisses Charges Against Members of the Nazi Organization, Rise Above Movement

The following comes from some discussion contributors to Three Way Fight have had after, on June 4th, a federal judge granted a defense motion and dismissed charges against three members of the Nazi organization, Rise …

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Book review: Bring the War Home by Kathleen Belew

A key moment in the rise of the modern U.S. far right took place in the early 1980s, when many white supremacists went to war with the U.S. government. Bring the War Home is a …

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The Christchurch massacre and fascist revolutionary politics

Three Way Fight

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The manifesto posted by the accused New Zealand mass murderer isn’t just a racist, Islamophobic screed. It also puts forward an anti-egalitarian critique of capitalism and a strategy of fascist revolution through destabilizing society. Brenton …

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Trump’s election and capitalist power – an exchange

Three Way Fight

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In February 2019, Three Way Fight published the essay “Trump’s shaky capitalist support: Business conflict and the 2016 election,” by Matthew N. Lyons. In this exchange with Matthew, Don Hamerquist explores some of the larger …

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Notes on Trump/MAGA 2024

Matthew N Lyons

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Even more than in the past, Trump and the MAGA movement have brought key elements of fascist politics into the Republican Party, and a second Trump presidency is likely to be significantly more authoritarian than the first one.

Antifascist, Donald Trump, MAGA movement, US presidential elections

Chaos or Revolution? It Depends on Us

3WF

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The institutional far right is strong, while the far left is weak and disorganized. To develop the capacity to meaningfully intervene in the current crisis, far leftists need to engage with oppressed communities and work together with liberals in a united front.

Antifascist, Donald Trump, far right, radical left

Who’s Afraid of Luigi Mangione? A Response to Alexander Reid Ross

3WF

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Luigi Mangione’s recent alleged killing of an insurance CEO touched a wedge issue that cuts across class and across the political spectrum—the massive corruption of the health insurance industry—and created an opening for the left. A recent article by ex-leftist Alexander Reid Ross, which dismisses Mangione as expressing an American proclivity for violence, represents a counterinsurgency action in defense of the state.

Alexander Reid Ross, Anti-capitalism, counter insurgency, health care, health insurance industry, liberal antifascism, Luigi Mangione

Reading Adam Shatz on the war in Gaza

Three Way Fight

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by Matthew N. Lyons How do we forcefully make the case to defend the Palestinian people in Gaza against Israel’s increasingly genocidal assault, and also honor the conflict’s heartbreaking contradictions? This is a question I’ve …

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Burn the foundation and all that it upholds: an antifascist review of “Tell Me I’m Worthless” by Alison Rumfitt

Three Way Fight

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“The House spreads. Its arteries run throughout the country. Its lifeblood flows into Westminster, into Scotland Yard, into every village and every city. It flows into you, and into your mother. It keeps you alive. …

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Books

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Disaster Politics

This review first appeared in Socialism and Democracy (July 2010) and is republished with permission. An Editorial Comment follows the review below. *          *          * A Paradise

Threat or model?: U.S. rightists look at China

The coronavirus crisis has spurred a sharp increase in scapegoating, harassment, and physical attacks against Chinese and other Asian people in the United States. This racist upsurge has been fomented not only by white nationalists,

No longer merely metaphor: Re-reading The Plague by Albert Camus

Albert Camus, 1957 Albert Camus’ novel The Plague offers a portrait of a town under quarantine, ravaged by an epidemic. It tells us of life arbitrarily constrained and unjustly shortened, of human beings isolated by

Interview with Hilary Moore, co-author of No Fascist USA!

I recently interviewed writer and anti-racist political educator Hilary Moore about the new book No Fascist USA! The John Brown Anti-Klan Committee and Lessons for Today’s Movements, which she co-authored with James Tracy. The book

Far rightists divided on coronavirus and Trump

Julia DeCook has a good article outlining how right-wing media activists have been exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to spread xenophobia, conspiracy theories, and other forms of misinformation: The conspiracy theories about the virus range from

Comment on Foucault and the Iranian Revolution

The Philosopher and the Ayatollah: “A Perplexing Affinity”  A comment on Foucault and the Iranian Revolution  by Kristian Williams If we want to defeat fascism, we need to understand its attraction. Sometimes an exceptional case

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On the roots of America First foreign policy

MAGA’s “America First” approach to foreign policy draws on antiwar sentiment but has promoted unilateralist military aggression. This essay explores the roots of the America First outlook in the “isolationist” nationalism of the early 1940s America First Committee, as analyzed by Franz Schurmann in his 1974 book The Logic of World Power.

Remembering Chip Berlet

Three Way Fight mourns groundbreaking antifascist researcher Chip Berlet, who died on January 30th, and republishes Matthew N. Lyons’s essay, “Chip Berlet, Co-Author” from the 2021 book Exposing the Right and Fighting for Democracy: Celebrating Chip Berlet as Journalist and Scholar.

What the F**k Is to Be Done?

Dandy Andy attempts to answer the question, How do we craft an anti-capitalist strategy for our current period? His discussion touches on the relationship between class analysis and intersectionality, the dynamic tension between nonviolent civil disobedience and militant action, some guidelines for political coalitions, the importance of building community spaces and human connection, and the tension between the needs for public organizing and movement security.

Cracks in the Foundation: Heritage and Ruling Class Strategy

When more than a dozen Heritage Foundation staffers recently quit, it highlighted the Trump coalition’s growing internal debate over white nationalist antisemitism. But it also points to a crisis of strategic direction for the US ruling class.

What Charlie Kirk’s Life and Death Can Tell Us About the U.S. Right in the Age of Trump

Charlie Kirk’s life and death offer a microcosm of the MAGA movement’s shift to the right over the past decade—and of the dynamic factional interplay that has fueled that shift. Regardless of why Kirk was targeted, the right is using his killing as an opportunity to impose a climate of enforced loyalty and gear up for what could be a major political crackdown.