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


Protesters gathered in the street with banners, including one at front that reads "Montréal Antifasciste"

Anti-Fascism and the Three Way Fight in Québec

3WF

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The ideas advanced in the book Three Way Fight: Revolutionary Politics and Antifascism offer a useful set of tools to examine developments in Québec’s far right and antifascist movement over the past seven years.

Antifascist, Canada, far right, Québec

Three Way Fight virtual book event August 5th

Book co-editors Xtn Alexander and Matthew N. Lyons will discuss Three Way Fight: Revolutionary Politics and Antifascism in an online event sponsored by Firestorm Books. “Three way fight” refers to a political approach, a political project, and a book, and the presentation will give an overview of all three.

Antifascist

“Anti-hate” think tank scapegoats China for Palestine solidarity protests

Matthew N Lyons

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There’s a real money trail linking China’s propaganda apparatus with some pro-Palestinian organizations in the U.S. But the Network Contagion Research Institute distorts this bid for influence into a conspiracist vision of the Chinese Communist Party secretly directing mass protests to destabilize America.

Antifascist

Three Way Fight new book promo

New Video Promo For Three Way Fight: Revolutionary Politics and Antifascism

What’s the relationship between combating the far right and working for systemic change? What does it mean when fascists intensify racial oppression and patriarchy, but also call for the downfall of economic elites or even take up arms against the state? Three Way Fight: Revolutionary Politics and Anti-Fascism offers an introduction to three way fight politics, with more than thirty essays, position statements, and interviews spanning from the antifascist struggles of the 1980s and 1990s to the political upheavals of the 21st century. Check out the new book promo by kersplebedeb and PM Press to learn more.

Antifascist

Anti-Zionist Reflections on Zionism and the American Jewish Community

Three Way Fight

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To uphold the idea that Jewishness is equivalent to Zionism in a world where a large chunk of younger Jews no longer identify with Zionism and oppose the inhumanity of Israel’s rule over Palestinians, you have to silence all of the Jews who disagree with you.

Anti-Zionist, antisemitism, Israel, Palestine

Genealogies of Anti-Fascism Book Review

New book by D.Z. Shaw, Genealogies of Antifascism: Militancy, Critique and the Three Way Fight

Xtn Alexander

1 comment

We are excited to see this new collection of writings from D.Z. Shaw, Genealogies of Antifascism: Militancy, Critique and the Three Way Fight. This book puts together material found on the Three Way Fight site as well as new unpublished pieces. This book, along with Three Way Fight: Revolutionary Politics and Antifascism, while different in scope and content, should be seen as complimentary with the intent on deepening analysis, discussion and debate within the militant antifascist and anti-capitalist movements.

Antifascist

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Notes on Trump/MAGA 2024

Matthew N Lyons

5 comments

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

4 comments

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

Scroll to see more and click on a book for more information about it and where to buy it.

Fascist anti-capitalism?

Henry Ford, industrialist and antisemite. Jason Wilson of The Guardian has a good article about the role of socialism and anti-capitalism in fascist ideology. I am quoted along with antifascist authors Alexander Reid Ross and

An Alt Right Update – Six Months After “Ctrl-Alt-Delete”

“An Alt Right Update,” published by Political Research Associates, is my attempt to summarize how the Alt Right’s political situation has changed since Donald Trump took office on January 20th, when the report “Ctrl-Alt-Delete” first

How the alt-right is reshaping patriarchal politics

I have a new opinion piece in The Guardian under the title “The alt-right hates women as much as it hates people of color.” The article’s main focus is the contrast between the alt-right’s version

Militant Tactics in Anti-Fascist Organizing–Interview Transcript

“I think some folks, many folks… try to divide the concept of a mass response with a militant response. That it’s only possible to do one or the other. I think we really want to

How the Alt Right builds on earlier far right upsurges: teleSUR article

I have an opinion piece on teleSUR about “How the Alt Right Builds on Earlier Far-Right Upsurges.”  A lot of my work over the past couple of years has been based on a distinction between

Against the Grain interview: The Origins and Politics of the Alt-Right

The Pacifica Radio program Against the Grain recently broadcast an interview with me about the Alt Right. Here’s their description: “Until the last year or two, most people had never heard of the alt-right. But the

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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.