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


About Us

Three Way Fight

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This site is directed towards the revolutionary anti-capitalist movements that have emerged over the last several years. The rise of these movements shows the potential for radical struggle that breaks with parliamentary reformism and the …

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Hamerquist Responds to Matthew Lyons

Three Way Fight

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Hamerquist Responds to Matthew Lyons (3/31/05) Matthew, Sorry for the delay. Thanks for taking the time to respond. Let me start with the easiest point: I like the Juan Cole blog for Middle East information. …

Anti-capitalism, fascism, Hamerquist, Matthew Lyons, Stan Goff

Matthew Lyons comments on Hamerquist and Goff exchange

Don, Your reply to Goff offered a lot of good food for thought, and left me wanting to hear more. I appreciate the way you discuss the Iraq war, the neocons, and the question of …

Anti-capitalism, fascism, Hamerquist, Matthew Lyons, Stan Goff

Continued discourse on article, Debating a Neocon. Hamerquist on dilemmas for Capital and further outlines of the content of the resistance movements.

Three Way Fight

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The following is a response to Stan Goff from D. Hamerquist. Excerpt: “There is a general assumption that recognizing a fascist danger… automatically subordinates the struggle against the capitalist system to an anti-fascist alliance with …

Anti-capitalism, Antifascist, fascism, Hamerquist, neocon, Stan Goff

Continued discourse on article, Debating a Neocon. Goff responds to Hamerquist

Three Way Fight

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by Stan Goff January 13, 2005 I don’t mind being a straight man in effigy as long as the star acknowledges that it is just the effigy’s role. Don Hammerquist goes all the way around …

Anti-capitalism, fascism, Hamerquist, neocon, Stan Goff, war

Responding to Stan Goff’s, Debating a NeoCon

Three Way Fight

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Goff’s positions are refreshing given what is often presented as radical. I agree with him that the war in Iraq is “…symptomatic of a much deeper global crisis”. I agree that the difficulties facing capital …

Anti-capitalism, fascism, Hamerquist, neocon, Stan Goff, war

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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

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

South Side Chicago Anti-Racist Action Annual Zine #3 available

From the South Side ARA blog: Annual South Side ARA Zine #3 (Mid 2011- April 2012) Download readable version hereDownload printable PDF here “This is South Side ARA’s 3rd annual zine. This zine, just like

Palestinian activists’ statement denounces Gilad Atzmon’s racism and antisemitism

Twenty-three Palestinian activists and organizers have signed a public statement titled“Granting No Quarter: A Call for the Disavowal of the Racism and Antisemitism of Gilad Atzmon.” The signers “call for the disavowal of Atzmon by

Not Quite “Ordinary Human Beings”—Anti-Imperialism and the anti-humanist rhetoric of Gilad Atzmon

[This statement has been moved to a separate page on the Three Way Fight website at http://threewayfight.blogspot.com/p/atzmon-critique_09.html.]

Between Pro-Fascism and Left-Populism: Reading Loren Goldner on the Bolivian MNR

I recently read Loren Goldner’s 2011 article on Bolivia’s Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR) and I think it has a lot to offer for ThreeWayFight readers. The title is a mouthful: “Anti-Capitalism or Anti-Imperialism? Interwar Authoritarian

Anti-capitalist perspectives on the Occupy movement

The January issue of Insurgent Notes, an online left-communist journal, is devoted mainly to the Occupy movement, with a lead editorial, reports from Occupy campaigns in six U.S. cities, and an article on “class struggle

Conservatism studies: on the value and limits of academic history

Not so long ago, respected historians and sociologists promoted the idea that right-wing politics was best understood as a kind of psychological problem: a form of collective irrationality, an expression of despair or a paranoid

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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.