Antifascism: The Course of a Crusade

by Paul Gottfried

Overview

"No doubt Gottfried's book will rank among the most scholarly and convincing responses to the delirium of the present."― Éléments

A conservative take on the antifascist movement

Antifascism argues that current self-described antifascists are not struggling against a reappearance of interwar fascism, and that the Left that claims to be opposing fascism has little in common with any earlier Left, except for some overlap with critical theorists of the Frankfurt School. Paul Gottfried looks at antifascism from its roots in early twentieth-century Europe to its American manifestation in the present. The pivotal development for defining the present political spectrum, he suggests, has been the replacement of a recognizably Marxist Left by an intersectional one. Political and ideological struggles have been configured around this new Left, which has become a dominant force throughout the Western world.

Gottfried discusses the major changes undergone by antifascist ideology since the 1960s, fascist and antifascist models of the state and assumptions about human nature, nationalism versus globalism, the antifascism of the American conservative establishment, and Antifa in the United States. Also included is an excursus on the theory of knowledge presented by Thomas Hobbes in Leviathan.

In Antifascism Gottfried concludes that promoting a fear of fascism today serves the interests of the powerful—in particular, those in positions of political, journalistic, and educational power who want to bully and isolate political opponents. He points out the generous support given to the intersectional Left by multinational capitalists and examines the movement of the white working class in Europe—including former members of Communist parties—toward the populist Right, suggesting this shows a political dynamic that is different from the older dialectic between Marxists and anti-Marxists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501759352
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	10/15/2021
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.88(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Paul Gottfried is Editor in Chief of Chronicles and former Horace Raffensperger Professor of Humanities at Elizabethtown College. He is the editor or author of fourteen books, including, The Vanishing Tradition and Fascism.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Antifa and the Mainstreaming of Antifascism
2. Origins of Antifascism
3. Post–World War II Antifascism
4. Defining and Redefining Fascism
5. Populism versus Antifascism
6. The Uses and Abuses of "Conservative" Antifascism
7. The Antifascist State
Excursus: Antifascism and the Nature of Hobbesian Authority
Afterthoughts

What People are Saying About This

Thomas E. Woods

"'Antifascism,' which motivates much left-wing and even conservative agitation, is aimed at a largely imaginary problem. If there is anyone in society to whom the fascist label might genuinely apply, such people are completely isolated, with zero institutional support or funding and extreme social disapprobation. There is no one more qualified than Paul Gottfried, an outstanding scholar of fascism, to pierce through the propaganda and discuss what's really behind 'antifascist' activism."

Thomas E. Woods Jr.

'Antifascism,' which motivates much left-wing and even conservative agitation, is aimed at a largely imaginary problem. If there is anyone in society to whom the fascist label might genuinely apply, such people are completely isolated, with zero institutional support or funding and extreme social disapprobation. There is no one more qualified than Paul Gottfried, an outstanding scholar of fascism, to pierce through the propaganda and discuss what is really behind 'antifascist' activism.

Alexander Riley

One of the most learned scholars of politics in our time has produced a methodical demolition of the myths propagated about Antifa in the halls of politics, media, and universities. This will make a splendid gift for my faculty colleagues.

Stanley Payne

A trenchant, fully informed and objective analysis of antifascism as critique, propaganda and political weapon, both historically and at present. This incisively original study is basic for current understanding.

author of Toward a Biosocial Science Alexander Riley

One of the most learned scholars of politics in our time has produced a methodical demolition of the myths propagated about Antifa in the halls of politics, media, and universities. This will make a splendid gift for my faculty colleagues.

Editorial Reviews

No doubt Gottfried's book will rank among the most scholarly and convincing responses to the delirium of the present.

Éléments

As Gottfried notes, numerous Catholics opposed Nazism during the 1930s and 40s, but those who fought real Nazis back when doing so required actual courage were motivated by values radically different from those of today's self-styled antifa crusadersWhat is perhaps most important to note is that, back in the day, the Nazis' Catholic opponents were not driven by hate but by love.

Crisis Magazine

Antifascism: The Course of a Crusade is a sequel to Gottfried's Fascism: The Career of a Concept (2016), which was the best book on [the subject] to appear in a decade or more.

First Things

Antifascism is an important book for understanding that every time our rulers claim to be fighting old fascism, they are really proposing new tyranny.

The Washington Examiner

The reader will learn that the contemporary treatment of fascism [is] very different from how Marxist and liberal critics responded to the ideology and its adherents in the first half of the 20th century. Antifascism is as much a book of history as it is a book of political science.

American Conservative