Everything about Anti-fascism totally explained
Anti-fascism is the opposition to
fascist ideologies, organizations, governments and people.
There is a difference between anti-fascism as a political movement, and personal opposition to fascism. In the broadest sense, an anti-fascist is anyone who disagrees with fascism or engages in anti-fascist
direct action. This includes most mainstream political parties and groups in the
Western world, including both
leftists and
rightists. Anti-fascist political movements have been historically associated with movements such as
anarchism,
communism and
socialism; however, one doesn't have to be left-wing to be opposed to fascism. Another term for anti-fascism (or anti-fascists) is
antifa.
Large scale anti-fascist movements were first seen during the
Spanish Civil War. Amongst others, the
International Brigade and the
Spanish anarchist militias formed a broad popular anti-fascist movement.
Most major
resistance movements during World War II were anti-fascist. In
France, quite a few people who joined the
Resistance against the
Vichy regime came from
far right nationalist and
royalist backgrounds. They abandoned the Vichy regime and started fighting against the
Germans when they saw that
Philippe Pétain was entirely subservient to the
Nazis and had no intent to stop
collaboration. The anti-fascist movement, known as the
Italian resistance, was also an important part of
Italian history; many people left their houses and went to live in the mountain side, fighting against both
Fascists and
Third Reich soldiers. Many cities of the northern Italy, including
Turin and
Milan, were freed by anti-fascist uprisings.
There are two broad positions within the anti-fascism movement:
militant anti-fascism and
liberal anti-fascism. There is disagreement within the anti-fascist movement about whether violence is justified. Violence played an important role in the 1920s and the 1930s, when anti-fascists confronted aggressive far right groups such as the
Action Française movement in France, which dominated the
Latin Quarter students' neighborhood. In Italy in the 1920s, anti-fascists fought against the violent
Squadristi. In Germany around the same time, anti-fascists had physical conflicts with the
Freikorps. In the 2000s,
neo-Nazis pose a genuine physical threat in some areas, and have even killed people. Militant anti-fascists claim that in those areas,
self-defence is necessary because the
state can't be depended on to defend all communities. However, liberal anti-fascists argue that not all neo-Nazis are directly responsible for violence, and that engaging in
vigilante actions against them allows them to depict themselves as innocent victims.
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