Antifascism: The Course of a Crusade

Antifascism, according to conservative thinker Paul Gottfried, is not battling a revival of interwar fascism, but rather a new Left that has emerged as a dominant force in the Western world. He discusses the changes in antifascist ideology since the 1960s, the fascist and antifascist models of the state, nationalism versus globalism, the antifascism of the American conservative establishment, and Antifa in the United States. He argues that promoting a fear of fascism today serves the interests of the powerful and that the white working class in Europe is moving toward the populist Right.

Format: Hardback
Length: 216 pages
Publication date: 15 October 2021
Publisher: Cornell University Press

Antifascism is a conservative perspective on the antifascist movement that challenges the notion that current self-described antifascists are fighting against a resurgence of interwar fascism. It argues that the Left, which claims to oppose fascism, has little in common with previous Left movements, except for some overlap with critical theorists of the Frankfurt School. Paul Gottfried explores the origins and evolution of antifascism in early twentieth-century Europe and its American manifestation in the present. He suggests that the pivotal development for defining the current political spectrum has been the replacement of a recognizably Marxist Left by an intersectional one.

Political and ideological struggles have been centered around this new Left, which has become a dominant force in the Western world. Gottfried discusses the significant changes in antifascist ideology since the 1960s, including fascist and antifascist models of the state, assumptions about human nature, nationalism versus globalism, the antifascism of the American conservative establishment, and Antifa in the United States. He also includes 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, particularly 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 that this shows a different political dynamic from the older dialectic between Marxists and anti-Marxists.

Dimension: 229 x 152 x 19 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781501759352