The ‘Anti-Fascism’s Origins Are In Anti-Semitism’ Myth

The Myth

The origins of anti-fascism were anti-Semitic and anti-fascism is synonymous with anarchism.

The Truth

Oh where to start with this one! A couple of our members have reported this one, but it may well be the belief of a lone loony as I can’t find anything further on it. Still, it’s worth mentioning in case it catches on.

The argument begins with that anti-fascists cannot claim to be morally superior to fascists, as anti-fascism is tainted with anti-Semitism. A damning accusation you may think. When questioned further about this said loony, ‘Alto Demonivic’, presented the following evidence relating to the “original anti fascist“.

“Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, a vicious anti-semite who dreamt of the final solution nearly a hundred years before the Nazi holocaust. In this text, Luther Blissett tears the mask off anarchism to reveal the shocking truth that lies beneath its fraudulent ‘left-wing’ image. The Nazis did not invent the deranged anti-semetic conspiracy theories that led to the horrors of the gas chambers.“

Our informants realised that the above paragraph is a copy-and-paste job. It’s obviously some sort of book review if you read through it. It’s actually a short review of ‘Anarchist Integralism: Aesthetics, Politics & The Apres-Garde‘ by Luther Blissett. The review can be found on this website: http://www.stewarthomesociety.org/features/aip.htm
The back cover of book proclaims, “ANARCHISM EXPOSED!” and details how modern militant liberals get their ideas from 19th century anarchists, approve of neo-Nazi terrorism and are part of a right wing conspiracy!
Apparently, “The emblem on the front cover shows a representation of proletarian purity being threatened with corruption from environmentalists and anarchists“. My goodness, those damned tree-hugging environmentalists!

For the curious, the sentence that comes after ‘gas chambers’ reads, “The despicable lie that Marx and Rothschild were working together to stage an internation coup was first ventilated by the founding fathers of modern anarchism“. Oops the book defends Marx and Rothschild, that wouldn’t endear it to your average Far Right nationalist!
Luther Blissett isn’t actually an author: it’s a nom de plume adopted by hundreds of artists and social activists. So who actually wrote Anarchist Integralism is anyone’s guess.

The oddly named ‘Alto Demonivic’ (does he think a pseudonym like that of a Serbian porn star makes his views more respectable?) also stuck in a URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Bakunin

Okay I know what you’re thinking. What does any of the above have to do with a link between anti-Semitism and anti-fascism? Not much really. It is known that both Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809 – 1865) and Mikhail Bakunin (1814 – 1876) had anti-Semitic views.

In Proudhon’s case he actually suggested extermination of the Jews, so yes he was an anti-Semite. He was the first person to describe themselves as an anarchist and coined the phrase “All property is theft“, meaning a capitalist who Proudhon believed ’stole’ the profits from labourers. However whether he actually was an anarchist or merely advocated it is a different matter. In fact his championship of the nation, the family, tradition and the monarchy, as well as being anti-Semitic, anti-republican and anti-democratic, means he is claimed by some as the founder of the Far Right. Our Serbian porn star friend obviously was unaware of that!

Bakunin was a Russian anarchist, revolutionary and theorist of collectivist anarchism. He criticised Marx and said that not all revolutions need be violent. He also rejected Marx’s idea of the dictatorship of the proletariat. His views on Jews were that they were parasitic capitalists. The Jews historically have been accused of being both socialist revolutionaries and capitalist exploiters of the working class. So yes Bakunin was an anti-Semite. This fact is repeated on neo-Nazi websites like Vanguard and Stormfront, as well as a website called TribWatch that is about the ‘Rapture’ and ‘Tribulation’. Yes… well go and read some Tim LaHaye to see what that last one’s all about!

Right so early anti-fascism was anti-Semitic, all done and dusted… only it is isn’t! Take a look at when they died: 1865 and 1876. The earliest use of the word ‘fascism’ dates from 1915 and the Fascist Revolutionary Party. Mussolini’s National Fascist Party came along in 1919. So fascism didn’t exist until 50 years after Proudhon died and 39 years after Bakunin died!

So unless Proudhon and Bakunin could time travel or were the living dead, it’s impossible they could’ve been anti-fascists any more than Hitler was a hippie!
Aha, but then our friend with his Serbian porn star name makes the following claim!

“Anti-fascism is synonomous [sic] with anarchism“

Then the post degenerates into a series of wild rants, foul language and unpleasant accusations that I assume aren’t true, especially as the poor chap seems to have mislaid his marbles. He does manage one last attempt at a rational argument when he says, “Proudhon is the anarchists icon“. So we’ll concentrate on those two sentences.
From what he said it seems as if he believes that anti-fascism is inherently anarchist in nature. That does perhaps make some sense when you see that many of the most vocal anti-fascists fit the image of anarchists. The same sort of people demonstrate against capitalism as demonstrate against fascism, so at highly simplistic level the two could be seen as being synonymous. Proudhon also has been very influential up to the present day with the Left, mostly on the Continent though not the UK.
But that ignores the fact that a great number of people from many different backgrounds are members of anti-fascist alliances. It also ignores the fact that historically fascism has been opposed by people who were anything but anarchists. Were Churchill, Stalin, the trade unions and Pope Pius XI anarchists? I hardly think so!

Currently the nemesis of the British Far Right, Unite Against Fascism, contains members from across the political spectrum, including David Cameron. Claims the UAF are Communist or anarchist due to Socialist Workers Party members being in it, are obviously therefore baseless.

The Reverend Jonathan Evens of the Church of England said, “[a]s Christian churches, we oppose the racist policies and fascist philosophy of the BNP, stating clearly that they are incompatible with the Christian faith“. That was when the Church urged its congregation not to vote BNP. So is the Church of England anarchist now? Will vicarages up and down England become communes of collectivist activity?

According to a senior royal aide, “The Queen thinks it is a disgrace that the name of such a courageous leader in our hour of need has been hijacked in this way. She believes it is important the Royal Family redoubles its efforts to stem the tide of this division. It is unhealthy and not British“. Apparently Her Maj was furious at the BNP using Churchill’s image. So is the Queen an anarchist now?

Realistically all any of this proves is that fascism unites people in hating it. At least it has some useful function.
As for anarchism being inherently anti-Semitic, well the definition of anarchism is according to Webster’s Dictionary:

an·ar·chism
Function: noun
Date: 1642
1 : a political theory holding all forms of governmental authority to be unnecessary and undesirable and advocating a society based on voluntary cooperation and free association of individuals and groups

2 : the advocacy or practice of anarchistic principles

Whereas fascism is:

fas·cism
Function: noun

Etymology: Italian fascismo, from fascio bundle, fasces, group, from Latin fascis bundle & fasces fasces
1 often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
2 : a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control <early instances of army fascism and brutality — J. W. Aldridge>

Which one is based on race? Which one has a history of anti-Semitism? Citing the fact that two leading anarchists were anti-Semitic makes no difference firstly to their politics or secondly to anarchism in general. Anti-Semitism is entwined with fascism and remains so to the present day. It was also popular in the 19th century throughout society. But the personal beliefs of Proudhon and Bakunin hardly make everything they wrote anti-Semitic or anarchism an inherently anti-Semitic ideology.

I also beg to defer that we live in a world where time travelling zombie anti-fascists walk the Earth and the Queen is an anarchist!

© One Million United