ung people opposing the government. As a response to the fascism that derived from Italy and spread to Germany, people in Germany had responded by forming the Antifaschistische Aktion, or Antifa for short, which were a militant anti-fascist network. The network was formed in the 1930’s when tensions were high between the Nazis and leftists. (Bray, 2017) After the fall of Hitler the Antifa members usually consisted of war veterans, social democrats, and communists. They included the Communists and Social Democrats, who gained popularity after the fall of the Third Reich, Hitler’s Reign.
It is significant for Antifa’s tactics and ideology that in 1936 in London, Communists and Anarchists united; outraged they were standing up against British Union of Fascists, also known as the Battle of Cable Street. Protesters formed a blockade and resorted to violence and beat members of this group and police officers as well. Protesters used homemade bombs, and burned a lorry. In French, British, and American areas Antifa groups had begun to recede in 1945.
Years later, in 1980s Antifa in Germany has no historical connection to the movement; it is a product of an autonomist movement in West Germany. One of the biggest antifascist campaigns in Germany in recent years was the effort to block annual Nazi rallies in the East German city of Dresden. In October 2016 Antifa campaigned on the occasion of the anniversary of reunification of Germany on 3rd of October, to protest German nationalism, and were violent in doing so. The American Antifa of the early 21st Century has been inspired by the tactics of the original German organisation. Peter Beinart writes that in the US in the late 1980 s left wing punk fans formed a group called “Anti-Racist Action” based on the theory that Americans maybe are not so familiar with the term fascism (The Atlantic, 2017).
According to Mark Bray, the author of The Antifa Handbook these activists gained popularity and tried to attract youth with alternative bands in the 90s so that others cannot recruit those people. The motto of Antifa activists was “we go where they go” in order to disrupt any event where the opposition were holding events.
Contemporary Antifa is using the same tactics of disruption, by protesting against free speech when there are members of the alt right who want to hold a speech, like at Berkeley with Milo Yiannopulous.
Ideology of Antifa
