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Three Way Fight: Revolutionary Politics and Antifascism
What’s the relationship between combating the far right and
working for systemic change? What does it mean when fascists intensify
racial oppression and patriarchy but also call for the downfall of
economic elites or even take up arms against the state?
Three
way fight politics confront these urgent questions squarely, arguing
that the far right grows out of an oppressive capitalist order but is
also in conflict with it in real ways, and that radicals need to combat
both. The three way fight approach says we need sharper analysis of
far-right movements so we can fight them more effectively, and we also
need to track ongoing developments within the ruling class, including
liberal or centrist efforts to co-opt antifascism as a tool of state
repression and system legitimation.
This book offers an
introduction to three way fight politics, with more than thirty essays,
position statements, and interviews from the Three Way Fight website and
elsewhere, spanning from the antifascist struggles of the 1980s and
1990s to the political upheavals of the twenty-first century. Over
fifteen authors explore a range of topics, such as fascist politics’
relationship with patriarchy and settler colonialism, Tom Metzger’s
“Third Position” (anticapitalist) fascism, conflict within the business
community over the 2016 presidential election, and the Trump
administration’s shifting relationship with the organized far right.
Many of the writings address issues of political strategy, such as
tensions between radicals and liberals within the reproductive rights
movement and the George Floyd rebellion, video gaming as an arena of
political struggle, and the importance (and challenges) of approaching
antifascist organizing in ways that are militant, community based, and
nonsectarian.
working for systemic change? What does it mean when fascists intensify
racial oppression and patriarchy but also call for the downfall of
economic elites or even take up arms against the state?
Three
way fight politics confront these urgent questions squarely, arguing
that the far right grows out of an oppressive capitalist order but is
also in conflict with it in real ways, and that radicals need to combat
both. The three way fight approach says we need sharper analysis of
far-right movements so we can fight them more effectively, and we also
need to track ongoing developments within the ruling class, including
liberal or centrist efforts to co-opt antifascism as a tool of state
repression and system legitimation.
This book offers an
introduction to three way fight politics, with more than thirty essays,
position statements, and interviews from the Three Way Fight website and
elsewhere, spanning from the antifascist struggles of the 1980s and
1990s to the political upheavals of the twenty-first century. Over
fifteen authors explore a range of topics, such as fascist politics’
relationship with patriarchy and settler colonialism, Tom Metzger’s
“Third Position” (anticapitalist) fascism, conflict within the business
community over the 2016 presidential election, and the Trump
administration’s shifting relationship with the organized far right.
Many of the writings address issues of political strategy, such as
tensions between radicals and liberals within the reproductive rights
movement and the George Floyd rebellion, video gaming as an arena of
political struggle, and the importance (and challenges) of approaching
antifascist organizing in ways that are militant, community based, and
nonsectarian.
405 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 28, 2024
12 people are currently reading
166 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 5, 2025
An interesting read with a lot of good insights, but I found some of the core thesis of Don Hamerquist no longer valid. The writers often seem to assume that the dominant capitalist class ideology is opposed to the fascism (proto, post, or otherwise) of Trump and his followers. And while capitalists natural home is in the neoliberalism of the Democrats, the fact is they have embraced the new Trump regime with open arms now that he's back in power and far more authoritarian than before. There are also many anti-fascist theorists that touch on some of the areas in which the book claims insights on (like fascism natural base in the downwardly mobile middle class instead of finance capital) in the trotskyist tradition that the writers failed to engage with. While it might be a little unfair to focus on this writing in 2025 about things written in 2020, I found the underestimating of Trump's return, slide to the fascist right, and alliance with Davos capitalism at times a little naive.
April 27, 2025
The main idea: capitalism and fascism aren't normally in lockstep. There's no room for my enemy's-enemy: we shouldn't fight fascism by defending business as usual, and we should watch out for centrists using "anti-fascism" as a weapon against leftists. Because they will and they do.
The book is cool in that it's the greatest hits of a project 20 years running. I knew nothing about it. The essays make their arguments but also serve as a history—as Anti-Racist Action and anti-racist skinheads expanded from street-fighting Nazis in the 90s to take on the less boneheaded alt-right. As the Nazis become alienating (no longer wearing arm-bands), the anti-racists have done the same. Or both have tried to, anyway.
Some essays are provocative and incitement. Others feel a bit pedantic, but I'm not afraid to skip an essay to get back to the good stuff. My favorite was Tigertown Beats Nazis Down...raw, earnest, and tragically funny.
The era of Trump II is going to be a hard lens to read this through, though. The book was published with the possibility of a second Trump election, but one that was expected to be similar to his first term--disorganized and bigger on talk than action. I'm writing in April 2025 and I feel like there's no telling how we'll be thinking about the far-right even two months from now. So much has yet to happen. But still, this book is a documentation of the roots of US anti-fascism and whatever comes next will be grown from that rootstock.
The book is cool in that it's the greatest hits of a project 20 years running. I knew nothing about it. The essays make their arguments but also serve as a history—as Anti-Racist Action and anti-racist skinheads expanded from street-fighting Nazis in the 90s to take on the less boneheaded alt-right. As the Nazis become alienating (no longer wearing arm-bands), the anti-racists have done the same. Or both have tried to, anyway.
Some essays are provocative and incitement. Others feel a bit pedantic, but I'm not afraid to skip an essay to get back to the good stuff. My favorite was Tigertown Beats Nazis Down...raw, earnest, and tragically funny.
The era of Trump II is going to be a hard lens to read this through, though. The book was published with the possibility of a second Trump election, but one that was expected to be similar to his first term--disorganized and bigger on talk than action. I'm writing in April 2025 and I feel like there's no telling how we'll be thinking about the far-right even two months from now. So much has yet to happen. But still, this book is a documentation of the roots of US anti-fascism and whatever comes next will be grown from that rootstock.
November 10, 2024
An incredibly instructive and practical compilation of essays with a good balance of historical background and organizing approaches. Three Way Fight helps today's antifascist and anticapitalist organizers build on the lessons of the past to effectively build successful movements.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews