Reviews and Comments

Just a quick review here. I've really been appreciating this book: very readable, clear language, interesting history. This really fills in the gaps in my knowledge of the post-WWII fascist movement with a focus on Louis Beam and the 3rd - 4th waves of the KKK, taking momentum from the "stabbed in the back" narrative of the US experience of the Vietnam War, rampant fear mongering around communism, popular white perspectives of overreach by the civil rights and various liberation movements of the long '60s, and the flood of weaponry and tools of war into the hands of an increasingly anti-State white nationalist movement. There's an interesting focus on groups like the KKKK and the uniting of Klan and Neo-Nazi groups during and after the Greensboro Massacre of 1979, the Order and its overlaps with Aryan Nations, National Alliance, the failed Operation Red Dog invasion of Dominica, ties between white nationalists and the CIA-adjacent arming and training of the Contras and other anti-communist paramilitary forces and a whole lot more packed in this book. Off-hand, my criticisms are few as I approach the end of the book. "Bring The War Home" could use some editing, a few facts are covered multiple times in different sentences in a way that made me wonder if I hadn't just read that. Also, there is a heavy reliance on coverage of FBI / ATF / DEA & DOJ legal pursuit (alongside the SPLC, whose lawsuits on behalf of victims were deeper and more numerous than I knew) but not a lot (besides the Vietnamese immigrant community resistance in Gulf Texas) of popular resistance covered. Maybe that's not the scope of the book. But I am definitely appreciative of the work that Belew put into this book, and the thoughtfulness of digging into the motivations (where available and documented) of these racist pieces of shit. Know your enemy.

This book shows the work that Simpson did to dig through FOIA-available documentation of US security agencies, particularly the CIC (Counter Intelligence Corps) of the US Army during & after WWII, as well as the OSS & it's successor the CIA, conducting interviews with former agents and researching the whereabouts of former Waffen SS & SD and extremist anti-Communist (read usually fascist) agents who were hidden by the US security state after the war, were spirited out of Europe via Vatican ratlines, were armed and employed in Soviet-occupied parts of Eastern Europe. Simpson touches on parts of Operation Paperclip (the US operation to employ Nazi & Axis scientists, often helping them avoid international war crimes tribunal convictions, obfuscating their status as war criminals and giving them access to US citizenship by manipulating the rules set by US immigration), the Gehlen Organization (the ex-Nazi intelligence-staffed, US-funded post-war network that became the West German intelligence / BND), Operation Bloodstone (the employment, training, arming of former Nazis & collaborators in eastern Europe to undermine the Soviety-controlled sphere) and some of the consequences. Beyond the consequences of impunity to anti-Semitic mass murders, the influence of these machinations also led to neo-Nazi organizing among some of these parties in various parts of the world (including among emigre populations in the US through groups organized by under the auspices of ACEN [Assembly of Captured European Nations] / ABN [Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nation]) and the pushing of a strategy in US international policy paid for & by front organizations allied with Radio Liberation and Radio Free Europe (via CIA funding). That influence pushed an increasingly antagonistic approach toward the Cold War moving to a hot war with USSR, China, North Korea and other states in alignment at the time [from Containment strategy of the Eisenhower regime to Liberation strategy pushed by Joe McCarthy and many others]. Phew. The author does a good job, in my opinion of not pulling a Campist perspective on this, noting that mass killings and the use of former Nazi & collaborationist agents happened on the USSR & Eastern Bloc side as well (though likely to a much less consistent degree, but also not the focus of the book). The book, taking the tone of civil dialogue, notes that the subsidizing of former Waffen SS/SD & collaborators was performed under the auspices of anti-Communist / anti-Totalitarian/ anti-Stalinist reaction and the assumption that a war was impending with the communist bloc, as opposed to Agency-wide valorization of Nazi atrocities. And we see a feedback cycle of positive re-enforcement and confirmation bias as the spy organizations purged any but the more reactionary anti-Communist elements of their own roster, paid per gig the anti-Communist Nazis to tell their handlers just how immanent the threat of Soviet invasion was or how likely the countries under Soviet control were to revolt, and then used Sen. McCarthy to challenge this looming threat by bullying politicians into a more hawkish war footing. A problem with this was, the ex-Nazis were often feeding lies to get the CIA to line their pockets and the US intelligence agencies got high on their own supply. The book was published in 1988, so it had the benefit of being near the tail of the Soviet Union and all of that hindsight, plus the Church Committee and the discovery of what documents could be saved before the agencies involved could employ their shredders. Plus, a number of the people involved were still alive and available for interview (those who didn't decline). I appreciate the author's professional tone (doesn't get in the weeds of presuming intentions or flying down conspiracy rabbit-holes). Definitely a book I'll be holding on to for reference.

This really sat well next to "It Did Happen Here", another published by the Working Class History imprint on PM Press this year. The book covers much of the same early history of the Baldies anti-racist skinhead crew in Minneapolis that joined with Chicago and other local scenes to create the Syndicate and eventually branched out of Skinhead culture to found Anti-Racist Action. Where IDHH covers the collaboration between scenes with a focus on Portland, this shows a degree of how wide ARA spread in the '90s and '00s through parts of so-called USA & Canada, with a focus on the midwestern and eastern portions.

You hear anectdotes and analysis on chapter-level issues and fights up to network wide developments as racist, fascist and anti-abortion groups rose up out of the sludge and various crews attempted to fight them down again. Chapter themes include the role of subculture in incubating and spreading the model, the methods of inter-chapter debate, challenges and innovations from within & without and a lovely tie-up at the end on the legacy of the group and a challenge to build a broad (yet secure and representative) anti-fascism today that can be wide and strong, recognizing the interconnection between institutional oppressions and the street chuds who want to rumble. Quite a good read and lots of material for discussion.

Another overlap with the IDHH book is that they are both heavy on the imagery, lots of pics from demos and lots of organizing graphics, stickers and posters as well as dox materials.

There's a lot in here for anyone looking to learn the history or sharpen their perspective on current struggle.

I got this book a bit early for preparing an interview for the radio show, but since it hasn't been released (brag brag) I won't include any spoilers. Basically, if you haven't heard the KBOO podcast hosted by Erin Yanke, Mic Crenshaw & Celina Flores, do it! If you've heard the podcast, check out the book and you'll find even more interviews (in addition to many from the book) with antiracist activists from Portland from the mid 80's to late 90's. Plus a ton of photos, posters and flyers, news clippings and more. There is so much here and I've no doubt it's just scratching the surface. This is a great read for anyone interested in radical or regional history, doing anti-racist activism, who is interested in multi-generational and coalitional organizing, or into subcultural punk and skinhead resistance.

Starting earlier, though really sparked by the murder by beating of Ethiopian immigrant and educator Mulugeta Seraw as he tries to stop a fight between his friends and nazi "bonehead" skinheads from East Side White Pride in 1988, the book follows lesbian activists, gay Act Up organizers, punks and skins, seasoned leftist activists, feminists and other concerned community members as they attempt to face down, map and out-organize not only violent street fighters but also holocaust deniers, rural white nationalist militia, and right wing Christian organizing by Oregon Citizens Alliance in and around Portland before the turn of the millenium.

Massive respect from here for the activists and community members whose stories are told here, as well as the producers of the podcast and this volume for their amazing work crafting such a moving patchwork quilt of experience.