A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #370 - Spotlight Facing the Far Right: A Mass and Class-Based Antifascism (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Following the death of a fascist activist in Lyon on February 14th, our 
social movement remained calm and continued to assert its antifascism 
despite attempts at co-optation. But faced with the ever-increasing rise 
of the far right, it is becoming urgent to consider the form this 
commitment should take.
The uncertainty following Quentin Deranque's death in Lyon was 
short-lived. It took only a few days to confirm his activism among the 
most violent and radical fringes of the far right. Investigations even 
revealed the profile of an individual who had firmly conceptualized his 
fascist ideas[1], the ultimate refutation of the far right's narrative 
of a "good Catholic" who was almost there by chance. This journalistic 
work quickly put an end to the far right's attempts to exploit the 
situation. It also revealed that the activist's death followed more than 
two hours of refusing to go to the hospital, a decision reinforced by 
his "comrades" in a dangerous display of machismo.

At the same time, it was reassuring to see that, after some initial 
hesitation, the entire social movement and the revolutionary left 
presented a united front and almost unanimously delivered a clear 
message on the need for an antifascist front, avoiding the pitfall of 
rejecting all violence, into which the entire parliamentary left has 
fallen. This was not to advocate violence as a means of action, but to 
affirm the necessity of defending oneself against the violence of the 
far right.

On March 14, rallies across France reaffirmed the antifascist roots of 
the social movement.[Photo: Red Library/Alexandre]
Presenting a united front
In the weeks and months to come, the question of antifascist solidarity 
will continue to be relevant, especially given the string of arrests in 
recent days. Whatever the conclusions of the investigations into the 
sequence of events, and whatever analyses we draw from them, it will be 
essential, at the very least, to denounce with one voice the media and 
political treatment of these accused individuals. Treated as guilty by a 
large part of the media and political parties, they have not benefited 
from the sacrosanct presumption of innocence, so often invoked in other 
circumstances. The identities of some of those accused were even 
publicly revealed by the fascist rag Frontières, likely informed by a 
police force whose political leanings are well known.

Holding the streets?

But beyond this case, after the calls for unity in antifascism, a 
question arises: what kind of antifascism are we talking about? Or in 
other words: what strategy is needed to truly and effectively block the 
path of the far right?

This resurgence of antifascist rhetoric has had the predictable effect 
of reviving groups within the Antifascist Action (AFA) movement here and 
there. Pre-existing the Young Guard whose dissolution now seems more 
certain than ever these groups share with it the idea of specifically 
antifascist organizations, generally accompanied by similar practices: 
monitoring to identify local far-right activists, and more or less 
martial sports, with the stated objective of "controlling the streets" 
and ensuring popular self-defense.

One of the most useful historical tasks of these movements has often 
been monitoring and publishing information and maps of the far right, as 
the La Horde collective has long done. In recent years, this work has 
been largely joined by the press: Streetpress, Mediapart, Libération, 
and more recently Blast and L'Humanité, all devote a significant portion 
of their resources to investigations into the far right, with the 
advantage of having access to logistics and personal and legal 
protection far superior to that afforded by a small political group. 
This surge in activity and this work are to be welcomed, although it 
does not entirely replace the fieldwork of activist organizations, which 
often serves as its source.

Over the years, most of these antifascist groups have concluded that 
vigilance and self-defense actions are insufficient, and have sought to 
play a leading role in unified frameworks alongside other organizations, 
or to put forward alternative political proposals, sometimes 
revolutionary, sometimes seeking alliances with the reformist left, as 
the Jeune Garde did by getting Raphaël Arnault elected with the support 
of LFI[2]. But while numerous groups, often with substantial membership, 
have emerged in the last ten years  AFA Paris-Banlieue in 2012, the 
Jeune Garde in 2018 in Lyon, and then in several other cities  it is 
clear that their actions alone will not be enough to stem the rise of 
the far right.

Demonstration of July 14, 1935, Paris, Place de la Bastille.

Wikimedia Commons
Among libertarian communists, it is common to say that they advocate for 
mass antifascism. The interpretation of this stance often includes a 
certain critical view of specific antifascist organizations, whose often 
forceful practices are ill-suited to mass mobilization. They also risk 
having antifascist work delegated to them, work that should concern the 
entire social movement. It also seems to us that to combat fascism in 
the long term, it is essential to oppose it with a substantial societal 
project, necessarily revolutionary, anticapitalist, and emancipatory.

Do not delegate antifascism!
But above all, this antifascist project must be carried everywhere! If 
we don't want "siammo tutti antifascisti" to remain just a slogan, we 
must give it substance everywhere we live, work, and are active. If we 
refuse to allow antifascism to be confined to a few specific 
organizations, it is so that we can better integrate it into all aspects 
of our lives. For, in turn, fascism also tries to infiltrate everywhere, 
ready to co-opt any movement. We see this in attempts to infiltrate 
unions, such as last July in Mertzwiller near Strasbourg, where a 
National Rally (RN) member of parliament was able to speak at a rally 
against the closure of a factory, or in attempts to co-opt feminist 
struggles by far-right groups like Némésis.

Within the unions, the Visa association[3]has seen several developments 
in recent months, documented by Alternative libertaire[4], and 
constitutes a genuine example of grassroots antifascism integrated into 
a broader struggle, in this case, the union movement. Within feminist 
and LGBTQ+ struggles, monitoring is often an integral part of activists' 
work, while femonationalism and homonationalism[5]are largely co-opted 
by the far right. As we enter a presidential campaign year that will 
unfortunately serve as a megaphone for far-right propaganda, we must 
close ranks and embody a popular and combative antifascism everywhere. 
To oppose the deadly ideas of the far right with a united front for 
emancipation and solidarity, let us all be antifascists!

N. Bartosek (UCL Alsace)

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[1]Alexandre Berteau and Marie Turcan, "Quentin Deranque, a 
traditionalist Catholic in his private life and a neo-Nazi online," 
Mediapart, March 12, 2026.

[2]On this subject, the article "Antifascism, the State, the 
Revolutionary Rupture, and Us" details, in this issue, a libertarian 
communist revolutionary perspective.

[3]Vigilance and antifascist union initiatives.

[4]"Antifascist union collectives are taking root," Alternative 
libertaire no. 362, Summer 2025.

[5]Femonationalism and homonationalism are concepts referring to the 
instrumentalization of feminist and LGBTQ+ struggles by the far right, 
conservatives, or the State.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Face-a-l-extreme-droite-Un-antifascisme-de-masse-et-de-classe
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