A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #370 - Antifascism - Political Theory: Antifascism, the State, Revolutionary Rupture, and Us (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

As we discuss in the Spotlight section of this issue, the urgency of 
antifascism has become increasingly urgent in recent weeks. But how can 
we conceive of a long-term antifascism capable of annihilating fascism 
once and for all, beyond immediate tactical considerations? ---- 
Contrary to the rhetoric, let's recall the facts: far-right hate speech 
infiltrates public spaces, incites violence, and claims dozens of 
victims each year. Since 1989, the far right has killed 59 times in 
France, according to historian Nicolas Lebourg's count. In this context, 
organizing popular self-defense for our public meetings and 
demonstrations is therefore an obligation.

However, it seems to us that this alone cannot suffice. Labeling street 
protests as "antifascism" is an admission of failure. Antifascism cannot 
be solely defined by the range of techniques that allow us to wage our 
political struggles in times of far-right radicalization. A genuinely 
antifascist struggle is one that seeks to curb, to annihilate, the very 
possibility of a resurgence of fascism. Fascisms of yesterday and today

Unlike historical fascism, the wave we are experiencing today does not 
arise from the collapse of the bourgeois state. Indeed, the emergence of 
the Blackshirts in Italy and the Nazi party in Germany occurred in 
states practically on life support: the Great Depression had paralyzed 
their economies, the consequences of the Great War were still being 
felt, workers' movements had challenged their institutions, and the 
legitimacy of their governments was plummeting. This vacuum offered 
fascist forces a space where they could present themselves as the only 
ones capable of "reviving" the nation-state, thereby restoring and 
strengthening the bourgeoisie's instrument of power.

Today, the situation is precisely the opposite. The contemporary state 
is not weakening; it has strengthened itself in unprecedented ways: it 
possesses widespread surveillance technology, an exceptional legal 
arsenal, "non-lethal" weapons which it no longer hesitates to use 
extensively, and effective international cooperation. It managed to 
strengthen itself throughout the preceding period (from the post-World 
War II era to the current neoliberal crisis). When the profit machine 
was running at full speed, the state, far from being a mere arbiter, 
played a role in the pseudo-democratic integration of the proletariat. 
The enormous economic surpluses it generated through the country's 
reconstruction and the exploitation of developing countries allowed it 
to distribute the gains: a share to capital, a share to labor. Social 
democracy could promote the welfare state model, and social dialogue was 
enjoying its golden age. In concrete terms, the state gradually absorbed 
social demands within an institutional framework that promised stability 
and protection. The creation of Social Security, for example, 
illustrated this ability to offer a safety net in exchange for the 
disarmament of workers-many of whom had joined the resistance. And while 
Social Security was initially conceived as independent of the state, the 
latter quickly managed to regain control of its management, further 
consolidating its central role as guarantor of economic and social order.

A new social pact
But today, the crisis has returned. The capitalist crisis we are 
experiencing overturns the logic that has long structured relations 
between the state and workers. To maintain margins and profits, 
capitalists have no choice but to wage war against our class. The 
compromise that was the tacit agreement of Keynesianism[1]can no longer 
hold. The state, in a pendulum swing, is reverting to its repressive 
reflexes: how could it be otherwise? The bourgeoisie has always been its 
sole master. When the interests of capital are threatened, the state 
apparatus transforms into a shield designed to protect those interests. 
Thus, our time is not simply witnessing an economic contraction; we are 
observing the return of a state that, instead of cushioning the shocks, 
acts as an instrument of repression in the service of a dominant class 
whose hegemony is being challenged.

In this context, the fascism we see emerging appears as nothing more 
than a simple attempt to re-establish a class compromise by sacrificing 
the most vulnerable groups. Under the guise of a promise of "renewal" or 
"security," factions of the bourgeoisie, the petty bourgeoisie, and even 
elements of the proletariat seek to forge a new social pact. A racist, 
patriarchal, ableist, ecocidal pact, and so on. In other words, 
contemporary fascism presents itself as the solution, but it only 
consolidates the interests of the ruling classes by shifting the burden 
of the crisis onto the shoulders of already marginalized populations.

Socialism or barbarism? An antifascism of our time must therefore 
necessarily be a revolutionary political movement, in the strongest 
sense of the term. We cannot tie our fate to the State: an electoral 
anti-fascist front might, perhaps (but nothing is less certain!), 
temporarily prevent fascists from coming to power, but this would 
(certainly!) be nothing definitive. The "left" in power could lead us 
back to a phase of pseudo-democratic integration, but as long as capital 
remains in control, a repressive return is already inevitable. A 
backlash that would then very likely be more brutal than the current 
one, since it would then seize an even stronger State apparatus.

The only true anti-fascism is that which seeks to eliminate the material 
conditions for the existence and emergence of fascist tendencies. Thus, 
it is self-evident: anti-fascism can only be found in revolutionary 
rupture. It can only be found in the quest to remind our class, the 
working class, of its own interests, in the work to be done to reassure 
our comrades of our own strength. The only possible antifascism is that 
which succeeds in constituting a libertarian communist collective 
subject that will sweep away all temptations of class compromise, a 
collective subject that will recognize its only mortal enemy: capitalism.

Wendelin (UCL Alsace)

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[1]Keynesianism is a school of economic thought founded by John Maynard 
Keynes, which theorizes state intervention in economic markets to 
stabilize and regulate them.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Theorie-politique-L-antifascisme-l-Etat-la-rupture-revolutionnaire-et-nous
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