30's Homegrown Fascists of America
More dangerous than anybody now wants to admit.
Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay
I'm not the only one checking out parallels between 1930's far rightwingers and today.
I just devoured a new book on homegrown American fascism in the 1930's.
Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism by Rachel Maddow
It's fascinating because it’s so scary.
I need a rest. Maybe next I'll read Stephen King's new novel.
Maddow covered many of the same groups as I've written about here, but in much more detail.
(I didn't discover the top German spy in the US once wrote a gay vampire novel.)
She covers the German American Bund, William Dudley Pelley and his Silver Shirts, Father Coughlin and America First.
She does NOT cover the alleged business fascist coup against Roosevelt.
She does write about Huey Long in a lot more detail - plus the Christian Front.
She mentions many other groups I'd never heard of. They were apparently much smaller than the big names, but widespread.
She makes it clear Huey Long was a much greater threat to American democracy than I'd realized.
Long ruled Louisiana - and I DO mean 'ruled,' NOT 'governed.'
Besides being incredibly corrupt and authoritarian, he advocated populist economic policies more leftwing than Roosevelt's New Deal.
If he'd run in 1936 as he apparently planned to, he may have thrown that election to the Republican candidate.
But, before the election, an assassin killed Long - doing us all a favor.
The Christian Front
Incredibly, I can't recall reading before about this group of so-called 'Christian' fascists.
In New York, they stockpiled rifles, ammunition and even two Browning light machine guns for the war they planned to set off between 'Christians' and Jews.
They also cooperated closely with Father Coughlin, the anti-Semitic radio priest. Coughlin even called for his supporters to carry out an armed revolt, with the paramilitary Christian Front in charge.
They obtained weapons and ammunition from cooperative soldiers.
That is - they stole it from the United States military.
They also had a lot of support from within not only the Army, but the National Guard and the New York City Police Department. (In 1940, over 400 NYPD officers admitted to membership in the Christian Front.)
They were busted, but the trial was a travesty. The prosecutors just weren't up to the job. Sadly.
Who Needs Stinking Postage Stamps?
During the 1930's, not anyone spreading Nazi propaganda in America.
They sent millions of pieces of propaganda to Americans - even to American service members.
If you're old enough to remember before the Internet, you know snail mail used to be an important means of communications. It's how ordinary people stayed in touch.
To help American lawmakers keep their constituents up to date, they're allowed to send mail at no charge.
In the 1930's, some Senators and Congressional Representatives abused their right to send out free - that is, subsidized by the American taxpayers - mail by using it to spread propaganda from a hostile foreign government: Germany.
It even went to service members, even after Pearl Harbor.
And I thought the current gang of MAGA lawmakers such as Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jim Jordan and others were a pack of the most disgraceful politicians in American history.
No - in the 1930's, around two dozen lawmakers were traitors actively working with German agents to spread Nazi lies - even AFTER Pearl Harbor.
Widespread Racism and Anti-Semitism
That was America in the 1930's, along with cruel poverty and desperate economic conditions.
The widespread acceptance of segregation against African-Americans and prejudice against Jews apparently helped make it easier for many Americans to want to drive everybody of color out of the country, including Jews.
Calls for "white nationalism" or "white Christian nationalism" are appeals to bigotry and hatred, and were more common then than we today realize.
Too many people believed then - and still believe today - America is a "Christian" country, whatever that means.
They also believe it's a "white" country - whatever that means.
It’s impossible to know just how many Americans back then sympathized with racists and anti-Semites.
Or how many actually joined these kinds of groups. Many of them were connected, and memberships overlapped. The American fascist leaders all pretty much knew each other. They appealed to the same fear, hatred and ignorance in ordinary Americans.
I can understand many Americans back then didn't want young Americans to fight in Europe, after the waste that was World War I.
So I want us to learn the lesson isolationism doesn’t protect us. As a baby boomer taught by "Greatest Generation" Americans who fought World War II, I learned the danger of isolationism from grade school on up.
That's why it's so disheartening to see how many Republicans-in-name-only are on Putin's side in his war against Ukraine.
Many are just like their isolationist grandfathers, sucking up to foreign dictators while criticizing the President of the United States for defending freedom.
Patriots-in-name-only.
They love to kiss dictator ass, but hate democracy.
Today
In the 1940's, the Department of Justice tried several times to prosecute some of the American traitors.
Sadly, back then the DOJ and the entire legal system was not up to the task.
The Christian Front were not only not convicted, they got their guns back.
Later, the DOJ failed to prosecute other traitors. The trial was a circus. One pro-Nazi (not openly, of course) Senator even had the defendants filling envelopes with Nazi propaganda during the trial.
The judge didn't have much experience, and the traitor defendants and their lawyers ran the court room - so the stress gave the judge a fatal heart attack in the middle of the trial.
Thank goodness Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, Leticia James, Alvin Bragg and others are stronger and smarter.
So far, only Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon - in charge of the stolen government documents case against Trump - is displaying bias in favor of Trump.
Good Guys Too
Some Americans risked their lives to infiltrate these groups.
Maddow tells their stories too. They're heroes who've been forgotten as Pearl Harbor has buried our memory of the need for anti-fascists in the 1930's as well as the 1940's.
They're a reminder to us Americans today not to forget there've always been citizens who betray the principles of this country.
And there've always been Americans who fought for and to keep our freedoms.
We now have to hope today's heroes will prevail over today's traitors who place loyalty to the "Orange Jesus" over loyalty to the government of their own country.
Conclusion
Clearly, Maddow named this book "PREQUEL" because she wants readers to draw the parallels between the 1930's and 2024.
Millions of Americans are either uneducated about our democratic principles or just plain willing to throw democracy under the bus - because they value racism and so-called 'Christianity' more than the ideals of the United States.
Some of those people are willing to take up arms against the United States, as the January 6 traitors did when they attacked the Capital Building.
A significant minority of American federal lawmakers side with a dictator and hostile foreign government.
Open calls for eliminating all Jews and People of Color from the United States.
When Republicans attack Biden's border policy, what they really want is not only to keep Mexicans out, but to throw out all the Hispanics now living within the United States’ current borders.
The disgraceful trials of the traitors didn't work because the judges were weak, and lawmakers were allowed to unconstitutionally interfere with the process.
Obviously, current judges need to learn from these trials, so as not to repeat those mistakes.
Trump's lawyers are practicing the same kind of law - delay, delay and delay. Make silly motions and arguments. Do everything possible to destroy the public's faith in law enforcement and the court system.
The main difference is, of course, today we have to worry about an American would-be dictator. Not the foreigner Hitler, just Trump.
I have no doubt Ruzzia is working hard to interfere with the 2024 election, just as it did in 2016 and 2020.
In 1941, Japanese planes attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
Without that, when would we have finally joined the war against fascism?
Until Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt couldn't take large-scale action against Germany, Italy and Japan, let alone domestic fascist groups such as the Christian Front and the Silver Shirts.
The isolationist, pro-Fascist America First group was too politically powerful even though President Roosevelt was personally very popular.
This time, we're going to have to defeat the neo-fascists ourselves.
I pray to God we succeed.
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