Historical Roots of American Fascism and Political Strategy Today

The new season of the Political Strategy reading group will explore in depth six major waves of struggle and counter-revolution in the United States, from the early decades of the republic to the present.

 With each new era, we will use readings and discussion to address three major points of analysis: 

1. Sources, strengths, and strategies of the waves of popular struggle of the era
2. Changing forms of repression and the antecedents or emergence of American fascism
3. Strategic reflections on the era from vantage point of the present moment 

We will spend two to three weeks on each era, focusing on selections from one or two books. We will add supplementary readings suggested when we meet. The reading group will continue into early 2025 against the backdrop of this year’s elections outcomes. 

We will organize around these six eras and roots of American fascism:

1. Settler-colonial expansion – freedom struggles and response
2. Civil War and Reconstruction
3. The Repression of Radical Labor
4. Post World War I to the Rise of the Modern Political Right 
5. Black Freedom struggles and the Carceral State
6. Neoliberalism and Late Fascism

And then a final section to reflect and and consider the present day.

Convened by Steve Backman and Rebecca Minnich