Nazis, Communists, Klansmen, and Others on the Fringe

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Nazis, Communists, Klansmen, and Others on the Fringe: Political Extremism in America is a 1992 book by John George and Laird Wilcox. It is an examination of political extremism of both the far left and far right in the United States.

The authors attempt to summarize the pre-1960 historical background of American extremist movements, discuss conspiracy theories and their validity, offer their insight on what motivates extremists, and discuss a number of contemporary groups on the "far left" and "far right" based principally on their personal contacts with approximately six hundred individual extremists and the extremists' own writings.

It was published by Prometheus Books (Buffalo, New York) in 1992 as a 523-page hardcover (ISBN 0-87975-680-2). In 1996, Prometheus Books (Amherst, New York) republished it as American Extremists: Militias, Supremacists, Klansmen, Communists and Others in a 443-page paperback (ISBN 1-57392-058-4).

[edit] Quotation

"We are always asked: "How did you get interested in political extremism?" This is a reasonable question because the subject admittedly is somewhat arcane. Yet political extremism has a mystique all its own, combining elements of superstition, urban legend, and political utopianism. While, by definition, extremists roam about the fringes of our culture, they also pay close attention to our culture. Agreeing with them little, nonetheless, we can learn a lot from them and their social and political concerns." —from the preface.

[edit] Contents

Part	Chapter	Notes
	Preface	The authors give the history of their personal interest in political extremism. Recognizing their fallibility, and inability to claim "anything approaching complete objectivity", the authors attempted to "make an honest and diligent attempt to be fair and even-handed in our treatment of this subject." Distinguishing this book from the many covering "extremism" or "extremists" on the market (with their own agenda "to provide a rationale for persecuting or doing away with certain 'extremists'"), the authors' goal was "to provide understanding of a human problem, not a basis for one more round of persecutions." The authors propose a definition of "extremism" based on "the behavioral model" ("defined in terms of certain behaviors, particularly behavior toward other human beings"), passing up the "normative or "statistical" way" (framing the spectrum on a linear scale, a "bell curve") and the "popularity contest" theory ("social definition agreed upon by collective fiat"). The authors describe their position on the political spectrum as "a bit difficult to pin down"; they "might be most accurately described as pragmatists with libertarian tendencies."
Part I. Background, Characteristics, Motivations, and Other Considerations	1. It's Not New: Historical Perspective on American Extremism Prior to 1960
	2. What Is Extremism? Style and Tactics Matter More Than Goals
	3. Extremists and the Constitution
	4. Motivations: Why They Join, Stay, Leave
Part II. The Far Left	5. Communist Party USA
	6. Socialist Workers Party
	7. Spartacist League
	8. Workers League
	9. Guardian
	10. Black Panther Party
	11. Students for a Democratic Society
	12. Progressive Labor Party
	13. Workers World Party
	14. Communist Party USA (Marxist-Leninist)
	15. Revolutionary Action Movement
	16. Revolutionary Communist Party
	17. Communist Workers Party
	18. All African People's Revolutionary Party
	19. Marxist-Leninist Party, USA
Part III. The Far Right	20. Reverend Billy James Hargis and his Christian Crusade
	21. The John Birch Society: A Plot to Sell Books?
	22. The Dan Smoot Report
	23. "Life Line"
	24. The Church League of America
	25. The Christian Right
	26. Willis Carto and Liberty Lobby
	27. The Citizens' Councils of America and The Councilor
	28. Robert Bolivar DePugh and the Minutemen
	29. Common Sense
	30. Gerald L.K. Smith and Christian Nationalist Crusade
	31. The LaRouche Network
	32. Jewish Defense League
	33. The Nation of Islam
	34. Assorted Neo-Nazis	Covers the National Renaissance Party, the American Nazi Party, and the National Socialist Party of America; Neo-Nazi splinters and sects like the America First Committee, the American White Nationalist Party, the Euro-American Alliance, the National Alliance, the National Democratic Front, the National Socialist League/World Service, the National Socialist Liberation Front, the National Socialist Movement, the National Socialist Vanguard, the National Socialist White America Party, the NSDAP/AO, the National Socialist White Workers Party, the Social Nationalist Aryan Peoples Party, the SS Action Group, and the United White Peoples Party; major groups of the 1980s like Aryan Nations, The Mountain Church of Jesus Christ, The Order, Posse Comitatus, and White Aryan Resistance.
	35. The National States' Rights Party
	36. National Christian Publishers
	37. Ku Klux Klans
	Appendix I. Fake Quotes and Fabricated Documents: A Common Extremist Tactic
	Appendix II. Principal Characteristics of the Extremes and the Mainstream in America: A Handy Guide for Extremist Watchers
	Index