Second Short Quiz – Intro & Intro to the Revised Edition + Chapters 1-3

[johnkarls]

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Intro to the Revised Edition (pp. xi – xxii)

1. Does the sole page with any writing between the Table of Contents and the Intro to the Revised Edition say simply – “Fascism is not to be debated, it is to be destroyed – Buenaventura Durruti”???

2. Does this suggest that Mark Bray thinks “fascism” is whatever Mark Bray says it is following which, without a fair trial of Bray’s opinion, victims should be assassinated???

[Ref. Q-24 of the First Short Quiz.]

3. Is the Intro to the Revised Edition written by an unidentified Joshua Clover, presumably an English Prof. at U/Cal-Davis, who passed away 4/26/2025???

4. Accordingly, is his Intro any more valuable than a Book Review???


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Original Intro (pp. xxiii – xxxvi)

5. Was the Original Intro written by Mark Bray so that he can be held responsible for its contents???

6. Does his first paragraph list examples of alleged “fascism” by President Trump as including (A) “chants of ‘Build That Wall’” by middle schoolers in Michigan while ignoring that illegal immigration was condemned by every Democrat President until Pres. Biden, and (B) zillions of alleged examples of anti-Semitism by Pres. Trump even though he is widely recognized by Israelis and their Prime Minister as the best friend Israel ever had in the White House???

7. Indeed, aren’t Pres. Trump’s own daughter Ivanka and her children (Trump’s grandchildren) Jewish???

8. Does Mark Bray say (p. xxiv) – “This book…..is an unabashedly call to arms …..to contextualize opposition to Trump…..”???

9. Does he say further on p. xxiv – “Antifa…..argues that militant anti-fascism is a reasonable, historically informed response to the fascist threat that…..has become especially menacing in recent years”???? Does Mark Bray even listen to himself – “militant” is “reasonable”???

10. Does Mark Bray (pp. xxv-xxvi) claim to use Columbia U. Prof. Robert Paxton’s definition of “fascism” as --

“a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion.”

11. Does Mark Bray spend the rest of his Intro describing how Pres. Trump, in Bray’s non-humble opinion, satisfies this definition???

12. BTW, do Mark Bray and Prof. Paxton seem to be ignorant of the fact that the Roman Catholic Church for 17 centuries preached its “Doctrine of Blood Guilt” that every Jew alive at any point in time is guilty of the “murder” of Christ and should be executed with no further ado???

13. And ignorant of the fact that the RCC did not repeal its Doctrine of Blood Guilt until Vatican II in 1965 – too late to avoid 17 centuries of pogroms including Hitler’s pogrom (aka Holocaust)???


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Chapter 1– ¡No Pasardn! Anti-Fascism Through 1945

14. Does ¡No Pasardn! mean “They shall not pass”???

15. Did the “Doctrine of Blood Guilt” Roman Catholics in fact pass in Germany 1933-1945???

16. Does Mark Bray further display in Chapter 1 his ignorance of Hitler and Nazism simply being nothing more than following the Roman Catholic “Doctrine of Blood Guilt” in yet another pogrom???


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Chapter 2 – “Never Again”: The Development of Modern Antifa., 1945-2003

17. Does Mark Bray say (p. 40) – “The Allied victory in World War II was thought to have marked the definitive end of fascism in history, but…..”???

(A) Do this and other remarks demonstrate that Mark Bray is NOT (as proclaimed in his Intro – please see Q-10) using Robert Paxton’s definition of fascism – but instead focuses solely on Anti-Semitism???

(B) Is Mark Bray’s p. 40 sentence betraying once more his ignorance of the Roman Catholic “Doctrine of Blood Guilt” which was not repealed until Vatican II in 1965??? If he had NOT been ignorant, why would he have thought that “fascism” (per Mark Bray, Anti-Semitism which, unbeknownst to Bray was based on the 17 centuries of the Roman Catholic “Doctrine of Blood Guilt”) met its “definitive end” at the 1945 end of World War II rather than at Vatican II in 1965???

18. Was “The 43 Group” (so named because of the number of its original members) formed in England in March 1946 following which it, inter alia, conducted violence against Anti-Semitic groups and events???

19. Is there any reason to criticize the accuracy of the remainder of Chapter 2 which chronicles 1945-2003 many of the worldwide efforts to combat Anti-Semitism, much of the combat being violent – except its ignorance of the Roman Catholic “Doctrine of Blood Guilt” which was finally repealed at Vatican II in 1965???

20. If Mark Bray had not been so ignorant, would it have been interesting to compare and contrast Anti-Semitism and efforts to combat it – divided between 1945-1965 and 1965-2003 instead of all jumbled together???


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Chapter 3 – The Rise of “Pinstripe Nazis” and Anti-Fascism Today

21. Does Chapter 3 open by suddenly jumping from Anti-Semitism 1945-2003 to German resistance 2013-2015 to immigration from Syria in the wake of outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011???

22. Is a sample of Mark Bray’s ignorance re his theme of “fascism,” his morphing from overt racism (viz., Anti-Semitism) into discrimination based on cultural differences??? Is a good example of his cultural-differences claim (p. 79), Britain’s leaving the European Union following a 2016 referendum???

23. Have we already studied that --

(A) Britain did NOT join until 1973 the European Union because it entailed being forced to abandon its favorable trading relationships with members of the British Commonwealth (i.e., former British colonies);

(B) In the 6/23/2016 Brexit (contraction of British and Exit) Referendum, the British public voted to leave the EU;

(C) The primary reason was that following a limited outbreak of “Mad Cow Disease” in only a precious few British herds, the EU ordered the destruction of all British cattle – accompanied by rumors that the EU had done so at the behest of continental competitors; and

(D) A secondary reason (though the complete destruction of Britain’s prized cattle herds and its favorite national meal – Beef Wellington – would probably have been sufficient for the Brexit vote) was that EU membership meant citizens of other EU countries were able to immigrate to Britain without any restraints and there was a massive wave of Hungarians migrating to Britain for economic reasons AND UNDER-CUTTING THE WAGES OF NATIVE BRITS.

24. But can Mark Bray claim with a straight face that there were any significant “cultural differences” between Hungarians and Brits??? Or any evidence that he did so with a straight face???

25. Accordingly, although Mark Bray’s historical claims in Chapter 3 are interesting, would we as self-respecting historians have to verify each and every one of them independently???

26. In other words, when Mark Bray published his Antifa Handbook in 2017, when he was only a Dartmouth Lecturer in History with as his sole academic degree a B.A. in Philosophy from Wesleyan University – would Dartmouth have been justified in firing him for his gross ignorance (rather than for his “endorsement of violence” which was Dartmouth’s stated reason)???