Mark Bray
@mark-bray.bsky.social
Historian @ruhistorydept.bsky.social
Fue un placer (dado las circunstancias) hablar con Ana Pastor anoche sobre Trump y fascismo en los EEUU:
www.lasexta.com/programas/el...
www.lasexta.com/programas/el...
January 22, 2026 at 1:08 PM
Fue un placer (dado las circunstancias) hablar con Ana Pastor anoche sobre Trump y fascismo en los EEUU:
www.lasexta.com/programas/el...
www.lasexta.com/programas/el...
This is the way forward.
From a comrade in Minneapolis: General Strike against ICE Jan. 23.
#AbolishICE
From a comrade in Minneapolis: General Strike against ICE Jan. 23.
#AbolishICE
January 21, 2026 at 9:58 AM
This is the way forward.
From a comrade in Minneapolis: General Strike against ICE Jan. 23.
#AbolishICE
From a comrade in Minneapolis: General Strike against ICE Jan. 23.
#AbolishICE
January 19, 2026 at 5:04 PM
January 17, 2026 at 2:08 PM
4b) And why did the transnational concept of ‘The Left’ emerge according to Fronczak?
Fascism.
In other words, the need to unite against fascism gave birth to an expansive notion of antifascism beyond Italy and to the very idea of ‘The Left’ itself.
Fascism.
In other words, the need to unite against fascism gave birth to an expansive notion of antifascism beyond Italy and to the very idea of ‘The Left’ itself.
January 15, 2026 at 1:09 PM
4b) And why did the transnational concept of ‘The Left’ emerge according to Fronczak?
Fascism.
In other words, the need to unite against fascism gave birth to an expansive notion of antifascism beyond Italy and to the very idea of ‘The Left’ itself.
Fascism.
In other words, the need to unite against fascism gave birth to an expansive notion of antifascism beyond Italy and to the very idea of ‘The Left’ itself.
4a) But the biggest contribution from Everything is Possible is:
the argument that ‘The Left’ as we think of it today—as an amorphous, transnational collectivity—only dates from the mid 1930s. Prior to that, the term was mainly used for particular groups of politicians in a few countries.
the argument that ‘The Left’ as we think of it today—as an amorphous, transnational collectivity—only dates from the mid 1930s. Prior to that, the term was mainly used for particular groups of politicians in a few countries.
January 15, 2026 at 1:03 PM
4a) But the biggest contribution from Everything is Possible is:
the argument that ‘The Left’ as we think of it today—as an amorphous, transnational collectivity—only dates from the mid 1930s. Prior to that, the term was mainly used for particular groups of politicians in a few countries.
the argument that ‘The Left’ as we think of it today—as an amorphous, transnational collectivity—only dates from the mid 1930s. Prior to that, the term was mainly used for particular groups of politicians in a few countries.
4) Everything is Possible by Joseph Fronczak is one my favorite histories of antifascism.
He shows how fascism and antifascism were political categories largely confined to Italy and the Italian diaspora prior to the mid 1930s.
He shows how fascism and antifascism were political categories largely confined to Italy and the Italian diaspora prior to the mid 1930s.
January 15, 2026 at 12:56 PM
4) Everything is Possible by Joseph Fronczak is one my favorite histories of antifascism.
He shows how fascism and antifascism were political categories largely confined to Italy and the Italian diaspora prior to the mid 1930s.
He shows how fascism and antifascism were political categories largely confined to Italy and the Italian diaspora prior to the mid 1930s.
December 20, 2025 at 5:28 PM
Bologna Antifascista Sempre
December 13, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Bologna Antifascista Sempre
Have had a great few days with the indomitable @candundar.bsky.social filming an episode of Guardians of Truth for DW.
December 2, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Have had a great few days with the indomitable @candundar.bsky.social filming an episode of Guardians of Truth for DW.
Magnificent banner made by a Madrid socialist group for event surrounding the 50th anniversary of the death of Franco.
November 20, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Magnificent banner made by a Madrid socialist group for event surrounding the 50th anniversary of the death of Franco.
My Antifa book is on the New York Times Bestseller list 8 years after publication.
Thank you to everyone who has supported me (and my family) in so many ways (including buying books). #NoPasarán
Thank you to everyone who has supported me (and my family) in so many ways (including buying books). #NoPasarán
November 14, 2025 at 5:21 PM
My Antifa book is on the New York Times Bestseller list 8 years after publication.
Thank you to everyone who has supported me (and my family) in so many ways (including buying books). #NoPasarán
Thank you to everyone who has supported me (and my family) in so many ways (including buying books). #NoPasarán
November 14, 2025 at 11:27 AM
November 13, 2025 at 11:10 AM
October 16, 2025 at 5:04 PM
3b) That tension in breaking the law in the name of the (new or real) law is central to fascism and evident in the popular Blue Lives Matter Punisher imagery. Also evident in much of what Trump has to say about the subject.
October 3, 2025 at 2:06 PM
3b) That tension in breaking the law in the name of the (new or real) law is central to fascism and evident in the popular Blue Lives Matter Punisher imagery. Also evident in much of what Trump has to say about the subject.
3a) Notable in the "Manifesto of Fascist Intellectuals:
- the desire to do politics as warfare (important given the legacy of WWI)
- the argument that what was needed at the start of fascism was a 'revolutionary' violation of the (perverted) law to restore 'order', i. e. the "new law."
- the desire to do politics as warfare (important given the legacy of WWI)
- the argument that what was needed at the start of fascism was a 'revolutionary' violation of the (perverted) law to restore 'order', i. e. the "new law."
October 3, 2025 at 2:00 PM
3a) Notable in the "Manifesto of Fascist Intellectuals:
- the desire to do politics as warfare (important given the legacy of WWI)
- the argument that what was needed at the start of fascism was a 'revolutionary' violation of the (perverted) law to restore 'order', i. e. the "new law."
- the desire to do politics as warfare (important given the legacy of WWI)
- the argument that what was needed at the start of fascism was a 'revolutionary' violation of the (perverted) law to restore 'order', i. e. the "new law."
3) Next, some primary sources like "Manifesto of the Fascist Intellectuals" (1925) by the "philosopher of fascism," Giovanni Gentile.
Given fascism's renunciation of rational consistency, there is arguably something paradoxical in the notion of a "fascist intellectual." Anyway...
Given fascism's renunciation of rational consistency, there is arguably something paradoxical in the notion of a "fascist intellectual." Anyway...
October 3, 2025 at 1:48 PM
3) Next, some primary sources like "Manifesto of the Fascist Intellectuals" (1925) by the "philosopher of fascism," Giovanni Gentile.
Given fascism's renunciation of rational consistency, there is arguably something paradoxical in the notion of a "fascist intellectual." Anyway...
Given fascism's renunciation of rational consistency, there is arguably something paradoxical in the notion of a "fascist intellectual." Anyway...
2a) Apart from featuring his definition of fascism (which he offers reluctantly), Paxton observes how the fascist relation to ideas is merely tactical and not grounded in intellectual consistency.
Useful for today's world to remember how fascists dont feel the need to "justify" changes in position.
Useful for today's world to remember how fascists dont feel the need to "justify" changes in position.
October 1, 2025 at 3:25 PM
2a) Apart from featuring his definition of fascism (which he offers reluctantly), Paxton observes how the fascist relation to ideas is merely tactical and not grounded in intellectual consistency.
Useful for today's world to remember how fascists dont feel the need to "justify" changes in position.
Useful for today's world to remember how fascists dont feel the need to "justify" changes in position.
2) For the same class we read Ch. 8 of Robert Paxton's classic The Anatomy of Fascism. I used his definition of fascism in my book Antifa.
I love his argument that a definition of fascism "encompasses its subject no better than a snapshot encompasses a person."
I love his argument that a definition of fascism "encompasses its subject no better than a snapshot encompasses a person."
October 1, 2025 at 3:21 PM
2) For the same class we read Ch. 8 of Robert Paxton's classic The Anatomy of Fascism. I used his definition of fascism in my book Antifa.
I love his argument that a definition of fascism "encompasses its subject no better than a snapshot encompasses a person."
I love his argument that a definition of fascism "encompasses its subject no better than a snapshot encompasses a person."
American journalist Dorothy Thompson on dictatorship in the USA from 1935:
(From “The American Fascists” by Linda Gordon)
(From “The American Fascists” by Linda Gordon)
September 30, 2025 at 5:10 PM
American journalist Dorothy Thompson on dictatorship in the USA from 1935:
(From “The American Fascists” by Linda Gordon)
(From “The American Fascists” by Linda Gordon)
1a) 1 takeaway is comparison between the "fascism-producing crisis[es]" of past + present characterized by the prevalence of the "nonintelligibility of power."
When a prominent historian of interwar Europe says we are living through a similar crisis amidst the rise of fascism, we need to listen.
When a prominent historian of interwar Europe says we are living through a similar crisis amidst the rise of fascism, we need to listen.
September 30, 2025 at 4:04 PM
1a) 1 takeaway is comparison between the "fascism-producing crisis[es]" of past + present characterized by the prevalence of the "nonintelligibility of power."
When a prominent historian of interwar Europe says we are living through a similar crisis amidst the rise of fascism, we need to listen.
When a prominent historian of interwar Europe says we are living through a similar crisis amidst the rise of fascism, we need to listen.
1) To start, we read the essay "Liberalism in Crisis" by Geoff Eley from the book Fascism in America.
This essay beautifully balances grounding our understanding of fascism in the interwar context with the need to conceptualize a more portable fascism that can apply to today.
This essay beautifully balances grounding our understanding of fascism in the interwar context with the need to conceptualize a more portable fascism that can apply to today.
September 30, 2025 at 3:40 PM
1) To start, we read the essay "Liberalism in Crisis" by Geoff Eley from the book Fascism in America.
This essay beautifully balances grounding our understanding of fascism in the interwar context with the need to conceptualize a more portable fascism that can apply to today.
This essay beautifully balances grounding our understanding of fascism in the interwar context with the need to conceptualize a more portable fascism that can apply to today.