Atlee McFellin

March 30, 2024

The November Elections and a United Front for Revolution

This is Part Three in a series on anti-fascism and revolution. Part One focused on the failures of the Social Democratic Party of Germany’s (SPD) lesser-evilism against the Nazis and looked to one of its leading members, Franz Neumann. Part Two looked at what he ended up calling for, which was a “united front for revolution,” and considers this in terms of Lenin’s approach to revolution, the role of a revolutionary party, and “soviets.” Part Three looks more in depth at a united front for revolution through the writings of Clara Zetkin, one of the co-founders of the German Communist Party (KPD).
Typically, when someone uses the phrase “united front” today, like to “save multiracial democracy,” they’re talking about a coalition of progressive non-profit organizations engaged in what’s ultimately some sort of “get out the vote” effort. At their core, these approaches seek to reform the institutions of settler colonial and capitalist oppression, attempting to place a diverse, equitable

January 21, 2024

by Atlee McFellin

No Justice in Imperialist Courts

The ICJ, like the International Criminal Court (ICC), was born as a response to the Nazi Holocaust in an attempt to stop it from ever happening again. This doesn’t mean international law is going to come to anyone’s rescue, but Netanyahu’s genocidal hypocrisy becomes especially apparent when one compares him to the late Ben Ferencz.

Ferencz, who was also Jewish, had been the last living Nuremberg Trial prosecutor until his death in April 2023 at the age of 103. Ferencz was among those who led the charge for the ICJ and was responsible for the creation of the ICC too, believing it to be necessary in the fight for global justice. Unfortunately, even in the scores of obituaries after his death, only one mentioned his opposition to the crimes against humanity committed by the USA.

In a 2019 documentary called “Prosecuting Evil,” Ferencz pointed out that he and Vietnam War architect Robert McNamara co-authored an article in the New York Times mid-December 2000 urging that then President Bill Clinton have the United States join the ICC. McNamara knew full well that in the US becoming a signatory, he could be tried for crimes against humanity because of his role in the US anti-communist war in Vietnam. Clinton signed on, but then George W. Bush quickly withdrew in 2001.

December 27, 2023

by Atlee McFellin

Revolución Contra el Fascismo

El artículo anterior comenzaba con el difunto Franz Neumann sobre el fracaso de votar por el menos malo contra Hitler. Este fue el camino que eligieron los socialdemócratas alemanes como él, aquellos que priorizaron salvar sus propios privilegios de clase media antes que
detener el fascismo. El presente artículo explora el camino que los socialdemócratas no eligieron, el camino de lo que él llamó “revolución política”. Esto no es lo que los socialistas democráticos de hoy como Bernie Sanders, AOC, y el
“Escuadrón” quieren decir con la frase. Lo que quieren decir es una versión más conservadora
de lo que Neumann argumentaba en contra. Defienden una versión más conservadora de la
socialdemocracia que fracasó contra los nazis.

December 21, 2023

by Atlee McFellin

Revolution Against Fascism

The previous article began with the late Franz Neumann on the failure of voting for the lesser evil against Hitler. This was the path chosen by social democrats in Germany like him, those who prioritized saving their own middle-class privilege over stopping fascism. The present article explores the path that the social democrats didn’t choose, the path of what he called “political revolution.”

This isn’t what today’s democratic socialists like Bernie Sanders, AOC, and the “Squad” mean by the phrase. What they mean is a more conservative version of what Neumann was arguing against. They’re advocating a more conservative version of the social democracy that failed against the Nazis

November 25, 2023

by Atlee McFellin

Voting for the Lesser Evil Led to Hitler’s Conquest of Power

This is a quote from a man named Franz Neumann. He passed away in 1954. He was Jewish, a socialist, and among the top leadership of the largest political party in Germany during the rise of the Nazis. They were called the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). It’s where the phrase “democratic socialism” comes from. Back then they called it “social democracy.”

The SPD was handed the presidency of the Weimar Republic from its founding in late 1918, shortly after the end of World War I. The SPD was the largest party until the Nazi’s “soft coup” in early 1933. In the quote above, Neumann is describing the two options that were facing the SPD. When he refers to the Communists, he’s referring to the SPD’s main rival on the left, which was the Communist Party of Germany, the KPD.

August 29, 2023

by Atlee McFellin

Class Struggle Drag Defense

It’s been clear for a while now that whatever we want to call the “far right,” i.e., fascists, neo-fascists, neo-confederates, or just plain ole’ American conservatism in the 21st century, they’re targeting trans communities across the country. This means that anyone who is trans; anyone who is simply considered by fascists to be gender non-conforming and otherwise anyone who they might view as an “other,” faces a very real and constant threat of violence. The threat exists everywhere and against numerous communities. Fascists nationwide have made it their mission to particularly target what are known as “Drag Story Hours.” In an inspiring display of solidarity, communities have come together to defend these events from the fascists. Unfortunately, defense campaigns have not always been successful.

November 14, 2022

by Atlee McFellin

The Quantum Mechanics of Imminent Revolution

This article concludes a three-part series meant to explore a more sensuous, suffering, and passionate materialism rooted in quantum mechanics. The three articles are a continuation of a longer series that has attempted to articulate a revolutionary communist politics, one that learns from the failures of the German left against the Nazis, while paying particular attention to the voices of Marxists who were also Jewish and experienced the rise and rule of fascism first-hand. All this is meant to provide strategic direction in hopes of defeating a possible quasi constitutional fascist coup around the November 2024 elections, then on to our own path towards revolution thereafter.

August 5, 2022

by Atlee McFellin

Toward a Sensuous, Suffering, and Passionate Materialism

In his 2022 book, Emotional: How Feelings Shape Our Thinking, theoretical physicist and mathematician Leonard Mlodinow argued that “emotion shapes virtually every thought we have.” Antonio Damasio’s neuroscience research, first published in his 1994 book Descartes’ Error and in many books thereafter, has shown that the distinction between feelings and emotions is, fundamentally speaking, not scientifically accurate.

What’s more, turning to Columbia University historian William V. Harris in his 2001 book, Restraining Rage: The Ideology of Anger Control in Classical Antiquity, perpetuating the idea that reason had to control feelings and emotions “was for the most part in the interest of all who benefited from the smooth functioning of the state or the family.” To put it another way, the necessity of supposedly masculine “reason” to control the chaos of “emotion” has been used to justify hetero-patriarchy, class oppression, white supremacy, and colonization for thousands of years.

May 30, 2022

by Atlee McFellin

The Revolutionary Passion of Those Who Suffer Most

Most people know who Karl Marx was, at least to one extent or another. Remarkably and, yet also unsurprisingly, it’s Jenny Westphalen (aka Jenny Marx) whose understanding of the world we desperately need right now. The sensuous materialism she briefly expressed in her letters to husband Karl illuminates a path of hopeful imminent communal revolution.

Roughly a year after they married and less than a month after the birth of their first child, Karl unfortunately left Jenny for Paris to cosplay as revolutionary less than three years after completing his doctoral dissertation in philosophy. Awaiting him was a meagerly paying job as an agitational socialist journalist. In June of 1844, less than a month after he left, she wrote to him that her “heart is yearning” and for even just “a few words to tell me that you are well and are longing for me a little.”

March 22, 2022

by Atlee McFellin

Left Conformity to the Settler Cult

In his book, Fascism: Theory and History, lawyer and historian David Renton outlined what he called “the anti-fascist wager.” It was a gamble the German left made against Hitler, the extent to which the social democratic (SPD) and communist (KPD) parties accurately perceived the uniquely dangerous threat the Nazi’s posed. This is like the gamble we make within settler Amerikkka against resurgent fascism today. Lives hang in the balance, which is why we start with the above quote from an April 2020 interview Noam Chomsky did with Medhi Hasan, who was then still at The Intercept.