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The closest analogy to today's antifa isn't Eastern European history, but British anti-fascist right before and after WWII.
Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists used public gatherings with police protection for rallies. They started by holding little debates.
British antifa wanted to attack fascists in 1934, but older Jews "loathed and detested" it, saying it would make them Just Like The Nazis.
Young antifa in Britain couldn't be stopped—local papers reported there were streets in Whitechapel "where no Blackshirt can walk at night."
Police wouldn't stop hate speech unless it caused disorder. So the British public delivered, stopping 57 out of Mosley's 117 rallies in '36.
In Hyde Park, 120,000+ people drowned out a Nazi rally. In Tonypandy, 36 were arrested shutting down another BUF rally. 
And now, the Battle of Cable Street: The police wouldn't shut down a BUF march, so British antifa decided to gather the city to block it.
Police charged w/ batons to let the BUF through. So citizens barricaded the streets. They threw rocks and bottles of lemonade. 83 arrests.
The day after the British Fascists were stopped, they blamed to police for not keeping order. What did they shout? "We want free speech!"
Let's fast forward to after WWII. We like to think Naziism was routed totally. But Mosley et al were out of jail quick. So they pivoted.
Naziism, fascism and anti-Semitism were still rampant. Jews were still beaten and screamed at in the late 40's, synagogues were burned down.
So one day, a Jewish RAF pilot named Morris Beckman saw a BUF rally. His friends got into the crowd, smashed heads and toppled the stage.
This leads to everyone's favorite part: the formation of the 43 Group. The 43 Group was an antifa crew of militant, mostly-Jewish veterans.
The 43 Group had commando units. They toppled stages, and made small dozen-strong gangs to break up rallies — 8-10 rallies a week in 1947.
The Blackshirts referred to them as the "fucking hard case East End Yids." But 43 Group was winning hearts and allies in the public.
British Fascists were disrupted so much they started meeting in private. So 43 Group forged tickets, planted moles and vandalized offices.
One of Mosley's most trusted bodyguards? A 43 Group plant. One night, he let the fellas into Mosley's mansion. They started digging.
The antifa 43 Group moles in the fascist movement turned up documents showing ties between the BUF and British members of Parliament.
Beckman said the goal of the 43 Group is "to put as many fascists in the hospital as we could." By 1950, they disbanded, successful.
Fascism had a bad name in Britain by 1950. So Mosley dropped the name. By 1959, the "fascists" were calling themselves "nationalists."
From the 1950's on, with "Keep Britain White" campaigns and racist mobs, fascism repeatedly rebranded with near-singular focus: immigration.
End of thread. Go read Mark Bray's "Antifa," watch a doc on 43 Group, read this 1st-person account of Cable Street: kenanmalik.wordpress.com/2016/10/05/the…
The point is: None of this shit is new. Not the scolding moderates, not "Free Speech," not even the flagpoles as weapons.
