radicals

The Independent, a UK-based online newspaper owned by Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev, published an interesting story today about a hard-Left group calling themselves Redneck Rebellion. Their mission is the downfall of capitalism through opposition to racism. They seek to mobilize poor whites to stand up for black, Hispanics, and other minorities. They also believe in armed defense.

According to Redneck Revolt’s mission statement, organising people also requires organising a defence of their communities. Hence, the gun range.

The Suffolk County branch group meets up for weekly sessions at the range, the name of which they asked to be kept secret. They often bring along other leftists groups, like the PSL, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), or the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). Mike says those are some of his favourite days on the range.

“I think it’s very cool that we can bring groups together that normally wouldn’t have anything else in common,” he told me. “And seeing a whole bunch of leftists with guns is cool.”

Not everyone thinks the guns are cool, of course. Redneck Revolt has gotten pushback from liberal groups who think the weapons sully their image. But the members maintain that the firearms are necessary to protect themselves, and the communities of colour they want to help serve.

“We are willing to take on personal risk to defend those in our community who live under the risk of reactionary violence because of their skin colour, gender identity, sexuality, religion, or birth country,” the group’s mission statement reads. “For us, that means that we meet our neighbours face-to-face, and stand alongside them to face threats whenever possible.”

They don’t see themselves as an armed wing of Antifa. According to the story, they seek to do everything within the law and are not anarchists. Rather they see themselves as more of a white Deacons for Defense or Young Patriots Organization which was a 60s and 70s group of whites aligned with the Black Panthers.

There was one quote in the story that I found rather amusing. It was attributed to “Mike” who said that Russian-made firearms were the “most accurate and reliable”. I suppose in his lexicon this means “minute of capitalist”. The video and pictures that accompanied the story showed the group shooting Mosins, SKSs, and New York-compliant AKs. I just hope they remembered that the New York SAFE Act restricts them to only seven rounds in the magazine.

Frankly, I’m not sure what to make of these wannabe Bolsheviks. While I don’t disagree with them that racism is bad, isn’t it a bit bourgeois of them to think they have to be the ones providing armed protection for minorities? To me, this reeks of noblesse oblige and paternalism. Far better that minorities learn to protect themselves. Moreover, the absence of racism is NOT going to bring down capitalism. It may work well in their reading of Marxist theory but in reality it is naive. In my opinion, free and open markets do more to raise the standards of living across the board than anything that groups like this can do.

I just hope that groups like Redneck Rebellion are not, as Matt Bracken says, a “countdown to CW2.”