Before “Antifa” became a flashpoint in American politics, it was born on the streets of 1930s Berlin. In this episode of Roots of Today, we trace Antifa’s journey from its origins as Antifaschistische Aktion under Germany’s Communist Party, through the rise of the black bloc tactic in postwar Europe, to its presence in U.S. protest culture — from Seattle’s WTO demonstrations and Occupy Wall Street to the Portland clashes and the Trump era.

We’ll unpack the crucial question: is Antifa an organization, a movement, or an idea? And why does understanding its history matter so much in today’s debates about protest, democracy, and dissent?

Research: Elena, the Roots of Today archivist

Music by: Andrii Poradovskyi (lNPLUSMUSIC – Pixabay)

Further Reading:

• Mark Bray, Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook (Melville House, 2017).
• Robert O. Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism (Knopf, 2004).
• Umberto Eco, “Ur-Fascism” (1995).
• Kristin Ross, May ’68 and Its Afterlives (Chicago, 2002).
• FBI Director Christopher Wray testimony (September 2020) — “Antifa is an ideology, not an organization.”
• “Trump Signs Executive Order on ‘Antifa’ Designation” — Washington Post, September 2025.
• “Black Bloc Tactics and the Global Justice Movement” — Journal of Social Movement Studies, Vol. 9, No. 3 (2010).