Far-left extremist violence was the dominant ideological manifestation in the 1970s and a major part of the U.S. domestic threat but it retreated into a sort of post-Cold War hibernation until the mid-2010s. Since then, they have been reenergized by a variety of issues.
At the risk of being simplistic, these issues range from minority grievances against the white majority, real or imagined, to climate change, economic inequality, a desire to counter-mobilize against an emerging conservative nationalist movement, and, most recently, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Whereas right-wing violence has dropped significantly since its peak in the 1990s, after the bombing in Oklahoma City, violent far-left extremism is once again reemerging, with analysts noting the resurgence of far-left mobilization, particularly leading up to and after the election of Donald Trump, because the left sees its longstanding dominance in American politics and culture dwindling.
The shooting of conservative influencer, Charlie Kirk, comes as “The Center for Strategic and International Studies” prepares to release new findings showing that, for the first time in more than 30 years, political violence linked to the American far-left has surpassed attacks by their perceived opposition, the American right.
Dan Byman, a senior fellow at CSIS and one of the authors of the analysis, said that President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” policies have been a driving force behind some of the irrational behavior and visceral anger of the left. The agenda of President Trump has caused tremendous outrage among many people on the extreme left, which has been in control of just about every American institution for decades, after leftists graduated from their universities, donned suits, and headed out into the real world.
Recent incidents tied to left-wing extremism include the assassinations of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, as well as two attempted assassinations of Trump — one in Butler, Pennsylvania, and another at his golf club in West Palm Beach. And most recently, the shooter at the Dallas, Texas, ICE facility. Investigators have also linked the attack at another ICE facility in Alvarado, Texas, by ANTIFA members, to the same trend.
The American media, long dominated by the left, has attempted to say right-wing violence is a greater threat to America than that of the left by making the argument that the alleged assassin of Minnesota state lawmaker, Melissa Hortman and her husband by Vance Boelter, was an example of right-wing violence, but the attempt has been derailed after Boelter’s admission to the killing to open Hortman’s Senate seat for Minnesota governor, Tim Walz.
A little history is due here. As a result of the epidemic of leftist violence, significant law enforcement attention was focused on the left. From the 1970s to the 1990s, violent far-leftists carried out hundreds of attacks against a wide array of targets. The “Weather Underground,” whose former convicted members, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, launched Barack Obama’s political career from their living room, attacked the U.S. Capitol in 1971.
The Puerto Rican “Armed Forces of National Liberation,” or FALN, a Marxist-Leninist paramilitary organization, which emerged in New York in 1974, carried out over 100 attacks in the United States and Puerto Rico, but primarily in New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., where they shot up the House of Representatives.
The “Symbionese Liberation Army” was a small, militant far-left organization active between 1973 and 1975, known for the 1974 kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst, who later joined the group during her captivity. They murdered at least two people, committed armed bank robberies, attempted bombings and other violent crimes.
The Black Liberation Army was a Black-nationalist militant organization heavily influenced by Soviet Communist agitators. They were active in the United States from 1970 to 1981, composed largely of former Black Panthers who went underground to pursue “armed struggle” against the U.S. government.
The group was anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, anti-racist, and anti-sexist. The goals were Black self-determination and liberation, to be achieved through bombings, police killings, and robberies, often termed “expropriations”. The group was not centralized but consisted of independent groups, much like ANTIFA today.
With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, as well as the successful investigations and prosecutions of violent far-leftists, leftist violence practically disappeared. However, an important historical exception to this trend was the consistent fatal targeting of police officers, which continues to this day.
As to why leftist violence is once again on the rise, several factors are contributing to the reemergence of far-left armed mobilization. First and foremost, the election of Donald Trump to a second term. Followed by a variety of underlying grievances – real or imagined- that inspire individuals into action. These include, but are not limited to, transgender rights, the arrest and deportations of illegal immigrants, the growing gap between rich and poor, climate change, exploitation and cruelty toward animals, the environment, social justice, and racial equity.
Insofar as violent far-leftists are concerned, they share an interest in many, if not all, of these issues, though the extent to which they are emphasized by ideology. For example, eco-extremists will be primarily focused on specific issues and events related to climate change and environmental damage, whereas left-wing Black nationalists are largely mobilized by events related to police brutality and overreach. Think BLM.
However, violent far-leftists often cooperate where they perceive intersectional struggles – where issue interests overlap. The intense high-profile opposition to the planned “Cop City” facility in Atlanta is illustrative in this regard. Local reporting exposed that the opposition group called the “Forest Defenders” was an ad hoc coalition of actors expressing left-wing, anarchist, and anti-fascist beliefs, driven by a combination of ecological, anti-police, and racial justice views.
Leftist groups are driven to reaction by specific events, as well as larger ongoing dynamics, both domestic and international. Domestically, violent far-leftist mobilization is a reaction to the organic “Make America Great Again” movement, producing a mutually-reinforcing dynamic, analysts have referred to in other geographic contexts, as “symbiotic radicalization.” An illustrative example of this dynamic is the politically motivated street violence between the very violent Marxist-Anarchist group, Antifa, and pro-American groups like the Proud Boys, which has occurred over the years.
Against this backdrop, specific events have provided a catalyst for far-left extremist violence, including but not limited to high-profile cases of police officers indiscriminately killing blacks, which is a complete farce, the development of oil and gas pipeline projects on indigenous lands, and the SCOTUS decision on abortion. International events, namely, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, have also energized and mobilized far-left actors long before and since the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas and other armed factions.
Violent far-left mobilization has been enabled by two additional factors. First, the labeling of conservatives as Nazis and Fascists by Democrat politicians and pro-Democrat opinion shapers in both the mainstream media and social media. Secondly, the dismissal of the genuine concerns of the Republicans and conservatives to this libel as alarmism.
The fact is that the American left will continue to recruit, radicalize, and mobilize around issues such as perceived social injustice and police brutality, the growing gap between rich and poor, the debunked effects of man-made climate change, and the outrage over the struggle for racial equity and gender rights.
This is fueled by simplistic, polarizing, and demonizing discourses at the hands of an American media overpopulated by pro-Democrat Party operatives, including social media, which contributes to a more morally permissive environment for violence to occur.
The problem that America faces today is how to deal with the very agitated leftist movement that has absolutely no intention of engaging in debating the issues that divide the American people. They will not engage in conversation with anyone that they perceive as their mortal enemy. Think Charlie Kirk.
How do you deal with that? How do you come to reason with people who are not willing to debate you in the arena of ideas? People who are not willing to engage in any rational conversation and who see you as pure evil, threatening their very existence? That is the dilemma that we need to address because blood has already been spilled.
Authors’ opinions are their own and may not represent those of Grok Media, LLC, GraniteGrok.com, its sponsors, readers, authors, or advertisers.
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