Chip Berlet - Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort

THE GUILFORD PRESS
New York London

To Lorraine Hansberry and Earl B. Dickerson

Epub Edition ISBN: 9781462528387; Kindle Edition ISBN: 9781462528394

2000 The Guilford Press

A Division of Guilford Publications, Inc.

72 Spring Street, New York, NY 10012

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No part of this book may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher.

Last digit is print number: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Berlet, Chip.

Right-wing populism in America : too close for comfort / Chip Berlet, Matthew N. Lyons.

p. cm.(Critical perspectives)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 1-57230-568-1 ISBN 1-57230-562-2 (pbk.)

1. ConservatismUnited States. 2. Right-wing extremistsUnited States. 3. PopulismUnited States

I. Lyons, Matthew Nemiroff. II. Title. III. Series.

JC573.2.U6 B47 2000

320.520973dc21

00-037636

CIP

Right-Wing Populism in America is the latest volume in the Guilford series Critical Perspectives, edited by Douglas Kellner.

JOINT THANKS

Thanks to our editors Douglas Kellner and Peter Wissoker for believing that our original manuscript could be turned into a book; and to William Meyer and all the people at The Guilford Press for their efforts in making it a reality.

Various drafts of the manuscript were read for comments by Martin Durham, Jean V. Hardisty, Carol Mason, Abby Scher, and Holly Sklar. We thank them for their critical insights while taking responsibility for any factual errors or analytical shortcomings.

This book was originally to be published by the South End Press under the title Too Close for Comfort. We thank them for their work, especially our original editor, Sonia Shah, and their courtesy in releasing the manuscript.

MATTHEW

Thanks to Chip for suggesting that we write a book together, and for his patience, open-mindedness, and good humor throughout the process.

Special thanks to John Goetz: our discussions and shared political work over seventeen years inform my contribution to this book throughout.

I am grateful to the many people who read and commented on various portions of the manuscript, among them Amy Ansell, Debbie Balser, Lourdes Benera, Tom Burghardt, Cathy Gelbin, John Goetz, Jewell Handy Gresham, Victor Grossman, Scott Henstrand, Sasha Lilley, David Lyons, Sandra Lyons, Elspeth Meyer, Matt Meyer, Betsy Mickel, John Milich, Leo Nemiroff, Mili Nemiroff, Dair Obenshain, John Riley, Larry Roberts, Beth Ruck, Meg Starr, Art Strum, and Rossanna Wang. Bob Lederer offered lengthy, detailed comments and suggestions on several chapters. Terry Schleders enthusiasm for each new chapter draft helped me stick to the task.

A number of people, in addition to those listed above, helped me develop ideas, steered me to relevant sources, or offered useful advice and support regarding various aspects of the book project. Thanks to Mimi Abramovitz, Electa Arenal, Regina Arnold, Samer Atout, Russ Bellant, Fred Clarkson, Clinton Cox, Monisha Das Gupta, Sandi DuBowski, Bonnie Duran, Catherine Hill, Steve Hubbell, Dennis King, Tom Lampert, Tia Lessin, Fouad Makki, Mike Morgan, Michael Novick, Lucy Oppenheim, Suzanne Pharr, Riti Sachdeva, John Stoltenberg, Serena Sundaram, and Jamie Walker. Thanks to laurie prendergast for all the conversations and shared projects.

Many of the ideas I brought to this book were formed, tested, and strengthened in political organizations and study groups. I am grateful particularly to the members of the Settlers study group, the Ithaca Coalition Against War in the Gulf/Solidarities Action & Education, Action Against Rape and Misogyny, and Resistance in Brooklyn. My thinking about history benefited greatly from a dialectics study group based on course materials from the former Sojourner Truth Organization. Thanks to all who developed that course and all who took part.

Thanks to those who offered helpful criticism and bibliographic advice on two earlier unpublished essays, Parasites and Pioneers: Antisemitism in White Supremacist America and Tracing the Roots of Conspiracy Thinking, that formed part of the basis for the analysis presented here: Eric Acree, Lisa Albrecht, Evelyn Annu, David Elliott, Fadya El-Rayess, Thomas Ferguson, Sander Gilman, J. K. Langford, Fouad Makki, Rod Malpert, John Milich, Ann Peters, Robert Schmidt, Mab Segrest, Paul Seidman, Barbara Smith, Kizer Walker, and Katie Welch.

My analysis benefited from participating in the Blue Mountain Working Group gathering in November 1994, and from preparing a background report for that gathering, Business Conflict and the Right in the United States. A later version of that study appeared in Unraveling the Right: The New Conservatism in American Thought and Politics, edited by Amy E. Ansell (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1998).

Research for this book depended on the help of staff members at several libraries, particularly the Cornell University Library, the New York Public Library, and the University of New Mexico Libraries in Albuquerque. The staff of Planned Parenthood Federation of Americas Public Policy Institute, Political Research Associates, and the Womens Project also provided valuable help and support.

The writings of Moishe Postone, Alexander Saxton, and Thomas Ferguson provided some of the key analytical tools I apply to right-wing populism. Isaac Deutscher, W. E. B. Du Bois, Muriel Rukeyser, and Lorraine Hansberry changed the way I look at the world.

Thanks to my friends and colleagues in Ithaca, Berlin, New York City, Albuquerque, Boston, New Jersey, Chicago, Minneapolis, and points beyond who supported, encouraged, taught, questioned, and argued with me over these past eight years. Thanks for more than I can put into words to the members of the Lyons and Nemiroff extended families, especially to Mili and Leo, Jewell, Emily, Jeremy, and to my parents, Sandy and David.

CHIP

Thanks to Matthew, who started by writing a thoughtful critique of my first published efforts at describing right-wing populism, and became a full partner in writing this book over an eight-year period of research, struggle, laughter, and mutual support.

For over twenty years I have worked under the guidance of Jean V. Hardisty, director of Political Research Associates (PRA), where the culture of cooperation and the document archives have made my work possible. My research into the political Right has also been greatly influenced and assisted by my colleagues Sara Diamond, Holly Sklar, the late Margaret Quigley, and Fred Clarkson. Early research was carried out under the auspices of the Public Eye network, with assistance from Sheila ODonnell, Russ Bellant, Eda Gordon, and others.

Conversations over many years (and with much wine) with family friends Herman Sinaiko and Susan Fisher were crucial to shaping my understanding of the social and psychological dynamics of conspiracist scapegoating. Carol Mason spent time at the PRA library exploring apocalyptic themes in antiabortion rhetoric and she generously shared her original research and analysis on that subject with me. In a similar manner, I have had extended conversations with Kevin Coogan, James Danky, Paul de Armond, Lin Collette, Evan Harrington, Aaron Katz, Dennis King, Erin Miller, Adele Oltman, Meg Riley, Al Ross, and Ariane van Buren.