Anti-fascist tactics reading list?

December 18, 2016 2:46 PM

In the interest of preparing for both the inevitable (fighting terrible policies at the national level) and the worst (full-on totalitarianism, war, etc.), I am seeking books and articles about practical tactics for survival and resistance.

I'm looking for four kinds of books/documents:

(1) Practical guides to political activism against Trump policies (such as the recent document that came out on Tea Party tactics).

(2) Historical accounts of the lives and tactics of people under fascist and totalitarian regimes (including Black folks living in the USA under slavery and Jim Crow).

(3) Books/articles that deal with the dangers of modern technology related to totalitarianism, and practical steps people can take to mitigate them.

(4) Books on building a strong spiritual/philosophical/emotional mindset for surviving fascism. Howard Thurman's "Jesus and the Disinherited" springs to mind, both in terms of mindset and tactics.

Other books already on my list:
- Solnit's "Hope in the Dark"
- Arendt's "Origins of Totalitarianism"

There's plenty of reading lists circulating with post-Trump political analysis (including one previously compiled on AskMeFi). I'm looking for specifically resistance- and tactics-focused writing.

posted by cnidaria to Law & Government (9 answers total)

You might be interested in this book. The publisher has others on similar topics. I haven't read it yet, so I can't say how it is.
posted by Lycaste at 7:43 PM on December 18, 2016

198 Methods of Nonviolent Action

infoshop.io

AK Press, PM Press, Verso Books, Left Bank, Haymarket, Microcosm, Zed Books and the now-defunct South End Press
posted by fritillary at 8:40 PM on December 18, 2016

Ignacio Silone - School for Dictators
posted by canoehead at 8:52 PM on December 18, 2016

It might seem like weak tea compared to some other recommendations, but I find The Adventures of Tintin: Breaking Free an inspirational tearjerker. Google image search brings up a good whack of sample pages. As for the sad sack reviewers who couldn't bear to see dear old colonialist Tintin re-purposed; ignore them. "The interesting things about it are the way each frame is adapted from Hergé's originals, and the touching belief in the possibility of an upsurge in grassroots socialist radicalism."
posted by kmennie at 11:59 PM on December 18, 2016

Basic digital security guides from the EFF and March Hare.
posted by fritillary at 12:26 AM on December 19, 2016 [1 favorite]

Srdja Popovic, "Blueprint for Revolution"
posted by karbonokapi at 10:50 AM on December 19, 2016

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together for #4. (I assume from your inclusion of Thurman that you're Christianity-friendly.)
posted by tully_monster at 10:52 AM on December 19, 2016

Fascism: What It Is and How to Fight It
by Leon Trotsky
posted by LonnieK at 6:13 PM on December 20, 2016

With regard to your #2: there's lots of literature about communists fighting back against Jim Crow.

Hammer and Hoe

A Narrative of Hosea Hudson: His Life as a Negro Communist in the South

Mississippi to Madrid: Memoir of a Black American in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade

Black Worker in the Deep South: a Personal Record

See more references on this page.
posted by Noisy Pink Bubbles at 8:18 PM on December 22, 2016 [1 favorite]