I have always had an interest in subcultures, the fringier the better. In the pre-internet era it required a lot of effort, and more than a little luck sometimes, to find others “like you” if you had extreme interests or views. Often that journey took started with outsider magazines, titles that still had just enough mainstream-ness that they’d appear in stores that had the widest selection, places like perhaps Tower Books or some kind of indie book store. You could find something like High Times or Soldier Of Fortune, flip all the way to the back to where the classified ads were located, and there you could interact with all kinds of esoteric people. You want info on Agent Orange? Write this guy a letter and send him a SASE. Aliens? Same. A book about how to make booby traps, or build a bunker, or make a silencer? Check, check, and check. Fringe political views? For sure. Send ’em some stamps and you might get more than you bargained for.
It was hard to track down people on the fringes, and when you did you had to hand-write and mail them a letter and hope they’d write you back. If you wanted to get your ideas into the world, maybe you put together some kind of zine or newsletter, probably using the copier at your office when no one was looking, then advertising it in one or two places and hoping for the best. And of course you’d include your name and (home) mailing address in each issue so people who shared your views or interests could write you. Hell, they might even just stop by and knock on your door.
That was all fine and good if you were into extreme heavy metal demos or exchanging mail art or train-spotting. But the same applied to people with extreme political and cultural views. Racists. Fascists. Serial killer fanboys. Satanists. Most of those letters and zines disappeared over time, thrown away when cleaning out your crazy uncle’s apartment or tossing grandpa’s papers. But sometimes those documents were saved and saw the light of day, allowing the curtain to be pulled back and giving us a glance inside at something hidden, even denied, by those very people who actively participated in it.
Spencer Sunshine’s Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism – The Origins and Afterlife of James Mason’s Siege allows us to look behind the curtain of the American neo-Nazi movement. Sunshine has been studying and investigating the far right for two decades and his book is painstakingly researched and documented. While the broader theme was of interest, what really drew me to the book was the intersection between the neo-Nazis and the counterculture, specifically the Abraxas Clique, who Sunshine identifies as Boyd Rice, Adam Parfrey, Nikolas Schreck, and Michael Moynihan. If you have an interest in extreme and/or obscure cult music you’ve probably heard of Rice, Schreck, and Moynihan. Parfrey, arguably the most well-known of the group, made his name in publishing as the founder of Feral House Press, which positions itself as a “definitive source for documenting cultural movements” and is based just on the other side of Puget Sound from where I live. I have a few Feral House books on my own shelves, mostly titles related to metal music, so I was already familiar with him and, to an extent, some of the more questionable parts of his background. Understanding how these self-positioned counterculturalists came to orbit neo-Nazi circles was of great interest.
Spencer was kind enough to agree to an interview about the book and his experiences with the far right.
Spencer, how did your interest in understanding the growth, and frankly the edging into the mainstream, of the far right, neo-Nazism, and fascist ideology develop over time? What led to the research and writing of Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism?
“Well, mine is a story that was quite common at one time, although it’s now the telltale generational mark. I grew up in a small town and got involved in the Georgia punk scene as a very young teen at the end of the 1980s, right at the explosion of the Nazi skinhead movement. Atlanta and the surrounding areas were one of its centers, and there were numerous Nazi skin and related groups—the only organized politics in the scene. In 1990, I helped co-found, with some other teenage punks, what would now be called an antifascist group to counter that influence. We were working with adults involved in a grassroots group doing this work on a more sophisticated level, and they taught us about the White Supremacist movement and how it was structured. And of course, we could see exactly how it recruited at the time.
“I left the South as soon as I could and became involved in anarchist and left-wing politics, but always kept half an eye on the White Supremacist movement. In the mid-00s, when I was in grad school, I discovered a crypto-fascist group called National Anarchists, who were recruiting from anarchists and anti-globalization movement activists; they were an outgrowth of some of the more sophisticated and unusual 1980s fascist politics. Along with some others, we saw that the Anglophone fascist movement was morphing and changing—although the remaining Far Right monitors had not noticed this. Long story short, I started writing about this, and when I was done with my PhD was recruited to be a fellow at a think tank that watched the Far Right. In 2015, I quit my job to do this work full-time.
“I started the book in 2018. I was at the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally in August 2017, which I believe was the largest gathering of fascists since the German Bund’s 1939 Madison Square rally. I was in the crowd during a neo-Nazi car attack on an antifascist march, which ended with one person dying and about 30 others injured. Because I was a “known entity,” I received a huge amount of attention (and death threats) from the Alt Right, then at its height of popularity. At the same time, James Mason’s Siege skyrocketed in popularity, as its argument mapped over what had happened at Charlottesville. (Most people do not realize that the rally itself never happened; after the initial street fighting between fascists and antifascists, police dispersed the crowd right as the rally was supposed to actually start.) Mason said it was pointless to engage in legal political work—especially public rallies—and that neo-Nazis should do a terrorism instead.
“Lots was being written about Siege, but almost nothing about what was in the book. So I started an article to summarize the book and do a quick bio of him, but I found that the secondary sources on him didn’t add up. And then I found his archive, which set off the five-year process of writing the book.”
I have always been fascinated by subcultures. In the first half of the book you discuss the path of post-World War II neo-Nazism and white supremacy, and a few things stick out. First, the movement has always been quite small and certainly gained much more notoriety than it perhaps warranted given how few people were involved. But going a layer deeper, there’s also just this very odd assortment of people involved, many of them quite disreputable beyond their beliefs, prone to all kinds of internecine conflicts, and seemingly unable to get along with one another. Is this typical with extreme subcultures, or is there something more unique to the far right movement that creates this type of seeming constant chaos?
“The U.S. neo-Nazi movement is indeed small— the figure of 5,000 has been thrown out—although violence seems to inevitably follow it.
“But in terms of who participates in radical movements, we need to make a distinction between those that are very small and marginal, and those that expand into mass movements. There were millions of National Socialists in Germany in the 1930s and ‘40s, including intellectuals. And until the war, the U.S. there were tens of thousands of believers and many more sympathizers, including among domestic elites.
“It was only postwar that National Socialism was de-legitimized, becoming so taboo that only the most fringe characters became involved openly. The American Nazi Party, the first swastika-waving postwar group, was founded in 1959 and only had a couple hundred people, at most, at its height. (However, there were other groups that had similar views but were not as explicit about their politics—especially the much-larger NSRP, which was closer to the KKK.) But to openly march around in a brownshirt uniform with a swastika armband—the standard look for U.S. neo-Nazis until the 1980s—attracted a certain kind of fringe person at that time and place.
“The Far Right in general has a penchant for infighting, something which is true even today. Especially in the 1970s it was very distinct among U.S. neo-Nazis, in particular because there had been one main party, which its dozen or so splinter groups were reacting to and criticizing (as I detail in my book).
“But again, I think this is quite common among radical political movements in general. For example, the history of Trotskyist sects is much, much more complicated than that of neo-Nazis! In fact, for my book I leaned on a lot of the “sectology” I had learned from looking at Marxist-Leninist parties. Monty Python’s “People’s Front of Judea” skit refers to Palestinian parties in the 1970s, as Fatah, PFLP, DFPL, PFLP-GC, etc splintered and fought. Islamists also seem to splinter and fuse similarly. I once tried to learn the factions in the Lebanese Civil War and had to quickly admit defeat—although I did better with the Syrian Civil War.
“So, although obviously neo-Nazis have a bad case of it, infighting and splintering happens among other movements.”
We’re very fortunate that neo-Nazi James Mason, creator and author of the Siege newsletter around which the book orbits, left his extensive papers to the University of Kansas (which fill up 60 boxes). This included correspondence from musicians Boyd Rice and Michael Moynihan, as well as eventual Feral House publisher Adam Parfrey. While all have at times denied holding views similar to Mason’s, back when they were corresponding with him you couldn’t just “find” extreme material with the click of a mouse – you had to go out into the world and actively seek it out, then take the time to physically write someone a letter or make a phone call. It required effort and intentionality. Oh, and maybe then even decorate your letter with a swastika or two, as you unearthed in the Mason archive. How did these letters and materials shape your understanding of these individuals and their views?
“These letters were multiple smoking guns. Rice had always tried to bat away the connections with the violent end of the neo-Nazi milieu, and to some extent he was able to do this. But he could never completely succeed, because of a 1989 photo that appeared in Sassy magazine with Bob Heick, the leader of the Nazi skinhead gang the American Front, as well a video that later surfaced online of him being interviewed on Tom Metzger’s show. (Metzger ran WAR, White Aryan Resistance, which was one of the most important—and violent—White Supremacist groups of the 1980s and ‘90s.) But Rice and his followers always downplayed and dismissed these associations, claiming he was never an adherent to neo-Nazism, that these connections were passing or inconsequential, and/or that he was just trying to ‘make people think.’ His letters to Mason show otherwise: Rice was deeply embedded in these circles and, in fact, was the one who found Mason and then introduced him to the others.
“Parfrey had a similar MO, always saying his connections to White Supremacists were somehow just an attempt to get material to publish from them. Again, the letters to Mason are pretty outrageous and paint a very different story—about what his connections consisted of, how much he helped these White Supremacists when he had no business reason for doing so, and his own personal views. For example, I found out that he published in Metzger’s White Aryan Resistance newspaper, in addition to planning on releasing a book by Mason.
“Although it was well-known that he had edited and published Siege, Moynihan had always tried to deny the extent of these connections and beliefs as well. After his 1998 book Lords of Chaos became a hit, he ran a campaign of obfuscation and lies, which was very successful in getting journalists and even academics to swallow his bullshit. Again, his letters to Mason show his clear adherence to this ideology for a number of years. Most importantly, I found Moynihan’s introduction to the first edition of Siege, which was overlooked by critics, where he said he hoped readers enacted Mason’s ideas.
“So I hope that my book has made impossible for these guys, and their sycophants, to deny the extent of their connection to the neo-Nazi milieu.”
I was primarily drawn to the book due to intersections between these neo-Nazi groups (and to a lesser extent Satanists) and counterculture figures, particularly musicians. When I think about the connection with music, it feels like certain subgenres attract artists with overtly white supremacist and/or fascist views. Extreme metal (particularly black metal, which has its own sub-subgenre of NSBM – National Socialist Black Metal), industrial, hardcore punk, noise, and Neo-folk have more than their fair share of neo-Nazi performers. Is there a sociological explanation?
“Well, obviously genres and countercultures which have more radical approaches (including in aesthetics and cultural criticisms) are more likely to have radical politics, and this will inevitably include fascist ones. And even more so if key figures to a genre have fascist politics, such as in black metal and neofolk (Burzum and Death in June, respectively). And we cannot forget the intentional injection of fascist politics into scenes by political actors, such as when the National Front in Britain made a conscious (and successful) attempt to recruit skinheads.”
One of the questions I struggle with at times is, can we separate the artist from the art when the artist holds reprehensible views and/or commits terrible acts? Varg Vikernes, whom you discuss in an appendix, is an example of this. He’s a convicted church arsonist and murderer, and certainly a racist. When it comes to his musical project Burzum, however, many people argue, “I just like the music, and there’s no political message in it”. I’m curious about your views on this topic.
“Well, you can find other musicians in the genre that are just as good! Let’s be honest: you’re making a choice intentionally, and perhaps dishonestly, to follow these people. Like people who say, ‘I only like the first Skrewdriver album.’ It is true that it came out before the band pivoted to being the premier Nazi skinhead band. But it is also true that that first album is terrible. There is a reason you listen to it—but moreover, brag that you do.” (Spencer is referring to the generic “you” here, not me personally!)
Since this is primarily a music blog, I have to ask – what are you listening to these days? Any new and interesting artists you’d like to recommend?
“I can’t listen to music with words and write, so when I was working on the book, I started off listening to hard psych, then moved to the mid- and late-20th century avant-garde composers like Terry Riley, and finally just listened to white noise. (I found out that if you put earplugs in, and then put on headphones and turn up white noise all the way, you can drown out even your most obnoxious neighbor who blasts bass-heavy music.) I don’t listen to music at home very often—and when I do, it tends to be 1980s punk and new wave. Conversely, I do (or try to) go to local shows a couple times a month. So I guess my recommendation would be to, as we punks in the ‘90s used to say, support your local scene!”
Sunshine opens with a broad history of the neo-Nazi movement, starting with the founding of the American Nazi Party by George Lincoln Rockwell1 in 1959 and taking us through the repetitive cycle of new groups forming around a charismatic leader then splintering due to the inevitable disagreements and infighting. A 14-year-old James Mason enters the story in 1966, writing the party to inquire about joining its youth program, then two years later moving to the party’s (now renamed the National Socialist White People’s Party) headquarters in Virginia where he learned how to operate a printing a press, a foreshadowing of future role within the movement. He revives the newsletter Siege in 1980, devoting himself to its publication into 1986.
The second half of the book introduces us to the Abraxas Clique as its members find their ways to Siege, often writing fawning letters to Mason. Michael Moynihan eventually put out a Siege anthology in 1992, also serving as the editor and writing the introduction. The book was dedicated to Charles Manson (!), and the short “thanks” section included Adam Parfrey and Anton LaVey (!!). Sunshine follows the wandering path of Mason and the Abraxas Clique as they navigate the world of the extreme right and satanists in the 80s and 90s, as well as the eventual fallouts and attempts by the Abraxas members to explain away their involvement and actions. Sunshine closes with series of short appendices that provide additional context on selected topics, including a few pages on the previously mentioned Varg Vikernes.
Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism – The Origins and Afterlife of James Mason’s Siege provides a solid foundation on the rise of the post-World War II neo-Nazi movement, but where it really shines is in its analysis of the role that James Mason and his Siege newsletter served in far right circles. While Mason didn’t generally have the power to make things happen, Siege served as a constantly re-discovered primer for racist and extreme right thought, almost a magnet that drew people in time and again whether they be diehard adherents to the cause or outsiders like the Abraxas Clique. Members of the Clique have subsequently claimed they were mere dilettantes and not true believers, but their correspondence with Mason strongly implies deeper-held beliefs.
Meticulously researched and documented, Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism – The Origins and Afterlife of James Mason’s Siege is an important work in understanding the development of contemporary extreme movements. Sunshine presents his research clearly, providing an accessible and very readable text that can appeal to both academic and more casual readers. This is one of those books that will remain on my shelf for years to come.
- Rockwell was assassinated outside a laundromat by a recently-expelled party member in 1967. ↩︎