The West Coast’s Ties to a Tumultuous Time in American Politics

Rising nationalism in Europe, anti-immigration and racist rhetoric at home, emboldened white supremacists, and outbreaks of political violence on the right and left in American streets. These are some of the political trends of 2016, but we’ve seen them before. Try the 1930s.

The pre-WWII decade was tumultuous in American politics, and the West Coast was very much engaged. Hitler’s rise in Europe also gave rise to a right-wing populist politics in the U.S. that looked at Germany as a model for solving the woes of the Great Depression. American Nazis are as old as German Nazis, and our white supremacists go back even further. Right-wing parties proliferated to oppose the New Deal, rage against immigrants—particularly Jewish refugees—fueled anti-Semitism. Hundreds of thousands of Americans cried “America First,” a slogan Donald Trump has revived, and thousands of members of the German-American Bund saluted the American flag with the extended arm of the Nazi salute.

This comes to mind because the hateful politics of that time not only echo today, but so does the pushback. While Seattle celebrated gay pride in the wake of the tragedy in Orlando, white supremacists marched in the California state capitol in Sacramento where they were greeted by anti-fascist protesters. A melee broke out injuring at least 10. The right-wing demonstrators carried knives; the leftist counter-protesters wielded sticks and rocks, according to press accounts. It’s wasn’t the first clash of the year, and it won’t be the last. The combination of racism and working-class rage can be toxic.

In the 1930s, the pro-Nazi German-American Bund found itself in frequent clashes with Socialists, Communists and organized labor. And some of these occurred in Seattle, a town known for its lefty activism since the early 19th century, but less well known for groups with pro-Nazi sympathies. (I did a series on this at Crosscut earlier this year.) Those groups, as now, were smaller here, but still had dedicated and active followings. In 1936, an American fascist leader, William Dudley Pelley, ran for president. He was only on the ballot in one state, Washington. He based his campaign here and leveraged it to national prominence for his so-called Silver Shirt Legion. (See details about Pelley here and here.) Scholars estimate that there were 20 independent pro-fascist groups operating in the Northwest between 1924-1941.

The city sought to keep the lid on both sides: the mayor banned Communists from speaking in the city’s Civic Arena, and progressive members of the city council threatened to crack down on pro-Nazi meetings held at the city’s German Club. Confrontations occurred. One such confrontation happened in 1934 when the local German American community feted German sailors at a Marine Ball at the Masonic Temple (now the Egyptian Theater) on Capitol hill. Pro-Hitler speeches were interrupted as infiltrators dropped anti-Nazi leaflets on the crowd, and a large anti-Nazi group of some 400 protesters gathered outside. Violence flared, a few demonstrators were arrested. As the ‘30s went on, such encounters blew up around the country—in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Philadelphia. One of the groups that took a lead in confronting the Americanization of fascism: the American Legion, whose veterans stood up against hate and the effort to conflate “Americanism” with fascist ideology.

It’s worth noting that mainstream Americans rejected both the Nazis and the Communists—in fact anti-Communist sentiment was more prevalent than anti-Nazi feelings until WWII broke out. The media downplayed protests and related violence. There seemed to be a sense that too much press attention to extreme rhetoric and movements only encouraged them. This is not true today. Violence begets media coverage. But also, many fringe ideas—particularly ideas promulgating hate and prejudice—have moved into the mainstream spotlight. Right-wing groups like the one in California were trying to show support for Donald Trump. They had a permit to demonstrate, and their views are protected by the Constitution.

Still, history tells us it will not go unanswered.