Understanding Charlottesville:
Antifa and Agitprop

© Jack Cashill
August 16, 2017 - WND.com

To understand the events in Charlottesville, it helps to know how the left operates. During the 2016 campaign veteran Democratic operative Scott Foval unwittingly shared the left’s playbook with anyone who cared to see.

Foval explained his strategy to an undercover journalist with James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas. He boasted specifically about the art of provoking violence at Trump rallies, all of which was recorded on camera.

“There’s a script of engagement,” said Foval. “Sometimes the crazies bite, and sometimes the crazies don’t bite.”

He continued, “They’re starting conversations in the line. Right? They’re not starting confrontations in the rally. Because once they’re inside the rally they’re under Secret Service’s control.”

The “they” in question are the provocateurs Foval’s people planted to agitate the crowd. Some were seasoned operatives like the union thugs Democrats have employed for years. “They’ll do whateeeevvverrr you want,” said Foval.

Others were clueless human cannon fodder. “I’m saying we have mentally ill people that we pay to do sh**,” Foval bragged. “Make no mistake. Over the last twenty years, I’ve paid off a few homeless guys to do some crazy stuff.”

Foval understood that this strategy worked only because the media wanted it to work. “The media will cover it no matter where it happens,” he stated. “The key is initiating the conflict by having leading conversations with people who are naturally psychotic.”

“I mean, honestly, it is not hard to get some of these a**holes to pop off,” he elaborated. “It is a matter of showing up, to want to get into the rally in ‘Planned Parenthood’ t-shirts or ‘Trump is a Nazi,’ you know. You can message to draw them out, and draw them to punch you.”

This is not a strategy Foval improvised for the campaign. The “script of engagement” dates back to at least the 1920’s when the Soviets/ Russians first started meddling in American politics.

The occasion then was the ongoing saga of Sacco and Vanzetti, a pair of Italian anarchists who received a fair trial for a murder committed during a payroll robbery and were convicted.

Guilty or not, the Soviet Comintern stirred up massive worldwide agitation on their behalf. Sympathetic liberal writers flocked to the cause and reported events as scripted by the Comintern. This combination of agitation and propaganda came to be known as “agitprop.”

Agitprop was clearly the name of the game at Charlottesville on Saturday. The script of engagement called for the counter-protestors to stoke the “crazies” on the right, knowing well that the media would report events in the left’s favor.

Embedded among the counter-protestors, many of them innocent liberals, were the hardcore bully boys of Antifa. The Neo-Nazis were a self-deluding relic of the past, but Antifa may well be the vanguard of the future.

Although the American media are inclined to protect Antifa, the BBC proved much more forthright in its coverage. 

“Antifa is anti-government and anti-capitalist, and their methodologies are often perceived as more closely aligned with anarchists than the mainstream left,” wrote the BBC’s Brenna Cameron.

“Antifa does not shy away from militant protest methods, including the destruction of property and sometimes physical violence. They were present at the 2017 Berkeley protests of far-right speaker Milo Yiannopoulos and at violent protests against Donald Trump’s inauguration; they were also present at Charlottesville.”

Cameron added the obvious, “Unlike the mainstream left, they do not seek to gain power through traditional channels – winning elections and passing bills into law.”

Lenin referred to the well-intended progressives who flocked to his cause as “useful idiots.” For him, they were pure pawns, totally expendable once they ceased to be useful. On Saturday, unfortunately, they served the same purpose for Antifa.

At Charlottesville, Antifa succeeded in stoking at least one crazy. For reasons still not fully established, he drove his car into a crowd of protestors and killed one seemingly innocent liberal and wounded several others.

I doubt if Antifa expected any fatalities, but I suspect they were thrilled there was one, especially since the woman killed was one of their own young innocents.

That’s the way agitprop works. Look for more of it.