A Radical Guide Sometimes Antisocial * Always Antifascist Hoodie

Description

A Radical Guide’s Always Antifascist hoodie feature the Iron Front logo/antifascist circle.

About the Iron Front logo/Antifascist circle
The Iron Front (German: Eiserne Front) was an anti-Nazi paramilitary organization formed in the Weimar Republic by social democrats, trade unionists, and liberals.

It was formed on 16 December 1931 by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) with the Allgemeiner Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (ADGB), the Reichsbanner and workers’ sport clubs to counter the right-wing Harzburg Front formed by the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP), the Stahlhelm, and the German National People’s Party (DNVP). The organization sought to engage the old Reichsbanner, the SPD youth organization and labor and liberal groups as a united front. The SPD rallied to the Iron Front, held mass demonstrations, fought Nazis in the streets, and armed themselves. This is more than the SPD leaders wanted, but SPD workers grew increasingly revolutionary. In 1933, the organization was banned.

Its logo, the Antifascist Circle (three-lined-arrows, pointing southwest/to the lower left inside a circle) was designed by Sergei Tschachotin, former assistant to the physiologist Ivan Pavlov in 1931. Designed so as to be able to easily cover Naziswastikas, the meaning of the three arrows has been variously interpreted. The present-day Reichsbanner association says the arrows of the logo stood for the SPD, the trade unions, and the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold as well as for the political, economic, and physical strength of the working class. The symbol was used on a November 1932 Reichstag election poster of the SPD to represent opposition to monarchist, fascist and communist parties.

About its formation, Karl Höltermann, chairman of the Reichsbanner, commented: “The year 1932 will be our year, the year of victory of the republic over its opponents. Not one day nor one hour more do we want to remain on the defensive – we attack! Attack on the whole line! We must be part of the general offensive. Today we call—tomorrow we strike!”.

The Iron Front downward arrow symbol continues to be used into the 21st century to represent anti-fascism.

• 50% polyester, 25% airlume combed ring-spun cotton, 25% rayon
• Fabric weight 5.6 oz/yd² (189.9 g/m²)
• Unisex fit (men may want to order a size up for a looser fit)
• Side-seamed construction
• Hooded
• Kangaroo pocket

Additional information