Hitler's choir: rock and roll fascism
by David Lethbridge, The Bethune Institute for Anti-Fascist Studies, Canada In 1991, at the age of 21, George Burdi became the Canadian leader of the Church of the Creator, an ultra-violent neo-fascist organisation with connections to Canada's Heritage Front and to the National Alliance, the leading Nazi organisation in the USA. Burdi was the son of wealthy parents and attended private schools in the Toronto area. While still a youngster, he became associated with Nazi propagandist Ernst Zundel, and far-right activist Paul Fromm. Burdi was also the lead singer for RaHoWa (Racial Holy War), a white power racist rock group. Burdi's songs were openly fascist, as the lyrics from Third Reich demonstrate: "Kill all the niggers and gas all the Jews, "Kill a gypsy and a coloured too, "You just killed a kike, Don't it feel right, "Goodness gracious, darn right." In 1993, Burdi, along with Jason Snow and Joseph Talic, formed Resistance Records, an organisation that sold white racist music from bands across North America and Europe, published a magazine, and hosted an Internet website. What made Resistance Records particularly dangerous was the high quality of their products. Their music CDs were the equal of any mainstream label; their magazine was a full-colour, glossy-paper periodical easily available in all the major urban centres. Their Internet site allowed visitors to listen to selected tracks of music, and to purchase the CDs virtually instantaneously by simply clicking on the Visa and MasterCard logos that were prominently displayed on the webpage. Burdi ran Resistance Records from across the border in Detroit to avoid possible conviction under Canadian hate crime legislation. But by 1997, it looked as though Resistance Records had come to an end. Michigan tax agents seized its assets for failure to pay state sales tax. And in the same year, Burdi was sentenced to a year in jail for criminal assault during a previous 1993 racist rally. But the Resistance Records organisation was too valuable a tool for recruiting youth for the fascists to let it die. Willis Carto — the millionaire fascist behind Liberty Lobby, the largest US anti-semitic organisation — hired Todd Blodgett to pay off the Michigan taxes and take control of Resistance Records. Blodgett was a White House staff assistant in the Reagan administration, a Republican Party strategist, an advisor to George Bush's election committee, and a friend of a wide circle of neo-Nazis. Carto was soon in financial difficulties, however, over a struggle to maintain ownership of the Institute for Historical Review, a Holocaust- denial propaganda organisation. He was forced to declare bankruptcy, and Resistance Records passed to Blodgett. By March, 1999, Blodgett had sold Resistance to William Pierce, leader of the openly Nazi National Alliance, for US$250,000. Blodgett met with Pierce and two Nazi Skinheads at the very exclusive University Club, in Washington, to finalise the arrangements. Pierce was jubilant. "As Resistance Records regains strength, that acquisition should add an increasing number of younger members in the 18 to 25 age range to our ranks", he wrote. Blodgett was to continue as the operations manager of Resistance Records, which was now relocated to Washington. But in October 1999, Pierce, aggravated by delays in Blodgett's management, moved Resistance to National Alliance headquarters in West Virginia. The Resistance magazine is now on the store shelves, at least in the USA. The Resistance website is in full operation. On its home page, Resistance Records bills itself as: "The largest producers of White Power music in the world. Our online catalog is the biggest and badest ever! Order the best releases by your favourite bands and the most bad-ass new music from around the world." Besides a catalogue of hundreds of racist CDs, the Resistance Records website offers the following material for sale: * "The New Dawn Calendar — celebrating White women and children", by an "Aryan" artist; * the Nazi battle flag, the Nazi SS flag, the Confederate battle flag, and the Celtic Cross flag; * postcards of Nazi rock bands; * books by William Pierce, including the notorious Turner Diaries — made famous by Oklahoma City bomber Tim McVeigh — and White Power, by George Lincoln Rockwell, the deceased leader of the American Nazi Party; * posters of Hitler; a computer mouse pad with Hitler's image; and * taped speeches by George Burdi, and by Bob Mathews, the leader of the murderous Nazi group, the Order. The website "Links page" guides viewers to the National Alliance, the David Duke organisation, and to Stormfront — the largest Nazi site on the Internet. National Alliance is undoubtedly the most significant fascist organisation in operation today. It has branches throughout the US, Canada, and Europe. With Pierce's takeover of Resistance Records, National Alliance is making a serious attempt to recruit white youngsters to Nazism. During a time of economic boom for the capitalist exploiting class, North American youth [and youth in other developed capitalist countries like Western Europe and Australia] finds itself increasingly driven into poverty and despair. The gap between "rich" and "poor" has never been greater. Unemployment for those with only a high school education is rising sharply. Average real hourly wages have steadily declined for the working class since the mid- 1970s, especially for young workers. For the fascist leaders, and their friends within the State, the time is ripe for building a new fascist mass movement. Their cynically-designed hook for alienated and desperate youth is the power and the raw energy of racist rock. The Bethune Institute for Anti-Fascist Studies, Canada can be found at: http://bethune.w-3productions.com