those deconstructing European history and identity. The decrepit values of
Woodstock and Wall Street mean nothing to us.” Here Spencer and the Alt
Right want to differentiate themselves from Fascism, Nazism, and neo-
Fascist political violence and terrorism. Yet, while Spencer condemned
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the killing of a liberal counterprotester at Charlottesville, he also marched
with the KKK and neo- Nazis. When Spencer says that the “decrepit values
of Woodstock and Wall Street mean nothing to us,” he sounds like de
Benoist, who rejects the liberal- Left hedonism of the Woodstock (New
Left) generation and the procapitalist Anglo- American New Right.44 Like
the French New Right, Spencer supports a Right that is revolutionary,
antiliberal, and anticapitalist.
If points one and three are not clear enough, in point five Spencer calls
for a “White America”: “Other races inhabited the continent and were often
set in conflict or subservience to Whites. Whites alone defined America as
a European society and political order.” Historically, white nationalists like
the KKK demonized Roman Catholics and valorized Protestants. As whites
see a world of changing geopolitical power (with the rise of nonwhite
powers), demographic change, and immigration and refugee movements,
they now need unity. Spencer especially negates African American and
Jewish influences in the US, while grudgingly accepting Roman Catholic
influences. He advances the notion that nonwhites and non- Protestants
had no role in the foundation of the US, that whites defined the US, and
that the US is really “a European social and political order.” The Canadian
philosopher George Grant might have reminded Spencer that Canada and
the US include indigenous peoples and that North Americans (outside
Mexico) are “Europeans who are not Europeans.”45
In point six, “Europe,” Spencer writes: “Europe is our common home,
and our ancestors’ bone and blood lie in its soil.” For Spencer, Europe
means the “blood and soil” of the ancestors, a discredited notion used by
Old Right thinkers from the French ultranationalist Charles Maurras to
Adolf Hitler. He further holds that white Europeans must unite around the
world, and that the refugee crisis, immigration, and uncontrolled borders,
are threats to white identity— “an invasion, a war without bullets.” This
argument has been made by right- wing terrorists such as Anders Behring
Breivik, by New Right thinkers such as Faye or de Benoist, and by na-
tionalist parties from the French National Front to the Austrian Freedom
Party. Finally, he holds that given open borders and immigration and ref-
ugee policies, the Islamization of Europe and North America are possible,
echoing Bat Ye’or’s “Eurabia.”
In point ten, “Foreign Affairs,” Spencer writes:
The foreign policies of European states (including immigration,
diplomacy, and war) should be based on the safeguarding of its
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E M E R G E N T T H I N K E R S
peoples— and not be beholden to special or foreign interests, nor to
corporate profit motives, nor to the chimeras of globalism, human-
itarianism, or the End of History. Insofar as “chauvinism” means
attempting to transform non- Europeans into Europeans, we are not
“Western chauvinists.”
Spencer thus questions the way most conservatives support Israel, as
highlighted in his piece in Gottfried’s edited volume The Great Purge.46
Spencer’s foreign policy positions consists of a rejection of “end of his-
tory” liberalism where the US attempts to convert all states to liberalism,
even at gunpoint; a rejection of chauvinistic, Old Right colonialism; and
opposition to alleged “Jewish” and “foreign” influences in US foreign
policy, a point highlighted by realist thinkers such as Stephen Walt and
John Mearsheimer in their book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy
(2006). He argues that if its foreign policy is determined by “foreign”
lobbies or corporate interests, the US is not de facto a sovereign state. The
foreign policy of the US must protect white Europeans.
In point fourteen, “The Left,” Spencer states: “Leftism is an ideology
of death and must be confronted and defeated.” The Left’s liberalism, so-
cialism, egalitarianism, and multiculturalism must be superseded.
In points fifteen and sixteen, Spencer’s echoes the French New
Right’s antiglobalization and anticapitalist agendas as dangers to all
rooted cultures and peoples: “Economic freedom is not an end in it-
self. All economic policies should serve the people of the nation; the
interests of businessmen and global merchants should never take prec-
edence over the well- being of workers, families, and the natural world,”
and “Globalization threatens not just Europeans but every unique iden-
tity on Earth.”
In point eighteen, Spencer blames the New Left generation of “the
68ers” for their “childish narcissism,” their inability to pass on the legacy
of European civilization to their children, and hence argues that “they
bear responsibility for today’s lamentable state of affairs.” De Benoist also
blames the 1968 generation for their liberal- Left values, but also praises
them for their attention to the importance of gaining ideological hegemony
in the mass media and civil society.47 In this respect, point nineteen,
“Education,” notes that modern education “has become corrupted past
the point of recognition” and it “serves leftist ideologues, loan financiers,
and a new class of administrators far more than it serves students and
parents.” Rather than children “indoctrinated in liberal dogma,” Spencer’s
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elitism is clear: “higher education” can only be “appropriate for a cognitive
elite dedicated to truth.”
What is striking about the manifesto is its focus on the metapolitical
as a prelude to a revolutionary, postliberal, and racial order; its intellec-
tual borrowing from the French New Right; and its distinctive focus on
homogeneous European identities. Only points eleven and twelve of the
manifesto, on free speech and the right to bear arms, are distinctively
American.
Conclusion
Spencer understands the power of slowly winning hearts and minds.
Although he would suggest that many Americans are liberal and that the
media and universities are largely liberal- Left, race cuts across class lines,
and white ethnic politics has more support than one might imagine. The
Trump phenomenon is an example. It will take time, but winning key
elites and convincing the public may lead to the reordering of the political
landscape away from liberal multiculturalism toward white racial politics.
If elites do not see the coming storm and fail to see the growing white ra-
cial consciousness in the US, a revolution of values may divide the masses
and elites. Cul
tural power, insisted de Benoist, will eventually threaten the
apparatus of the state.48 An example of this cultural strategy is the election
of Donald Trump, whom Spencer sees as a guardian of white identity be-
cause of his vociferously anti- immigrant, anti- Mexican rhetoric.
The revolution longed for by Spencer’s Alt Right would require the de-
feat of egalitarianism, liberalism, multiculturalism, and immigration— a
project that requires root and branch changes in mentalities within the
cultural and political systems. First, more of the public needs to support
race politics, anti- immigrant politics, anti- Jewish politics, and the building
of the white ethnic states. Elites are responsible for “deconstructing
European history and identity,” insists Spencer— for making whites feel
ashamed of racial consciousness, anti- immigrant politics, the history of
slavery, or even Confederate monuments and symbols.
Spencer’s “ideological war” with the establishment led him to even
defend the ideals (if not the actions) of the white- supremacist terrorist
Dylann Roof, who in 2015 killed nine black churchgoers in Charleston,
South Carolina. Spencer, like Taylor, admitted that Roof had “legiti-
mate concerns in his manifesto” since the latter “seriously pondered the
implications of race on American society.”49
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Spencer is the leading communicator of the Alt Right message
rather than its leading intellectual. What the Alt Right wants was
neatly summarized by Greg Johnson: the implementation of Old Right
ideals but through new right tactics and strategy.50 As the “Alt- Right
manifesto” showed, Spencer’s obsession with race and Jews repeats
central Old Right ideals. The rejection of violence, genocide, coloni-
alism, and totalitarianism, and the focus on metapolitics, and global
cultural ethnopluralism, are New Right tactics. Spencer’s intellectual
influences are both Old Right— including numerous fascists— and
New Right.
Spencer’s metapolitical strategy is a long way from even gaining cul-
tural power, and even farther away from implementing its ideal of homo-
geneous, white ethnostates. It has won over neither the masses nor the
elites of the US. Spencer is not clear on how he will get the Alt Right from
his critique of the status quo toward a hierarchical, postliberal, and racial
political order. Yet, if we think back to the “Alt- Right manifesto” and rallies
like Charlottesville, one aim is to intimidate Jews, blacks, Mexicans, and
other minorities to leave the US. Referenda on immigration or multicul-
turalism could conceivably promote the democratic and legal exclusion
of nonwhites. Spencer may also hope that elites in power like Trump will
shut the door for nonwhites to enter the US and thus “make America
great again.” Although his suggestion that Israel is an ethnostate is incor-
rect, it does suggest that a small white homeland can begin in a few states
and then spread to other parts of the US. The Zionist dream was improb-
able but eventually attained. Similarly, white ethnonationalism is unlikely
in the US today as the country prides itself on racial equality, but it is not
impossible that one day it might be reached. At minimum, Spencer and
the Alt Right seek to end mass immigration and gain acceptance of white
identity as a normal element of mainstream politics in the US, insists
George Hawley.
It is clear that Spencer has found his niche as the Alt Right provocateur
and media spokesman. The mass media are lining up to interview him,
and university students are listening to his message. He is the vanguard
of an alternative elite that will supposedly defeat liberal multiculturalism
and turn the US into white ethnostates. In order to be successful, he will
need to convert his predominantly online and anonymous Alt Right into a
more organized white nationalist movement, which rubs shoulders with
leading political elites in Washington and makes inroads with the masses
of white Americans.
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Richard B. Spencer and the Alt Right
239
Notes
1. “The National Policy Institute,” Facebook page, accessed October 14, 2017,
https:// www.facebook.com/ TheNationalPolicyInstitute/ .
2. George Hawley, Making Sense of the Alt- Right (New York: Columbia University
Press, 2017), 58– 59; “William H. Regnery II,” Southern Poverty Law Center
(SPLC), accessed October 30, 2017, https:// www.splcenter.org/ fighting- hate/
extremist- files/ individual/ william- h- regnery- ii.
3. “Who Are We?” National Policy Institute/ Radix, December 12, 2015, accessed
October 15, 2017, https:// www.youtube.com/ watch?v=3rnRPhEwELo.
4. Greg Johnson, New Right versus Old Right (San Francisco: Counter- Currents,
2013), xv.
5. “ ‘Hail Trump!’: Richard Spencer Speech Excerpts,” Atlantic, November 21, 2016,
accessed October 15, 2017, https:// www.youtube.com/ watch?v=1o6- bi3jlxk.
6. Joseph Goldstein, “Alt-
Right Exults in Donald Trump’s Election with a
Salute: ‘Heil Victory,’” New York Times, November 20, 2016.
7. Jared Taylor, White Identity: Racial Consciousness in the 21st Century (San
Bernardino: New Century Books, 2011), xiv.
8. “Richard Bertrand Spencer,” SPLC, accessed October 13, 2015,
https:// www.splcenter.org/ fighting- hate/ extremist- files/ individual/
richard- bertrand- spencer- 0.
9. “White Nationalist Richard Spencer Talks to Al Jazeera,” Al- Jazeera, December
9, 2016, accessed October 15, 2017, http:// www.aljazeera.com/ news/ 2016/ 12/
white- nationalist- richard- spencer- talks- al- jazeera- 161209184916999.html.
10. Tamir Bar- On, Rethinking the French New Right: Alternatives to Modernity
(Abingdon: Routledge, 2013), 22– 26; Tamir Bar- On, Where Have All the Fascists
Gone? (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), 5.
11. “Richard Bertrand Spencer,” SPLC.
12. Max Ehrenfreund, “What the Alt- Right Really Wants, According to a Professor
Writing a Book about Them,” Washington Post, November 21, 2016.
13. Richard Spencer, “The Conservative Write,” Taki’s Magazine, August 6, 2008.
14. Radix Journal, AltRight.com, accessed October 1, 2017, https:// altright.com/ au-
thor/ radix/ .
15. Jacob Siegel, “The Alt- Right’s Jewish Godfather,” Tablet, November 29, 2016,
accessed October 15, 2017, http:// www.tabletmag.com/ jewish- news- and-
politics/ 218712/ spencer- gottfried- alt- right.
16. Richard B. Spencer, “What It Means To Be Alt- Right,” AltRight.com, August
11, 2017, accessed October 1, 2017, https:// altright.com/ 2017/ 08/ 11/ what- it-
means- to- be- alt- right/ .
17. Lauren M. Fox, “The Hatemonger Next Door,” Salon.com, September 29,
2013, accessed October 15, 2017, https:// www.salon.com/ 2013/ 09/ 29/ the_
hatemonger_ next_ door/ .
2
4
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E M E R G E N T T H I N K E R S
18. Graeme Wood, “His Kampf,” Atlantic, June 2017, O
ctober 11, 2017, https://
www.theatlantic.com/ magazine/ archive/ 2017/ 06/ his- kampf/ 524505/ .
19. Cas Mudde, On Extremism and Democracy in Europe (New York: Routledge,
2016), chap. 7.
20. Masha Gessen, The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia
(New York: Riverhead Books, 2017), 482; Anton Shekhovtsov, Russia and the
Western Far Right: Tango Noir (New York: Routledge, 2018).
21. Alain de Benoist, Vu de droite: anthologie critique des idées contemporaines
(Paris: Copernic, 1979).
22. Richard B. Spencer, ed., The Uprooting of European Identity (Arlington,
VA: Washington Summit Publishers, 2016).
23. Johnson, New Right versus Old Right, 95.
24. Richard B. Spencer, “What Is the American Right?” in The Great Purge: The
Deformation of the Conservative Movement, eds. Paul Gottfried and Richard
Spencer (Arlington, VA: Washington Summit Publishers, 2015), ix– xviii.
25. Spencer, “What Is the American Right?,” x– xi.
26. Alain de Benoist, Comment peut- on être païen? (Paris: Albin Michel, 1981).
27. Alexander Griffing, “Donald Trump Receiving Criticism from Alt- Right Leaders
after Israel, Saudi Arabia Visits,” Ha’aretz, May 25, 2017, accessed October 15,
2017, https:// www.haaretz.com/ us- news/ 1.791559.
28. Ibid.
29. Daniel Lombroso and Yoni Appelbaum, “‘Hail Trump!’: White Nationalists
Salute the President- Elect,” Atlantic, November 21, 2016.
30. Richard B. Spencer, “#ArizonaTrumpRally,” Twitter, August 22, 2017,
accessed October 30, 2017, https:// twitter.com/ RichardBSpencer/ status/
900181906704171013?ref_ src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_ url=http%3A%2F%2Fthehill.
com%2Fblogs%2Fblog- briefing- room%2Fnews%2F347586- richard- spencer-
trump- has- never- denounced- the- alt- right.
31. Roger Griffin, “Foreword: Another Face? Another Mazeway?” in Tamir Bar- On,
Where Have All the Fascists Gone? , xiii.
32. Wood, “His Kampf.”
33. Alain de Benoist and Charles Champetier, “Manifesto of the French New Right
in the Year 2000,” accessed October 15, 2017, https:// neweuropeanconservative.
files.wordpress.com/ 2012/ 10/ manifesto- of- the- french- new- right1.pdf.
34. Spencer, “What It Means To Be Alt- Right.”
35. Hereafter I quote the manifesto from Spencer, “What It Means To Be Alt- Right.”
Key Thinkers of the Radical Right Page 40