Antifa

Borrowed from German Antifa, originally an abbreviation for Antifaschistische Aktion, a wing of the Communist Party of Germany founded in 1932. Also a clipping of antifascism and antifascist.

• IPA^(key): /ænˈtiːfə/, /ˈæntifɑː/

Antifa

1. (politics) A decentralized, radical political movement that opposes fascism.
   • 1985, Andreas Dorpalen, German History in Marxist Perspective: The East German Approach, Wayne State University Press, page 385:

     Similarly, Antifa organized local defense units that fought off Nazi assaults and factory and land-estate committees that blocked further wage cuts and other infringements.

   • 1996, Rebecca L. Boehling, A Question of Priorities: Democratic Reforms and Economic Recovery in Postwar Germany : Frankfurt, Munich, and Stuttgart Under U.S. Occupation, 1945-1949, Berghahn Books, page 102:

     The active Communist participation in the leadership of the Antifa committees made them vulnerable to "red scare" propaganda, especially from the much more conservative city government.

   • 2019 July 3, Stanislav Vysotsky, “Antifa in America: Militant Anti-fascism Isn't Terrorism, It's Self-defense”, in Haaretz‎^[1]:

     After an anti-fascist punched a right-wing journalist in Portland, militant anti-fascists and Antifa have been branded as 'violent gangs,' even 'terrorists.' Those definitions are completely wrong.

   • 2025 September 23, Patrick G. Eddington, “On Trump’s Anti-Antifa Executive Order”, in Cato Institute‎^[2]:

     And the FBI is not the only federal law enforcement agency that tracks groups associated with the larger Antifa movement.

2. (slang, informal, politics) Black bloc groups that fight fascist or far-right groups in public, usually anarchist, socialist, or communist groups.

• anti-Antifa

Antifa (plural Antifas)

1. (politics) A local instance of this movement.
   • 1949, Political Science Quarterly, volume 64, Academy of Political Science:

     The stakes were high and the issues far-reaching; it is hardly astonishing that in cities like Bremen and Leipzig Antifas jumped the gun, exercised administrative powers without waiting for military government and continued them.

   • 1981, James D. Wilkinson, The Intellectual Resistance in Europe, Harvard University Press, page 136:

     Both the pattern and participation and the internal structure of the Antifas recalled the French underground.

   • 2017 May, Loren Balhorn, “The Lost History of Antifa”, in Jacobin Magazine‎^[3]:

     After the war, Antifas varied in size and composition across the former Reich, now divided into four zones of occupation, and developed in interaction with the local occupying power. […] Although surviving records indicate that many Antifas were dominated by the KPD, the political mood in the early months was far from the “Third Period” adventurism of the late Weimar period.

2. (slang, informal, politics) A member of an anti-fascist group.

• anti-Nazi

• Post-World War II anti-fascism on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Antifa on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Anti-Fascist Action on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• afaint

• AFA
• antifa

Short for Anti-Fascistische Actie.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑntiˌfaː/

• Audio:

  (file)

Antifa f

1. Antifa (decentralized militant left-wing anti-fascist movement)

Antifa m or f (plural Antifa's, no diminutive)

1. an Antifa member

Short for Antifaschismus and/or Antifaschistische Aktion.

• IPA^(key): /ˈantiˌfaː/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Antifa f (proper noun, genitive Antifa, plural Antifas)

1. (historical) abbreviation of Antifaschistische Aktion (organisation that was part of the Communist Party of Germany from 1932 to 1933)
   • 1935, “Das Jahr der großen Aufmärsche 1931”, in Die Geschichte der Kurhessischen SA, page 85:

     Als wenn Sie in einer eigenen Versammlung wäre, hatte sich die „Antifa“ in einem großen Klumpen niedergelassen. […] Kurz schwankt die Entscheidung, dann sind wir Sieger, die Antifa ist hinausgehauen.

     As if it were in its own assembly, the ‘Antifa’ had settled in a large cluster. […] For a moment the decision wavers, then we are the victors — the ‘Antifa’ has been driven out.

2. Antifa (political current that is composed of multiple far-left, autonomous, militant groups and individuals)
   • 2017 December 30, Lukas Hermsmeier, “Schwarze Kapuzen gegen weiße Kapuzen”, in Die Zeit:

     Auch an den Protesten gegen das WTO-Ministertreffen in Seattle im Jahr 1999 und an Occupy Wall Street, um nur zwei Beispiele zu nennen, beteiligten sich selbst ernannte Antifaschisten. Doch die Antifa blieb ein Nischenthema. Bis Trump kam.

     Even in the protests against the WTO ministerial meeting in Seattle in 1999 and in Occupy Wall Street, to name just two examples, self-proclaimed antifascists participated. But the Antifa remained a niche topic. Until Trump came

   • 2017 June 28, Anant Agarwala, Stefan Schirmer, “Kommt eine neue Studentenrevolte?”, in Die Zeit Campus‎^[4]:

     Das Schanzenviertel, an jedem 1. Mai Kampfplatz von Antifa und Polizei, ist zuplakatiert mit Aufrufen, den Gipfel zu verhindern.

     The Schanzenviertel, every May 1st a battleground between Antifa and the police, is plastered with posters calling to prevent the summit

   • 2017 March 23, Alard von Kittlitz, “Meint er das ernst?”, in Die Zeit‎^[5]:

     Vier Jahre lang macht Somuncu die Tour. Manchmal unter Polizeischutz. Es kommen Neonazis, alte Nazis, die Antifa, KZ-Überlebende, Schülergruppen, Kulturbürger.

     Somuncu has been doing the tour for four years. Sometimes under police protection. Neo-Nazis come, old Nazis, Antifa, concentration camp survivors, groups of students, cultured middle-class citizens

• Antifant
• Anti-Antifa

• Antira-

• Antifa on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de
• Antifaschistische Aktion on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Antifa (Germany) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• IPA^(key): /anˈtifa/

Antifa

1. Antifa