Blab Politics
From Booth to Antifa: A Chronicle of U.S. Left-Wing Political Violence
From the shadowed balcony of Ford’s Theatre to the street‑corner protests of the 2020s, the United States has witnessed a lineage of left‑wing violence that has morphed in methods, motives, and law‑enforcement responses. A comprehensive review of incidents from the 1865 assassination of President Lincoln to the 2025 Antifa designation reveals a pattern of escalating and shifting tactics, government reactions, and evolving legal frameworks.
The story begins in 1865 when John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer and Democrat, shot President Abraham Lincoln. Booth’s act marked the first instance of politically motivated violence in the country.
In 1901, Leon Czolgosz—an anarchist inspired by Emma Goldman—shot President William McKinley. Czolgosz described himself as an anarchist, and his assassination was the first major act of anarchist political violence in the United States.
The early 20th‑century “Galleanisti” movement, followers of Italian anarchist Luigi Galleani, carried out a series of bombings between 1919 and 1920. Attacks targeted politicians, judges, and business leaders in eight cities, including a blast at Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer’s home. The bombings triggered the First Red Scare and the Palmer Raids, which resulted in mass arrests and deportations.
The most lethal domestic terrorist act of that era was the 1920 Wall Street bombing, which killed 38 to 40 people and injured more than 140. It remained the deadliest U.S. domestic terrorist attack until the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
The 1950s saw a new wave of left‑wing violence tied to anti‑colonial nationalism. The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, led by Pedro Albizu Campos, attempted to assassinate President Harry Truman in 1950, and in 1954 four nationalists opened fire from the House gallery, wounding five members of Congress.
The late 1960s and 1970s marked a peak in left‑wing terrorism driven by opposition to the Vietnam War and domestic surveillance. The Weather Underground Organization, a splinter of the Students for a Democratic Society, bombed the Capitol, Pentagon, and State Department. The Black Liberation Army, an offshoot of the Black Panther Party, carried out armed robberies, police assassinations, and other attacks from 1970 to 1981.
Other groups active during this period included the Symbionese Liberation Army, which assassinated Oakland schools superintendent Marcus Foster in 1973 and kidnapped Patricia Hearst in 1974; the FALN, a Marxist‑influenced Puerto Rican separatist group that conducted more than 130 bombings across the 1970s; and the United Freedom Front, which bombed courthouses and robbed banks along the East Coast.
By the late 1980s, left‑wing violence shifted toward environmental and animal‑rights sabotage. The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) carried out arson and property damage but, according to the source, did not cause any fatalities. FBI testimony from 2002 indicated that the two groups had committed more than 600 criminal acts since 1996, causing over $43 million in damage.
The source also documents a 2026 indictment by the Department of Justice alleging that the Southern Poverty Law Center funneled more than $4 million to KKK affiliates between 2014 and 2023. The indictment remains pending.
In recent years, the Antifa movement was designated a domestic terrorist organization by the Trump administration in 2025. The FBI’s National Security Branch identified Antifa as the bureau’s “primary concern” and “the most immediate violent threat” in December 2025.
The current situation is that several former left‑wing groups have been dismantled through FBI investigations such as Operation Backfire and Operation Resistance. The source notes that the ELF and ALF activity wound down by the mid‑2010s, and that the FBI’s 2025 designation of Antifa reflects a shift in focus toward anti‑fascist activism.
In summary, the United States has experienced a long history of left‑wing political violence that has evolved in tactics, ideology, and targets. Government responses have ranged from mass arrests and deportations to targeted investigations and indictments. The legal and law‑enforcement landscape continues to adapt to new forms of domestic terrorism, as illustrated by the ongoing investigations into KKK funding and the FBI’s monitoring of Antifa.
The story begins in 1865 when John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer and Democrat, shot President Abraham Lincoln. Booth’s act marked the first instance of politically motivated violence in the country.
In 1901, Leon Czolgosz—an anarchist inspired by Emma Goldman—shot President William McKinley. Czolgosz described himself as an anarchist, and his assassination was the first major act of anarchist political violence in the United States.
The early 20th‑century “Galleanisti” movement, followers of Italian anarchist Luigi Galleani, carried out a series of bombings between 1919 and 1920. Attacks targeted politicians, judges, and business leaders in eight cities, including a blast at Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer’s home. The bombings triggered the First Red Scare and the Palmer Raids, which resulted in mass arrests and deportations.
The most lethal domestic terrorist act of that era was the 1920 Wall Street bombing, which killed 38 to 40 people and injured more than 140. It remained the deadliest U.S. domestic terrorist attack until the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
The 1950s saw a new wave of left‑wing violence tied to anti‑colonial nationalism. The Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, led by Pedro Albizu Campos, attempted to assassinate President Harry Truman in 1950, and in 1954 four nationalists opened fire from the House gallery, wounding five members of Congress.
The late 1960s and 1970s marked a peak in left‑wing terrorism driven by opposition to the Vietnam War and domestic surveillance. The Weather Underground Organization, a splinter of the Students for a Democratic Society, bombed the Capitol, Pentagon, and State Department. The Black Liberation Army, an offshoot of the Black Panther Party, carried out armed robberies, police assassinations, and other attacks from 1970 to 1981.
Other groups active during this period included the Symbionese Liberation Army, which assassinated Oakland schools superintendent Marcus Foster in 1973 and kidnapped Patricia Hearst in 1974; the FALN, a Marxist‑influenced Puerto Rican separatist group that conducted more than 130 bombings across the 1970s; and the United Freedom Front, which bombed courthouses and robbed banks along the East Coast.
By the late 1980s, left‑wing violence shifted toward environmental and animal‑rights sabotage. The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) carried out arson and property damage but, according to the source, did not cause any fatalities. FBI testimony from 2002 indicated that the two groups had committed more than 600 criminal acts since 1996, causing over $43 million in damage.
The source also documents a 2026 indictment by the Department of Justice alleging that the Southern Poverty Law Center funneled more than $4 million to KKK affiliates between 2014 and 2023. The indictment remains pending.
In recent years, the Antifa movement was designated a domestic terrorist organization by the Trump administration in 2025. The FBI’s National Security Branch identified Antifa as the bureau’s “primary concern” and “the most immediate violent threat” in December 2025.
The current situation is that several former left‑wing groups have been dismantled through FBI investigations such as Operation Backfire and Operation Resistance. The source notes that the ELF and ALF activity wound down by the mid‑2010s, and that the FBI’s 2025 designation of Antifa reflects a shift in focus toward anti‑fascist activism.
In summary, the United States has experienced a long history of left‑wing political violence that has evolved in tactics, ideology, and targets. Government responses have ranged from mass arrests and deportations to targeted investigations and indictments. The legal and law‑enforcement landscape continues to adapt to new forms of domestic terrorism, as illustrated by the ongoing investigations into KKK funding and the FBI’s monitoring of Antifa.
