My First Introduction To Socialist Politics Before I Read Marx Was Actually Through A Variety Of Socialist

My first introduction to socialist politics before I read Marx was actually through a variety of socialist and anarchist punk bands so it’s funny watching people respond to the false notion that punk is inherently radical with an also false notion that antifascist, socialist and anarchist politics are incidental to and not disproportionately represented in the punk scene.

It’s a subculture of working class kids that’s not inherently political and yet has also been the site of antifascist brawls that successfully scared off neo-Nazi attempts at entryism. “Nazi Punks Fuck Off” a song describing real issues with fascist entryism in the punk scene, was succeeded by repeated beat downs of open fascists until they no longer could explicitly promote fascist politics at concert venues. Punk music is an example of an antifascist success story.

This shouldn’t be downplayed when we rightfully counter the idea that punk is inherently politically radical. Many if not most punks are apolitical hardcore jocks or left liberals but in my experience working in kitchens where punks congregate (their natural habitat) and having attended various antifascist rallies, punks are disproportionately socialist or anarchist. Antifa is mostly young punks who grew up on stories of Nazis getting severely injured when they attempted to show up at hardcore punk shows, myself among them. In a weird way the post-2016 American situation is the politics of the 80’s punk scene spilling over into general society. These rallies are often just punks vs Nazis.