In countries across the capitalist world, trade union movements are being challenged to their very core by the growth of right-wing populist and neofascist mass movements. What makes this situation especially dangerous is that labor unions and supporters are facing not just maniacal leaders or even military juntas, but a strengthening political alignment between segments of the capitalist class and these same right-wing social movements.

Neofascism (or ​“postfascism”) has emerged as an outgrowth of loosely entwined right-wing populist movements. In some cases, neofascism arose through a revolt against the impact of neoliberalism, and in other cases as revolt against the welfare state. In either case, what has come to unite these various movements has been revanchism, i.e., the politics of revenge and resentment by those who believe something has been taken from them by the ​“other.”