(DCNF)—While some leftists celebrate Charlie Kirk’s assassination on a college campus, others online are devising less violent ways to sell their radical ideology to the American public.
Chatter within fringe corners of the internet paints a picture of the far-left in crisis mode since Kirk’s Sept. 10 assassination in Orem, Utah, which led to the arrest of left-wing suspect Tyler Robinson. As the world reacted in horror to the news, many in socialist or Antifa-affiliated circles fretted that the assassination has turned too many people away from their radical cause, energized the right, made Kirk a “martyr” and given the Trump administration a new opening to crack down on far-left activist networks.
“We do not call for individual acts of assassination, not because the powerful do not deserve to be challenged, but because such acts almost always strengthen the very machinery we are trying to dismantle … We must build the structures that make violence less likely not through pacifist sermons but through concrete mutual aid, through tenant unions, workplace committees, solidarity funds, free clinics, radical education,” reads a Sept. 13 article from the anarchist blog, “The Slow Burning Fuse.” A self-described “Anarchist Communist Group” reposted the piece on its own website.
“If we are serious about ending political violence, we must be serious about ending capitalism,” the article says. The Slow Burning Fuse and Anarchist Communist Group did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
Robinson’s family said the 22-year-old had become increasingly left-leaning in recent years and was dating a transgender roommate, authorities have said. The shooter left phrases such as “hey fascist! CATCH!” and the anti-fascist phrase “Bella ciao” engraved on cartridges that were found with the murder weapon.
The Oregon-based group Corvallis Antifascists also sounded the alarm about the assassination’s ripple effects in a Sept. 16 post on NoBlogs, an obscure website for far-left bloggers. The post noted that Kirk’s death “has done much to galvanize and unify America’s right-wing” and sparked large vigils in Kirk’s honor.
Moreover, Corvallis Antifascists criticized black-clothed, Antifa-style protesters who have disrupted Christian worship events in liberal cities such as Seattle. The group called the protests “unequivocal optical and tactical failures” for the Antifa movement.
“Simply put, black-bloc counters of what appear to be normie worship events with children in attendance is a decidedly bad look and contributes to the American conservative persecution narrative, galvanizing otherwise politically inactive conservatives,” the group wrote. “This is particularly relevant as many apolitical businesses and institutions … have expressed public sympathy to Kirk and his cause.”
The post also suggested the left could possibly “drive wedges between different segments of the right” through issues such as Israel.
Corvallis Antifascists did not respond to a request for comment from the DCNF.
Some segments of the American left have defended Kirk’s murder, leading employers to fire workers across the country over accusations of celebrating or excusing the shooting. Slightly less radical leftists were seen trying — and apparently failing — to convince their comrades online that such bloodshed is wrong.
“Murder your opponents on the debate stage. The only way to end their hateful ideology is to expose it,” an anonymous Reddit user said on an “r/socialism” forum after the murder. “Killing Kirk changes nothing for the left and everything for the right. If you claim to have egalitarian values then stand with me and condemn this act.”
“What in the lib,” reads the top reply to the post, upvoted more than 40 times. Another replier concurred that killing “scum” like Kirk amounts to “harm reduction.”
Other online discussions showed Marxist radicals complaining that people they know personally are souring on the left since Kirk was shot.
“I’ve had a ‘friend’ (in quotes, because honestly he may be too far gone already) for years that for some reason he has been posting a lot of very far-right opinions since the Charlie Kirk fiasco,” a user posted on r/socialism on Sept. 15. “It’s gotten to the point where it is making a lot of people uncomfortable, to the point where he is sending Trump memes in a chat where everyone there is either a minority or queer and people are texting me separately about what to do about him.”
“Unfortunately people like this, those that were already teetering on the edge of being too far gone, are being radicalized by this event,” another user said in reply to the Sept. 15 post. “I’ve seen it happen with people in my life too.”
“My family is kinda getting more and more radicalized toward fascism because of the Charlie Kirk thing,” reads a Sept. 14 message in the Discord server “United Marxist Pact.”
The predicament led some Reddit leftists to urge more dialogue with those on the right, though they said nothing about compromising on their own far-left stances.
“Whether we like it or not, those people on the supposed other side are people,” a user wrote on the anti-capitalist “r/Anarchy101” forum a day after Kirk’s death. “They function based on the same psychology and sociology as everyone else. This is important because it tells us that, Actually Yes, we Can reason and talk with these people.”
Another effect of Kirk’s murder is the federal government declaring war on any leftist organizations or movements involved in criminal activity. Likewise, President Donald Trump announced Sept. 17 that his agencies would treat Antifa as a “major terrorist organization.”
A user on “r/IronFrontUSA,” a leftist Reddit community, warned on the day of Kirk’s death not to “fedpost” — a slang term that means making a statement online that could lead to federal law enforcement action.
“Doesn’t matter how you felt about him. Be smart, it isn’t just us on here,” the Sept. 10 post said.
“Some kids lost their father today,” the user said, referring to Kirk’s son and daughter. “Hold your tongue for their sake, if nothing else.”
TPUSA, Kirk’s conservative advocacy group, received 32,000 inquiries related to starting new college campus chapters within two days of his death, according to spokesperson Andrew Kolvet. Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and other leading conservative figures also spoke at a Sunday memorial service for Kirk in Arizona, which had around 90,000 attendees and required a second stadium for overflow.
“Yeah, the shooting of Charlie Kirk is one of the most stupid things a leftist could have done,” a Discord user in United Marxist Pact said Sept. 14.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
