University at Albany, State University of New York Scholars Archive History Honors Program History 5-2021 The Terrifying Convergence: A Legacy of the U.S Far-Right’s Leaderless Resistance in the Twentieth Century Ryan Szpicek University at Albany, State University of New York,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/history_honors Part of the History Commons, and the Social Justice Commons Recommended Citation Szpicek, Ryan, "The Terrifying Convergence: A Legacy of the U.S Far-Right’s Leaderless Resistance in the Twentieth Century" (2021). History Honors Program. 25. https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/history_honors/25 This Undergraduate Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the History at Scholars Archive. It has been accepted for inclusion in History Honors Program by an authorized administrator of Scholars Archive. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. The Terrifying Convergence: A Legacy of the U.S Far-Right’s Leaderless Resistance in the Twentieth Century An honors thesis presented to the Department of History, University at Albany, State University of New York in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation with Honors in History Ryan Szpicek Research Mentor: Richard Fogarty, Ph.D. Research Advisor: Christopher Pastore, Ph.D. May 2021 Abstract A former Klansman and Aryan Nations ambassador named Louis Beam argued that right- wing activists would need to go to war with the U.S. federal government to preserve their culture. He updated an organizational theory known as “leaderless resistance” to prepare the right-wing militants for war. His version of leaderless resistance called for a decentralized communication network that allowed right-wing activists to exchange knowledge about engaging in independent violence.