Communists and fascists feed each other. Both need a populace in fear to grow and they get that by bloodshed. There is literally no way anything good can come out of the recent violence in Berkeley. No matter who wins, we all lose.

The communists are usually the ones who start the ugly cycle and it’s a pattern that has destroyed freedom and killed millions.

From 1968 to 1982 the Italian republic suffered through the Years of Lead.

The Soviet-supported Red Brigades plagued the nation. They assassinated police, journalists, right-wing teachers and students, and a former prime minister.

Italy had a weak, unpopular fascist party, but the Red Brigades targeted it, killing its members, and bombing and burning their homes.

That failing Italian fascist party grew from the sympathy the attacks generated, but the New Order Scholarship Center benefited more. It was a fascist terror organization, claiming dedication to the law the democratic state had, they said, failed to enforce against the Red Brigades.

The New Order planted bombs that killed hundreds, eventually outpacing the Red Brigades’ murders.

Both sides discredited themselves and lost public support, and Italian democracy staggered through, mostly intact.

Berkeley police have repeatedly stood by, letting the black-clad members of the anarcho-communist group Antifa freely clash with their chosen targets.

Police said, when asked why they weren’t intervening during the April 15 riot, “That’s a good question for the chief of police.”

I don’t know how many right-wing extremists were among those at the Berkeley events, but the number is growing. Extremists are drawn to violence like flies to feces.

The riots have been great promotional material.

Footage of the events shows the Antifa crowd starting the violence and it’s just human nature to side with the underdog.

Right-wingers, extremist or otherwise, have been fighting back, and their enthusiasm is growing. This is probably because the Antifa fighters have proven to be rather incapable fighters and Antifa knows it.

On Reddit’s anarchism subreddit, Antifa has been trying to organize training and weapons, like fake credit cards that unfold into knives, for future riots.

A few months ago there was discussion of whether it is moral to punch a Nazi, just for existing. Idiots concluded if you don’t punch them, they will rise to power.

No. This isn’t how you fight fascists. This is how fascists use you to take power.

Antifa proudly trace their roots back to the far-left militias that were fighting the fascists in the streets of Germany, just before the Weimar Republic fell in 1933. The country was thought to be on the verge of a communist takeover, and in desperation people gambled that the National Socialist Worker’s Party and Adolf Hitler were the lesser evil.

Antifa seems eager to repeat history’s worst mistakes.

What if President Donald Trump really is the next Hitler? This is just the excuse he would need to seize power to restore order.

Authoritarians like fascists and communists start by finding a menace to stand against, something people are scared of, something like filthy fascists or crummy communists.

Then they tell people democracy is to blame.

“If democracy worked it would have stamped out these fascists/communists!”

Antifa are anarcho-communists, so they’re pretty eager to see society descend into violence. The white nationalist types see it as an opportunity to start a race war. These opposing groups of slavering wannabe terrorists always seem to have a lot of common ground.