[Ads-l] Antedating of "Antifa"

[Shapiro, Fred]

Impressive antedating, Ben !

Fred Shapiro

________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Ben Zimmer <00001aae0710f4b7-dmarc-request at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Friday, June 12, 2026 9:49 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Antedating of "Antifa"

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https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers.com%2Farticle%2Fthe-boston-globe-antifa%2F199475186%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7Cbaeefb633e9940595b1c08dec8ee159e%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C639169122073757474%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=0adDJyeJZ8bIKSHKfhAEaGrdZiXPOS91z%2Fy63cf%2FT3U%3D&reserved=0<https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-antifa/199475186/>
Boston Globe, Oct. 20, 1930, p. 4, col. 1
Dresden, Germany, Oct 19 (A.P.) -- Military practice by the local Communist
Antifascist Society was broken up last night by police near the suburb of
Heidemuehle.
All members of the society, which is known as Antifa, were arrested and
police are investigating purposes of the military practice, which they had
suspected for a long time was taking place.
---

This AP article was syndicated in many newspapers, such as the Los Angeles
Times.
https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.newspapers.com%2Farticle%2Fthe-los-angeles-times-antifa%2F199475221%2F&data=05%7C02%7Cfred.shapiro%40YALE.EDU%7Cbaeefb633e9940595b1c08dec8ee159e%7Cdd8cbebb21394df8b4114e3e87abeb5c%7C0%7C0%7C639169122073777512%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=ZXM6hANq85YU5UFTeB9DNlBSX8mw7PSNsmBQJoWlGdU%3D&reserved=0<https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-antifa/199475221/>

--bgz

On Fri, Jun 12, 2026 at 9:05 PM Shapiro, Fred <
00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> Antifa (OED 1946)
>
> 1945 Letter from Sir O. Sargent to Sir W. Strang 26 July (Documents on
> British Policy Overseas)
>
> There should be no room for doubt as to our policy in this direction or as
> to our aim to encourage all genuinely anti-totalitarian movements.  Whether
> 'Antifa' qualifies under this heading I am of course unable to judge.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
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