George Orwell once wrote that “The sin of nearly all left-wingers from 1933 onward is that they have wanted to be anti-fascist without being anti-totalitarian.”

Such a sin is occurring today regarding the activities of a group claiming that the “fascist” takeover of the American government in the guise of Donald Trump justifies violent reprisals. Calling themselves “Antifa” (short for “anti-fascist”), this black-masked group, who claims as their inspiration the German Communist Party that fought street battles with the Nazis in the 1920s and early 30s, have been like a homicidal Zelig, popping up in initially peaceful anti-Trump protests all over the country. Armed with Molotov cocktails and baseball bats, Antifa has left, in their wake, bleeding students, injured police, torched cars and exploded generators.

Worse, if one follows the money, it is revealed that Antifa has been funded by that cash-rich liberal, George Soros. Soros cannot be left off the hook with the usual excuse of a leftist having more money than brains. Since 2011, the group has made masked appearances at protests such as Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, and now anti-Trump protests, and hence, Soros has to know the creature he recently donated $50,000 to.

If Soros was under any delusions about the group, he had to have been educated by their recent activities at UC Berkeley to protest the appearance of conservative gadfly Milo Yiannapolous at the Student Union. As recorded on film, Antifa smashed windows, beat up several students, and set fire to a generator.

Not content with their campus violence, the group went downtown and attacked citizens of the predominately liberal Berkeley community with blunt objects and destroyed several banks.

In a not entirely unpredictable moment, the notoriously left-wing Nation Magazine has committed what Orwell called the “sin” of the Left by supporting Antifa violence. Columnist Natasha Lennard asserted that the time for “reasoned debate” has passed and that Trump “neo-fascists” are ineligible for free speech protections. In a tip of the hat from the Stalinist supporters of Orwell’s time, Lennard attacked leftists for non-violently depending on the “structurally racist” American institutions to oppose Trump.

But for those leftists like Lennard who support the violence of Antifa a history lesson is required. Violent revolutionary groups have a habit of turning on those leftists who support them from the sidelines. By their attacks on citizens in a leftist community like Berkeley, Antifa stands revealed as more Bolshevik than the 1920s German Communist Party. For the GCP wanted Hitler to take power because they believed he would kill off their leftist opposition, then self-destruct, thus assuring a clear path for them to take power.

Like Lenin, Antifa is practicing the violence that they preach. Lenin, however, didn’t attack leftist supporters until after he took power. However, far-fetched an Antifa coup is, the group reveals an appetite for violence that is not necessarily reserved for Trump supporters, as shown by their attacks on Berkeley residents. And from there it is a short leap to attacking leftists like Lennard who may find that the “structurally racist” institutions may have value after all.