Socialist Movement Research Paper

Group movements in the United States typically fall within two boundaries, the left, and the right. The goals and the people that make up these groups differ wildly, as do their methods of achieving their particular goals. Additionally, there are extreme swings within each group that push, and often times exceed the boundaries of ethical behavior. In fact, some of these groups could be considered terrorist organizations, or at the very least hate groups. This paper will describe each of these movements, their potential for violence, and the social make-up of the members. Furthermore, we will compare extremist groups in the United States with other extremist groups throughout the world. Finally, in light of current events; specifically
This type of movement is usually established by factions that have a leftist mentality, and typically will focus on social issues like “anti-war, civil rights and women’s rights” (Martin, 2011, pg. 241). In fact, I posit that there are nascent movements happening right now, specifically, opposition groups of Donald Trump and his stance on immigration, and almost certainly the Group Black lives Matter. As in past “left-wing” movements, they are not particularly violent in nature, and are centered on social issues. The jury is still out on how effective these groups will be in preventing Trump from winning the election, although at this point it appears that is going to be a hard fought battle between left and right leaners. On the other hand, Black Lives Matter has been effective in their movement of demanding change and awareness for continued civil right injustices in the black community. Additionally, this group seems to be more reflective of a typical left-wing movement in its structure and tactics. They can usually be seen marching in protest of a perceived police state injustice, or a wrongful conviction of a black citizen. While typically these protests are peaceful towards other citizens, these groups do have a tendency to project vandalism toward business’ and particularly government vehicles like police cars. Largely, leftist movements have never been
Activists in these groups are historically driven by conspiracy theories that the government is attempting to take over control and limit people freedoms; specifically impinging on people’s rights to bear arms (Martin, 2011). There are some trends to indicate this, mostly in the amount of fireamrs and ammunition that have been sold over the past 5 years. Although, just as history has shown, I expect the buildup of these activist groups to wain fairly quickly as people realize their fears are