Jump to content

The Turner Diaries: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
tweak lead
→Plot summary: My god, this f*cking book...
Line 24: Line 24:


==Plot summary==
==Plot summary==
The narrative starts with a foreword set in 2099, one hundred years after the events depicted in the book. The bulk of the book then quotes a recently discovered diary of a man named Earl Turner, an active member of the white [[Aryan]] revolutionary movement that caused these events. The book details a violent overthrow of the United States federal government by Turner and his [[Insurgent|militant]] comrades and a brutal contemporaneous [[race war]] that takes place first in North America, and then the rest of the world.
The narrative starts with a foreword set in 2099, one hundred years after the events depicted in the book. The bulk of the book then quotes a recently discovered diary of a man named Earl Turner, an active member of the white [[Aryan]] revolutionary movement that caused these events. The book details a violent, apocalyptic overthrow of the United States federal government by Turner and his [[insurgent|militant]] comrades in a brutal contemporaneous [[race war]] that takes place first in North America, and then the rest of the world.


The story starts soon after the federal government has confiscated all civilian firearms in the country under the fictional Cohen Act, and the organization to which Turner and his cohorts belong goes underground and engages in a [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla war]] against the "System", which is depicted as the totality of the government, media, and economy that is under [[left-wing]] Jewish control.<ref name="ADL-TD" /> The "Organization" starts with acts such as the bombing of FBI headquarters and continues to execute an ongoing, low level campaign of [[terrorism]], [[assassination]] and economic [[sabotage]] throughout the United States. Turner's exploits lead to his initiation into the "Order", a quasi-religious inner cadre that directs the Organization and whose existence remains a secret to both the System and ordinary Organization members.<ref name="ADL-TD" />
The story starts soon after the federal government has confiscated all civilian firearms in the country under the fictional Cohen Act, and the organization to which Turner and his cohorts belong goes underground and engages in a [[guerrilla war]] against the "[[United States of America|System]]", which is depicted as the totality of the government, media, and economy that is under left-wing Jewish control.<ref name="ADL-TD" /> The "System" begins by implementing many new laws on various forms of hate; by repealing laws against rape as rape laws are often viewed as "racist" and also imply that gender exists on a biological level; and pushing for new surveillance measures in order to monitor its citizens, such as a special passport which will be required at all times and at all places in order to identify where individuals are at any one time. The "Organization" starts its campaigns by committing acts such as the bombing of FBI headquarters and continues to execute an ongoing, low level campaign of [[terrorism]], [[assassination]]s, and economic [[sabotage]] throughout the United States.


Turner plays a major role in all activities within the [[Washington, D.C.]] area. When the President of the United States delivers a speech denouncing racists and demanding that all members of the Organization be brought to justice, Turner and other Organization members launch morters into the streets of Washington from far away, forcing the president and other government officials to be evacuated. In another scene, Turner oversees an anti-racism parade in which whites who are not part of the parade are pulled aside and beaten (sometimes to death) by the non-white marchers; the march eventually turns into a full-scale riot. Turner's exploits lead to his initiation into the "Order", a quasi-religious inner cadre that directs the Organization and whose existence remains a secret to both the System and ordinary Organization members.<ref name="ADL-TD" /> Later, when he is visiting an impoverished girl living in the city, one of the members of her community reports Turner to the authorities and Turner is captured by Israeli agents, tortured, and sent to prison. The diaries pick up two years after his prison sentence, when the prison is raided by other Organization members and he is set free.
⚫
Eventually, the Organization seizes physical control of Southern California, including the nuclear weapons at [[Vandenberg Air Force Base]]; [[ethnic cleansing|ethnically cleanses]] the area of all blacks and summarily executes all Jews and other "[[race traitor]]s".<ref name="ADL-TD" /> The Organization's response to a white woman who had a black man as a lover is [[summary execution]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.paul-robinson.us/index.php?blog=5&title=the_turner_diaries_race_baiting_at_its_f|title=The Turner Diaries - Race Baiting at its Finest|publisher=Paul Robinson|date=2009-12-12|accessdate=2010-05-02}}.</ref> The Organization has little use for most white "mainstream" Americans. Those on the left are seen as dupes or willing agents of the Jews, while conservatives and libertarians are regarded as misguided fools, for, the Organization states, the Jews "took over according to the Constitution, fair and square." Turner and his comrades save their special contempt for the ordinary people, who are seen to care about nothing beyond being kept comfortable and entertained.


⚫
Eventually, the Organization seizes physical control of Southern California, including the nuclear weapons at [[Vandenberg Air Force Base]]. While in control of California, the Organization [[ethnic cleansing|ethnically cleanses]] the area of all non-Whites by forcing them to leave the immediate area and flee to the Eastern regions, which is referred to as "demographic warfare". All Jews and mixed-race individuals are [[summary execution|summarily executed]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.paul-robinson.us/index.php?blog=5&title=the_turner_diaries_race_baiting_at_its_f|title=The Turner Diaries - Race Baiting at its Finest|publisher=Paul Robinson|date=2009-12-12|accessdate=2010-05-02}}.</ref> During this time, the Organization raids a black sanctuary and discovers a [[cannibalism]] operation where blacks kidnap whites, butcher them, and then eat them. In one of the most notorious scenes in the book, the Organization raids the houses of all individuals reported to be "[[race traitors]]" in some way (such as judges, professors, lawyers, politicians, journalists, entertainers, race-mixers, etc.) drags them from their homes, and publicly [[hanging|hangs]] them in the streets in an event which comes to be known as the "Day of the Rope".<ref name="ADL-TD" /> The Organization has little use for most white "mainstream" Americans. Those on the left are seen as dupes or willing agents of the Jews, while conservatives and libertarians are regarded as misguided fools, for, the Organization states, the Jews "took over according to the Constitution, fair and square." Turner and his comrades save their special contempt for the ordinary people, who are seen to care about nothing beyond being kept comfortable and entertained.
The Organization then uses both their Southern Californian base of operations and their nuclear weapons to open a wider war in which they launch nuclear strikes against New York City and [[Israel]], initiate a nuclear exchange between the US and the [[Soviet Union]], and plant nuclear weapons and new terrorist cells throughout North America. Many major U.S. cities are destroyed, including [[Baltimore]] and [[Detroit]]. The diary section ends with the protagonist flying an [[airplane]] equipped with an [[atomic bomb]] on a [[Kamikaze|suicide mission]] to destroy [[The Pentagon]], in order to eliminate the leadership of the remaining [[Military dictatorship|military government]] before it orders an assault to retake California. The novel ends with an epilogue summarizing how the Organization continued on to conquer the rest of the world and how people of other races were eliminated (China and the entire eastern half of Asia were destroyed by prolonged bombardments with various [[weapons of mass destruction]] and made into an enormous desert; blacks were exterminated in Africa as well as America; Puerto Ricans, described as "a repulsive mongrel race", were exterminated and the island re-settled by whites).<ref name="ADL-TD" />

The Organization then uses both their Southern Californian base of operations and their nuclear weapons to open a wider war in which they launch nuclear strikes against [[New York City]] and [[Israel]], initiate a nuclear exchange between the US and the [[Soviet Union]], and plant nuclear weapons and new terrorist cells throughout North America. Many major U.S. cities are destroyed, including [[Baltimore]] and [[Detroit]]. As the United States undergoes a nuclear civil war, governments all over the world begin to fall one after another and anti-Jewish riots break out in the streets. After the nuclear launches against Israel, the Arabs take the advantage of the opportunity and proceed to swarm into Israel, mostly armed with clubs and knives, and kill all of the Israelis. The governments of France the the Netherlands collapse, and the Soviet Union sees a surge in anti-Semitic violence. Meawhile, the United States is put in a state of absolute martial law and transformed into a [[military dictatorship]]. When the United States government sets itself to launch an invasion against the Organization's stronghold in Southern California, Earl Turner is ordered on a [[kamikaze|suicide mission]], where he flies a plane equipped with a nuclear warhead and destroys [[the Pentagon]] before the invasion can be ordered.

The novel ends with an epilogue from the year 2099, summarizing how the Organization continued on to conquer the rest of the world and how all non-White races were eliminated. Africa was invaded and all of its black inhabitants were killed. The Puerto Ricans (described as a "repulsive mongrel race" were exterminated and the island of Puerto Rico was re-colonized by whites. When China begins an attempt to invade European Russia, the Organization launches a full-scale assault with nuclear, chemical, radiological and biological weapons which render the entire continent of Asia uninhabitable and rife with "[[nuclear mutation|mutants]]". And in America, the last remaining non-white elements are hunted down as well as all individuals involved in organized crime (such as the [[mafia]]). One of the last steps in the Organization's victory is the truce with the remainder of the American military generals, who agree that they will surrender if the Organization swears not to harm them or their immediate families, an agreement which the Organization gladly accepts. Thus the epilogue concludes that only 110 years after the birth of the "[[Adolf Hitler|Great One]]", the dream of a white world finally became a reality and the Order "spread its wise and benevolent rule across the world for all time to come".<ref name="ADL-TD" />


==First and second editions==
==First and second editions==

Revision as of 04:29, 14 April 2015

The Turner Diaries
AuthorWilliam Luther Pierce (as Andrew Macdonald)
LanguageEnglish
Series1978
GenreFiction
Published1978 (National Vanguard Books)
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint

The Turner Diaries is a 1978 novel by William Luther Pierce (former leader of the white nationalist organization National Alliance) written under the pseudonym "Andrew Macdonald".[1] The Turner Diaries depicts a violent revolution in the United States which leads to the overthrow of the United States federal government, nuclear war, and, ultimately, to a race war leading to the extermination of all groups deemed by the author as impure such as Jews, gay people, and non-whites.[2] The book was called "explicitly racist and anti-Semitic" by The New York Times and has been labeled a "bible of the racist right" by the Southern Poverty Law Center.[3][4]

The novel has been associated with a number of real-life violent crimes committed by white separatists and other radicals. Two pages of the book containing a scene depicting preparations for the bombing of the J. Edgar Hoover Building, the FBI national headquarters, were found in the getaway car of Timothy McVeigh, the perpetrator of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.[5][6]

Plot summary

The narrative starts with a foreword set in 2099, one hundred years after the events depicted in the book. The bulk of the book then quotes a recently discovered diary of a man named Earl Turner, an active member of the white Aryan revolutionary movement that caused these events. The book details a violent, apocalyptic overthrow of the United States federal government by Turner and his militant comrades in a brutal contemporaneous race war that takes place first in North America, and then the rest of the world.

The story starts soon after the federal government has confiscated all civilian firearms in the country under the fictional Cohen Act, and the organization to which Turner and his cohorts belong goes underground and engages in a guerrilla war against the "System", which is depicted as the totality of the government, media, and economy that is under left-wing Jewish control.[2] The "System" begins by implementing many new laws on various forms of hate; by repealing laws against rape as rape laws are often viewed as "racist" and also imply that gender exists on a biological level; and pushing for new surveillance measures in order to monitor its citizens, such as a special passport which will be required at all times and at all places in order to identify where individuals are at any one time. The "Organization" starts its campaigns by committing acts such as the bombing of FBI headquarters and continues to execute an ongoing, low level campaign of terrorism, assassinations, and economic sabotage throughout the United States.

Turner plays a major role in all activities within the Washington, D.C. area. When the President of the United States delivers a speech denouncing racists and demanding that all members of the Organization be brought to justice, Turner and other Organization members launch morters into the streets of Washington from far away, forcing the president and other government officials to be evacuated. In another scene, Turner oversees an anti-racism parade in which whites who are not part of the parade are pulled aside and beaten (sometimes to death) by the non-white marchers; the march eventually turns into a full-scale riot. Turner's exploits lead to his initiation into the "Order", a quasi-religious inner cadre that directs the Organization and whose existence remains a secret to both the System and ordinary Organization members.[2] Later, when he is visiting an impoverished girl living in the city, one of the members of her community reports Turner to the authorities and Turner is captured by Israeli agents, tortured, and sent to prison. The diaries pick up two years after his prison sentence, when the prison is raided by other Organization members and he is set free.

Eventually, the Organization seizes physical control of Southern California, including the nuclear weapons at Vandenberg Air Force Base. While in control of California, the Organization ethnically cleanses the area of all non-Whites by forcing them to leave the immediate area and flee to the Eastern regions, which is referred to as "demographic warfare". All Jews and mixed-race individuals are summarily executed.[7] During this time, the Organization raids a black sanctuary and discovers a cannibalism operation where blacks kidnap whites, butcher them, and then eat them. In one of the most notorious scenes in the book, the Organization raids the houses of all individuals reported to be "race traitors" in some way (such as judges, professors, lawyers, politicians, journalists, entertainers, race-mixers, etc.) drags them from their homes, and publicly hangs them in the streets in an event which comes to be known as the "Day of the Rope".[2] The Organization has little use for most white "mainstream" Americans. Those on the left are seen as dupes or willing agents of the Jews, while conservatives and libertarians are regarded as misguided fools, for, the Organization states, the Jews "took over according to the Constitution, fair and square." Turner and his comrades save their special contempt for the ordinary people, who are seen to care about nothing beyond being kept comfortable and entertained.

The Organization then uses both their Southern Californian base of operations and their nuclear weapons to open a wider war in which they launch nuclear strikes against New York City and Israel, initiate a nuclear exchange between the US and the Soviet Union, and plant nuclear weapons and new terrorist cells throughout North America. Many major U.S. cities are destroyed, including Baltimore and Detroit. As the United States undergoes a nuclear civil war, governments all over the world begin to fall one after another and anti-Jewish riots break out in the streets. After the nuclear launches against Israel, the Arabs take the advantage of the opportunity and proceed to swarm into Israel, mostly armed with clubs and knives, and kill all of the Israelis. The governments of France the the Netherlands collapse, and the Soviet Union sees a surge in anti-Semitic violence. Meawhile, the United States is put in a state of absolute martial law and transformed into a military dictatorship. When the United States government sets itself to launch an invasion against the Organization's stronghold in Southern California, Earl Turner is ordered on a suicide mission, where he flies a plane equipped with a nuclear warhead and destroys the Pentagon before the invasion can be ordered.

The novel ends with an epilogue from the year 2099, summarizing how the Organization continued on to conquer the rest of the world and how all non-White races were eliminated. Africa was invaded and all of its black inhabitants were killed. The Puerto Ricans (described as a "repulsive mongrel race" were exterminated and the island of Puerto Rico was re-colonized by whites. When China begins an attempt to invade European Russia, the Organization launches a full-scale assault with nuclear, chemical, radiological and biological weapons which render the entire continent of Asia uninhabitable and rife with "mutants". And in America, the last remaining non-white elements are hunted down as well as all individuals involved in organized crime (such as the mafia). One of the last steps in the Organization's victory is the truce with the remainder of the American military generals, who agree that they will surrender if the Organization swears not to harm them or their immediate families, an agreement which the Organization gladly accepts. Thus the epilogue concludes that only 110 years after the birth of the "Great One", the dream of a white world finally became a reality and the Order "spread its wise and benevolent rule across the world for all time to come".[2]

First and second editions

The Turner Diaries was first serialized in the mid 1970s in the National Alliance's tabloid paper, Attack!. The first printing in paperback was May 1978. Pierce originally set his story in the 1980s. Its reprinting (September 1980) took the form of a slightly altered second edition that moved the setting forward ten years. Although subsequent printings of The Turner Diaries have featured different cover art or back cover copy, they have kept to the second edition's text.

In keeping with the new 1990s time frame, events in the past are generally aged by ten years, though not always. Some examples:

  • Turner's diatribe about the "long string of Marxist acts of terror 10 to 15 years ago" is changed to "20 years ago."
  • Turner's lament at the success of the System's brainwashing "these past 50 years or so" remains unchanged.
  • The Order's "nearly 58 years of existence" is increased to 68, making the date of its founding 1925, a reference to the SS.
  • Turner's astonishment at "how many dark, kinky-haired Middle Easterners have invaded this country in the last decade" is not changed.
  • The epilogue's exultation that in 1989, "exactly a century after the birth of The Great One... the dream of a White world finally became a certainty", becomes "just 110 years" after Adolf Hitler's birth.

Also to make the book fit its later date, prices are usually doubled, and sums of money are also often doubled, but not consistently.

The second edition retains one major artifact of the original setting: in the first edition, dates fall on the same day of the week as their real-world 1980s dates. The later edition does not change days of the week, putting them out of sync with their 1990s dates. Another minor change is that a short passage, where Turner's lover spots his Order pendant, is moved a few pages earlier to the end of chapter ten. The first edition also featured illustrations by Dennis Nix. Later printings dropped the illustrations, used a smaller typeface, and switched from bold to italics for emphasis.

Impact

According to the Anti-Defamation League, it is "probably the most widely read book among far-right extremists; many have cited it as the inspiration behind their terrorist organizing and activity."[8] The Simon Wiesenthal Center calls it a "hate book".[9]

The novel was initially only available through mail order and partially serialized in National Alliance publications. As of 2000 it was reported to have sold about 500,000 copies.[1][10] The book is considered to be hate propaganda and thus, prohibited from being imported into Canada.[11][12]

Crimes associated with the book

  • The Order, an early 1980s white supremacist group that emerged from the Aryan Nations, was involved in murder, robberies and counterfeiting, and was named after the group in the book and motivated by the book's scenarios for a race war. The group committed one of the biggest highway robberies of all time, then murdered radio host Alan Berg and engaged in other acts of violence in order to hasten the race war described in the book.[13]
  • Timothy McVeigh, responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, was found carrying an envelope containing pages from The Turner Diaries after the attack.[14]
  • John William King was convicted of dragging James Byrd, an African-American, to his death in Jasper, Texas in 1998. As King shackled Byrd's legs to the back of his truck he was reported to have said, "We're going to start The Turner Diaries early."[15]
  • David Copeland, a British Neo-Nazi who killed three people in a bombing campaign against London's black, Asian and gay communities in April 1999, quoted from The Turner Diaries while being interviewed by police.[16]
  • During the course of a federal trial relating to charges of conspiracy to violate civil rights and assault under color of law of Frank Jude, Jr. in 2004 by several off-duty police officers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a copy of The Turner Diaries was found during a search of the home of one of the officers charged and later convicted.[17]
  • A copy of The Turner Diaries was found (amidst other Neo-Nazi propaganda) in the home of Jacob D. Robida, who attacked three men at a gay bar in New Bedford, Massachusetts with a hatchet and a gun. Robida fled, killing a hostage and a police officer before committing suicide.[18]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Salamon, Julie (2000-10-23). "Television Review; The Web as Home for Racism and Hate". The New York Times. Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Extremism: The Turner Diaries". Anti-Defamation League. 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
  3. ^ The New York Times April 26, 1995
  4. ^ "Southern Poverty Law Center". Splcenter.org. Retrieved 2009-10-16.
  5. ^ Harkavy, Ward (2000-11-15). "The Nazi on the Bestseller List". The Village Voice. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
  6. ^ Shinbaum, Myrna (1996-05-16), Q & A on The Turner Diaries, Anti-Defamation League
  7. ^ "The Turner Diaries - Race Baiting at its Finest". Paul Robinson. 2009-12-12. Retrieved 2010-05-02..
  8. ^ "ADL". ADL. Retrieved 2009-10-16.
  9. ^ "Jewish group complains over sale of hate books online". CNN. Retrieved 2009-10-16.
  10. ^ Sutherland, John (2000-04-03). "Gospels of hate that slip through the net". Guardian Unlimited. Guardian. Retrieved 2007-09-05.
  11. ^ EXCLUSIVE: Disturbing firearms seizures in Kelowna
  12. ^ Memorandum D9-1-15: Canada Border Services Agency's Policy on the Classification of Hate Propaganda, Sedition and Treason
  13. ^ Bosworth, Jr., Charles (1998-03-15). "Illinois Man Sought Start of Race War, Source Says". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc. p. A1. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  14. ^ TIME
  15. ^ Miller, Phil (200-02-23). "Black Man's Killer Said: 'We're Starting the Turner Diaries Early'". The Scotsman. The Scotsman Publications. p. 3. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ BBC Panoroma (2000-06-30). "The Nailbomber". {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  17. ^ Barton, Gina (2007-08-02). "Ex-cop linked to rogue group". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 2007-08-03.
  18. ^ Caywood, Thomas (2006-02-08). "Infamous neo-Nazi literature found in killer's room". The Boston Herald. Boston Herald Inc. p. 5. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Turner_Diaries&oldid=656385790"