The National Alliance is a
white supremacist
White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...
and
neo-Nazi political organization founded by
William Luther Pierce
William Luther Pierce III (September 11, 1933 – July 23, 2002) was an American neo-Nazi, white supremacist, and far-right political activist. For more than 30 years, he was one of the highest-profile individuals of the white nationalist movemen ...
in 1974 and based in
Hillsboro,
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...
. Membership in 2002 was estimated at 2,500 with an annual income of $1 million.
Membership declined after Pierce's death in 2002, and after a split in its ranks in 2005, became largely defunct.
History
The National Alliance was reorganized from an earlier group called the
National Youth Alliance (NYA), which in turn was formed out of the remains of the
youth wing
A youth wing is a subsidiary, autonomous, or independently allied front of a larger organization (usually a political party but occasionally another type of organization) that is formed in order to rally support for that organization from members ...
of Governor
George Wallace's
1968 presidential campaign. The NYA broke into factions as a result of infighting, and
William Luther Pierce
William Luther Pierce III (September 11, 1933 – July 23, 2002) was an American neo-Nazi, white supremacist, and far-right political activist. For more than 30 years, he was one of the highest-profile individuals of the white nationalist movemen ...
, a former
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
associate-professor and author of the white supremacist novels ''
The Turner Diaries
''The Turner Diaries'' is a 1978 novel by William Luther Pierce, published under the pseudonym Andrew Macdonald. It depicts a violent revolution in the United States which leads to the overthrow of the federal government, a nuclear war, and, ...
'' and ''
Hunter'', gained control of the largest remnant and relaunched it as the National Alliance in 1974. Following Pierce's death from cancer in 2002, the Alliance's board of directors appointed
Erich Gliebe to succeed him as chairman of the organization. A series of power struggles began almost immediately, with high-ranking members either resigning or being fired. A boycott of the National Alliance's
Resistance Records
Resistance Records was a Canadian record label owned by Resistance LLC which was closely connected to the organization National Alliance. It produced and sold music by neo-Nazi and white separatist musicians, primarily through its website. Adver ...
label resulted in a steep drop-off in generated funds.
In April 2005, prominent Alliance member
Kevin Alfred Strom, then editor of ''National Vanguard'' magazine, issued a declaration calling for Gliebe to step down; the Alliance's executive committee and most of its unit coordinators supported the action. Gliebe refused, claiming that the Alliance operated under the "
Leadership Principle" and stating that he would not yield to any
coup. Strom formed a new group called
National Vanguard. In January 2008, Strom pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography in exchange for the other charges to be dropped.
He was sentenced to 23 months in prison on April 23, 2008.
Strom told the court before being sentenced that he was "not a pedophile" and was "in fact the precise opposite of what has been characterized in this case,"
saying he had been "unwillingly" possessing 10 images of child pornography and that those came from an online forum he had visited which had been "flooded with spam," which included "sleazy, tragic" pictures of children that he deleted. The judge of the case responded: "Mr. Strom, you pled guilty to charges that now you're saying you're innocent. I prefer people plead not guilty than put it on me."
Shortly after the attempted coup by Strom, Gliebe resigned as chairman of the Alliance and briefly appointed Shaun Walker as his successor. However, following Walker's arrest in June 2006, Gliebe again assumed leadership of the organization. By that year, paid membership for the Alliance had declined to fewer than 800 and the paid staff was down to only ten people. By 2012, the Alliance reportedly consisted of fewer than 100 members, with no paid staff other than Gliebe. The following year, it was revealed that the Alliance's property in
Mill Point, West Virginia
Mill Point is an unincorporated community in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, United States. Mill Point is at the junction of U.S. Route 219 and state routes 39 and 55, northeast of Hillsboro.
Mill Point was so named on account of there be ...
had been put up for sale. The end of the National Alliance as a "membership organization" was confirmed by Gliebe in September 2013.
Will Williams offshoot
In 2014, Will Williams became head of an organization calling itself the National Alliance (NA). However, a rival faction disputes whether this group maintains continuity with the original Alliance founded by Pierce. The Williams led NA has since been embroiled in several legal issues.
In 2015, an accountant was hired by Williams to
audit the NA's
books. According to a lawsuit filed by a former
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
attorney against the
Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white s ...
(SPLC), there was a confrontation between the accountant and Williams. The lawsuit further claims that after the accountant left the NA headquarters he released documents that he had
scanned to the SPLC.
In December 2015, Williams was arrested and charged with
battery
Battery most often refers to:
* Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power
* Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact
Battery may also refer to:
Energy source
*Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...
after allegedly hitting and
strangling a female employee on the grounds of the Mill Point compound. He was convicted, briefly
incarcerated, and placed on
probation
Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration.
In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...
. He appealed the sentence and the
appellate court
A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of ...
affirmed the conviction.
Williams was banned from the NA compound in West Virginia pursuant to a court order stemming from his 2015 arrest. Williams claims that the National Alliance “(is) back. We are definitely back”. He also said in a
letter
Letter, letters, or literature may refer to:
Characters typeface
* Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech; any of the symbols of an alphabet.
* Letterform, the graphic form of a letter of the alphabe ...
to a newspaper sent from
Laurel Bloomery, Tennessee
Laurel Bloomery is an unincorporated community in Johnson County, Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area ...
(allegedly the NA's headquarters) that "(The National Alliance does) not appreciate being called “haters” or being associated with some “hate movement”.
Murder of British MP
Thomas Mair, later to be convicted of murdering the British
Labour Party politician
Jo Cox, was connected to the National Alliance.
Business
Before the death of Pierce, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
called the National Alliance the best-financed and best-organized white nationalist organization of its kind in the United States. Membership in 2002 was estimated at 2,500 with an annual income of $1 million.
In 2004, Harry Robert McCorkill of New Brunswick, Canada, attempted to will his entire estate (valued at almost $250,000) to the National Alliance upon his death. However, in 2014, the Court of Queen's Bench of New Brunswick invalidated the will on the grounds that the National Alliance was a criminal organization made for the purpose of spreading hate speech and inciting violence against non-whites.
Media
Resistance Records
In the past, the organization ran a white power
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...
called
Resistance Records
Resistance Records was a Canadian record label owned by Resistance LLC which was closely connected to the organization National Alliance. It produced and sold music by neo-Nazi and white separatist musicians, primarily through its website. Adver ...
. It released the video game
Ethnic Cleansing in 2002, which received criticism from the
Anti-Defamation League.
American Dissident Voices
The organization also once had a radio program, ''American Dissident Voices'', which was heard on
shortwave, AM and FM stations, and streaming audio on the Internet. At one point in the mid-1990s there were 22 radio stations, AM and FM, which carried the program. The original host was Kevin Alfred Strom, who continued until early 1997 when Pierce took it over full-time. Upon the death of Pierce in July 2002 it again was hosted until April 16, 2005, by Strom. Walker then became the voice for ''American Dissident Voices'' until his arrest in June 2006. At that time, Gliebe became the voice of the radio program. Broadcasts continued until 2012, when the frequency became erratic. At some time in 2013, Gliebe ceased broadcasting altogether, but programming was resumed by
Kevin Alfred Strom in December of that year.
See also
*
2011 Spokane bombing attempt
*
List of white nationalist organizations
The following is the list of well-known white nationalist organizations, groups and related media:
White nationalism is a political ideology which advocates a racial definition of national identity for white people; some white nationalists a ...
*
Nationalist Front
*
Neo-Nazi groups of the United States
Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and racial supremacy (often white supremacy), attack ...
*
Stormfront (website)
*
The Order
*
Algiz
Algiz (also Elhaz) is the name conventionally given to the "''z''-rune" of the Elder Futhark runic alphabet. Its transliteration is ''z'', understood as a phoneme of the Proto-Germanic language, the terminal ''*z'' continuing Proto-Indo-Europ ...
*
Resistance Records
Resistance Records was a Canadian record label owned by Resistance LLC which was closely connected to the organization National Alliance. It produced and sold music by neo-Nazi and white separatist musicians, primarily through its website. Adver ...
*
Vigrid (Norway)
References
External links
*
Explosion of Hate(report on the National Alliance by the
Anti-Defamation League)
A more recent ADL report on the National AllianceAgainst the Wall(report on the National Alliance by the
Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white s ...
)
Citizens' Council FBI files obtained through the
FOIA and hosted at the
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
Part 1Part 2Part 3Part 4Part 5Part 6Part 7Part 8Part 9Part 10Part 11Part 12Part 13
{{Authority control
Neo-Nazi organizations in the United States
Organizations established in 1974
Organizations disestablished in 2013
1974 establishments in West Virginia
2013 disestablishments in West Virginia