Revolt Through Tradition is an American metapolitical organization, which promotes a healthy life style within the American Right, and wants to build a nationalist culture, which would become the foundation of the New Right in the USA. We talked with its members about the current state in the USA, the understanding of Tradition, metapolitics and other interesting subjects.
Please give us a short introduction of your movement and tell us what are your main principles and activities?
Revolt Through Tradition was founded in late 2018 by three friends who met through local street activism years prior in the New England region of the USA. We started RTT to offer something to the American right-wing that was missing. We saw a lot of things broken and going wrong in our nationalist scene, and we wanted to remedy these errors. We wanted to put forward a new vision, and build a movement with a foundation of quality.
Our mission is to promote a revival of the legionary spirit, as well as building a culture behind the new American Right. Our core goals are to steer and guide the youth, spark a new awareness of traditional values, cultivate a warrior spirit, promote a healthy lifestyle, in mind, body, and spirit, build a path towards the realization of the eternal values of hierarchy and aristocracy, establish and develop contacts with transcontinental allies, and provide a contribution to political battles.
Just like us, you also have the word »Tradition« in your name. In our case we see tradition, or traditions, as a manifestation of the ethnic or racial soul of specific peoples, of their experience of the world around them, and their characteristics, and we agree with the French thinker Dominique Venner´s view of tradition as something that “rests upon the hereditary dispositions of related peoples and a spiritual heritage.” Would you relate to this view of Tradition, and what do Tradition and Traditional Values represent for you?
Tradition, in the broad sense, is the cultural, moral, and intellectual inheritance passed down by a people’s ancestors. In the narrower sense, Tradition with a capital T means those eternal values which have manifested themselves in particular cultures and particular civilizations. Hierarchy, paternalism, the primacy of spiritual goods over material goods, and the absolute priority of the Divine are some examples of said eternal values.
Again, similar to our organization and most identitarian and contemporary nationalist organizations, you emphasize metapolitics and the “cultural war”. What are your main weapons in this war, and what do you believe are some of the metapolitical achievements of both past and present nationalist movements?
Metapolitics is the diffusion of ideas and cultural values to provoke a political and cultural transformation in the long term. It is non-political preconditions of political change. Our main weapon is building ourselves to be a movement of healthy, active, and successful men. This is the first step for anyone who wants to be part of our movement. You can produce the best propaganda and outreach, but at the end of the day you need to be a solid person; one others want to be and want to support. You see the most successful metapolitical action from groups like Casa Pound in Italy and maybe the best example of a well-run metapolitical movement is what we see from our friends in Ukraine. Over there you find their movements out in the open, where they build physical spaces of education and training. This is not a common thing to find throughout the world. Our movement will not survive or be stable without us physically organizing. We must not hide on the internet.
What can you tell us about the present situation in the U.S.A. in regard to nationalist movements and organizations?
When traveling and meeting with fellow nationalists from all over the world, the same thing quickly comes up about the nationalist scene in the US. It is often talked about how dysfunctional and stuck in the past it is; which is sadly very true. We have a toxic landscape of those who think this is some kind of Hollywood movie, a death cult, or a 4chan meme. We are always looking to work with others who support our message and want the betterment of the movement. The American right has to stop pretending that we are out to re-fight the American Revolution, the Civil War, WWII, or any other past struggle. Times have changed, and with the rise of the internet and the rapid changes that the 21st century has brought, we need new tactics, new analysis, and new solutions.
You consider yourself a “youth movement”. What is the best way to attract modern youth to our ideas?
This is a question we often get, and we explain it in a way many have not heard before. We view youth in a broad sense. Being young is not rooted in age, being young means having a spirit not completely grounded down by harsh elements of day-to-day life. It means not laying down your morals and principles, and it means to not have given up. A youthful person wakes up every morning ready to fight the good fight. We must attract the modern youth by not forcing our textbook views of the world, but by guiding their own path with the support of the lessons we have learned along the way. Many view this topic in a very static manner but viewing it in a more fluid manner we are able to keep core values in mind while finding ways to bring positive messages to the youth. We hope to express these values in new ways, such as art, music, and style of dress. No one wants to be part of a movement of fat, ungroomed, and poorly dressed men. No one wants to be around out of touch, socially inept men either.
Which thinkers, writers, and politicians had the biggest impact on your movement and ideas?
There have been many people, groups, and movements that allowed our worldview to grow, and were critical in the development of RTT. As a metapolitical group, our academics come from many great political and philosophical writers such as Julius Evola, Ernst Jünger, Dominique Venner, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Marcus Aurelius; just to name a few. However, some modern-day European political thinkers have greatly advanced our movement, from their writings, and also from their building of model metapolitical movements that inspire even if they are thousands of miles away.
How do you view the various subcultures and musical genres within the nationalist movement?
You will never please everyone, in any movement (and that is not the goal to begin with). We have released several videos with soundtracks incorporating electronic, trap, Hardbass, vaporwave, RAC, European classical, and black metal. We will always have those who do not prefer one type of music over another, but we think all of these choices have a place within our nationalist movements. We must build on nationalist music because it’s a key part of our culture and we will support anyone on their path of art for our movements. If we are not producing anything, we will cease to exist.
What is the current situation in the U.S.A. regarding leftist movements? Do they cause you and the nationalists any troubles?
The left really has never caused the right-wing movement any tangible problems in America. This does not mean they do not cause damage. They often try to dox as many of us as they can, getting us fired from our jobs. The left-wing is not our main worry. It is our corrupt Law enforcement and government agencies that build false conspiracies and crackdowns on free speech, and healthy lifestyles. The Biden administration has launched a “domestic war on terror”, and we must be mindful of the very real and present threat of political suppression and hoax targeting.
How acceptable are your ideas to the ordinary “non-political” whites in America?
This is an interesting question because the average person in America agrees with our viewpoints in many ways. They love the idea of strong families, with healthy minds and bodies. They love the idea of simple, and clean living. That being said, they tend to become confused when these concepts are presented to them in a political, or metapolitical framework. The seeds of becoming more than a slave to the modern are already planted. The mental wall just needs to be broken down. Many years of brainwashing and gaslighting need to be worked through.
It is obvious to the nationalists that Donald Trump was not some “Savior of the West”, as some people made him out to be. But, as far as we see it, he did show some resistance to some of the most negative aspects of cultural Marxism, and at least tried to do something about immigration. On the other hand, the Biden administration is opening the gates and letting the migrants flood in. So, what is your view of Trump and of his presidency, especially when compared to Biden?
We had higher hopes for Trump than what he delivered on. We never tied our egos or willingness to live to him, so when it became clear he wasn’t everything he was expected to be, we did not fret. Regardless of what anyone thinks of Trump, he exposed how the establishment will fight like a cornered animal when it is threatened by someone who they deem to be an outsider. Corruption has never been more apparent, and it is getting people to question everything. Many people are now aware of just how bad things are, and that the classic “liberal vs conservative” fake-fighting is pointless. This only benefits us as people who are outside of that classic dichotomy of mule vs elephant.
78 Million Americans are angry, and Biden is already making moves that will do material harm to these same people. No one likes him on either side of the spectrum, and it is very apparent. If Trump exposed how low they will sink to disrupt what was at the time a populistic candidate, Biden will expose just how horrible the establishment is at taking care of the country, and also how vengeful they are towards the population that had the gall to choose their own leader. They are forcing a large part of the American population to support us from their own shortsighted crackdowns on our freedoms.
Thank you very much for the interview. What are your future plans, and is there anything else you would like to say in conclusion, any last message?
Our goal is to better the culture, as well as the lives of our friends and family. We want our guys to live a healthy and active lifestyle. RTT was founded to be a beacon of positivity and health within our movement. We wanted to keep our allies from being radicalized in a way that would only lead them down a path of violence and hopelessness. We do not want to be a group concerned about numbers. We want to be a network of quality forward-thinking men who are grounded in the traditions that made us who we are. We want to prepare them for the ruins of our collapsing modern world.
TRADICIJA PROTI TIRANIJI 