National Socialist Party of America

The National Socialist Party of America was a Chicago-based organization founded in 1970 by Frank Collin shortly after he left the National Socialist White People's Party. The NSWPP had been the American Nazi Party until shortly after the assassination of leader George Lincoln Rockwell in 1967. Collin, a follower of Rockwell, developed differences with his successor Matt Koehl.

National Socialist Party of America
LeaderFrank Collin
Founded1970 (1970)
Dissolved1979 (1979)
HeadquartersChicago, Illinois
IdeologyNeo-Nazism
White supremacy
White nationalism
Antisemitism
  • Politics of United States
  • Political parties
  • Elections
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The party's headquarters were in Chicago's Marquette Park, and its main activity in the early 1970s was organizing loud demonstrations against Black people moving into previously all-white neighborhoods. The marches and community reaction led the city of Chicago to ban all demonstrations in Marquette Park unless they paid an insurance fee of $250,000. While challenging the city's actions in the courts, the party decided to redirect its attention to Chicago's suburbs, which had no such restrictions.

Skokie controversy

In 1977 Collin announced the party's intention to march through the largely Jewish community of Skokie, Illinois, where one in six residents was a Holocaust survivor. A legal battle ensued when the village attempted to ban the event, and the party, represented by a Jewish ACLU lawyer in court, won the right to march on First Amendment grounds in National Socialist Party v. Village of Skokie, a lawsuit carried all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, though it failed to carry through its intention (at the last minute, Chicago relented and they marched there instead). The notoriety gained from this incident led to the party being spoofed in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers.

See also

References
    • "When the Nazis Came to Skokie". University Press of Kansas. Archived from the original on 2007-08-27. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
    • "Attempted Nazi March of 1977 and 1978 in Skokie - Digitized Document Collection from the Skokie Public Library". Skokie Public Library Research Resources. Archived from the original on 2008-02-02. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
    • "Smith v. Collin - US Supreme Court decision permitting marches (denying the village's appeal)". findlaw.com. 1978-10-16. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
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