“Socialist governments have a long history of sponsoring violent (but pro-government) civilian militia organizations in order to suppress domestic opposition.”
Comparing American socialists with German fascists is futile. An active and organized group needs to believe in something other than jumbo bags of potato chips, Nike shoes and crack.
You can’t organize an armed group based on shopping for stuff. A flash mob is the antithesis of a trained military platoon.
We have seen dozens of examples in the last two years where this has been done.
Flash mobs can be organized quickly in an angry population and it only requires one or two participants to carry firearms. This emboldens the rest of the mob.
To be sure, this is not a trained military platoon. It cannot stand up to organized resistance. It does not need to do so to be effective. The goal is terrorizing unarmed neighbors into submission.
A small cadre of minimally trained young men with light arms - or even clubs- can do that.
A more apt comparison is with South American facists in Argentina, Venezuela, and Bolivia. This is exactly how they work today.
We have had over 40 years of grievance-mongering politicians telling various minority groups that all their troubles have been caused by "the man". That gives violent young men something to believe in other than "jumbo bags of potato chips, Nike shoes, and crack".
It is enough to make a start and we have elites who are willing to try it. (Remember the NBPP in Philidelphia?) The fact that it cannot work in the long run is unlikely to prevent an attempt in the short run.