Toward The Queerest Insurrection

The third chapter of Be Gay, Do Crime: The Story of the Mary Nardini Gang

Queer Marxism drops June 1, 2025, tracing the radical evolution of queer activism. The Story of the Mary Nardini Gang is a key piece—informing the larger book but also standing alone as critical history.

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In the basement of a run-down DIY anarchist space, a small collective finalizes a document that will transform radical queer politics in America. As the photocopier hums in the background, they debate what name to sign to their manifesto—not seeking individual recognition, but claiming a revolutionary lineage.

This chapter takes you inside the creation of "Toward the Queerest Insurrection" and reveals why a group of 21st century anarchists chose to name themselves after an obscure Italian immigrant arrested in Milwaukee nearly a century earlier. The Mary Nardini Gang wasn't just adopting a historical figure—they were resurrecting a forgotten tradition of uncompromising resistance.

Follow their manifesto's explosive redefinition of queerness from an identity category into a position of total war against "the Totality"—their term for the interlocking systems of domination that structure modern life. While mainstream LGBTQ organizations pursue marriage rights and corporate sponsorships, these radicals declare: "By 'queer,' we mean social war."

Witness how their theoretical interventions leap from paper into action—from disrupting Human Rights Campaign galas with glitter bombs to expressing solidarity with cop-killers. Discover how they fused anarchist theory with queer experience to create a "Gain of Function Marxism" that infected radical spaces far beyond Milwaukee.

Traditional leftists privileged class analysis. Liberals sought legal equality. The Mary Nardini Gang wanted something more: "Simply put, we want to make ruins of domination in all its varied and interlacing forms."

From the rejection of the family to the positioning of desire as revolutionary force, from ruthless critique of assimilation to recovering militant queer history, this chapter reveals how a small collective in the frozen Midwest developed a theoretical framework that continues to shape radical politics today.

The queer insurrection wasn't just coming. It had arrived.

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