ABSTRACT
SIEGE started as a part of the National Socialist Liberation Front (NSLF) in 1980. But as of November 1982, James Mason published it himself under the auspices of Universal Order, the name of his new neo-Nazi philosophy. He never made more than 100 copies, although they would influence some important cultural and political figures. Mason used the vehicle to develop his own strategic, tactical, and philosophical ideas. These were based on where he thought the neo-Nazi movement had gone wrong in the 1970s. At the beginning of SIEGE, Mason continued to promote the NSLF line advocating guerilla warfare. But especially after he left the group, Mason promoted Charles Manson as the new neo-Nazi guru. As part of this, Mason rejected strategies like grassroots organizing, public marches, and membership organizations. Drawing inspiration from Manson, Mason’s new philosophy sought to make a complete break from not just other neo-Nazis but the right wing itself. Even guerilla warfare was no longer enough for Mason. The only thing to do was to try to speed up or wait out what he saw as the looming collapse of “the System.” He summed up his approach as “TOTAL ATTACK or TOTAL DROP-OUT.” As part of this, he embraced serial killers and other mass murderers—inspired in no small part by a number of neo-Nazis who took this approach in the 1970s and early ’80s, some of whom Mason had known personally.
