This article contains two most despicable pieces of propaganda I saw after I have left the Soviet Union. None of them is original. The first that tries to equate racism and fascism with the "far right wing" was invented by Stalin. The second that attempts to put anti-government ideas of the founding fathers in the same category as racism, - is more modern, but no less revolting libel.

Now, first things first. Fascism is not a "right wing" ideology, it is a branch of National-Socialism, which is an off-shoot of the main trunk of the European socialism. National socialism was less left-wing then communism, but far more left-wing than contemporary American Democrats. Stalin was trying to get rid of any competition, and so he routinely declared all other varieties of socialists to be "right wing", - be it mensheviks, trotskyists or whomever else. He is dead now, but his demagogic invention is still alive and in use.

Second, any ideology has its own racists. However, let's review the most horrible cases of institutionalized racism. German fascism is the first thing that comes to mind, but it is not the only one. Italian fascism was not very racist, but Soviet Communism most definitely was. Stalin deported and tried to exterminate whole people (like chechens, kalmyks and others). After his death communists mellowed somewhat, but the antisemitism was rampant and enforced by the party. Castro regime was always quite racist (link1, link2). Khmer Rouge banned some minorities and then massacred them. North Korea is one of the most nationalistic regimes in existence today. It seems to me that not only many left-wing movements have some racists among them, but they actually have a tendency to enable those racists and institutionalize that racism.

Finally, as far as the subject of the discussion, - I have to say, I have been living here for many years now and I have never seen anyone wearing a T-shirt with Himmler's face. On the other hand, on quite a few occasions I saw people in a T-shirt with a portrait of another psychopath butcher, - Che Guevara.

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Not only Bayonne but North Bergen & Jersey City also!!!!!!

Our gangbanger problem so far eclipses any neo-Nazi problem we have by about a million percent. Send those arrested development cretins wearing swastika colors down Ocean Avenue for a walk and the neo-Nazi problem would be solved in about five minutes.

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I wouldn't live in Bayonne either.

What map?

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Did you check out the map? There is a group in Bayonne... not too far from home.

This is why I wouldn't live in Southern New Jersey.

Rebecca Forand/South Jersey Times

For the first time in nearly 10 years, the number of far-right extremist and hate groups has fallen in the United States, according to a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), but New Jersey?s number remains high for its size.

Throughout the country, there are still nearly double the amount of radical-right hate groups or "patriot" groups, as the SPLC calls them, as there were in the late 1990s.

But for the first time since 2000, the number has gone down, according to a report in the Spring 2014 issue of the SPLC's quarterly investigative journal, Intelligence Report.

Hate groups, which include neo-Nazis, Klansmen, white nationalists, neo-Confederates, racist skinheads and black separatists, have declined in number by seven percent ? from 1,007 in 2012 to 939 in 2013.

The anti-government ?Patriot? movement, composed of armed militias, declined by 19 percent from 1,360 groups in 2012 to 1,096 in 2013.

In New Jersey, there are 44 hate groups identified by the SPLC?s report, mostly racist skinhead groups.

?It?s quite a high number for a state of its size,? said Mark Potok, senior fellow at the SPLC and editor of the report. ?There?s really been a problem of neo-Nazi groups in New Jersey.?

The Atlantic City Skins, a neo-Nazi group, has the largest number of chapters in the state with 14 based in cities from Wildwood to Brick.

The highest number of hate groups were found in California (77), Texas (57) and Florida (58).

Although the SPLC has documented a decline in the number of groups in existence throughout the country this year, it has also measured a ?disturbing dynamic at play,? according to Potok.

?At the same time that the number of extremist groups is dropping, there is more mainstream acceptance of radical-right ideas,? he said.

Such causes as opposition to Agenda 21 ? a non-binding action plan of the United Nations ? and support for laws that nullify potential federal laws, such as bans of Sharia law, which was passed in Oklahoma in 2010, and the Arizona proposal allowing business owners to discriminate against gays are some of the topics radical-right groups have lobbied for.

Also, while these groups drop in number, it does not mitigate the dangers associated with them, according to Potok. The SPLC has seen the more moderate members of these groups falling away from the organizations, leaving the more radical of them, and with less organization there are better chances for some of their members to plan violent actions.

?In our view, the very real danger of terrorism and criminal manifestation very much remain,? Potok said.

Click here for the Southern Poverty Law Center's interactive hate map.

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Contact staff writer Rebecca Forand at 856-845-3300 or rforand@southjerseymedia.com.