If significant armed left wing groups actually existed, we might actually get meaningful gun control legislation, like happened during the rise of Black Panther.
I think most organized and militarized western leftist groups were probably defunct by the end of the Cold war.
I’d assume it’s mostly a product of who the enemy was during the Cold War. Though I understand the far right made a large shift in how decentralized they operate around the end of the 20th century too after the feds started picking a lot of various KKK and other organization members off.
That doesn't make it true though. Just like 300 million Americans died from overdosing on drugs according to POTUS. They just say things knowing people in their base will not verify anything they say. If someone does, they clearly are opposition just making a stink.
No, it certainly doesn't. But lies are the only relevance "antifa" has, and if you ask the people caught up in it, they'll adamantly insist that antifa is an extensive organization with identifiable leaders and cohesive plans that are executed widely by a unified member body.
None of that's true. But we should be aware of the lies being told, at least the ones told widely.
Generally, when someone says something like "left wing groups" they mean something with a formal organization.
"Antifa" is less of an organization than even some loose collective like "anonymous"
Are there left-wing agitators? Sure, black bloc and other "direct action" protestors have been around since at least the world trade protests in the 90s.
But to the best of my knowledge there isn't really a formal "antifa" organization to dismantle or anything.