Fourteen Words

Graffiti with a Nazi swastika and 14/88 on a wall in Elektrostal, Moscow, Russia
Graffiti with 1488 and an obscure message on a wall in Volzhsky, Volgograd Oblast, Russia

"The Fourteen Words" (also abbreviated 14 or 1488) is a reference to two slogans originated by David Eden Lane,[1][2] one of nine founding members of the defunct white supremacist terrorist organization The Order,[3] and are accompanied by Lane's "88 Precepts." The slogans have served as a rallying cry for militant white nationalists internationally.[4]

The primary slogan in the Fourteen Words is,

We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children,[1][5][6][7]

Followed by the secondary slogan,

because the beauty of the White Aryan woman must not perish from the Earth.

The two slogans were coined prior to Lane being sentenced to 190 years in federal prison for planning and abetting the assassination of the Jewish talk show host Alan Berg, who was murdered by another member of the group in June 1984. They were popularized heavily after Lane's imprisonment.[8][9] The slogans were publicized through print company 14 Word Press, founded in St. Maries, Idaho, in 1995 by Lane's wife, Katja, to disseminate her husband's writings,[9][10] along with Ron McVan who later moved his operation to Butte, Montana, after a falling-out with Katja.[11][12]

Lane used the 14-88 numerical coding extensively throughout his spiritual, political, religious, esoteric, and philosophical tracts and notably in his "88 Precepts" manifesto. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, inspiration for the Fourteen Words "are derived from a passage in Adolf Hitler's autobiographical book Mein Kampf".[13] The Fourteen Words have been prominently used by neo-Nazis, white power skinheads and certain white nationalists and the alt-right.[14][15] "88" is used by some as a shorthand for "Heil Hitler," 'H' being the 8th letter of the alphabet,[16] though Lane viewed Nazism along with America as being part of the "Zionist conspiracy."[17]

Lane's ideology was anti-American, white separatist, and insurrectionist; he considered loyalty to the United States to be "racial treason" and upheld the acronym "Our Race Is Our Nation" ("ORION"),[18] viewing the United States as committing genocide against white people[19][20] and as having been founded as a New World Order to finalize a global Zionist government.

Being bitterly opposed to the continued existence of the United States as a political entity, and labeling it the "murderer of the White race",[9] Lane further advocated domestic terrorism as a tool to carve out a "white homeland" in the Northern Mountain States. To that end, Lane issued a declaration called "Moral Authority" published through now-defunct 14 Word Press and shared through the publications of Aryan Nations, World Church of the Creator, and other white separatist groups, referring to the United States as a "Red, White and Blue traveling mass murder machine", while asserting that "true moral authority belongs to those who resist genocide".[20]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference ADL14 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Michael, George (2009). "David Lane and the Fourteen Words". Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions. 10 (1): 43–61. doi:10.1080/14690760903067986. ISSN 1469-0764. S2CID 145438802.
  3. ^ Balleck, Barry (2018). Modern American Extremism and Domestic Terrorism: An Encyclopedia of Extremists and Extremist Groups. United States: ABC-CLIO. p. 4. ISBN 978-1440852749.
  4. ^ "Supreme Court Requires Prisons Give Special Consideration to Racist Pagans". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 27 January 2020.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ph.D.Blanco2016 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference CarmichaelMaguire2015 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dictionary of White Supremacist Slang was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "The murder of Alan Berg in Denver: 25 years later". The Denver Post. 17 June 2009. Retrieved 18 November 2019. Federal authorities tried four suspects in 1987 and the two found guilty were convicted of violating Berg's civil rights. Lane, then 49, was sentenced to 150 years.
  9. ^ a b c "David Lane". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 18 November 2019. In 1987, Lane was additionally accused of violating Berg's civil rights by helping to assassinate him, a federal charge. While Lane did not pull the trigger, prosecutors said he drove the getaway car and played a large role in the planning of Berg's murder. He was sentenced to 150 years in prison.
  10. ^ "David Lane". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved 10 August 2018.
  11. ^ "'Wotanism' ritual in Butte". 22 March 2021.
  12. ^ "Standard view: A powerful photo, and powerful reasons to publish it". 26 March 2021.
  13. ^ "The American Freedom Party". Southern Poverty Law Center. The American Freedom Party (formerly American Third Position) is a political party initially established by racist Southern California skinheads that aims to deport immigrants and return the United States to white rule.
  14. ^ "14 Words, Know Your Meme". Know Your Meme. 10 July 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2018.
  15. ^ "14 Words". Anti-Defamation League. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  16. ^ "Racist Skinhead Glossary".
  17. ^ "Swedish Academic Mattias Gardell Discusses the Rise of Neo-Paganism in America". Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center. 21 March 2001. Lane says that from the very beginning, America was part of the Zionist conspiracy. To him, that is why the American military has been engaged in all these wars ever since the country's foundation. All these wars, in Lane's view, were fought to force the nations of the world to submit to the Zionist dictatorship.
  18. ^ "ORION".
  19. ^ Gardell (2003), p. 67.
  20. ^ a b "David Lane". Anti-Defamation League. Archived from the original on 3 November 2008.