To counter the very devil and more: The making of independent capitalist militia in the Gilded age

This study addresses a neglected question in movement/countermovement dynamics, that is, why do countermovement activists select a particular organizational form in which to mobilize? Contrary to the standard assumption that selection is a simple function of challenging movement characteristics, this study suggests that selection is a matter of organizational correspondence: the extent to which a particular organizational model fits (a) the counterframed threat of the challenging movement, (b) the broader field of counterframed cultural-political threats, (c) the characteristics of those embedded in countermobilizing networks, and (d) openings in the political structure. This argument is illustrated with primary data and secondary sources that allow a historical reconstruction of independent capitalist militia formations in Cleveland, Ohio, at the dawn of the Gilded Age.