Summary: People who take this position believe that Antifa is not an organization because they are comprised of sects
Antifa is not an organization, you can’t join it, or become a member of it. Antifa simply means antifascist. There is no organized structure or hierarchy. It is not someone you are, it is something you do. Calling an employer to let them know their employee is a white supremacist is an antifascist action. Going to a protest to help drown out racists is an antifascist action. Even using violence to prevent someone from spreading a fascist message is antifascism. Even voting and mainstream political actions are antifascist when they oppose fascism. None of these actions require group or organizational affiliation.
There are many ideologies and sects that can be antifascist. If you oppose fascism, you are antifascist. Antifa isn’t a group, but that doesn’t mean antifascists aren’t groups of people. If a group of anarchists is comprised of antifascists, they may seek to create instability during a protest. A group of political reformers that are antifascist may pass out voting information. These groups want completely different outcomes, they disapprove of the others tactics the other is using. It is impossible to say the groups previously mentioned are part of the same organization. The only thing required to be antifa is an opposition to fascism.
Summary: Antifa is an organization because they are organized, international, and share a common ideology
Antifa is an organization because they are organized and the title of “Antifascist” is delusory. Antifa has clear, public, mission statements. Organizations don’t need a leader to function, and even if they did, that a leader or central leadership being obscured does not mean it is non-existent. Antifa has rules for member, even though they claim they don’t have members. Organizing groups of people to participate in events in order to communicate a shared message does not happen spontaneously. Members are expected adhere to central messaging points and going against group messaging can result in expulsion from the group. Much like terrorist organizations, there is incentive to work in cells and obscure hierarchy because it makes it significantly more difficult to dismantle.
Antifa has an incentive to misrepresent themselves. They have been deemed a terrorist organization by the American government, it is natural that Antifa members and leadership would push back on this as a matter of self-preservation. Their label of “Antifascists” itself is a false flag. Anyone who becomes a target of Antifa is labelled a fascist, regardless of their beliefs. Their members almost unanimously espouse anti-capitalist sentiments and their tactics often include harassment of individuals, spreading of false information and physical disruption of public trafficways and events.