Resistance Records was launched in 1993 and officially incorporated in 1994 by George Burdi and other members of a Canadian chapter of the racist and anti-Semitic World Church of the Creator (WCOTC). Although that chapter is now defunct, the Illinois-based WCOTC has since listed a "contact point" in Ontario on its Web site.

"Music alone cannot save our Race, granted... But our music is precious to us, and highly effective as a recruiting tool." -- George Burdi, Founder of Resistance Records.

Burdi, also known as George Eric Hawthorne, was born in Toronto in 1970 and became radicalized at age 19. By 21, he was Canadian head of WCOTC. He became a supporter of the Holocaust-denial movement and national socialism. Burdi was also a singer and lyricist for the skinhead rock group RaHoWa, named for WCOTC's acronym for "racial holy war," something the group hopes to hasten. At the time, Burdi was a stern-looking young man who wore a goatee and had a reputation for being temperamental. He believed strongly that music could be an important way to draw new members into the hate movement. "Music alone cannot save our Race, granted," he was quoted as saying. "But our music is precious to us, and highly effective as a recruiting tool." This sentiment would later be echoed by other key players in Resistance Records.

In order to avoid Canada's strict anti-hate propaganda laws, Burdi set up his business offices in nearby Detroit, Michigan, and began doing a brisk business in a variety of hate rock. According to news reports, the label sold as many as 50,000 CDs in one year, virtually all of them from bands whose music is so racist, anti-Semitic and xenophobic that most mainstream music outlets refuse to sell it.

Burdi also launched Resistance Magazine, intended as a companion to the music distribution business. A cross between rock-and-roll fan-zine and white supremacist propaganda, the magazine offers reviews of hate rock CDs and band interviews, along with a range of articles such as "Planning a Skinhead Infantry" and "Brutality is Fun: Racist Cop Website Review." Listed on the masthead as George Eric Hawthorne, Burdi initially served as both editor and a contributing writer. Ironically, in early editorials Burdi encouraged readers to become members of the neo-Nazi National Alliance, whose leader would later purchase Resistance Records.

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