Anti-Fascism

Articles on anti-fascism from the Red Action Bulletin volumes 3 & 4

SEARCHLIGHT EDITOR BACKS IWCA APPROACH
With the Anti-Nazi League discredited and banned, the Socialist Alliance reduced to building support for a new CND type movement, and the political establishment in Oldham and wider afield showing signs of panic at the prospects of BNP councilors in northern towns, Searchlight magazine which has spent much of the last decade reassuring its audience that the far-right was more or less genetically pre-programmed to self-destruct, appears to have undergone a Damascene conversion.
November 2001

FILLING THE VACUUM IN MAY 2002?
Largely thanks to Tony Blair a huge political space exists in working class areas. This was something a London AFA strategy document from May 1995, entitled appropriately ‘Filling the Vacuum’ predicted would be the case. All ‘the experts’ can of course see it now, not least because voting in the General Election in June was, coming in at under 60%, the lowest ever recorded. In any social breakdown of the absent forty per cent, the working class, political analysts agree is overwhelmingly dominant. So for the politically ambitious, almost regardless of ideology, this is obviously the social strata to target. Not that you’d know it.
November 2001

'THE DAY THE PANTOMIME HORSE BOLTED'
For years the ANL has followed a policy of calling counter-demonstrations against far-right initiatives in the full knowledge that either they would not take place, had been scheduled for an alternative venue, or had simply been cancelled. This meant that even, or particularly when, the SWP/ANL knew the fascists were not coming, every effort was made to maximise turn-out, for pretty venal reasons.
Reproduced from RA Bulletin Volume 4, Issue 12, July/Aug '01

ONE MIGHT BE UNLUCKY... TWO IS A TREND
After Haider the cry was 'Never Again!' With Mussolini's heirs set to return to government - 'Not Again!' - may prove the more durable slogan. Analysis by Joe Reilly.
Reproduced from RA Bulletin Volume 4, Issue 11, May/June '01

VILIFIED : FOR TELLING THE TRUTH
On 13 December 2000, the Independent published an article by Robert Fisk entitled I Am Being Vilified For Telling The Truth About Palestinians, where he claimed: "The abuse being directed at anyone who dares to criticise Israelis reaching McCarthyite proportions". It is reprinted below in full.
Reproduced from RA Bulletin Volume 4, Issue 10, March/April '01

BOOK REVIEW - "MR EVIL"
A. Shaw reviews "MR EVIL - The Secret Life of Racist Pub Bomber and Killer David Copeland" by Graeme McLagen & Nick Lowles.
Reproduced from RA Bulletin Volume 4, Issue 10, March/April '01

"ONLY A GAME!"
A protracted campaign to deny AFA a voice on Glasgow’s Refugee Committee saw a leading SWP member offer the extraordinary explanation that it is: "Only A Game!"
Reproduced from RA Vol 4, Issue 9, Nov/Dec '00

THE FEW
For more than fifty years the ‘United Front’ has been a talisman of the Left. Leading SWP member and journalist, Paul Foot, recently explained why. Astonishingly as Joe Reilly discovers, the whole rationale is based entirely on a series of lies.
Reproduced from RA Vol 4, Issue 8, Sept/Oct '00

BNP IN TIPTON : NURTURING LEGITIMACY
The West Midlands is a key growth area for the BNP. In May they got their highest ever vote - a 50% increase on the previous year - and now look poised to take a council seat in the near future. Bob Martin explains how they're doing it.
Reproduced from RA Vol 4, Issue 7, June/July '00

HEGEMONY OVER HISTORY
Falsifying history for ideological ends was the damning verdict in the recent Irving trial. But the ugly truth is, many of Irving’s opponents are similarly motivated. G O’Halloran reports.
Reproduced from RA Vol 4, Issue 7, June/July '00

OBITUARY - MATTY 'BLAG' ROBERTS
It was with great sadness that Red Action members learnt of the death, in tragic circumstances, of Matty Roberts or Matty ‘Blag’ as he had become known to friends and the media alike.
Reproduced from RA Vol 4, Issue 6, April/May '00

LIBERAL REVISIONISM
Examination of attempts by the Socialist Workers Party to write militant anti-fascism out of recent history.
Reproduced from RA Vol 4, Issue 4, Dec '99/Jan '00

IS ANTI-RACISM WORKING?
Anti-Fascist Action hosted an afternoon of film and discussion at the Lux cinema in East London. Following the films, which included the first public screening of the controversial Routes of Racism, a panel of speakers debated the question ‘Is anti-racism working?’
Reproduced from RA Vol 4, Issue 4, Dec '99/Jan '00

EYES WIDE SHUT
The political pattern evident in the rise of the far Right across Europe is also apparent in Britain. Another reason G. O’Halloran argues that with no proven antidote the liberal Left feels obliged to approach the issue with...
Reproduced from RA Vol 4, Issue 4, Dec '99/Jan '00

FRAUDULENT CHATTER
In highlighting a push within academia to favourably revise fascism in practise, leading SWP member Dave Renton does us all a service, but it is his own revisionism, according to G. O'Halloran, which carries the greatest threat.
Reproduced from RA Vol 4, Issue 3, Oct/Nov '99

IT WOZ AFA WOT DONE IT!
The new Searchlight publication, White Noise, promises to reveal the true history of the neo-nazi Blood & Honour movement. But does it? Joe Reilly explores.
Reproduced from RA Vol 3, Issue 6, April/May 1999

VITAL LESSONS
RA presents the main address to a public meeting during the annual AFA Cable St commemoration weekend at which a founding member outlined why AFA is forced to adapt to changing circumstances to remain effective
Reproduced from RA Vol 3, Issue 4, December/January 1998/99

KNOW YOUR ENEMY PART TWO
With the proponents exposed as state-friendly provocateurs and dupes, A. Shaw analyses the political logic behind the campaign against the strategy of working class community orientation.
Reproduced from RA Vol 3, Issue 4, December/January 1998/99

KNOW YOUR ENEMY
For reasons explained in our editorial section, we have taken the unprecedented step of reprinting, in full, an article by a leading British National Party member, Tony Lecomber, which appeared in the BNP's magazine Spearhead. The article was entitled 'Red Front - Spent Force of Reaction, a footnote in history.'
Reproduced from RA Vol 3, Issue 3, October/November 1998

GERMANY CALLING
For the first time since the fall of the Third Reich the far-right has been voted into office in Germany. A. Shaw asks who's to blame?
Reproduced from RA Vol 3, Issue 2, August/September 1999

SECRETS AND LIES
Joe Reilly looks at the destructive role played by Searchlight entryists within AFA.
Reproduced from RA Vol 3, Issue 1, June/July 1998

VELVET COUNTER REVOLUTION BEGINS
Analysis of the success of the Front National and the lessons to be learnt from it.
Reproduced from RA Vol 3, Issue 1, June/July 1998