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Beating the Fascists: The authorised history of Anti-Fascist Action

cogg said:
Average of 26% in seats where they stood according to the BBC.
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Latest poll puts them on 22 per cent across the entire country. Membership estimate is now approaching 30,000. That is about ten times what the BNP had when the broke through a decade or so ago. And almost double the NF at it's heighest point. Not fascist of course, much less involved in direct action against opponents and minorities but still...
 
Red About Town said:
Apologies if posted elsewhere but an interesting read..


Duncan Robertson: dedicated Searchlight intelligence officer

http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/...on-dedicated-searchlight-intelligence-officer
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Just heard respected journalist James Lawton on Radio Five live explain the infamous riot that caused the Ireland England game to be abandoned was all down to C18. This was an outrageous, even by their standards, self-serving Searchlight invention to boost C18 (and because it was peneterated at the very top) Searchlight.

Interesting isn't it how blatant lies such as this, despite being utterly discredited at the time and since, (even Nick Lowles has admitted there was not a single C18 member identified, much less arrested, on the night) are still trotted out as 'fact' nearly twenty years later. Whatever else you might think, the durability is impressive.
 
I posted this on the SWP split thread but it's probably more relevant to this thread really:

This article on 'squaddism' from the ISN blog is doing the rounds on facebook at the moment.

Apparently the SWP are calling the ISN 'squaddists' (lol) and this is a kind of response to those kinds of accusations. Seems to accept all the SWP arguments and slanders against the 'squaddists' and instead of countering them sets out to differentiate their approach.

What do those actually involved in the 80s think of it?
 
SpineyNorman said:
I posted this on the SWP split thread but it's probably more relevant to this thread really:

This article on 'squaddism' from the ISN blog is doing the rounds on facebook at the moment.

Apparently the SWP are calling the ISN 'squaddists' (lol) and this is a kind of response to those kinds of accusations. Seems to accept all the SWP arguments and slanders against the 'squaddists' and instead of countering them sets out to differentiate their approach.

What do those actually involved in the 80s think of it?
Click to expand...

In his ISN article the author, Richard Atkinson, freely admits that he knows nothing about the actual history of "The Squads" ! Which doesn't really give him much of a basis for a knowledge -based "riposte" to the SWP's current abuse of anyone engaging in more militant anti fascist activity than them, as "Squaddists". Maybe he should have done a wee bit of background research ? Read "Beating the Fascists " perhaps ? Of course in the quite specific SWP context the "Squaddism" (or "Squadism" ) issue was really only a late 70's issue - (they'd expelled all of us militant direct action anti fascists by late 1981/early 1982 in the usual "show trial" purge process), not a 1980's issue at all as his article incorrectly claims. So Atkinson hasn't really even got his relevant decade right ! By the early 1980's the ex SWP "Squadists" were all operating outside of the SWP, (many in Red Action), and many of these went on to form Anti Fascist Action. The SWP simply wasn't a player at all in militant anti fascism for most of the 1980's.

Nevertheless, massive ignorance on Atkinson's part of the actual history of "Squadism" aside, it is interesting that the SWP today feels the need to drag up its ancient sneering misrepresentation of what "Squadism" was and is as its "respectability straightjacket" leaves it increasingly impotent and sidelined by new emerging direct action against violent street action by the likes of the drunken EDL yobs . Atkinson though, also certainly sees "squadism" very much through the distorted lens provided by the SWP's traditional fairy story of what it was about, spoonfed to SWP members for decades now, and hasn't tried to "move beyond his programming" on that issue since leaving the SWP ! Atkinson obviously thinks that "Squadism" is encompassed by his heroic one-off escapade assaulting a couple of shop assistants in a record shop ! Rather than the endless 24/7 decades long broad activity spread of militant anti fascist activity, stretching from endless broad Left meeting and march stewarding, intelligence gathering, organising and stewarding popular music events on an anti racist theme, football fanzine producing, and yes, occasional violent street battles with fascist gangs, and sundry special violent , away from the public gaze, "targetted actions", that most old "Squadists" will recognise as the real substance of their anti fascist experience.

Malatesta's forthcoming new book on 100 years of anti fascism will contain a long account by myself of the originating background in the early 1970's of the emergeance of the phenomenum of "Squadism" in the UK, particularly the North West, as a necessary survival response to a then very real sustained physical threat to the entire Left, reformist and revolutionery, from organised fascist violence on a large scale. Hopefully the spate of recent books, "No Retreat", "Beating The Fascists", "Physical Resistance", and next Malatesta's tome, will slowly start to erase the totally inaccurate and self serving canard that the SWP has served up to misrepresent militant direct action anti fascism ,( as a component part of the essential wider anti fascist popular movement), over the years since their unprincipled late 1981 "Squadist Purge".
 
ayatollah said:
In his ISN article the author, Richard Atkinson, freely admits that he knows nothing about the actual history of "The Squads" ! Which doesn't really give him much of a basis for a knowledge -based "riposte" to the SWP's current abuse of anyone engaging in more militant anti fascisty activity than them as "Squaddists". Maybe he should have done a wee bit of background research ? Read "Beating the Fascists " perhaps ? Of course in the quite specific SWP context the "Squaddism" (or "Squadism" ) issue was really only a late 70's issue - (they'd expelled all of us militant direct action anti fascists by late 1981/early 1982 in the usual "show trial" purge process), not a 1980's issue at all as his article incorrectly claims. So Atkinson hasn't really even got his relevant decade right ! By the early 1980's the ex SWP "Squadists" were all operating outside of the SWP, (many in Red Action), and many of these went on to form Anti Fascist Action. The SWP simply wasn't a player at all in militant anti fascism for most of the 1980's.

Nevertheless, massive ignorance on Atkinson's part of the actual history of "Squadism" aside, it is interesting that the SWP today feels the need to drag up its ancient sneering misrepresentation of what "Squadism" was and is as its "respectability straightjacket" leaves it increasingly impotent and sidelined by new emerging direct action against violent street action by the likes of the drunken EDL yobs . Atkinson though, also certainly sees "squadism" very much through the distorted lens provided by the SWP's traditional fairy story of what it was about, spoonfed to SWP members for decades now, and hasn't tried to "move beyond his programming" on that issue since leaving the SWP ! Atkinson obviously thinks that "Squadism" is encompassed by his heroic one-off escapade assaulting a couple of shop assistants in a record shop ! Rather than the endless 24/7 decades long broad activity spread of militant anti fascist activity, stretching from endless broad Left meeting and march stewarding, intelligence gathering, organising and stewarding popular music events on an anti racist theme, football fanzine producing, and yes, occasional violent street battles with fascist gangs, and sundry special violent , away from the public gaze, "targetted actions", that most old "Squadists" will recognise as the real substance of their anti fascist experience.

Malatesta's forthcoming new book on 100 years of anti fascism will contain a long account by myself of the originating background in the early 1970's of the emergeance of the phenomenum of "Squadism" in the UK, particularly the North West, as a necessary survival response to a then very real sustained physical threat to the entire Left, reformist and revolutionery, from organised fascist violence on a large scale. Hopefully the spate of recent books, "No Retreat", "Beating The Fascists", "Physical Resistance", and next Malatesta's tome, will slowly start to erase the totally inaccurate and self serving canard that the SWP has served up to misrepresent militant direct action anti fascism ,( as a component part of the essential wider anti fascist popular movement), over the years since their unprincipled late 1981 "Squadist Purge".
Click to expand...

Cheers ayatollah. I know I sometimes have a go when we disagree on contemporary politics but you still have my respect for what you did back then (as I do for the rest of the 'squaddists).
 
SpineyNorman said:
I posted this on the SWP split thread but it's probably more relevant to this thread really:

This article on 'squaddism' from the ISN blog is doing the rounds on facebook at the moment.

Apparently the SWP are calling the ISN 'squaddists' (lol) and this is a kind of response to those kinds of accusations. Seems to accept all the SWP arguments and slanders against the 'squaddists' and instead of countering them sets out to differentiate their approach.

What do those actually involved in the 80s think of it?
Click to expand...

Mr Atkinson is certainly an amusing character. As he admits he know little of squadism but advances an incident he himself was involved in to square the circle. In brief, he and his chums were beaten up, took out the wrong target, got drunk and were then arrested later after returning to the scene of the crime.

This he presents as probably typical of squadist indiscipline and thus something to be politically guarded against up to the present day. Had it been anything like that, V.O's and not kangaroo expulsions would have been the order of the day.

In my experience squadism was always part of a wider strategic objective, and usually came into play in order, as Micky Fenn quoted in BTF put it, to "remedy the situation" when as was often the case, the natural aggression of the fascists was threatning to tilt the balance locally in their favour. This could be paper sales, meetings, gigs etc

In short, far from mimicking squadist behaviour, Mr Atkinson and co were clearly the type of well meaning but hapless saps, squadists were deployed to protect.
 
ayatollah said:
Hopefully the spate of recent books, "No Retreat", "Beating The Fascists", "Physical Resistance", and next Malatesta's tome, will slowly start to erase the totally inaccurate and self serving canard that the SWP has served up to misrepresent militant direct action anti fascism ,( as a component part of the essential wider anti fascist popular movement), over the years since their unprincipled late 1981 "Squadist Purge".
Click to expand...

Your support for truth and political fidelity would be far more impressive was it not for the fact that of the three books you endorse, two seek to deliberately misrepresent key aspects of militant anti-fascism in a similar way to the SWP and for the same self-serving reasons.
 


Just spend half an hour making the opening sequence. Amateurish but I'm very proud :D.

I'll be finally putting up some other videos bignose1 gave me.

Points to anyone who genuinely recognises the theme tune. Anyone over the age of 26 must have used computer wizardry to get the right answer.
 
I found a document called Anti-Nazi League: A Critical Review, can't remember where I found it.

It's compares the two "marks" of the ANL and the last section on the ANL MK2 was written by an AFA member. It was produced by the Colin Roach Centre.

I've uploaded it to the archive here
 
belboid said:
there is a brief mention of it on the EDL thread - it wasnt entirely clear whether they were BM or NF I'm told.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty confident it was the BM - called by Jordan Pont, the fascist postman, who runs the British Movement's youth (lol) section. The leaflets they were giving out were BM ones too. But the NF and BM youth (lol) sections have apparently been cooperating so it's possible some of them were NF.
 
SpineyNorman said:
I'm pretty confident it was the BM - called by Jordan Pont, the fascist postman, who runs the British Movement's youth (lol) section. The leaflets they were giving out were BM ones too. But the NF and BM youth (lol) sections have apparently been cooperating so it's possible some of them were NF.
Click to expand...

So he's gone BNP-->NF-->BM in a year? Sounds like this was a joint job to me.
 
BM were stickering Manchester fairly regularly.

These chaps:
861650_10200773874099096_1309260207_n.jpg


861841_10200773874339102_169210148_n.jpg


803453_10200773874299101_1668525869_n.jpg
 
they have always had a PO Box in heckmondwike (?) but this is the 1st time they have done anything for years. watmough being involved illustrates the quality leadership and political programme.
 
Red Storm said:
I found a document called Anti-Nazi League: A Critical Review, can't remember where I found it.

It's compares the two "marks" of the ANL and the last section on the ANL MK2 was written by an AFA member. It was produced by the Colin Roach Centre.

I've uploaded it to the archive here
Click to expand...

Not too important in the scale of things but the 'AFA member' actually left AFA in 1991, after AFA bested a strong force of BM following a bloody clash near Abbey Wood BR station, disrupted a BNP march in Thamesmead, and took over a far-right symposium in Kensington - all in the same day.

There's no pleasing some people.
 
butchersapron said:
So he's gone BNP-->NF-->BM in a year? Sounds like this was a joint job to me.
Click to expand...

Yep, I'm not sure when he went from NF to BM but him and the S Yorks NF organiser don't get on at all - allegedly something to do with the NF organiser having a relationship with a Czech man.
 
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