Beating the Fascists: The authorised history of Anti-Fascist Action
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Another strange phenomenon occurred that day. (I wrote this for somewhere else so I can't be arsed editing it too much, so ye can live with the repetition)
In 1984 the GLC held a free ‘Jobs For A Change’ outdoor concert at County Hall/Jubilee Gardens. There were about 10,000 people between the two venues. As a band called the RedSkins played at County Hall, about 60 NF Skinheads attacked the stage and smashed up all the gear.
Mass panic ensued as men women and children fled the onslaught. They were eventually chased off by the crowd, but only after the damage was done. As the chase ensued, a distilling of the pursuers occurred. This resulted in only the most determined still being there when the posse caught some of the master-race. Retribution was swift and resolute and the anti-fascists made their way back, still outraged at the NF launching a successful attack.
On the Jubilee Gardens stage an innocuous outfit called the Hank Wangford band was plodding their way through a Country set. Suddenly a smaller group of Nazi’s, emboldened by their previous victory attacked this stage too. One particularly graphic memory was the Bass guitarist being butted and his ‘Axe’ being swung by a Bonehead straight into the face of the lead singer. This time, the ‘distilled’ crowd were better prepared and nearly all the Fash were captured and set upon by irate punters. There were some brutal kickings being handed out, and well deserved too.
At one stage two coppers had managed to drag two of the beleaguered Boneheads from the mob, and were holding back the crowd using a couple of chairs (a bit like lion-tamers). At this point we were being screamed at by various pacifist types ‘stop it! Stop it! you’re as bad as they are’.
Two women in particular were acting as a kind of human shield and shrieking like banshees. Anyways, someone clipped a copper (nothing major), he went down. So did his mate when he tried to help. We ignored the two cops cos we were only interested in the Boneheads. But as I scanned the scene looking for more lurking Fascists, what did I see but my erstwhile pacifist friends (the banshees) kicking lumps out of the prostrate Plod.
This puzzled me greatly. One minute they were doing exactly what the two cops were doing. i.e putting themselves in physical danger to protect the Bones. The next they were battering the very same policemen!
I enquired afterwards had anybody else noticed this and many had. My friend Joe (who had considerably more experience of this type of thing than me)pushed his glasses back on his nose, and explained this was a common enough occurrence. His analogy was that it was just like the way some people totally change character when they get behind the wheel of a car – so did people when a copper went down in front of them.
He said that whilst the pacifists were thinking, every sinew urged them to try and stop the violence. Once a cop fell, literally, at their feet ‘animal instinct’ took over – and the faceless uniform in front of them had to pay the price for years of being messed about and abused by coppers. It was a reflex.
He finished by saying that he would bet that nobody was more surprised than the banshees themselves at their reaction and that they would be “at home crying into their lentils and muesli as we speak”. He said it made no odds whether it was the SPG or 'Dixon of Dock Green' people were always taken aback by their deep-seated fear and hatred ofthe police.
Over the next few years I witnessed the same phenomenon several times - not just with coppers but with horizontal fascists too - and heard many anecdotes noting it.
I imagine it would be of scant consolation to the plod in question to know that it was probably ‘nothing personal’ and ‘totally out of character’ for their attackers to behave like that - but it was instructive for me.
It also showed the destructive power that lies inside people that can be tapped into by a little local, contextual leadership (which I would regard as potentially a very good thing) and also the power of the mob (which can be a mesmerisingly destructive thing).
In 1984 the GLC held a free ‘Jobs For A Change’ outdoor concert at County Hall/Jubilee Gardens. There were about 10,000 people between the two venues. As a band called the RedSkins played at County Hall, about 60 NF Skinheads attacked the stage and smashed up all the gear.
Mass panic ensued as men women and children fled the onslaught. They were eventually chased off by the crowd, but only after the damage was done. As the chase ensued, a distilling of the pursuers occurred. This resulted in only the most determined still being there when the posse caught some of the master-race. Retribution was swift and resolute and the anti-fascists made their way back, still outraged at the NF launching a successful attack.
On the Jubilee Gardens stage an innocuous outfit called the Hank Wangford band was plodding their way through a Country set. Suddenly a smaller group of Nazi’s, emboldened by their previous victory attacked this stage too. One particularly graphic memory was the Bass guitarist being butted and his ‘Axe’ being swung by a Bonehead straight into the face of the lead singer. This time, the ‘distilled’ crowd were better prepared and nearly all the Fash were captured and set upon by irate punters. There were some brutal kickings being handed out, and well deserved too.
At one stage two coppers had managed to drag two of the beleaguered Boneheads from the mob, and were holding back the crowd using a couple of chairs (a bit like lion-tamers). At this point we were being screamed at by various pacifist types ‘stop it! Stop it! you’re as bad as they are’.
Two women in particular were acting as a kind of human shield and shrieking like banshees. Anyways, someone clipped a copper (nothing major), he went down. So did his mate when he tried to help. We ignored the two cops cos we were only interested in the Boneheads. But as I scanned the scene looking for more lurking Fascists, what did I see but my erstwhile pacifist friends (the banshees) kicking lumps out of the prostrate Plod.
This puzzled me greatly. One minute they were doing exactly what the two cops were doing. i.e putting themselves in physical danger to protect the Bones. The next they were battering the very same policemen!
I enquired afterwards had anybody else noticed this and many had. My friend Joe (who had considerably more experience of this type of thing than me)pushed his glasses back on his nose, and explained this was a common enough occurrence. His analogy was that it was just like the way some people totally change character when they get behind the wheel of a car – so did people when a copper went down in front of them.
He said that whilst the pacifists were thinking, every sinew urged them to try and stop the violence. Once a cop fell, literally, at their feet ‘animal instinct’ took over – and the faceless uniform in front of them had to pay the price for years of being messed about and abused by coppers. It was a reflex.
He finished by saying that he would bet that nobody was more surprised than the banshees themselves at their reaction and that they would be “at home crying into their lentils and muesli as we speak”. He said it made no odds whether it was the SPG or 'Dixon of Dock Green' people were always taken aback by their deep-seated fear and hatred ofthe police.
Over the next few years I witnessed the same phenomenon several times - not just with coppers but with horizontal fascists too - and heard many anecdotes noting it.
I imagine it would be of scant consolation to the plod in question to know that it was probably ‘nothing personal’ and ‘totally out of character’ for their attackers to behave like that - but it was instructive for me.
It also showed the destructive power that lies inside people that can be tapped into by a little local, contextual leadership (which I would regard as potentially a very good thing) and also the power of the mob (which can be a mesmerisingly destructive thing).
Joe Reilly
Well-Known Member
First of all, it bears repeating, this is book is not about RA. It is not even about RA in AFA. It tells the story of militant anti-fascism from beginning to end, and from the inside out, pure and simple.
A major error, oft repeated and mentioned above, is for the left to regard anti-fascism as just another campaign - we have already seen same argument for 'the multi-faceted' approach previously on here from Socialist Party contributors. However the reality is that when fascism appears on the stage it very often signals - especially when it has the potential to garner political support from below - that something catastrophic is wrong with the Left as a whole. Who can deny that reality today?
At the time there were of course furious denials: 'fascists will be swept away like the dust of history': 'We beat them before and we will best them again' and so forth.
It follows therefore that when, either from opportunism or a genuine sense of concern, the conservative Left did eventually take to the field, there is no change of plan. Instead it insisted on following precisely the same formula, that rid them of their credibility with the working class in the first place: immediately joining forces with the establishment, demanding bans from the police, and flooding impoverished working class communities with propaganda along the lines of 'Refugees welcome here!', and of a similar ilk. All they were doing is in effect unleashing with considerable zeal, a process that can only went to underline the fascists credential as the 'radical alternative'. As was obvious as early as 1993, the ANL fulfilled all of this criteria, and more.
Instructively, after the Bradford riots, it was not the SWP, but MP's of a largely ethnic backgrounds who in withdrawing their support effectively pulled the plug. Once consequence of the rug being pulled from under the ANL in such a hasty fashion, is that there is yet to be a proper discussion on how the 'still marginal BNP' climbed from getting just over 7,000 votes in the general election in 1992 to having a voter base, by some estimates of approx 3 million, fifteen years later.
What BTF explains is why it happened, and of course also the 'one-sided' measures that prevented it happening a hell of a lot sooner.
Which is why one way or the other the wider debate both here and in Europe, will have to happen.
miktheword
Well-Known Member
Dunno about this. Prefered no space. Helps me to get into the full flow of the experience of the read outloud.. Think I've nearly perfected the accent and the right moment to pause and laugh; even stopping at times to push my reading glasses back up the nose.
Great analysis which relates to the last chapters of the book; almost violence free (the job had been done) and probably the best chapters of the book as well (not DUE to the lack of violence by the way).
If ever a book needed a second, follow up, this is it. But I suspect the story is still unfolding, and with the cuts agenda and responses, it would probably be out of date by the time it was penned. The authors probably need a rest from writing as well.
(Great to see everyone, pity me and SG were too dishevelled and lived too far away to stay later).
imposs1904
Thread Killa'
Just spotted a listing for the book here.
A couple of questions for people on the thread who know about these things:
1) The Mark Hayes blurb at the bottom of the page. Is that from a review? If so, is there a link to the review online?
2) A bit more obscure. Is that the same Mark Hayes who write the book about the British Communist Left a few years back? It was published by the Eye Cee Cee around about 2004/2005.
A couple of questions for people on the thread who know about these things:
1) The Mark Hayes blurb at the bottom of the page. Is that from a review? If so, is there a link to the review online?
2) A bit more obscure. Is that the same Mark Hayes who write the book about the British Communist Left a few years back? It was published by the Eye Cee Cee around about 2004/2005.
Reads like a blurb
Searching for
Code:
Where facts are few, experts proliferate. Beating the Fascistsproduces the page you referenced and dozens of IWCA pages using it as a blurb. But what does Google know?
Fozzie Bear
Well-Known Member
A friend of mine reviewed the book for The National, an English language newspaper in the United Arab Emirates.
http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/books/a-history-of-violence?pageCount=0
I don't agree with all, and he tries to cover a hell of a lot of ground, but it's a broadly positive review in an unlikely place I guess.
I think the book is excellent. I need to read it again really, to consolidate my thoughts a bit.
http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/books/a-history-of-violence?pageCount=0
I don't agree with all, and he tries to cover a hell of a lot of ground, but it's a broadly positive review in an unlikely place I guess.
I think the book is excellent. I need to read it again really, to consolidate my thoughts a bit.
love detective
there's no love too small
Sean Birchall, a long-time left-wing activist
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
I notice that Colin Ireland - the C18 wannabe, and actual serial killer mentioned as having a lucky escape in the book has turned muslim. Maybe Myatt is his imam?
The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
I noticed that as well.likes curries apparantly and doesn't want to work Fridays. Is Islam the new Catholicism?
Fish curries.
So... it's available on Amazon now... AK press you say...
Anudder Oik
heinous pointless bellend/fucking gobshite muppet
Will read it again and Barking Documentary
I've read the book now and will def re-read again as it is sound as fuck. The last chapters dealing with political analisys are a must for any serious anti nazis.
Also, I looked up the business of Herr Griffin being set upon by a protest outside a journalist meeting at Front Line last week where they were going to show a documentary called the Battle of Barking. As well as photos of the scuffles and a large woman dressed like a bear leading the charge I came across some talk on the net that the Griffin entourage had got the jitters beforehand as they had seen a group of lads in a pub nearby with plenty of bottles to hand and suspected they were there to get them.
Apart from that titbit, has anyone seen the Barking documentary about the elections? The result was hailed as a victory for anti fascism at the time. Did the BNP vote go up or down?
I've read the book now and will def re-read again as it is sound as fuck. The last chapters dealing with political analisys are a must for any serious anti nazis.
Also, I looked up the business of Herr Griffin being set upon by a protest outside a journalist meeting at Front Line last week where they were going to show a documentary called the Battle of Barking. As well as photos of the scuffles and a large woman dressed like a bear leading the charge I came across some talk on the net that the Griffin entourage had got the jitters beforehand as they had seen a group of lads in a pub nearby with plenty of bottles to hand and suspected they were there to get them.
Apart from that titbit, has anyone seen the Barking documentary about the elections? The result was hailed as a victory for anti fascism at the time. Did the BNP vote go up or down?
Their total vote in the Barking and Dagenham council elections went up from 15,700 in 2006 to 31,000 (standing more candidates) in 2010 (http://www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk/9-democracy/elections/elections-menu.html, http://www.iwca.info/?p=10153)
Anudder Oik
heinous pointless bellend/fucking gobshite muppet
So, why the F**j is it being hailed as a victory for anti fascism?
I hold no brief for the people claiming it as "brilliant" etc.
But the BNP losing all their council seats (and failing to win a Westminster seat) was good news.
And the total-vote figures aren't amazingly helpful: it's better to compare like for like, isn't it?
How did the vote go in the wards where they stood both times?
Most people hailing it as a victory see it purely in electoral terms, and as a success in mobilising an anti racist vote against an explicitly racist one - I think Hope not Hate actually do admit the next stage is to try and deal with the concerns of the BNP voters that led them to support the BNP in the first place. Whether Hope not Hates' autoLabour politics will allow them to do this I don't know (I doubt it though).
I think that although it wasn't a victory from a progressive working class/socialist perspective it was a massive set back for the BNP and the following months have demonstrated that, however it has as far as many people are concerned removed the urgency of addressing the reasons for the BNPs growth in the first place and that is extremely dangerous indeed.
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
They stayed pretty much the same or dropped/rose by around a hundred - whilst extending the total size via getting similar results in the new wards. Before there were 12 wards in which a 1000 people+ voted BNP in B&D - now there's 25.
Louis MacNeice
Autumn Journalist
audiotech
wav, aiff, mp3, ogg, flac
indeed
Joe Reilly
Well-Known Member
To a large extent the massive problems faced by the BNP internally over the last months seem to have been courtesy of the Trevor Phillips initiative to turn 'BNP' into the 'Black National Party', in tandem with that the unleashing of MI5 sleepers in the ranks all the same time in order to bring the party to its knees. Though it will take the BNP many months to fully recover momentum, it does seem the establishment has swung and missed. That being the case, and with all their spook assets exposed, expelled or otherwise used up, if the leadership keep their heads, the BNP may well have a trouble free run for the forseeable future.
As for Barking and the response to it, is this not just a re-run of the Isle of Dogs in 1993 - BNP vote actually doubles, and its back-slapping all round among so called anti-fascists. In the near twenty years since Cllr Beackon it is evident that the same basic errors are still in play.
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
That was all manageable - it still is. The political way they've responded (or haven't) since may is what's causing problems, allied with Griffin being quite happy to sit above the fray in europe for a year and see his potential threats fuck each other over. The finance stuff, whilst handled badly, is not and never will be a killer.
Just stumbled on this long discussion on the Web so please forgive me for taking up an issue from page 24. The cutting of of relations with "Searchlight" was not really with the organisation itself, but with the two representatives of Searchlight in Manchester - who ruthlessly played power games with the members of the Squad in Manchester whilst other comrades were in clink. They also syphoned off funds from the Rochdale 8 Defence fund for other unspecified political uses of their own.Dennis was the prime victim of this manipulative meddling. It is sad to see so many old comrades at each other's throats now - but the fact is you were all heroes back in the day - surely that is the lesson to be taken from both books - that at a time of danger a few people buried their differences and stepped up to the plate and fought of the fascists whilst the rest of the Left sniped on the sidelines about "Thugs" - but nevertheless gained respite from their meetings being attacked so normal political activity could continue.
On another point raised - the suspension of Class War from AFA. I was the person (with the completely useless GR)tasked to carry out the investigation by the AFA Steering Group. I was shocked at the glee with which so many on the Left sniped and badmouthed Class War , but then NOONE was prepared to make any detail statements to the enquiry to back up the gossip- Witchhunting seemed to be VERY popular on the Left. No sooner than I had reported there was no case to answer on Class War, then Bugger me other Lefties tried to expel Red Action , and demanded another GRAND ENQUIRY - into RA this time - such FUN!! I was able to quash the demand for another Witchhunt "Enquiry" at the next Steering Group Meeting. Sometimes to understand the Left you really do have to sit through a whole viewing of "Life of Brian" ! By the way, whatever Steve Tilzey may have done subsequently he was a true anti fascist hero for many years in the Squad, and anyone who wasn't involved in that struggle themselves hasn't earned the right to snipe at him now. I know some of you lads have earned that right - but too many nitpickers haven't. I hope the new book (haven't secured a copy yet) will encourage anti fascists from all parts of the wide social/political spectrum to enter into joint work in the future, because the post 2008 economic crisis and the rise of mass unemployment will undoubtedly put more aggressive street fascism back on the agenda in the years to come - witness the rise of the EDL provocations- and I'm afraid us old gits are just too old now to take our place in the line again ! Though I'll organise the tea back at base.
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