Red Action was a British leftist

political group A political group is a group consisting of political parties or legislators of aligned ideologies. A technical group is similar to a political group, but with members of differing ideologies. International terms Equivalent terms are used differ ...

formed in 1981. It became known for violently confronting groups such as the

British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a far-right, fascist political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and its leader is Adam Walker. A minor party, it has no elected representatives at any level of UK gover ...

on the streets, and for being the main organisational force behind Anti-Fascist Action.Zephaniah, Benjamin. 28 February 2016. "Benjamin Zephaniah on fighting the far right: ‘If we did nothing we would be killed on the streets’ | Books | The Guardian". ''The Guardian''.
/ref> In 1995, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' estimated that it had between 20 and 30 branches with 10–15 activists in each, and the paper stated that the group "enthusiastically espouses the use of violence"; it also set out links between Red Action and the

Irish republican movement Irish Republican Movement is a dissident republican vigilante group founded in April 2018. They formed as a splinter group of Óglaigh na hÉireann, after they went on ceasefire in 2018. See also * Republican movement (Ireland) Referenc ...

, and stated that members operated primarily in large cities such as

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

and

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. The group was formed by activists who had been expelled from the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) for their involvement in alleged "

squadism Squadism (or sometimes "Squaddism") was the practice of physical, anti-fascist direct action. The term, often used pejoratively by liberal anti-fascists eschewing violence, originated in the Anti-Nazi League, an anti-fascist campaigning organisat ...

" (violent actions against far right racist groups). The expelled activists regrouped around a paper named ''Red Action''. After several years, the group became more interested in the

electoral process An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

, and it joined the Red Front electoral alliance in 1987 and the Socialist Alliance in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

in 1999. Red Action members then left this organisation, along with the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...

, citing the domination of the SWP over the organisation. Some Red Action members went on to found the

Independent Working Class Association The Independent Working Class Association (IWCA) is a minor working-class political party in the United Kingdom that aims to promote the political and economic interests of the working class, regardless of the consequences to existing political ...

References

External links

Red Action archive
* ttp://libcom.org/tags/red-action Red Action material at Libcombr>As Soon As This Pub Closes - Red Action section
satirical profile by John Sullivan Anti-fascist organisations in the United Kingdom Anti-racist organisations in the United Kingdom Political parties established in 1981 1981 establishments in the United Kingdom {{UK-poli-stub

References

Further reading

External links