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Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) was a militant
anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...
organisation, founded in the UK in 1985 by a wide range of anti-racist and anti-fascist organisations. It was active in fighting far-right organisations, particularly the National Front and
British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a Far-right politics, far-right, British fascism, fascist list of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and is led by Adam ...
. It was notable in significantly reducing fascist street activity in Britain in the 1990s.Birchall, Sean, ''Beating The Fascists: The Untold Story of Anti-Fascist Action'' (London: Freedom Press, 2010). AFA had what they called a "twin-track" strategy: physical confrontation of fascists on the streets and ideological struggle against fascism in
working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
communities. Among its more notable mobilisations were violent confrontations such as the "Battle of Waterloo" at
London Waterloo station Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a major central London railway terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Undergrou ...
in 1992 and non-violent events such as the Unity Carnivals of the early 1990s.


History

AFA was partly a reaction to the perceived inadequacies of the original Anti-Nazi League (ANL), which had recently wound up its operations. AFA members accused ANL of failing to directly confront fascists, of allying with moderates who were complicit in racism, and of being a
vanguardist Vanguardism, a core concept of Leninism, is the idea that a revolutionary vanguard party, composed of the most conscious and disciplined workers, must lead the proletariat in overthrowing capitalism and establishing socialism, ultimately prog ...
front for the Socialist Workers Party (SWP).
Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...
was either national secretary or honorary president of this first incarnation of AFA in 1985.Copsey, Nigel
"Crossing Borders: Anti-Fascist Action (UK) and Transnational Anti-Fascist Militancy in the 1990s."
''Contemporary European History'' 25.4 (2016): 707-727.
However, according to historian Nigel Copsey, "this original AFA unravelled due to internal tensions between militant anti-fascists and more moderate anti-racists... By 1988, fractured by in-house sectarianism, AFA had all but collapsed." In 1989, though, it "was resurrected as a militant, physical force anti-fascist group." Although many
Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...
groups, independent
socialists Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and socia ...
,
anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...
s and members of the Labour Party were active in AFA in the 1980s, after its relaunch in 1989 the main members were from various anarchist groups and Red Action, a group founded by disillusioned militant anti-fascist ex-SWP members who had criticised perceived populist or popular front politics of the ANL. Thousands of people took part in AFA mobilisations such as the
Remembrance Day Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day owing to the tradition of wearing a remembrance poppy) is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth member states since the end of the First World War to honour armed forces me ...
demonstrations in 1986 and 1987, and a mobilisation against a Blood and Honour gig, "the Main Event", in May 1989. In 1988, AFA formed a musical arm, Cable Street Beat (named after the Battle of Cable Street, a 1936 confrontation between fascists and anti-fascists), on similar principles to the Anti-Nazi League's Rock Against Racism. Cable Street Beat launched a magazine, ''Cable Street Beat Review'', in early 1989. Among the artists who performed for early Cable Street Beat events were Blaggers ITA, Angelic Upstarts, Attila the Stockbroker, The Men They Couldn't Hang, Forgotten Sons and Blyth Power. In 1989, there was a split in AFA between militant anti-fascists and other members, such as the Newham Monitoring Group, whose views were closer to liberal anti-fascism. The militant groups relaunched AFA that year, with the affiliates Direct Action Movement and Workers' Power, as well as several
trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
s.


Early 1990s

In the early 1990s, AFA continued the pattern of twin-track physical and ideological confrontations with fascism. Examples of the former include the first Unity Carnival in east London in 1991, with 10,000 participants, and a demonstration in
Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common la ...
, with 4,000 participants (under the slogan “Beating the Fascists: An old East End tradition”). Cable Street Beat continued in the early 1990s, with the involvement of bands including the reformed The Selecter, Bad Manners and Gary Clail. Physical resistance to fascism also continued. In 1990, three AFA members were jailed for a total of 11 years following an attack on a neo-Nazi activist. AFA's militant approach to anti-fascism was given media airing in May 1992, when the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
screened a documentary, ''Fighting Talk'', as part of its Open Space series. A long street battle between AFA against Blood and Honour supporters, skinheads, hooligan firms and far-right groups on 11 September 1992, was dubbed the Battle of Waterloo as it was centred on Waterloo station. There were stabbings, and 36 people were arrested. By this time, there were 21 branches of AFA listed in ''Fighting Talk'', in locations including
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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,
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and
Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...
.


"Filling the Vacuum" strategy

In 1993, Derek Beackon, a candidate from the
British National Party The British National Party (BNP) is a Far-right politics, far-right, British fascism, fascist list of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in Wigton, Cumbria, and is led by Adam ...
(BNP), won a council seat in Millwall on the Isle of Dogs in Tower Hamlets, under the slogan of "Rights for Whites".Copsey, Nigel (2004). ''Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy'', Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 53–54. This signalled a turn in the BNP's policy from confrontation on the streets to a bid for electoral respectability, partly as a response to their defeat on the streets by AFA. In 1994, BNP activist Tony Lecomber announced this turn in tactics with a statement to the press that there would be "no more meetings, marches, punch-ups". In 1995 London AFA responded with its ''Filling the Vacuum'' strategy, which involved offering a political alternative in these communities instead of concentrating on challenging the fascist presence on the streets. Red Action and its allies campaigned within the AFA Network after 1995 for AFA as an organisation to adopt the "Filling the Vacuum" strategy. However, given that AFA contained a number of political groups, with differing political programmes, this, and the decline of street action by the BNP as it embraced "respectable electoralism", contributed to the breakup of much of the AFA network, with much internal recrimination. Anti-fascist mobilisations still occurred after 1995, such as ones against the National Front in
Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...
in 1997 and 1998. The number of AFA branches across the UK peaked at 38 in the mid-1990s, with regular national conferences and an active Northern Network. A new AFA National Coordinating Committee was set up, and in 1997, an official AFA statement forbade members from associating with Searchlight. In 1998 the committee expelled
Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
and
Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...
AFA for ignoring this policy. There were some local relaunches of AFA groups, such as in
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
in 2000, but by 2001, AFA barely existed as a national organisation. Some re-formed in the Anti-Fascist Network in 2011 to recreate the "two-track" approach of AFA.


Politics

Critics argue that AFA's physical confrontation approach was often more visible than their ideological work, and their tactics were criticised for their squadism and use of violence.Dave Hann "Physical Resistance" Zero Books, 2013 However, supporters of AFA's approach cite its involvement in the youth music scene and successful propaganda events like the 1986 and 1987 Remembrance Day "Remember the victims of Fascism" marches as evidence of this wider agenda.


See also

* Antifaschistische Aktion * Anti-Racist Action * Anti-Nazi League * Red Action * Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice * Searchlight (magazine) * Post-World War II anti-fascism * Redskin (subculture) * Squadism *
United front A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political and/ ...


Notes


Further reading

*Birchall, Sean, ''Beating The Fascists: The Untold Story of Anti-Fascist Action'' (London: Freedom Press, 2010) * *''Anti-Fascist Action: an Anarchist Perspective'' (Kate Sharpley Library, 2006) *Hann, Dave and Steve Tilzey, ''No Retreat'' (Milo Books, 2003)
Interview with author of ''No Retreat''
in ''Spike Magazine'' *Hann, Dave, ''A Hundred Years of Anti Fascism'' (Zero Books, 2013) *Mark Hayes and Paul Aylwar
Radical resistance or rent-a-mob?
''soundings'' issue 14 Spring 2000 *Testa, M., ''Militant Anti-Fascism: A Hundred Years of Resistance'' (AK Press, 2015)


External links


Anti-Fascist Archive1985-2001: A short history of Anti-Fascist Action (AFA)
on Libcom.org *
Bullstreet, K. Bash the Fash: Anti-Fascist Recollections 1984-1993 (Kate Sharpley Library, 2001)AFA Ireland
(archived)
Nicky Crane: The secret double life of a gay neo-Nazi
{{Authority control Anti-fascist organisations in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1985 1985 establishments in the United Kingdom