Bulletin of the Kate Sharpley Library 10:2001 No28 $1/50P
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Anti-Fascist Action Radical Resistance Or Rent-A-Mob? Mark Hayes and Paul Aylward
soundings issue 14 Spring 2000 Anti-Fascist Action Radical resistance or rent-a-mob? Mark Hayes and Paul Aylward Mark Hayes and Paul Aylward analyse the nature of Anti-Fascist Action. There appears to be a general consensus amongst political commentators that there is a re-emerging fascist threat in contemporary Europe. As Roger Eatwell has noted, waves of extreme and radical right-wing activity have been washing up over European shores during the half-century since the total military defeat of Fascism. Yet, until recently, the long-term electoral prospects of such parties have appeared minimal ... but as the new millennium beckons, the latest western European wave appears to be the most threatening one for fifty years.1 The re-emergence of the fascist spectre has been graphically reflected in the political prominence of Le Pen's Front National in France, and in the success of Jorg Haider and the Freedom Party in Austria. Moreover, with unemployment 1. R. Eatwell, 'The Dynamics of Right-Wing Electoral Breakthrough', Patterns of Prejudice, Vol 32 No 3, July 1998,p3. 53 Soundings in Europe standing at over 30 million, and economic crisis threatening to undermine political stability across the region, there is growing concern that fascist ideas will once again begin to resonate. As Chantal Mouffe has pointed out, the resurgence of the extreme right should be seen in the context of a 'bland homogenised political world', where 'the left' has, in essence, capitulated to neo-liberal hegemony, and where ideological convergence allows the more extreme populist parties on the right to portray themselves as the 'radical' alternative to the dominant consensus'.2 With the left out-manoeuvred in ideological terms, and in the absence of genuine political choice, it is not difficult to envisage widespread disaffection in society, and this might well provide practical political opportunities for the far right. -
On the Principles of Political Violence and the Case of Anti-Fascist Action
On the Principles of Political Violence and the Case of Anti-Fascist Action 7178899 Fig. 1: two Anti-Fascist Action members fend off fascists at the “Battle of Waterloo”, 12 September 1992. This thesis is submitted in part fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in the Honours School of Modern History with Economics at the University of Manchester. 1 Table of Contents List of Diagrams and Pictures II List of Abbreviations III Thesis Introduction 1 Chapter One: What is violence, how can it be justified and what does it hope to achieve 6 What is violence? 7 How can political violence be justified? 13 What does political violence hope to achieve? 17 Conclusion 19 Chapter Two: The case of Anti-Fascist Action 21 The political violence of Anti-Fascist Action 24 Anti-Fascist Action’s justification of violence 29 Anti-Fascist Action’s Power 35 Conclusion 42 Thesis Conclusion 44 Bibliography 47 2 List of Illustrations Figure 1 Title Page Figure 2 26 Figure 3 27 Figure 4 27 Figure 5 35 3 Abbreviations AFA Anti-Fascist Action ANL Anti-Nazi League B&H Blood and Honour BNP British National Party BtF Beating the Fascists C18 Combat 18 CSB Cable Street Beat DAM Direct Action Movement ETA Euskadi Ta Askatasuna INLA Irish National Liberation Army IRG Instant Response Group MUAF Manchester United Anti-Fascists NF National Front PIRA Provisional Irish Republican Army RA Red Action SWP Socialist Workers’ Party TPV Terrorism and Political Violence WP Workers’ Power 4 Thesis Introduction This thesis examines the principles of political violence in order to investigate the common assumption that violence used as a political tool is morally wrong and ineffective. -
British Antifascism and the Holocaust, 1945-67
British Antifascism and the Holocaust, 1945-67 Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Leicester by Joshua Cohen Stanley Burton Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies School of History, Politics and International Relations May 2019 Abstract British Antifascism and the Holocaust, 1945-67 Joshua Cohen This thesis explores the extent to which the Holocaust shaped British antifascism in the period 1945-1967. It makes an original contribution in setting out the first dedicated analysis of the relationship between consciousness of the Nazi genocide and motivations for confronting fascism in Britain. The study has interrogated institutional archival records to assess the presence of the Holocaust in the private discourses, propaganda and campaign strategies of a wide variety of antifascist organisations. Personal motivations for antifascist activism have been engaged with through analysis of memoirs, autobiographies and oral histories. The thesis will demonstrate that the Holocaust was often absent from antifascist rhetoric, and so should be decentred from understandings that assume constant affinity between Holocaust remembrance and British antifascism. Instead, antifascism in this period was often conceptualised in a patriotic framework, as coda to the Second World War, or viewed through left-wing analyses of class struggle which obscured fascism’s ‘racial’ victims. However, the central importance of this study lies in its revealing that a Holocaust-inspired resistance to fascism was emerging in this period and beginning to co-exist with patriotic and other forms of antifascism. The ‘lessons’ of the Holocaust for antifascists were the subject of agonised internal disputes and became a point of open conflict between militant and establishment Anglo- Jewish organisations. -
Antifa: the Anti-Fascist Handbook
Antifa: the Anti-fascist Handbook Mark Bray August 2017 Contents Introduction 5 What is Anti-Fascism? 7 Antifa 14 One: ¡No Pasarán!: Anti-Fascism Through 1945 15 Two: “Never Again”: the Development of Modern Antifa, 1945–2003 37 Three: the Rise of “Pinstripe Nazis” and Anti-Fascism Today 61 Four: Five Historical Lessons for Anti-Fascists 96 1. Fascist Revolutions Have Never Succeeded. Fascists Gained Power Legally. 96 2. To Varying Degrees, Many Interwar Anti-Fascist Leaders and Theorists Assumed That Fascism Was Simply a Variant of Traditional Counterrevolutionary Politics. They Did Not Take It Seriously Enough Until It Was TooLate. 97 3. For Ideological and Orginizational Reasons, Socialist and Communist Leadership Was Often Slower to Accurately Assess the Threat of Fascism, and Slower toAd- vocate Militant Anti-Fascist Responses, Than Their Parties’ Rank-and-File Mem- bership. ......................................... 100 4. Fascism Steals From Left Ideology, Strategy, Imagery, and Culture. 101 5. It Doesn’t Take That Many Fascists to Make Fascism. 102 Five: “So Much For the Tolerant left!”: “No Platform” and Free Speech 104 How Free is “Free Speech”? ................................. 105 Are Anti-Fascists Anti-Free Speech? ............................ 107 Do Anti-Fascists Agree That “No Platforming” Fascists, That is, Disrupting Their Public Organizing, Violates Their Freedom of Speech? . 108 What About the “Slippery Slope”? ............................. 110 Mustn’t “Truth” be Confronted by “Error”? . 114 Doesn’t “No Platforming” Fascists Erode Free Speech in a Way That Hurts the Left More Than the Right? ................................. 115 Shutting Down Nazis Makes You No Better Than aNazi! . 115 What About Anti-Fascist Principles in the University? . -
Antifa: the Anti-Fascist Handbook
ANTIFA ANTIFA Copyright © 2017 by Mark Bray First published by Melville House Publishing, September 2017 Melville House Publishing 8 Blackstock Mews 46 John Street and Islington Brooklyn, NY 11201 London N4 2BT mhpbooks.com facebook.com/mhpbooks @melvillehouse Photo of Dax graffiti mural courtesy of WolksWriterz ISBN: 978-1-61219-704-3 Designed by Fritz Metsch A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress To the Jews of Knyszyn, Poland CONTENTS Introduction . xi One: ¡No Pasarán!: Anti-Fascism Through 1945 . 3 Two: “Never Again”: The Development of Modern Antifa, 1945–2003 . 39 Three: The Rise of “Pinstripe Nazis” and Anti-Fascism Today . 77 Four: Five Historical Lessons for Anti-Fascists . 129 Five: “So Much for the Tolerant Left!”: “No Platform” and Free Speech . 143 Six: Strategy, (Non)Violence, and Everyday Anti-Fascism . 167 Conclusion: Good Night White Pride (or Whiteness Is Indefensible) . .207 Appendix A: Advice from the Anti-Fascists of the Past and Present to Those of the Future . 213 Appendix B: Select Works on North American and European Anti-Fascism . 223 Notes. 227 “Fascism is not to be debated, it is to be destroyed!” —Buenaventura Durruti INTRODUCTION wish there were no need for this book. But someone burned I down the Victoria Islamic Center in Victoria, Texas, hours after the announcement of the Trump administration’s Mus- lim ban. And weeks after a flurry of more than a hundred pro- posed anti-LGBTQ laws in early 2017, a man smashed through the front door of Casa Ruby, a Washington, D.C., transgender advocacy center, and assaulted a trans woman as he shouted “I’m gonna kill you, faggot!” A day after Donald Trump’s elec- tion, Latino students at Royal Oak Middle School in Michi- gan were brought to tears by their classmates’ chants of “Build that wall!” And then in March, a white-supremacist army vet- eran who had taken a bus to New York to “target black males” stabbed a homeless black man named Timothy Caughman to death. -
The Blackshirt Collection Scope
University of Sheffield Library. Special Collections and Archives Ref: MS 366 Title: The Blackshirt Collection Scope: A collection of documents relating to Stephen Dorril’s research for his book “Blackshirt: Sir Oswald Mosley and British fascism” published in 2006 Dates: 1930-2002 Level: Fonds Extent: 26 boxes; 33 volumes Name of creator: Stephen Dorril Administrative / biographical history: The collection consists of documents, correspondence, articles and research notes collected and created by Dr Stephen Dorril, of the University of Huddersfield, when researching his book “Blackshirt: Sir Oswald Mosley and British Fascism”, published in 2006. Stephen Dorril has been an author, researcher and investigative journalist since 1986, and has written articles for major newspapers and appeared on radio and television programmes as a consultant and specialist on the security and intelligence services. His central interest is in the relationship between states/governments and the security and intelligence services, principally in the British context. He is a member of research staff at the University of Huddersfield, where he supervises research students in aspects of post-war activities of the British intelligence and security services, the history of journalism and cultural studies. He is a member of the Study Group on Intelligence and is director of the University of Huddersfield’s Centre for Oral History (COHR). Related collections: British Union Collection; Cooper Collection; Fascism in Great Britain Collection; Saunders Papers; Defence -
Introduction Chapter 1
Notes Introduction 1 See L. Kibblewhite and A. Rigby, Fascism in Aberdeen - Street Politics in the 1930s (Aberdeen: Aberdeen People's Press, 1978); N. Todd, In Excited Times: The People Against the Blackshirts (Whitley Bay: Bewick Press, 1995); D. Turner, Fascism and anti-Fascism in the Medway Towns 1927-1940 (Kent: Kent Anti-Fascist Action Committee, 1993); and D. Renton, Red Shirts and Black: Fascists and Anti-Fascists in Oxford in the 1930s (Oxford: Ruskin College Library Occasional Publication, No. 5, 1996). See also S. Gewirtz, 'Anti-Fascist Activity in Manchester's Jewish Community in the 1930s', Manchester Region History Review, Vol. 4, No. 1 (1990) 17-27; and N. Barrett, 'A Bright Shining Star: The CPGB and Anti-Fascist Activism in the 1930s', Science and Society, Vol. 61, No. 1 (1997) 10-26. 2 See J. Jacobs, Out of the Ghetto (London: Janet Simon, 1978); and M. Beckman, The 43 Group (London: Centerprise, 1993). 3 SeeN. Branson, History of the Communist Party of Great Britain 1927-1941 (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1985). 4 See R. Benewick, The Fascist Movement in Britain (London: Allen Lane The Penguin Press, 1972); D. S. Lewis, Illusions of Grandeur (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1987); and S. Taylor, The National Front in English Politics (London: Macmillan, 1982). 5 R. Thurlow, Fascism in Britain, 2nd rev. edn (London: !.B. Tauris, 1998). 6 C. Bambery, Killing the Nazi Menace (London: Socialist Workers' Party, 1992) pp. 29 and 34. 7 See Lewis, Illusions of Grandeur, esp. ch. 5. 8 Thurlow, Fascism in Britain, p. 256. 9 R. Griffin, 'British Fascism: The Ugly Duckling', in M. -
Searchlight: Archiving the Extreme
Gale Primary Sources Start at the source. Searchlight: Archiving the Extreme Daniel Jones Archivist, Searchlight Archive Various source media, Political Extremism and Radicalism in the Twentieth Century EMPOWER™ RESEARCH The Searchlight Archive at the University of direct action and intelligence; the 62 Group also Northampton has, as its main collection, the material brought on board a young man called Gerry Gable to collected by the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight over work with their intelligence operation, the current the course of more than 50 years fighting against the owner/editor of Searchlight magazine and owner of extreme right, both in Britain and abroad. It is our collection. therefore crucial to understanding the collection to understand the history of the organisation. After two years of activity, it was decided to establish a Following the Second World War, fascism had been press agency and newspaper to take the information largely discredited – both as an enemy ideology and that they were gathering to a new mass audience through the grave crimes of the Holocaust. Still, on rather than constraining its use purely to inform their their return, Jewish veterans found that on street own activities. Accordingly, in 1964, with money raised corners and in town halls, Oswald Mosley (former via subscription from members, Searchlight was leader of the British Union of Fascists) was organising formed under the editorship of Reg Freeson MP. with a new group, the Union Movement. In response, Published for four issues in the mid-to-late 60s, the in a meeting at Maccabi House, a new defence group Searchlight newspaper gradually moved away from its was formed, named after the number of people in the publication into providing information for other news room at its foundation: 43 Group. -
Heroes Or Villains?
This pamphlet is dedicated to the memories of: CHARLIE GOODMAN MICKEY FENN who between them took part in or witnessed many of the events related herein and who provided an inspiration to anti-fascists everywhere. HEROES OR VILLAINS? INTRODUCTION When a London Labour Council banned AFA from holding its International Conference in October 1997, one of the points that struck us was the sheer hypocrisy of this action. Camden Council's main argument was that AFA was prepared to use force against the fascists, and yet, prominently displayed in Camden Town Hall is a plaque that "commemorates the volunteers who set off from this Borough to fight in the International Brigade and citizens of this Borough who supported the Spanish Republic in the fight against fascism." What Camden Council had done, supported by sections of the press, was to set itself up as the arbiter of what constitutes 'anti-fascism'. The use of force against fascism is somehow acceptable when it happens in the past or in another country - it can even be heroic - but in the present day it must be condemned. The dishonest argument is that "things were different then" but at a time when the Far Right are stronger right across Europe than at any time since the end of the Second World War - this 'revisionism' must be exposed for what it is. The proud tradition of anti-fascism is being hi-jacked by right-wing anti-working class politicians. The fight against fascism, like any other progressive struggle, always brings people into conflict with the State and its laws. -
'Somehow Getting Their Own Back on Hitler': British Antifascism and The
Fascism 9 (2020) 121-145 ‘Somehow Getting Their Own Back on Hitler’: British Antifascism and the Holocaust, 1960–1967 Joshua Cohen Stanley Burton Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK [email protected] Abstract This article considers the extent to which the Holocaust galvanized British antifascism in the 1960s. It explores whether the genocide surfaced in Jewish antifascists’ motivations and rhetoric but goes beyond this to assess the Holocaust’s political capital in wider antifascism and anti-racism. The article considers whether political coalitions were negotiated around Holocaust memory, for example, by analysing whether Jewish antifascism intersected with the black and Asian communities of Smethwick and Southall respectively who were targeted by the far right in 1964. Using archival materials and newly-collected oral histories, the article surveys organisations including the Jewish Board of Deputies, the 62 Group, Yellow Star Movement and Searchlight newspaper. It will argue that the Holocaust played a more important role in 1960s’antifascism than has been recognised. Jewish groups fragmented around the lessons of the genocide for their antifascism. The Holocaust influenced race relations legislation and became a metonym for extreme racist violence. Keywords United Kingdom – antifascism – Holocaust – Jews – anti-racism – far right – Colin Jordan (1923–2009) In 1965, British Nazi Colin Jordan disrupted a public meeting of the Labour Party’s by-election campaign in Leyton, a district of east London. Jordan – leader of the National Socialist Movement (nsm) – climbed onto the stage but was sent reeling by a tremendous punch from Denis Healey, the Labour © Joshua Cohen, 2020 | doi:10.1163/22116257-09010004 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the prevailing cc-by-nc license at the time of publication. -
Here Sjws Come From” – SJW Or Media Figures Are Pushing
Spring 2018 Darren Osborne: Searchlight inspired to kill The FLA, football Fighting fascism since 1975 £3.00 and the far right In Mengele’s footsteps The eugenicists come to London NEWS Reports round-up By Jack Mills Media coverage offers boost for alt-right academic Peter Jordan ontroversial Canadian social justice warrior being a term of oppressive left restricting the rights of academic Jordan Peterson has abuse the alt-right uses to describe individuals is common in Peterson’s C shot to fame in Britain after people with progressive politics. work and has seen him pick up a large an interview with Channel 4 News’s Peterson has either appeared on following among the alt-right. Cathy Newman, followed by a gushing Rebel or been one of the topics of a In June 2017 Peterson was a profile by Tim Lott in the Observer Rebel video on at least 26 occasions headline speaker at The Rebel Live, newspaper. since 2016. These videos have picked an event organised by the channel in The interview with Newman, up 2.3m views on YouTube. The Toronto and attended by 800 fans and which was more challenging than vast majority of the videos are about supporters. the Observer piece, led to Channel 4 supposed “free speech battles” on Stormer having to call in security specialists university campuses. after Peterson’s alt-right fans began to Another early Peterson appearance Other speakers included McInnes, send Newman threats. was on Gavin McInnes’ show – British alt-right YouTuber Caolan Lott’s profile briefly mentioned another host who has now quit the Robertson and Faith Goldy, who Peterson having been labelled as Rebel channel. -
Before After
BEFORE AFTER In 1962, faced with a resurgent fascist movement, young Jewish men and women came together to oppose them. Through the 1962 Committee (62 Group), the enemy met their match. Over time, the fighting and intelligence skills of the 62 Group became legendary and remain an inspiration to anti-fascists and the Jewish community today. This is the story of the 62 Group’s war against fascism as told by those who were involved at the time. Searchlight July 2002 11 By Steve Silver he first half of the 1950s was a quiet time for anti- SPECIAL fascists, with the immediate postwar threat of a FEATURE fascist revival gone. Britain’s prewar fascist leader, Oswald Mosley, failed to make his much vaunted The62Gro comeback and, with little to oppose, the anti- Tfascist movement faded into the background. Mosley remained in exile abroad while a small group of die-hard loyalists, led by Raven Thompson, Alf Flockhart and Jeffrey Hamm, kept his organisation, Union Movement, alive. The most militant of the anti-fascist organisations, the 43 Group, was dissolved in 1950 and the set piece anti-fascis street battles between fascists and anti-fascists soon The activities of the 62 Group resurrected the old seemed to belong to a bygone era. defence debate about the best way to fight antisemitism, Then in the mid-1950s the fascists began to rebuild their with the Board of Deputies’ Jewish Defence Committee organisations and by the early 1960s Britain was in the publicly frowning on the gung-ho activities of the Jewish midst of a fascist revival.