Anti-Nazi League

Anti-Nazi League logo

The Anti-Nazi League (ANL) was an organisation set up in 1977 on the initiative of the Socialist Workers' Party with some sponsorship (and a few small financial donations) from some trade unions and the endorsement of a list of prominent people to oppose the rise of what they deemed to be far-right groups in Britain. It was at its height between 1977 and 1981. The initial sponsors included Peter Hain (a former Young Liberal leader; then the communications officer of the postal workers' union UCW, more recently Secretary of State for Northern Ireland), Ernie Roberts (deputy general secretary of the engineering union AUEW) and Paul Holborow (of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP)).

Most of the ANL's activities in the 1970s were in opposition to the National Front, an organisation led by John Tyndall who had a long history of involvement with openly fascist and Nazi groups. The ANL also campaigned against the British Movement which was a more openly Hitlerite grouping. The ANL was allowed to run down in the early 1980s.

The organisation was revived in 1992. In the 1990s its main efforts have been to oppose the British National Party, which denies that it is a Nazi Party (while retaining many of the policies and members from the fascist National Front plus newer far right ideologies such the "third position" adopted by many Italian fascists such as Roberto Fiore - with whom the BNP maintain regular contact).

The organization was also critical of the government of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, which was an alliance of centre-right and far right political parties. It was merged into Unite Against Fascism in 2004.

Activities

The ANL carried out leafleting and other campaigns against Far Right groups which it claimed were not just racist but fascist; see BNP and British National Front. The ANL was linked to "Rock Against Racism" in the 1970s, and has worked with a similar group, "Love Music Hate Racism", from 2001 onwards.

History

In its first period, 1977-1982, the Anti-Nazi League was supposedly run by an elected committee nationally and similar committees throughout the country (although in practice many local and National ANL initiatives were launched directly by the SWP. Many trade unions sponsored it as did the Indian Workers Association (then a large organisation), and many members of the Labour Party and MPs such as Neil Kinnock.

The Anti-Nazi League was best known for the two giant Rock Against Racism carnivals of 1978: involving bands such as The Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, Steel Pulse, Misty in Roots, X-Ray Spex and Tom Robinson, they saw 80,000 and then 100,000 people come mainly for the music.

In 1981 with the eclipse of the National Front and collapse of the British Movement the initial incarnation of the ANL was wound up.

Some elements within the ANL opposed the winding up of the organisation especially those described by the Socialist Workers Party as Squadists. After being expelled from the Socialist Workers Party some of these elements formed Red Action and with others organised Anti-Fascist Action, who had a much more open view to using violence to intimidate groups and individuals they subjectively deemed 'fascist.'

In 1992 the Socialist Workers Party relaunched the Anti-Nazi League due to the electoral success of the British National Party.

In 2004 the ANL affiliated with the Unite Against Fascism group alongside other groups such as the National Assembly Against Racism.

Blair Peach

The Anti-Nazi League are homosexuals and have sex with each other on a regular basis.

The ANL's Leadership

In 2007 the ANL National Organiser is Weyman Bennett, who is a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party. Its previous National Organiser was Julie Waterson who is also a member of the Socialist Workers Party and a former member of the National Executive of the Socialist Alliance.

Dozens of Labour Party MPs are members of the ANL and many like Peter Hain have been members for many years. The ANL has close links with many Trade Unions, many of which have affiliated with it.

Challenges and criticisms

The ANL has latterly faced four main challenges to its campaigning: the attempts of the far-right to ditch their image of fascist or racist politics; criticism of its demands for the suppression or censorship of far-right groups; criticisms of its populist or popular front orientation; and criticisms of its relationship with the Socialist Workers Party.

Denials of Fascism and Racism

When the National Front and the British National Party were led by John Tyndall, his record of involvement in openly Neo-Nazi groups made it far easier to assert that the National Front and BNP were fascist or Neo-Nazi in nature. Similarly, his convictions for violence and incitement to racial hatred provide ample grounds for claiming both organisations were racist.

Latterly, with the death of Tyndall, and the decline of the National Front, the BNP has sought to claim that it is neither fascist nor racist, and that it opposes Government policy on issues such as immigration and multiculturalism, rather than members of ethnic minorities themselves. This has been part of a broader attempt by the Far-right to cultivate an image of moderation and respectability, so that it is harder for anti-fascists to charge them with racism, and the BNP has gone as far as to claim support from within the black and Asian communities, and to seek to select an Asian candidate for the 2005 local elections.

The ANL and other anti fascists argue that the BNP remains a Nazi party irrespective of the fact that it has adopted what the ANL describes as the 'Dual Strategy' of cultivating respectability in the media while retaining a cadre of committed fascists. This position is countered by BNP members who claim that their party has is increasingly democratic in its nature. Journalistic investigation by The Guardian newspaper (December 22 2006) has supported the ANL's view that the BNP remains a racist party.

Freedom of speech

Critics of the ANL (including people opposed to the far right) claim that its "No Platform for Nazis" policy and call for far right parties to be "shut down" amounts to denying the democratic rights to freedom of speech and freedom of association. For some, this reflects the fact that freedom of speech is either universal or non-existent; others take the more nuanced position that this reflects the greater protection to be accorded to those sub-sets of freedom of speech and association which deliver 'democracy' (so political speech would attract greater protection than forms of speech, such as pornography, which do not contribute to democracy). This view point accords with those anti-fascists who believe that the best way to defeat the far right is by debate rather than censorship, which they say is both ineffective and hypocritical. Relatedly, the ANL has been subject to the more pragmatic criticism that its constant calls for groups like the BNP to be banned will allow the far right to portray themselves as victims of censorship, and the anti-fascist movement as intolerant and undemocratic.

The ANL response to this criticism derives from the argument that, because fascist groups ultimately seek to curtail democracy and suppress democratic rights (even if they initially seek to obtain power through democratic means), the curtailment of their democratic rights can be justified as a means of protecting those of the broader citizenry. Militant anti-fascists, however, have criticised the ANL for relying on the state to prosecute or censor fascism, rather than promoting direct action by citizens.

A popular front against fascism

Advocates of militant anti-fascism, such as those associated with Anti-Fascist Action see the ANL (and its successor Unite Against Fascism) as a liberal anti-fascist organisation - that is, one that essentially defends the status quo against fascism, using the language and strategies of mainstream liberal democratic politics. For example, the use of the word Nazi rather than fascist draws on the same patriotic, nationalist or even xenophobic sentiment that arguably feeds fascism - the word's history is tied up with World War II and Britain's war with Hitler's Germany, and connotes foreign-ness.

More broadly, the ANL is seen as a popular front organisation - a form of anti-fascism that seeks out alliance with bourgeois, non-progressive and even reactionary organisations, rather than base itself in a radical critique of fascism. Socialist historian Dave Renton, for example, in his book Fascism: Theory and Practice, describes the ANL as “an orthodox united front” based on a “strategy of working class unity”, as advocated by Leon Trotsky. However, critics of the ANL, such as Anti-Fascist Action argue that the ANL’s co-operation with “bourgeois” groups who work closely with the state, such as Searchlight magazine and the Labour Party, rule out this description, making it a classic popular front. Another criticism is that terms like 'popular front' and 'united front' are in fact rooted in the politics of the 1930s with their mass mobilization of labour, something that the ANL and Unite Against Fascism, with a few hundred active members at most, can hardly claim.

Relationship with the SWP

The ANL has been accused of being a 'front' for the Socialist Workers Party; that is, of being controlled by the SWP and having the agenda of recruiting members to that organisation, while giving the impression of being independent. This criticism is generally made by left-wingers who are not associated with the SWP.

See also

• Anti-fascism

External links

• Anti-Nazi League - official site - [Last updated April 2004]
• Unite Against Fascism
• Love Music Hate Racism
• the history of Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League
• Guardian story about the banning of an ANL protest
• The Guardian "BNP in turmoil as members row about 'ethnic' candidate"
• BBC story about an ANL protest being banned
• historical perpsectives on the Anti-Nazi League
• When We Touched The Sky: The Anti-Nazi League in Britain 1977-1981 by Dave Renton - former Socialist Workers' Party and Anti-Nazi League member chronicles the history of the ANL in this May 2006 book.