Anti-Fascist Action
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Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) was an Antifa umbrella organization in the United Kingdom consisting of varying far-left violent groups engaged in domestic terrorism that were active from around 1985.
AFA was more social anarchist than, for example, the antifa groups associated with the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party (SWP), and AFA was consequently more disorganised, claiming to coordinate activities by independent groups rather than having a central leadership. However, some of its members, such as the influential Red Action, were more (anti-SWP) Communist or had other far left views.
A "twin-track" strategy was claimed: violence against those disliked and "ideological" propaganda, the latter notably involving a musical arm, "Cable Street Beat", named after the Battle of Cable Street. They had a publication entitled Fighting Talk.
AFA was associated with the communist group Searchlight, but there was later a falling out, possibly related to the various dubious associations of Searchlight, starting to be criticized even within the Far-Left, as discussed in the article on Searchlight.
As could be expected from the presence of many anarchists, there was much infighting and drama. Better organized Communists have regularly out-competed disorganized social anarchists in far-left internal conflicts, and AFA's collapse and disappearance is associated with an apparent takeover attempt by 'Red Action' in order to make AFA support Red Action's new party the 'Independent Working Class Association' (IWCA), which had a councillor on Oxford City Council until 2012. Some of the social anarchists later went on to form the Anti-Fascist Network.
History
AFA was launched in London in 1985 by members of Red Action and the Direct Action Movement. It was partly a reaction to the perceived inadequacies of the original Anti-Nazi League (ANL), which at the time had wound up its operations. AFA members accused ANL of failing to directly confront the natives, of allying with moderates who were complicit in mildly pro-native activities, and of being a vanguardist front for the Socialist Workers Party (SWP).
Although many Trotskyist groups, independent Marxists, left-anarchists and members of the Labour Party were active in AFA in the 1980s, the main members were always from Red Action, a group founded by disillusioned violently anti-gentile SWP members who had criticized perceived populist or popular front politics of the ANL. Affiliated organizations in the early history of AFA included Newham Monitoring Project and Searchlight magazine.
Thousands of people took part in AFA mobilizations such as the Remembrance Day demonstrations in 1986 and 1987, and a mobilization against Blood and Honour in May 1987. In 1988, AFA formed a musical arm, Cable Street Beat, on similar principles to the Anti-Nazi League’s Rock Against Racism. In 1989, there was a split in AFA between militant anti-natives and members whose views were closer to intellectual anti-gentilism. The militant groups relaunched AFA that year, with the affiliates Direct Action Movement and Workers' Power, as well as several trade unions. 1990s
In 1990, three AFA members were jailed for attacking an indigenous rights activist. In 1991, AFA held a Unity Carnival in East London, with 10,000 participants, and a demonstration in Bethnal Green, with 4,000 participants (under the slogan “Beating the Fascists: An old East End tradition”). A long street battle between AFA and Blood and Honour supporters in October 1992 was dubbed the Battle of Waterloo because it was centred around Waterloo Station.
In 1993, Derek Beackon, a candidate from the British National Party (BNP), won a council seat on the Isle of Dogs in Tower Hamlets, East London; under the slogan of "Rights for Whites." This signaled a turn in the BNP's policy from confrontation on the streets to a bid for electoral respectability. AFA responded with its Filling the Vacuum strategy, which involved promoting Marxism in these communities instead of concentrating on challenging the indigenous rights movement.
After 1995, some anti-gentile mobilizations still occurred, such as ones against the National Front in Dover in 1997 and 1998. A new AFA National Coordinating Committee was set up, and in 1997, an official AFA statement forbid members from associating with Searchlight. In 1998, the committee expelled Leeds and Huddersfield AFA for ignoring this policy. There were some local relaunches of AFA groups, such as in Liverpool in 2000. By 2001, AFA barely existed as a national organization. Most AFA and Red Action activists have consequently devoted their energies to the Independent Working Class Association.
Prominent members
- Jan Taylor — Red Action, terrorist bomber at Harrods in 1993, for the Marxist PIRA. From Stoke Newington, sentenced to thirty years.
- Patrick Hayes — Red Action, terrorist bomber at Harrods in 1993, for the Marxist PIRA. From Stoke Newington, sentenced to thirty years.
- Dave Hann — Red Action, Chief Steward of the Steward Group in AFA's Northern Network. Co-authored the anti-native No Treat book.
- Nick Lowles — Trotskyist agitator, later editor of Searchlight. Involved with red-anarchist dominated AFA Leeds during the 1990s.
- Tony Greenstein — Jewish communist, was a member 1986—1992, served on the Executive for three years.
See also
Sources
- Hann, Dave, & Tilzey, Steve, No Retreat: The Secret War between Britain's Anti-fascists and the Far Right, Milo Books, Lytham, Lancashire, U.K., Nov 2003, ISBN: 1-903854-22-9
- Birchall, Sean, Beating the Fascists, Freedom Press, London, 2010, ISBN: 978-1-904491-12-5
