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Crossing Borders: Anti-Fascist Action (UK) and Transnational Anti-Fascist Militancy in the 1990s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2016

NIGEL COPSEY
NIGEL COPSEY*
Affiliation:
School of Arts & Media, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, Tees Valley, TS1 3BA, UK; n.copsey@tees.ac.uk
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Abstract

Far too little academic attention has been paid to more contemporary forms of transnational anti-fascist militancy. Yet this study supports the idea that this field of anti-fascist activity has remained important. This article examines transnational anti-fascist militancy in the 1990s through a case study of Britain's Anti-Fascist Action (AFA). In doing so it offers an in-depth account of AFA's attempts to establish an international militant anti-fascist network in conjunction with Germany's Autonome Antifa (M). The article identifies the common interests, challenges and limitations of this network. The final part of his article reflects on the cross-border importation of AFA to the Irish Republic.

Type
Articles
Information
Contemporary European History , Volume 25 , Special Issue 4: Transnational Anti-Fascism: Agents, Networks, Circulations , November 2016 , pp. 707 - 727
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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References

1 Editorial, Red Action, 74 (Spring 1997).

2 For accounts penned by former activists see, for example, Bullstreet, K., Bash the Fash: Anti-Fascist Recollections 1984–93 (London: Kate Sharpley Library, 2001)Google Scholar; Hann, David and Tilzey, Steve, No Retreat: The Secret War Between Britain's Anti-Fascists and the Far Right (Lytham, Lancs.: Milo Books, 2003)Google Scholar; Anon., Anti-Fascist Action – An Anarchist Perspective (London: Kate Sharpley Library, 2007)Google Scholar; Birchall, Sean, Beating the Fascists: The Untold Story of Anti-Fascist Action (London: Freedom Press, 2010)Google Scholar; Dave Hann, Physical Resistance: Or, A Hundred Years of Anti-Fascism (Winchester: Zero Books, 2013); Schöppner, Horst, Antifa heißt Angriff: Militanter antifaschismus in den 80er-Jahren (Hamburg: UNRAST, 2015)Google Scholar and O'Reilly, Bernardo, Undertones: Anti-Fascism and the Far Right in Ireland 1945–2012 (Dublin: Anti-Fascist Action Ireland, 2012)Google Scholar.

3 For national studies written by academics see, for example, Copsey, Nigel, Anti-Fascism in Britain, 2nd edn (Abingdon: Routledge, 2016)Google Scholar; and Vergnon, Gilles, L'antifascisme en France: de Mussolini à Le Pen (Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2009)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 For international studies written by activists see Testa, M., Militant Anti-Fascism: A Hundred Years of Resistance (Edinburgh: AK Press, 2015)Google Scholar and Gentili, Valerio, Antifa: Storia Contemporanea dell'antifascismo Militante Europeo (Roma: Red Star Press, 2014)Google Scholar.

5 Iriye, Akira and Mitter, Rana, ‘Series Editors’ Foreword’, in Durham, Martin and Power, Margaret, eds., New Perspectives on the Transnational Right (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010)Google Scholar, ix.

6 For my anti-fascist minimum, see Copsey, Nigel, ‘Preface: Towards a New Anti-Fascist “Minimum”?’, in Copsey, Nigel and Olechnowicz, Andrzej, eds., Varieties of Anti-Fascism: Britain in the Inter-War Period (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, xiv–xxi.

7 See ‘A Three Cornered Fight’, Red Action, 67 (Spring 1994), 12.

8 On the 43 Group, see Renton, Dave, Fascism, Anti-Fascism and Britain in the 1940s (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2000)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 See David Rose, ‘Anti-fascists regroup to signal direct action’, The Guardian, 2 Sept. 1985.

10 On the ANL, see Copsey, Anti-Fascism in Britain.

11 For original AFA founding statement, see Red Action, 20 (Dec. 1985), 3.

12 See Shyam Bhatia and Arlen Harris, ‘New group to combat race attacks’, The Observer, 1 Sept. 1985.

13 Red Action, The Making of Red Action (1989), 3. Emphasis in original.

14 Available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rW_niHkEXGM (last visited 29 Oct. 2015). For a flavour of the media's response to this programme, see ‘Fury over AFA programme’, Red Action, 63 (July/Aug 1992), 1.

15 See Copsey, Nigel, Contemporary British Fascism: The British National Party and the Quest for Legitimacy, 2nd edn (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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18 For discussion of this shift see Copsey, Nigel, ‘From Direct Action to Community Action: The Changing Dynamics of Anti-Fascist Opposition’, in Copsey, Nigel and Macklin, Graham, eds., British National Party: Contemporary Perspectives (London: Routledge, 2011), 123–41Google Scholar.

19 Some former AFA members founded an alternative militant anti-fascist group, No Platform, but this group soon disbanded. Britain's militant anti-fascist tradition currently manifests itself in the antifa network, an anarchist initiative formed in 2004 from No Platform, Class War and the Anarchist Federation.

20 For more on these expulsions from the SWP see Action, Red, We Are. . .Red Action: A Short History of Red Action: Where We Came from, and Why. . .? (London: Red Action, n.d.)Google Scholar.

21 Cited in M. McNamara and M. Piggott, ‘Interview with Red Action’, originally published in Blitz Magazine (1988), available online at http://www.markpiggott.com/portfolio/1988Blitzredaction.pdf (last visited 29 Oct. 2014).

22 Making of Red Action, 3.

23 See Matt Seaton, ‘Charge of the New Red Brigade’, The Independent on Sunday, 29 Jan. 1995.

24 There was a national co-ordinating committee but this met infrequently. Red Action dominated London AFA in combination with the anarcho-syndicalist Direct Action Movement (DAM) and the Trotskyist Workers’ Power. In the north, only the Manchester branch had a strong RA presence. Liverpool AFA had a strong DAM contingent. The Yorkshire branches in Leeds, Bradford, Huddersfield, Sheffield and York were mainly ‘non-aligned or single issue’ anti-fascists including some students and trade union activists as well as some SHARP (Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice) activists. Correspondence with AFA activist, 28 Oct. 2015.

25 See Fighting Fascism, Newsletter of Birmingham Anti-Fascist Alliance, 4 (Summer 1994).

26 Activist political slang, ‘antifa’ refers to ‘anti-fascist’ and is synonymous with the militant wing of the anti-fascist movement.

27 In the German language the closest equivalent to the noun ‘autonomist’ is autonomistisch, which was not used as a form of self-identification in Germany.

28 For a history of the German autonomous movement, see Geronimo (pseud.) Fire and Flames: A History of the German Autonomist Movement (Oakland, CA: P.M. Press, 2012). This is the English translation of the book which was originally published in Germany as Geronimo, Feuer und Flamme. Zur Geschichte der Autonomen (Berlin: Edition ID-Archiv, 1990).

29 Mercer, Ben, ‘Specters of Fascism: The Rhetoric of Historical Analogy in 1968’, Journal of Modern History, 88, 1 (2016), 96–129 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

30 Anti-fascism is briefly discussed in the afterword to the revised English language edition of Geronimo's book but it is not discussed in the original (1990) German edition.

31 Originally established in 1947 by veterans from the communist resistance, the VVN-BdA subscribed to ‘legal’ anti-fascism in the sense that it rejected anti-fascist militancy and called for constitutional bans on fascist organisations. For an official history of the VVN–BdA see Oppenheimer, Max, ed., Antifaschismus: Tradition, Politik, Perspektive (Frankfurt a. M.: Röderberg-Verlag, 1978)Google Scholar.

32 Langer, Bernd, Art as Resistance: Placats, Paintings, Actions, Texts from the Initiative Kunst and Kamp (art and struggle); Kunst and Kampf/Bernd Langer [Trans. By Forum, Anti-Fascist], 1st Engl. ed., (Göttingen: Activ-Dr. und Verlag, 1998), 53 Google Scholar.

33 Ibid. 54.

34 See ibid. 89–91.

35 For more on the campaign against German reunification, see Ogman, Robert, Against the Nation: Anti-National Politics in Germany (Porsgrunn, Norway: New Compass Press, 2013)Google Scholar.

36 Langer, Bernd, 80 Jahre Antifaschistische Aktion (Göttingen: Verein zur Förderung antifaschistischer kultur e.V, 2012), 42 Google Scholar.

37 See Langer, Art as Resistance, 61–70.

38 2,584 recorded incidents, a rise of 74 per cent on 1991; see Panayi, Panikos, Ethnic Minorities in 19th Century and 20th Century Germany: Jews, Gypsies, Poles, Turks and Others (London: Routledge, 2013), 255 Google Scholar.

39 Some autonomous groups still refused to participate in the AA/BO due to a residual fear of hierarchical organisation. As an alternative to the AA/BO, the Nationwide Anti-Fascist Meeting (BAT) was established.

40 See ‘Discussion Paper on Autonomist Organising’, AA (M), Aug. 1991; cited in Langer, Art as Resistance, 57–8.

41 See ‘Zwischen Idee & Realität. Die AA/BO im Rückblick’, Antifaschistisches Info Blatt, 58, 4 (Dec. 2002).

42 See ‘Germany Calling’, Fighting Talk, 6 (n.d.), 6–8.

43 See Land Brandenburg, Minsiterium des Innern, Verfassungsschutzbericht, 1993, available online at http://www.verfassungsschutz.brandenburg.de/media_fast/4055/VSB_1993.pdf, 72 (last visited 29 Oct. 2015).

44 See Kailitz, Steffan, Politischer Extremismus in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland: Eine Einführung (Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2004), 126 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

45 See Human Rights Watch/Helsinki Human Rights Watch, ‘“Germany for Germans”: Xenophobia and Racist Violence in Germany’, Apr. 1995, available online at: http://www.hrw.org/reports/1995/Germany.htm (last visited 29 Oct. 2014).

46 Langer, 80 Jahre Antifaschistische Aktion, 45.

47 Letters page, Red Action, 64 (Dec. 92/Jan. 93), 10.

48 See Fighting Talk, 1 (Sept. 1991), 15; and Reflexes, 35 (Jan.–Feb. 1992), 28.

49 See Red Action (54), 3.

50 For more on TWAFA, see Searchlight with Tyne and Wear Anti-Fascist Association, Fascism and the Labour Movement: Facing the Threat (Newcastle: Searchlight/TWAFA, 1998), 58–60.

51 See Campaign Against Fascism in Europe, ‘Nazis Out’, 1 (Jan. 1992). CAFE was a short-lived group that produced a booklet entitled ‘Front National – A Nazi Front’. This booklet claimed to prove ‘conclusively’ the fascist nature of Le Pen's party.

52 See ‘Building an international network’, Fighting Talk, 2 (Spring 1992), 4–5.

53 For an English translation of this leaflet, see ‘The ANL ventures abroad’, Fighting Talk, 3 (Summer 1992), 14–5.

54 Correspondence with AFA activist, 28 Oct. 2015.

55 The Anti-Fascistische Front (Antwerpen) had originally been established in 1974 by campaigners against Pinochet's regime in Chile.

56 For a report on this conference, see ‘Building an international network’, Fighting Talk, 3 (Summer 1992), 13.

57 Correspondence with AFA activist, 28 Oct. 2015.

58 See Leeds Anti-Fascist Action/AFA Infos Leeds circular, 25 June 1993.

59 Langer, correspondence with author, 19 Oct. 2014 (translations by Fabian Sieber).

60 See ‘Greetings from Göttingen’, Fighting Talk, 6 (1993), 21.

61 Langer, correspondence with author, 19 Oct. 2014.

62 See Rich Cross, ‘British anarchism in the era of Thatcherism’, in Smith and Worley, eds., Against the Grain, 133–52.

63 Correspondence with AFA activist, 28 Oct. 2015.

64 Cited in M. McNamara and M. Piggott, ‘Interview with Red Action’.

65 ‘Germany Calling’, Fighting Talk, 6 (n.d.), 7.

66 See ‘International Solidarity: Building the Links’, Fighting Talk, 7 (n.d.), 7.

67 On ‘Operation Blackshirt’, see ‘Codename. . . “Operation Blackshirt”’, Red Action, 64 (Dec. 1992/Jan. 1993), 3; and Birchall, Beating the Fascists, 285–9.

68 ‘Codename. . .’, 3

69 ‘Your Reality Today is Ours Tomorrow’, Red Action, 69 (Autumn 1994), 8.

70 See ‘The First International’, Fighting Talk, 18 (Dec. 1997), 6.

71 See AFA document, ‘The Spectre of Fascism: A Militant Anti-Fascist Manifesto (Draft for European Anti-Fascist Conference)’, (n.d.).

72 Ibid.

73 For the official AA (M) comment on this trial, see AA (M) ‘1: 1 for the Autonome Antifa (M)’, available online at: https://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/aam/broschueren/1zu1/e2.html (last visited 29 Oct. 2015).

74 Langer, correspondence with author, 19 Oct. 2014.

75 See ‘International Anti-Fascist Conference’, Fighting Talk, 16 (Mar. 1997), 5.

76 Langer, correspondence with author, 19 Oct. 2014.

77 See AFA official press release, ‘Militant Anti-Fascist Call to Arms’, 18 Sept. 1997.

78 AFA document, ‘The Spectre of Fascism’.

79 See G. O'Halloran, ‘Branded’, Red Action, Aug–Sep 1998, 6.

80 Langer, correspondence with author, 19 Oct. 2014.

81 See comments from the Seattle-based group, United Front Against Fascism: ‘London antifascist conference sabotaged by sectarian politics of its organizers’, Luma Nichol, Jan. 1998. From: Freedom Socialist Party, http://www.socialism.com/drupal-6.8/?q=node/1312 (last visited 29 Oct. 2015).

82 Correspondence with AFA activist, 28 Oct. 2015. Their support for Manchester United caused tensions within AFA, particularly with Leeds United fans.

83 Comments by O'Halloran, ‘Branded’, Red Action, Aug/Sept 1998, 7.

84 Established in 1983, Hannover AFA produced its own magazine, Der Rechte Band.

85 ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, based in eastern Germany/Berlin.

86 Established in the 1990s, this group ran ‘Radio Antifa’, an anti-fascist slot on a local pirate radio station.

87 A militant breakaway group from Toronto Anti-Racist Action.

88 Established in the mid-1980s and part of an Anti-Racist Action network of autonomous anti-fascists in the United States and Canada.

89 AFA Scandinavia was a network comprised of Anti-Fascist Action branches in Norway, Sweden and Denmark but independent of AFA (UK).

90 See ‘Network Under Attack’, Fighting Talk, 20 (Aug. 1998), 8.

91 Fighting Talk: Glasgow (1992).

92 See Joe Reilly, ‘Did You See Their Faces!?!’, Red Action, Oct./Nov. 1998, 5.

93 See ‘Buchenwald Conference’, Fighting Talk, 20 (Aug. 1998), 7.

94 For more on football links, see Fighting Talk, issue 5, 6–7 and Harper, S., ‘Back in Europe’, Fighting Talk Football Special, 9 (n.d.), 6–7 Google Scholar.

95 See ‘Point Blank’, Red Action (Aug/Sept. 1998), 3–4.

96 See Hayes, ‘Ideological apostasy and proletarian resistance’, 236.

97 See ‘AFA annual Cable St Commemoration’, Red Action, Dec/Jan 1998/9, 4.

98 See ‘Out of the Ghetto’, Fighting Talk, 22 (Oct 1999), 17.

99 Ibid. 18.

100 See No Quarter: Ireland's Anti-Fascist magazine, 5 (n.d.), 12.

101 See http://burn.ucsd.edu/#imafn/organisationse.html; captured by Internet Waybackmachine (1993–2003) (last visited 29 Oct. 2015).

102 Cited in O'Reilly, Undertones, 40.

103 Birchall, Beating the Fascists, 328.

104 Correspondence with AFA activist, 28 Oct. 2015.

105 See ‘Loyalism & Fascism’, Fighting Talk, 4 (n.d.), 3–5.

106 See ‘Far right, not organised in Ireland’, letter to Irish World, 10 Oct. 1997.

107 See Douglas, R. M., Architects of the Resurrection: Altirí na hAiséirghe and the fascist ‘New Order’ in Ireland (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009)Google Scholar.

108 As claimed by O'Reilly, in Undertones, 7.

109 See O Malley, Eoin, ‘Why is there no Radical Right Party in Ireland?’, West European Politics, 31, 5 (2008) 960–77CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

110 See report of talk given by AFA Ireland speaker at anti-fascist meeting in London, 21 Apr. 2012, available online at http://antifascistnetwork.org/tag/afa-ireland/ (last visited 29 Oct. 2015).

111 AFA document, ‘The Spectre of Fascism’.