The menace of far-right violence has become an all-too-frequent scourge in Britain.
In recent weeks and months, organised thugs have carried out pogroms against migrants in Belfast. Racist riots have been seen in Glasgow, echoing those that broke out across the country in 2024. And attacks against Muslims have taken place in Edinburgh, Bolton, and elsewhere.
At the same time – emboldened by the endless migrant-bashing, bigotry, and incendiary culture-war rhetoric coming from the establishment and their mouthpieces – fascist groups like Britain First are attempting to mobilise supporters to protest in cities with large black and Asian populations, like Birmingham and Manchester.
This all comes on top of larger mobilisations by Tommy Robinson over the past year, under the banner of ‘Unite the Kingdom’; as well as last summer’s flag-waving ‘Raise the Colours’ movement, which targeted asylum-seeker hotels.
On the electoral front, meanwhile, Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain – backed by the world’s first trillionaire, Elon Musk – are now competing with Farage’s Reform UK when it comes to whipping up anger against migrants and refugees, with explosive consequences.
This is the very real threat that migrants, Muslims, and minorities face; the terror and intimidation afflicting working-class communities.
The capitalist establishment and their rotten system are ultimately to blame for this situation.
It is their imperialist wars that have forced millions to flee their homes in search of a sanctuary. It is their austerity and attacks that have broken Britain, leading to a desperate race to the bottom in terms of jobs, wages, and housing. And it is they who have consciously spewed out racist propaganda in order to divide and distract workers from the real enemy: the billionaires and bankers.
From reactionary demagogues like Farage and Robinson, through to war criminals and careerists like Starmer and Burnham: all of these capitalist charlatans are responsible for stirring up racism, division, and hatred.
Left’s weakness
Unfortunately, however, nobody on the left is providing a clear, bold answer to these liars, crooks, and racists.
In most cases, recent counter-protests against the far right have massively outnumbered those mobilised by Robinson, Britain First, and co., showing the real balance of forces in society: the weakness of the camp of reaction, and the potential strength of the working class.
But, in truth, these victories have occurred in spite of the policies and methods of the left and trade union leaders, not because of them.
In many places, for example, Muslim and Asian youth have organised to defend themselves and their communities from far-right violence. But they have received no support in these efforts from the trade unions locally.
Similarly, Green Party councillors and trade union officials did little-to-nothing to mobilise their members when Britain First came to Birmingham recently.
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Organisations like Stand Up to Racism, a front set up by the Socialist Workers Party, have played a particularly pernicious role.
On the one hand, they actively depoliticise the fight against racism, in order to keep various liberal campaigners, charity and religious groups, and celebrities on board. This means draining the anti-racist movement of any radical or class politics.
On the other hand, they promote impotent, pacifistic methods: telling militant, self-organised youth not to physically defend themselves and drive the far right off our streets, but to rely on the police and establishment politicians for protection.
Most importantly, all of these ‘left’ and union leaders have a completely moralistic, reformist outlook, leading to a conservative, class collaborationist approach.
Instead of mobilising workers and youth en masse on a class basis – with bold socialist policies and class-struggle methods – they rely on hollow appeals for ‘love’ and ‘hope’.
And instead of organising a serious fight against the right and their racism, and for a real socialist alternative, they sow illusions in so-called ‘lesser-evil’ figures like Burnham, calling on workers to ‘vote Andy to stop Farage’.
We must tell the truth: none of these leaders are up to the task. None of them have the clear ideas and radical approach needed to crush the racists and far right, and to defeat reactionaries like Farage and Robinson for good.
That is why we are building the forces of communism – the revolutionary leadership that the anti-racist movement needs. Join the Revolutionary Communist Party, get organised, and help us in this pressing task.
