Revolutionary Communist Party members from across the North East mobilised against the far right this Saturday, alongside up to 3,000 anti-racist protestors.
With the right-wing demonstration only numbering between 200-300, we outnumbered them ten to one – a great victory!
The far right had been mobilised for the founding conference of Advance UK, a far-right split from Reform UK, held in Newcastle. The venue had been cancelled under pressure from protestors, but a new location was found and the conference went ahead.
This came after weeks of small protests outside a migrant hotel, with a few dozen anti-immigration and anti-racist protestors on each side. This time, a larger turnout was expected, and the far right planned to march up to the hotel.
Unfathomably, however, two separate counter-protests were organised – ten minutes apart from each other!
One, organised by Stand up to Racism (SUTR), was extremely liberal in its politics and tactics, seeking to keep a distance from the far right’s forces; the other was more radical, and aimed to physically prevent the far-right from marching.
The mood was tense, we did not know how many far-right supporters to expect or what the balance of forces on each side would be. A fortnight earlier, around 150,000 Tommy Robinson supporters marched against immigration in London.
This was clearly, therefore, a moment where the utmost unity of the anti-racist forces was required. Many protestors were correctly angry and disillusioned about the seemingly inexplicable decision to divide our forces in two.
Mistakes of the left leaders
The demo that aimed to block the far right was kettled by the police, and their march was re-routed. When we were able to get away, we headed to the hotel to block the far right.
The far-right march, meanwhile, ended up coming within 20 metres of the SUTR demo. Instead of directing their 2,000 strong force to block the tiny far-right march, the SUTR leaders urged their forces to stand apart and sing songs about the Battle of Cable Street! The irony I’m sure will be lost on none of our readers.
At one point, a SUTR speaker called for a round of applause for the police and thanked them for their service! A spontaneous anti-police chant from some attendees was shut down.
These severe political and tactical errors are the practical outcome of the liberal popular frontism of SUTR, led by the so-called ‘Socialist Workers Party’, which we analysed in our recent article ‘The meaning of 13 September: A damning indictment of the left’.
Meanwhile, 500 metres away, the police were assaulting left-wing protesters for trying to leave the small space we had been contained in.
Around 30 RCP members and sympathisers attended the protest, with the intention of injecting revolutionary ideas into the movement, and providing a clear, working-class programme for how to fight the right.
We sought to raise the level with class-conscious chants, discussions with protestors, and by selling The Communist to spread our ideas.
Our chants of “Who do you serve, who do you protect?”, “Workers unite, to fight the far right”, and “One solution, revolution!” were enthusiastically taken up by those around us.
As opposed to cheering for the police, we sought to expose the rotten nature of the capitalist state, which foments racism and anti-immigrant sentiment in the first place.
We highlighted the need to link up all our struggles against the common enemy – capitalism – which requires putting forward a radical programme to transform society, not just liberal moral platitudes.
Communist ideas find an echo
RCP members sold 25 copies of The Communist and exchanged contact details with 15 people who are keen to get involved in the RCP.
Particularly once the far-right had been driven back and protestors had seen the haplessness of the SUTR organisers, people were snapping papers out of our hands. It didn’t take much to convince people that the only way to fight fascism is with communism.
After the protest, we held a debrief at a nearby pub, with a mix of RCP members and people we had met on the day. We had a very engaging discussion which went on for almost two hours!
We spoke about the reasons that anti-immigration and right-wing rhetoric are gaining a broader appeal: 15 years of austerity decimating communities; successive governments blaming immigrants to distract from their murderous policies; and the collapse in confidence in the traditional establishment parties.
A wider layer in British society has been taken in by Farage’s false promises, anti-establishment rhetoric and finger pointing at immigrants. But the vast majority of those people would not attend a far-right conference, and are a long way from fascism. These people could be won over by a bold socialist programme, and a party willing to fight for it.
We agreed that, while large numbers had been mobilised in London against immigration, the more hard-right Advance UK had a much weaker pull – as demonstrated by their pitiful presence on the weekend. We are not, as some left groups think, on the verge of a mass fascist takeover.
We discussed the weakness of the left leadership, which was on full display today. A combination of petty prestige politics and wishy-washy, liberal ideas were exposed in the eyes of thousands of demonstrators.
On the back of this very engaging discussion, three people agreed to officially join the Party. This shows the impact that communist ideas can have – especially when they are tied-in with practical action on the ground.
The need for a clear Marxist programme – to expose the real role of the capitalist state, and to fight the whole system that breeds poverty and racism – has never been more urgent.
It is vital that we build the forces of the RCP, so we can provide the leadership the movement so sorely needs.
