On Saturday, Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) members in London participated in the counter-protest to Tommy Robinson’s ‘Unite the Kingdom’ demonstration.
The atmosphere was tense. Despite Robinson’s ‘patriots’ officially meeting on the south bank of the Thames for their march, groups showed up in Russell Square, presumably to intimidate the counter-protesters.
As we came out at the station, we were passed by men on motorbikes circling the square draped in St George’s flags, and others were jeering at people holding “refugees welcome” signs.
As we marched through central London, flag-wavers lined the streets on both sides. The police were overwhelmed, and were able to do very little to separate the protesters, leading to clashes.
More than two dozen far-right protesters were arrested after clashes with police and anti-racism groups in London during one of the UK’s biggest anti-immigration rallies, dubbed “Unite the Kingdom.” pic.twitter.com/UoFpVb3EiZ
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) September 14, 2025
By the time we reached Trafalgar Square, the streets were flooded with ‘patriots’, some obviously hoping to be antagonised so they could scrap.
At Whitehall, counter-protesters were circled by Robinson supporters, effectively being kettled for hours. Again, the police were able to do very little to create any sort of barrier.
The official figures for attendance were: 100,000-150,000 mobilised for Robinson (although in reality the figure could be much higher), compared to 5,000 in the Stand Up to Racism counter-demonstration.
We must be clear: this was an obvious and embarrassing defeat for the left. The right will come out of this feeling emboldened. They were able to bring out more people. They made the left look weak.
Left leaders to blame
But none of this is an accurate reflection of the balance of forces in society. Many Palestine demonstrations over the past two years have mobilised over half a million people. Corbyn and Sultana’s long-awaited ‘Your Party’ already has 800,000 sign-ups – before it even exists!
Robinson has been rallying for months to mobilise the numbers he had on the weekend. This was them at full force. The Palestine movement can bring out that many at the drop of a hat. Against the organised working class, Tommy’s supporters would be easily outnumbered.
This radical mood exists in society, but it was largely absent on Saturday. And the responsibility for this lies in the hands of the leaders of the official left.
This needs to be a wake-up call for the leaders of the trade unions and left-wing parties, as well as Stand Up To Racism, the de facto leadership of the anti-racist movement in Britain, which is run by the Socialist Workers Party.
Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here! #StandUpToRacism pic.twitter.com/624NQgCWkL
— Stand Up To Racism (@AntiRacismDay) September 13, 2025
The reason they were unable to mobilise the numbers required to stand down the threat from the right is because the politics on offer was weak, moralistic, and lacked any working-class content.
“Refugees are welcome here” was written on a sea of placards, and was chanted for hours. But what does this actually mean beyond moralistic virtue signalling?
It does nothing to address the plight of asylum seekers forced to flee imperialist wars, and nothing to address the real insecurities of working-class communities around housing, jobs, and services.
Hundreds of thousands of people will not take to the streets for moral platitudes alone. To fight the right wing, we need a clear, working-class programme aimed against the billionaires, landlords, and bankers, and the Starmer government which does their bidding.
But a coherent political explanation and programme was entirely absent from the speeches, placards, and chants on the counter-demonstration – with the exception of the RCP bloc.
Communists call for class war
Instead of meeting Tommy’s culture war with more culture war, we called for class war against the billionaires’ system.
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We went with bold slogans and speeches that firmly put the blame for the crisis in society on the ruling class: who is to blame for the housing crisis? The landlords. Who is attacking our wages? The billionaires. Who is creating the migrant crisis? The imperialists.
By blaming all of these problems on refugees and migrants, Robinson, Farage, and Starmer are all letting the real criminals – the bankers and bosses – off the hook, and dividing the working class. That’s why we put forward the slogan “blame the billionaires, not the boats”.
Starmer himself – while hated by Robinson’s lot – has himself whipped up this divisive mood with his vile “island of strangers” rhetoric, and his attacks on migrant workers and asylum seekers. That’s why we chanted “Starmer, Starmer where are you? You’re to blame for Tommy’s crew”.
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While our bloc was relatively small, our slogans and speeches caught the attention of other protesters, including some who wrote in to join us afterwards. On Sunday we received this application to join the RCP:
“After the Unite the Kingdom March yesterday in London, I feel galvanised to join a movement that focuses on all working people in a practical, understanding way. Something on the left isn’t working it seems but it’s one thing for me to sit here and say that, it’s another for me to join the RCP.”
I agree with this person. Something on the left isn’t working, and it needs to be addressed. The working class needs a positive class-based programme to unite and organise around.
This is the only way we can ensure that, next time they rally, we can show Tommy’s lot who really represents the majority in society.
The RCP is a small party. We are still building our forces. At this stage we cannot win over the majority of the working class. And we cannot substitute ourselves for the organised working class on the streets.
But what we can do is argue for the correct ideas and policies which the movement needs in order to unite the working class, and to split right along class lines.
To carry this out, we must continue to grow our ranks, and prepare ourselves for the titanic battles that lie ahead.
If you are sick of the weak politics and inaction of the rest of the left, and you want to fight against the poison of culture-war division with class war, then join our ranks.
Tomorrow, we will release a party statement further analysing last weekend’s events. Stay up to date by joining our WhatsApp group.
