Canterbury: Labour attacks the communists
Joe Corps, Canterbury
The Kent Communists attended the 17 October anti-racist demo in Canterbury with around 200 locals.
With the far right marching down the road in Dover weeks before, we expected a serious and militant attitude from local anti-racist groups like Stand Up to Racism (SUTR).
To our disappointment, though hardly to our surprise, this was not the case. The tone set by SUTR was soft, with abstract calls for “unity” and for attendees to have “fun”.
Scandalously, this ‘unity’ march involved uniting with establishment parties, with the organisers inviting the local Labour Party.
The Labour delegation included the Mayor of Canterbury himself, whose Labour-run council has done nothing to improve the lives of local residents, and whose party stands for austerity, imperialism, and division.
Rather than chanting with SUTR’s woolly, politically confusing slogans of “this is what community looks like”, we put forward militant chants against Reform UK, the billionaire class, and the ruling Labour Party – calling out its complicity in Israel’s genocide abroad, and the rise of racism at home.
The local Labour activists turned on us. The Mayor of Canterbury tried using his position to stop us chanting. And instead of trying to politically convince us, Labour activists decried RCP members as “fascists” (?). One aggressive member took a swipe at our comrades, and attacked members of the public who weren’t even part of the protest.
Despite this hysterical attack, we didn’t stop chanting, we continued called out the hypocrisy of the Labour Party – how can a party aiding the genocide be anti-racist?
We were supported by young people, and members of the public, who agreed with our chants. Canterbury Labour left demoralised at the end of the march, and were even called out in the first speech.
SUTR wouldn’t let us speak, so held our own debrief and speeches, where we expanded on how we can really fight racism and capitalism. Several people interested in joining the RCP joined us to continue the discussion at the pub.
If we want to seriously challenge racism and the far right, we need to move beyond hollow ‘unity’ demos with weak politics, and towards a radical, class-based anti-racist movement.
Newcastle: Communist militancy vs SUTR’s lukewarm speeches
Sophie Colclough, Newcastle
After our successful recruitment campaign at Newcastle University, RCP members really wanted to plant the red flag in Newcastle. So we mobilised over 30 communists from across the North East for the ‘Unity March’ organised by Stand Up to Racism.
With around 200+ attendees, we were a significant proportion of the march. We were probably the biggest bloc, and definitely the most visible, audible, youthful, and energetic.
We put forward revolutionary, anti-establishment slogans like “There is only one solution, Britain needs a revolution!”, “Labour, Labour, shame on you! You’re to blame for racists too!”, and so on.
Our slogans placed the blame not just at the feet of the far right and the openly racist demagogues, but with all the warmongering, migrant-bashing, and pro-Zionist politicians in Westminster.
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This militancy was not matched by the SUTR organisers, who hold the perspective that we can appeal to the better nature of sections of the Labour Party through moral pressure. Their slogans of “Whose streets, our streets?” and “Refugees are welcome here” didn’t get much of an echo.
Disappointingly, the organisers repeatedly blocked the RCP from speaking during the rally, despite the fact that the only young speaker on the list had to be brought up from London!
But we knew it was necessary to put across our more revolutionary point of view, which corresponds to the actual needs of the movement. So the second the official speeches were over, we marched up to the stage anyway!
I explained to the attendees that we do need unity to defeat racism: unity of the working class against the far right, but also against Burnham, who also scapegoats the ‘small boats’ in order to distract from his own government’s failures.
I pointed out that we can not defeat racism by trying to build unity with the party in power, carrying out cuts while attacking migrants. Then a SUTR speaker addressed the crowd again to tell them the opposite – that we need unity with the Labour Party, otherwise fascism will win!
It’s no surprise that in Newcastle, fewer and fewer young people show up to each successive anti-racsit demo. They are tired of hearing the same lukewarm speeches.
But these young people aren’t becoming less angry about racism. In fact, they’re becoming more and more radicalised! We must be there with bold action and the correct ideas in order to win the youth over to revolutionary anti-racism.
Cardiff: A damp squib in more ways than one
Liam Wiltshire, Cardiff
Today, 25 RCP comrades intervened in Cardiff’s ‘Unity March’ organised by SUTR. It was pouring down with rain, but comrades were still buzzing to get out there and put forward our speeches and chants.
Five student comrades had prepared speeches in the week, and they were some of the most consistently high-quality speeches we’ve ever been able to bring to a demonstration. By the time we started a second round, we had a good group of onlookers forming around us.
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But with their sound equipment finally ready, the SUTR organisers proceeded to start screaming “REFUGEES ARE WELCOME HERE” through their booming speaker in the middle of one of our comrades’ speeches.
The call did not find a response, but the shouting continued until our speeches stopped.
What then followed was 90 minutes of empty chants and weak speeches in the pouring rain. By the time Jeremy Corbyn was dragged out to speak, he was totally inaudible for lack of a working megaphone.
Given no reason to stay, the 300 people who the afternoon started with were just 150 by the time the March set off. With practically nobody unaffiliated left in attendance, our bloc at the back was trailed only by rows of policemen.
I couldn’t paint a more drab picture of a demonstration, but every single comrade in attendance knew that the mission hadn’t changed. We marched and chanted through the streets of Cardiff with pride in our banner and fire in our hearts.
Debriefing at the pub afterwards, comrades couldn’t wait to talk about the day. Our newest recruits were amazed by the political strength of our intervention, and were keenly discussing the difference in politics and tactics between revolutionary communists and groups like SUTR.
