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|formation = 1977
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|headquarters = United Kingdom
|type = [[Anti-fascism]] and [[anti-racism]] organisation
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The '''Anti-Nazi League''' ('''ANL''') was an organisation set up in 1977 on the initiative of the [[Socialist Workers Party (
==1977–1982==
In its first period, 1977–1982, the Anti-Nazi League was launched directly by the SWP; it was effectively its front organisation.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Boothroyd|first1=David|author-link=David Boothroyd|title=The History of British Political Parties|date=2001|publisher=Politico's|isbn=1-902301-59-5|pages=303|url=https://books.google.
Most of the ANL's leafleting and other campaigns in the 1970s were in opposition to [[far right]] groups which it claimed were not just racist but fascist, such as the [[National Front (
The ANL was linked to [[Rock Against Racism]] in the 1970s, which ran two giant carnivals in 1978 involving bands such as [[The Clash]], [[Stiff Little Fingers]], [[Steel Pulse]], [[Misty in Roots]], [[X-Ray Spex]] and [[Tom Robinson]], attended by 80,000 and then 100,000 supporters.<ref name="Love Music Hate Racism">{{cite web|url=http://lovemusichateracism.com/about/ |title=Love Music Hate Racism |publisher=Love Music Hate Racism |access-date
Alongside the broad "marches and music festival" focus of the ANL, in 1977 the SWP also formed regional fighting groups, initially in Manchester and then elsewhere, known as "[[squadism|squads]]" to both safeguard the ANL's broad, populist activities, though aggressive stewarding, and also to fight the National Front street gangs whenever the opportunity arose.<ref>Steve Tilzey and Dave Hann ''No Retreat'' 2003</ref> Although the SWP leadership eventually turned against this "dual track" approach to anti-fascism – expelling many leading "squadists" in a purge in late 1981 – it is said to have proved an effective strategy during the ANL's early years from 1977 to 1979.<ref name="autogenerated2003">Steve Tilzey and Dave Hann ''No Retreat'' London: Milo Books, 2003; Sean Birchall ''Beating the Fascists' London: Freedom Press, 2010.</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=January 2017}}
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===Blair Peach killing===
{{Main|Death of Blair Peach}}
In April 1979, an ANL member, [[Death of Blair Peach|Blair Peach]], was killed following a demonstration at Southall against a National Front election meeting. Police had sealed off the area around [[Southall Town Hall]], and demonstrators trying to make their way there were blocked. In the ensuing confrontation, more than 40 people (including 21 police) were injured, and 300 were arrested. Bricks were allegedly hurled at police, who described the rioting as the most violent they had handled in London. Peach was among the demonstrators. During an incident in a side street 100 yards from the town hall, he was seriously injured and collapsed after being struck on the head, allegedly by an unauthorised weapon used by a member of the police [[Special Patrol Group]]. Peach died later in hospital.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/23/newsid_2523000/2523959.stm|title=BBC 1979: "Teacher dies in Southall race riots" | date=23 April 1979 |
An inquest jury later returned a verdict of [[Death by misadventure|misadventure]], and no police officer was ever charged or prosecuted, although an internal police inquiry at the time and not released officially for 30 years, thought he had been killed by an unidentifiable police officer.<ref>Paul Lewis [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/apr/27/blair-peach-killed-police-met-report "Blair Peach killed by police at 1979 protest, Met report finds"], theguardian.com, 23 April 2010</ref> A primary school in Southall bears his name.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ealing.gov.uk/directory_record/86/blair_peach_primary_school|title=Blair Peach Primary School}}</ref>
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In 1981, with the eclipse of the [[National Front (United Kingdom)|National Front]] and collapse of the [[British Movement]], the initial incarnation of the ANL was wound up.{{citation needed|date=March 2017}}
Some elements within the ANL opposed the winding up of the organisation, including some members of the SWP. After being expelled from the [[Socialist Workers Party (
==1992–2004==
In the early 1990s, the far right, and in particular the [[British National Party]] (BNP) was resurgent both electorally and in terms of racial attacks (from 4,383 in 1988 to 7,780 three years later).<ref>''The Guardian'', 20.2.93</ref>{{page needed|date=June 2021}} [[Anti-Fascist Action]], now the longest established national [[anti-fascist]] organisation in the UK at that time, organised well-attended events in October 1991 – a Unity Carnival in East London attracting 10,000 people and a march through [[Bethnal Green]] attracting 4,000 people – prompting other left-wing groups to launch anti-racist and anti-fascist organisations, including the [[Anti-Racist Alliance]] (ARA) in November and the re-launch of the ANL two months later.<ref>Keith Popple (1997) "Understanding and tackling racism among young people in Britain' in Keith Popple, Jan Laurens Hazekam, eds, ''Racism in Europe: A Challenge for Youth Policy and Youth Work'', London: UCL Press, p.20</ref>
When the National Front and the British National Party had been led by John Tyndall, his record of involvement in openly neo-Nazi groups made it far easier to assert that the National Front and BNP were fascist or [[Neo-Nazism|neo-Nazi]] in nature. Similarly, Tyndall's convictions for violence and [[incitement to ethnic or racial hatred|incitement to racial hatred]] provide ample grounds for the ANL to claim both organisations were racist.<ref>Sandra Laville and Matthew Taylor, [https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/jul/20/otherparties.thefarright "A racist, violent neo-nazi to the end: BNP founder Tyndall dies"], ''[[The Guardian]]'', 20 July 2005.</ref> After 1992, the ANL and other anti-fascists argued that the BNP remained a Nazi party irrespective of the fact that under the leadership of [[Nick Griffin]] it adopted what the ANL described as the 'Dual Strategy' of cultivating respectability in the media while retaining a cadre of committed fascists. This position was countered by BNP members who
ANL's relaunch was criticised by other anti-racists. The recently launched broad-based Anti-Racist Alliance said: "The ANL is an exercise in nostalgia. These people are living off the glory of a few years in the late 1970s, when we're setting up a long-term challenge to racism in Europe, an anti-racist organisation that will live in the community and in the mainstream of political life." ARA's chair [[Ken Livingstone]] used his column in ''[[The Sun (United Kingdom)|The Sun]]'' to denounce the ANL as an SWP front. Anti-fascist magazine ''[[Searchlight (magazine)|Searchlight]]'' criticised the "politics of deceit being practised by the SWP", accusing the ANL of deliberately exaggerating the danger posed by the BNP.<ref name="Anderson">Paul Anderson "[http://pandersonjournalist.blogspot.co.uk/1993/10/anti-racists-at-odds_7810.html Anti-Racists at Odds]" ''New Statesman & Society'', 15 October 1993</ref>
In 1993, the ANL organised a demonstration, attended by up 15,000 people (and marred by [[1993 Welling riots|police provocation and violence]])<ref>Transpontine [http://transpont.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/racist-murder-in-se-london.html Racist Murder in SE London] 8 January 2012</ref> at the BNP's bookshop in [[Welling]], in the wake of the killing nearby of black teenager [[Murder of Stephen Lawrence|Stephen Lawrence]], attended by Stephen's mother [[Doreen Lawrence]]; ARA held a rival protest in central London on the same day.<ref>Andrew Hosken, ''Ken: The Ups and Downs of Ken Livingstone'', Arcadia Books, 10 April 2008: Chapter 18: 1985–1994. Ken and the rise of Socialist Action, 1985–1994, p.265</ref>
ANL worked with [[Love Music Hate Racism]] (based on the earlier Rock Against Racism), from 2002 onwards.<ref name="Love Music Hate Racism"/>
In 2004, the ANL affiliated with the [[National Assembly Against Racism]] to relaunch as [[Unite Against Fascism]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/david_tate/2006/05/love_music_hate_racism.html|title=''The Guardian'': "Unite against Facism: let's hope so" | location=London | date=24 May 2006 |
==2018==
In August 2018, the Shadow Chancellor [[John McDonnell]] called for a revival of "an Anti-Nazi League-type cultural and political campaign" following a number of far-right and racist incidents in the UK, including
==
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}
==References==
*[https://isj.org.uk/the-anti-nazi-league/ The Anti Nazi League and its lessons for today] by Paul Holborow, ''International Socialism'', Issue 163 (2019)▼
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060210123558/http://whenwetouchedthesky.com/ The history of Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League] (archived 10 February 2006)▼
*Dave Renton - [https://web.archive.org/web/20120524143536/http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/32424/ ''When We Touched The Sky: The Anti-Nazi League in Britain 1977–1981'']
==External links==
{{External links|date=July 2020}}
*
*[http://www.lovemusichateracism.com/ Love Music Hate Racism]
▲*[https://isj.org.uk/the-anti-nazi-league/ The Anti Nazi League and its lessons for today] by Paul Holborow, ''International Socialism'', 163 (2019)
▲*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060210123558/http://whenwetouchedthesky.com/ The history of Rock Against Racism and the Anti-Nazi League]
*''[[The Guardian|Guardian]]'' [https://www.theguardian.com/farright/story/0,11981,775301,00.html Story about the banning of an ANL protest]
*''[[The Guardian]]'' [http://politics.guardian.co.uk/farright/story/0,,1749555,00.html "BNP in turmoil as members row about 'ethnic' candidate"]
*[[BBC]] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1468568.stm Story about an ANL protest being banned]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050205214949/http://dkrenton.co.uk/anl/anl.html Historical perspectives on the Anti-Nazi League] (archived 5 February 2005)
*''[[The Guardian]]'' [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/15/anti-nazi-league-founders-call-for-new-national-campaign?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
▲*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120524143536/http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/news/content/view/full/32424/ ''When We Touched The Sky: The Anti-Nazi League in Britain 1977–1981''] by Dave Renton – former Socialist Workers' Party and Anti-Nazi League member chronicles the history of the ANL in this May 2006 book.
▲*[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/15/anti-nazi-league-founders-call-for-new-national-campaign?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other ''Anti-Nazi League founders call for new national campaign''].
{{SWP}}
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[[Category:1977 establishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1981 disestablishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Anti-fascist organisations in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Anti-racist organisations in the United Kingdom]]
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