Last week Socialist Resistance printed an appeal for an anti-BNP mobilisation in Leigh, and a report celebrating a successful counter-mobilisation. Steve Hall, author of both articles, has written this response to Andy Newman’s article “Squadism - A Serious Mistake in Leigh” on the Socialist Unity web site.
I think Andy is right to question the wisdom of certain actions taken in Leigh by local anti-fascists on Friday 13th (and in its run-up) based on reports of the event, and especially the one made by me, which is referred to in his article, which is somewhat sensationalised.
In retrospect, I think I would have penned it somewhat differently now, but there’s no advocacy of “squadism” in it!
I actually only got wind of that Nick Griffin was coming to speak in Leigh less than 48 hours before the event was about to take place.
In the thirty odd years I’ve been politically active in the town, including as Trades Council President back in the 90’s, we’ve never had someone so high up in the Nazi hierarchy openly pay us a visit, and my immediate response to being told about it (which was around 10.00pm in the evening) was that it wasn’t going to start now. I consequently issued an immediate appeal for the largest possible mobilisation to stop the thing from happening and to “help… kick Nick Griffin and his Nazi scum bag mates out of our town.”
The UAF I would assume issued an appeal of their own as did the SWP.
I e-mailed a large number of people on the Left using this wording believing a mass mobilisation to do precisely that, is what was called for, and ultimately the balance of forces on the day would be the determining factor in relation to whether that could be achieved or not, (Sorry if that’s the wrong line these days. I’ve been out of it for a few years! When did we drop “No platform for Fascists then?”)
I did however revise this wording altogether (which I recognised might be potentially misconstrued) from my the subsequent press release to the North West media and other contacts with a call “….to mobilise to oppose this event taking place, and to tell Nick Griffin and his nazi scum-bag mates to stay out of the town.”
My original wording was however picked up, having been posted on the Labournet site, and according to the BNP constituted a call to arms” and an “incitement to violence” and makes me responsible for the whole thing. As a consequence they are also calling for me to be charged by the Police.
So yes, I could have more thoughtfully phrased my earlier e-mail appeal. But it was hardly a call to arms was it? and of course “kicking Nick Griffin out of town” not actually meant literally.
I know I didn’t go personally ‘armed’ to the thing, unlike the four BNP members in the Landrover did according to several reliable eye witnesses, witnesses who would have been severely injured themselves other than for the intervention of a larger group of anti-fascists who prevented that from happening.
I described this group as AFA, but I’ve subsequently been told they were disbanded in 2001, so I’ve really no idea who they were.
I also said they were tooled up, but I didn’t actually see any of them personally, as I only arrived at the scene a few minutes afterwards. My report was based on the accounts of several eye witnesses who were pretty hyped up after experiencing the entire event close up. What occurred being reminiscent in my mind of the type of thing AFA might have done in the past.
It’s also possible that these anti-fascists disarmed the BNP thugs, I don’t know? It all happened very quickly according to all accounts. But I do know the BNP guys came off worst and that their Landrover got a hammering, and their trailer got turned over.
I also know that the students who came from Salford University were pretty happy whoever it was that turned up or they’d have likely been given a good beating along with some of the others assembling to peacefully protest at the time.
I also know that the choice of venue for the anti-fascists to assemble at and which was passed onto and advertised by me, - the Ellesmere Pub on St. Helens Road, was infiltrated with BNP supporters before most of the anti-fascists arrived, and indeed the initial confrontation started in the pub before moving onto the street, at which point the BNP Landrover and trailer turned up and one of the guys in it started to video what was going on. I also know there was no police presence there at this time either.
Needless to say the arrival of the BNP Landrover and trailer at that point incited the crowd assembled, which was growing by the minute.
It is precisely then that several eye witnesses say that three others got out of the Landrover, one armed with a crowbar, one with a baseball bat and another with an extended truncheon.
All the other stuff, which others say we should be doing rather than physically confronting the BNP, proceeded after the incident, with UAF and other anti-fascists taking to locals, many of whom perhaps initially sympathetic to the BNP actually jeered them as their Landrover and trailer was towed away.
In reality my own expectation at the beginning, was that the thing would be called off beforehand, either via direct Police pressure on the landlord or a combination of that and the BNP being faced with the prospect of facing a large counter-demonstration which would draw attention to their small base of support in the area, and deter many of them from attending.
Indeed I found out from Searchlight that it had in fact been formally cancelled about an hour beforehand. So like others have commented the desired objective was achieved none the less.
Finally, that a few of BNP members/supporters self-evidently were prepared to ‘mix it’ with anti-fascist protestors close to their allegedly cancelled BNP “Battle for Britain Roadshow” venue came as something of a surprise to me, since that’s not supposed (as others have stated) to be their line any more either. However, I am happy they were seen off by those already assembled and assembling (notwithstanding of course the unfortunate injury to the BNP guy).
Plus we can’t be held responsible for how the BBC reported the thing, a report which failed to mention a single account from an anti-fascist eyewitness concerning the weapons carried by the BNPers.
Anyway, since then, as alleged instigator of the violence on the night according to some in the BNP, my name and former address (at which my wife and 8 year old daughter still live at) has been posted on a number of neo-Nazi web sites prompting the Police to take a number of measures to protect them against possible reprisals directed at me.
Interestingly enough, and this is for the guy who asked where the Left is in Leigh, the BNP got my old address from the election leaflets I put out as a Respect member in neighbouring Atherton (on the Greater Manchester Respect web site) last May (along with my photograph) in which I got 222 votes (6.7% of the vote).
If there were any mistakes made in Leigh, which of course there were, then I bear the consequences of most of them already, but there is no advocacy of squadism by me as represented by Andy.
I tend to believe mass mobilisations are the right tack and not individual heroism or special operations by small squads of activists, but agree with others who have talked about the need for workers defence groups to defend our meetings and demonstrations from potential attacks such as this one. The key thing of course is accountability, which of course they would need to be to the local trades union and labour movement.
I still think what happened in Leigh was a victory for our side, and “BNP member hammered in Leigh” a lot less worse a headline than “Anti-fascists battered in Leigh”