Is railing against BNP nazis the best use of the left's time during the election?
An interesting debate unfolded on my Facebook wall a few days ago. After posting a comment to the effect that the radical left is wasting its time with gratuitous tit for tat anti-fascist rallies, rather than expending its energy on attacking the liberal-left parties (Labour and Liberal Democrats), I was accused of aping earlier Stalinist follies from the 1940s.
Whilst historically speaking that argument is highly suspect, in any case one has to look at present conditions and not simply bask in the comforts of tradition. The question for me, at least, is with the limited energies and numbers of those on the left, is anti-fascism a good use of our time? My answer is no. Further, I would even say it is counterproductive to the cause—it confirms the liberal media and elite’s perception of a valid role for the radical left, which is, predictably, a total dead end as far as overthrowing capitalism in the 21st century is concerned.
I would give the following reasons for ceasing all anti-fascist activities.
1) In present conditions, groups such as the BNP and EDL have no supporters within mainstream government. They are not the militant wing of fascist tendencies within government. In fact, they are reviled by the elite. The kind of racism one finds within the liberal parties it truly awful—scapegoating immigrants and so forth—but is qualitatively different to BNP style racism. As such, they do not pose any real threat. A victory for one of their candidates would certainly make a local community more unpleasant, but that is about it.
2) There is no transformative potential in anti-fascism. Anti-fascism is a static affair that adopts an entirely defensive posture. Its activities have no transformative potential for the properly revolutionary aim of overthrowing capitalism. There have been, in the past, periods in which it has played a vital roll in the struggle; today it merely saps energy.
3) Anti-fascism leads to complacency. With such a clear enemy as the BNP (hated not just by the radical left, but much of the left and centre of the political spectrum) a certain moralising complacency can be allowed to prevail at the expense of making those hard choices that face the radical left. Since we on the radical left currently face a crisis of both communicating our ideas and attracting people to the cause, the hard thinking that needs to be done around these issues is obviated by investing in tribal warfare with the far-right. I won’t deny the fun of it; but particularly around election time, the sentiment which still prevails around most of the left and labour movement (vote for Lab or Lib Dems as a lesser evilism to keep the Tories out) should be the target of our ire. Unless we can shift most of the left and its natural constituency away for this kind of thinking there will never be any change.
4) Anti-fascism in ineffective. I haven’t seen any proof, or indeed, any logical arguments, for showing why anti-fascist rallies are effective. Surely it just demonstrates that there is a militant core opposed to them who can make a lot of noise too? In terms of denting support for the BNP, I have serious doubts it does much good.
So all in all, I think this obsession with the BNP is an entirely unproductive use of our mental and physical energies. Much better to focus on the illusions of the mainstream. Time to ‘no platform’ Nick Clegg!
Much more of “such-like” criticism is needed on the radical left (most especially in the U.S.).
The leftist party presses/publishing houses (e.g. the UK SWP’s and the US ISO’s) utterly shame the project of redemption from capitalist relations in innately being private capitalist enterprises themselves — that is, in practice, the very antithesis of “democratic centralist” organizations.
High-five for exposing the political pettiness of the (their) anti-facist niche market.
You are sadly very mistaken
I don’t entirely agree that we should give it up altogether, but I do agree that it plays far too prominent a role in left politics at the moment. In fact, for groups like the SWP, I think it serves a very useful role, enabling them to strike radical poses while not actually challenging the mainstream very much at all. It is really frustrating on occasions like strike rallies and anti-cuts protests – that is to say, times when workers are in open conflict with the bosses – when leftist speakers get up and start reminding us about the need to oppose the BNP and/or EDL. That is to say, instead of arguing to take the current struggle forward, these “revolutionary socialists” try and focus our attention away from the bosses and onto small groups of fantasists who aren’t in power and won’t be any time soon. Good to see that increasing numbers of people are actually thinking tactically and not just repeating the same old leftist dogmas, anyroad. Have you read Fascism/Anti-Fascism by Gilles Dauve?
Thanks Anarcho. I agree with your point here. I haven’t read the book. What are its main points?
Also ‘anti-fascism’/calling the BNPs Nazis ignores the reason why they are able to get a millions votes. Which is in large part based on real alienation, disillusionment etc… anti-immigrant hysteria is a sort of displaced reaction to attacks on working class communities.
What e.g. UAF do is say, you might be angry but really you must vote for Lib/Lab/Con. Thus lining them up with the establishment.
And indeed thus excusing the parts of the mainstream parties’ platforms which are different from the BNP’s only by degrees. E.g. having a racist Tory like Teddy Taylor attack the BNP in a ‘united front of a special kind’ isn’t exactly great for migrants.
The immediate enemy of migrants in Britain is the existing Labour government, and the BNP much less so. Yet UAF etc. ignore migrants’ struggles because they are embarrassing to the message of ‘vote for the establishment’.
I agree with anarcho’s point vis-a-vis crowbar-ing anti-BNPism into other disputes/struggles. In fact, whenever I hear a trade union leader denounce the BNP, I think – right winger. Why? Because it’s the easiest ‘left’ posture in the world and requires no concrete action.
‘crowbar-ing anti-BNPism into other disputes/struggles’
Why isn’t it possible to both argue for building solidarity and for deepening the militancy of any given dispute as well as raising the issue of challenging racism and fascism as well? It is good that so many trade unions support the work of UAF etc – the trade union movement is a key bulwark in blocking the rise of the far-right and long may it remain so.
‘What e.g. UAF do is say, you might be angry but really you must vote for Lib/Lab/Con. Thus lining them up with the establishment’
UAF do not say ‘vote Lib/Lab/Con’ – they simply say use your votes to block the fascists in whatever way you wish. As for UAF ‘lining up with the establishment’, I take it you have not been on any recent UAF mobilisations against the EDL – often done in the teeth of virulent opposition from the mainstream parties who would prefer anti-racists left it to the police to deal with the EDL. UAF is at the forefront of the fight against the EDL and BNP – which given both groups are growing in support – seems to be a useful and important place to be.
necessaryagitation: You can read Fascism/Anti-Fascism online here: http://libcom.org/library/fascism-anti-fascism-gilles-dauve-jean-barrot
Makes a pretty complex case which I wouldn’t want to oversimplify, but says that “The essence of antifascism consists of struggling against fascism while supporting democracy; in other words, of struggling not for the destruction of capitalism, but to force capitalism to renounce its totalitarian form.” And highlights the fact that the triumph of fascism in both Germany and Italy was preceded by the defeat of the workers at the hands of democrats/anti-fascists. It’s a pretty extreme anti-anti-fascist argument, and I dunno if I’d agree with all of it, but it’s worth a read as one perspective in the debate.
Snowball: I don’t think the recent UAF mobilisations against the EDL support your argument. At all. Considering that the UAF demo in Leeds saw UAF stewards hand a militant anti-fascist over to the police ( http://www.afed.org.uk/blog/state/146-unite-against-fascism-uaf-stewards-collaborate-with-police-on-anti-edl-mobilisation.html ), while Richard Brett, the leader of Leeds City Council, spoke from the platform – this is during a strike by bin workers against the council’s wage cuts – I don’t think you can really claim that it was “in the teeth of virulent opposition from the mainstream parties who would prefer anti-racists left it to the police to deal with the EDL.”
[...] a short follow up to both my review of Phillip Blond’s Red Tory and my post asking ‘Is anti-fascism a waste of time?‘ I would like to combine the two to compound the argument I forwarded in the latter post. [...]