National Front and members of the 'Squad' (who later went onto form AFA) clash at Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester in the late 1970s. Picture: No Retreat (Milo Books, 2003)
From 1985 – 1997, Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) fought the British far-right to a bloody standstill. Not least in Manchester.
AFA, was initially set up by members of Red Action, the Direct Action Movement (predecessor of the Solidarity Federation, anarcho-syndicalist group) and independent left-wing activists. Workers’ Power, a Trotskyist group, joined AFA in 1989 but left in 1992.
Many of those involved in AFA were of second and third generation Irish. In Red Action’s case, it was joked that being of Irish stock was obligatory for membership. AFA also had a strong relationship with many republican flute bands in Britain as well different Irish Republican groups. (It also has to be said that a number of AFA’s leading militants including Patrick H. and Liam H.became involved in Irish Republican military organisations, the PIRA and INLA respectively)
It is a well-known and documented fact that the British far-right has always had strong links with Loyalist groups both in the six counties and in Britain. What is sometimes overlooked, understandably so as it causes much embarrassment, was that there was a small but not altogether trivial list of Englishmen of Irish Catholic descent who got heavily involved in far right, neo nazi and British nationalist politics.
These include Patrick Harrington (leading member of National Front (NF) in the 1980s), Martin Webster (Young Conservatives, National Socialist Movement and then NF rising to National Activities Organiser), Michael McLaughlin ( British Movement leader 1975 – 1983 who was shockingly son of an Irish republican and socialist who was a veteran of the International Brigades), Eddy Morrison (BM, NF and then British People’s Party) and John O’Brien (NF leader, early 1970s).
Hopefully later in the year I’ll have time to do some more research and write something up on the fascinating story of how scores of British born, Irish working-class males got heavily involved in both fascist and anti-fascist struggles in the 1930s, 1970s/1980s and now.
To learn more about the history of AFA and the political climate of the time, try Beating the Fascists: The Untold Story of Anti-Fascist Action by Sean Birchaill (Freedom Press, 2010), No Retreat: The Secret War Between Britain’s Anti-Fascists and the Far-Right by Dave Hann and Steve Tilzey (Milo, 2003), Anti-Fascist Action: An Anarchist Perspective by an ex. Liverpool AFA member (Kate Sharpley Library, 2007),Bash the Fash : Anti-fascist recollections 1984-93 by K. Bullstreet (Kate Sharpley Library, 2001), Anti-Fascist by Martin Lux (Phoenix Press, 2006) and the Fighting Talk documentary (BBC, 1993).
The following are a couple of AFA based leaflets I found today:
Front 'Cable Street Beat' AFA leaflet. 1989.
Back cover. 'Cable Street Beat' AFA leaflet. 1989
AFA 'Picket-Demo to Stop Race Attacks' leaflet. Early 1990s?
Front. AFA Leaflet 'Stop the Racist Attacks'. Early 1990s?
Back. AFA Leaflet 'Stop the Racist Attacks'. Early 1990s?
Click on the book for more.
Dessie Noonan was also involved in AFA in Manchester. His unique conversational style apparently prompted the local BNP organiser to provide a full description of party structures in the area.
You’re right there. Beating the Fascists has a very colourful account of said meeting.
A fallacy, Noonan never spoke to anyone from the BNP. Fact.
Sorry Vodka Bill, you are wrong,. Dessie was present in the Whalley when the the guy who had recently set up a south manchester BNP branch had a meeting with AFA people to arrange his retirement from active far right politics.
I should know , I was there. Interestingly, in light of some of the other posts, BNP organiser in question was himself second generation Irish.
Another aspect of the relationship between the Irish in Britain and fascism belongs to the earlier era. Oswald Mosley was actually very popular among the Irish community during the War of Independence because he spoke out on several occasions against the Black and Tans. This reputation stayed with him. After 1936 Mosley tried to enlist Irish Catholic support in the East End by playing on rivalries with local Jews and using popular fascist agitators with Irish backgrounds like Mick Clarke and Owen Burke. The Catholic Herald paper was also supportive of Mosley. Some of the Mosleyite propaganda found it’s way to Ireland. In the early months of the Second World War The Kerryman newspaper, no less, used to reprint articles from Mosley’s paper Action on it’s front page. There was also William Joyce of course, who had been a loyalist in Galway, but very few people in Britain would have known that (and most people in Ireland, many of whom followed his broadcasts during the war had no idea that he had supported the Black and Tans in Galway) In the 1930s Joyce would have seemed to be just another BUF Irishman.
I enjoyed reading many broadsides by the publisher and editor of the Kerrys Eye, Pádraig Kennelly(RIP) against Independent Newspapers owned Kerryman over the years but I don’t ever recall him using this information. Surprising.
Even more so because I was always assumed that Kerryman was seen as republican and considering that tensions were high between blueshirts and republicans in 30s Kerry (I remember reading about a major stand off in Tralee town centre) But maybe as you say Brian, there was this respect there from Mosley previous pronouncements.
Some republicans did not view their conflict with the Blueshirts as left v. right or anti-fascist v. fascist; it was republican v. free stater. Also by 1939 Mosley was anti-war and pro-German: and so were lots of Irish people.
I remember relatives of mine being really disgusted when talking about the execution of William Joyce, claiming that as he was an Irish citizen (he wasn’t in fact) that the British had no right to hang him, and had done so purely because he embarrassed them. That Joyce had spied for the Black and Tans, and was in fact an empire loyalist wasn’t widely known here. As far as many people were concerned, he was an Irishman hanged by the British.
And what do we make of this?!
http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Adolf-Hitler-the-Irish-folk-music-fan.html
Very interesting to hear that about the Kerryman. Though the Kennellys have always been a strong Fine Gael too so maybe he decided to leave that issue alone. Then again many of those who were busy breaking up Blueshirt rallies were cheering on Hitler a few years later.