Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) was a militant anti-fascist organization founded by me

mbers of Red Action and other left-wing groups in the United Kingdom in 1985.[1]
It was active in fighting organizations that were fascist or racist, such as the
National Front and British National Party. AFA had what they called a "twin-tra
ck" strategy: physical confrontation of fascists on the streets and ideological
struggle against fascism in working class communities.[1] While mainstream liber
al anti-racist groups often focus their attention on black people and other raci
al minorities as the victims of discrimination, AFA focused its efforts on the w
hite working class, which it saw as the fascist movement's main recruiting groun
d. AFA's physical confrontation approach was more visible than their ideological
work, and their tactics were criticised[who?] for their squadism and use of vio
lence.
Contents
1 History
1.1 1990s
2 See also
3 Notes
4 Further reading
5 External links
History
AFA was launched in London in 1985 by members of Red Action and the Direct Actio
n Movement. It was partly a reaction to the perceived inadequacies of the origin
al Anti-Nazi League (ANL), which at the time had wound up its operations. AFA me
mbers accused ANL of failing to directly confront fascists, of allying with mode
rates who were complicit in racism, and of being a vanguardist front for the Soc
ialist Workers Party (SWP). Although many Trotskyist groups, independent sociali
sts, anarchists and members of the Labour Party were active in AFA in the 1980s,
the main members were always from Red Action, a group founded by disillusioned
miltant anti-fascist SWP members who had criticised perceived populist or popula
r front politics of the ANL. Affiliated organisations in the early history of AF
A included Newham Monitoring Project and Searchlight magazine.
Thousands of people took part in AFA mobilisations such as the Remembrance Day d
emonstrations in 1986 and 1987, and a mobilisation against Blood and Honour in M
ay 1988. In 1988, AFA formed a musical arm, Cable Street Beat, on similar princi
ples to the Anti-Nazi League s Rock Against Racism. In 1989, there was a split in
AFA between militant anti-fascists and members whose views were closer to libera
l anti-fascism. The militant groups relaunched AFA that year, with the affiliate
s Direct Action Movement and Workers' Power, as well as several trade unions.
1990s
In 1990, three AFA members were jailed for a total of 11 years following an atta
ck on a neo-Nazi skinhead activist.[2] In 1991, AFA held a Unity Carnival in eas
t London, with 10,000 participants, and a demonstration in Bethnal Green, with 4
,000 participants (under the slogan Beating the Fascists: An old East End traditi
on ). A long street battle between AFA and Blood and Honour supporters in October
1992 was dubbed the Battle of Waterloo because it was centred around Waterloo St
ation.[3][4] In 1993, Derek Beackon, a candidate from the British National Party
(BNP), won a council seat on the Isle of Dogs in Tower Hamlets, East London; un
der the slogan of "Rights for Whites." This signalled a turn in the BNP's policy
from confrontation on the streets to a bid for electoral respectability. AFA re
sponded with its Filling the Vacuum strategy, which involved offering a politica
l alternative in these communities instead of concentrating on challenging the f
ascist presence on the streets.

After 1995, some anti-fascist mobilisations still occurred, such as ones against
the National Front in Dover in 1997 and 1998. A new AFA National Coordinating C
ommittee was set up, and in 1997, an official AFA statement forbid members from
associating with Searchlight. In 1998 the committee expelled Leeds and Huddersfi
eld AFA for ignoring this policy. There were some local relaunches of AFA groups
, such as in Liverpool in 2000, but by 2001, AFA barely existed as a national or
ganisation. Most AFA and Red Action activists have consequently devoted their en
ergies to the Independent Working Class Association, while a smaller, predominan
tly anarchist number have maintained AFA's militant, street-focused tactics.[1][
5]