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From The Socialist newspaper, 23 August 2017
Opposing the National Front in Grantham
Chanting against the far right EDL in Bradford, photo Paul Mattsson (Click to enlarge)
Tom Barker, East Midlands Socialist Party
When it was announced that the racist National Front (NF) planned to descend on the small market town of Grantham, Lincolnshire, on 19 August, counter-demonstrators were given just one-day's notice to organise. Yet in spite of this, the far-right group were massively outnumbered. Even with a national mobilisation, they could only muster around 30 supporters!
The National Front, which remains a shadow of its former 1970s self, clearly intended to use this event to build on recent developments in the US - at one point unveiling a Confederate flag - and to recruit and spread racist lies.
But in Grantham, the hometown of the hated former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, they were isolated and got no visible support from the general public.
Although the National Front was outnumbered, the counter-demonstration was not large enough to shut down the march altogether. This enabled the police, who were extremely heavy-handed with the anti-fascists, to clear a path for the NF to march though the town centre.
The counter-protest followed quickly behind, and was greeted approvingly by shoppers and workers - many clapped and cheered as we marched.
But the trade union movement needs to be prepared to respond to far-right mobilisations at short notice. With a larger turnout, the National Front could have been stopped in their tracks and sent packing!
Socialist Party members gave out leaflets about Charlottesville, which explained the need to undercut racism by offering working class people an alternative, to fight together for better living conditions, and to oppose cuts and build socialist ideas.
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In The Socialist 23 August 2017:
What we think
Coordinate the strikes to defeat the Tories
Socialist Party news and analysis
Glasgow jannies win famous victory against council cutters
Bin workers - fighting back wins!
Hundreds evacuated after Labour council dismisses cracks in tower blocks
Amazon tax halves as revenues soar - nationalise now!
Workplace news and analysis
RMT and the Labour Party affiliation debate
Defiant Barts NHS workers fight to stop Serco sabotage
Three-week Argos distribution strike
BA poverty pay dispute enters new phase of action
McDonald's workers vote to walk out in historic strike
Bin workers say: Sack Suez, stop rubbish cuts!
PCS: strikes to defend jobcentres
Fighting the far right
US: neo-Nazi violence reawakens resistance
Lewisham 1977: When socialists and workers defeated the far-right National Front
Opposing the National Front in Grantham
Socialist Party feature
The Single Market: a neoliberal tool of the bosses
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Chatsworth ward campaigners demand answers
Vital women's services under threat
West Midlands Young Socialists fight for free education on results day
NHS campaign receives Labour Party backing
Socialist readers' comments and reviews
Mutinies and strikes: when Bolshevism threatened British bosses
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