Anti-fascist tactics

[The Feral Underclass]

It seems to be a hobby for the British based anarchists and Antifa fesitishts on here to keep having rants about UAF but I can't take them seriously until they actually do something. Where were the squadists during the BNP's breakthrough election? Refusing to participate withi the movement, thats where.

If you reduce this warn out bollocks down to its essentials you're basically just saying "you don't work with UAF therefore you don't do any political activism". It's such a puerile debating tactic and not only does it show your total ignorance towards the political activity of others, it also painfully highlights your complete ineptitude when it comes to actually analysing the current situation facing the working class.

Your party campaigned on a "vote anybody but the BNP" line for fuck sake! You're hardly in a position to criticise others; especially when it's from some ill-informed prejudiced view that amounts to nothing more than: "Well you don't do what I want you to do therefore my politics is better". Get a fucking grip!

If you actually engaged with the politics (god forbid that you'd step outside your myopic 'follow party line' world view) you might begin to realise that anarchists and others didn't participate in the UAF bullshit campaign to hoodwink the working class into believing that parliamentary democracy might actually save them - indeed went further and rightly criticised it as a tactic - because you're wrong.

Calling for the working class to go out and vote for the very people that are making them turn to the BNP in the first place is so mind-bogglingly fucking ridiculous it makes the SWP's fuckfest with George Galloway actually look like the prelude to social revolution.

When will you people take a step back from yourselves and get some fucking perspective.

[Sam_b]

TAT, you have simply ignored everything I have said?


If you reduce this warn out bollocks down to its essentials you're basically just saying "you don't work with UAF therefore you don't do any political activism". It's such a puerile debating tactic and not only does it show your total ignorance towards the political activity of others, it also painfully highlights your complete ineptitude when it comes to actually analysing the current situation facing the working class.

Wrong. In an othher post I call for closer links to be made with 'other anti-racist groups' which you'd think would imply that there are other groups out there doing work in other areas. The point being, and its a simple one, is that I have not seen or heard anything from these other groups of any activity. I even point to the failures of UAF and have asked what others have been doing! And yet, nobody including yourself has mentioned anything.


Your party campaigned on a "vote anybody but the BNP" line for fuck sake! You're hardly in a position to criticise others; especially when it's from some ill-informed prejudiced view that amounts to nothing more than: "Well you don't do what I want you to do therefore my politics is better". Get a fucking grip!


I have outlined my problems with squadism. Ho fucking hum. Any substance yet? No, the usual TAT rant which always ends in 'fucking disgrace' 'fucking reactionary', or in this case 'get a fucking grip'.


If you actually engaged with the politics (god forbid that you'd step outside your myopic 'follow party line' world view) you might begin to realise that anarchists and others didn't participate in the UAF bullshit campaign to hoodwink the working class into believing that parliamentary democracy might actually save them - indeed went further and rightly criticised it as a tactic - because you're wrong.

As usual, no substance at all from our resident black cat agitator. No examples of where other groups have been doing it right, of course, because that would be painfully painfully obvious. No doubt this'll be followed with the usual TAT sarcastic neg rap about me 'hating the class'. TAT has no idea of what party line I do or don't adhere to, so this is merely posturing, but who am I to get in the way of a good rant?

So instead of this, we should have taken Antifa England's example - we should have all stayed at home, have written a toys-out-of-the-pram 'statement' against UAF and of course done fuck-all to build any movement of any type.

Seems obvious now, eh?

Rah rah, fight the power. Right the power indeed. Blah blah 'perspective' 'ashamed' 'class traitor'

[The Feral Underclass]

TAT, you have simply ignored everything I have said?

That's because you've not said anything.


In an othher post I call for closer links to be made with 'other anti-racist groups' which you'd think would imply that there are other groups out there doing work in other areas.Just not the anarchists then.


The point being, and its a simple one, is that I have not seen or heard anything from these other groups of any activity.That's because we're actually in communities and workplaces building links with the working class and participating in actual struggle.


I even point to the failures of UAF and have asked what others have been doing! And yet, nobody including yourself has mentioned anything.Mentioned anything about what? I'm a class struggle revolutionary, my role is to participate in struggle, to build resistance, to agitate ideas within the working class and that's what I do.


I have outlined my problems with squadism.I don't give a shit. Your opinions are woefully inadequate in their understanding.


Any substance yet?Substance to what? I'm not presenting some grand political narrative I'm simply pointing out UAF's absurd tactics.


As usual, no substance at all from our resident black cat agitator.OK, then explain to me what it is you'd like me to respond with substance to because I've not seen anything worthy of more than what I've responded with.

I'd alsp like to point out the irony with your "no substance" obsession considering the fact that you haven't actually responded to the legitimate political criticisms that I've made in my post to you. I wonder why that is?


No examples of where other groups have been doing it right, of course, because that would be painfully painfully obvious.Because it's pathetic. I'm not under any obligation to sit here and justify my political activity to you. I have nothing to prove to you. I live in my community and I work in my work place and I use my politics to agitate in the day-to-day struggles that happen there. I operate as a revolutionary within the working class.

If you haven't got the scope to really understand what it means to be working class, what it means to be in struggle and ultimately how it means to relate as a class struggle revolutionary within my class and within my struggles then it simply reinforces the fact that you and your SWP buddies have absolutely no fucking idea what the hell is going on.


TAT has no idea of what party line I do or don't adhere to, so this is merely posturing, but who am I to get in the way of a good rant?:rolleyes:


So instead of this, we should have taken Antifa England's example - we should have all stayed at home, have written a toys-out-of-the-pram 'statement' against UAF and of course done fuck-all to build any movement of any type.And who have you been building a movement with? Unions that have consistently stabbed their workers in the back and fucking Labour and Tory politicians for fuck sake.

Once again you have failed to firstly understand what Antifa is and secondly to understand what it does. It is a tactic, it is not a movement, nor does it claim to be for one simple reason: the working class are the movement. Not union bureaucrats and Labour politicians. We don't seek electoral power because we understand that the only challenge for fascism can come from the working class (you remember us right?).

We have to address the concerns of working class people, agitate in communities, challenge fascist ideas and presences with militancy and justify those tactics within day-to-day struggle in our communities and workplaces in an effort to build cultures of resistance, not just to fascism but to capitalism and the state too. And not as militant anti-fascists (so you can get to fuck with your squaddist bollocks), but as class struggle revolutionaries. But surely this is obvious?

[Sam_b]

I would have imagined it would be pretty easy to have shown examples. Your argument is tantamount to "we've done nothing but UAF is shite so that excuses us".

To be honest, unless you can give me something then i'm done here. I'll go away instead and devise my 'Anarchist Tension Bullshit Bingo' set.

Points are for "no fucking idea" "traitor" etc.

And anyway, I thought this was a discussion forum. If you don't want to justify your political activity to me, why the hell are you here?

[The Feral Underclass]

I would have imagined it would be pretty easy to have shown examples. Your argument is tantamount to "we've done nothing but UAF is shite so that excuses us".

Examples of what exactly? I suggest you re-read my post and attempt to understand the meaning of the words I kindly structured into sentences for you using the same language you seemingly speak. Here's a suggestion, why not try engaging with the politics in my posts :ohmy:. Imagine having to think outside the box. Scary isn't it?


To be honest, unless you can give me something then i'm done here. I'll go away instead and devise my 'Anarchist Tension Bullshit Bingo' set.When the going gets tuff Sam_b refuses to talk any more. Never mind the fact there is real politics you could be talking about.


And anyway, I thought this was a discussion forum. If you don't want to justify your political activity to me, why the hell are you here?:lol:

Since when has discussion been defined as me having to justify my political activity to you?

In any case I have explained my political activity in broad terms. I could talk about the community activity and workplace activity that I do, but I really see no reason for doing so but to engage you in some pureile game of "my cock's bigger than yours". Nevertheless, my political activity (or lack thereof) does not makes you and your party any less of a joke or qualifies the UAF tactic any more as a good idea; because it's not, and no matter how much or little political activity I do or do not do the UAF tactifc will remain reactionary and counter-productive.

I'm sorry but "well at least I'm doing something" doesn't cut the mustard as a defence for your tactics. I suggest finding a different way to justify your shitty politics.

[Sam_b]

Why, I only wrote yesterday:

Where were the squadists during the BNP's breakthrough election?
I've yet to see anyone mention anything.

This bingo's bloody good fun, I tell you. Ten points for "UAF tactic will remain reactionary" and twenty for "your shitty politics".

As usual for our resident flamer admin, all expletives, posturing and offensive, but no substance. Thank god his group has no base at all within the working class movement.

[The Feral Underclass]

Where were the squadists during the BNP's breakthrough election?

Yes, and like I said, I don't know what you're referring to? I've explained Antifa and I've explained the tactics I as an anarchist use. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to acknowledge that my explanation exists because it's right there in my post. You can't just pretend it's not.


As usual for our resident flamer admin, all expletives, posturing and offensive, but no substance. Thank god his group has no base at all within the working class movement.What is the working class movement to UAF? Bureaucrats and politicians! UAF isn't a working class movement, it's a broad based coalition of leftist organisations, Unions and MP's.

When was the last time you actually went into your community and spoke to actual working class people about their fears and concerns? I can't see how you can lecture me about sqauddism and not being apart of working class movements when UAF have done absolutely nothing to engage with the wider working class (oh you gave out leaflets asking people to vote for Labour).

You talk proudly of the fact that you and UAF at least did something, but what is it that you actually did? You attempted to build a reformist popular front that ignored the real concerns of working class people and the reasons for them voting BNP in the first place.

Where was I in the run up to the European elections? I was in my community trying to build resistance to fascist ideas; engaging people in discussion, providing tactics to challenge not just fascism but capitalism and the state too, but that's where I always am. This is a day-to-day struggle. It's not something I do as a one-off. I do it as the basis of being a class struggle revolutionary.

Perhaps one day you will grow up and realise that these grand coalitions are meaningless. Building short lived popular fronts will never and can never achieve anything meaningful to the working class because they don't relate to actual, objective, material conditions that we, as workers face on a daily basis. They do not provide confidence to resist, they do not provide ideas to struggle and they do not provide a tactic for success against forces that exploit, alienate and oppress us everyday of ourlives.

You and your party simply do not have the political analysis or perspective to fully understand what that really means.

[Hit The North]

Once again you have failed to firstly understand what Antifa is and secondly to understand what it does. It is a tactic, it is not a movement, nor does it claim to be for one simple reason: the working class are the movement.


I'd like to understand further what you mean when you say 'antifa is a tactic'. No-platform is a tactic, as I understand tactics. How does antifa relate to this?

I'd like to understand what you mean when you say 'the working class is the movement'. The working class is a class, where many are in denial about their class identity. It certainly lacks the collective will of a movement.


Not union bureaucrats and Labour politicians. .
Unfortunately the social base of their support is part of our class.

That aside, it is disingenuous and inaccurate to characterise the activity of UAF as only that. The organisation provides ordinary rank and file union activists with materials for opposing the BNP in the workplace and winning union endorsement of no-platform for racist and fascists. Members of the UAF hold stalls in town centres. Hold educational meetings. Bring thousands of people together to hear music and speeches at Love Music Hate Racism events. Local UAF groups respond to local anti-racist issues like organising protests against a BNP presence.

Whether the UAF do this often enough or well enough is open to question. That it happens sometimes as a normal part of its activity, is not.


We don't seek electoral power because we understand that the only challenge for fascism can come from the working class (you remember us right?)
Neither UAF or the SWP seek electoral power, either. Meanwhile the SWP would not disagree that the working class are the decisive force in combating fascism and the social roots of it.


We have to address the concerns of working class people, agitate in communities, challenge fascist ideas and presences with militancy and justify those tactics within day-to-day struggle in our communities and workplaces in an effort to build cultures of resistance, not just to fascism but to capitalism and the state too. And not as militant anti-fascists (so you can get to fuck with your squaddist bollocks), but as class struggle revolutionaries. But surely this is obvious?Right on, comrade. That sums up the task of revolutionaries perfectly. And I say that as a sympathiser of the SWP and must add that I recognise the same approach in many SWP activists I have known and continue to know.

[The Feral Underclass]

I'd like to understand further what you mean when you say 'antifa is a tactic'. No-platform is a tactic, as I understand tactics. How does antifa relate to this?

Specifically. It's a network of militants who use violent means to confront fascism. It is designed specifically and exclusively as a direct no-platforming federation of groups. It has no pretensions to be anything else and actually clearly states in it's founding statement:


Fascism can be suppressed by the use of street-level tactics against their attempts to publicly organise. The fascists electoral ambitions can be defeated by the use of counter-propaganda. But a meaningful impact on fascism requires far more than this. We believe that involvement in local communities is critical (and this does not mean parachuting in as outsiders, but people taking action in their own communities.) Education and presenting workable solutions to the problems faced by communities are absolutely vital to the struggle. These may be outside the current remit of Antifa, but we will wholeheartedly support these tactics, and while we may not be able to initiate such activities, we strongly encourage our members to involve themselves in this sort of grass-roots work.

http://antifa.org.uk/foundstat.htm

And this is what Antifa members do as part of wider class struggle organisations. It is a closed network because of security reasons and therefore is unable to do both violent confrontational tactics and community based work as Antifa. Especially when members are potentially committing crimes or involving themselves in violent activity with violent groups who collect information on known activists, using it for their own confrontational purposes.


I'd like to understand what you mean when you say 'the working class is the movement'. The working class is a class, where many are in denial about their class identity. It certainly lacks the collective will of a movement.What I mean is that there can be no other organising, no other involvement and no other building but within the working class. It is only the working class, as an organised movement, that will be able to overthrow capitalism and the state and by doing so effectively defeat fascism.


Unfortunately the social base of their support is part of our class. I can guarantee that members of Unison, Unite and PCS etc voted for the BNP. It's not the membership signing up to UAF, it's the union leadership and just because they have offered support to the campaign does not actually address the issues facing working class people.


That aside, it is disingenuous and inaccurate to characterise the activity of UAF as only that. The organisation provides ordinary rank and file union activists with materials for opposing the BNP in the workplace and winning union endorsement of no-platform for racist and fascists. Members of the UAF hold stalls in town centres. Hold educational meetings. Bring thousands of people together to hear music and speeches at Love Music Hate Racism events. Local UAF groups respond to local anti-racist issues like organising protests against a BNP presence. Yet the BNP still managed to win two seats. How much effect does your "educationals" and "rock against racism" actually have on real working class people? I'm not talking about middle class, Guardian reading liberals and students, I'm talking about actual working class people.


Neither UAF or the SWP seek electoral power, either. Meanwhile the SWP would not disagree that the working class are the decisive force in combating fascism and the social roots of it.Perhaps not, but that doesn't alter the fact that the perspective and analysis of these two groups are woefully inadequate in actually dealing with working class issues.

[Hit The North]

And this is what Antifa members do as part of wider class struggle organisations. It is a closed network because of security reasons and therefore is unable to do both violent confrontational tactics and community based work as Antifa. Especially when members are potentially committing crimes or involving themselves in violent activity with violent groups who collect information on known activists, using it for their own confrontational purposes.


This inability to unite its two aims of violent confrontation and community-based work is a real contradiction. No wonder antifa is open to the accusation of squadism. Moreover, given that you rightly claim that only the working class can seriously confront and defeat fascism, this makes it a poor tactic and explains why it is invisible.


I can guarantee that members of Unison, Unite and PCS etc voted for the BNP. It's not the membership signing up to UAF, it's the union leadership and just because they have offered support to the campaign does not actually address the issues facing working class people.Yes, some members possibly did vote BNP and I wouldn't claim that the whole membership of these unions are signed up to UAF. It's not even close. You will need to concede, though, that individual Unison, Unite and PCS members who may have voted BNP are largely not enthusiastic and active trade unionists.


Yet the BNP still managed to win two seats.
Yes, the BNP won two seats and UAF were no more able to prevent this than were antifa militants attacking BNP members with hammers. But do you seriously think the tactic of ignoring the elections and dismissing them as a bourgeois irrelevance would have had better results? Was it, I wonder, the anarchist habit of dismissing elections as irrelevant which contributed to the fact that antifa were no where to be seen campaigning against the BNP amongst the "real working class" of Barnsley and Burnley?



How much effect does your "educationals" and "rock against racism" actually have on real working class people? I'm not talking about middle class, Guardian reading liberals and students, I'm talking about actual working class people.You seem very fond of talking about the "actual working class" as if you have sole, privileged access to them. Yes, the Love Music, Hate Racism event in Stoke on June 2nd probably attracted many students amongst the 20,000 who attended. Horror of horrors, some of them might even occasionally read the Guardian. But so what? Does this put them outside the working class? As I remember you, yourself, have been active in campaigning against the officer core presence at your local university. Is this an example of you campaigning amongst the "real working class"?

Btw, how many times a week does someone have to read the Guardian before you dismiss them as not worth bothering with?


Perhaps not, but that doesn't alter the fact that the perspective and analysis of these two groups are woefully inadequate in actually dealing with working class issues.Three groups if we include the woefully inadequate (non)activity of Antifa.

[The Feral Underclass]

This inability to unite its two aims of violent confrontation and community-based work is a real contradiction.

I don't see why? Antifa is a tactic and can only operate successfully if it adopts certain methods of organising. This doesn't negate community based activity; it simply makes no tactical sense to do that within the Antifa branding.


No wonder antifa is open to the accusation of squadism.It's open to these accusations because people like you and your SWP cronies don't understand it.


Moreover, given that you rightly claim that only the working class can seriously confront and defeat fascism, this makes it a poor tactic and explains why it is invisible.Firstly it's invisible because it operates in a clandestine way, which is necessary if it's to organise successfully. Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not in operation.

Secondly, while it's true the working class can only seriously confront and defeat fascistm - by ending capitalism - that doesn't mean that working class activists cannot organise to confront fascism within the confines of Antifa.


Yes, some members possibly did vote BNP and I wouldn't claim that the whole membership of these unions are signed up to UAF. It's not even close. You will need to concede, though, that individual Unison, Unite and PCS members who may have voted BNP are largely not enthusiastic and active trade unionists.Yes, there probably are individual members of these unions that are active trade unionists. So what? These unions have terrible histories of selling out the workers they claim to represent. The fact that UAF has got all cosy with their leadership is just a testament to the bankruptcy of popular frontism.


Yes, the BNP won two seats and UAF were no more able to prevent this than were antifa militants attacking BNP members with hammers. But do you seriously think the tactic of ignoring the elections and dismissing them as a bourgeois irrelevance would have had better results?Well it didn't. But I'm not really sure what point you're trying to make? The difference is that the reformist tactics of UAF are not only unprincipled, the tactic is confusing and leads nowhere. Had UAF succeeded in getting students to go and vote anything but BNP (which was largely the efforts of UAF in Sheffield) then what would they have achieved? OK, the BNP would not have won their two seats, but then what? Nothing. There was no analysis, there was nothing for working class people to be inspired by or to help their day-to-day struggles. There's simply nothing that addressed our actual concerns about the economic downturn, the increase in crimes and poverty - nothing to address the actual reasons for people voting BNP.

Had the tactic of rejecting bourgeois electoral systems worked, had the analysis been accepted and the tactic of community self-organisation happened, where would that have lead us?

So sure, the tactic failed, but our tactic was far more principled and would have achieved far better results had it succeeded. I'm talking about revolutionary, progressive results that would lead us one step closer. Rather than getting the Labour party a stronger representation in Europe.


I wonder, the anarchist habit of dismissing elections as irrelevant which contributed to the fact that antifa were no where to be seen campaigning against the BNP amongst the "real working class" of Barnsley and Burnley?I'm not going to defend Antifa anymore. If you can't fully grasp what I'm saying to you then tuff. But I will make it clear that the activity of militant anti-fascists in Barnsley have resulted in the BNP stall being actively resisted. There is also community based awareness stuff that has happened in and around Barnsley by militant anti-fascists.

You need to realise that just because you don't see it or you're not apart of it doesn't mean that it's not there.



You seem very fond of talking about the "actual working class" as if you have sole, privileged access to them.Bizarre thing to get from what I'm saying. Paranoid almost.


Yes, the Love Music, Hate Racism event in Stoke on June 2nd probably attracted many students amongst the 20,000 who attended. Horror of horrors, some of them might even occasionally read the Guardian. But so what? Does this put them outside the working class?Yes.


As I remember you, yourself, have been active in campaigning against the officer core presence at your local university. Is this an example of you campaigning amongst the "real working class"?

No. Although we did attempt to link our activity and our politics with the porters and cleaners who are facing job cuts and attacks on wages. This is something we have always attempted to do, even in the Gaza occupation in which they assisted our activities with great personal risk because we had that politics and made those links.


Btw, how many times a week does someone have to read the Guardian before you dismiss them as not worth bothering with?Oh get off your high horse. It's just a superficial epithet. I'm an avid Guardian reader.


Three groups if we include the woefully inadequate (non)activity of Antifa

That depends how you measure their success in the context of their stated aims. Antifa consistently confronts fascism on a no-platform basis and succeeds in stopping fascists from organising or having a presence on the street. As this is its stated aims I would contend that their activity is pretty adequate, thanks.

[Fietsketting]

Calling for the working class to go out and vote for the very people that are making them turn to the BNP in the first place is so mind-bogglingly fucking ridiculous it makes the SWP's fuckfest with George Galloway actually look like the prelude to social revolution.

When will you people take a step back from yourselves and get some fucking perspective.

Doesn't this say it all?

[The Ungovernable Farce]

Why, I only wrote yesterday:
Where were the squadists during the BNP's breakthrough election?
I've yet to see anyone mention anything.

Obviously, none of us can claim that we did anything that amazing, the fact that the fash got elected is proof that neither the liberal anti-fascist groups or the relatively small militant ones are perfect. But I think that the fact that Hereford Antifa and the Hereford Solidarity League produced a leaflet that was actually aimed at voters considering voting BNP, and made an effort to engage with the BNP's arguments and discredit them instead of just saying "the BNP are nazis, so vote for the same shit capitalist politicians that got us into this mess to keep them out", is a worthwhile start.


Unfortunately the social base of their support is part of our class.

And if the tories get elected, it'll be because they've convinced many working-class people to support them. Does that mean we should start trying to convince David Cameron to join antifa? But [email protected] who don't understand Trotsky's criticism of popular fronts.

Bring thousands of people together to hear music and speeches at Love Music Hate Racism events.
Yep, they can sometimes get large numbers of people to passively consume anti-fascism from a stage and then go home.

Neither UAF or the SWP seek electoral power, either.
I wish they'd remembered that bit before they got hundreds of well-intentioned socialists to waste massive amounts of time and resources campaigning to get the likes of George sodding Galloway and Yvonne "quite a fan of Mahmoud Admadinejad" Ridley elected.

[RoniCommunist]

Fuck nazi's..
:cool:

[Holden Caulfield]

Fuck nazi's..
:cool:

try to be more constructive in future comrade, post like this will be delete in future as they add little.

[AlMack]

juuust for the record it wasnt antifa with the hammers

i went the national uaf conference & it was even worse than i expected, no talk of tactics, no chance for motions to be made, the usual top-down authoritarian yet simultaneously wet liberal malarkey
weyman bennet thinks calling people nazis works 96% of the time apparently. he did however imply that he has to keep things fluffy to guarantee trade union funding which gave the impression he wanted people to take matters into their own hands in a more direct manner on the downlow in their local areas. i hope thats how others took it.
some of the guest speakers were decent apart from a few advocating scrapping no platform:confused:
i think we'll carry on with our independant approach in my area, where ppl are visibly working in community projects that deal with a lot more than just antifascism (especially the disillusionment with the mainstream), there is leafleting on a mass scale too as well as the more direct approach when necessary from some, with no police informing going on.

[RoniCommunist]

try to be more constructive in future comrade, post like this will be delete in future as they add little.

oh man .. sry i'm new and i didn't read the forum's rulezz. :(:(
:)

[The Ungovernable Farce]

The trots in this thread have certainly gone very quiet all of a sudden.

[The Feral Underclass]

I think it's because they don't need to justify their politics to us. We're anarchsits.

[Holden Caulfield]

The trots in this thread have certainly gone very quiet all of a sudden.

I'm a Trot, and have been the main defender of antifa on this forum for a good while, don't trot hate just because the SWP is made up of middle class (teacher & student) muppets. RedAction were Trotskyists (and dispite what misgivings you may have about them and their role in AFA) they were a bloody good bunch.

[The Ungovernable Farce]

I'm a Trot, and have been the main defender of antifa on this forum for a good while, don't trot hate just because the SWP is made up of middle class (teacher & student) muppets. RedAction were Trotskyists (and dispite what misgivings you may have about them and their role in AFA) they were a bloody good bunch.
Sorry, forgot about that, no offence intended. Although I dunno if I'd call Red Action trots - obviously, they were reds and not anarchists, and started off as an SWP split, but they did come out with stuff like this (http://www.redaction.org/misc/who.html), which sounds very un-trot:

Nonetheless, within months of the working class taking power in Russia in 1917, the Bolshevik leadership laid plans (on a basic misunderstanding that a minority administration could impose communism from the top down) to ban all political activity other than their own. A bastardised Marxism, which undeniably prepared the ground for the Stalin led counter-revolution that followed. Thereafter the entire socialist thought process was contaminated in one way or the other. With the moral high ground surrendered, the rise of fascism followed swiftly. From a highpoint in 1917, defeat in the Spanish Civil War less than twenty years later, arguably closed the chapter on working class self-determination in Europe in the 20th century.

[Stand Your Ground]

I wish I lived in the UK so I could take part in Antifa action. :( Where I live I don't ever get to do anything.