The Hereford Heckler

[K.Bullstreet]

Here is the Hereford Heckler, bi-monthly bulletin of the Hereford Solidarity League*.

Issue 1 - Feb/March 2008: School Closures, Big Brother, Racist Attack, Anthony the Bigot, foreigners in football, Anti-fascist news, Top 5 & more.
http://senduit.com/d66fa3

Issue 2 - April/May 2008: Film Banned in Hereford, Hereford's first LGBT festival, "They come over here, steal our jobs", Don't Mess with the fans or we'll mess with you, Anti-fascist news, Helen Heckler, Top 5 & more.
http://senduit.com/e54e68

Issue 3 - June/July 2008: No Bypass!, Decent homes for all, 1940's anti-fascists, Hereford United promotion, Kick racist scum off our terraces, Anti-fascist news, Helen Heckler & more.
http://senduit.com/7e6356

Issue 4 - August/Sept 2008: Council to wreck city, News in brief, Heckler master plan for city (Edgar Street Grid redevelopment special), Anti-fascist news, Sport for the community, Max Mosley & more.
http://senduit.com/7a1323


*Hereford Solidarity League works to build a society based on the ideas of freedom, equality and community. Anti-fascism is an important part of our politics, but we believe that all politicians, including those of fascist parties like the BNP, maintain a system of inequality, privilege and control that divides communities.
Real change does not happen at the ballot box, and can only come about by independent working class action; that is, people looking out for eachother and organising themselves to deal with the problems that they experience on a day to day basis.
Our aim is to increase the fighting spirit and self-confidence of working class people to change things for themselves.


To get in contact with HSL or to recieve the Heckler, email
kay(dot)bulstreet(at)hotmail(dot)co.uk

~Please note that the email address does not go to me.

- Please also note that the links will expire in a week.

[Saorsa]

Why is it that British comrades seem to focus more on attacking a tiny threat like the BNP than they do on a major threat, like the Labour Party? Far more workers have illusions in the reactionary Labour Party than in the BNP, so surely you should spend more time attacking the liberal-capitalist Labour Party than you do attacking the tiny nationalist group?

[Joe Hill's Ghost]

Why is it that British comrades seem to focus more on attacking a tiny threat like the BNP than they do on a major threat, like the Labour Party? Far more workers have illusions in the reactionary Labour Party than in the BNP, so surely you should spend more time attacking the liberal-capitalist Labour Party than you do attacking the tiny nationalist group?

Labour is just like any other ruling class liberal democrat party. Labour has to be beaten back with mass organization it's not something we can eliminate with a few fists and some pamphlets.

The BNP actively beats up, rapes, tortures, and kills ethnic minorities and working class militants. The BNP must be cleared before it grows to any significant size, becuase like any fash group, it operates primarily through street thugs, and bullying. It posits a particularly virulent anti worker politic, that can and will be killed before it takes root. Its one of the few things radicals can make a big impact in the here and now. The evidence is actually pretty clear. Britain remains relatively fash free. France did not efficiently target fash, and now the national alliance is a mass party.

So the choice is clear. Agitate against capitalism without a strong emphasis on the fascists, and watch as they become stronger and stronger. Or beat them down and destroy their organizational capacity, before they gain a mass following.

[Devrim]

The BNP actively beats up, rapes, tortures, and kills ethnic minorities and working class militants.

Please give an example of the BNP killing a single working class militant.

Devrim

[Saorsa]

Labour is just like any other ruling class liberal democrat party. Labour has to be beaten back with mass organization it's not something we can eliminate with a few fists and some pamphlets.

And you think you can eliminate the BNP with "a few fists and some pamphlets"? It can't be much of a threat. Labour has done for more to attack workers, immigrants and minorities than the BNP ever has or is ever likely to, so why not attack it, and actually run the risk of accomplishing something useful, rather than focusing on a non-threat like the BNP?

The destruction of working class communities that has lead to the growth of far-right, nationalist forces was not carried out by the BNP - it was carried out by the tag-team of Labour and the Tories.

[K.Bullstreet]

Why is it that British comrades seem to focus more on attacking a tiny threat like the BNP than they do on a major threat, like the Labour Party? Far more workers have illusions in the reactionary Labour Party than in the BNP, so surely you should spend more time attacking the liberal-capitalist Labour Party than you do attacking the tiny nationalist group?

We do see the Labour Party as a threat to the working class, and we do focus on them in some of the articles. However, locally Labour hardly have any presence, the Tories are in control of the council and they are the ones that we spend most of our time slagging off, :lol:.

[Joe Hill's Ghost]

And you think you can eliminate the BNP with "a few fists and some pamphlets"? It can't be much of a threat. Labour has done for more to attack workers, immigrants and minorities than the BNP ever has or is ever likely to, so why not attack it, and actually run the risk of accomplishing something useful, rather than focusing on a non-threat like the BNP?

The destruction of working class communities that has lead to the growth of far-right, nationalist forces was not carried out by the BNP - it was carried out by the tag-team of Labour and the Tories.

Well that's how you keep the BNP tiny. By physically confronting it and building ideological alternatives. Most BNP voters are working class, and its a matter of converting them back to the far left that they would usually inhabit. Part of that initiative requires the elimination of physical alternatives...the BNP.

If you want to ignore them and watch as the BNP becomes a major party, be my guest. But best to get rid of them now before they have real capacity.

[Devrim]

So JHG, no evidence to back up your claims.

Devrim

[K.Bullstreet]

Well you can look the the Hecklers now so :p

[Saorsa]

Part of that initiative requires the elimination of physical alternatives...the BNP.

So you plan on killing BNP members then? :lol:

Do you honestly see the BNP as a bigger threat to the British working class and the British socialist movement than the Labour Party is?

[Devrim]

The reason that JHG has presented no evidence to support his claim that 'the BNP actively beats up, rapes, tortures, and kills ethnic minorities and working class militants'.Is because there is none. As far as I know the BNP has never killed anyone*, nor have they tortured anyone, or raped anyone.

They are in fact as CA described them a 'tiny nationalist group', which has no hope of coming to power.

So why is JHG making claims like this? I don't think that he is deliberately lying. He is from the US, and no doubt is unaware of the facts. I think that he has been taken in by the hype that the leftists make about what is in reality a small irrelveant nationalist party.

Devrim

*Copeland was not a member of the BNP at the time of the bombings.

[Joe Hill's Ghost]

So you plan on killing BNP members then? :lol:

Do you honestly see the BNP as a bigger threat to the British working class and the British socialist movement than the Labour Party is?

I personally don't plan on doing anything that would be illegal. I'm stating the position of the British AntiFa movement, which has been born out by history.

The BNP is not a bigger threat than the Labour party. But they represent a strong potential threat. Thus it makes a lot of sense to keep these types tiny, isolated, and constantly insecure, so that potential threat never becomes a serious one. Britain doesn't need a BNP the size of the FN in France or the Lega Nord in Italy. That would be a disaster. The far right is always a danger to the life and limb of working people, and we must remain ever vigilant. If we do not, they grow, take hold, and hate crimes proliferate.

[K.Bullstreet]

Here's the new website, still under construction in some areas. :cool: http://herefordheckler.wordpress.com/

[Dr Mindbender]

Why is it that British comrades seem to focus more on attacking a tiny threat like the BNP than they do on a major threat, like the Labour Party? Far more workers have illusions in the reactionary Labour Party than in the BNP, so surely you should spend more time attacking the liberal-capitalist Labour Party than you do attacking the tiny nationalist group?


the BNP carry far more weight than you give them credit for. Their poison is resonating in working class areas where there is racial tension, while support for the labour party is diminishing.

If anything, the BNP is one of the biggest political threats to socialism in the UK.

The mainstreamers are probably helping by doing so badly.

[Pogue]

No offence, Comrade Alistair, but you have no idea what you're talking about. The BNP is a major threat which is on the rise in working class areas of the UK. You have a point with the Labour Party thing. They're not fully liberal yet though, theres still some socialists in there.

[K.Bullstreet]

Issue 5 is now out, check it out online here:
http://herefordheckler.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/hereford-heckler-w05.pdf

[Holden Caulfield]

cheers K. its a quality read, anarchist papers are usually a good read and i say this as a Trotskyist

[Yehuda Stern]

It seems to me that British leftists make the BNP a bigger threat than it really is mostly to justify their support of Labour, or at least its left wing. I remember it being used by an SWP member to justify their support of Ken Livingstone's mayoral campaign.

[Holden Caulfield]

It seems to me that British leftists make the BNP a bigger threat than it really is mostly to justify their support of Labour, or at least its left wing. I remember it being used by an SWP member to justify their support of Ken Livingstone's mayoral campaign.


thats the SWP tho, they change their mind too much pay no heed to them as a example of the views of the majority of the 'British Left',

the BNP is a big threat but we cannot be fooled into voting for New Labourites

[Yehuda Stern]

I was just giving an example. Many groups on the British left supported Ken Livingstone's campaign's, with excuses that I am sure are just as paper thin.

And I wouldn't let the BNP fool me into voting for old Labourites, either.

[K.Bullstreet]

Issue 8 now out: http://herefordheckler.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/hereford-heckler-w08.pdf

You can view all back issues on the site as well; www.herefordheckler.wordpress.com (http://www.herefordheckler.wordpress.com)

Thanks, K.

[Holden Caulfield]

Its a quality paper, beat the shit out of 'the Socialist' :lol:

[STJ]

Why is it that British comrades seem to focus more on attacking a tiny threat like the BNP than they do on a major threat, like the Labour Party? Far more workers have illusions in the reactionary Labour Party than in the BNP, so surely you should spend more time attacking the liberal-capitalist Labour Party than you do attacking the tiny nationalist group?
I think the BNP are a large threat. The BNP picked up a crap load of seats in Englands last election. They are a rising danger.

[PeaderO'Donnell]

No offence, Comrade Alistair, but you have no idea what you're talking about. The BNP is a major threat which is on the rise in working class areas of the UK. You have a point with the Labour Party thing. They're not fully liberal yet though, theres still some socialists in there.

Socialists in New Labour? Is that a joke?

Old Labour carried on vicious imperialist wars and it really makes a point in AvanteRedGuard's defense that so many "Socialists" were members of it.

[Forward Union]

Why is it that British comrades seem to focus more on attacking a tiny threat like the BNP than they do on a major threat, like the Labour Party? Far more workers have illusions in the reactionary Labour Party than in the BNP, so surely you should spend more time attacking the liberal-capitalist Labour Party than you do attacking the tiny nationalist group?

Absolutely agreed. I think housing evictions, house prices, job losses, and unemployment are far bigger issues than the BNP, and it's a shame you mentioned a comletely irrelevant fringe issue like anti-fascism over say,combating threats from bosses and landlords....

Sigh.

The BNP didn't get to where it is now by banging on about anti-communism.

[Forward Union]

Socialists in New Labour? Is that a joke?

Old Labour carried on vicious imperialist wars and it really makes a point in AvanteRedGuard's defense that so many "Socialists" were members of it.

No it's not a joke there is a socialist bloc in the Labour party,

[Pogue]

Absolutely agreed. I think housing evictions, house prices, job losses, and unemployment are far bigger issues than the BNP, and it's a shame you mentioned a comletely irrelevant fringe issue like anti-fascism over say,combating threats from bosses and landlords....

Sigh.

The BNP didn't get to where it is now by banging on about anti-communism.

Yeh they are bigger issues. But I think anti-fascism has to be and should be one wing of the militant workers movement. Obviously naturally the workers movement would be opposed to fascism and vice verca, but I think we have to have some part of our movement which combats them ideologically and physically. It shouldn't divert attention away from revolutionary anti-capitalism, but its a natural part of it which we shouldn't ignore.