In the last month, Black Lives Matter protests have spread to every corner of Wales, with thousands mobilising to take a stand against structural racism. Yet Wales has a rich history when it comes to protest, particularly anti-fascism, yet it is one – of many histories – left out of school curricula. Glyn Owen weaves together a vibrant tapestry of Wales’ past and the legacy of antifa in Wales…
words and images by Glyn Owen.
Throughout the recent Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests that have swept through countries around the world, claims that a powerful and clandestine organisation referred to as ‘antifa’ is somehow the secret hand behind the movement have continually surfaced.
The most prominent proponent of the accusation has been none other than US President Donald Trump, who has proposed that antifa is designated a terrorist organisation in the United States.
This action was widely scrutinised when American law enforcement found no evidence linking so-called antifa with the protests in any significant way. Furthermore, no substance has been found behind the claim that antifa is a centralised body or organisation. Trump’s accusations have been interpreted as a calculated means of denigrating political opponents in order to strengthen support within his political base. As he continues to push this attack as a way of undermining the BLM movement, his assertions have poured fuel onto right-wing conspiracy theories, creating a mass-hysteria surrounding antifa.
In reality, antifa is shorthand for the term anti-fascist, a viewpoint encompassing a broad range of the political spectrum opposed to the racism and nationalism of the far-right ideology of fascism. Its advocates traditionally came from anarchist, communist and socialist political philosophies in the 1920s and 1930s, during a time when fascism was taking grip throughout Europe — most vehemently under the fascist regimes of Hitler and Mussolini.
Countless anti-fascist demonstrations and groups have appeared sporadically around the world, including many in the UK, with possibly the most well-known demonstration being the Battle of Cable Street in 1936, when Jews and the working class of East London smashed Oswald Moseley’s blackshirts off the streets. However, before the Battle of Cable Street, a demonstration would take place in the South Wales Rhondda Valley that unravels a long tapestry of anti-fascism in Wales.
What would become known over time as the Battle of De Winton Field, began on the evening of 11 June 1936. A small black van fitted with loudspeakers rolled into the town of Tonypandy and parked up on a recreation field near the town’s centre. The van’s occupants were a small group from the British Union of Fascists party (BUF), who were travelling around Britain giving public speeches.
The BUF, also known as the ‘Blackshirts’ because of the black military regalia worn by their members, were a prominent force in the British political landscape during the ‘30s. Under the leadership of the aristocratic politician, Oswald Mosely, the party garnered significant support from elements of the British aristocracy.
The BUF had not advertised its meeting in Tonypandy knowing full-well the reputation of the area, but when the news leaked of the shortly pending arrival, thousands of people were quickly assembled and mobilised.
According to newspaper reports from the time, a crowd of 5,000-6,000 “socialists and communists” turned out at De Winton Field to confront the fascist speakers — a stunning demonstration of the power of the anti-fascist sentiment of the people from the area at that time.
The De Winton pub, in Tonypandy S Wales
Industrialisation and subsequent unionism had politicised generations of people in mining regions of South Wales. Only two-and-a-half decades prior to 1936, the Tonypandy Riots of 1910-11 had taken place as part of industrial action taken by coal miners for better wages and working conditions. The failure of the 1926 General Strike remained an open wound for many workers, and the poverty caused by mass industrial unemployment due to the global financial collapse that brought about the Great Depression furthered the political consciousness of these communities.
As the fascist speakers — microphones in hand — attempted to promulgate their racist rhetoric from the roof of their van to the gathered crowd, they were met with heckles and jeers from the huge crowds of protesters, who the police were struggling to keep under control.
The situation became persistently uglier as protesters hurled a “shower of stones” at the group, injuring two of the Blackshirts in the process as more clashes began to break out. The actions of the demonstrators eventually proved too much for the fascist speakers, who were forced to abandon the event after half an hour.
37 of the demonstrators, including 32 men and 5 women, were summoned to court for their participation in the demonstration under a total of 187 counts of riot, incitement to riot, unlawful assembly, breach of the peace and disturbing a public meeting — with a six-month prison sentence dished out to an unlucky handful.
Four of those charged would later volunteer to fight for the Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), which erupted just under five weeks later. One of the four volunteers, Harry Dobson — a coal miner from Blaenclydach, would be killed fighting with the International Brigades in Spain.
Around 200 people from Wales would volunteer to go to Spain to fight the armies of General Franco, who was heavily supported militarily by both Hitler and Mussolini. Over 60 of the Welsh volunteers came from the Rhondda region, and over half of the total volunteers came from the mining areas of South Wales. At least 35 volunteers from Wales are known to have died during the conflict.
“The Rhondda has a proud history of taking anti-fascist action,” says Rhondda MS Leanne Wood.
“Whether it was when locals saw off the mass gathering of Mosley’s Blackshirts in Tonypandy in 1936 — which Penygraig’s Annie Powell, Britain’s first Communist mayor, recalled years later saying “we swore not even one Welsh sheep would hear the Mosley message” — or in volunteering to fight against Franco’s fascists in the Spanish Civil War, people in the Rhondda put their bodies on the line to oppose hatred and racism. I want to see this history taught more widely.”
Wood says the struggle is still very real today, and that people would be shocked if they saw the extent of anger and hatred that comes her way when she identifies herself as anti-fascist or when she expresses anti-fascist sentiment. “It won’t silence me though,” she insists. “Just like it didn’t silence those who have done the same in previous years and decades.”
Above: landscapes of the Penallta Colliery, in the Rhymney Valley.
Perhaps one of Wales’ most recognised historic figures to have spoken out against the looming threat of fascism and the plight of the Spanish Republic at that time, was Labour MP for Ebbw Vale, Aneurin Bevan. The politician who would go on to become the founder of the NHS, and whose statue in the centre of Cardiff protesters have gathered under during countless demonstrations, is less well-known for his staunch opposition to fascism, but was a powerful force against it within the government, often to the detriment of his own political career.
In response to increasing militant activity from fascist groups in the UK, Bevan even took steps towards raising a militia of anti-fascist workers in south Wales as a way of resisting the rising threat, and because of what he viewed as insufficient opposition to fascism from the British government.
In the Second World War, working-class people from across the world gave their lives defeating Nazism. By the 1970s however, fascism in Britain was on the rise again, with the formation of the National Front, who fed off a rising tide of anti-Black racism in politics and the press. Their growth sparked a new anti-fascist movement in the Anti-Nazi League.
One of the loudest voices of cultural opposition to the new rising tide of fascism came from musicians and bands, particularly from within punk, skinhead and reggae subcultures.
In the late ‘70s, Rock Against Racism was established to bring together music fans to promote anti-racism through gigs, tours and club nights.
In an article in Byline, DJ and writer, Chris Sullivan recalls how at a now-legendary Rock Against Racism concert at Brockwell Park in South London, in September 1978, a National Front gang attacked the crowd but were beaten back by a group of South Wales miners from the Workers Revolutionary Party.
One of the most well-known bands in Wales to come out of that era were The Oppressed, an anti-racist and anti-fascist skinhead Oi! punk band from Cardiff. Their message and their music reverberates with music fans around the world to this day, as they are regarded as one of the founding fathers of anti-fascist music in the UK.
“[I] didn’t really give politics a second thought until right-wing politics began recruiting gullible young skinheads in the 80s,” said The Oppressed lead vocalist and guitarist, Roddy Moreno. “We got a few nazi salutes at a gig in Swansea, 1983, so after giving the nazis a beating I decided we had to make a stand.”
Fascism had infiltrated skinhead culture, which many saw as a bastardisation of a subculture that had its roots in black Jamaican culture. On the band’s 1983 release, Victims / Work Together, the cover image showed a Black and a white skinhead together, clearly demarcating the band’s stance on racism.
“It was a reaction against nazi bands infiltrating the scene,” says Roddy. “Being brought up in Cardiff’s multi-cultural environment I found the racism sickening and used the band to fight against it. As time went on we got involved with Anti-Fascist Action, SkinHeads Against Racial Prejudice and Red & Anarchist Skinheads. We were happy to play benefits for anyone who stood against racism and fascism.”
After a trip to New York City in the late ‘80s – where Roddy had met with Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP) members – he returned to the UK and began to promote the movement, which helped it to spread across the country and into Europe. After several hiatuses and Roddy now nearing his mid-60s, the band re-formed once again earlier this year and continue to fight the cause that they have backed since the early ‘80s.
Above: Image courtesy of Roddy Moreno
During the ‘80s and ‘90s, the cause of anti-fascism also found a home in the stands of the country’s football grounds, as many fans who had been politicised through their experience of working-class culture responded to the growing threat of fascism both within the game and in society at large.
This tradition continues to this day, with one such group in Wales who call themselves the Partisans. They are a fan group for CPD Wrecsam/Wrexham AFC, a club sitting in the fifth tier of the English football league system.
Their banners and iconography, often referencing the Spanish Civil War, can be seen adorning the Racecourse Stadium and football grounds around the UK during away matches promoting the cause of anti-fascism, and were proudly on display as the rest of the footballing world looked on during Wales’ outstanding Euro 2016 campaign. The fan group boast strong internationalist credentials, with links to many other anti-fascist fan groups across Europe, its closest allies at home coming from Celtic fans in Scotland, who have a powerful reputation of furthering anti-fascist and left-wing causes.
I speak with a contributor to SHAG; a self-described Independent Socialist Republican fanzine for CPD Wrecsam/Wrexham AFC that aims to promote socialism and anti-fascism:
“In Wrexham, a lot of our fans are Republicans but also a lot of straight forward Labour socialists,” they tell me. “We are Socialist Republicans but embrace all socialists, and with that comes an anti-imperial stand — and therefore [an] anti-fascist stand.”
They say that the main points they try to emphasise are to be to be vocal and to make sure there is a group involved in the club that visibly and loudly espouses their rhetoric and promotes inclusivity.
“A shift to the right in mainstream politics a few years back meant we had to start to organise,” they explain.
Violent confrontations between fascists and anti-fascist are something that continues to this day. Wrexham fans even gained some notoriety over social media recently for an alleged involvement in a confrontation with far-right elements of Black Lives Matters Movement counter-protesters in Manchester earlier in June. .
“There’re so many disparate elements involved in our group that come together as anti-fascist,” the SHAG contributor continues.
“I think fans are starting to come together more since YES Cymru/AUOB and Welsh Fans for Independence got organised. Now that’s a Welsh independence thing, which my version of reflects anti-fascist inclusive beliefs.”
Rhondda Heritage Park (Lewis Merthyr Colliery), Trehafod
Anti racism is a mantle that forms a large part of the growing indy movement, similar to that in Scotland or Catalonia. One organisation that forms a part of this is Valleys Underground, which describes itself as a Marxist group which organises soup kitchens, free-food events, and community clean-ups in the valleys. The group recently finished cleaning up an old, run-down Synagogue in Merthyr Tydfil.
“Welsh Independence is about progressive internationalism, where we leave the inwards, right-wing, imperialist British state — most of the mainstream Welsh independence organisations advocate this,” says secretary Joe. “This fits in entirely with fighting the most pernicious form of right-wing, imperialist capitalism — fascism.”
But the fight against racism and fascism goes beyond any particular strand of the left or the independence movement itself. At its most successful, such as Rock Against Racism, it is a movement that stretches across the whole working class, through culture and the labour movement in its entirety.
When the far-right and fascist groups descended on London recently, they were met with a much smaller crowd of counter-demonstrators. There were specific reasons for this – BLM UK called off their protest and Covid meant other groups were hesitant – but it was nevertheless a warning sign about what can happen when racists and fascists are allowed to organise unchallenged.
Wales has a proud tradition of fighting back against these groups, and successfully mobilised against the English Defence League in the late noughties in Swansea, Cardiff and Newport.
In 2019, a story from South Wales made national news when demonstrators stopped Nigel Farage from attending a Brexit Party rally in Merthyr Tydfil by implementing direct tactics by blocking the path of the politician’s vehicle as he travelled to the event.
Above: anti-fascist graffiti in Cardiff
One of the people who’s been active in fighting against the most recent incarnations of the far-right is Mohamed Fez Miah, a teacher and activist in Newport with the anti-racist coalition Stand Up To Racism.
“Almost one and a half years ago right wing extremist James Goddard [came] to share hatred and his own concoction of racism in Newport,” he tells me. “A few local people organised a counter demo upon his arrival and from this date on, Newport has an active and visible anti-racist front that will mobilise when and however it can.”
He says the group in Newport consists of a wide spectrum of people, adding that, “we continue a pluralistic approach to anti racism.”
“With the onset of a deepening far right in Europe and the UK, we remain vigilant and supportive of community groups wherever possible.”
On Thursday 11th June, over 1,000 people took to the streets of Newport in a Black Lives Matter protest which was one of the biggest mobilisations the city has seen over any issue in decades.
It was part of a wave of global protests, which have swept across Wales, involving thousands of people all the way from big cities to rural towns and villages. This movement has posed a direct challenge to racists everywhere. The values of anti-fascism have historically permeated many levels of Welsh society, politics and culture, and continue to do so. However, the struggle against anti-fascism in Wales may be about to take a new turn, as reactionary groups try to create a backlash against the Black Lives Matter movement and exploit the poverty and despair which is set to worsen with a huge unemployment crisis.
As far-right ideology threatens to proliferate, which history shows can often be the trend during periods of turbulence, the people of Wales must embrace its rich legacy of anti-fascism, and cultivate it in order to ensure that the dignity and rights of all its people are maintained for future generations.
