Review of Dave Renton's "When we Touched the Sky."
My copy of Dave Renton's "When we Touched the Sky," to my knowledge the only account of the British Anti-Nazi League (ANL) of the late 70s. Dave Renton was a participant in the ANL and a member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP).
Renton's account draws out the importance of community organising. The ANL was launched following the success of the antifascist mobilisation at Lewisham, which greatly outnumber the fascists, broke the police lines defending the Nazis, and forced them to retreat. The success of the rally motivated the Left factions of the British Labour Party to join the SWP in establishing the ANL. As the Labour Party was generally disinterested in putting in the effort needed to lead and co-ordinate the movement, the SWP provided the cadre to staff the offices, street stalls, and poster runs. However, they were not the authoritarian presence some have made them out to be, as the mass base provided by the Labour Party was torn when it came to the ANL's decision making conferences, where fierce debate between Labour and the SWP saw conference adopting motions from both the left and right of the movement.
It is also a guide for carrying out community organising. Renton argues the work put in by SWP members on the stalls and poster runs helped mobilise the tens of thousands that marched throughout the movements life. Of course, this was at the tail end of the radicalisation of 1968, which had been extended in Britain thanks to the Winter of Discontent. Periods of relative stability for capitalism breeds passivity among the proletariat. However, as my review of Broue's "History of the German Revolution," observes that activists need to have the experience in praxis before a radicalisation breaks out (if they wish to effectively intervene into the radicalisation).
Renton's account draws out the importance of community organising. The ANL was launched following the success of the antifascist mobilisation at Lewisham, which greatly outnumber the fascists, broke the police lines defending the Nazis, and forced them to retreat. The success of the rally motivated the Left factions of the British Labour Party to join the SWP in establishing the ANL. As the Labour Party was generally disinterested in putting in the effort needed to lead and co-ordinate the movement, the SWP provided the cadre to staff the offices, street stalls, and poster runs. However, they were not the authoritarian presence some have made them out to be, as the mass base provided by the Labour Party was torn when it came to the ANL's decision making conferences, where fierce debate between Labour and the SWP saw conference adopting motions from both the left and right of the movement.
It is also a guide for carrying out community organising. Renton argues the work put in by SWP members on the stalls and poster runs helped mobilise the tens of thousands that marched throughout the movements life. Of course, this was at the tail end of the radicalisation of 1968, which had been extended in Britain thanks to the Winter of Discontent. Periods of relative stability for capitalism breeds passivity among the proletariat. However, as my review of Broue's "History of the German Revolution," observes that activists need to have the experience in praxis before a radicalisation breaks out (if they wish to effectively intervene into the radicalisation).
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