Very many thousands of people turned out to the streets on 28 March to join the Together Alliance protest against the rise of the far right in the UK. It was a tremendously hopeful show of solidarity, one which every socialist, trade unionist and community activist can take confidence from and build on in their local area.
Workers’ Liberty members marched alongside workmates and other union members in the trade union bloc or in other blocs such as Friends of Standing Together. We sold publications including our new pamphlet How to Beat the Racists, which went down well.
The march was not just a gathering of seasoned leftists — it was young, vibrant and with many homemade placards on display. But there were some problems. And we need to carefully consider where we go from here.
As in the past, Saturday’s demonstration was not properly stewarded. Stewards were organised to sell merchandise and to control the pace of the demonstration by stopping it behind street-wide Stand Up to Racism (SUTR) banners; they did not seem to be there to look after the participants. Yet on a demonstration this size that is what you need.
Stewards did not, for example, disperse a dangerous crush of people on the Park Lane pavement, which resulted in a few low-level medical emergencies.
There was a serious political problem on the march as well. The Palestine solidarity feeder march had many people flying Iranian flags. No doubt people with flags thought they were in solidarity with Iranians being killed by US and Israeli military strikes. But this flag, unlike the Palestinian flag, is not symbolic of a national liberation struggle. It is the flag of a clerical fascist regime.
Many trade union general secretaries had promised in advance a big push to get their members onto the streets. Comrades estimate around ten thousand people joined the trade union blocs to march behind local and national banners. That was a better turn-out from the unions than on recent SUTR marches, but a small part of the whole demonstration, less than it could have been, and a long way from what is needed. We need a mass mobilisation from the unions against the far right. There is a danger now that the union leaders will tell themselves “big march, job done”. It really isn’t.
Mobilise
The far right — Reform and the fascist fragments — continue to build and mobilise. Reform have slightly dipped in the polls but there is no sign that their bid to replace the Tories as the “mainstream” party of the right is waning. On 4 April local Fly the Flag far-right people will march in Sheffield. On 18 April Britain First will attempt to march again through Manchester (after being stopped by an anti-fascist mobilisation in February).
On 16 May Tommy Robinson will attempt to repeat the Unite the Kingdom mobilisation of 13 September 2025 which drew 150,000 people or more.
These threats need to be countered by consistent agitation, face-to-face discussions, organising in our workplaces and communities and serious counter-mobilisations. Stand Up to Racism and the Together Alliance have not done that so far. Nor, in fact, can they hope to do it on their own. We need to make our unions, with over six million members, take on the load of doing this work.
On 16 May the annual Nakba Day demonstration is planned by Stop the War (STW) and others. Tommy Robinson has planned the Unite the Kingdom rally to clash — and the police have given permission for the far right to descend on Whitehall once again. So far we’ve only seen “Save the Date” messaging from SUTR for 16 May. It seems likely that SUTR or the Together Alliance will organise a demonstration on the day, perhaps backing an expanded Nakba Day.
An anti-far-right demonstration submerged into Palestinian solidarity would not be what we need. While Palestinian solidarity is worthy in its own right, we need much bigger numbers and a much broader appeal than can be mobilised with that focus.
TUFF
The Trade Unions Fighting the Far Right ( TUFF) network has organised an open letter calling on the TUC to take the lead on organising a counter demonstration with properly organised stewarding. We must keep up the pressure on our unions to organise for that.
We also urgently need the Together Alliance to set up democratic public discussions on where the UK movement against the far right goes from here.
The time is right to do that. More and more people on the left, including some in and around the SWP, now recognise that we need a mass trade-union response to the far right. What do we need to do?
• Build existing labour movement initiatives; share materials for organising and leafleting in local areas and workplaces.
• Build labour movement oriented national initiatives such as TUFF.
• Set up of local committees/networks involving all left activists, trade unionists and community activists to oppose the far right, fight the cuts and defend migrants.
• Get Labour Party, Your Party and Green Party members together to help with these initiatives.
• Push for SUTR and the Together Alliance to open up to democratic decision-making (by making speeches and talking to people face-to-face).
• Develop specific strategies to fight back in Reform-led councils.
• Encourage face-to-face political discussion. Our campaigns should understand the arguments around a range of issues raised by the far right, i.e. trans rights and climate change as well as anti-racism
• Combat Reform on campuses as students and Uni workers.
Push in our unions:
• for resources to organise community leafleting and workplace talking campaigns on a regional and local basis;
• to organise counter-demonstrations wherever and whenever they are needed;
• to identify collective demands that both benefit workers and cut against the far right, including anti-racist, pro-trans and climate demands;
• to run unionisation drives aimed at migrant workers.
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