In Epping, organised fascists and their racist supporters have scored a notable victory over the last couple of weeks. The situation was not turned around by yesterday’s creditable anti-racist turnout but maybe a line has been drawn, and a moment signalled when the real, hard work of winning hearts and changing minds in that divided […]
Anti-fascism
Epping this Sunday – anti-racists must nip far-right violence in the bud
On 7 August last year, in response to direct fascist threats of violence against organisations helping migrants and asylum seekers, tens of thousands of anti-racists turned out to physically protect those organisations. It was a phenomenal show of strength and helped put an end to a week of horrendous racist violence. Searchlight wrote at the […]
Fanning the flames – far right aims to whip up summer of race riots
Let’s be under no illusions about the significance of this week’s events in Epping – this is simply the first chapter in determined efforts by the far right this summer to engineer a repeat of last year’s post-Southport race riots, using whatever pretext presents itself. This week the pretext was three alleged sexual assaults on […]
Labin 1921: miners lead Europe’s first anti-fascist revolt
The Labin Uprising of 1921, often heralded as the first anti-fascist revolt and workers’ republic in Europe, is a landmark in miners’ history. Taking place in the Istrian town of Labin, now Croatia, then under Italian rule, this often-overlooked miners’ uprising showcased the power of workers’ solidarity and foreshadowed the anti-fascist struggles that would engulf […]
The Muslim heroine whose memory shames Paul Golding
I am working undercover for Searchlight magazine. Despite being a Muslim, I blend in rather well so, two weeks ago, I was in Birmingham listening to fascist idiot Paul Golding. It could have been Tommy Robinson or Nick Tenconi, or even Nigel Farage. The mouth matters not, but the words do. “Did our war heroes […]
Remembering Maurice Ludmer, giant of the post war anti-fascist movement
On 14 May,1981, at the age of only 54, Searchlight’s editor Maurice Ludmer died suddenly, depriving the post war anti-fascist and anti-racist movement of one of its leading figures. Maurice, famously, said “Never again” in 1946 when, as his 1981 Searchlight obituary written by the playwright David Edgar, recounted: “…a young British Army private, a […]
Peter Marriner: undercover hero of the anti-fascist movement
Peter Marriner, who has died at the age of 77, was an undercover informant in the extreme right for many years, and one of those extraordinary people, true heroes of the anti-fascist movement, to whom we owe an enormous debt of gratitude for their courage and self-sacrifice. But the story of his initial introduction into […]
A Searchlight mole and a nazi weapons hoard
When this article was first published in 2024, we were not able to identify Peter Marriner as the Searchlight informant who smashed this nazi plot to assemble a huge weapons cache. In the final print edition of Searchlight, published this year, Peter was happy to be identified in the Searchlight Undercover Hall of Fame. So […]
Anti-fascist action in 2025
Some personal thoughts on two successful anti-fascist actions last weekend, and what they can teach us. The past weekend was very instructive as far as anti-fascists were concerned. In Manchester and Birmingham fascists were repulsed. In Manchester, so called hard-core street activists around UKIP leader Nick Tenconi were chased out of Piccadilly Gardens. And in […]
Leonard “Lenny” Zeskind – comrade and friend
Leonard – he was always Lenny to me – Zeskind left a positive impression on all who knew him. He was forthright, authoritative, knowledgeable, informative and crystal clear. He argued well, gleaning as much that was useful as he could in debate and argument. But he was never a pushover. And he seldom lost arguments. […]
Remembering Dietrich Bonhoeffer – murdered by Hitler’s nazis
Today marks the 80th anniversary of the murder of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the final days of the Second World war. The sounds of the bombardment of the advancing Soviet army showed defeat was near for the Nazis, but their priority was to kill internal enemies threatening them. The killing of Bonhoeffer, a German theologian and […]
Searchlight Magazine’s final issue – more of an ‘au revoir’ than a ‘goodbye’
Searchlight the printed magazine is bowing out after half a century in continuous publication. It was launched with a February 1975 cover date, and the 50th anniversary issue is out now. The new magazine was in part the reincarnation of a (very) occasional newspaper of the same name, launched by some of the people who […]
50 years and counting: Searchlight’s Past, Present and Future
In early 1975 two antifascist activists published a small magazine. It was 20 pages long, black and white, and most of its content was about the then fast-growing National Front. There was only one picture, on the front cover: a leather-jacketed young fascist, wearing dark glasses and carrying a union jack, above a familiar antifascist […]
The end of an era for the anti-fascist movement – Searchlight founder Gerry Gable retires
With the publication of the final print edition of Searchlight, the magazine’s founder and often-times editor, Gerry Gable, has announced that he is stepping back from running the magazine. The final issue, a huge 72-page look back over the magazine’s history and achievements, comes shortly after Gerry’s 88th birthday, and in it he writes that: […]
Britain First’s Nuneaton humiliation
A thousand flags. £10,000 on PA system, staging and a dozen portaloos. Much boasting. Claims that hundreds would be attending. Six coachloads… which turned out to be minibuses. Everyone was emailed multiple times pleading for members and supporters to chip in a tenner for what turned out to be a humiliation. Few did, and now […]
The seafarers and rail workers who fought fascism
STEVE SILVER spotlights the role of trade unions in countering fascism VISITORS TO TRANSPORT UNION RMT headquarters in London can see a plaque with the names of over 100 rail workers and seafarers who volunteered to fight fascism in Spain, many of whom never returned. This article is an abridged extract from a new pamphlet […]
The Searchlight secret agent who helped destroy the BNP
The British National Party probably never experienced such a hefty and concerted blow as it did 20 years ago, in the late summer of 2004. About half of the August issue of Searchlight was dedicated to hammering Nick Griffin’s nazi outfit, following through on The Secret Agent, a BBC documentary broadcast in mid-July, which had […]
Berlin and the red triangle
The red triangle was in the news recently when the city of Berlin senate banned its use on activities related to the Middle East after the image was appropriated by Hamas supporters. There is some confusion as to the origins of the use of the red triangle in this context with some saying it represents […]
100 years ago: a grim anniversary Italy’s far right leaders would prefer to forget
By Alfio Bernabei On 16 August 1924 the body of Italian Socialist MP Giacomo Matteotti was found in woods about 15 miles outside Rome. The five men who had kidnapped and killed him on 10 June, all identified within days and all members of Mussolini’s secret police, had agreed not to disclose the place where […]
A historic day for the anti-fascist movement
Searchlight send its heartfelt greetings to all those who worked so hard to pull off Wednesday’s remarkable mobilisations around the country and to those who turned out in response. Sadly, the movement was caught unawares by the events which unfolded so rapidly after the Southport killings, but in the days since anti-racists have rallied and […]
