View source for Red Action

{{Short description|1980s British Leftist activism group}}
{{for|the Croatian group|Red Action (Croatia)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2015}}

{{anti-fascism sidebar}}

'''Red Action''' was a British [[Left wing politics|leftist]] [[Politics in the United Kingdom|political group]] formed in 1981. It became known for violently confronting groups such as the [[British National Party]] on the streets, and for being the main organisational force behind [[Anti-Fascist Action]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amielandmelburn.org.uk/collections/soundings/14_53.pdf |title=Anti-Fascist Action |date=2000 |publisher=Amielandmelburn.org.uk |access-date=17 October 2015}}</ref><ref name="zephanaiah">[https://web.archive.org/web/20160228165711/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/28/if-we-did-nothing-we-would-be-killed-on-the-streets-benjamin-zephaniah-on-fighting-the-far-right Zephaniah, Benjamin. 28 February 2016. "Benjamin Zephaniah on fighting the far right: 'If we did nothing we would be killed on the streets' {{pipe}} Books {{pipe}} The Guardian". ''The Guardian''.]</ref> In 1995, ''[[The Independent]]'' estimated that it had between 20 and 30 branches with 10–15 activists in each, and the paper stated that the group "enthusiastically espouses the use of violence"; it also set out links between Red Action and the [[Irish republican movement]], and stated that members operated primarily in large cities such as London, Manchester, Leeds and Glasgow.<ref name="charge">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/charge-of-the-new-red-brigade-1570278.html|newspaper=The Independent|title=Charge of the new Red Brigade |first=Matt|last=Seaton|access-date=26 September 2009|date=29 January 1995}}</ref><ref name="zephanaiah" />

The group was formed by [[activist]]s who had been expelled from the [[Socialist Workers Party (UK)|Socialist Workers Party]] (SWP) for their involvement in alleged "[[squadism]]" (violent actions against [[far right]] racist groups).<ref name="charge" /> The expelled activists regrouped around a paper named ''Red Action''. After several years, the group became more interested in the [[electoral process]], and it joined the [[Red Front (UK)|Red Front]] electoral alliance in 1987 and the Socialist Alliance in England and Wales in 1999.<ref>''Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations: Parties, Groups and Movements of the Twentieth Century'', Peter Barberis, John McHugh & Mike Tyldesley, Frances Pinter, 2000</ref> Red Action members then left this organisation, along with the [[Socialist Party (England and Wales)|Socialist Party]], citing the domination of the SWP over the organisation. Some Red Action members went on to found the [[Independent Working Class Association]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://libcom.org/history/1985-2001-anti-fascist-action-afa |title=1985-2001: A short history of Anti-Fascist Action (AFA) |publisher=Libcom.org |access-date=17 October 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.redaction.org/misc/who.html|title=Red Action 2000 - Shaping The Future|publisher=Redaction.org|access-date=26 September 2009|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924085359/http://www.redaction.org/misc/who.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
	
==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*Mark Hayes "Red Action – left-wing pariah: some observations regarding ideological apostasy and the discourse of proletarian resistance" in Evan Smith and Matthew Worley, eds, ''Against the grain: The British far left from 1956'', Manchester University Press, 2014.
*Stott, Paul "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction: two responses on the British left to the rise of identity politics – the cases of Class War and Red Action" ''Twentieth Century Communism'', Volume 9, Number 9, August 2016, pp.&nbsp;96–120(25). Publisher: Lawrence and Wishart. {{doi|10.3898/175864316815923542}}

==External links==
*[http://www.redactionarchive.org/ Red Action archive]
*[http://www.redactionarchive.org/p/red-action-left-wing-political-pariah.html "Left Wing Political Pariah": history of Red Action by Mark Hayes]
*[https://libcom.org/tags/red-action Red Action material at Libcom]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110613170347/http://www.marx.org/history/etol/critiques/sullivan/pub-8wprardg.html#ra As Soon As This Pub Closes - Red Action section] satirical profile by John Sullivan

{{UK far left}}
{{SWP}}
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[[Category:Anti-fascist organisations in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Anti-racist organisations in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1981]]
[[Category:1981 establishments in the United Kingdom]]


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