TE article of faith on the tonary left, and such a pro not need to be fought for within the labour movement.
Trecently had a which argued for 1 non-controversial ; a theatre in London. The play called Destiny, was reviewed, these things are, in man democratic publication also, as these things after by the political column Guardian, the Professo DO TE BKDo Cowee L0000 Editor What these and many ober commentators agroed was that the thesis of equivalence, as a matter of historical fact, was not only incorrect, but, further, thar the holding of such an idea was evidence of a rather rank wickedness or mental retardation. 1 ras described, somewtat to m ure i ain eetoner *imn ture', Ituou Give and 'paranoi se could observe 11 this device peopi with whom lisagrees of criminal or lunatic 1 endencies B, in a barmless form the tactic as that employed to silenc dissen t in the Union of Socialist Republics; bur that not the point. One could also argue that the reason for vebonence, from the democrars at least, mas be thai hese gentlemen realise that if the National Front ars 18592 then they face the possible destruction of their professions and their party, and they might have tb do something about it; bat that isn't really the point cither. The point, it seems to me, is tbat the slogan National Front, Nazi Frost' needs to be fought for, that there is an ideological hartle in the labour movement to be won.
DISGUST And the reason for tbat is far from academic. There's dout. of course. thar al good social-democrats and true regard with gesuine disgust, and it's probable that some of them would fight with some rigour against them, whetber or not they think that the NF ha anything lo do pre-war fascism, on the grounds of cbc Front's stated policies. But why ir is so vital to identify the NF not just as nasty people, nor even as racist alone, but bat ano pur Ewoi, 25 arecsel in order to expose thase policies WEC BE MODESEIE which they in fact specifically DE lensE Ln public, which can hesr be exposed by looking at the experience of the 1920s and 1930s, These unstared policiea inchude, to take but one small exemple, the destruction of the lahour moverent, and branch, in the interests of and often in direct callusion with The employing classes of society Withou this perspective, the which played second fiddle paly to immigration in their CETHUI DOWRTOR STO ISLE that this campaign against propCT MCC MAS EUS TOS TIE classic thesis thar there is a division hetween good, healthy, weath prodecing national capitalism on the one band, and evil, parasitical, debl-creating, 'international finance' on the other. This absurd division of capitalisot allows the fascists to divert the anti-capitalist grievancer of their potential supporters inco an attack on the supposed financial "parasite', that parasite in tur beine racially identifed ax th Jewish financial conspirator Thus what sounds like a pisc ol pseudo-radical populism is l fact much 1 more; it is hidde propaganda for the ceneral core of che Nazi ideological vision o the world. Only by understand ing and exposing this cynica hijack of "left-wing" rhetoric for what it is, can we understand and expose the underlying class func tion of Fascism.
IDEOLOGY careful abour nating precisely how fascist ideologs operares, in OUT anti-Fascist propaganda. To give, again, one sampie: it is just not true 1 he NF are blaming the blacks e satte wap as tbe Nation oclalists blamed ul (in faet the theory runs that Inter national Jewish Finance delibe ately promoted immigration in ta destroy the ENCLI integrity of the nation from lt is also important, I think. that the leit cakes seriousty g ino (reas a vast int eo apart from Europe in the State to well lead Britist theless Fascist to mutate as spectacularly as Fascism mutated power and Hinter's ten pear later. And there's room, 1 think, for much more sophiscicacion in analysis the historie relationship between Fascian and a ruling class whose long. term interests it serves hut whose short-term activities it has ofter frustrated and, in political terms, suppresse:
It is still true that Fascism is a DAs miovenient iec bv the nelit bourgeoisie whose bistorle functhe rond to it, the independent Inhour movement and the interests of the big bourgeoisie. Ie's scill true that Fascism is always a danger in times of capitalist crisis But there are substantial sections of the active labour tovement — mosty but not all on its right — who don't belleve it ls true. There are substantial sentions of the working class, abow and beyond those who thise and vote for the NF, who dos't connect the respectable of che MF with the BODUUSS jackbooted barbarans of the Thind Reich. The practice of opposition te the NF, physically on the streets or in clecioral interventions, musi aiways be allied, it seems to me with n continuous and rigorous theoret ical analysis of historical and contemporary Fascism, and with sustained and comprehensive exposure of their propaganda lor what it truly is.