On the Stand Up To Racism counter-protest in London (Picture: Guy Smallman)
Over 5,000 anti-fascists marched against supporters of Nazi Tommy Robinson in central London on Saturday. The fascists mustered up to 5,000—only around one fifth of what they mobilised on 26 October.
Supporters of Stand Up To Racism (SUTR), which organised the counter-protest, rallied near Piccadilly and marched on Whitehall.
Matthew from Aberdeen got up at 3am to come down as part of a delegation from Scotland. “We need to show the fascists they can’t be normalised,” he told Socialist Worker. “We can’t just let them have the streets and a voice in this country’s politics.
“It’s so much more imperative with Trump’s victory and Reform UK growing here—we need to be on the front foot.”
Chants of “Tommy Robinson we know you—you’re a fascist through and through” rang out as people rallied and marched.
Ada had come to “support the movement”. “We need people to get together and show that something needs to change or we will have the same history we had in Germany,” she told Socialist Worker.
The fascists and far right are being boosted by the world’s most powerful man, Donald Trump, and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.
In Germany the fascists of the AfD are surging and pulling the whole of politics rightwards ahead of the federal elections. “The rise of fascism in Europe is scary at the moment,” school student Marshall told Socialist Worker.
“We are returning to pre Second World War times. I come across people who support Reform UK at football matches—they are working class people who 50 years ago would have supported Labour.
“Quite a lot of young people support Reform UK as well—the mood is shifting.”
Trade unionists, including members of Unison, the NEU, UCU, PCS, CWU and Unite, joined the SUTR counter-protest. Carol, an NEU education union member, told Socialist Worker, “It’s of fundamental importance that we come out and make it clear that the far right is not welcome here.
“Everything we hold dear is under threat, not from the left, but from the right.”
Carol said that “within schools, we are seeing extremist views” “Even in primary school, parents are sharing their views and children are having the wrong attitudes towards other people,” she said.
“The fact that we deal with this on a daily basis in 2025—it’s unheard of.”
Steve Wright, FBU firefighters’ union general secretary, told the rally, “They punch down not up. They tell you to look at the migrant to your left, not to the boss who’s stamping on your neck every day.”
In a sign of Robinson’s weakness at the moment, many of the speakers on the fascist side were fringe conspiracy theorists (see below).
On the Tommy Robinson demonstration, tensions between Robinson and far right party Reform UK were also on display. Howard Cox, former Reform UK candidate for London mayor, told the crowd, “A senior Reform UK person texted me that if I keep on talking about Robinson, I’ll be expelled”. The crowd booed in response.
He extended “an invite to Nigel Farage and Richard Tice to sit down and talk to Robinson” to “settle any differences”. “Tice described us as ‘that’ lot, I’m proud to be that lot. I still think Reform UK is the best option,” he said.
Far right media personality Sargon of Akkad bemoaned, “We have a lack of leadership.”
“Nigel Farage insults Tommy for the pleasure of the media, but many of his supporters are supporters of Tommy,” he said. “Nigel is sowing division in his own base and making trouble for those who support Reform UK.”
Another speaker said that “the vision isn’t Reform UK at the moment”. “Maybe in the future, but not right now”, going on to argue for a form of “Christian nationalism”.
Another said, “We need a political solution. How many think the Conservatives are the solution”. The crowd booed. “How many think Labour are the solution?” More boos. “How many think Reform UK is the solution?” A mix of boos and cheers came. The speaker claimed that Ukip “is the only one making a stand”.
The anti-fascist movement has made it harder for Farage to embrace a fascist street movement‚ but Reform UK feels insurgent. It is building branches across Britain and gearing up to take swathes of council seats in local elections in May.
Labour’s scapegoating of migrants and refugees has laid the ground for a growing far right. When Keir Starmer and home secretary Yvette Cooper talk of “secure borders”, they reinforce the lie that immigration is a problem.
Then Reform can step in and present itself as the only party that is willing and capable of taking the action “necessary” to stop it.
Labour’s failure to deliver for working class people fuels anger and Reform UK channels it in a right wing direction.
Darren, an RMT transport union rep from Leeds, told Socialist Worker, “A driver joined the riots in the summer and people are influenced by Tommy Robinson. They think all Muslims are paedophiles and part of grooming gangs.
“I can’t argue with people in my workplace. You argue with people and you get disciplined for harassment and bullying. The bosses don’t seem bothered about racism—including racist bullying against Irish people.”
“The rise of the far right means people can get away with it. People will look at what is happening in the United States and think if they can get away with it in America then they can here.”
He added, “There have been a few Muslim and Asian workers who have gone off work sick with stress because of it.”
Anti-racists have to win the argument that, if we buy into the idea that immigration is a “problem”, it undermines the possibility of improving all working class people’s lives. First they come for “illegal” refugees in small boats. Then they come for your migrant or Muslim colleague. And giving any ground to their arguments only plays to their divide and rule strategy.
Anti-racists have to keep mobilising against the fascists—and build a broad-based campaign against Reform UK in the local elections and beyond.
As Weyman Bennett, SUTR co convenor, said, “We have to have unity and we have to fight on every front. Every time the Nazis raise their heads, we have knocked them back. We’re going to knock back Tommy Robinson and the Nazis, but we also have to do one other thing.”
“We have to give a kicking to Nigel Farage,” he said to loud cheers. “We cannot concede one inch or make one sacrifice to anything.”
Anti-racists face several challenges when taking on Reform UK compared to a fascist street movement.
Firstly, anti-fascists have sought to drive a wedge between the hardcore Nazis and the “softer” racists pulled behind them. They did that partly through exposing the Nazi beliefs of the National Front, British National Party or English Defence League.
We have to expose Farage’s far right and racist politics and protest against Reform UK.
But Farage, unlike Robinson, isn’t a Nazi who stands in the tradition of Hitler and the Holocaust that millions of people are revolted by.
So it takes a wider strategy of breaking people from anti-migrant racism to undermine Reform UK. That often requires a longer, patient argument as scapegoating of migrants and refugees has been so normalised.
Second, Reform UK can have a chilling impact on the labour movement.
Much of the trade union officialdom, with its ties to the Labour Party, is in a bind over Reform UK. At the TUC union federation congress last September, its leader Paul Nowak told Socialist Worker, “The best way of combating Reform UK and the far right is for this government to deliver on its mandate for change.
“It’s for Labour to deliver on manifesto commitments because the far right thrives where it breeds a sense of cynicism about politics and politicians.”
Six months later, Starmer has little “change” to show. There is much bitterness and cynicism towards the government.
But most of the union leaders talked up Labour as “our government” and don’t want to lead a fight against it. And some are under pressure to duck arguments over immigration when their own members raise them.
We need mass campaigning that takes on racist scapegoating and puts a class argument that says, “Blame bosses not migrants.”
That will include taking on some of our own workmates, who wouldn’t march with a Nazi, but who are looking to Reform UK as an alternative.
Anti-racists winning and building up a side of people in the unions to wage that argument is crucial. Alongside fighting racism, the left and labour movement has to build a fightback against the Starmer government that fuels its rise.
The fascists gathered at Waterloo station and marched to Parliament Square. One attacked “the lies of the government covering up the failures of mass immigration—you can’t integrate these people”.
Another said, “I live in Tower Hamlets and there are so few good people. I picked up my seven year old sister and she was the only white girl in her class.” A different Robinson supporter joined the conversation, adding, “When I see there being only one white person it breaks my heart. It is the same shit everywhere.”
There were dozens of Israel and United States flags, and even a few crusader flags.
One person walked around selling MEGA—Make England Great Again—hats, claiming that the proceeds went to Robinson’s children.
Islamophobic chants of “Stick your fucking Allah up your arse” rang out as the march approached parliament. The speeches opened with a speech attacking the Palestinian resistance group Hamas as “terrorists”.
The speaker claimed, “Jihad is marching around the corner with Palestinian flags and chants to globalise the intifada”. “These are the people” who “excuse” the “butchering of men, women and children on 7 October,” she said.
Robinson’s sidekick, Danny Roscoe, attacked migrants, calling on the government to “close down the borders, round them up and kick them out”. “Start the deportation programme for those who refuse to assimilate.”
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