antifascist militants
started: "We turned into Red Lion Square, our arms linked together. We came across a line of police, and behind them were mounted police. When we tried to get through to Conway Hall, the police drew their batons and charged. . . . fell and was trodden on by a horse and beaten on the head. Our arms became unlinked and I didn't see Kevin again. There was blood all over the place and teeth lying on the ground. The police were screaming and shouting. We were all bunched up with horses on top of us. It was an absolutely horrific scene." it was an absolutely horrific scene There is evidence that the police attack was designed not only to brutalize but even to kill. Ron Singer, a doctor at Bolingbroke Hospital in London told Red Weekly: "I was present at the demonstration and after mounted police charged in Theobald's Rood I saw a man being taken by two policemen away from the crowd. He was bleeding profusely from at least one cut on his head. I went up to him and told the police sergeant that I was a doctor and would like to examine the man's wound. The policeman said that he did not care whet 1 was and that if I did not get out of the way he would arrest me too." Even Sydney Bidwell, Labour member of Parliament for Southall and chairman of the London council of Liberation, accused the cops of attacking the antifascist militants "with great ferocity. " "Mounted police, " he said, "were driving people before them. I had to nip out of the way myself. narrowly escaped being trampled by a horse. "
Despite the obvious fact that the cops had viciously assaulted the antifascist demonstrators, the British capitalist press tried to present the clashes -- and even the death of Gately -- as the fault of the untifascists. "... much of the responsibility must rest on the organisers of the left-wing counterdemonstrotion to the National Front's original anti-immigration march,"
wrote the June 22-28 Economist. Most British papers even claimed for several days that the cause of Gately's death was not known. "There were some signs, " the Doily Express
"that death could have been from natural causes (f), probably cerebral haemorrhage." The June 17 issue of the
Evening Standard (first edition) attributed Gately's death to
"asphyxia"| Even the Guardian as late as June 18 was writ-
- the left has produced nobody who saw Mr. Gately actually hit. It seems more likely that he received the blow from a foot when he was on the ground in the melee." In reality, though, it was clear to everyone except the most myopic and cynical that Gately was killed by the clubs of the London cops. And the left movement began to organize a response. On Saturday, June 22, some 6, 000 people marched in London in a memorial march for Gately. On Sunday, June 23, there was an anti-fascist march of 10, 000 in London in memory of Gately. In addition to the IMG, the International Socialisis, the Warwick Students Union, and other political groups, the June 23 march was attended by a number of trade-union councils. Jack Collins, Kent area representative on the National Executive of the National Union of Mineworkers, gave a solidarity statement to Red Weekly that said in part: "The TUC (Trades Union Congress) and the organised working class should demand a halt to the growth of fascism and use whatever tactics are necessary to halt the spread of this evil. ... The question of free speech for the fascists has been decided many times -- in the Western Desert, in the cities of Coventry, London, Warsaw, and Stalingrad, and recently in the stadium at Santiago, in Chile. Allowing people to preach poison must not be confused with free speech. We have seen fascism on the march before and we do not intend to let them pass. The killing of the young student should serve as a warning to the working class, and we must demand the fullest enquiry. The guilty people, the people who issued the orders, must be brought to book. We must have unity of the working class on a united, anti-fascist front. If the working class and socialist organisations do not unite, we will not be doing our duty to the international working class." And, in fact, the bureaucrats of the Labour party have hardly been doing their duty to the international working class. The June 20 Red Weekly pointed out the danger of the fascist threat and the necessity of a united working-class response. "Saturday is also a reminder of the fact that the National Front and the capitalist state are on the same side, that they both fight to protect the rule of the capitalists. The forces of 'law and order' will give the fascists the protection they need to carry out their dirty business, and, if the capitalist closs decides it is of use to them, will provide the fascists with cover for illegal and violent actions against workers and socialists. "The fascists are a threat. If they are allowed to organise and extend their influence, they will find a place in the plans of the bosses to break the resistance of the workers movement. "That is why we marched on Saturday. But we were few in numbers. That is another reason why there was violence. "If Saturday's demonstration had been supported by all those who are threatened by the fascist menace -- socialists, trade unionists, blacks, and immigrants -- there would have been no violence. "The fascists would have been too terrified to crawl out of thair sewers, and the police would have put away their clubs and turned politely to directing traffic. "There must not be another 15 June. We must prevent it; not by bowing our heads and allowing the fascists to conspire against us, but by turning out in future in such force, in such an immense display of unity and power, that the forces of reaction and of the state will keep their distance and keep their HANDS OFF THE ANTI-FASCIST MOVEMENT!
"For an immediate labour-movement inquiry into the death of Kevin Gately! For the immediate scrapping of the police
"special patrol groups'| The Labour government must ban all future fascist demonstrations, and the labour movement must mobilise to prevent the fascists demonstrating!"
The strength of the antifascist movement may well be tested soon. The National Front, along with the Ulster Defense
Association, has called for a mass march in London on July
13, a provocation not only against immigrants, antifascists, and the British workers, but against the Irish people as well.
The whole British left has demanded that the Labour govemment forbid this march and has called for a huge counterdemonstration in London on that day.
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