The Far Right's False Patriots: Revolutionary Unity Against Britain's War on Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller Communities

The obscene spectacle of far-right "patriots" marching through British streets—Union Jacks draped over fascist shoulders whilst Roma families face systematic persecution—stands as a monument to capitalism's cynical manipulation of working-class anger. These false patriots wrap themselves in our flag whilst demanding the erasure of peoples who have resisted state oppression for five centuries, as hate crimes against GRT communities surge 41% since 2019, reaching levels unseen since the 1990s.

Yet GRT communities are far from alone in facing this onslaught. The 50,000 refugees arriving since Labour took office endure identical dehumanisation through the same legislative tools and media campaigns that serve capitalism's essential need for scapegoats. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act's criminalisation of trespass, the Nationality and Borders Act's criminalisation of irregular arrival, and the Illegal Migration Act's abolition of asylum rights constitute systematic ethnic cleansing through bureaucratic means—testing authoritarian techniques that will inevitably be deployed against the broader working-class movement.

Starmer's Managed Persecution and the Left's Fragmented Response

Labour's response to rising fascist violence against both communities? Deafening silence wrapped in bureaucratic double-speak about "balanced approaches" and "community concerns." Starmer's more concerned with courting "patriotic" voters than defending Britain's most marginalised peoples. The man who promised change delivers the same establishment priorities—respectability over resistance, electoral calculation over moral courage.

The left's response has been characteristically fragmented. Whilst Socialist Workers Party activists organise defensive pickets, Labour left councillors pursue planning law reforms. Anarchist groups provide direct action training whilst trade union branches pass solidarity motions. This scatter-gun approach, however well-intentioned, lacks the strategic coordination necessary to challenge systematic state persecution effectively.

The harsh reality is that Britain's revolutionary left remains organisationally weak, numerically small, and politically divided. Our combined membership across all genuinely anti-capitalist organisations barely reaches five figures. We lack the workplace base, community roots, and militant capacity that characterised earlier periods of working-class resistance. Romantic appeals to revolutionary transformation must acknowledge these material limitations whilst building the foundations for future strength.

Beyond Sectarian Division: Learning from Historical Unity

The left's sectarian traditions—Trotskyist splits over obscure theoretical points, anarchist-Marxist antagonisms dating to the 1930s, reformist-revolutionary mutual suspicion—represent luxuries we can no longer afford. The Spanish Civil War demonstrated how sectarian infighting facilitated fascist victory. Today's far-right mobilisation demands similar strategic clarity about priorities.

Successful anti-fascist resistance requires subordinating organisational autonomy to collective discipline whilst maintaining principled political differences. This means Socialist Workers Party branches accepting Communist leadership in specific campaigns where they possess superior local knowledge. It means anarchist collectives participating in centrally-coordinated defensive actions despite rejecting electoral strategies. It means Labour left councillors using institutional positions to support direct action they cannot publicly endorse.

Such tactical unity doesn't require ideological convergence but mutual recognition that fascist victory would destroy all our organisations regardless of theoretical correctness. The immediate task involves building defensive capacity that protects threatened communities whilst developing the strategic relationships necessary for broader revolutionary work.

Revolutionary Methods and Organisational Development

Revolutionary transformation in contemporary Britain cannot follow historical models developed under different material conditions. The state's surveillance capabilities, the working class's political fragmentation, and capitalism's global integration create challenges that require innovative approaches rather than mechanical repetition of past strategies.

Community defence networks protecting GRT sites and refugee accommodation represent the realistic starting point for revolutionary organising. These activities build practical solidarity whilst developing the trust relationships, security consciousness, and tactical skills necessary for more advanced resistance. But honest assessment recognises that moving from defensive actions to revolutionary challenge requires organisational development we currently lack.

The immediate priority involves building what Italian revolutionaries called "dual power"—autonomous institutions that meet community needs whilst developing alternative social relations. GRT-led cooperatives providing traditional services, refugee community enterprises offering mutual aid, neighbourhood assemblies coordinating local resistance—these prefigurative forms demonstrate socialist possibilities whilst building revolutionary capacity.

Revolutionary methods must adapt to British conditions whilst learning from global liberation movements. The Irish Republican experience offers crucial lessons about maintaining security whilst building mass support. Palestinian resistance demonstrates how cultural preservation becomes political resistance. Cuban community organising shows how defensive networks can evolve into revolutionary transformation.

Post-Capitalist Organisation: Concrete Alternatives

Post-capitalist Britain would eliminate the economic pressures creating both displacement and persecution. Democratic planning would prioritise social need over profit accumulation. Worker-controlled production would end the super-exploitation that makes refugee and GRT labour attractive to capital. Community ownership of land would provide adequate stopping places whilst ensuring housing as a right rather than commodity.

Traditional GRT economic practices—seasonal labour sharing, family-based workshops, cultural exchange networks—offer concrete models for socialist organisation that transcend abstract theoretical frameworks. These cooperative forms, adapted and expanded, could provide foundations for post-capitalist production that respects cultural autonomy whilst meeting collective needs.

The transitional programme connecting immediate struggles to revolutionary transformation requires careful calibration. Demands must be achievable enough to build confidence whilst radical enough to expose capitalism's structural limitations. Legal recognition of nomadic rights, massive council house construction, nationalisation of utilities—these reforms, fought for through mass struggle, create conditions for broader transformation whilst meeting urgent needs.

Building Revolutionary Capacity

The choice before us is stark: acknowledge our current limitations whilst building genuine revolutionary capacity, or maintain comfortable illusions that substitute rhetoric for organisation. The war on GRT communities and refugees represents capitalism's broader assault on human diversity and alternative ways of life. Their defence requires moving beyond protest politics toward the disciplined organisation necessary for revolutionary transformation.

Forward to working-class power. Forward to genuine unity. Forward to revolution.