by Ralph Keller
On Saturday, 29 March 2026, London saw the largest anti far-right protest in UK history, marching for hope and unity, and against racism, Islamophobia and war. The organisers, the Together Alliance, claimed that 500,000 people attended, whereas the police said it was about 50,000. I believe that the police grossly deflated the true figure, and that the organisers were way too optimistic. Having attended myself, I estimate that the march was larger than the Robinson rally in September 2025, which had attracted between 110,000 and 150,000.
A sign not holding back. Credit: MHI
Protesters assembled on Park Lane, flying many Irani and Palestine flags. The trade unions were out in force too, as were the Anti-War Coalition, a sizeable contingent of the new RCP (Revolutionary Communist Party)[1] and various left-wing splinter groups such as the Spartacus League. The London fire brigade had brought an engine that was used as the stage for speakers. After the initial speeches, the march set off down Park Lane towards Wellington Arch and turned left towards Piccadilly Circus. From there, the march went down to Trafalgar Square and then Whitehall, where the final rally with more speakers took place. The mood during the march was mostly cheery with amateur bands playing and drumming, although I had hoped for a more sober atmosphere given the seriousness of the situation. But it seems to be somewhat of a constant that protest marches bring on cheery moods. We will see how this develops should the far-right gain even more ground.
Signs and slogans were quite diverse, including:
Fight Racism, Fight Capitalism
Who’s streets? Our streets!
Free Speech Does Not Justify Your Racism
Stop Pretending Your Racism Is Patriotism
Say it loud, say it clear: refugees are welcome here!
No paseran
Hug me, I’m and immigrant
Gaza—stop the genocide
We fight back!
Democracy is not a spectator sport
If this is right then I wanna be wrong
War crimes don’t hide sex crimes
Refugees are not to blame, stop the far right
Speakers stressed that Reform UK is not the answer, which will instead sow more division, suspicion, racism and Islamophobia. Amidst calls for mobilising against the planned Robinson rally on 16 May, one speaker stressed that the far-right will be allowed to march freely, but the counter-protest on that day will only be allowed if they stay far away from Robinson. Other speakers celebrated the success against Reform in local elections, which frustrated me because history shows that fascism cannot be defeated at the ballot box. Germany tried this in 1933 and the US recently tried it twice. Still other speakers stressed that Elon Musk funds Robinson’s legal fees, as Robinson himself admitted in 2025. Or speakers were blaming the super-rich for a “broken Britain”. This blames personifications of capital instead of capital itself, which Marx critiques in the preface to Capital I (p.7).
One other element of note was that the new RCP was quite vocal about the far-right not outnumbering “us”, but they out-organise us.
Credit: MHI
In my view, however, the the RCP seems to be stuck with the age-old problem that many on the left are unwilling to overcome: conceiving of the masses as force and muscle, and the organisation as an instrument whereby the “party knows best” how to direct mass activity. This attitude clearly sees the party as a substitute for brain and reason, which is incompatible with Hegel’s Absolute Idea (pp.735ff). Being stuck with the problem is one of the frustrations that Marxist0Humanist Initiative is up against, and that holds the left back against its struggle—not only against the far-right but also against capitalism more generally.
There were also some disturbances surrounding the march. Near Wellington Arch, a small contingent of Netanyahu sympathisers were seen waving Israeli flags and holding up pictures of Netanyahu. On the other side, there were some extreme Islamists the march, which cannot be prevented, I suppose. But in an interesting twist, a small group of descendants of holocaust survivors protesting the Gaza genocide, which, philosophically speaking, sublates the two opposing sides and creates a different one, such that neither now tries to oppress the other.
Credit: MHI
I plan to join the anti-Robinson rally on 16 May, but will distance myself from the extreme Islamists. Keeping up the momentum of mass resistance against the far-right will be the only way to stop that cancer. I still hope that we can succeed before it is too late, as last time it took a world war to defeat them. But they’ll keep trying, and so we’ll have to keep resisting.
ENDNOTE
[1] The British section of what used to call itself the International Marxist Tendency.
Be the first to comment