The Young Communist League of Britain condemns the most recent outbreak of far-right violence in Britain. Racist attacks have occurred over the past two days in Glasgow and Liverpool, stirred up by far-right agitation exploiting the horrific attempted murder of a man in Belfast. Far-right demagogue Tommy Robinson, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, posted footage of this attack on his social media account and has called for demonstrations in Britain and the North of Ireland, the reach of the latter of which has since been boosted by social media mogul Elon Musk’s sharing of these details with his own followers. Yaxley-Lennon continues the long trend of reactionary elements in Britain stirring up division among the working class of the occupied counties of Ireland, a key part of ensuring British capital can profit from the North of Ireland that it structurally underfunded and underdeveloped to the point that 20% of the population is on anti-depressants, 1 in 4 children grow up in poverty and a crisis of femicide has resulted in over 30 women killed since 2020.
Beyond these two most heinous examples of violent outbreaks, the far-right has also used the incident to whip up anti-immigration sentiment culminating in protests elsewhere, including Southampton, the site of the murder of Henry Nowak and in which violence also broke out following the sentencing of Henry Nowak’s killer. This protest was addressed by Yaxley-Lennon, and with protestors repeating the tired tropes of so-called “two-tier” policing with chants such as “Racist police, off our streets.” Reform’s Nigel Farage also poured fuel on the flames, calling for the public to respond with “pure, cold rage”. This is combined with their usual Islamaphobic vitriol that recycles the same lies told about Irish immigrants in years gone past.
Glasgow and Liverpool are cities that were built by all their working residents, and both have a long history of immigration. Unfortunately, they are also cities that have been historically affected by the scourge of sectarianism engendered by reactionary loyalist elements with the full support of British imperial capital.
No matter targeting Irish Catholic, Black, Eastern European, or Muslim people, the YCL stands against all forms of race and religious hate. Britain’s colour bar for public places was only removed following the Race Relations Act of 1965. Religious discrimination in the North of Ireland was only outlawed in 1976 following the passing of the Fair Employment (NI) Act of 1976 by Westminster, after the region’s executive had previously successfully lobbied to remove religion as a racial classifier, as continuation of a civil rights campaign that began with a simple demand of ‘one man, one vote’ that was brutally repressed by the sectarian, artificial and London imposed statelet from Burntollet to the Bogside. It was just 10 years ago that Eastern European people living in Britain were on the receiving end of higher levels of race crime post-2016. And now, Muslim people continue to be the target of media campaigns using buzzwords such as “fighting-age men” in their drive to build consent for wars overseas and justifying hate at home.
The people of Glasgow and Liverpool have a proud history of standing against racist drivel, not just in Britain but around the world. Glasgow was the first city in the world to confer the freedom of the city on Nelson Mandela in 1981, and renamed the address of the consulate-general of the Apartheid-regime to Mandela Place in 1986. The working-class community of Toxteth organised itself under Liverpool 8, which became a core for anti-Apartheid work in Liverpool. This is what these cities stand for, and is a legacy we are proud of.
As an inevitable result of capitalism and imperialism, racism is weaponised by the ruling class to divide workers and justify the deliberate underdevelopment of foreign countries. Migrant workers, whether as a result of war or the economic sabotage of their countries, are forced to move to the imperial core where their wages are suppressed and used to suppress the wages of others.
It has quickly become evident to all that the violence in Glasgow and Liverpool have nothing to do with the despicable attack in Belfast save for as an excuse to unleash a wave of pogroms against already marginalised groups. Pogroms that horrifically resemble the anti-Irish pogroms of 1969.
The liberal media will not provide the answers that the working-class need. The far-right takes the working-class for fools who do not recognise fascism’s role as capitalism’s last line of defence. The plastic patriotism peddled by poundland Mosleys is nothing less than paltry camouflage, an attempt to obscure the fact that they do nothing to build community in our country, hiding away their ill-gotten gains in overseas tax havens. The real love of our country is a progressive patriotism that celebrates the working-class, its struggles and diversity, and a dignified life for all. As communist youth, it is our duty to push back against all divisive anti-worker ideologies, educate on racism’s roots in capitalism, and promote a balanced and fact-based stance on migration. Working class people know the current immigration system does not work for either people arriving or existing communities already on their knees – Communists are clear that fair immigration controls and an end to British tax payer money being spent on bombing foreign countries creating refugees are the only solutions – not pogroms, not cramping the desperate into millionaire owned hotels and not demonising our fellow workers while fat cats laugh in their gentleman’s clubs.
The YCL condemns the most recent attempts by the far-right to latch on to tragedy for their own nefarious purposes, and vows to continue its work in building the united front to bring together progressive organisations against racism and fascism.
International Department
Young Communist League
London, Britain,
13 June 2026
