Today, as in the past, the fight against the far right has to be taken to small towns as well as to city streets. Back in 1971, the town of Hitchin in Hertfordshire was one such place. On this occasion the openly racist National Front had been refused permission for a rally in London's Trafalgar Square so they landed 40 miles north in Hitchin instead. On 27 March 1971 around 400 NF supporters from around the country took part, countered by between 1,000 and 2,000 anti-racists mobilised by Hitchin Indian Workers Association and other groups. The NF were led by a pipe band from Wolverhampton (something the local Wolverhampton seemed almost proud of - see below!). Smoke bombs were thrown into their ranks as they passed.
Socialist Worker, 3 April 1971
(photos from there too)
(I grew up not far away in Luton and at the end of the 1970s got involved in countering the National Front there - see earlier post)
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