From anti-car to anti-capitalism

The roots of this movement can be traced to the illegal rave and free party groups that emerged in the late 1980s and early '90s. Politicised by the campaign against the Poll Tax and by police attacks, often extremely heavy handed, on illegal parties (i.e. ones that didn't make huge profits for councils and promoters), a pool of activists was created that would feed the road protests that were about to start.

Reclaim the Streets is the most well known of the new anti-capitalist organisations, or dis-organisation as it calls itself. It was originally set up in 1991 as a road protest group in London, organising protests like disrupting the 1993 motor show at Earls Court and dumping a wrecked car on Park Lane. It proclaimed to be "for walking, cycling and cheap, or free, public transport, and against cars, roads and the system that pushes them". RTS immersed themselves into the campaign to stop the M11 link in East London. Because it was in an urban environment, as opposed to the Twyford Down protests for example, this campaign forced the participants to think about broader social implications.

In 1994, the Tory Government introduced the Criminal Justice Bill, aimed directly against ravers, road protesters, trade unionists and anyone organising demonstrations or civil disobedience. A number of organisations turned themselves to campaigning against the Bill. They included road protesters, party organisers like Luton's Exodus, groups like Justice? in Brighton who publish the activists' newsletter Schnews, pressure groups, and the far left. Unwittingly, the Government had brought together the disparate forces that would organise events like the huge March for Social Justice in support of the Liverpool Dockers and the 18 June protest against capitalism in the City of London. In 1995 RTS was relaunched.

The dockers' strike was hugely important in shifting the thinking of many of the people involved in campaigns like RTS. As these groups found a common cause with the Dockers and with tube workers, some started to move towards a class perspective. Capitalism, not just cars, became the target of their anger. As RTS put it in a leaflet, "Our streets are as full of capitalism as of cars, and the pollution of capitalism is much more insidious".

There was still some hostility to the left. Selling Action for Solidarity on the March for Social Justice, I got an exceptionally mixed response. Some swore at me and were extremely hostile, but others were very keen to listen - and I sold more papers than I had ever sold on a demonstration before.

It is important to understand where the hostility came from. There was a feeling that the left parachuted in at the end of the Criminal Justice Bill movement, flooded the demos with their own placards, set up their own campaign, and claimed demos as their own. But the SWP is not all of the left, and some forgiveness would be useful. Sure, some of the far left had made huge mistakes but they (we?) are not to be deemed "just as much our enemies as the state", as some leaflets circulated at these events have claimed.

The left has often taken one of two approaches to new protest movements that they haven't seen before. One is to treat them with caution and suspicion and to dismiss participants as "middle class dilettantes that will all get good jobs in a couple of years". It is worth remembering that this is a charge often made against members of the far left. The second response is to forget everything we have learned about the centrality of class or the importance of ideas and see the "new anti-capitalist movement", like the student movement in the 1960s, as a short-cut alternative to working class struggle, or attribute to them an importance way out of proportion. We need to learn how to relate effectively and level-headedly to these movements.

There is a paradox here. On the one hand, groups like RTS seem incredibly disparate and hostile to centralism, and yet on the other hand they are clearly highly organised and able to mobilise impressive numbers of people. We can surely pick up some tips on organisation here. Some of the tactics used are highly inventive and enjoyable. If a movement is to attract youth these are qualities it needs.

Mick Duncan