Anti-Nazi League

The Anti-Nazi League (ANL) was an organisation set up in 1975 on the initiative of the Socialist Workers Party with sponsorship from some trade unions and the endorsement of a list of prominent people to oppose the rise of far-right groups in the United Kingdom. It was wound down in 1981. It was relaunched in 1992, but merged into Unite Against Fascism in 2003.

The initial sponsors included Peter Hain (a former Young Liberal leader; then the communications officer of the postal workers' union UCW), Ernie Roberts (deputy general secretary of the engineering union AUEW) and Paul Holborow of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP).

In its first period, 1975–1982, the Anti-Nazi League was launched directly by the SWP; it was effectively its front organisation. Many trade unions sponsored it, as did the Indian Workers Association (then a large organisation), and many members of the Labour Party, including MPs such as Neil Kinnock. According to socialist historian Dave Renton, the ANL was "an orthodox united front" based on a "strategy of working class unity", as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Critics of the ANL, such as Anti-Fascist Action argue that the ANL's co-operation with "bourgeois" groups who work closely with the state, such as Searchlight magazine and the Labour Party, rule out this description, making it a classic popular front.

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