[A picture of Sir Robert the Daily Mail…]

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A picture of Sir Robert the Daily Mail front page.

Despite his current civilian status, the picture showed him in his police uniform and cropped wide enough to include two rows of insignia on his chest. He looked across the page as a man with a vision.

Several pages later readers of the Daily Mail would have learned that it believed Mark was "overstating the case"' That official line-the exact formal position of the Torieswas belied by the display on page one.

Picked out in striking bold letters alongside his picture was the statement:

"Unions and the Government... 'not unlike the way the Nazi Party seized power'"

The Daily Mail does not often sustain a story of longer than 300 words-the best lies are short and simple, but the expolice chief's outburst, overstating the case or not, ran over from page one to fill half of page two with densely packed type.

The Tory Party does not intend to spend the election period in issuing statements in the Mark mould but neither they. nor the Mail can be embarrassed by his article in the 'Security Gazette' Mark, Lord Denning (who made his own headlines later in the week) and the Daily Mailvare three arms of the capitalist state. and the Tory Party is their If the Daily Mail and Thatcher think it unwise to campaign on slogans which liken the labour movement to Hitler's Nazis, that is oniy a tactical The Mail's laudatory treatment of Mark's article (written in his own words for "Generals, judges,. surgeons, managing directors of large companies and even senior policemen") demonstrates support, and even in Fleet Street the Mail is known as the house journal of the Tory The press campaign against the Leyland skilled workers' strike has been remarkable in its intensity, even by the own high

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NF members frisked by police on arrival at the march Fascists arriving for the rally in coaches Pictures by Socialist Press photographer The National Front's much publicised march through Leicester last Saturday turned into a set-back as big as the one they received at Lewisham in a battle which seriously undermined their support nationally.

350-400 fascists from various parts of the country; protected by a massive deployment of 5,000 police faced 3,000 anti-fașcists deployed throughout the city.

The front suffered their biggest attack a few hundred yards after the start of the march.

of bricks As they drew level with a demolition site, the front sections were cut down by a hail of bricks from • anti-fascists behind hoardings.

This attack produced a prompt decision by the policedirected from above by helicopter-to redirect the march by the shortest route to the schoo! where the front planned to hold their meeting.

Clashes on the way culminated in a confrontation between anti-fascists and police in the university area, where the NF meeting was being held.

'Frequent charges by the police resulted in 35 arrestsalthough the police seemed more interested in beating people up than arresting them. At one point dogs were set on the anti-fascists and at another point police drove cars and motor bikes at high speed into the crowds.

Earlier the tactic of the police had been thwarted when the vast majority of anti-fascists refused to follow the official policy of the pacifist Anti Nazi League.

ANL leaders had called on supporters to assemble at assembly point A special Socialis Victoria Park-a mile or so from Press Report the city centre-and then go on a protest march to an ANL Carnival, sited well away from the NF.

The police plan . was to allow the demonstrators to assemble at Victoria Park and then cordon it off from the city But when they carried out this plan only about 400 ANL supporters were caught behind the cordon-the rest had travelled directly oto the city Another group of about 500 which also assembled at Victoria Park organised by the Leicester Community Relations Councilcomprising mostly liberals and the Indian Workers Association -did march off under the banner of "unity" away from the National Front on a futile protest march.

The success of the antifascist action shows the importance of confronting the NF on the streets.

It also demonstrates the bankruptcy of the ANL policy which-had it been follwedwould have allowed the National Front fascists to march unchallenged through the streets of Leicester.

The Workers Socialist League has consistently argued that the central issue is the fight NF to mobilise every workplace, factory, working class estate, political and trade union body and immigrant community in IL FRONT united defence squads trained to combat the fascists.

If any of the ANL dignatories or the organisations involved in the ANlawould fight for such a policy the WSL would fight alongside them on this question.

This, in our view, must be combined with the struggle to remove the right wing Labour leader-whose treachery has opened the door to the fascistsand building a revolutionary party capable of fighting the Labour and TUC traitors.

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GONDON AK (LEAGUE Socialist Youth League contingent stanisa.. recent LST BALL Mise Do Ar PEAK demonstration against the SUS law PRESS, Wednesday April 1979

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Mark, stern jawed and un- smiling, headed the top of