IS/SWP Hammersmith

SDS undercovers reported on the Hammersmith branch of the International Socialists (IS, later the Socialist Workers Party or SWP) from 1972 to 1982. Between 1976 and 1978 the branch was infiltrated by HN296 ‘Geoff Wallace’. During his time in Hammersmith IS, Wallace assumed elected roles and served as a branch delegate and his reporting includes details of children’s political activities. He was one of three organisers of the Anti-Nazi League carnival in 1978. 

According to a 1972 SDS report, Hammersmith IS took part in a demonstration in support of the Stoke Newington Four, anarchists who were accused of being part of the Angry Brigade, later known as the Stoke Newington Eight. Report on a demo held in support of the ‘Stoke Newington 4’, supported by branches of Internaitonal Socialists, starting from Shepherds Bush on 16 Dec 1972, 21 Dec 1972, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, UCPI0000008386.View Document

At the beginning of Wallace’s infiltration, the Hammersmith branch was part of the IS Inner West London District. In his evidence to the Inquiry, Wallace suggested that Hammersmith and neighbouring IS districts and branches took part in confrontations with the fascist National Front (NF) National Front (NF) The National Front was a far-right and openly racist organisation that formed as an alliance of several small far-right groups that were operating on the fringe of British politics in the 1960s. These groups included the British National Party and the League of Empire Loyalists. It rose to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s, organising marches and standing candidates at local and national elections. While not a focus of the SDS, the party was for many anti-fascist groups that the SDS did spy on. HN303 Peter Collins was sent to spy on the group not by the Metropolitan Police, but by the group he was sent to monitor - The Workers Revolutionary Party.  in the late 1970s. 

According to Wallace, members from Hammersmith and other west London branches and districts were involved in such demonstrations, notably on 28 February 1976, when the National Front (NF) organised a ‘Right to Work for whites only’ march in Coventry. In 1977, the Hammersmith branch attended similar counter-protests against the NF in Birmingham and Lewisham.

Former IS member and Inquiry core participant Lindsey German called into question the accuracy of Wallace’s reports. In particular she disputed that IS had planned confrontations with the National Front, explaining that members had just responded to provocation and violence by far-right activists as it occurred.

In February 1978, Wallace reported that a new IS district of Hammersmith and Kensington had been created. The old Fulham and Hammersmith branches had been disbanded, and new branches formed in Hammersmith and Shepherd’s Bush.

Sources

First Witness Statement of Lindsey German First Witness Statement of Lindsey German (non state core participant), given in the UCPI, Tranche 1, Phase 3, 14 Feb 2022.View Document

Counsel to the Inquiry’s opening statement for Tranche One, Phase Two Opening Statement of Counsel to the Inquiry for Tranche 1 Phase 2, given in the UCPI, Tranche 1, Phase 2, 21 Apr 2021.View Document