A report back from a group that confronted an SWP stall in Brixton last week.

We confronted the SWP stall outside Brixton tube station on Friday. What was once an irregular SWP presence now appears to be more persistent as they scramble to recruit more people under the conceptually limited slogan of ‘Get Tories Out!’. Last Friday they were publicising the People’s Assembly March (South London PA is controlled by the SWP) the following day and encouraging people to sign their fake petition - which, as usual, will never get handed in anywhere and be used solely to build the SWP’s database.

Always full of the anxious dread of anticipation, four of us gathered behind the stall to discuss where it was best to stand and to keep each other safe from the usual diatribe of abuse. We collectively agreed to avoid directly confronting or even engaging with them wherever possible.

We then held up posters, handed out leaflets and vocally shared our support for survivors and the end of rape culture in our movements. Passers-by largely seemed interested in what we were doing with many sharing their support.



Clearly annoyed by our presence sabotaging their stall, two of the four members of the stall and someone from People’s Assembly repeatedly harassed us - though the shouts of ‘sectarianism’, ‘join us if you want change’, ‘you are part of the problem for unity’ etc, rang pretty hollow.

At one point, they made the laughable claim that our posters were infringing copyright because they used the “Stand Up To Racism” and “Socialist Worker” logos.

One SWP member disappeared and came back with a megaphone with UAF scribbled on the side of it (surprising, given that they claim UAF are not an SWP front). He then spent the next half hour making barbed references to us being “vile scum” that “defend the Tories” and undermine left-wing unity. In spite, or maybe because of this vitriol being aimed at us, the Brixton public, for the most part, weren’t buying what they were selling.

When a blind SWP member showed up for the stall, he was told to stand right next to us rather than by the stall. This was not only a breathtakingly cynical attempt to weaponise someone’s disability against us - but also a stunning lack of solidarity as the person with the least ability to physically defend themselves was placed in the most confrontational position.

By contrast, we were constantly checking in with one another throughout the action to ensure we were all comfortable continuing with what we were doing.

After an hour we had completely run out of leaflets so we retired to a cafe for a debrief. By the time we returned to the station, the SWP had packed up. There was nothing else for it but to make “improvements” to all the Marxism Festival posters that they’d put up.

