Race and class: the colour of struggle, 1950s-1980s, edited by Jenny Bourne, brings together the voices of unsung political heroes of the time, groundbreaking new research, and campaigning material from the archives, providing readers with key resources on Britain’s history of black anti-racist activism – especially relating to policing, racial violence, workers exploitation and immigration controls. Those who speak from its pages – mothers, workers, students, exiles – testify to the common experience of colonialism and racism which made Black the colour of their fight.

Stephen Ashe, Satnam Virdee and Lawrence Browne reveal hitherto untold histories of militant self-defence by East End Pakistanis in the late 1970s, and the solidarity they found in the Black Power movement . The impact of black politics on wider political culture is reiterated in Mike Higgs’ analysis of anti-fascism in the 1970s. The influence of Black struggle on anti-fascism, its insistence that the fight against fascism would do little to change the bedrock of British racism without a fight against the violence of the state, has been little recognised in dominant accounts of British anti-fascism.

Interviews with Martha Osamor, Ansel Wong, A. Sivanandan and Vishnu Sharma reveal the work that went into building black communities and self-help organisations in the face of state racism. Sadar Ali Malik and Micky Fenn, the former a Ford’s worker in Canning Town, the latter a Docker resisting the groundswell of support amongst fellow workers for Enoch, speak to movements against racism in the  workplace and the unions.

The telling of this densely woven grassroots history of movements for racial justice is in its infancy. Race and class: the colour of struggle is a contribution to opening up that space.

Author ; Jenny Bourne Editor

Publisher; Institute of Race Relationa