Oddball left group tries to disrupt May Day

There was some disruption of trade union May Day events this year, but by left factions favourable to the Iranian and other anti-US regimes rather than by the far right.

In Nottingham in particular, the Revolutionary Communist Group (RCG) had already attempted to disrupt events like a Stop Trump protest on 18 April over Minneapolis. When a statement was read out there from local left wing Labour MP Nadia Whittome, the RCG orchestrated persistent heckles.

At the May Day march (2 May), the RCG turned up on the demo preceding the rally with their ambiguous and provocative slogans – “the British state is a racist state”, “the Labour Party is a racist party”, which led to some bad reactions from some bystanders who saw such slogans as an attack on them.

When Nadia Whittome began speaking at the rally, RCG members pushed their way to the front. They unfurled a large banner in front of the platform and with a high capacity megaphone accused Nadia of enabling genocide and being responsible for the deportation of tens of thousands of migrants - by being a member of the Labour Party!

After about three minutes of their disruption the RCG were jostled away from the front by stewards and other trade unionists. It is possible that a few of the ten or so people the RCG had mobilised to disrupt the event didn’t know of Nadia Whittome’s record of opposing the government’s policies on deportations and on Palestinian rights. RCG organisers, in conversations afterwards, admitted that they knew that record, but it was of no concern to them.

The RCG claim they were just asking Nadia a question, not trying to break up a trade union event. Anyway, they were unsuccessful and Nadia was able to give the speech the RCG didn’t want to be heard, opposing the far right and the Tory Party - the theme of the Trades Council demo - and reaffirming her opposition to the policies of the government.