On 14 May,1981, at the age of only 54, Searchlight’s editor Maurice Ludmer died suddenly, depriving the post war anti-fascist and anti-racist movement of one of its leading figures. Maurice, famously, said “Never again” in 1946 when, as his 1981 Searchlight obituary written by the playwright David Edgar, recounted: “…a young British Army private, a […]
Anti-fascism
Peter Marriner: undercover hero of the anti-fascist movement
Peter Marriner, who has died at the age of 77, was an undercover informant in the extreme right for many years, and one of those extraordinary people, true heroes of the anti-fascist movement, to whom we owe an enormous debt of gratitude for their courage and self-sacrifice. But the story of his initial introduction into […]
A Searchlight mole and a nazi weapons hoard
When this article was first published in 2024, we were not able to identify Peter Marriner as the Searchlight informant who smashed this nazi plot to assemble a huge weapons cache. In the final print edition of Searchlight, published this year, Peter was happy to be identified in the Searchlight Undercover Hall of Fame. So […]
Anti-fascist action in 2025
Some personal thoughts on two successful anti-fascist actions last weekend, and what they can teach us. The past weekend was very instructive as far as anti-fascists were concerned. In Manchester and Birmingham fascists were repulsed. In Manchester, so called hard-core street activists around UKIP leader Nick Tenconi were chased out of Piccadilly Gardens. And in […]
Leonard “Lenny” Zeskind – comrade and friend
Leonard – he was always Lenny to me – Zeskind left a positive impression on all who knew him. He was forthright, authoritative, knowledgeable, informative and crystal clear. He argued well, gleaning as much that was useful as he could in debate and argument. But he was never a pushover. And he seldom lost arguments. […]
Remembering Dietrich Bonhoeffer – murdered by Hitler’s nazis
Today marks the 80th anniversary of the murder of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the final days of the Second World war. The sounds of the bombardment of the advancing Soviet army showed defeat was near for the Nazis, but their priority was to kill internal enemies threatening them. The killing of Bonhoeffer, a German theologian and […]