Rock Agaisnt Communism: A Short History

Rock Against Communism (RAC) is one of the most controversial and politically charged movements in music.It emerged in 1970s Britain and was a place for racism and white supremacy to thrive in punk and oi! music. The name suggests a mere opposition for communism, but the entire movement actually stands for much more than that. The RAC movement focused on racism, antisemitism, and white nationalism.

As stated before, RAC comes from Britain in the 1970s. At the time, the country was experiencing rising unemployment, economic decline, political division and anger amongst working class youth. This created the environment for rebellion and alienation. Punk music was the perfect outlet for the angry, young, working class. Punk and skinhead scenes combined the working class identity with aggressive music and fashion.

The punk scene was very ideologically diverse at the time. While a lot of punk steered more towards left wing and anarchist politics, there was a small pocket of right wing nationalist youth who embraced the style, particularly skinheads. The skinhead movement was originally a multiracial/cultural thing and rooted in Jamaican ska music but the scene split by the mid 1970s. One side retained its multicultural roots and the other adopted nationalist and racist views that were influenced by far right groups like the National Front (NF).

The Rock Against Racism (RAR) movement, emerging in 1976, began gaining a lot of cultural influence. They used fanzines and concerts to promote anti-racism, socialism, and other leftist ideas. RAR concerts like the 1978 Carnival Against Nazis in London’s Victoria Park, which was headlined by The Clash and Steel Pulse, drew over 100,000 people. Huge successes like this inspired the far right to make their own musical counter movement.

The earliest RAC shows were small and often held in secret locations. The first official Rock Against Communism show took place in Leeds, 1978 featuring The Dentists, The Ventz, and a few local punk bands. Even though attendance was poor, they established themselves as punk bands performing for freedom, patriotism, and anti-communism. Between 1979 and 1982 more RAC shows were held all across England. Most of them were organized through the National Fronts Bulldog Magazine which promoted the events and sold tickets through advertisements. In these early years, RACs musical identity was still forming. Bands like Skullhead, White Boss, and The Ovaltinees began to write songs that fused Punk and Oi! music with nationalist themes. A lot of these small chaotic gigs attracted the police, and many were shut down due to violent behavior. Despite the small size, these shows established the blueprint for this music.

The transformation of RAC from a small movement to an international phenomenon is largely due to one man: Ian Stuart Donaldson, the frontman of the band Skrewdriver. Skrewdriver began in 1976 as a completely normal punk band with no extreme politics involved. Their debut album “All Skrewed Up” was actually pretty solid and well liked. After a brief disbandment, Donaldson reformed Skrewdriver in 1982 with new members and a new message. The band now aligned themselves with white nationalist and nazi beliefs and supported the NF and other far right organizations. Donaldson saw RAC as not just a musical genre, but as a movement for white pride and power. He wanted to use it as a political instrument. In an 1986 interview with White Noise magazine he states “Music reaches those the leaflets never will. You can’t ignore it. You can feel it. And once you feel it, you belong.” They expressed their ideas very openly. Skrewdrivers songs such as ‘White Power” and “Free My Land” are pretty self-explanatory. This band became the leader of the RAC scene and headlined rallies and concerts organized by the NF and later by their own network Blood & Honour. One of the first major RAC events featuring Skrewdriver took place in London in 1983, organized by the NFs “White Noise Club.” The show was crashed by anti-fascist protesters, setting the tone for nearly every RAC show that followed. They continued to play numerous concerts, often under false names to avoid the police. The performances were politically charged and got violent.

By 1987, RAC musicians and the NF weren’t getting along very well. Many bands thought that the NF was exploiting the movement for political gain and not giving it genuine support. In response, in 1987 Ian Stuart founded Blood & Honour, a fanzine and an organization for right wing music. The magazine listed concert dates, interviews, and articles. This zine allowed these ideas to spread internationally. It enabled scenes in Germany, France, and Scandinavia to align with their ideas and aesthetics.

The first Blood & Honour concert took place in London in 1987. The lineup consisted of Skrewdriver, No Remorse, and Razors edge. This show attracted hundreds of skinheads from across the country and marked the movements complete independence from formal political ideas. After this, more large scale Blood & Honour events were taking place across Europe, one example being the “White Christmas” concert in London in 1988, featuring Skrewdriver, Brutal Attack, and No Remorse. This was one of the biggest RAC events ever held in Britain, attracting several hundred people before the police shut it down as usual. In 1989 there was another Blood & Honour Summer Concert in Kent with Skrewdriver and a German band called Störkraft.

Germany quickly became a hub for RAC music. Groups like the previously mentioned Störkraft, Landser and Nordfront adopted the music genres sound and political message. They often connected with neo-nazi organizations like the German Peoples Union (DVU) and the National Democratic Party (NPD). The “Rock-O-Rama” label, based in Cologne distributed records for a lot of RAC and white power bands throughout the 80s. Important events included the 1987 Hamburg RAC concert and several secret shows in Berlin in the early 1990s organized by the now banned Free German Workers Party (FAP). In response to all of these shows and the rise of the genre, German authorities banned several albums and prosecuted musicians for “hate speech.”

In the Scandinavian countries, particularly Sweden and Finland, RAC scenes combined with white power metal and hatecore genres. They fused RAC with more intense musical forms. Bands like Pluton Svea, Mistreat, and Midgård became pretty well known. They held concerts in remote venues to avoid police. The most notable event was the 1993 Nordic Blood & Honour meeting in Stockholm Sweden which gathered bands from across Scandinavia.

RAC also thrived in the United States. RAC influenced several white supremacist bands such as Bound for Glory, Final War, Day of the Sword, and Blue Eyed Devils. Festivals like “Aryan Woodstock” held in Tennessee brought together American and European bands. Groups like the Hammerskin Nation became the American version of Blood & Honour and distributed albums through underground labels like Resistance Records.

By the early 1990s, the movement started to fizzle out. Law enforcement crackdowns intensified. Britain, Germany, and Europe in general, began banning concerts and records because of “hate speech” laws. RAC was also heavily getting associated with violence and terrorism because of incidents at shows where they often clashed with Anti Facist Action (AFA) activists. Internal divisions also contributed to the decline of the movement as well. Blood & Honour and Combat 18 often disagreed on how to handle the movement. Combat 18 accused Blood & Honour of being weak, while Blood & Honour saw Combat 18 as reckless. Musical tastes also changed. Metal and alternative rock dominated the 90s, leaving little room for punk rock music. Although, the ideology persisted in genres like black metal and industrial music.

The defining tragedy that led to the decline of RAC was the death of Ian Stuart Donaldson, who was killed in a car crash near Derbyshire in September of 1993. This was a major blow to the RAC community, and the movement was effectively decapitated. However, Ian Stuart Memorial Concerts became annual events across Europe, celebrating his life and keeping the scene alive.

Though weakened, RAC did not disappear after 1993. Blood & Honour split into more regional networks. In Eastern Europe (especially in Poland, Hungary, and Russia) RAC still thrived through underground shows. One memorable event was the 1999 Blood & Honour concert in Bratislava, Slovakia. This show featured several bands from both Germany and Scandinavia. Despite all the police being around, this concert attracted nearly 1,000 people, showing how this scene still remained strong. In the United States, “White Christmas” concerts organized by the Hammerskins continued until the 2000s. The internet also helped keep RAC alive. Websites, forums, group chats, file sharing, and social media allowed bands to bypass censorship and share music globally, spreading the movement to younger generations such as myself. RAC left a legacy. Even though RAC is not that relevant anymore, it was the blueprint for more relevant genres like National Socialist Black Metal (NSBM) that was heavily inspired by the ideas that RAC sustained.