Campaign Against Racial Discrimination

Campaign Against Racial Discrimination
Name	Campaign Against Racial Discrimination
Founded	1964
Dissolved	1967
Headquarters	London
Founders	C. L. R. James, Stuart Hall, Mancherjeet Singh, Nella Larsen, David Pitt
Location	United Kingdom
Focus	Racial equality, civil rights, anti-discrimination legislation

Campaign Against Racial Discrimination was a UK-based civil rights organization formed in 1964 to coordinate opposition to racial discrimination and the importuning of immigration controls. It sought legislative reform, public protest, and cross-community solidarity across Britain and links with international movements. The group operated against a backdrop of postwar migration, decolonization, and emergent black consciousness, drawing activists from Caribbean, South Asian, African, and progressive British circles.

Background and Origins

The Campaign Against Racial Discrimination emerged amid debates sparked by the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962, the Notting Hill race riots, and public controversies involving figures such as Enoch Powell and institutions like the BBC. Its founding meetings took place in venues associated with West Indian Students' Centre, Caribbean Labour Congress, and Anti-Apartheid Movement gatherings, drawing intellectuals linked to Pan-Africanism, Trotskyism, and postcolonial networks around C. L. R. James and Stuart Hall. Global currents — including the American Civil Rights Movement, the Indian independence movement, and struggles against Apartheid in South Africa — influenced its tactics and rhetoric. The organization sought to unite diasporic activists from Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, India, Pakistan, and Nigeria with sympathetic members of Labour Party factions and intellectuals from institutions such as London School of Economics.

Goals and Platform

The Campaign articulated a program combining legal reform, anti-discrimination education, and solidarity with international struggles. It demanded amendments to laws inspired by precedents like the Race Relations Act 1965, promoted protections analogous to provisions in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (United States), and called for policing reforms informed by inquiries such as the Scarman Report—though published later. The platform emphasized coordination with groups including the National Union of Mineworkers, Transport and General Workers' Union, and student bodies at University of London colleges. Policy proposals referenced comparative models from Canada, Australia, and the United States, and sought electoral pressure on MPs including Harold Wilson and Roy Jenkins.

Major Activities and Campaigns

The Campaign organized demonstrations, public meetings, and legal aid initiatives, staging events in venues such as Albert Hall, London and assembly halls used by the Notting Hill Carnival community. It coordinated protests against high-profile incidents involving Metropolitan Police Service actions and hosted panels featuring speakers from the Congress of Racial Equality, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and the Organisation of African Unity. The Campaign ran information drives, produced pamphlets distributed at locations like Euston Road bookstalls, and collaborated with publishers linked to Left Review and radical imprints associated with Alexander Kojève-influenced circles. It supported boycott campaigns against companies implicated in discriminatory hiring practices and lobbied local authorities in boroughs such as Lambeth, Brixton, and Notting Hill for housing inspections and anti-discrimination ordinances.

Key Figures and Membership

Leadership and membership blended intellectuals, trade-unionists, and community organizers. Prominent names associated with the Campaign included C. L. R. James, Stuart Hall, David Pitt, Sathnam Sanghera-adjacent commentators of later decades, and activists from the Race Today Collective and Caribbean Labour Congress. Trade-union allies came from organizations like National Union of Public Employees and the Amalgamated Engineering Union. Academic supporters had links to School of Oriental and African Studies and the Institute of Race Relations, while media allies included journalists who had written for New Statesman, The Guardian, and The Observer. Membership networks connected to diasporic cultural figures from Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, as well as student activists from University of Manchester and University of Birmingham.

Public Reception and Impact

Public response ranged from enthusiastic support among diasporic communities and progressive circles to hostility from segments of the British press and parliamentary critics. Coverage in outlets like Daily Herald and The Times contrasted with polemics in tabloids that echoed rhetoric from politicians such as Enoch Powell. The Campaign influenced municipal policy debates in Nottingham and Birmingham and contributed to parliamentary pressure that shaped early versions of the Race Relations Act 1965 and later the Race Relations Act 1968. Its public meetings drew comparison to international forums such as the Paris May 1968 assemblies and civil rights conferences in Atlanta, Georgia and Washington, D.C., while legal aid efforts prefigured later cases before courts influenced by precedents from the European Court of Human Rights.

Legacy and Influence on Subsequent Movements

Although the Campaign dissolved by the late 1960s, its networks and rhetoric persisted in successor organizations and movements. It helped seed projects such as the Race Today Collective, inspired activists who later formed the British Black Panthers, and informed policy work at institutions like the Commission for Racial Equality. Cultural and academic afterlives can be traced through figures who moved into Broadcasting (BBC) production, university departments at Goldsmiths, University of London, and journals such as New Left Review. Internationally, its model of diasporic coalition-building resonated with campaigns against Apartheid and with anti-racist initiatives in Canada and France. The Campaign’s emphasis on legislative change, community solidarity, and transnational solidarity shaped debates that led to subsequent statutes like the Race Relations Act 1976 and ongoing advocacy within civil liberties organizations such as Liberty.

Category:Anti-racism organizations in the United Kingdom