Bloody Revolutions

The next Crass single, 1980’s “Bloody Revolutions”, was a benefit release with Poison Girls that raised £20,000 to fund the Wapping Autonomy Centre . The words were a critique (from an anarchist-pacifist perspective) of the traditional Marxist view of revolutionary struggle and were partly a response to violence marring a September 1979 Crass gig at Conway Hall in London’s Red Lion Square . The show was intended as a benefit for Persons Unknown, a group of anarchists facing conspiracy charges. During the performance, Socialist Workers Party supporters and other anti-fascists attacked British Movement neo-Nazis , triggering violence. Crass later argued that the leftists were largely to blame for the fighting, and organizations such as Rock Against Racism were causing audiences to become polarised into left- and right-wing factions. Others (including the anarchist organisation Class War ) were critical of Crass’s position, stating that “like Kropotkin , their politics are up shit creek”. Many of the band’s punk followers felt that they failed to understand the violence to which they were subjected from the right.