These days, it seems everyone thinks all skinheads are racist. Thanks to the mass-media (looking for a sensationalized story to sell papers and air-time), and the increased growth of the racist right's organizing efforts in North America, the skinhead subculture has been stolen and demonized by racists.
The original skinheads first appeared in England in the late 1960's, growing out of the "rude-boy" and "hard-mod" movements. White, working-class kids who couldn't afford to keep up with the increasingly expensive tastes of the mod movement adopted their own, hard mod, style, placing their emphasis on clean, practical clothing and hairstyles suitable for work and on taking pride in being working class. An influx of working-class immigrants from the West Indies brought the hard mods into direct contact with the Carribean youth subculture of the rude boys, who introduced the hard mods to the joys of ska and reggae and the rugged individualism that was their trademark. Never at odds with each other, the members of these two youth subcultures united, and skinheads were the result. The original skins were black and white, and listened to ska music (a faster, more danceable predecessor to reggae), as well as soul and blue beat.
These skins had a tough, clean style which expressed their working-class backgrounds, wearing Doc Marten workboots, Levis jeans, donkey jackets, and suspenders (called "braces"). At dances they would wear flashy suits, and youth from Britain and the West Indies would mix freely, openly admiring and adapting each other's music, style and culture. Racial violence by "skinheads" was practically non-existent at this point. How could there be when the skinhead style grew out of black culture, and skins listened to black music?! (for this reason, we call neo-nazis "boneheads" because they are an abomination to where real skinheads come from and a betrayal to the real skinhead culture). Obviously, the skinhead subculture can truly claim to be one of the only youth movements with multicultural roots.
It is true that skinheads were often linked to violence (which was frequently mindless). Skinheads frequently got into scraps with other subcultures, the police, and towards the end, other skinheads. This eventually led to their downfall, and by 1972 the original skins were a rare breed.
Out of the punk rock explosion of the late 70's grew Oi!, a street level movement of kids dedicated to bringing punk back to its angry roots. Oi! bands sung about real issues faced by youth in the UK, such as unemployment, prison, authority, etc., and many of the original and most revered bands had an obvious left-wing slant (such as SHAM 69, THE BUSINESS, and the ANGELIC UPSTARTS). Since the skinhead movement is a movement for and about working-class youth, this political leaning only makes sense.
Other people sought to cash in on the new skinhead scene. Gary Bushell, a writer for SOUNDS music magazine (at the time, the SPIN or ROLLING STONE of the UK) frequently played up Oi!'s negative image of violence and aggressivness while at the sametime making a hefty amount of money by promoting records of right wing bands. This attracted alot of scum to what was once a positive, working class movement.
At the same time, the NATIONAL FRONT (a fascist political party which at the time was at its height in Brittain), eager to recruit young, expendable cannon fodder to do their dirty work for them in street fights, began to attempt to co-opt the skinhead image. It is at this point (more than a decade after the original birth of the skinhead movement) that the first racist and neo-nazi "skinheads" also began to appear. A bastardization of the original racially-mixed skinhead movement, they sought easy scapegoats to the problems of unemployment and recession, blaming immigrants, blacks, and other minorities instead of the conservative British government ( then under Maggie "the vampire" Thatcher). Nazi bonehead bands such as SKREWDRIVER and BRUTAL ATTACK, and organizations like BLOOD & HONOR (a racist bonehead network) made the message popular.
Of course, the mass media helped the nazis along by giving them exposure without debate. Interested only in selling papers, the media refused to allow anti-racist skins a voice, effectively silencing those who directly fought this nazi-resurgence on the streets, and flooding the skin scene with right-wing scum. Despite this setback, real anti-racist skins continued to fight on for their tradition by organizing Oi! against racism concerts, and physically fighting nazis out of the streets and shows. It was at this point that the real skins also gave rise to the Two-Tone ska movement, which strongly condemned the racist boneheads. Multiracial ska bands like The Specials, Bad Manners, Madness & The Selecter rose to the top of the charts, building ska to the height of its popularity and promoting multiracial unity along the way.
Real skinheads hold certain ideals in common. We are all working and lower-middle class. We believe in unity, pride in our class and in ourselves. We enjoy music, dancing and a good night out. Many of us like beer. We also seem to get into alot of fights. We are militant in standing up for what we believe in. And WE HATE RACISM and fight it wherever it rears its ugly head.
People ask why we don't just give up being skins, since we get attacked both by the right for being anti-racist, and the left and general public wo think all skins are racist. To this, we answer that skinhead is our identity. We believe in it. It is who we are, and we could no more give it up than change where we were born or the color of our skin. We are proud of what being a skin really stands for (and not the racist shit preached by the right and the media), and we want to create a culture that expresses our ideals. In short, being a skin is our life, and we won't let anyone take that away from us.
There is a growing section of the skinhead movement who are not only anti-racist, but also strongly left-wing. Many of us are anarchists, socialist, and anti-fascist. In addition to fighting racism, we fight against sexism and homophobia (the verbal, physical and psychological attacks on gays and lesbians). We fight against war, against attacks on the poor and working class (such as strike breaking, cut-backs, etc.), against imperialist intervention, police brutality and prisons. We fight for a better world based on our beliefs.
While many skins are nationalist, and proudly display the flag of their country, we are against this. Being nationalist goes against what being a skin means to us. Patriotism is a tool of the politicians and the rich of all nations to make the working class fight one another, instead of fighting their real enemies. Nationalism has poor kids killing each other in wars, and blaming foreigners and immigrants for the lack of jobs (instead of the corporations who exploit us all). Patriotism has been responsible for slavery and the massacre of millions of indigenous people. Instead of nationalism, we promote pride in our class and culture. We believe in uniting the international working class against the rich bastard rulers who screw us over every day.
Many skins argue that we should keep our beliefs out of the scene. To this we argue that being a skin means standing up for what you believe in, and having pride in it. We hate the rich, the police, the nazis and the politicians. We want change because we're tired of being screwed over, and we want a better world. Politics affects our lives, and we're sick of letting others "crucify" us without a fight. We're proud of our beliefs because they are a part of who we are and where we want to go. And we're working-class skins who want a change, so our beliefs belong at the shows, clubs, and dancehalls.
Also, the nazis offer something to angry kids. These kids often do not start out as white supremacists, but they are in a process of rebelling against authority. The nazis offer scapegoats, and a strong movement to be a part of. If we want to stop the nazis and get our subculture back, we have to offer a strong movement as well, preferably one which offers REAL revolutionary solutions beyond patriotism and nationalism.
"Fencewalkers" are skins who refuse to take sides, but claim to be into "unity". We argue that there can be no "unity" with boneheads. In the coming battle you have to choose sides-the nazis or us. And you'd better know which side of the fence you stand on.
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