Blood & Honour - History

History

The roots of Blood & Honour go back to 1977 in the United Kingdom, when the white nationalist National Front (NF) founded the Rock Against Communism (RAC) movement in response to the Anti-Nazi League's Rock Against Racism campaign. By 1980, a new version of Skrewdriver — by then a white power skinhead band — relaunched the RAC movement. Ian Stuart Donaldson, Skrewdriver's singer, was a founder of Blood & Honour and one of its prominent leaders until his death in 1993. With the aid of the NF, the White Noise Club (WNC) organized concerts under the RAC name, and the RAC movement grew throughout 1983 and 1984.

In 1986, the NF split into two factions, and around the same time, it was discovered that the WNC had been defrauding bands and concert-goers. Several bands left the WNC, including Skrewdriver, No Remorse, Sudden Impact and Brutal Attack. Donaldson decided to break away from the WNC and organize concerts for the NF, so he founded Blood & Honour. By June 1987, with the help of other white power bands, Blood & Honour was officially launched, along with a magazine of the same name. A concert was held in Morden, Surrey to commemorate this launch on 5 September, with Skrewdriver, Brutal Attack, Sudden Impact and No Remorse playing to a crowd of 500, including French, Italian and German supporters.

By the end of 1988, Blood & Honour magazine was a quarterly that had grown from eight to 16 pages after a few issues. The magazine included concert reports, band interviews, readers' letters, RAC record charts and a column called "White Whispers". A mail-order service called Skrewdriver Services soon formed within its pages, selling items such as white power albums, T-shirts and flags; Loyalist music tapes; and Swastika pendants.

The back page of Blood & Honour Issue Number 13 advertised a Skrewdriver concert in London on 12 September 1992. Posters and fliers were posted around the country, advertising the concert and listing a redirection point as Waterloo Rail Station. The night before the concert, Donaldson was attacked in a Burton pub. The next day, police closed down Waterloo Station and the tube station, preventing many people from reaching the redirection point. Hundreds more Blood & Honour supporters who had journeyed from abroad were turned back at ports in Folkestone and Dover. The Blood & Honour supporters clashed with anti-fascist protesters. Missiles such as bricks and champagne bottles taken from bins outside of South Bank restaurants were used during the ensuing riot. Battles ensued for about two hours until the police separated the two groups, and the concert proceeded in the function hall of the Yorkshire Grey pub in Eltham, South-East London. The incident got international media coverage and became known as the "Battle of Waterloo".

In 1992, the newly formed Midlands division organised the annual Blood & Honour White Xmas concert. On 19 December, over 400 supporters gathered at a working men's club in Mansfield to watch No Remorse, Razors Edge and Skrewdriver perform. In 1993, the East Midlands division planned to stage an outdoor festival on 31 July. Donaldson was arrested and served with an injunction order not to perform at the concert. The venue was blockaded by the police, who seized amplifiers and confiscated sound equipment. Later that year, the East Midlands division organised a concert for 25 September. Three nights before the concert, Donaldson and a few friends were travelling in a car that spun out of control into a ditch. Donaldson and another passenger died, and other passengers had minor wounds. The following day, 100 Skrewdriver supporters travelled to the Blood & Honour social in the Midlands, unaware of the deaths.

Each year, on or near the anniversary of Donaldson's death, a large memorial concert is held. In 2008, a concert in Redhill, Somerset attracted widespread BBC, radio and newspaper coverage.