I am often asked about the two arrows device used extensively in Keep Left’s visual identity – those with certain knowledge of history may notice its resemblance to the “three arrows” symbol used by various socialist political organisations and movements throughout history. So, where did the third arrow go? Well, it is more than just a stylistic choice – let me tell you a story.

The “three arrows” symbol was created by the Iron Front, a German paramilitary organisation formed in the early 1930s. This group was dominated by the main centre-left party in Germany, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), and included other trade unionist and liberal groups as well. The three arrows’ original meaning is debated, but in the lead-up to the November 1932 Reichstag election it began to be used in SPD campaign material, representing their opposition to the three political forces they saw as a threat to the republic and civil society: Nazism, monarchism, and communism.

On paper, the Iron Front opposed the Nazis and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in equal measure. What happened in practice, however, is that Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party were left without a united opposition and were thus allowed to grow in power and influence. In January 1933, when Hitler was appointed Chancellor, the KPD asked the SPD and its affiliated trade unions to call a general strike – but they refused, decrying the KPD’s activities as irresponsible and instead organising peaceful rallies which accomplished next to nothing.

While the Nazis grew ever more powerful, the Iron Front was busy engaging in street brawls with communists they saw as a threat to liberal democracy – putting their faith in the very institutions that Hitler was using to consolidate his power and doing his job for him by thinning out left-wing opposition. In response to the Iron Front, the KPD set up their own paramilitary group, Antifascist Action… otherwise known as “Antifa”. 

I won’t pretend that the KPD were completely blameless. Both their leadership and the SPD’s failed to cooperate in the critical months leading up to Hitler’s takeover of the German state. Nevertheless, I am inclined to agree with them that the Iron Front was in practice a “social fascist terror organisation” committed more to protecting the liberal capitalist state which produced the Nazis than actually fighting the Nazis, and all but guaranteed Hitler’s rise to power.

It is because of this historical example (and many others) that I refuse to platform anti-communist rhetoric of any kind in this magazine. Keep Left is not expressly a Marxist publication, and allows for the expression of opinions across the broad left wing of politics, but this inclusion cannot come at the cost of promoting the suppression of revolutionary thought.

It is the position of Keep Left that anti-communism IS fascism. This is something of a commie chestnut, but remember that famous poem by Martin Niemöller, “First They Came”? Do you remember the very first line? “First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Communist.”

Importantly, I make the distinction between critique of communism (and ideas within and related to communism) and anti-communism. Critique is the lifeblood of political thought, and some would say a communist’s favourite pastime. Anarchists eat your heart out.

So, put simply, our use of the two arrows is in direct exclusion of the third arrow “against communism” – but there’s more to it than that. I mean, why use the symbol at all instead of something else? Fair question. For one, I think it looks really cool. I also think, though, it can be reformulated slightly in meaning beyond just removing the anti-communist arrow.

I have personally used the two arrows symbol in my hobby work for years before starting Keep Left, and have my own way of thinking about it: one arrow is against liberalism, and the other against fascism. However, they are both directed at the same system. In my mind, they are two ideological modes of the state as manager and enabler of Capital. Fascism emerges from the inevitable decline of capitalist institutions, and its ideas are allowed to promulgate by way of liberal tolerance; liberal capitalism can only exist if protected by fascist violence.

You can imagine it as two hands, one feeding the mouth of the bourgeoisie open-palm, and the other slamming its closed fist down on the proletariat should they dare to oppose them.

As it relates to Keep Left… I wish this magazine to be an open forum for progressive young people to share their opinions and their creative work. I want to build a community which is diverse and richly colourful with ideas, and to foster collaboration among people from many different backgrounds. The poet, the union organiser, the academic, the painter, the journalist – all have a place in resisting the forces which seek to crush all that is good in the world.

We all have a common enemy: capitalism. Some of us are further away from realising that than others, but that’s okay – allowing different people at different levels of class consciousness to mingle and share ideas will help slowly drag the collective political norm leftwards. Wherever we are on our personal journeys, we are all pulling in the same direction. We are keeping left.

Everyone who contributes to Keep Left is in opposition to fascism (unless something has gone horribly wrong in our vetting process), but that is only one part of the equation. We must also be opposed to liberalism and its desperate clinging-on to the state in order to smash capitalism. The enemies of art and culture, of the environment, of a free press, are the same people who ruthlessly oppose communism – for they understand how much of a threat it poses to them.

So, look. I’m not going to ask you to put one hand on a copy of The Communist Manifesto and another in front of you to then swear allegiance to Marx. You can even advocate for social democratic reforms if you like. While doing so, however, I do ask that you remain tolerant of communist ideas and their discussion in our publication – even if you are not yet convinced by them.

Workers of the world unite!

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