The death of Searchlight’s founder Gerry Gable at the age of 88 marks the passing of a man without whom modern British anti-fascism would scarcely be recognisable. For more than sixty years, he stood at the centre of the struggle against fascism and the extreme right, as a relentless organiser, investigator and strategist.
To many, Gerry was anti-fascism: tireless, uncompromising, occasionally infuriating, and utterly driven by the belief that fascism had to be understood, exposed and defeated before it could take root.
Searchlight was his life’s work. For half a century, until he retired when it moved fully online in 2025, he poured his energy into building it into the most trusted source of information on the far right in Britain.
Intelligence service
It was never simply a magazine. It was an early-warning system, an archive, an anti-fascist intelligence service, and a weapon. Under Gerry’s guidance, Searchlight uncovered networks that preferred to remain hidden, revealed the true nature of organisations that tried to launder their image, and provided countless activists with the knowledge they needed to confront fascism and right-wing extremism locally and nationally.
Continue @ ESSF.
I remember Searchlight well as we were subscribers to the magazine. It provided invaluable reports on the activities of various fascist groups. It also exposed individuals like Civil Servant, Malcolm Skeggs, who was involved with the far right. Gerry piloted Searchlight and to describe him the " man without whom British anti-fascism would be scarcely recognisable" is no exageration.
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