Combat 18 is a loose grouping of violent nazis. It was set up in 1992 by the British National Party to steward their events. The name indicates adulation for Adolf Hitler. The 18 refers to the first and eighth letters of the alphabet, Hitler’s initials. Although not now controlled by the BNP, C18 shares the same basic values. Hate is the driving force for both C18 and the BNP.

Their central aim is to stir racial hatred. They are ultra nationalists who see all social problems in terms of their xenophobia. They want to see Britain cleared of anyone who is not ‘white’. Their dream is to spark a race war to provoke ethnic cleansing in Britain.

They use intimidation, threats and violence. Recent riots in Oldham, Burnley and Bradford were instigated by C18. One of their leaders is serving a long jail sentence for murder arising from a leadership feud.

C18 attracts young men with a liking for violence. It recruits from among football hooligans. The leadership has come from London but there are local groups in many parts of the country.

It does not have formal membership but acts as a network of likeminded thugs. Numbers have fluctuated, varying from about 500 to about 50. The leadership feud had a debilitating effect on numbers and organisation.

Motivation varies. Some are committed nazis. Some are immature people who just want to shock. They know that nazis are reviled and find a sense of identity and belonging in claiming nazi connections. Many are misfits with disturbed family backgrounds and childhoods.

C18 has close links with nazi groups abroad. American nazis have been especially influential in providing the ideas which have guided C18.

C18 is deeply involved in the nazi music scene. This has made them hundreds of thousands of pounds used to fund their nazi activities. Blood and Honour was an independent umbrella organisation for right wing bands and their skinhead supporters. C18, recognising its potential for making money, took it over.

Hitler pursued violence on the streets while using the democratic process to get himself elected. The extreme right of today adopts the same approach. Nick Griffin, the current BNP leader (previously the leader of the National Front) is trying to position the BNP as a mainstream, political party. To make the BNP electable, he currently tries to distance himself from nazism and violence. Yet, wherever the BNP is active, so is C18. And it was not long ago that Griffin wrote: ‘The electors of Millwall did not back a Post-Modernist Rightist Party, but what they perceived to be a strong, disciplined organisation with the ability to back up its slogan 'Defend Rights for Whites' with well-directed boots and fists. When the crunch comes, power is the product of force and will, not of rational debate.’

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