In the 1970s the IS took part in a number of initiatives against the small fascist groups of the time but by 1974 these groups had coalesced into the National Front (NF) and were gaining substantial votes in electoral contests. To a lesser degree the British Movement was also providing cause for alarm. However it was not until the NF attempted to march through Lewisham in 1977 to the massive response of the local community leading to physical confrontations that the IS, by now transformed into the SWP took the initiative nationally. The result was the launch of the Anti Nazi League (ANL) which was conceived of as a United Front body which would involve forces, primarily within the workers' movement, politically to the right of the SWP.