From Emergence to Marginalization: The Making of a Radical Musical Subculture
An unambiguous iconography
Published in the thematic issue “Music and the Right” of the journal Transpositions – Music and Social Sciences (co-published by EHESS/Philharmonie de Paris), an article by Laurent Beauguitte on the Rock Against Communism movement in France (1984–2024).
Rock Against Communism (RAC) emerged in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s, combining a punk music sound, skinhead subculture, and neo-Nazi lyrics. RAC subsequently spread across Europe and later to the United States. This article examines the French RAC scene from 1984 to the present day. Based on a corpus of records, interviews, and fanzines, and using prosopography and content analysis (lyrics and iconography), it shows how, within just a few years, the French RAC scene became one of the most radical and respected in Europe, notably thanks to the Brest-based label Rebelles européens (1987-1994).
The digitization of music has had mixed effects, making these productions more accessible while weakening the record labels. Since the late 2000s, RAC’s gradual marginalization – linked to the emergence of even more radical music scenes and the aging of both artists and audiences – has gone hand in hand with a movement to preserve and promote RAC groups. Despite its extreme nature, this music scene functions in much the same way as any underground scene, characterized by multiskilled key players, short-lived music careers due to the absence of commercial prospects, a niche audience, and a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) ethos adopted for lack of any alternatives. Closely monitored by both anti-fascists and the authorities, RAC’s political radicalism precludes any entry into parties participating in the electoral process.
The digitization of music has had significant and contradictory effects on the French RAC scene. While it facilitates the circulation of content and promotes the emergence of virtual scenes, it also weakens labels. It is much easier today than it was in the 1980s and 1990s to build up a RAC record collection, whether through peer-to-peer sharing62 or specialized forums (rac-forum, 88nsm, etc.), self-produced cassettes put out in a few dozen copies in the late 1980s, or albums printed in 300 copies in the 2000s are easily downloadable today. The major groups on the RAC scene are generally present on generalist platforms (YouTube) and, when their lyrics are not too offensive, on music platforms (Deezer, Spotify, Bandcamp, etc.).
Laurent Beauguitte, « Rock Against Communism in France (1984-2024) », Transposition [En ligne], 13 | 2025, mis en ligne le 14 octobre 2025, URL : http://journals.openedition.org/transposition/9791 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/15b09
Music and the Political Rights
Building on scholarship exploring the relationship between music and politics in the 20th century, this issue seeks to examine their transformations in the world today. The four articles presented here explore distinct national contexts, marked by hypercontemporary dynamics and events such as the Covid-19 pandemic, Donald Trump’s political rise, the war in Ukraine and broader mechanisms of influence and propaganda in a globalised world. They analyse highly contrasting forms of political mobilisation through music, from collective and highly institutionalised manifestations to more individual and marginal expressions emerging from Do-It-Yourself (DIY) practices. Together, these contributions provide an overview of the diversity of political uses of music and sound events in a context of rapidly reconfiguring media spaces, visibility regimes and modes of engagement.
Júlia Donley, Lambert Dousson et Jason Julliot, « Music and the Political Rights », Transposition [En ligne], 13 | 2025, mis en ligne le 03 décembre 2025 URL : http://journals.openedition.org/transposition/10270 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/15b0r
