There's a few pictures currently going around of a group of Patriot Front fascist paramilitaries on Washington DC public transport.

A lot of people are worried by this. Some have talked at length about their worries.

As someone who spends a certain amount of time in black bloc, let me talk you through some things I haven't seen said about these pictures but that I think are very relevant.

Firstly and most obviously: the clothes are uniform.

No two people in a black bloc will be wearing the same getup, besides black and a mask. Some wear hoodies, some snoods, some baseball caps. Some wear trainers, some walking boots and some Docs. I often wear hoodies and army boots because it's what I'm comfortable in.

You will frequently see people turn up to black bloc wearing battle jackets, or band hoodies, despite these being a bad idea because they identify you.

These fash are all wearing exactly the same clothes. Exactly. This is a uniform and it means someone bought it for them (edit: or they have a supplier they all buy from, and enough discipline to ensure they all obey.) Either way this means there's organisation and money behind it, and while these fash might be the very visible front line, they're also just part of a larger machine.

Secondly, the clothes fit and they're clean.

Black blocs usually include a fair percentage of squatters, as well as metalheads and other reprobates. Some people clean their clothes, others live with parents or partners who do that for them, but you're never going to get everyone turning up in crisp stuff smelling like it came out of the dryer.

Likewise, a lot of anarchists wear second-hand clothing, either passed around via free shops or by hand, or from charity shops. Clothes stretch over time, and human bodies change. Ill-fitting black hoodies are practically de rigeur. This is reflected in the appearance of the black bloc.

These fash, though? All their stuff fits perfectly. Their patches are all well-sewn. Look at them. Derek Guy might criticise the sizing or the cut, but I am not Derek Guy. To me, this is well-kept clothing carefully sized and washed, and possibly new. This is clothing-as-class-signifier.

What you are seeing is not just a display of racial supremacy, but of class supremacy.

You know how people say that mushrooms are only the most visible part of a much larger and mostly invisible mycellium network?

This is a metaphor.

Uniforms like this are an indicator that when you look at the fascists wearing them, you're seeing the visible part of a much larger and mostly invisible network of logistics, support and money.

You should not trust people who wear uniforms. But you should certainly not trust those who provided them those uniforms.