Fronted by Billy Bragg, Paul Weller and The Communards (Jimmy Sommerville mainly) they appeared in the media, adding their support to the Labour Party campaign.
The group was launched on November 21, 1985, at a reception at the Palace of Westminster hosted by Labour MP Robin Cook. It took its name from a 1919 poster by Russian constructivist artist El Lissitzky, "Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge".