The paper began as the organ of the Anarchist Federation of Britain, which changed its title to the Syndicalist Workers’ Federation circa 1950 and joined the International Working Men’s Association (the syndicalist international).
Direct Action absorbed other SWF papers such as the weekly Workers Voice and the IWMA paper World Labour News.
It was published from 1950 until the late 1970s. After this, the Syndicalist Workers Federation transformed itself into the Direct Action Movement, which published its own paper also called Direct Action.