Message primarily for anyone who has or may have been involved in a campaign/activist group/movement that was infiltrated by undercover police operatives in the last few decades - and also of (less urgent) interest with reference to radical history.
As you are no doubt aware, since 2010 this issue has been brought to public attention by the hard work of a large number of activists from various movements, some of whom have been targeted in more personal and intimate ways, having been involved in 'relationships' with several of these police spies.
As you may or may not know, public pressure has forced the Home Secretary into announcing a Public Inquiry into undercover policing in the UK. Without a doubt we all feel some cynicism about the possibilities of finding out how many police spies have penetrated which groups, campaigns and families, or of what real change might come out of the process.However, the more of us that have an input into the Inquiry, the more they MIGHT be forced to reveal, and the greater the chance of putting the state on the back foot and restricting some of the clandestine activities they may feel they can get away with. Temporary or partial as this may be, some of us feel this makes it worth taking part in the Inquiry.
Attached to this email are two documents* about participating in the Public Inquiry into undercover policing, which include pro forma texts for applying to the PI for core participant status. Applications should be made this week, *by 4pm Friday 18th Sept.* (They're not making it easy on us for obvious reasons). Applications can still be made at a later date but you will have less ability to influence the course of events or who you are represented by. (You will need to read the statements for a proper explanation of what a Core Participant is... It does give people some legal protection and representation, and some input on how the Inquiry develops).
Please pass these documents on to anyone you know who has been involved in any campaign in the UK since 1968! They may also want to consider taking part.
*Pro Forma
*Information/advice
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
British history and anti-racist campaigning: A discussion event
Tuesday 20 October 2015, 6.30-8 p.m., London EC1
From: The Applied History Network [which] is a group of PhD students and early career
researchers committed to politically engaged history. We put on regular evening
events in London which aim to apply an historical perspective to contemporary
events and debates.
The event grew out of conversations started at the ‘what is radical
history?’ conference at Birkbeck in March 2015. In an effort to carry on these
important debates, we put on free events every two months in central London. We
have events scheduled for 20 October 2015, 1 December 2015, February 2016,
April 2016 and June 2016.
We are pleased to announce that our first
event ‘British history and anti-racist campaigning‘ will be held at the Marx Memorial
Library, London EC1 on
Tuesday October 20th at 6.30pm until 8pm. Please go to our Eventbrite
page to register. The event
is free of charge but registration is required.
This event is inspired by listening to anti-racist campaigners say that their work is hampered by a general lack of historical knowledge in respect of Empire and colonialism amongst the white British public. In order to explore this more fully, the event will bring together four speakers to examine the relationship between the white general public’s understanding of British history and anti-racist campaigning work. Since the point of the event is to assist historians in directing their research in socially responsible and useful ways, the speakers will be campaigners, journalists, and educationalists rather than academic historians. The panel members will each approach the topic from a different vantage point based on their experiences and will speak for 10-15 minutes each. After which, the discussion will be opened up for the next hour or so to include the floor.
This event is inspired by listening to anti-racist campaigners say that their work is hampered by a general lack of historical knowledge in respect of Empire and colonialism amongst the white British public. In order to explore this more fully, the event will bring together four speakers to examine the relationship between the white general public’s understanding of British history and anti-racist campaigning work. Since the point of the event is to assist historians in directing their research in socially responsible and useful ways, the speakers will be campaigners, journalists, and educationalists rather than academic historians. The panel members will each approach the topic from a different vantage point based on their experiences and will speak for 10-15 minutes each. After which, the discussion will be opened up for the next hour or so to include the floor.
Event Info:
Date: Tuesday 20 October 2015
Time: 6.30pm-8pm
Venue: Marx Memorial Library, 37a Clerkenwell Green, London, EC1R 0DU
Format: 4 speakers (10-15 mins each), followed by an open discussion with the floor
Eventbrite: Register here
Facebook: Applied History Network
Website: Applied History Network
Date: Tuesday 20 October 2015
Time: 6.30pm-8pm
Venue: Marx Memorial Library, 37a Clerkenwell Green, London, EC1R 0DU
Format: 4 speakers (10-15 mins each), followed by an open discussion with the floor
Eventbrite: Register here
Facebook: Applied History Network
Website: Applied History Network
Speakers:
Kiri Kankhwende: ‘How the lack of a historical perspective fuels racist media narratives about migrants’.
Kiri is a journalist and immigration and human rights campaigner.
Rita Chadha: Title tbc.
Rita is the Chief Executive of RAMFEL.
John Siblon: ‘Losing and gaining the British Empire in the classroom’.
John is a Sixth Form History Teacher in London and PhD candidate.
Suresh Grover: 'Before My Memory Dies: The Persistence of Imperial Racism'
Suresh is Director of the The Monitoring Group and a Civil Rights campaigner and will explore how the role of the British Empire remains invisible in understanding the cause and impact of racism in UK today.
============================
Message from PM Press, relevant to above topic (in the US context):
Kiri Kankhwende: ‘How the lack of a historical perspective fuels racist media narratives about migrants’.
Kiri is a journalist and immigration and human rights campaigner.
Rita Chadha: Title tbc.
Rita is the Chief Executive of RAMFEL.
John Siblon: ‘Losing and gaining the British Empire in the classroom’.
John is a Sixth Form History Teacher in London and PhD candidate.
Suresh Grover: 'Before My Memory Dies: The Persistence of Imperial Racism'
Suresh is Director of the The Monitoring Group and a Civil Rights campaigner and will explore how the role of the British Empire remains invisible in understanding the cause and impact of racism in UK today.
============================
Message from PM Press, relevant to above topic (in the US context):
We launched a Kickstarter campaign to print 5,000 copies of Understanding Jim Crow: Using Racist Memorabilia to Teach Tolerance and Promote Social Justice by David Pilgrim, founder and curator of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia.
This book is an essential resource and teaching tool to understand the historical and current climate of race relations and systemic racism in America. The book is finished and ready to print. We just need your support to help get the book into as many hands as possible. The more pre-orders we get, the more copies we can make (and the less expensive it will be per copy to print). Please donate generously and share widely. Donations from U.S. citizens* will be tax deductible. Thanks very much in advance for the support!
Learn about the book and tax-deductible* rewards HERE
"One of the most important contributions to the study of American history that I have ever experienced." ----Henry Louis Gates Jr., director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African American Research and contributor to Understanding Jim Crow
UPDATE ON THIS CAMPAIGN
UPDATE ON THIS CAMPAIGN
Thanks to our backers and supporters, we reached half of our Kickstarter goal of $10,000 in just ten days! But we still need your support!
Please help us exceed this goal by October 16th...
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Listings, into autumn
Saturday (12th September) -
from Past Tense ... we'll be doing a stall, selling our wares this Saturday (12th September) at the great Hidden River Festival, which celebrates North London's New River. It's on 12-6 on the New River path beside the East and West Reservoirs at Woodberry Down, N4. There will be live music, food stalls, art, beer, storytelling and kids' activities...
Check out some info here and background on New River here.
===================================
Saturday (12th September) the Wakefield Socialist History Group are
holding a Guided Walk to commemorate the 1893 Featherstone Massacre. All
are welcome on the walk and there is no charge.
Meet 2pm at Bradley Arms, Willow Lane, North Featherstone WF7.
The guide is John Gill, a local socialist historian. A graveside oration will be given by Alan Stewart, Convenor of Wakefield Socialist History Group.
And on Saturday 17 October, the Wakefield Socialist History Group are holding an event at the Red Shed, Vicarage Street, Wakefield..starting at 1p.m. -
Meet 2pm at Bradley Arms, Willow Lane, North Featherstone WF7.
The guide is John Gill, a local socialist historian. A graveside oration will be given by Alan Stewart, Convenor of Wakefield Socialist History Group.
And on Saturday 17 October, the Wakefield Socialist History Group are holding an event at the Red Shed, Vicarage Street, Wakefield..starting at 1p.m. -
THE FALL OF SAIGON: Forty Years Since the Vietnam War.
Speakers: Matthew Caygill (Left Unity) and Stephen Wood (Alliance for Workers Liberty)
Free admission and free light buffet
< The US
left Vietnam in a state, Nick Davies (2015) says, of "physical
ruin." There were unexploded shells and landmines. Agent
Orange had destroyed the forests. Orphans roamed the street and Saigon was
in the grip of a heroin epidemic.
The US had promised $3.5 billion in
reconstruction at the Paris Peace talks. When it lost he war it didn't
pay a penny. Rather it leaned on the IMF, World Bank and UNESCO to make
sure they too denied Vietnam any help.
In the early days the country struggled.
Peasants were given ration cards in exchange for their crops so there was no
incentive to produce.
Faced with these difficulties the Party
abandoned the command economy in the mid to late 80s in favour of "market
socialism." Entrepreneurs were allowed to "colonise"
spaces not filled by state managed enterprises (Brown 2015).
The 7th Party Congress -five years later-
ratified policies that would integrate Vietnam "into regional and global
systems." These changes were known collectively as "doi
moi" -renewal. Foreign investors flocked in and, in 1994, the US
finally lifted its' trade embargo.
Davies (2015) says there were elements in the
Party that still wanted to defend "socialism." Poverty was
reduced. Primary schools were built. There was free health care.
Around 2000 however the rate of change
accelerated and the political balance shifted. State industries were sold
off. Vietnam joined the World Trade Organisation. It became a fully
integrated member of the global capitalist economy.
Today Vietnam "no longer stands up for the
poor." The country's labour code has been watered down (at the behest of
multi-nationals). The "official" unions do little and the
minimum wage has been frozen. Charges have reappeared for education and
health. And all the time party officials pocket money from
privatisation. "Transparency International" says Vietnam is
phenomenally corrupt. > -
UPDATE from Wakefield:
The meeting scheduled for 31 October on "James Connolly" has been postponed due to the speaker, DR O'Connor Lysnaght, double-booking.
Saturday 21 November, the Wakefield Socialist History Group will be holding an event, EUROPE AND THE LEFT: How should socialists vote in the referendum?
[What about "Should socialists vote in the referendum?" - RaHN]
The event will be held from 1-4pm at Wakefield Labour Club ("Red Shed"), Vicarage Street, Wakefield WF1.
Admission is free. There will be a free light buffet. And there is a bar with excellent real ale.
The speakers cover a range of positions on the question and are:
*Paul Feldman (author of "Unmasking the State"; active in "Assemblies for Democracy")
*John Westmoreland (Counterfire)
*Paul Bennett (Socialist Party of Great Britain)
*Kevin Feintuck/Kevin Taylor (Communist Workers' Organisation)
*John Tummon (member of Republican Socialist Alliance)
Opening contributions will be followed by questions/discussion.
The event will be held from 1-4pm at Wakefield Labour Club ("Red Shed"), Vicarage Street, Wakefield WF1.
Admission is free. There will be a free light buffet. And there is a bar with excellent real ale.
The speakers cover a range of positions on the question and are:
*Paul Feldman (author of "Unmasking the State"; active in "Assemblies for Democracy")
*John Westmoreland (Counterfire)
*Paul Bennett (Socialist Party of Great Britain)
*Kevin Feintuck/Kevin Taylor (Communist Workers' Organisation)
*John Tummon (member of Republican Socialist Alliance)
Opening contributions will be followed by questions/discussion.
===================================
IWCE in LONDON Saturday 19th September 2015
10.30 -
2.30 UnitetheUnion, Unite House, 128 Theobald's Road,
Holborn, London, WC1X 8TN {near Holborn Tube}
Cost: £6.00 (includes lunch). Pay on the day.
As with all IWCE Events, there will be plenty of discussion.
"Women Making History"
Researching
What does the Record say?
Women, Work and Trade Unions,
Lessons for Today.
Draft Programme:
Welcome and introduction to the day: Professor Jane Martin and
Keith Venables
What the record says:
Helen McFarlane and Colin Waugh
Rebecca Webster on NUWT/IoE
Dawn Taylor Women Teachers
Past and Future
Chloe Mason on Alice Wheeldon
Lunch
Women, Work and Unions
Dawn Lavin on Annie Besant
Sheila Cohen on
Ford
Plenary:
What does this mean for today?
Jane Martin and Keith
Venables
===================================
Symposium about culture and labour at Karl Marx
Library, 18th September
Playbour: Work- Play. About art and
immaterial labour at Karl
Marx Memorial Library on Friday 18th September 2015.
Symposium occurs from 12 noon onwards.
The aim of the symposium is to ask
what kind of labour art and culture represent, both in terms of its historical
conditions, its current situations and how we could partly shape the means and
the understanding of its potential futures.
The symposium is not traditional but
can be said to move beyond the theoretical, political and the performative.
Participants: Janna Graham
(Canada/England) Nico Vass (Argentina/England), Ben Seymour (England), Dan
Mihaltianu (Romania/Germany/Norway), Frans Jacobi (Denmark, Norway) Arne Rygg
(Norge), Veronica Diesen (Norway, England) and more.
Related Performance: Das Kapital Distillation at Housman Radical bookshop -
In addition to the symposium Dan
Mihaltianu will be having a performance at Housmans bookshop called Kapital Distillation. If you would like to participate at the performance at Housmans, RSVP is needed.
===================================
WCML Events and notices
Working Class Movement Library, 51 The Crescent, Salford, M5 4WX
Pat Thane talk on the 1945 welfare reforms
16 September 2pm A welfare state not a “dependency state”
– the reforms of 1945
Pat Thane, Research Professor in Contemporary British History, King's College, London, will speak about the post-war welfare reforms. This talk runs alongside our exhibition Spiritof ’45: from warfare to welfare.
Early co-operatives and other talks
30 September Andrew Bibby ‘All our own work’: the pioneers of Hebden Bridge and their co-operative mill: Our Invisible Histories talks continue on Wednesday 30 September at 2pm with Andrew Bibby's talk Britain's early productive cooperatives, why they were forgotten and why they're relevant today. Andrew introduces his new book, which tells the tale of the early worker-run cooperatives in Britain and in particular the fustian mill in Hebden Bridge which operated for almost fifty years as a cooperative.As it's the Salford Food and Drink Festival period we will be putting on a particularly fine range of biscuits after the talk...
14 October Marshall Mateer Nat, Sam and Ramona - the story of a Spanish Civil War photograph
28 October Tim Dunbar Guernica [see exhibiton notice below]
11 November Michael Herbert Doctor Who and the Communist: the writing career and politics of Malcolm Hulke.
All the above talks are at 2pm and are followed by a brew. They are all free to attend.
Pat Thane, Research Professor in Contemporary British History, King's College, London, will speak about the post-war welfare reforms. This talk runs alongside our exhibition Spiritof ’45: from warfare to welfare.
Early co-operatives and other talks
30 September Andrew Bibby ‘All our own work’: the pioneers of Hebden Bridge and their co-operative mill: Our Invisible Histories talks continue on Wednesday 30 September at 2pm with Andrew Bibby's talk Britain's early productive cooperatives, why they were forgotten and why they're relevant today. Andrew introduces his new book, which tells the tale of the early worker-run cooperatives in Britain and in particular the fustian mill in Hebden Bridge which operated for almost fifty years as a cooperative.As it's the Salford Food and Drink Festival period we will be putting on a particularly fine range of biscuits after the talk...
14 October Marshall Mateer Nat, Sam and Ramona - the story of a Spanish Civil War photograph
28 October Tim Dunbar Guernica [see exhibiton notice below]
11 November Michael Herbert Doctor Who and the Communist: the writing career and politics of Malcolm Hulke.
All the above talks are at 2pm and are followed by a brew. They are all free to attend.
Guernica in Manchester Re-Representation Guernica in Manchester Re-Representation is our new exhibition, opening on Friday 2 October. Tim Dunbar's drawing project is based on an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the exhibition of Picasso’s Guernica in a car showroom in Manchester that is reported to have occurred during the first two weeks of February in 1939. The project includes a quarter scale “mapping” study of Guernica and a number of text-based drawings based on written descriptions of direct encounters with the painting. Drawings have been informed by reference to the ‘Manchester Foodship for Spain’ archive material in the Working Class Movement Library, and eyewitness commentaries of the Manchester Guernica exhibition, including two previously unknown accounts from students who studied at Manchester School of Art in the late 1930s. The project is underpinned by the notion of a ‘conspiracy of Guernica’ implicated by Herbert J. Southworth in his classic text “Guernica! Guernica! A study of journalism, diplomacy, propaganda and history”. The exhibition is open Wednesdays to Fridays 1-5pm until 13 November (also Saturdays 3 October and 7 November, 10am-4pm).
Heritage Open Days tours
The Library is marking Heritage Open Days 2015 with
'behind-the-scenes' tours on Thursday 10 and Friday 11 September at 2pm (only
two spaces left on the Friday tour). You can book in advance via enquiries@wcml.org.uk.
For details of Heritage Open Days events across the UK head to www.heritageopendays.org.uk.
For details of Heritage Open Days events across the UK head to www.heritageopendays.org.uk.
Flow Salford Festival - installation by Hannah HiettThe Library is pleased to be playing a part again in the second Flow Salford, a weekend festival 'celebrating the vast, the varied and the very new theatre being made in Salford today'. An installation by Hannah Hiett can be viewed in our hall 3-6pm on Friday 25 September and 10am-4pm on Saturday 26 September.
Personal Effects is an installation exploring the
inside of other people’s stuff. Real lost luggage is split open, suspended in
free-fall, spilling out the private worlds within. What do strangers carry with
them?
Keir Hardie centenary conference
There are a few places left at our Saturday 26 September conference
marking the centenary of the death of Keir Hardie. Full programme details
at www.wcml.org.uk/keirhardie100.
Places must be reserved and paid for in advance (£20 waged and £7.50 unwaged including refreshments and lunch). Please email trustees@wcml.org.uk
Places must be reserved and paid for in advance (£20 waged and £7.50 unwaged including refreshments and lunch). Please email trustees@wcml.org.uk
Salford Stories and Radical Readings II
Following last year's sell-out success we are pleased to
announce another fundraising event for the Library, hosted at the University of
Salford on Sunday 22 November at 2pm. We will be announcing the
line-up of actors and booking details in a future e-bulletin, or keep an eye or
our Web site at www.wcml.org.uk/events
UPDATE: Salford Stories and Radical Readings II. We are sorry to announce that we have had to postpone this event from its expected date of 22 November, due to the unavailability of some of those who had hoped to be able to appear. We'll keep you all posted when we get a new date.
Black History Month
Black History Month Greater
Manchester launches in Manchester Cathedral on Wednesday 30 September at 7.15pm
with an evening of entertainment, music and song. The event is free but
donations of £2 on the door would be welcomed. Reserve your place at www.gmbhmlaunch.eventbrite.co.uk.
There is a huge range of events
and activities during the month, including a handling session at Manchester
Central Library about material from the 1945 Pan-African Congress in
Manchester, screenings at Home of films such as a documentary about the Black
Panthers and 'Malcolm X's favourite film' Nothing But a Man, and an exhibition
at Gallery Oldham, Forward to Freedom, telling the story of the British
Anti-Apartheid Movement.
The Library's contribution to the
month is our talk by Marika Sherwood, The forgotten war: World War I in Africa,
on Tuesday 20 October at 2pm.
More
details of all the events at http://blackhistorygm.org/
Precarious Passages
Manchester Left Writers (MLW) are
teaming up with the North West Film Archive (NWFA) for Precarious Passages, a
performance and film event at Central Library on Tuesday 20 October 6pm-7pm.
Members of MLW will pair up to read narrative, poetic, call-and-response pieces
of writing based on their experiences and encounters in the city and the
sensations of contemporary life. Each of the Precarious Passages readings will
be accompanied by historic films selected from the NWFA.
In addition, a new piece of
writing and performance will be created especially for the event, responding to
the 1961 film footage of cosmonaut Yuri
Gagarin visiting Trafford Park. Gagarin, who was himself a foundry worker,
visited foundry workers in Trafford Park just three months after his space
flight in Vostok. Manchester’s welcoming of Gagarin took place against the
backdrop of the Cuba crisis and further East-West tension in Berlin.
The event is part of Manchester
Literature Festival. It is free but booking is recommended at
www.quaytickets.com/mlf
UPDATE: Salford Stories and Radical Readings II. We are sorry to announce that we have had to postpone this event from its expected date of 22 November, due to the unavailability of some of those who had hoped to be able to appear. We'll keep you all posted when we get a new date.
Black History Month
Black History Month Greater
Manchester launches in Manchester Cathedral on Wednesday 30 September at 7.15pm
with an evening of entertainment, music and song. The event is free but
donations of £2 on the door would be welcomed. Reserve your place at www.gmbhmlaunch.eventbrite.co.uk.
There is a huge range of events
and activities during the month, including a handling session at Manchester
Central Library about material from the 1945 Pan-African Congress in
Manchester, screenings at Home of films such as a documentary about the Black
Panthers and 'Malcolm X's favourite film' Nothing But a Man, and an exhibition
at Gallery Oldham, Forward to Freedom, telling the story of the British
Anti-Apartheid Movement.
The Library's contribution to the
month is our talk by Marika Sherwood, The forgotten war: World War I in Africa,
on Tuesday 20 October at 2pm.
More
details of all the events at http://blackhistorygm.org/
Precarious Passages
Manchester Left Writers (MLW) are
teaming up with the North West Film Archive (NWFA) for Precarious Passages, a
performance and film event at Central Library on Tuesday 20 October 6pm-7pm.
Members of MLW will pair up to read narrative, poetic, call-and-response pieces
of writing based on their experiences and encounters in the city and the
sensations of contemporary life. Each of the Precarious Passages readings will
be accompanied by historic films selected from the NWFA.
In addition, a new piece of
writing and performance will be created especially for the event, responding to
the 1961 film footage of cosmonaut Yuri
Gagarin visiting Trafford Park. Gagarin, who was himself a foundry worker,
visited foundry workers in Trafford Park just three months after his space
flight in Vostok. Manchester’s welcoming of Gagarin took place against the
backdrop of the Cuba crisis and further East-West tension in Berlin.
The event is part of Manchester
Literature Festival. It is free but booking is recommended at
www.quaytickets.com/mlf
Peace history conference 2015
This year's peace history conference in Manchester is entitled Peace History: an International Perspective and takes place at the Friends Meeting House on Saturday 10 October (with a guided walk and evening concert the day before). There will be presentations on the Chinese Labour Corps in World War I, on the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (which was founded at The Hague conference of 1915 and still works for peace and freedom around the world) and on the Campaign Against the Arms Trade. A film on people living alongside US military bases will also be screened. More details here.Tickets price £25 (£12 concessions) are available online or via/from Jacqui Burke, GMCND, gmdcnd@gn.apc.org.
SSLH autumn conference
The Society for the Study of
Labour History autumn conference takes place on Saturday 28 November at the
University of Huddersfield, West Building, WG17. It explores the History of
Adult Worker Education from its nineteenth century origins to the demise of
adult education in an age of austerity.
The provisional programme includes topics such as the Fenwick Weavers,
the foundation of the London Mechanics' Institution, the Leeds Arts Club and
the origins of Guild Socialism, and 'healing the fault line in the age of
austerity'.
The conference is free but it is
necessary to register in advance. Reserve a place at http://tinyurl.com/ncvnfrr
or find out more details by emailing john.halstead@blueyonder.co.uk or
j.martin@hud.ac.uk.
=========================================
LSHG Autumn Term Seminars
London Socialist Historians Seminar Autumn 2015.
All
seminars start at 5.30pm in Room 304 Institute of Historical Research, Senate
House, Malet St, London WC1. Free without ticket
12th Oct:
Merilyn Moos: 'Generations: the impact of the personal and political on
children born in Britain to refugees from Nazism'
26th Oct:
John Newsinger: 'British Counter Insurgency. A history'
9th Nov:
Chris Jury: 'Politics, theatre and history'
23rd
Nov: Sue Jones: 'My longing
desire to go to sea': wanderlust and wayward youth in early modern England
=========================================
http://londonsocialisthistorians.blogspot.co.uk/
=========================================
LSHG Seminar: Chris Jury on Politics, Theatre and History
The next seminar in the autumn term 2015 series is on Monday November 9th at 5.30pm in Room 304, Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, Malet St, London WC1.
Chris Jury will speak on politics, theatre and history. Chris is a well known actor and director (including over 40 episodes of Eastenders..) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Jury
You may also be interested to know that the two most recent LSHG seminars are now available as podcasts here:
=========================================
AND The 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
will be on Saturday 24th October from 10am to 7pmCentral Saint Martin’s
University of the Arts London
Granary Building
1 Granary Square
London N1C 4AA
Central St. Martin’s is a huge building behind Kings Cross train station. It is a fantastic space for us all to display why anarchism is just such a bloody good idea. In these days of hyper capitalism an alternative is needed. That alternative can only be anarchism. Come and find out why.
will be on Saturday 24th October from 10am to 7pmCentral Saint Martin’s
University of the Arts London
Granary Building
1 Granary Square
London N1C 4AA
Central St. Martin’s is a huge building behind Kings Cross train station. It is a fantastic space for us all to display why anarchism is just such a bloody good idea. In these days of hyper capitalism an alternative is needed. That alternative can only be anarchism. Come and find out why.
If you want to book a stall or meeting or want an advert in the bookfair programme go to the bookings page.
UPDATE: Now fully booked. Programme under 'Meetings' tab at http://anarchistbookfair.org.uk/
See also 'Other events':
Coming up 24 Oct: Eurostar St Pancras demo, solidarity with Calais migrants.
UPDATE: Now fully booked. Programme under 'Meetings' tab at http://anarchistbookfair.org.uk/
See also 'Other events':
Coming up 24 Oct: Eurostar St Pancras demo, solidarity with Calais migrants.
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Solidarnošč 1980: How (some of) Solidarity Saw It
It was 35 years ago that events in Poland,
hitting the world headlines, were giving hope and encouragement to many on the
anti-authoritarian left. In London, members of the Solidarity group – including
Chris Pallis, as noted previously – were among those who reacted most promptly
and positively. [This was not a ‘party line’, however: some people associated
with the group took a less sanguine view, at the time or with hindsight. One
later recalled, “in 1980-1 over the Polish strikes … an understandable but
rather desperate desire to whistle in the dark led us all to overlook the
deeply reactionary aspects (in retrospect, these were the most important
aspects) of Solidarnosc.” For others, the most important aspect was that such a
movement should have got under way at all after so many years of repression in
all areas of life.]
The article reproduced here appeared (p.S16) in a 24-page Supplement, ‘Summer
in Gdansk’, included in the magazine Solidarity
for Social Revolution, no. 14, Oct.-Nov. 1980, pp.S1-S24, and also
distributed separately.
 |
| A demonstration marked the first anniversary of the imposition of martial law |
MEANWHILE IN BRITAIN…
TWO MEETINGS
A meeting was
held at the Conway Hall, on Tuesday August 26, to discuss events in Poland. It
was called under the auspices of the London Solidarity group, in cooperation
with other tendencies and individuals. The widespread interest aroused by the
Polish workers’ struggle was shown by the numbers who attended, in the holiday
season and at very short notice. The Small Hall was packed to the door,
standing room only. At the end of three hours we went away feeling that
something had been achieved: the setting up of a Polish Solidarity Committee;
planned intervention at TUC Conference with the aim of stopping the proposed
delegation of fraternal bureaucrats; and the sending of two telegrams, one
expressing solidarity with the strikers through B [initial only given] in Paris,
and one to the Polish government supporting the workers’ call for the
establishment of free trade unions.
Success, then?
To a considerable extent, certainly, and well worth doing. But there were some
dissenting voices (as readers of Freedom
may have noted) and criticisms which are worth considering. It could all, perhaps,
have been done better, and there may be some lessons for future occasions.
For a start,
like an earlier meeting we held in the same place (on the anniversary of Kronstadt)
this one was traditionally structured: platform of speakers and chairman behind
a table complete with jugs of water, etc., facing the rest of us, the audience.
Without claiming (cf. World
Revolution) that we only have to sit round in a circle, séance-like, to invoke
the true spirit of libertarian revolution, it is worth noting that this
non-Solidarity style of meeting accentuated one of the worst mistakes of the
evening: the fact that it looked like the presentation of a ‘united front’ from
the platform, instead of a forum open for discussion of different views.
This is important
because some of the views presented differed widely from ours: there was one
speaker from Solidarity, Terry Liddle; an anarchist, Philip Samson; and two
Poles. One [of the Poles] was an ex-Labour councillor (in close contact with
the KOR [Workers’ Defence Committee] and its publications in Polish) who gave
an interesting factual description of current events, the other a member of the
Polish Socialist Party in exile, affiliated to the Second International, who went
on about what he had said to Willy Brandt the last time they met. If the traditional
structure of the meeting was inevitable, all the more care should have been
taken to emphasise the open, un-‘fixed’ nature of the set-up – the organisers
had not met all the speakers and certainly did not know what they would be
saying. (Those who think that meetings should only be held if the organisers do know who will be there – and what
they will be saying – should say so explicitly.)
By the time the
collection was taken, and the gist of the proposed telegram(s) mooted, time for
discussion from the floor was limited to just under an hour, so that the chairman
had to be firm in trying to ensure a maximum number and variety of
contributions. Nevertheless the adverb ‘ruthlessly’, applied to the chairing by
Freedom’s correspondent, is not inappropriate.
This appeared to some extent in the debate, although quite a number of opposing
views were heard. It became more obvious when the final wording of the
telegrams was discussed. There was no chance to do this properly, the formula ‘supporting
the struggle for free trade unions’ being taken to express the feeling of the
meeting. A proposed amendment, from the only Solidarity member to speak from
the floor, that the words ‘independent class organisations’ replace the words
‘free trade unions’ was not accepted. And it was only thanks to a
quick-thinking and persistent anarchist that ‘All power to the workers’ was
added at the end of the first telegram, thus
differentiating us from the wide range of right-wingers and social democrats
currently professing solidarity with the
Poles, and suggesting that our aim was not the sort of trade unions prevailing in the West.
So we can observe,
once again, that participation in any sort of united front or concerted action
with other tendencies requires extra care in clarifying, not blurring, our
particular views. Otherwise the dominant ideology prevails by default, and we
find ourselves being used for ends we do not support – and ultimately playing
false to those we do.
MEANWHILE, AT THE OTHER POLE…
But whatever our
self-criticisms about failures of perfect libertarian practice, we can console
ourselves with the thought that it could have been worse. This was demonstrated
by the SWP meeting on the same subject three nights later, attended by a few of
us armed with leaflets, doing a ‘World Revolution’ (needless to say, WR were
also there, doing the genuine thing!). One of us even stayed until near the
end.
After a cheering
cock-up at the beginning over what time it was due to start (Socialist Worker had said 9 p.m., Time Out 8 p.m., so they made it 8.30)
the meeting (smaller than ours) swung into the familiar routine: two quite lengthy
speeches, the first more narrative in style, the second giving the line;
collection (Let’s not hear the clatter of
coins, comrades, nor yet the rustle of paper, but the squeak of pens writing
substantial cheques); questions from
the floor to the platform, answered
in batches for added glibness; and final summings-up with exhortations to build
the revolutionary party (at this point our reporter made no excuse and left). Of
course experienced questioners took the opportunity to put a few points across.
The lad from World Revolution did his stuff, about the counter-revolutionary
nature of all unions, and two people involved in the [newly formed] Polish
Solidarity Campaign gave some information about it and asked for a statement of
the SWP position. The answer was that the SWP supported the ‘existing
rank-and-file trade union movement of solidarity with the Polish workers’ and
would not ally itself with the right wing in the unions by calling for
withdrawal of the [TUC] delegation. The SWP evidently preferred, even at this
time, to maintain its alliance with the stalinists on the Liaison Committee for
the Defence of Trade Unions.
L. W. and M. B.
 |
| Participants’ history of PSC |
(Giles Hart, who edited the booklet, died on 7 July 2005, a victim of the London Bombings)
 |
| Other analyses are available... |
Peter Raina, Political Opposition in Poland. London,
Poets’ and Painters’ Press, 1978.
Marjorie
Castle and Ray Taras, Democracy in Poland, Westview Press, 2nd edition 2002.
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