May Day in Dundee, 1965

The latest Document of the Month in the invaluable Sparrows' Nest "is something entertaining, a report on some encounters during a May Demo in Dundee in 1965."

The document is from "Ron's Archive", a unique collection about British syndicalism (SWF, Direct Action) post-Second World War. This is a transcription:

May Day in Dundee

    For the first time there was an Anarchist contingent on the May Day march in this city. Eighteen people marched under the Dundee Anarchists’ Banner (a red one with black lettering – the only red banner on the march).

    Before moving off a Labour party official said to one of our group, “We’ll allow you to take part in our march if you behave yourselves.” He was reminded that May Day belongs to the people, not to any particular faction. Another LP man drove a car into the Communist contingent, nearly knocking a young woman over. He then called a cop and told him to prevent the commies and Anarchists from taking over Labour’s march. However, he was overruled by another official and we set off.

    All along the route buses were passing slowly by. The busmen and general public were given copies of our May Day leaflet and the manifesto of the Scottish Federation. When the march reached City Square where we were to be addressed by Dundee’s two MPs the Anarchists were right to the front of the crowd. Everybody else furled their banners but we held ours and a poster with “No wage freeze under any government” right under the platform speakers’ noses. Meanwhile other comrades dished out leaflets to all and sundry.

    The first MP managed to make a speech without once mentioning the word “Socialism”. When the other one, Peter Dong, a violent opponent of disarmament whether unilateral or multilateral, rose to speak the Anarchist Group marched off in protest. We went back individually to heckle.

    Our group received some hostility but also some encouragement. At any rate nobody could ignore us. We undoubtedly made some people think, quite an achievement in itself. Our leaflet was not designed to make immediate converts but to encourage opposition to reaction and interest in Anarchism. In this it succeeded.

D.Y.C.*

[*This must be Dave Coull, Dundee anarchist and syndicalist. - RaHN blogger]

Dundee city centre 1962

Dundee City Square January 1965
(The scene on May Day would have been somewhat livelier.)

Spain and the World: Aspects of the Spanish Revolution and Civil War (2)

The tragic consequences of anarchist participation in the Popular Front government

At the time of the conflict there were two governments in Spain, the central government in Madrid and the Generalitat, the government of the autonomous region of Catalonia. The CNT-FAI entered the latter on September 27th 1936 referring to it as a Regional Defence Council; on November 4th 1936 four members of the CNT entered the central government [Richards 1995 p63 and 68].

 Juan Garcia Oliver : leading anarchist became Minister of Justice

Collaboration and its prelude.
Was the entry of the CNT-FAI into the Popular Front (PF) government an abandonment of principle [Richards p42] or a strategic mistake that led to an abandonment of principle and a dismantling of its autonomous and revolutionary structures [Schmidt and Van der Walt 2009 p200]? From the start of the military uprising anarchists were placed in a very difficult, or maybe an impossible situation that according to Peirats they had no clear plan to deal with [ibid p202]. Lacking, as they saw it, the necessary support to carry through a revolution, they put all their efforts into the fight to defeat Franco. To many putting the war before revolution was a false dilemma [Guerin 1970 p129] and by this thinking they failed to recognise that the real enemy was the capitalist system of which fascism was but one form of expression [Richards p51]. The basis of the CNT, its independence from political parties, opposition to the state, its decentralised structure and opposition to permanent and paid officials should have prevented any temptation to participate in government [ibid p82]. There were tight rules preventing anyone representing a political party from becoming a militant of