The Radical History Network(RaHN)is a blog that operates as a forum for radical history groups to publish reviews, reports and articles on various aspects of radical history, and advertise meetings and act as a discussion forum for those interested in radical history. It is broadly libertarian socialist in outlook.
– a personal experience of using the “Freedom of Information Act” to research anarchist history
byChristopher Draper
In 1892 four Walsall anarchists were imprisoned for a bomb plot orchestrated by Auguste Coulon, a police agent-provocateur. Although the police and trial judge conspired to conceal Coulon’s role he subsequently boasted of his involvement to reporters. For over a century the Metropolitan Police refused to disclose details of its part in securing conviction until in 2001 there was a breakthrough. Despite claims that all relevant documents had either been lost or destroyed a serving police officer seeking early retirement and academic respectability was granted access to hitherto hidden Special Branch files to complete his PhD: ”Three “Special Account” books, each measuring 160mm by 200mm, and printed into five columns per page. They detail, among other items, what appears to be the cash amounts paid out to individual informants. In all, approximately six thousand individual entries span a total of the twenty four years from 1888 to 1912”.
These files revealed Coulon was paid almost £1,000 by the Metropolitan Police (and incidentally also revealed the previously unsuspected involvement of a second police agent in a separate high-profile “anarchist-terrorist conspiracy). This initiative prompted me to wonder whether the Walsall anarchists’ local police force might similarly be sitting on undisclosed evidence so in September 2017 I made a formal FOI request to West Midlands Police (WMP) for copies of documents relating to this 1892 case. It has taken almost 1½ years for that simple enquiry to be concluded and in the hope that it might amuse, enlighten and encourage fellow researchers I’ve recorded details of my quest.
My initial FOI was emailed to WMP on 4.9.2017. WMP replied on 12.9.2017 suggesting I instead contact their ”Heritage Project” adding, “Can I please ask you to confirm that you are happy for this request to be withdrawn under the FOI Act?” I responded by refusing to withdraw and insisting on a formal FOI response. The law allows 20 working days for an FOI response so on 7.10.2017 I reminded WMP, ”After 25 working days you are yet to comply. It is regrettable that a Police Authority should demonstrate such little regard for the law…”
I received a substantive response on 9.10.2017 declaring my FOI “Vexatious” which technically means it would take them too much effort and consequently cost more than the nominal £450 the Act allows to supply the information I requested (WMP later suggested my request was also vexatious in the non-technical sense as I was impertinent). “The information that we hold in respect of your request is a very old, large, fragile and very rare document. It is not suitable for scanning and therefore we would have to investigate the provision of specialised services in order to supply an electronic copy to you. This would be costly and burdensome.”
WMP had whetted my appetite – they’d revealed they held a relevant old and rare document. At this point FOI inquirers can either accept the brush-off or if they choose to persevere must request an authority reviews its own FOI decision. On 18.10.2017 I did the latter, pointing out to WMP that historic documents are nowadays digitally photographed in situ with minimal handling or cost. On 13.11.2017 WMP’s internal review conceded, “You suggested that the documents could simply be photographed… this is a sensible suggestion”! Then WMP went on to explain that as their resulting photographsweren’t clear enough “to be certain that there was not any harmful information in the documents” it would require further time, effort and cost to satisfactorily censor the information. WMP’s response was peppered throughout with technical references to various clauses and sub clauses of FOI legislation (sections 8/1c, 12, 14, 14/1, 23, 31 etc), not forgetting “Section 38 (health and safety)”! What all this amounted to was as far as WMPI was concerned I was getting nothing.
I read hundreds of pages of FOI legislation and precedents to escalate to the next stage, an appeal to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Of course the ICO comes at it cold so it is up the applicant to gather all relevant communications and present a coherent case to challenge the combined expertise of a public authority – a demanding and time consuming business, but in for a penny…
My 25.11.2017 appeal to ICO rested on two main grounds, firstly it was not credible that WMP did not have expert photographers at hand to efficiently produce excellent copies of the historic document and so it could not fairly cite “vexation” as grounds for withholding information. Secondly I argued that full disclosure was in the Public Interest. Of course I had to play the game of citing specific clauses and precedents and supplying supporting documents. Five months later I received the ICO’s 17.4.2018 Decision Notice, “The Commissioner’s decision is that the request was not vexatious and so section 14(1) was relied on incorrectly. WMP is now required to issue a fresh response to the request… WMP must take these steps within 35 calendar days… failure to comply may be dealt with as a contempt of court”. Now the ball was firmly in WMP’s court, would it hand over the contents of the 1892 document or appeal over the head of ICO to the mysterious “First-tier Tribunal”?
Thirty-four days later (21.05.2018) WMP responded, “We have considered the above judgement and although we do not agree with the conclusions drawn by the Information Commissioner, we have made the decision not to take this case to the Information Tribunal.” WMP explained that its substantive response would be further delayed whilst it applied a “Public Interest Test” on what precisely it would disclose. Unfortunately this further delay is permitted by the FOI Act.
On 16.6.2018 WMP emailed copies of all 57 handwritten pages of the large (300mm X 250mm) bound volume with the title “WALSALL ANARCHIST TRIAL 1892” embossed on the cover, a document containing almost 20,000 words of “evidence”. After ten months this was a huge advance but the contents had been censored by almost 300 redactions so on 25.6.2018 I requested another WMP internal review.
On 20.7.2018 that review conceded much of my case, restored almost 90% of the redactions (posting me paper photocopies) yet maintained that the name of the agent-provocateur should continue to be withheld along with the addresses of those involved in the prosecution. This despite the fact that Coulon’s name had been in the public realm for over a century and one of the redacted addresses, “238 Stafford Street”, the home of Joe Deakin, was marked by a “Walsall Anarchist Blue Plaque” erected in 1989 by the local authority.
On 11.8.2018 I contacted ICO to contest WMP’s reliance on sections 30/2 (informants' names) and 40/2 (witness addresses) in retaining 39 redactions. Five months later, on 17.1.2019 ICO ruled “that WMP was entitled to rely on section 30/2b to withhold information but that section 40/2 was not engaged”. Consequently WMP were directed to disclose all redacted addresses but permitted to withhold any mention of Coulonand they had just 28 calendar days to comply, appeal to the “Tribunal” or risk Contempt of Court. Twenty-five days later I received full disclosure of thirty addresses and I filled in the few redactions of Coulon’s name myself!
I’m sifting through this new evidence and will write more of the Walsall Anarchists in due course but I’m pleased with the FOI outcome. In a future post I’ll reveal the shocking fate of the Special Branch files and the officer who uncovered them and draw lessons on the workings of the FOI Act. In the meantime I’m just about to launch a new FOI seeking information about an intriguing anarchist artefact exhibited in 1889 in the Metropolitan Police’s “Black Museum”…
London Radical Book Fair on Saturday June 24th 12 noon - 6 p.m. Free Entry, all welcome At Goldsmiths, University of London, New Cross, London SE14 6NW More information on the website, including speakers' programme and list of stalls. ------------------------- An international round-up of events from PM press:
Left Forum in New York, NY from June 2nd to 4th
Bay Area Book Festival in Berkeley, CA on June 3rd and 4th
The Captain's Vintage Punk Rock Flea Market in Philadelphia, PA on June 3rd
Dorset Radical Book Fair in Christchurch, UK on June 3rd Wonderlands, The UK Graphic Novel Expo in Sunderland, UK on June 3rd
Wars of Position Conference in Manchester, UK from June 8th to 10th
Printers Row Lit Fest in Chicago, IL on June 10th and 11th
Stockholm Anarchist Book Fair in Stockholm, Sweden on June 10th
SF Free Folk Festival in San Francisco, CA on June 10th Institute for Social Ecology in San Francisco, CA from June 11th to 15th
Global Studies Association Conference in Berkeley, CA from June 14th to 16th
Against the Slow Cancellation of the Future in London, UK on June 15th and 16th
Allied Media Conference in Detroit, MI from June 16th to 18th
Punk Island 2017 in New York, NY on June 18th
London Radical Book Fair in London, UK on June 24th
Human Rights Researchers' Network Conference in London, UK on June 28th
With the prospect of another 5 years of Tory rule, with labour stabbing each other in the backs and all the other parties just offering a different version of the same old rubbish, it really is time we started to show that anarchism is a real alternative to the dead end party politics the media and the rest seem to love so much. People are working in anarchist ways every day of their lives – they just don’t put a name on it. Events like anarchist bookfairs (and there are more and more going on throughout the UK and abroad each year) are a chance to show our ideas in their fullest along with all the campaigns we believe in. Along with having stalls and meetings, we would really love groups to take on publicising the event as widely as possible and further than the “normal suspects”. Sometime anarchists seem to be worried about promoting their politics. We think we all need to take the bold step and be public and proud of our ideas. The Bookfair collective is only 5 of us – so we need everybody to help with publicity, as we just don’t have the numbers to do it all.
If you want a stall, meeting or advert in the programme can you email the form back to me (and pay by paypal via our website) or put the form and a cheque/cash in the post to Freedom Bookshop - address is on the form.
If you need anything for your stall or meeting can you check with us as early as possible so we can try and sort it. With a newish venue we are still finding our feet so we don't totally know if they will have what you might need.
We have 25,000 leaflets [front and back] and 1,000 posters to distribute as well. Again email us if you can help distribute these, especially in London. Or, pick them up from Freedom & Housmans bookshops or other good spaces.
By moving venues we need to do a lot more publicity so people know the new venue. Please email the details and leaflet to any mailing lists you are on that are relevant.
We may have missed some groups who may want stalls or meetings, so please forward this if you think we have missed someone.
Vinnie, botanist & plant historian, is Founding Director
of this fascinating project in West Dulwich. They not only offer education,
training & employment to adults aged 16+, but run a bookshop, maintain a
phylogenic garden (depicting the evolution of flowering plants throughout time,
starting in the pond with water lilies 140 million years ago through to modern
cottage gardens) but also organise children’s activities, outreach work &
create gardens in other parts of London. It’s a hub for local people of all
ages who drop in & learn about the plant & insect life on their own
doorstep.
7.30pm
buffet 8pm talk
All welcome. Free
Epicentre, West St
E11 4LJ
Info 0208 555 5248
UPDATE 10th June, from News from Nowhere:
The speaker tonight has had to cancel at short notice.
""However, we will keep the subject of gardens (public or private) and invite everyone who was planning to come to still come and bring with you (if you want) photos, stories, tips, books, poems, seeds, plants etc etc, about your own gardening experiences, memories, desires, needs...
From time to time, speakers have had to cancel at short notice, but we always manage to create a really good evening at the last minute.
There will be some excellent, substantial gardening books as raffle prizes too.""
============================ Screening of the Women's Peace Crusade film in London. Friday 23 June
Friday June 23rd at 7.30 at the Torriano film club 99 Torriano Rd., Kentish Town, supported by Peace News.
The film was made as part of a collaborative project in 2016/17 with local volunteers, activists and archivists in Manchester and East Lancashire.
Charlotte Bill, the film maker from the Clapham Film Unit, will be there for any questions about making the film/the project /Crusade and you can buy the book about the extraordinary East Lancashire Crusades in 1917.
============================ Exhibition launch at Hackney Museum on July 13 'Warhol to Walker: American prints from pop art to today' Thursday July 13th 6-7.30pm
From Andy Warhol to Hackney Wick.
This special exhibition explores the influence print movements have had on Hackney. Starting with the explosion of pop art in the 1960s, the exhibition displays works on loan from the British Museum by celebrated artists including Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and Kara Walker alongside Hackney artists.
To support the show (11 July - 16 September 2017), Fragile Archivistscontributed silk-screen posters from the Chats Palace Archive as well as made a film 'From Pop Art to Community Arts: Hackney in the 1970s-80s'.
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Working Class Movement Library
51 The Crescent,
Salford, M5 4WX
The flame still burns: the creative power of coal Thursday, 15 June at 7pm the Working Class Movement Library hosts an unusual free event celebrating ‘the creative power of coal’. This year is the 70th anniversary of the nationalisation of the coal industry. Vesting Day for the National Coal Board was 1 January 1947. Blue and white flags were unfurled outside each pit proclaiming “This colliery is now managed by the National Coal Board on behalf of the people”. Our event is centred around a book, The flame still burns: the creative power of coal, which explores the sheer power of an industry which created rich, diverse cultures in the different mining communities, and continues to inspire fresh creative work today. Granville Williams, the book's editor, will introduce a selection of films produced by the versatile and creative NCB Film Unit between 1947 and 1984. The NCB sought to 'win hearts and minds' through a monthly 10-minute newsreel/cine-magazine, Mining Review, and a high quality monthly magazine, Coal. The aim of such publicity was to boost recruitment, bind the distinct cultures and histories of the different coalfields together and promote a positive, modern public image of coalmining. Come and find out more on 15 June… Admission free; all welcome. ----------------------
Our current series of free Wednesday 2pm talks runs through until July:-
Invisible Histories talks - Workplace conflict at Gardner's
7 June Stephen Mustchin - Strikes, workplace occupations and 'the right to share hardship': engineering trade unionism and the 1980 occupation at Gardner
This talk, by Stephen Mustchin, Lecturer in Employment Studies, University of Manchester,
focuses on engineering trade unionism, workplace conflict and strikes at the famous Eccles-based engine manufacturer L. Gardner and Sons.
Strong workplace union organisation emerged following two long strikes in 1968 and late 1972, and in 1980 a high-profile strike and occupation against mass redundancies won significant concessions. The organisation exhibited by the Gardner workforce was remarkable and represented a partial victory in a period when strikes were increasingly difficult to organise. However, retribution by the company led to the erosion of these gains demonstrating their fragility in the wider context of recession, deindustrialization and increasingly anti-union management in the 1980s.
Based on a recently-published article in the academic journal Historical Studies in Industrial Relations, and drawing on wider historical research on strikes in the 1980s, the talk draws on research based on materials held at WCML and interviews with former employees and participants.
21 June Dean Kirby - Angel Meadow
In this talk, journalist Dean Kirby will take listeners on a journey through the gin palaces, alleyways and underground vaults of this nineteenth century Manchester slum, which was considered so diabolical it was re-christened 'hell upon earth' by Friedrich Engels.
Dean is a national newspaper journalist who has been covering the news in Manchester and the North of England for nearly 20 years. His search for his ancestors led him to Victorian Manchester's Angel Meadow slum, where he made a remarkable discovery in the rubble of an archaeological dig. Angel Meadow: Victorian Britain's most savage slumis his first book.
5 July Bruce Wilkinson - Three Lancastrian poets of the '60s Bruce's book Hidden culture, forgotten history looks at the 1960s publishing and political activities of working class Lancastrian poets Jim Burns, Dave Cunliffe and Tina Morris, and traces their literary and activist impact.
19 July Dave Randall - Sound system: the political power of music Years of touring, playing and protesting have given Dave an insider’s view of the music industry, enabling him to shed light on the secrets of celebrity, commodification and culture.
Discovering the stories of those people who attended the Peterloo demonstration Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society is launching a project to find the descendants of those attending the peaceful demonstration that has become known as the Peterloo Massacre. They say: 'We will never know the true number of casualties, as all injured persons would have had to pay for any treatment received. Many would just go to the local “wise-woman” or midwife for treatment. Many hid in pubs etc to avoid being arrested. We want their stories to create a lasting memorial to them'. A web page at www.peterloo.mlfhs.org.uk gives further details, and the project can be contacted via email at peterloo@mlfhs.org.uk or by phone on 0161 652 9765 (answerphone, please leave a message). If you want to be involved in the project or have information to share, Rod Melton will be attending Manchester Central Library each Tuesday between 10:30 and 15:00. Please go to the Manchester and Lancashire Family History Help Desk and ask for Rod. ============================
"Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month (GRTHM) started in 2001 in Brent and in 2008 it was celebrated across the country with backing from the government. GRTHM is an important opportunity for communities to celebrate their heritage and for everyone to learn about the history, achievements and cultures of Gypsies, Roma and Travellers."
Irish Traveller Storytelling - Join renowned Irish Traveller storyteller, Thomas McCarthy, for special sessions of stories from Irish traveller folklore and history.
L[ocal] H[istory] Talk: Gypsy Travellers in Ealing - Join Dr Jonathan Oates, Ealing Archivist, for a FREE talk about the history of Gypsy Travellers in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing Central LibraryThursday 15th June 5.30 – 6.30pm FREE
Following LGBT History Month 2017 and the third Rainbow Plaques event, York LGBT History Month, York’s Alternative History,York LGBT Forum and York Civic Trust are working together to identify Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans histories that can be commemorated with a York Civic Trust permanent plaque... starting this with an open call for ideas.
Everyone is welcome to contribute. You can make a suggestionvia this websurvey.
""1895, the trial of Oscar Wilde. 2017, the pardoning of gay men by the ‘Alan Turing Law’. How far have we come in 122 years?
Personal testimony. Public protest. Art and culture. We tell the story of love, legislative change and the battles for equality experienced by gay men and women in the UK. 50 years after the Sexual Offences Act partially decriminalised homosexuality, our exhibition looks at the build up to this monumental step, its impact, and asks what challenges still remain.
Listen to oral histories. Explore Sarah Waters’s manuscript notebook for Tipping the Velvet. Take a closer look at the diary of Kenneth Williams. Film, original manuscripts and rare printed items trace a history of troubles and triumphs for gay people. Other items on display include the 1957 Wolfenden Report, the Gay Liberation Front Manifesto, and vinyl from the Pet Shop Boys.
How have perceptions of homosexuality changed and what impact have they had in creating distinctive and dynamic gay identities in the UK?""
#BLGayUK - See more at: https://www.bl.uk/events/gay-uk-love-law-liberty#sthash.ve4am5xg.dpuf
----------------------------- And at the National Archives in July:
"To mark the 50th anniversary of the 1967 Sexual
Offences Act – a significant step in the decriminalisation of male
homosexuality in England and Wales – we are hosting two exciting events based
on records from collection that shed light on this pivotal moment in British
history. We will also look at records to help you explore wider LGBT+ histories."
A step forward: 50 years since The Sexual
Offences Act
An
afternoon of talks and workshops, £5 - Booking here
Saturday 22 July,
13:30-17:00,Kew
Take a closer look at the documents in our collection that shed
light on this pivotal moment in British history.
With varied offerings, ranging from contextual talks to an
in-depth workshop on the secretive Polari language, this afternoon offers a
dynamic and collaborative means to engage with the original documents and the
real-life experiences that lie within them.
This workshop and document display will take you through our
collections relating to LGBT+ history, and reflect on significant moments and
milestones.
============================
Thursday 15th June back by unpopular demand –
Come see a slice of Central London squatting history:
• See the square where squatters and tenants half succeeded in fighting off the encroachment of office blocks
• See the hotel which ex-soldiers and others occupied in 1946
• See one of the Really Free School buildings from the recent struggles against cuts and the privatization of education and knowledge
• See places that were homes to hundreds, alternative bookshops, women’s centres, the starting places for wholefood empires
… meet Tolmers Square, London, NW1 6 for 6.30, Thursday 15 June 2017.
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Shakespeare and Marx
Venue:Garrick's Temple, Hampton Court Road, Hampton, London Price: £20 Speaker(s): Gabriel Egan, Hugh Grady, Chris Fitter, David Hawkes, Martin McQuillan and Christian Smith
"David Garrick built his Shakespeare Temple beside the Thames at Hampton in 1755 as a shrine, where the foremost thinkers of the age would come together to worship the Bard. Now the Kingston Shakespeare Seminar is realising the great actor's vision, with a series of Saturday symposia on Shakespeare and philosophy. Each of these events will feature talks by leading philosophers and Shakespeare experts, tea in the riverside garden designed by Capability Brown, and a professional concert of period music."
Researching for a project with Shubbak festival (1-16 July) and currently looking to speak to people who have been involved in activism in East London (particularly Dalston) from 1960s-1980s.
The project is being developed by artists Laila Soliman and Ruud Gielens, and will be shown in Dalston during the Shubbak festival on 7-9 July.
They are working on the changes in the aesthetics and rhetoric of activism and civic resistance, focusing on East London during the 1960s-1980s.
For their site-specific intervention, they are unearthing the history of social and political activism in the area, including anti-racism, LGBTQ rights, anti-capitalism etc.
They are particularly interested in finding older generation cultural activists and would like to link their stories/memories with today’s new surge in activism.
The artists are keen to meet with individuals who have been involved in such movements, or who would know about the subject. We plan to have initial meetings to get to know people on 20-24 June. This could then be followed by an interview for the purpose of the project.
Boardroom 1, Unite the Union, 33-37Moreland St. London EC1V 8BB(near Angel Tube).
There will be short presentations on the history of the Labour Party and its
ambivalent relationship with socialism, the unions and progressive movements in society.
We'd welcome your ideas on the Labour Party's present and future.
Where did the Corbyn Surge come from?
What do the hundreds of thousands of young people who've recently joined want?
What role do Momentum (and Progress) play?
What would our ideal Labour Party look like?
IWCE Events are always participatory and non-sectarian.
It is hoped that some of the Forward-Looking presentations might contribute to a Special Edition of "Post-16 Educator". http://iwceducation.co.uk/ --------------------------
East Anglian
INDEPENDENT
WORKING CLASS EDUCATION
Event
Cambridge* on Saturday 5th August from
2pm- 7.30pm.
The theme is 'Socialism: Towards 2020';
there will be a number of short talks and lots of discussion.
What constitutes
socialism now?
What do we think of
the Corbyn Surge?
Can history inform what
we do in the present to build for the future?
If you would like to contribute with a brief talk please email:
davidwelsh83@btinternet.com
And you'll need to register: Email: davidwelsh83@btinternet.com
DEMOCRACY UNCHAINED: TOWARDS A REAL DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT
Wakefield Socialist History Group will have a speaker from Republic*, Mark Sutton, at their "Democracy Unchained" event at the Red Shed (Vicarage Street, Wakefield WF1) on Saturday 1 July at 1 p.m.
The other speakers are Paul Feldman and Corinna Lotz from "A World to Win."
Admission is free and there will be a free light buffet. Tony M. will be chairing.
*Republic's Royal Expenses Campaign Launch" is happening outside Buckingham Palace on 17 June.
Next, after the summer:
SATURDAY 9 SEPTEMBER: GEORGE ORWELL AND SOCIALISM
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As usual this listings page will be updated from time to time (until it gets too long).
