Follow-up on Newington Green radical history walk & maps

(From Past Tense)

Thanks to all those who came on Sunday's Newington Green radical history walk, organised by past tense and other friends in North London... 50 or so people came, and although the walk lasted some 3 hours, most stayed to the end! Those who came were treated to a fun ramble through local radicalism, pioneer feminism, squatting, anarchy and nakedness and al fresco sex by the New River... (not literally, that last, though there have been some requests for re-enactments on our walks).

We hope to write the walk up for others to peruse when we get a chance... And we will definitely do it again.

In the meantime, for folks that weren't able to come, we produced an A3 map for the walk, covering some of the history we talked about... We are selling it for £1, (plus £1 P&P) - after we cover our costs, proceeds will be donated to the Mary On the Green campaign, who are raising money to erect a statue of Mary Wollstonecraft, groundbreaking feminist, who once ran a school in Newington Green. Unlike many others, there is very little public commemoration of Mary, perhaps because she was a revolutionary, who linked women's equality with fundamental social change and the abolition of inherited property, who made a political decision to live unmarried with her lovers, and had a child 'out of wedlock'...

maps can be obtained from us, via our website: http://past-tense.org.uk/

or by post, from
past tense,
56a Infoshop
56 Crampton St,
London, SE17 3AE

enclosing a cheque payable to Past Tense Publications

The Mary On the Green Campaign can be found at:

http://www.maryonthegreen.org/

Past Tense is now on Facebook

Past Tense has entered the early 21st century and launched a facebook page.

It's early doors as yet obviously, but you can check us out at:
http://www.facebook.com/pasttensehistories

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Explore the life and work of Mary Wollstonecraft...

Great London Thinkers Series

Join AnjaSteinbauer for an open discussion at the Bishopsgate Institute

Saturday 8^th February 2.30 p.m.

This event is organised in partnership with Philosophy for All.

Free admission, no advance booking required.

Please note places are limited and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Further information:  http://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/searchevents_result.aspx

<< Mary Wollstonecraft (1759 –1797) was undeniably one of the most outstanding figures of her time. Claiming that “the being cannot be termed rational or virtuous, who obeys any authority, but that of reason”, she embodies in many ways the ideals of the Enlightenment. Courageous, fiercely intelligent and articulate, she effectively challenged the ideas of many of the famous minds around her, including Edmund Burke. Defender of the French Revolution, pioneer for the rights of women and mother to Mary Shelley, her influence on our culture can hardly be overestimated. >>

MEETING - The Libertarian Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft
Wednesday 9 December at 8 pm
Liz Willis introduces The Libertarian Mary Wollstonecraft
Meetings for the autumn will be at: The Postmen's Office at the North London Community House, 22 Moorefield Road, London N17.[The old Post Office] The venue is just around the corner from Bruce Grove British Rail Station, where Bruce Grove meets the High Road in Tottenham.
More...
Mary Wollstonecraft, 1759-97: political writer, novelist, translator, reviewer; pioneer of sexual liberation and foremost champion of womens rights, was not ignored in her own time and has not been entirely forgotten at any time since. Nevertheless, despite an intensification of interest in recent decades, aspects of her legacy remain under-appreciated, notably her contribution to the development of libertarian thought.

Recurring themes in her work were rejection of authority and received opinion, insistence on individual autonomy, and the conviction that the liberation of women had to form an integral part of any revolutionary project. To well-known anarchist Emma Goldman she was "the most daring woman of her time". Her most famous book was A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), of which William Godwin wrote: "The publication forms an epocha [sic] in the subject to which it belongs".

She spent most of her life in London where she encountered Nonconformist and radical thinkers, first In Newington Green, at that time a stronghold of Dissenters, then in the literary and politically aware circle centred on her friend and publisher, Joseph Johnson. Times were changing as news of the French Revolution stirred up people's ideas. Mary was actively involved with the Analytical Review, writing book reviews and doing translations; at the end of 1792 she went to Paris to see for herself and report on the situation. In France too she associated with a close-knit group of politically-motivated people, mostly affiliated to the Girondin milieu rather than the more authoritarian (and anti-feminist) hard left.

In her personal life Mary eventually teamed up with Godwin, writer and political thinker, who had spoken up for the accused in the Treason Trials of the 1790s. The two kept up their contacts with other radicals and literati in spite of the growing climate of reaction. After her death (following the birth of her daughter Mary), Godwin published a Memoir of her life. Despite the attempts of reactionaries to disparage her achievement her influence continued and extended in many and varied
directions. Many of her observations still have direct relevance today.

Suggestions for Reading
By Mary Wollstonecraft: A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Penguin Classics edition has good intro.)and several other writings can be found in various editions in libraries and/or currently in print.
Lyndall Gordon, Vindication: A Life of Mary Wollstonecraft. (Little, Brown 2005) Virago 2006. Recommended - if you only read one biography of Mary W., this is it.
Janet Todd, Mary Wollstonecraft, a Revolutionary Life. Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 2000. Useful for historical background rather than MW's character or significance.
Claire Tomalin, The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft. Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1976.
Janet Todd, ed. The Collected Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft. Allen Lane 2003.
Claudia L. Johnson, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Mary Wollstonecraft. CUP 2002.
Black Flag 227 - Summer 2008 includes writing by Emma Goldman on Mary Wollstonecraft.

Who they all were:-

 

An article on the libertarian Mary Wollstonecraft originally published in Solidarity: A Journal of Libertarian Socialism Spring 1992, can be viewed here.