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 (6)

Barcelona May 1937 : a contemporary view

The article below was written in May 1937 and published in the weekly periodical New Statesman and Nation (NSN). In many ways it is an extraordinary piece of political writing, firstly because of who the writer is and secondly that it should appear in the NSN.

Liston Oak was a member of the American Communist party and in 1936 went to Moscow to work on the English language daily Moscow News. While awaiting clearance for the post he went to Paris. For reasons that are not clear he used his contacts with the Comintern (Communist International) to move on to another job based in the offices of the foreign minister of the Spanish Republic, Alvarez del Vayo. Del Vayo was in charge of propaganda in the English speaking world and Oak was to be the Director of Propaganda for Britain and the United States. Part of his responsibility was to chaperone leading celebrities such as Ernest Hemingway around. Oak was therefore a committed communist and an apparatchik of the Comintern. He went to Valencia at the beginning of 1937, but quickly moved on to a new office that was opened in Barcelona. It seems highly likely that Oak knew what was happening, that is the disappearances and assassinations, and that the intrigues against the anarchists and the POUM were leading to a full scale assault. In fact Oak did something that was extraordinary considering his politics: he went to interview Andres Nin, the leader of the POUM, not once but twice! This would have marked him and meant his life would be in danger. Oak was aware of the situation and made plans to escape from Spain.

Another American writer who was in Spain at this time was John Dos Passos. He was in Spain for the same reason as Hemingway, to contribute in the making of the film Spanish Earth. Oak and Dos Passos know each other, as