Oral History Project: memories of Centerprise

Information from  The Oral History Noticeboard: via Hackney Radical History blog 

A Hackney Autobiography will be launched on Saturday 24 January 2015 at a relaxed gathering with refreshments and poetry. This free public event will bring people together to discuss Centerprise and share memories of the time. All are welcome.

Please RSVP to On the Record, info@on-the-record.org.uk .

2–5 p.m. at Bishopsgate Institute,

230 Bishopsgate, London EC2M 4QH. (station: Liverpool Street)

Venue is wheelchair accessible.

For all those who remember Centerprise, a community centre, bookshop and publisher that hosted ground-breaking work in oral history, literacy, community history, life story writing and much more. Bring photographs, publications, documents from the time and your memories.

Oral history organisation On the Record  has received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund for A Hackney Autobiography: Remembering Centerprise. On the Record are looking for people who remember Centerprise – or who want to help with the project – to join the project steering group, be interviewed or volunteer.

For more information about volunteer opportunities visit: 

http://on-the-record.org.uk/volunteers-needed-centerprise-project/

Centerprise was open from 1971 to 2012. It hosted a bookshop, publishing project, reading centre, café, youth club, crèche and more all under one roof in Dalston. It not only sold books, it made it possible for local people to write and publish their own works of poetry, autobiography and history. It conducted oral history interviews and published the books created by oral and local history group and Workers Educational Association class the ‘People’s Autobiography of Hackney’, including their two-volume chronicle of working life in twentieth century Hackney: Working Lives.

The project will not only reflect upon Centerprise and Hackney’s past, it will work with young people and adults living in Hackney today to set this history in the context of the borough’s rapidly changing landscape.

A Hackney Autobiography is running from December 2014 to July 2016. It will remember Centerprise, in particular its work in the 1970s and 1980s, through oral history, gathering a public archive at Bishopsgate Institute and by running free workshops and events. A Hackney Autobiography will culminate by curating a digital map showcasing some of the material collected and publishing an in-depth history of Centerprise.

<< On the Record Community Interest Company is a not-for-profit cooperative, established in May 2012. Our mission is to create and improve opportunities for a broader range of people to discover and participate in heritage and cultural activities. Previous projects run by On the Record include an oral history of Speakers’ Corner [http://soundsfromthepark.org.uk] and a volunteer research project about the arms trade and the First World War [http://armingallsides.org.uk] 

Read more here: http://on-the-record.org.uk >>  

For further information please contact info@on-the-record.org.uk

For details of a similar sort of project in South Tottenham, see http://www.bridgerenewaltrust.org.uk/

Action East End Radical History Walk: this Sunday

Action East End Radical History Walk Sunday January 11th 11am.

Meet outside Spitalfields Church, Commercial Street, London E1 6LY

£6 WAGED, £3 UNWAGED

BRING STOUT WALKING SHOES. FINISH AT A CAFÉ AFTERWARDS WHERE THERE’LL BE
TIME FOR QUESTIONS. ALL PROCEEDS GO TOWARDS PRINTING THE EAST END HOWLER.

Nearest tubes: Liverpool Street, Aldgate East

ANARCHISTS, SOCIALISTS, SQUATTERS AND STRIKERS

A Radical History Tour around the East End, raising funds for the East End Howler – The radical voice of East London Let a seasoned anarchist veteran introduce you to all the rich and unknown history of the East End. Take a trip around the “narrow, crooked streets”, by-lanes and alleys of the East End. THRILL as we visit the site of the Sugar Loaf pub, famed for its weekly anarchist meetings which tempted “poor flies into the trap”. GASP as we visit the sites of the first organising attempts among Jewish workers and the scenes of mass strike meetings. SOB as we see the soup kitchens which fed the poor and hungry.

Your pulse will race when we come upon the site of the Russian Social Democratic Party Congress, where the split between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks first emerged. You will gaze in wonder at the door through which Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin all went. Your heart will beat loudly when you gaze upon the place where two Latvian revolutionaries held off armed police and Guardsmen for many hours. You will be awestruck by our visits to the two great Anarchist clubs of the East End, home of many speeches, plays and musical diversions and you
will mutter in outrage when you hear about the brutal attacks by the police on the Anarchists there. You will wonder at the streets which were squatted lock stock and barrel in a confrontation with the authorities and you will be intrigued by the building which housed one of the several free schools in the East End dedicated to enlightened education.

So down your tools, pick up your red and black flag, and dive into the inspiring world of East London’s Radical History.

Nearest tubes: Liverpool Street, Aldgate East

Action East End
For Community and Solidarity
ACTIONEASTEND.WORDPRESS.COM

Some Dates for 2015 Calendars

Events of the radical-history persuasion, more or less, coming up in the next couple of months:-

UPDATE

World War One talk in Salford: Conscientious Objectors

On Monday 26 January at 2pm Salford Museum and Art Gallery hosts a free talk by Steve Illingworth highlighting the story of WW1 conscientious objectors with a focus on stories from the region.

Date and time: 

Monday, 26 January 2015 - 2:00pm

Cost: Free!

No booking required

Suitable for:  All

Talk by Steve Illingworth highlighting the story of conscientious objectors with a focus on stories from the region. 

Please meet in the museum reception.

http://www.salfordcommunityleisure.co.uk/culture/whats-on/2014/06/world-war-one-talk-conscientious-objectors

No Glory Plans for 3 exhibitions in Manchester throughout 2015
Talk: Sisters with mourning hearts: a forgotten story of radical Manchester women in 1915 

Thursday 22 January 6-7pm

Performance Space

Central Library
No booking necessary - just come along!

One hundred years ago a group of Manchester women signed an open letter to the women of Germany and Austria sending their solemn greetings and declaring that they wished for peace. They received warm and heartfelt thanks from the German and Austrian women. The letter is an important part of the international women's movement for peace.

Join Dr Alison Ronan for an illustrated talk on the letter, its historical context and the stories of women who signed it. The event will feature a short film by Sue Reddish.

The letter is held by Manchester Central Library. A copy of the document and an interactive display telling the story of the women who signed it will be on display in Archives+.

Exhibition 1
During the first winter of the First World War, in December-January 1914/1915, 101 pacifist and suffragist British women including a group of women from Manchester and North-West England and with international and European connections, woven in the pre-war activities of the International Suffrage Alliance, wrote an Open Letter to the women of Germany and Austria declaring that:

‘The Christmas message sounds like mockery to a world at war, but those of us who wished and still wish for peace may surely offer a solemn greeting to such of you who feel as we do.’

And the reply from the German and Austrian women was then published in the international newspaper Jus Suffragi [Suffrage, the right to vote] two months later:

‘To our English sisters, sisters of the same race, we express in the name of many German women our warm and heartfelt thanks for their Christmas greetings, which we only heard of lately.

‘This message was a confirmation of what we foresaw—that women of the belligerent countries, with all faithfulness, devotion, and love to their country, can go beyond it and maintain true solidarity with the women of other belligerent nations, and that really civilised women never lose their humanity’

The original letter, signed by a number of women from Manchester and the NW and women with strong links to the NW, is in the City Archives as part of the Suffrage Collection donated by Margaret Ashton. It is an important document which heralded the emergence of the international women’s peace movement and it is here in Manchester!

More to come in April. Exhibition 2, The Hague Congress: “Several leading  members of Manchester Suffrage Society established a break away branch of the newly- established  British Committee of the International Congress of Women in order to elect delegates for the proposed Congress planned for The Hague in late April 1915.”

and Exhibition 3, October 2015

Plus ongoing plans for

• day out to Macclesfield where there is a memorial to soldiers shot for desertion
• the arboretum in Staffordshire
• a creative day making banners
• a day for CO researchers to compare notes

(Watch this space…)

[Update] Also in Manchester - 

The Labour History Archive and Study Centre at the People’s History Museum, Manchester, are hosting a talk by David Goodway about George Julian Harney, historic Chartist leader.   

http://www.phm.org.uk/whatson/george-julian-harney-the-last-of-the-chartist-leaders/

"It would be great if you could let any who may be interested know about the talk.  It would be great to see any and all there."

 [7^th Feb., 2.30 – 4 p.m.]

IWCE Day School in Leeds

Saturday 31st January, 11.00 - 3.00

for Independent Working Class Education

The day will discuss the IWCE Network Manifesto and ask how we can work together to enrich working class education and class struggle.

Have a look at http://iwceducation.co.uk/ for more information.

 Offers of a short presentation are welcome.

To book and/or offer a presentation

email: iwceducation@yahoo.co.uk

 Swarthmore Centre,

2 - 7 Woodhouse Square,

Leeds LS3 AD

[Update] Provisional programme: 

The main focus of this IWCE Network meeting will be

"Developing  and using the IWCE Manifesto".

ALL COMMENTS TO COLIN WAUGH : cwaugh1@btinternet.com

before 24th January, please.

We are also delighted to have contributions from Ian Richards (General Federation

of Trade Unions), Dave Berry (Today's issues on employment practices), John Illy (Land Tax),

Phil Guy (Participate, enquire and collaborate), and Frances Thorp (Looking at Art

and IWCE).

All presentations are short, and there will be lots of discussion.

Network for Peace

There will be a meeting on 19 February in London at 1.30. Friends House in Euston.

We will have a short NfP business meeting followed by a discussion on where we are with WW1 Campaigning.

We also hope to have a guest speaker, an academic who will report on her research (just waiting for a confirmation).

No need to confirm your place, or send your apologies. But if you cannot come and have something interesting to report please send something to me in good time for me to distribute before the meeting if at all possible. 

Here’s a link to the event on the NfP website: 

http://www.networkforpeace.org.uk/calendar/claire/2015/feb/network-peace-agm-ww1-planning-meeting

On Saturday 28th February at 1pm, the Wakefield Socialist History Group will be holding an event HOUSING AND THE CLASS STRUGGLE at the Red Shed, Vicarage Street, Wakefield WF1.
Entrance is free and there will be a free light buffet.
We are looking for speakers for the event.  If you would like to speak or can recommend a speaker please get in touch.

At the start of the 20th century 90% of Britain's population lived in private sector rented accommodation.  The sector was subject to minimal regulation and with the coming of the First World War -and the attendant pressures on housing- landlords began to hike up rents.
This was at a time when many working class men were at the front fighting.  Women saw it as a betrayal and began to organise tenant groups to resist the rises.
In Glasgow in particular the women got the support of the Independent Labour Party and were championed by socialists such as John Maclean.  They also won backing from workers in the factories and shipyards. Their agitation forced the government to take action.  Rent controls were introduced.  So too was security of tenure which made it more difficult for landlords to evict tenants.
Then in 1972 rent strikes broke out across Britain in response to the Heath Government's notorious Housing Finance Act.  That legislation aimed to force council rents up to market levels.  Whilst Labour Councils -even those that originally resisted- eventually caved in one by one Clay Cross stood firm to the end.  Eleven councillors risked prison because of their refusal to implement the rises.
And in Liverpool in the mid 80s the then socialist council -in the face of massive opposition from Whitehall- embarked on a huge house building programme.  It built 5000 new homes and froze council rents.
So housing has been and still remains a focus for class struggle.

[Update/Reminder] The next meeting of the Wakefield Socialist History Group is on 
Saturday 28 February 2015, 1-4pm at the Red Shed, Vicarage Street, Wakefield.
The event will be focusing on HOUSING AND THE CLASS STRUGGLE.
The speakers confirmed so far are:
*Cllr Hilary Mitchell
*Karen Fletcher (Secretary, Barnsley Against the Bedroom Tax)
*Alan Stewart (Convenor, Wakefield Socialist History Group)
*Kevin Feintuck (rank and file housing worker in Sheffield)
The chair is Kitty Rees.
Admission is free and there will be a free light buffet.
Hope to see you there!

NEWS FROM NOWHERE CLUB

PROGRAMME 2015 now available.

VENUE  Epicentre, West St. Leytonstone London E11 4LJ

TIMES 7.30 Buffet: please bring something              8.00 Talk and questions/discussion

TRAVEL Leytonstone or Stratford tube, 257 bus or Leytonstone High Rd overground, short walk

All welcome, just turn up. Free. Donations welcome. Car park. Quiet kids [sic] welcome.              

Enquiries: 0208 555 5248 or 07443 480 509; info@newsfromnowhere club.org

Beginning on Saturday 10 January 2015 with “Bollington: Utopia in Cheshire?” and “Letchworth Garden City: Health of the Country, Comforts of the Town”   Speakers: Jim Hoyle & William Armitage.

Then: Saturday 14 February 2015  The Bethnal Green Tube Shelter Disaster Speaker: Joy Puritz- “This talk is a description of the circumstances which led to the worst civilian disaster of WWII in this country, whether it could have been avoided & if anyone was to blame.

Saturday 14 March 2015  The Life of Bees Speaker: Ian Nichols

Saturday 11 April 2015 'The most lovable figure’: George Lansbury and East End politics   Speaker: Professor John Shepherd 

and more in subsequent months.

LSHG Spring Term 2015 seminars

London Socialist Historians Seminars for early 2015 have also been announced and start with:

Monday January 19^th        Marika Sherwood, Black Soldiers in World War One

Monday February 2^nd      Matthew  Burnett-Stewart,  Arming both sides. The Armaments industry in World War One.

These take place in Room 102 at the Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, Malet St, WC1 and start at 5.30 p.m.

For more details and subsequent events see londonsocialisthistorians.blogspot.com 

Next RaHN meeting:

Wednesday 25th February 7.30 p.m.

Wood Green Social Club 3 Stuart Crescent, N22 5NJ

  (off the High Rd, near Wood Green tube)

Free to attend, all interested people welcome.

The last meeting agreed on a theme of "Out and Proud in North London"
focusing on Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender struggles.

Details to follow.

How It Went: No Glory, Manchester, November 15 2014

This was a great success- and it was a lively buzzing atmosphere at the MMU Business School on Saturday 15th November for the No Glory Day School. Fifty people attended and we learned a lot from one another, exchanged ideas, thought about future activities by creating a time line which covered local, regional, national and international events. We ran a banner workshop throughout the day and we produced a beautiful banner. 

Ali Ronan gave an inspiring opening talk appropriately titled “It is our duty to clamorously and unceasingly agitate”, which told the largely forgotten stories of women who campaigned for peace throughout World War One, focusing on Manchester women in particular.

Penny Hicks from Stop the War Coalition facilitated one of the two workshops on building an anti-war movement today while Chris Clayton’s workshop looked at research into conscientious objectors giving local researchers a chance to share their findings.

After lunch Lindsay German gave an excellent talk on how 100 years of war has changed women’s lives.

This was followed by Ali Ronan sharing her research on publicity and handbills which gave an insight into the bravery and resourcefulness of activists a century ago and allowed contemporary activists a chance to think about their own publicity.

Meanwhile Jean Spence led a moving workshop on creating and producing imaginative/photographic narratives of remembrance, using material she had bought from eBay and from records found in a local Boys Club.

The day finished with a look at both the timeline which participants had been adding to throughout the day, and showing off the banner to much applause.  We went away feeling inspired.

 So November wasn’t all about the cultivation and cult of ceramic and other poppies (the latest opium of the people?)…

In addition:-

Bolton Quakers organised a series of four lively and well attended talks about WW1 throughout November 2014

·         Barrie Mills led a talk about the Northern Peace Board and the work of Manchester Quaker and University tutor, John W Graham who was instrumental in coaching COs for the military tribunals that were set up after the Military Service Act 1916. Graham was an active member of the local No Conscription Fellowship

·         Ali Ronan gave a talk on the network of anti-war women across the NW

·         Cyril Pearce gave an illustrated talk about his extensive CO database

·         Malcolm Pittock gave a very moving talk about his uncle Alfred Evans who was an absolutist CO and was taken to France in the summer 1916 and threatened with execution. This was commuted to hard labour and Evans was a prisoner until 1919.

“None of the books are quite accurate about him because they do not know that he had a serious eye condition, which developed in the 1920s and which a botched operation only made worse. So when he was required to register for fire watching in WW2, he could easily have used medical evidence to get himself excused, for his sight was too bad for him to do it. But it was the principle of the thing that he objected to and so he did not refer to his eyesight when refusing to do firewatching and was sentenced to three months imprisonment. A CO friend of his, Jock Murphy, who had managed to obtain unconditional exemption (I think he obtained it when conscription was reintroduced but before the war was declared) went to prison with him. He was thus one of of the very few CO's to be imprisoned in both wars. What was also distinctive about him was that in WW1, he objected primarily on religious and secondarily on political grounds. He was a Roman Catholic and his position was closely similar to that of the Catholic Workers today, who reject both the doctrine of the so-called Just War and all social injustice. At 21, and working class through and through, he had worked it out for himself with the assistance of Leo Tolstoy and Karl Liebknecht.”

 - Malcolm Pittock on Alfred Evans, Dec. 2014

See also: 

Max Plowman and the Literature of the First World War by Malcolm Pittock,

 in The Cambridge Quarterly

Published on behalf of Cambridge Quarterly

Volume 33, issue 3, pages 217-243
Published in print January 2004 | ISSN: 0008-199X
Published online January 2004 | e-ISSN: 1471-6836 | DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/camqtly/33.3.217

PREVIEW: This article argues that Max Plowman, the only member of the armed forces to be court-martialled for refusing to return to the Front in the 1914–19 War, has been oddly neglected. Consideration both of his case and of his Memoir, A Subaltern on the Somme, however, can illuminate the partly parallel case of Siegfried Sassoon, and lead to a reappraisal of the orthodox account of the literature of the First World War.

Undercover Policing: update on campaign

(Further to our meeting of May 2014 - see comments on blogpost)
An activist reports:

Islington Against Police Spies: Sack Bob Lambert

A Successful Picket – So What’s Next?

Thanks to everyone who joined us on Friday 28^th November at our picket of London Metropolitan University to demand the sacking of Bob Lambert. Former police spy, Special Branch manipulator, abuser of women, agent provocateur, Lambert is now lecturing at London Met on policing and criminology. (If you don’t know who Bob Lambert is, check out the PDF leaflet.Which you can also spread as wide as possible… )

THE PICKET: 30 people came, we brought some provocative placards, friends brought a sound system down, which racked up the noise some… we handed out some 800 leaflets, mainly to London Met students and staff. We also had a lot of conversations; mostly people, when they hear even a part of Bob’s back story, are shocked and angry – more than one thought we were making it all up, because some of it is so outrageous, it sounds like a paranoid’s conspiracy trip. Local press came and asked us questions – we will have to see if and how they report the picket.

So all in all, as an opening of a campaign, not bad.

But what we want is to see Bob Lambert leave London Met. Preferably under a cloud, forced out, either sacked, or brought to the point where he has to resign. Realistically we know this CAN be done.

It’s not necessarily going to be easy – but we think we are capable of making enough bad publicity for our local university that they think twice about employing him. Looking at it this way, this demo is only a beginning.

So we are planning further actions. We hope to keep up a regular program of events until Bob Lambert goes. Hopefully this campaign will get stronger until it’s irresistible.

Further events are being discussed; obviously with it being the run-up to Xmas many things shut down. So you’ll have to watch this space for what we do next.

However – this campaign is also yours; your ideas, flashes of inspiration, suggestions and offers to get involved are of course more than welcome.

In the meantime: please do protest to London Met.

[Contact details available from the campaign] 

Email us: islingtonagainstpolicespies@gmail.com

Please be aware: we created this email address at half an hour’s notice in order to print our first leaflet. However we have already experienced what we shall call technical problems related to our use of gmail. So we may well change our email address soon (though we will continue to monitor this gmail address.)

For more info on undercover police spies see: campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com;    @copscampaign            http://policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/