Timeline of anarchism in Britain, 1930-2016

[Gramsci]

Another important Anarchist was Albert Meltzer

Albert Meltzer - Wikipedia

 

[Rob Ray]

Individuals would be a super-long (and probably controversial - Read alone got it in the neck for taking a knighthood I seem to remember) list of its own, I'm not including them here I think .

 

[Gramsci]

It's that Anarchist movement in this country has always been small. Some of the individuals involved have made a big impact.

Two others are Colin Ward and Alex Comfort.

Yes Read did accept knight hood. He is still worth reading.

 

[Louis MacNeice]

Anarchist Workers Group anyone: Anarchist Workers Group - Socialism from Below

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

 

[malatesta32]

2004-2010 antifa

mainly anarchist initiatives (hence lack of dates!!!)
No Platform 2002? worked with SP as well (Hann p359)
Antifa - 'Antifa England: What We Think' pamphlet 2008? also this for refs:
Interview with militant anti-fascist organisation Antifa. | Workers Solidarity Movement
Anti-Fascist Network: 2012?

also anti-NF demo in Liverpool, 1986, Class War, DAM, L'pool AFA (mainly anarchist) in full attendance.

 

[Pickman's model]

mainly anarchist initiatives (hence lack of dates!!!)

A-Infos (en) UK, London Calling - THE BULLETIN OF LONDON CLASS WAR APRIL 2004

 

[malatesta32]

whilst on Class War, bone and martin 'lux' both published books in 2006, bash the rich and anti-fascist. bone never mentions AFA, Searchlight smears, anti-fascist activity, ie., liverpool 1986, where I met him. an odd anomaly.

 

[Pickman's model]

whilst on Class War, bone and martin 'lux' both published books in 2006, bash the rich and anti-fascist. bone never mentions AFA, Searchlight smears, anti-fascist activity, ie., liverpool 1986, where I met him. an odd anomaly.

i think it's a trifle big-headed to believe that bone should have put in his meeting you twenty years before.

 

[chilango]

i think it's a trifle big-headed to believe that bone should have put in his meeting you twenty years before.

...he has mentioned pretty much everybody else though

 

[Pickman's model]

...he has mentioned pretty much everybody else though

yeh there's 14 references to me in just 10 pages. and ib hadn't even met me in the period he describes in btr

 

[chilango]

yeh there's 14 references to me in just 10 pages. and ib hadn't even met me in the period he describes in btr

As far as I can remember I don't think I'm in it, but then the occasions where our paths crossed weren't exactly moments of glory...

 

[malatesta32]

you cheeky monkeys, you know what i meant! jut found this too:
Forming An Antifa Group: A Manual - IT'S GOING DOWN

 

[malatesta32]

my mistake, here's the quote:
'i fackin' 1st met Mal in fackin' '86 in liverpool wearing a fackin' red burburry skirt and huge fackin' boots, sitting on a bucket saying 'crivven! jings! and help ma boab! Im no' in the mood for Nazis!'

 

[Rob Ray]

Yeah I looked at the AWG and they seemed so tiny/dysfunctional that they didn't seem to be really worth noting, individual regional groups seem likely to have had more members. I was torn as to whether to include ORA and Liberty & Solidarity for the same reason, but decided ORA just about scraped it as they and their descendant managed nearly a decade while AWG/L&S barely managed four a piece with a couple dozen members. It's all a little arbitrary as I'm being more forgiving in the 30s-50s where there's basically very little else going on than the AFB being founded/refounded and titchy groups arguing, but if there's no cut-off the list'll get about a mile long.

Right without going full on into reading old copies of Freedom, this is a *final* list of sorts, with a bunch of stuff added from UK Indymedia that I'd forgotten though if folks add other stuff that's fine by me . Thanks to all who contributed!

==During-post WW2: Little direct activity?==

1930s
1931-34: Council of Action
1934: Peace Pledge union founded
1934-1965: Ethel MacDonald and Guy Aldred’s abstentionist United Socialist Movement
1935-40: Bethnal Green rent strikes break British Union of Fascists heartland
1936: Regeneration news sheet runs July-Oct, brings attention to Spain
1936: Peace News founded
1936-39: Spain And The World founded in December, later becoming Revolt!
1936-39: Anarchist-Communist Federation (AFB) briefly founded out of Glasgow
1937-44: Anarcho Syndicalist Union (not very successful, folds into AFB II)
1936-39: Anarchists organise solidarity with CNT in Spain
1938-45: Committee for Workers’ Control (not very successful, mostly folds into AFB II)
1939-40: Influx of Spanish refugees

1940s
1939-45: Anti-militarism, conscientious objection
1939-45: Revolt! becomes War Commentary
1940-44: Anarchist Federation of Britain (II) formed at Workers Circle Hall conference
1942: Hundreds turn out to anti-militarist meeting
1944-45: Bernieri, Richards, Hewetson and Samson arrested for sedition, major free-speech case.
1945: War Commentary formally renamed to Freedom
1945-1950s: Squatting movement
1944-50: Anarchist Federation of Britain (III) refounded
1946-79: Syndicalist Workers Federation formed from split in AFB III

1950s
1953: League Against Capital Punishment formed
1953: Anarcho-Syndicalist Committee, publishes The Syndicalist
1954-58: Malatesta Club in London
1953-69: Campaign against capital punishment
1959: Anarcho-pacifist Direct Action Committee pushes CND into backing Aldermaston march

==1960s: British anarchism sees period of limited revival==

1960s
1960-68: Committee of 100
1960-92: Solidarity group and journal
1961-70: Anarchy magazine published
1963: Donald Rooum “Challenor” police arrest case
1963-72: Anarchist Federation of Britain (IV)
August 1964: Stuart Christie arrested attempting to smuggle explosives into Spain
1966: USSR spy George Blake sprung from prison by Michael Randle and Pat Pottle
1967: Anarchist Black Cross Founded
1968-69: London squatting campaign
1960s-70s: Free festivals movement

1970s
1969-1990: Claimants unions, linked through the Federation of Claimants Unions
1970: Black Flag magazine founded by Anarchist Black Cross
1970-72: Angry Brigade bombings
1971-75: Organisation of Revolutionary Anarchists splits from AFB IV, publishes Libertarian Struggle
1973: First protests at Twyford Down
1974-1982: Cienfuegos Press
1975: Advisory Service for Squatters founded
1975-80: ORA becomes Anarchist Workers Association, publishes Anarchist Worker
1976-80s: SCRAM and Torness nuclear plant occupations
1978-79: Persons Unknown trial
1979: Kate Sharpley Library founded
Late '70s/Early '80s: Anarcho-punk
Late ‘70s-80s: Anti nuclear movement

==1980s: Growth around green issues and fighting Thatcher==

1980s
1979-94: Direct Action Movement
1979-1987: Roads protest movement
1981: London Anarchist Bookfair founded, attendance so poor that next one happens in 1984.
1981-83: Molesworth Peace Camp
1981-85: Peace Camps movement (main phase, some camps continue today)
1981-2000: Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp
1982: Faslane Peace Camp founded
1983: Class War paper and organisation founded
1983-84: Stop The City demonstrations
1984: Green Anarchist begins publishing, splits in late '90s
1984-1988: Virus Magazine
1985: Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camp founded
1985: Major protests at Molesworth
1985-1995: Anarchists with DAM heavily involved in street-level anti-fascism
1986: Class War refounded as Class War Federation
1986: Anarchist Communist Federation founded by Anarchist Communist Discussion Group
1986: Cruisewatch
1988: Virus becomes Organise!, affiliated to ACF
1980s-90s: Rave culture

1990s
1988-1993: Anarchists heavily involved in anti-Poll Tax campaign
1991: Class War international conference
1991-2003: Reclaim the Streets (RTS), following on from road protest movement
1992: Radical Routes forms
1992: Earth Liberation Front founded
1992: Battle of Waterloo
1992 Anti-election alliance rally in london
1992-93: Twyford Down motorway confrontation
1992-2003: Do or Die! journal
1993-97: Squall magazine
1993: Haringey Solidarity Group formed
1993: Combat 18 firebombing of Freedom Press
1993-96: “Pollok Free State” M77 road extension protest camp
1993-98?: ContraFLOW
1993-99: M11 link road protests
1994: Solidarity Federation founded by former DAM members
1994: Anarchy in the UK festival
1994: Solsbury Hill road protests
1994-2014: Schnews published as free weekly newssheet
1994: Undercurrents video collective founded
1995: Camden High Street and Islington shutdown (RTS)
1995-96: Newbury Bypass protest camp
1995-97: GandALF raids and trial
1996: M41 Motorway shutdown (RTS)
1996-97: Fairmile protest tunnels
1996–2010: Direct Action magazine (SolFed)
1997: Anti-election Alliance campaign
1998-2002: Movement Against Monarchy
1998: Bradford 1in12 Club briefly revitalises May Day marches
1999: Carnival Against Capital
1999: Indymedia founded in November, UK branch from 2000
1999: Anarchist Communist Federation renamed to Anarchist Federation

==2000s: Movement activity declines significantly==

2000s
2000: No Borders Network founded
2000-07: WOMBLES group
2001: Bristolian founded
2002-2004: Anarchist Youth Network
2002: enrager.org founded, becomes libcom.org in 2003
2003: Thessaloniki 7 arrests at EU summit (solidarity campaign)
Oct 2004: European Social Forum clashes/interventions in London
2005: G8 Protests in Scotland
2004-10: Antifa (anarchist-specific)
2006-10: Camp for Climate Action
2007: Dissident Island founded
2007: London Coalition Against Poverty
2008-10: Whitechapel Anarchist Group
2009: G20 demos (death of Ian Tomlinson/campaign for justice)

2010s
2010: Student fees protests
2010: Mark Kennedy revealed as police spy, sparking series of unmaskings
2011: Anti-cuts protest sees first large black bloc in London, following on from student protests
2011-2016: Workfare campaign
2011: Plan C founded
2011: Anti-fracking movement
2011-12: Occupy movement
2011-16: Occupied Times, renamed Base publication in 2016
2012: Anti-Raids Network founded
2013-present: Refugee solidarity as Syrian war continues
2014: Freedom newspaper ceases monthly publication and moves online, continues irregular freesheet
2014: Sisters Uncut founded
2015: London Bookfair draws approx 3,500 people
2015-present: Antifa (broader intake)
2016: Pitchford spycops inquiry opens

 

[Brainaddict]

Interesting work - cheers Rob.

Gotta say, that list supports my thesis that the 2000s were a particularly depressing time to be involved in political activism on this end of the spectrum. No wonder I kind of dropped out for a while and only came back later into less anarchisty activist stuff.

 

[Andrew Hertford]

2015: Spraying 'Fuck Tory Scum' on Women of World War II memorial on Whitehall
2015: Campaign to call Police officers "Cunt" to their face regardless of class or gender.

 

[Kate Sharpley]

this is a *final* list of sorts

Could you not squeeze in the Miners' Strike (1984-85)?
But anyway, good luck...

 

[stethoscope]

this is a *final* list of sorts

I know you've put a catch-all '80s-90s rave culture' entry, but no specific entry for 92-94 Criminal Justice Bill ? Forged out of that summer of 92 free party/traveller/raver convergence, and obviously Castlemorton that was the one that broke the state's back! Plenty of groups and alliances formed during the CJB campaign and the two 1994 protests. And that set a lot of in motion for RTS, etc.

Interesting list

 

[Rob Ray]

Could you not squeeze in the Miners' Strike (1984-85)?
But anyway, good luck...

I want under the impression the anarchists had a particularly sizeable influence on '84 (as opposed to just being supportive of the miners where possible), hence not including it.

 

[Kate Sharpley]

I wasn't under the impression the anarchists had a particularly sizeable influence on '84 (as opposed to just being supportive of the miners where possible), hence not including it.

Certainly support, and support without strings. The DAM was able to make international solidarity connections. See the writings of Dave Douglass.* There's also the question of the influence of the miners' strike on British anarchism - which in my mind would make it worth mentioning.
And then there's Wapping....

*and the pieces here Kate Sharpley Library: Miners' strike (1984-85)

 

[cantsin]

Class War have been up to stuff this decade - might warrant including. Poor Doors....Stuff on gentrifcation (Fuck Parades)...

incl. the (momentous) Cereal Killer Cafe action

 

[cantsin]

"Badger" / FAI / Bristol Police training Centre attack etc

 

[Rob Ray]

NB// A nice colourful version of this is now up here. At some point I may revisit it to update with bits and pieces, and might even print it as a banner or poster or summat for sale/putting up at the London Bookfair .

 

[DaveCinzano]

NB// A nice colourful version of this is now up here. At some point I may revisit it to update with bits and pieces, and might even print it as a banner or poster or summat for sale/putting up at the London Bookfair .

Think this may have passed many people by!

Handy timeline graphic: