What magazine/paper/periodical most shaped your political thinking?
- Thread starter chilango
- Start date
LDC
On est tous des pangolins
Think Hard Crackers do, I've got hold of a paper copy recently. Commune has folded already?! Didn't they only start the other day, and raised loads of money I thought too? Regular paper publications seem to have have pretty much died I think, decent ones anyway.
hitmouse
so defeated, thinks it's funny
Some (fairly grim irrc) stuff came out about one of the Commune editors and I think that pretty much sank the project.
I still have my secondary school exercise book for English, from when I was 11 or 12, so this would be 1985 or so. In it, I wrote a poem about my likes and dislikes. It contains the cringeful verse.tbh I think that early access to the more radical zines/periodicals was somewhat dependent on where (& to some extent when) you grew up. In the small East Kent town that I grew up in in the 70's, getting hold of New Society was often as good as it got.
I hate margarine,
But I like reading New Society.
In reality, I read every magazine I could get at the local library, including NS, soon to be reborn as NS&S. It wasn't a great read, but I was a desperate poseur with no willing audience.
Strangely enough, I now prefer margarine to butter ( sorry Orwell's ghost)
ska invita
back on the other side
hitmouse
so defeated, thinks it's funny
Was it the bold stance they took on the stripey top controversy that sank them as a print outlet?no comment
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Serge Forward
Just enjoyin' my coffee.
hitmouse
so defeated, thinks it's funny
Just to plug Dope again, the new issue arrived this week and I've been really appreciating it. I still think the name's a bit too Nathan Barley, although I can appreciate them wanting to call it something a bit different from the usual Workers' Resistance Solidarity Liberation or whatever, and the price is pretty steep for how short it is. But apart from that, it's an actual print publication that I think, for me anyway, passes the "would you recommend this to a mate who's vaguely sympathetic to lefty ideas but isn't the kind of nerd who knows who the ICC are?" test. This one has articles on Stuart Christie, Preston, music and online streaming services/platforms, mutual aid, slacking off at work, nannies and au pairs organising, and prison, for a taste of the contents. And some art, which is a matter of taste, I suppose.
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
Was sold a copy on the overground yesterday, much better than the big issue. Very interesting
hitmouse
so defeated, thinks it's funny
Yeah, I sort of just think it's good to have something that still actually has some kind of public-facing distribution.
petee
no gods, no malarkey
ska invita
back on the other side
I think the Dog Section books are really good too (well ive read two)
Fozzie Bear
Well-Known Member
Logo! is now here. I've said 1983:Nice one.
Well I only have nine issues of Xtra myself. After the first two they are numbered. Doesn't mean there wasn't a tenth however.
In that post of mine you quoted I asked if there was more than one issue of Logo. When I came to reread it I remembered why there was only ever the one issue. (It provoked a BIG ROW). I also said I thought Logo was 1982, probably from looking at an article '1982 THE YEAR OF THE PIG' which refers to 'this summer'.
However looking closer it's clearly not 1982. An article on the back page says it was 'put together by two people in London over the Easter weekend', and thinking about it 'the BIG ROW' had to have taken place in 1983 at the earliest and no later than early 1984.
(I guess I should add that afaik Logo was only produced by a couple of people who had been involved with Xtra, and strictly speaking wasn't a continuation of it).
Logo! #99 1983
Logo! was a one-off produced by two members of the "structureless tyrants" who put together the Xtra! newspaper. It includes some humourous reflections on Xtra! and the wider UK anarchist movement at the time.
I assume, looking at it, that Logo was essentially the "tenth" issue of Xtra that I've seen a couple of references to.
Lurdan
old wave
Not sure if all the original Xtra people would agreeLogo! is now here. I've said 1983:
Logo! #99 1983
Logo! was a one-off produced by two members of the "structureless tyrants" who put together the Xtra! newspaper. It includes some humourous reflections on Xtra! and the wider UK anarchist movement at the time.libcom.org
I assume, looking at it, that Logo was essentially the "tenth" issue of Xtra that I've seen a couple of references to.
Have you spotted the 'joke' which caused the BIG ROW ?
Fozzie Bear
Well-Known Member
Well, no... I assume it is something in the review of other publications?Not sure if all the original Xtra people would agree
Have you spotted the 'joke' which caused the BIG ROW ?
Fozzie Bear
Well-Known Member
Oh wait... Albert Meltzer has it like this:
"Some of the early elements in Class War tarred anarchists with the Freedom Press brush assuming they were the same. One group* made a song about me “Hello Albert” — denouncing my “obsession with the past and the Spanish war which was long since over”, not realising or perhaps caring that my obsession (if it was that) was with the Resistance, then for the first time extending through Europe, of which they were quite unaware. This was picked up from pseudo-situationists, who ran special one-off papers to denounce any and every resistance, one of which, Logo, edited by a Richard Parry and Mark Page, managed to disgust the Anarchy group when with others they were nearly fooled into a collective handling of an issue fingering people whom Parry & Co considered activists and therefore named “jokingly”, or hopefully, as prison fodder. Phil Ruff dumped the entire issue in a handy trash bin, somewhat to the dismay of those who felt he was failing to observe a proper adoration of the plaster saint Freedom of Speech whose cult lay an obligation on us to distribute for free a hostile paper."
*The Apostles
The people named are Albert, Stuart Christie and Ronan Bennett? Oh and Jein Weir, Bonano and Vero.
Hardly state secrets given what we now know about spycops etc.
"Some of the early elements in Class War tarred anarchists with the Freedom Press brush assuming they were the same. One group* made a song about me “Hello Albert” — denouncing my “obsession with the past and the Spanish war which was long since over”, not realising or perhaps caring that my obsession (if it was that) was with the Resistance, then for the first time extending through Europe, of which they were quite unaware. This was picked up from pseudo-situationists, who ran special one-off papers to denounce any and every resistance, one of which, Logo, edited by a Richard Parry and Mark Page, managed to disgust the Anarchy group when with others they were nearly fooled into a collective handling of an issue fingering people whom Parry & Co considered activists and therefore named “jokingly”, or hopefully, as prison fodder. Phil Ruff dumped the entire issue in a handy trash bin, somewhat to the dismay of those who felt he was failing to observe a proper adoration of the plaster saint Freedom of Speech whose cult lay an obligation on us to distribute for free a hostile paper."
*The Apostles
The people named are Albert, Stuart Christie and Ronan Bennett? Oh and Jein Weir, Bonano and Vero.
Hardly state secrets given what we now know about spycops etc.
Lurdan
old wave
It was this bit:
Specifically the words
However underneath that the BIG ROW also expressed a bit of a backlash against satire in general, and the sort of black humour that was common in the circles that Xtra had been produced in. (LOGO was actually a somewhat underwhelming example of that. Personally I thought it was a bit of a shame they couldn't think of something more amusing to say about the publication I was involved with).
Different times eh.
Specifically the words
Suggesting that somebody was engaged in illegalism of any kind crossed a line.
However underneath that the BIG ROW also expressed a bit of a backlash against satire in general, and the sort of black humour that was common in the circles that Xtra had been produced in. (LOGO was actually a somewhat underwhelming example of that. Personally I thought it was a bit of a shame they couldn't think of something more amusing to say about the publication I was involved with).
Different times eh.
Fozzie Bear
Well-Known Member
Fozzie Bear
Well-Known Member
Also perhaps the intensification of Thatcherism refocussed people away from internal "scene" satire? I'm a fan myself but it is a bit of a luxury maybe...
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
Still, from Unknown through Fields of Gold to Top Boy, quite a journey
JimW
支那暗杀团
I really liked his novel Havoc In Its Third Year and learning more about him later think he must have used his PHD research as the background.Still, from Unknown through Fields of Gold to Top Boy, quite a journey
Red Action
DaveCinzano
WATCH OUT, GEORGE, HE'S GOT A SCREWDRIVER!
It's a concern that a fella like that ever got mixed up with the wring crowed
Serge Forward
Just enjoyin' my coffee.
I seem to recall a spoof of Black Flag around that time called Black Frog. Was that the Xtra/Logo people too?Logo! is now here. I've said 1983:
Logo! #99 1983
Logo! was a one-off produced by two members of the "structureless tyrants" who put together the Xtra! newspaper. It includes some humourous reflections on Xtra! and the wider UK anarchist movement at the time.
I assume, looking at it, that Logo was essentially the "tenth" issue of Xtra that I've seen a couple of references to.
RedRedRose
Well-Known Member
I was bored, I counted up the big mentions:
Class War (14), Red Action (10), Fighting Talk (9), Schnews (7), Socialist Worker (7), NME (6), Private Eye (6), Crisis (6), Organise (5)
As someone who was a child in the 80's can someone please explain the politics of: The NME, The Beano, and 2000AD?
Class War (14), Red Action (10), Fighting Talk (9), Schnews (7), Socialist Worker (7), NME (6), Private Eye (6), Crisis (6), Organise (5)
As someone who was a child in the 80's can someone please explain the politics of: The NME, The Beano, and 2000AD?
Fozzie Bear
Well-Known Member
Good bump. DaveCinzano would be my top tip on Brit comics.
There is a good piece on the Beano in this issue of the generally terrible Raven -
libcom.org
The Slipper and the Rebel: The Beano and Baxendale’s Bad-Child Brood - Gavin Burrows
There is a good piece on the Beano in this issue of the generally terrible Raven -
The Raven #33: Anarchism and the Arts
1996 issue of this anarchist journal, themed around art, culture, etc.
The Slipper and the Rebel: The Beano and Baxendale’s Bad-Child Brood - Gavin Burrows
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Fozzie Bear
Well-Known Member
NME 80s a mixed bag - Steven Wells was shouty SWP but actually funny. X Moore the same but dour.
Penman / Morley - post structuralist intellectual types.
Generally lefty / worthy I guess. There were some good themed issues around the miners strike, censorship etc.
Penman / Morley - post structuralist intellectual types.
Generally lefty / worthy I guess. There were some good themed issues around the miners strike, censorship etc.
hitmouse
so defeated, thinks it's funny
Have posted this a few times already, but have been really appreciating slowly working my way through this massive three-part discussion about Mark Fisher and blogs:
24 Hour Theory People: Mark Fisher and the blogosphere
We either acquiesce to capitalism’s necrotic power or we recognise it, name it, map it, plot routes out of it — and culture is one of our tools.
sydneyreviewofbooks.com
24 Hour Theory People: Part 2
What did the medium of blogs allow for? At the time (and this seems so quaint now), the very existence of hyperlinks felt novel, and exciting.
sydneyreviewofbooks.com
24 Hour Theory People: Part 3
What aspects of either Mark [Fisher]’s work and/or the blogosphere can we carry into the future, towards the future?
sydneyreviewofbooks.com
The39thStep
Urban critical thinker
I think the first big shift on NME was the Parsons/Birchall appointments who backed RaR etc , the NME also covered early Right To work stuff, ANL, supported anti racsim and women's rights and gave decent coverage to bands involved in that sort of politics. In contrast, Sounds had Gary Bushell who's bright start soon descended into Oi , but also covered a lot of heavy rock bands until Kerrang stole their audience. Melody Maker was just Melody Maker.
NME in the 80s also gave good coverage to the Miners Strike, anti-Apartheid, No Nukes (Jesus, No Nukes would be really popular here these days
) and there was at least some debate between Red Wedge and X.Moore/Steven Wells. Penman and Morley as I remember ( not bad writers though imo) promoted the New Romantic scene which Chris Moore described to me as 'championing cocktails over petrol bombs'.Similar threads
