Whatever happened to Big Flame, the RCLB and others that you may care to mention?

[PTK]

There once was a left-wing group in Britain called Big Flame. Whatever happened to it?

Whatever happened to the Revolutionary Communist League of Britain?

Whatever happened to my youth?

Whatever happened to us?

Are we the people we used to be?

Is the past the only thing that we have to look forward to?

 

[RD2003]

There once was a left-wing group in Britain called Big Flame. Whatever happened to it?

Whatever happened to the Revolutionary Communist League of Britain?

Whatever happened to my youth?

Whatever happened to us?

Are we the people we used to be?

Is the past the only thing that we have to look forward to?

I only ever encountered one member of Bg Flame. He convinced me to buy a paper (was the paper also called Big Flame?) on a charter train down to one of the big CND demos, early '80s. Nice guy. Inoffensive. Even though he was a scouser.

 

[pseudonarcissus]

In Barrow in the 80s there was graffiti from the Workers’ Revolutionary Cadre…then all of a sudden, in a suspiciously similar hand, it was the Jobless Angry Brigade.

 

[Bus Honeygun]

Great band, Big Flame. I vaguely remember the political organisation. Was there any connection?

 

[NoXion]

I've never heard of either Big Flame nor the Revolutionary Communist League of Britain. I'm not convinced that self-proclaimed revolutionary groupuscules ever had much of a future.

 

[Serge Forward]

I applied to join BF in 1981/82. I was living in Stoke but the nearest group wasn't that nearby to me. Also, they brought out an issue of the paper that I really didn't agree with. So I discontinued my application. Soon after, I encountered and subsequently joined the local anarchist/council communist group.

 

[Fozzie Bear]

There once was a left-wing group in Britain called Big Flame. Whatever happened to it?

Whatever happened to the Revolutionary Communist League of Britain?

Whatever happened to my youth?

Whatever happened to us?

Are we the people we used to be?

Is the past the only thing that we have to look forward to?

Surely you have seen this?

Who We Were

Big Flame were a Revolutionary Socialist Feminist organisation with a working class orientation in England. Founded in Liverpool in 1970, the group initially grew rapidly in the then prevailing cli…

bigflameuk.wordpress.com

 

[hitmouse]

Great band, Big Flame. I vaguely remember the political organisation. Was there any connection?

I think the org was named after a Ken Loach tv play: The Big Flame - Wikipedia
So I think the band was either named after the same thing, or else took their name directly from the group?

 

[Smokeandsteam]

There is a PhD in production about Big Flame which looks at the group and their activity in Liverpool and London:

Kerrie McGiveron - Department of History - University of Liverpool

www.liverpool.ac.uk

Further info here:

Kerrie McGiveron (Liverpool) on Big Flame, women and the Tower Hill Base Group

With generous financial backing from SSLH, in the summer of 2017 I was able to travel to various sites to undertake research for my MA dissertation entitled ‘Notes on a Community Struggle:’ Big Fla…

sslh.org.uk

There is also a YouTube presentation on her research:

What is Big Flame?

A superb talk and discussion given by Kerrie McGiveron and hosted by the Working Class Movement Library. “Beginning as a newspaper in Liverpool in 1970, Big Flame became an organisation with …

splitsandfusions.wordpress.com

 

[charlie mowbray]

I think the org was named after a Ken Loach tv play: The Big Flame - Wikipedia
So I think the band was either named after the same thing, or else took their name directly from the group?

The organisation was named after the play, script written by Jim Allen. I was in Big Flame for a year or so in 1979-1980, I seem to remember.

 

[charlie mowbray]

At its height, Big Flame had around 150 members. It was very much a product of the 1970s and stood in an ambiguous position between libertarian and Leninist positions. The Bennist wave meant some of its members went over to the Labour Party, in a situation that presaged and mirrored the recent Corbynist hysteria. But it soldiered on for a few more years before disappearing.

 

[hitmouse]

Well, someone's still interested in Big Flame:

Big Flame: Inspiring Community Organising Then and Now - Working Class Movement Library

Are you: 16-25 years old? Keen to learn more about politics and community organising? Interested in archives and community histories? We’re looking for young people to take part in a series of workshops centred on our archives of the 70s organising group, Big Flame. Over the course of the...

wcml.org.uk

 

[Jennaonthebeach]

I used to love that band. Till today I thought I was the only person who remembered them.

Now all I have to remember them by is one track on the "Communicate!!!! Live At Thames Poly" album.

 

[ska invita]

Well, someone's still interested in Big Flame:

Big Flame: Inspiring Community Organising Then and Now - Working Class Movement Library

Are you: 16-25 years old? Keen to learn more about politics and community organising? Interested in archives and community histories? We’re looking for young people to take part in a series of workshops centred on our archives of the 70s organising group, Big Flame. Over the course of the...

wcml.org.uk

New book coming out in October too , from some original members

BOOK ABOUT BIG FLAME TO BE PUBLISHED SOON

The last post on this site was back in 2014. It said that posts were being suspended to focus efforts on a book. Now after 15 years in the making it will be published soon. An exact date for public…

bigflameuk.wordpress.com

 

[brixtonscot]

Big Flame book is now available , published by Merlin Press.
“ This book, written by two former members, addresses the ideas and experiences of a small revolutionary socialist and feminist organisation.
It reflects on influences (among them Italian Marxism, libertarianism, feminism) and critiques (of Leninism and Trotskyism) that helped shape Big Flame and reflects on its successes and failures.
Many other former members write about their experiences in lively times and in harder times, after Margaret Thatcher won the 1979 election.
They say: "our book is aimed at those in the radical movements of every type who are seriously interested in political ideas and their relationship to political struggle. It seeks to assist all those who continue to challenge racist, patriarchal capitalism and to organise for a future where love and equality will prevail".

Merlin Press

www.merlinpress.co.uk