John Foley: A Liverpool Legend

Editorial comment: Most towns and cities have a colourful figure who stands out against the trend. In Liverpool, John Foley seems to have mastered the art of embracing an awkward squad to challenge the local scenario. The Liverpool Echo describes John as 'father figure of St John's Market', and a threat to those he felt were 'doing wrong'. He was a campaigner on many issues, including helping to rescue the famous market when it was threatened with closure. He died on the 9th, September, in Royal Liverpool Hospital after catching Covid-19. John gained the admiration of many from Liberals, like Cllr Richard Kemp, who campaigned with him on a number of issues, to Scouse anarcho-syndicalists in the local Solidarity Federation.

Colin Laphan, a close friend of John’s and the chair of the St John’s Market Traders Association, told The Echo:

'He was everything that was good about Scousers, he was salt of the earth, a fighter for justice – he was what Liverpool is all about.'

He added: 'The idea that anyone could think this virus isn’t serious is insanity. We have lost two of our friends and traders – John had no other illnesses before he got covid.'

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Tribute to John Foley: Liverpool legend by Mike C.

CAMPAIGNER and market stallholder John Foley has passed away from coronavirus at the age of 55.

John was well-known in his native Liverpool where he was a formidable campaigner against injustice and a thorn in the side of the powerful.

He fought a long campaign against Ryanair, arguing that the airline had unfairly terminated his daughter's employment whilst profiting from the thousands of euros she had paid for her flight attendant training.

The campaign involved publicity stunts such as climbing onto the roof of Liverpool John Lennon Airport, picketing Ryanair's AGM in Dublin, disrupting the Grand National and handcuffing himself to the goalposts during a Premier League match.

His campaign was backed by the Liverpool branch of the Solidarity Federation who supported many of his pickets and organised a day of action at European airports through the International Workers' Association.

Latterly, he pursued a private company contracted by Liverpool City Council to enforce litter fines. John believed the company were profiting by unfairly targeting vulnerable people on low incomes. The council eventually capitulated and ended the contract.

As a stallholder in Liverpool's St John's Market, John campaigned against the council's attempts to charge traders sky-high rents, and organised a rally to demand the re-opening of the market which remained closed even though other retailers were open following lockdown.

His final campaign was to stop the closure of two local care homes, which was ultimately successful.

As well as being a passionate campaigner against injustice, John was a dedicated family man, and a warm and genuine bloke. I was proud to have known him and campaigned alongside him.

GO TO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0I-MZC2FEI

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Narcissism is not a Third Gender

             by Arthur Brick & friends 

                  

Editorial Note:  We publish the report below after

some consideration.  It raises some serious questions

about the standards of debate on the libertarian left.

We have long been aware of a deficiency among the
British left with regard to addressing truth to power,
but we would have expected the anarchists to hold to
a better quality of journalistic standards.  Yet, our
experience has been that the anarchist media blog put 
out under the title 'Freedom News' has a sadly depressing
tone in the way that it has become a mere megaphone for
a 'trans' tendency, and is too fashionably trendy 
for its own good.  The small 'Solidarity Federation' grouping 
has become yet another addict to this politics of the absurd,
its members Ron Marsden and Phil Dickens are mentioned below 
in dispatches: we know nothing of Mr Dickens but Mr Marsden
was in attendance when 'Arthur Brick' was roughly removed by a gang from a  meeting discussing blacklisting at the Liverpool Anarchist Bookfair on the 7 April, 2018.  

Knowing Ron Marsden we are not surprised to learn that he was cagey and even furtive about supplying help to this victim of discrimination & blacklisting.  

Sitting next to the passive Mr. Marsden someone tried hard to get 
the exclusion of 'Mr Brick' discussed, but to no avail.

This silencing of free debate is becoming a cancer that lies at the
heart of the politics of the far left in the UK.

*****************************

Open letter to Sol Fed’s Keyboard Warrior from 'Arthur Brick'& friends:

Phil Dickens: 'The conflicted tax collector'?

THIS article is in relation to the use of abusive terms adopted by some left wing and anarchist political groups to put down anyone who does not take their opinions on the subject of transgender seriously.  The name calling and abuse of socialists, anarchists, activists etc. living outside their freaky social scenes is a way of them avoiding debate, through fear of their claims being scrutinised.
The article also deals with a pretty insignificant group called ‘Sol Fed’.  We are not sure what they are federated to, as they are almost invisible on a street level, yet they do a great job of discrediting class politics with their absurd adoption of transgender identity politics.  So here we will shed a light on the keyboard warrior.

I was recently asked by a feminist friend of mine if I knew an individual named Phil Dickens. I should point out that Phil Dickens is already a somewhat conflicted individual and I found it amusing to discover that whilst being an
‘anarchist’ he also works at the tax office!   On the one hand ‘smashing the state’ for purely theatrical effect but on the other being a servile state functionary.  I think we can safely call that contradiction and hypocrisy, but it does reveal the level of insincerity regarding the bogus claims of this keyboard warrior.

2. Response to my question.

I was sent a link to his social media outpourings and decided to challenge
him. No sooner had I done so, Phil Dickens blocked me and backed out of answering my question.  After further investigation it would appear that
SolfFed has no platform in which to redress the behaviour of its members.
For example there are no positions in the group such as regional or
national secretary in which you can voice your concerns.

Ron Marsden of Manchester Sol Fed was asked about this when people wanted to address the behaviour of Liverpool SolFed member Pablo who disrupted a blacklisted workers meeting, as it was considered somebody attending did not hold the correct opinions on gender self identification (such was the outrage he saw fit to disrupt the meeting).  This is covered in depth in the booklet 'Shit Wigs and Steroids'.

1. Phil Dickens post and my question.  This makes any external or internal grievance of Sol Fed members go unanswered or conveniently ignored.  Any ‘difficult issue’ is swept under the carpet with the hope it will not raise its ‘ugly head’.  So when we see these ‘members’ (scuse phallic pun!!) advertise ‘women’s meetings’ but are also calling women TERFs (trans exclusionary radical feminists) in public, how are we to take that?

It could be said the SolFed is nothing more than an obscure social group with
a supposed ’workerist’ base. Its older members seem happy with its utter failure to grow into anything meaningful but lets put that comical issue to one side.

However, the issue here is that the term TERF is aimed at women, which is an
affront to working class women who have suffered at the hands of men.  What we are seeing displayed by Liverpool SolFed who perhaps number four people is crude bullying of those not towing a line that is being widely scrutinised elsewhere.  Another example of bullying in full effect is when Liverpool SolFed recently ousted one of their own members who sought discussion on the issue. Members of Sol Fed are clearly cowardly on this issue.

It really does show SolFed’s absurd contradiction on women’s rights. It shows the complete denial of women’s voices over their concerns of men identifying as women and, comically, as lesbians.  The use of TERF as a slur by tax official Dickson shows his contempt for those of us not falling into line with the male
perspective that transgender activists peddle.  It looks like Liverpool
SolFed / Mersey SolFed (all four of them) are sinking in the mire of their own introverted identity politics bullshit. The adoption of a pro trans narrative does not seem to be swelling the ranks of their “disorganisation”.  When we see SolFed publishing articles on class and women, we really are left scratching our heads to the clear contradiction and absurdity of their “politics”.

Will Phil Dickens answer this question:

What names have you got for us Northern Working Class blokes who do not swallow the idea that our fathers, brothers, sons can miraculously be ‘actual women’ through the power of thought, medicine, body modification etc.? What you are holding up as transgender, Phil Dickens, as you insult women (with critical opinions), is transvestism,  Autogynephilia* and a whole set of other
issues.  But you are good at calling people things they are not.  If you had a grasp of radical feminism you would see the people you are abusing are not ‘radical feminists’ merely people with the capacity to consider issues well outside of your narrow field of understanding on issues whilst working for the state in your little tax office.

Ron Marsden:  'Hay que malalingua!'

I see you have had 4 views on your Youtube videos.  I think we can help boost that for you.  Being angry on behalf of others, whilst not looking at the issues, leaves people open to responses like ours.  We politely suggest that the 'toxic tax worker' has a read of this:  https://uncommongroundmedia.com/as-a-transsexual-i-support-dr-eva-poen/ the trans activists.

It is easy to overlook the significance of the arguments adopted by these fringe groups, but tomboys are now pushed into identifying as male, effeminate men are getting swept along with the idea they are female, straight men who identify as women claim to be lesbians.  All kinds of absurd ideas and contradictory thinking are marketed as ‘transgender’.  There is a considerable backlash from
many people in wider society against the absurdity of claims from the trans activists.


There has been a substantial ground shift against the claim of transgender activists because what is actually happening is that many of the young people and significantly young women over the last number of years are detransitioning.  The publicity this is rightly receiving are collapsing the arguments that ‘trans activists’ put forward.  Many young people leaving the ‘trans cult’ are left physically and emotionally scarred by the process of conditioning that led them to consider themselves ‘trapped in the wrong body’.  The physical impact on some has had a catastrophic effect.

When we look at the small groups of individuals who claim to be ‘anarchists/ socialists’ etc. who promote the transgender narrative, what we are seeing is the very clear closing down of actual debate on the subject.  One facet of opinion (they want to personally profit from) is ridiculously over emphasized by them, but any challenging opinion of that one facet is shut out.  How can you claim
to support issues around gender but then do all you can to keep the debate massively reduced.

This is done by abusing people who are a part of that debate, dehumanising intelligent people with insults and shutting down supposedly public events like bookfairs, conferences etc.  What we have seen are people like Phil Dickens, Ian Bone, Freedom Press, Simon Saunders, Alice Flebotte, Dave Downes etc. promoting the idea they are concerned about an issue, ‘gender identity politics’,
but under scrutiny, and without doubt, they are showing no compassion or empathy for those who struggle with gender identity issues.

To use 'TERF' to put critics down is beyond sloppy.  It is weak and derogatory.  You have got to hand it to them that they arrogantly believe they can avoid being pulled up on their contradiction and lack of sincerity.  When people take such an abusive line by calling strangers TERFs or bigots etc. they will be in for a shock when their words are drawn into public debate.  We hope to add to this article and we will by looking at particular individuals who hope to avoid any personal responsibility and publicity for the farcical ideology they push from behind their
keyboards.


* autogynephilia

A sexuality that consists of someone being aroused by the idea of themselves being the opposite sex. Not to be confused with transsexualism, which is a medical condition defined by sex dysphoria.

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This was written before Covid 19 happened.  As in all negative situations we are seeing positive initiatives come from the chaos:
LGB Alliance https://lgballiance.org.uk/
LGB activists standing up to the transgender nonsense
Boxer Ceiling https://www.facebook.com/BoxerCeili

FREEDOM PRESS on ALPHABET SOUP?

The Freedom Press latest positions on LGBTQI 

by Simon Saunders, alias Rob Ray, of the Morning Star and Supreme Spokesman on UK anarchism

AN almighty set-to over trans rights dominated Freedom’s LGBTQI coverage in 2018, with the anarchist movement largely coalescing round a trans-supportive position despite confrontations and disruption at several bookfairs around the country. The founding of Sister not Cister in May marked a significant shift in how the conversation was being pursued and groups including Afed and Solfed made it clear they would be backing trans people in struggle.

• Support a trans woman anarchist who is being persecuted by the State and Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists | February 13th
• Week of protest to abolish all anti – LGBT+ Commonwealth Laws begins | April 14th
• Legal Defence and Monitoring Group Statement on the Hyde Park Case | April 27th
• It’s spelt Sisterhood, not Cis-terhood statement | May 22nd
• Community driven Brighton LGBTQIA+ activists fight back to keep the #LwiththeT | August 8th
• Trans women are our sisters: the Anarchist Federation statement | September 30th  

*********

Identity Confusion in Anarchist Federation?

A Crisis of Cookbook Thinking

A recently expelled member of the now fragmented 'Anarchist Federation'  wrote a complaint about the group last August on libcom, he or she concluded the long epistle by describing the background of the organisation thus:

'Bureaucratic, formalistic, bereft of ideas, willing to accept a group of leaders because they have organisational power and its members do not, because they occupy all spaces within the Federation, allowing no space to other ideas.  When it attempts educational work it is like being in school: there are things that members must learn and learn to repeat back but never to discuss, to explore, to refute or reject; that is not allowed.' 

This individual account seems to form a basis for what is now happening in the AF, by suggesting the membership organisation was a sort of Sunday School for anarco-commissars who are only capable of cookbook analysis of an half-baked Marxist type..

Anarchist Bookfair Blues

Following the wild attacks on Helen Steel, and what have been described as the 'Radical Feminists' at the London Anarchist Bookfair last October, some elements of the Anarchist Federation outside London began issuing statements and signing open-letters condemning the organisers of the London Bookfair for their tolerance of critics of the proposed amendments to the Gender Recognition Act.  The provincial groups which put the names of their factions to the open letters attacking the Bookfair organisers calling for 'disassociation' included such bodies as the  'AFED TRANS ACTION FACTION'; 'Edinbugh;Anarchist Federation'; Liverpool A.F.; and South Wales A.F.

At the same time there was a deafening silence from the A.F. high-command around Nick Heath in London.   Clearly the open-letters published by the provincials were seen in London for what they clearly were, compositions of gross ineptitude.  

What very likely followed were attempts by Nick Heath and his Metropolitan elite to get things under control by urging  the bumbling provincials to withdraw their corny compositions attacking well respected anarchists like Helen Steel and the Bookfair organisers.  Events resulting in the recent resignations of the central core 'communist anarchism' faction, is now demonstrating that that the attempts to get a grip on the provincial supporters of the Trans hotheads failed.

In this way the A,Fed embrace of the exotic Trans identity tendency has resulted in a disaster which would have been a little local difficulty in a bigger body like the Labour Party, but among the tiny tribes of political anarchism it represents the virtual extinction.from the body politic.  By embracing gender politics Nick Heath and the AF have gained a few members, but ultimately it has bit them on the arse.*

 Fleas Pretending to be Elephants!

On the 20th, November 2017, just over 3-weeks after the London Bookfair debacle the Anarchist Federation issued a Statement which included the following observations:
'The AF regrets that the opportunity has probably been lost to transform the London Anarchist Bookfair – which in recent years has developed into one of the most important and representative anarchist events globally – into an environment where this situation cannot not reoccur.  Whilst the right of people to choose their gender identity is not up for debate, discussion about the relationship between different oppressions and their relationship to the wider class struggle are nonetheless important.'

This is the kind of froth that the general public, if they troubled to read it, will find wearisome, but to the people inside the bubble of the interpretive community it may sound impressive.  It's full of froth because their Statement is rooted in humbug and hypocrisy.  It's hypocritical because members of the AF have often been at the centre of the troubles at the Bookfairs up and down the country.

In October 2012, Nick Heath dismissed the theft of books from a book stall at the London Bookfair by some AF members as 'an unofficial action by some people in the AF'.  In December 2012, Nick Heath was at the Manchester Anarchist Bookfair orchestrating Barry Woodling expulsion through an Emergency Exit where he had to climb down a Fire Escape.  In October 2013, there was an AF reported altercation outside the London Bookfair against Ciaron O’Reilly accusing him of being a 'rape apologist' for supporting Julian Assange.  The Manchester Anarchist Bookfair took place without incident because of a deal struck between the management of the People's History Musuem and an editor of Northern Voices.  In 2014, the Manchester Anarchist Bookfair was hit with problems because it became apparent that Ronnie Marsden of the Sol. Fed., Peter Good (Cunningham Amendment) and others were operating a lifetime ban against Barry Woodling, a lad of Jewish origins, who Mr. Marsden from 2012 has accused of being an 'anti-Semite',  In 2015, the management of the People's History Museum, after Baron John Monks became involved, finally banned the anarchists around Ronnie Marsden from having any further Bookfairs, and as a consequence there was no Manchester Bookfair that year.

When in December 2017 Tony Wood, one of the distinguished organisers of the London Anarchist Bookfair, was interviewed on Dissident Radio in London** about the decision not to hold another bookfair in 2018, he referred to ongoing conflicts at bookfairs over the last 5- years.  It is noticeable that during that period the tiny Anarchist Federation with little political clout in main stream politics, has been close to the centre of the bookfair disputes with the possible exception of the Syrian / Kurd conflict in 2016.

See the AF blog article is also on the web: http://www.afed.org.uk/2018/01/01/2018-in-with-the-new/

For more:
http://www.afed.org.uk/2017/11/20/statements-following-london-anarchist-bookfair-of-october-2017/
Or more: 
 https://communistanarchism.blogspot.co.uk/2018/01/class-struggle-anarchist-statement-on_1.html?m=1

Readers also ought to consider the following matterial by Milan Rai on Peace News:

https://anarchistnews.org/content/how-destroy-our-own-movements

  

 *  On the Moral Maze, it was estimated that the Trans constituency nationally represents about 0.1% of the population,  A relatively small social community, but one substantially larger than the AF membership, which must be very nearly two in one million or less than 100 in total.  In this situation it is not surprising that the gender politicians out-voted the Sunday School League class struggle types.
**  Listen to Radio interview on 

http://thebrilliant.org/podcast/episode-58-exclusion-iv/

http://thebrilliant.org/podcast/episode-58-exclusion-iv/

Letter to NV!

Dear Northern Voices

I really enjoyed the "tone" of the Kieran Quinn piece from the 6th! I worked for Tameside Council for some years and lived up the road in Ducky when Roy Oldham ruled with something of a rod of iron with cronyism being the main rule of the day and the council being managed like a personal fiefdom! When I moved darn sarf to Bedford I unfortunately that its the same all over with Councillors getting elected and then pushing to the surface ensuring that they are never deselected, several Labour Councillors have been propping up a Lib Dem Mayor for close on 8 years now in exchange for in one case £27,000 in allowances and expenses! (p.s. we left Bedford in 2015 on the off chance that we might get better jobs!)

Also saddened to read that Peter Good featured in a blog about the Manchester Bookfair (in a negative light) Peter was always very irritated that I enjoyed Northern Voices and doesn't speak to me now as I expressed my utter delight that I didn't attend the London Bookfair! I dare say that as he sponsored the Manchester event and I think the forthcoming Liverpool one this gives him a say in who can and can't come in! Mmmm! I've said before Brian Bamfords article as regards Bob Miller was inappropriate and offensive however I don't agree in the way the issue has been allowed to fester into violence and exclusions ! 

Nick Heath came to Norwich mid 2016 to rally the locals behind the banner of the Anarchist Federation A very aggressive individual who doesn't like his authority being questioned and in line with several Northern Voices comments I really do wonder exactly how many members the Anarchist Federation and the Solidarity Federation actually have and all it does is reaffirm my view that as soon as you join up, pay your subs and so on you are on a road to nowhere! 

Regards

Steve

******

Jim Petty: Radical Working-man Dies

Born Burnley 6^th, March 1933, died in Blackburn Hospital 10^th, July 2015:

Married to Mary (died 1989), one son Iain survives him.

WHEN we call Jim Petty a radical northern anarchist we haven't even begun to describe his nature as a man and human being.  Radical anarchism and decency grew in his soul as  remarkable human being.  His early interest in politics was in the Labour Party but he never voted Labour after the 1970s.  Later he joined the Independent Labour Party (ILP), and was active as a shop steward in both textiles, where he worked as a stripper and grinder, and later at Lucas in engineering.  Jim Petty was on the industrial committee of Committee of 100 from 1960 to 1961, where he came in contact with the anarcho-syndicalists of the Syndicalist Workers Federation (SWF) - at the time the journalist Ken Hawkes was its national secretary.   

In the 1960s, Sydney Silverman was the radical socialist MP for the nearby Nelson and Colne constituency.  Silverman was instrumental in pushing a law through parliament to abolish capital punishment later in that decade.  Consequently the local ILP in Burnley, Nelson and Colne was perhaps closer to the Labour Party at that time than other branches elsewhere in the country. 

The early 1960s was also a time when the ILP nationally; Brian Behan's Workers Party; Solidarity; some of the Freedom anarchists like Peter Turner, Jack and Mary Stevenson; Commonwealth and the Syndicalist Workers' Federation  formed the National Rank & File Workers' Movement.  The Rank & File Workers' Movement existed for little more than two years and attracted the attention of the Sunday Telegraph columnist Perigrine Worsthorne, but the success of the direct action peace movement protests around the Committee of 100 distracted most activists away from industrial Rank & File activism.  At the time of the Spies for Peace campaign exposing the Regional Seats of Government in 1963, the Burnley activists around Jim helped to reproduce the state secrets that the spies had made available on that year's CND March, and the Times of London ran a headline:  'Anarchists Take Over'.

Jim Petty, although he was involved in the campaigns of the peace movement, was very much a working-class anarchist all his life.  While he was in textiles he clashed with the then regional officer of the National Union of Textile & Allied Worker's Union (NUTAWU), Joe King, based in Accrington.  Sections of the NUTAWU, which was the spinner's and the strippers and grinder's trade union, had no proper shop stewards to represent them and the officials tended to be close to the bosses.  Later, when he working in engineering at Lucas Aerospace in Burnley, Jim was a member of the Transport & General Worker's Union, and about that time he was secretary of  Burnley Trade Union Council. 

He married Mary, a secondary school teacher in the Burnley area, she supported the Labour Party.  When Mary died he had friendships with Susan & Jenny, both who were at one time involved with Burnley anarchists. 

By the early 1980s, Jim had become a member of the Syndicalist Workers Federation (SWF), and later went on to become the first national secretary of the Direct Action Movement (DAM), after  Dave Thompson the SWF  national secretary stepped down.  This was a time when the anarcho-syndicalists were on a roll, and membership of the DAM began to rise in the run up to the miner's strike.  Jim Petty led the British contingent of the International Congress of the International Workers Association (IWA / AIT), when it convened in Madrid in the Spring of 1984.   It was essentially under Jim Petty's influence as its national secretary, that the British DAM gained some serious status in the international movement and built up a grass-roots membership across the country.  The DAM during the 1980s,  was at its most effective as a protest group and political force.  During the Miner's Strike in 1984-85 at the Congress for Industrial Action in Burnley, the then deputy leader of the NUM, Peter Heathfield, and Dave Douglass spoke about the strike on the same platform.  So successful were the Burnley anarchists that there was constant rivalry with out other left groups so much so that the Communist Party sabotaged an attempt to support the Shrewsbury pickets, and Jim's T&G Branch came to have the greatest number of party political levy 'opt outs' to the Labour Party. 

When Jim left office as national secretary the DAM changed it name to the 'Solidarity Federation' (Sol. Fed.) in 1994;  it then tried to represented itself as an imitation trade union body emphasising 'syndicalism' and playing down the anarchist vision.  Jim Petty and other members of the Burnley section took a dim view of these changes, which they regarded as wrong-headed and foolish. Jim though he was a trade unionist for most of his life was cynical about the British trade union set-up generally which he regarded as irredeemably reformist, and even reactionary in the sense that rather than create a vision and set an agenda of its own, the British trade unions merely responded to the agenda set by the bosses and the state. 

Jim Petty not only had experience in the trade union movement and radical politics, but he was involved in the Church of England as a member in the Anglo-Catholic Church, he was a lay reader and was later was ordained as a Father in the faith.  His own father had been also a member of the Church of England.  This extra dimension helped Jim to swim in social circles outside the narrow political ghetto, and the Burnley anarchists were able to build up connections and become an influence within ethnic communities in Burnley in the 1970s and 80s. 

Jim Petty remained a disgruntled member of the Solidarity Federation until 2005, when he was expelled by e-mail after his branch in Preston hounded him out of the Sol. Fed.  The formal reasons given for  his expulsion were mixed up with complaints relating his links to his Church and its distaste for abortion; Jim himself disagreed with his Church policy over this matter.  After his expulsion from the Sol. Fed. a derogatory photo was published of Jim in a dog-collar on libcom providing Holy Communion to his parishioners.  Following this a leading member of the Sol Fed. in Manchester, Ron Marsden, boasted to others that he had written to the Church hierarchy at which Jim was a Minister to acquaint them with his association with the anarchist movement, presumably with the intention of getting Jim defrocked.    

Jim told me years later that he had had an interview with the Dean who showed him the letter of denunciation, and asked Jim:

'Are these friends of yours?'.    

To which Jim replied ruefully 'Yes!'.

Jim always told me that he always believed that the real grounds for his dismissal from Sol. Fed. were to do with him addressing a conference of the Northern Anarchist Network (NAN) in Hebden Bridge in 2004 on racial problems in Burnley.  By that time Jim had also participated on the editorial panel of Northern Voices, and had written a remarkable eye witness report on the 'race' riots in Burnley for NV.   He helped to organise several NAN conferences in Burnley including the one in December 2012 at which Barry Woodling and others moved the Burnley Declaration which gained 150 signatures berating the conduct of the organisers of the Manchester Anarchist Bookfair in operating a blacklist against some supporters of the Northern Anarchist Network.  

As I write this, I have just returned from Tolpuddle, where I learned from a member of the IWW that the Solidarity Federation which once expelled James Petty 'imploded' two years ago.  Is it not ironic that the organisation that once excluded Jim is itself now politically virtually in ruins, and Jim's enemy Ron Marsden is helping claimants at Salford Unemployed Centre.

Who Killed FREEDOM?: update 3: July 2015

A VICTORY FOR COMMON SENSE!

IN 2014, the world’s oldest radical newspaper, FREEDOM, ceased publication.  As N.V. explained previously, the rot set in back in 2001 when FREEDOM abandoned its traditional free-ranging, tolerant approach and enforced a 'class-first' political line.  In February 2015 (with help from NV comrades) I identified the culprits and causes in a detailed critique, 'Who Killed FREEDOM?' (available on this website).  If you’ve been following the thread you’ll know that whilst individual members of the FREEDOM collective offered intemperate insults, all refused our challenge to openly debate our analysis before an anarchist bookfair audience.

FREEDOM should never have sunk so low as responsibility for publication ultimately lies with its trustees, THE FRIENDS OF FREEDOM PRESS (FFP).  Sadly, as narrow-minded incompetents squandered a 10K annual subsidy, a 6K rental income, wasted 4K on copyright infringement and forgot to renew the insurance just before a fire caused extensive damage the supposed FRIENDS OF FREEDOM PRESS slept more soundly than Rip Van Winkle.  Then one day FFP were rudely awakened by 'WHO KILLED FREEDOM?' 

Although our original article lifted the lid on the death of the world’s oldest radical newspaper the FREEDOM collective blithely insisted the paper’s demise was inevitable, they were not to blame and we were making a fuss about nothing.  All the while FREEDOM’s so called FRIENDS did nothing.  Undeterred we continued to campaign for action, aware that the only hope of reviving FREEDOM was to breath life into FFP and we can now announce that our campaign has succeeded.  Despite determined efforts to bury their heads in the sand and ignore their responsibilities FRIENDS OF FREEDOM PRESS has been entirely reconstituted and will now meet regularly for the first time in forty years.  We rattled the cage and the apparently dead parrot sprang to life! 

We didn’t aim to 'capture' or control FFP but wanted the FRIENDS to address the dire state of FREEDOM.  Our original piece revealed Who Killed FREEDOM?  This update records how the FRIENDS were revived.

1. October 2014, end of FREEDOM after 128 years publication explained away by collective as unavoidable due to the combined effects of financial loss, the internet and the apathy of the anarchist movement.  Although FFP has ultimate responsibility for publication of FREEDOM it did not initiate, was not consulted nor even informed of the newspaper’s closure by the FREEDOM collective.  The collective was responsible for the collapse of the paper but in doing nothing FFP became complicit, the members of FFP slept on undisturbed.

2. In January 2015 'Who Killed FREEDOM' (published on this website) challenged the excuses offered by the FREEDOM collective and blamed the collapse of FREEDOM on the intolerance and incompetence of named individuals.  The essay concluded with a call to FFP 'to belatedly get a grip on the legacy, both intellectual and material handed down to us by anarchists who didn’t hide behind aliases or enforce their own narrow political creed.' 

3. With the cooperation of comrades around the UK we researched FFP and obtained copies of key FFP documents, including the 'Articles of Association' and 'Memorandum of Association' and compiled a comprehensive history of all appointments and resignations from the Board.

4. FFP was formally incorporated on 4th February 1982 with seven directors; Vernon Richards, Colin Ward, Philip Sansom,, Geoffrey Ostergaard, John Hewetson, Olive Markham and Mary Canipa.  The Board was the legal owner of all the assets of FREEDOM PRESS and the primary responsibility of Board Members was to facilitate and ensure the continued 'Printing and publication of the anarchist journal FREEDOM'.  The Memorandum of Association makes crystal clear that FFP is obliged to act; 'In the event of Freedom Press ceasing to exist or for any other reason being unable to continue the publication of FREEDOM…'

5. FFP owns a building worth a million pounds and as the FREEDOM collective formally ceased publishing the paper, then FFP had lots of possibilities available to continue production but doing nothing wasn’t an option.  Although obliged to meet regularly, keep written minutes and formally approve resignations and new members, FFP had become as dysfunctional as the FREEDOM collective.  By 2014 it nominally comprised just 4 members and only Company Secretary, Stephen Charles Sorba, claimed to know who the other three members were!

6. Our researches revealed that on the 20th February 2012 Company Secretary Sorba had registered Richard Parry as a director of FFP at Companies House yet when I contacted Parry he emailed back to express ignorance of his appointment.  Sonia Markham and Donald Rooum expressed similar ignorance of Parry’s appointment.

7. On 20th February 2015, I wrote to Company Secretary Sorba asking him to ensure that FFP  belatedly complied with its formal obligations to maintain publication of FREEDOM, and  proposing the addition of more active, representative Board Members.

8. Curiously, on 3rd March 2015 I received an email response, not from Company Secretary Sorba, but from Richard Parry, 'In my capacity as one of the Directors'.  This letter claimed all was fine with FREEDOM, rejected the specific offer of respected historian Dr David Goodway to join the Board and instead insisted any potential new directors first present themselves to the FREEDOM collective for approval (an inappropriate reversal of the responsibilities of the Board).

9. I subsequently learned that Sonia Markham, the longest-serving Board member, knew nothing of this letter.  Clearly it wasn’t just the FREEDOM collective that was controlled by a clique that cared little for open, democratic procedures.

10. Despite formally representing himself to me as 'one of the Directors', Parry openly admitted the impropriety to Andy Meinke of the Freedom Bookshop who emailed the collective on 24th February 2015, 'Richard rang this morning, he wasn’t even sure he was on the board!' (the exclamation mark is Meinke’s)

11. It is indicative of just how far FFP abrogated its responsibility to an inappropriate collective that Meinke’s February email went on to say; 'ps.  We really should ask some more people to join FFP as four is a bit risky if they all fly on the same plane.  Let’s ask Martin Howard of Solfed and Nick Heath of AF, that’ll cheer Draper up.'

12. To her great credit, Sonia Markham was the sole member of FFP who attempted to get a grip on the FREEDOM debacle yet when she asked Company Secretary Sorba to provide her with the Board’s 'Articles' and 'Memorandum of Association' she was given the run-around.  Fortunately, I was able to supply interested parties with appropriate documents.

13. Realising they had been rumbled, the remaining three 'members' of FFP finally agreed to hold an AGM, the first for years.  Even better they were forced to reconsider nominations from outside their own sphere of influence.

14. That meeting was held on Wednesday 24th June 2015, and it produced an excellent result.  Six new members joined the Board and a constructive discussion ensued.  After Donald Rooum, the sole member of both the FREEDOM collective and FFP, grumbled about our campaign to expose the shameful manoeuvrings at FREEDOM it was generally recognised by all that without our intervention the FRIENDS would have become completely moribund.  From now on the newly revitalised Board of the FRIENDS OF FREEDOM PRESS is pledged to meet quarterly (next meeting 16th September 2015) in order to discuss and discharge their proper responsibilities. 

15. The residual FREEDOM collective are uncomfortable at the prospect of proper oversight and have already met to express an obdurate determination to resist any legitimate intervention by FFP.

16. In contrast, we congratulate FFP on its Phoenix-like rejuvenation and trust members will continue their initial move to restore the ethical and intellectual credibility of FREEDOM.  Typifying the juvenile, sarcastic, 'That’ll cheer Draper up!' approach of Meinke and co. was the collective’s attempt to get a character featured in 'Who Killed FREEDOM? – Update 1' onto the FFP Board.  Exercising impeccable judgement the born–again FFP had little hesitation in consigning the nomination of Gwain the cunt Williams (his self-chosen appellation) to the dustbin of history.

17. The sort of issue FFP might next care to address is the arbitrary judgement and abuse of power by FREEDOM bookshop manager Andy Meinke who, for example, refuses to stock Northern Voices magazine.  Asked why he rejected a popular magazine produced by Northern anarchists and others he recently informed editor Brian Bamford, 'Because I don’t like you Brian'!  Such narrow-minded prejudice needs to be exorcised from FREEDOM and a proper publications policy restored.

18. The ten members of the born-again Board of FFP are as follows:

* Jayne Clementson – graphic artist, long-time layout artist for Freedom Press.

* David Goodway – historian, author and admirer of the anarchism of Colin Ward .

* Martin Howard – Solfed, writer of 'Svartfrost' column in Freedom.

* Sonia Markham – anarchist, retired TV make-up artist and daughter of founding FFP member, pioneering feminist-anarchist and children’s author Olive Dehn.

* Lois Olmstead – anarchist originally from Ohio, ex-member of Freedom collective. 

* Richard Parry – solicitor and author of the 'Bonnot Gang' .

* Martin Peacock – founder of the London Anarchist Bookfair .

* Ernest Rodker – veteran peace campaigner .

* Donald Rooum – veteran Stirnerite anarchist and cartoonist.

* Stephen Charles Sorba – FFP Company Secretary, printer with Aldgate Press. 

19. FREEDOM was traditionally a resource for all open-minded anarchists but terminally declined under the influence of a narrow-minded clique.  The rejuvenation of the FRIENDS is a great success and a positive encouragement to us all to continue the struggle for free-speech, fellowship, peace and anarchy.

Christopher Draper:  3^rd, July 2015.

Who Killed Freedom?: an unauthorised history 4.

The End but Not for Everyone…

by Chris Draper

ON March 10^th, 2014 FREEDOM announced:

“We have come to realise that a solid hardcopy newspaper is no longer a viable means of promoting the anarchist message…An underlying problem has been a lack of capacity to sustain it. We had hoped that Freedom would be adopted as THE paper of the anarchist movement…Although Freedom Press has changed from a political group with a particular point of view to a resource for anarchism as a whole, we have not managed to shake the legacy of the past and get different groups to back it as a collective project…the shop, publishing and book distribution will continue…As will the use of Angel Alley for meetings, events, offices…”   

Four aspects of this statement deserve close scrutiny:

1. no longer viable
2. a resource for anarchism as a whole
3. not managed to get groups to back it
4. shop, publishing, book distribution…meetings, events, offices.  

I dispute all four, interconnected, elements.  

Viability

FREEDOM’s viability was adversely affected by the development of the internet but in 2000 Freedom Press published a quarterly journal, the Raven, and a fortnightly newspaper so it should now be possible to finance a monthly paper.  The premises are owned freehold (and contribute almost 6K annual rental income), Aldgate Press printed the paper free (which alone equates to a 10K annual subsidy), hundreds of subscribers paid upfront, the paper had an established brand name and distribution network so FREEDOM enjoyed huge commercial advantages over other aspiring anarchist publications but as I’ve attempted to illustrate, successive collectives took all this for granted, alienated existing writers and readers and failed to secure a new constituency.

 

Resource for All

Under Charles Crute’s editorship FREEDOM welcomed articles of every variety of anarchist thought and practice.  When two articles presenting opposite sides of an argument were submitted both were published. Until 2001 FREEDOM relished controversy and open debate, after Toby’s ascendancy a narrow class-struggle line was enforced.  The collective’s claim to be a resource for 'anarchism as a whole' whilst consistently refusing to publish material that challenges their party line exemplifies their arrogance and dishonesty. 

Not Managed to Get Groups to Back It

I lied about disputing this section of the statement, for it indicates a rare flash of insight on the part of the collective.  As I argued from the beginning, groups, like SolFed and AF have enough problems maintaining their own organisations to put much effort into FREEDOM.  It’s the bit claiming:  

We have not managed to shake the legacy of the past'  that I dispute. 

Successive editors have not just shaken the legacy; the intellectual, moral and political legacy of pre-Crowe FREEDOM has been razed to the ground. 

Spoils of Class War (shop, book publishing, offices, meeting rooms etc)

Having provided a political play-school for aspiring class warriors FREEDOM newspaper is no longer of interest.  Like the Revd Toby Crowe, several members of the collective past and present have gained other pulpits for their sermons. Political organs from libcom to Morning Star now 'benefit' from the opinions of interns schooled in Angel Alley.   The alumni’s attention is now focussed on other assets in the FREEDOM portfolio and the collective privately admit that most were always more interested in getting their hands on the building than producing the paper.   'Within the Freedom Collective only a small minority were involved in producing the paper, not so much lack of commitment as not seeing it as central to what Freedom as a building was for.'   Vernon Richards must be spinning in his grave.

Conveniently situated between Aldgate East tube station and Whitechapel Art Gallery; the premises now provide convivial clubrooms for members and friends of the FREEDOM collective. Class-struggle groups might not have done much for the paper but ironically FREEDOM now provides them with convenient London meeting rooms.

FREEDOM’s book-publishing business was initially exploited by the clique to produce the decidedly dodgy,'Beating the Fascists'.  In 2014 they reprinted John Quail’s, 'Slow Burning Fuse' with the added 'benefit' of a new introduction penned by collective member and leader of AF, Nick Heath.

The collective have grand ambitions as Andy Meinke, who now runs the bookshop explains:

'At some point we want to move out of here, somewhere on a street front to get more passing trade.'  Sale of the freehold could raise around a million pounds.

Many of FREEDOM’s lesser assets have already been disposed of to friends and associates of the collective. In 2008, former FREEDOM editor John Retty discovered classic books from the shop of no appeal to class-struggle types were being destroyed en masse.  Confiding to friends at the London Bookfair that he’d managed to salvage a few copies of his own literary works, he appeared gloomy and depressed as he reflected on the significance of the destruction.

FREEDOM’s archive of historic books and newspapers has been similarly looted:

'We have multiple copies of pretty much every issue ever printed of our august newspaper, along with a big batch of foreign publications…Multiple copies are already kind of getting promised out…With the books, we’re hoping to keep a lot of them but of the ones which are going it’ll probably be first come first served.'   'I was in Freedom this week with Iain Mckay flicking through back issues of Freedom and War Commentary…We in AF have been discussing setting up an archive…its our history and pretty interesting too'.  Pretty interesting it undoubtedly is but is it not outrageous that individuals and groups like AF and Black Flag who unceasingly denigrated FREEDOM now exercise proprietorial rights over its assets?  

Authoritarian Asset Strippers

The takeover of FREEDOM didn’t require much planning, the new boys on the block were astonished how easily they gained control, 'When Vernon Richards died (2001) he handed over FREEDOM to the “Movement” on a plate but it was too surprised to notice, it was comrades coming out of the Anarchist Youth Network (AYN) who saw the opportunity with the paper and reclaimed it for class-struggle.'

Whilst the class warriors consider this coup commendable, to me it was invasive, cynical, dishonest and exploitative. The people who piled into FREEDOM had nothing but contempt for the paper’s political outlook. FREEDOM embraced a gentle, considered, constructive range of anarchist ideas and practice that contrasted sharply with the class-struggle politics of alternative anarchist organs (Class War, Black Flag, Organise! etc).  The new regime swept into power on a triumphant wave of youthful enthusiasm. Once Simon Saunders found his feet, stopped admitting his own ignorance and started proclaiming his infallibility there was no going back.  Gainsayers were systematically treated with contempt.

In 2006 Saunders described FREEDOM stalwarts as:

'reeking of allotments, of forgetting class, of irrelevance and reformism.'   

An obvious, yet demeaning, reference to Vernon Richards who ran a commercial organic market garden and Colin Ward who wrote extensively about allotments as a model of mutual aid.

Crowe, Saunders, Talent and associates ridiculed FREEDOM’s prefigurative politics and dismissed the paper’s distinctively anarchist critique of Britain’s welfare state, characterised by David Goodway as, 'Freedom Press being unswervingly hostile to the Labour governments and their nationalization and welfare legislation.'  

As a disenchanted subscriber posted on the History Workshop web-site following FREEDOM’s demise:

'The problem is that, for many years now, Freedom has been run by dimwits.  It has had nothing of value to say for a long while.   It is such a shame that this historically important paper has been ruined…In recent years, every edition of Freedom was anti-denationalisation and pro-welfare.  It was often difficult to tell it apart from a left Labour paper except for the juvenile photos of people in masks throwing things at the police.'

In 1986 Tony Gibson could still claim:

'FREEDOM has survived while many other anarchist journals have failed, because among its many virtues it has been flexible, intelligent and able to withstand periods when this or that bunch of bone-headed zealots have striven to turn it to the service of their own narrow creed.'  

From 2001 the 'bone-headed zealots' imposed 'their own narrow creed' with predictable consequences. 

Although the zealous class warriors had a range of apparently more appropriate newspapers available in which to indulge their class struggle fantasies they latched onto the fact that capturing FREEDOM offered them unique advantages.  FREEDOM loyalists were too polite, trusting and geographically scattered to react as swiftly and determinedly as the situation demanded.  Those of us who spoke out were constantly frustrated by the censorship and evasion of the new regime.

FREEDOM was taken over by entryists with no allegiance to the organisation whose assets they have now monopolised and exploited for more than a decade.  The collective have doubtless convinced themselves of their entitlement but are living off the hard won gains of anarchists they despise.

In the end just 2 of the collective of 14 voted against ending FREEDOM. For most of them, their heart was never really in it, their allegiance lay elsewhere.

Collective member, Nick Heath dismissed the newspaper as 'a pole for liberal anarchists' and used an internet thread mourning the passing of FREEDOM not to offer condolences but to advertise his own newssheet ('if you want to spread real class struggle anarchist ideas then think about ordering a bundle' ) until informed by a fellow contributor that it was;'in bad taste on a thread about the ending of another paper.'

Collective member Meinke was always, 'very sceptical of its (FREEDOM’s) liberal bent'  whilst Jim Clarke wasn’t at all bothered about FREEDOM’s disappearance:  

'I’m not sure FREEDOM had much of an illustrious history…I’m more concerned about Black Flag to be honest'. 

The tone of Charlotte Dingle’s joyful celebration of the ending of the newspaper more befits a party invite than the passing of an invaluable institution:

' * Waves * Hello, Freedom editor here…Frankly I am overjoyed that the paper is going online…(SMILEY FACE)…'

What is to be Done?

Those of us who loved FREEDOM are not prepared to sit back and see its ideas traduced and its legacy misappropriated by authoritarians. The primary aim of this essay is to puncture the myth and challenge self-serving accounts of the downfall of FREEDOM propagated by successive editors since 2001.

This is also an extended appeal to Steven Charles Sorba (Aldgate Press); Sonia Markham (Retired Illustrator), Richard Parry (Solicitor); and even rather plaintively to Donald Rooum (Cartoonist and collective member), the directors of the holding company, FRIENDS of FREEDOM PRESS Ltd. to belatedly get a grip on the legacy, both intellectual and material, handed down to us by anarchists who didn’t hide behind aliases or enforce their own narrow political creed.  Please do not allow the collective to sell the building without yourselves ensuring that the whole anarchist movement benefits not just the current ruling clique.

Finally the destruction of FREEDOM should give all anarchists pause for thought.  The very openness of FREEDOM left it vulnerable to subversion of its political ideals. We tolerated illiberal behaviour for too long and allowed authoritarians to take over.  FREEDOM stalwart Nicolas Walter had forewarned us:

'In a sense, anarchists always remain liberals and socialists, and whenever they reject what is good in either they betray anarchism itself.'  

A Final Challenge

I challenge any, or all of the current clique that closed down the paper to leave your comfy clubrooms for the day, come up North and politely debate, 'THE FATE of  FREEDOM' at the next (2015) Manchester Anarchist Bookfair. Hopefully you will offer a positive response, though I rather suspect open debate is not your preferred medium.                         

                                                            Christopher Draper, Llandudno, February 2015

Who Killed Freedom?: an unauthorised history 2.

Horny Handed Son of Mum & Dad

Unlike Toby, Simon Saunders had no track record of Marxism, in fact he had no track record of anything:  'I had no idea what I was doing…bear in mind my politics, whilst veering towards class-based, were very much those of a left-liberal at this point. I had read Kropotkin, and some of the Anarchist FAQ, but I had only a vague idea of what I wanted to see happen in society.  Days before I started, when a guy commented about a bunch of SolFed pamphlets I was handing out “You’re a syndicalist then?”, I’d had to shamefacedly admit I had no idea what they were talking about'

What Saunders lacked in knowledge and experience was more than made up for in middle class confidence, for the kids of the affluent middle class expect to inherit whatever section of the earth they fancy, whether Parliament, the City, charities, the media or editorship of FREEDOM.  Ignorance was no check on Simon’s ambition or opinions and, as editor, he was soon dismissing the ideas of seasoned anarchists with arrogant aplomb.

Financed by mum and dad ('one parent a Liberal, one a Tory') FREEDOM provided a valuable internship for Simon who, just out of college, fancied a career in journalism and was duly enabled to gain an NUJ card. FREEDOM was less fortunate, under his regime the paper exhorted readers to revolt whilst its editor hid behind the fantasy name 'Rob Ray'.  Simon’s adolescent obsession with computer games, especially, 'Dracula in London', shaped his politics.  Whilst his avatar 'Rob Ray' fearlessly roamed the world proclaiming violent revolution on screen and throughout the pages of FREEDOM, in real life he was the mild mannered Simon Saunders un-associated with anarchism lest it limit his career prospects ('I keep my real name off such things…as it becomes immensely easy for a prospective employer to keep me out of a job').  Before Toby Crowe, editors of FREEDOM had the courage of their convictions, after 2004 anonymity and aliases became commonplace at FREEDOM.  Anonymity might be essential in the immediate period before revolutionary overthrow, but has no proper role in our everyday political task of 'pre-figuratively' modelling a better, more anarchist society.

Under 'Rob Ray’s' editorship examples of self-help and mutual aid so meticulously identified, described and promoted by FREEDOM anarchists from Kropotkin to Colin Ward were notably absent as the paper echoed the politics of other 'class-struggle' publications.

Anarchists who weren’t yet entirely alienated by the paper’s content continued to be discouraged by the offhand treatment they received as prospective contributors. Cumbrian anarchist Martin Gilbert was first asked to submit a collection of articles on 'Anarchists in Social Work' for publication by FREEDOM as an edition of its journal the RAVEN but when this was closed down by Toby, Martin financed publication out of his own pocket. FREEDOM under Simon first agreed to review the book but then didn’t.  Martin Gilbert subsequently asked me to review the book and this review was duly submitted to the collective.  Determined to force FREEDOM to belatedly acknowledge the value of Martin’s work I persevered until Simon eventually published my review but it is illustrative to read the accompanying admission (reproduced verbatim): 

'There has been a catalogue of errors and let downs regarding both the book and this review.  In the case of the book, the manuscript was originally intended for the Raven, but this journal ceased publication before his hard work could appear.   He then, as Chris mentioned, printed it himself and got Chris to review it for him.  The review was then lost, found, lost again, re-found and finally disappeared completely.  Following his letter in the last issue, we had it re-sent to us, and have now finally printed it here.'

At least as an authoritarian Toby was efficient; under Saunders’ editorship, 'Correspondence went missing or unanswered, features were lost and former disagreements and feuds went unnoticed, only to resurface months down the line as the group struggled to cope…Freedom’s organisation began to unravel.'

Having belatedly learnt the meaning of 'Syndicalism' Saunders joined the 'Solidarity Federation'  (SolFed) and as FREEDOM’s editor continued to pursue Toby’s failed strategy of appealing to 'class-struggle anarchist organisations' to support and sell FREEDOM with a similar lack of success.  In 2009 Saunders resigned his editorship (but remained part of the editorial collective) to spend more time writing articles for the newspaper of the British Communist Party.

Perks for the Privileged

By 2009, little remained of the paper’s former politics and sales continued to nosedive yet FREEDOM provided perks for a privileged few.  For A.F. and SolFed FREEDOM supplied free advertising, an enhanced profile and a convenient central London location for meetings.  For student radicals it offered informal political experience and credibility that led on to other fields, professional journalism for Saunders and editorship of libcom website for others (collective members Jim Clarke and Steven Johns for example).  FREEDOM’s book publishing business offered another invaluable opportunity that the collective were soon to exploit with disastrous consequences.

In tomorrow's exiciting installment of 'Who Killed Freedom...' we get another star turn of anarcho-syndicalism with Dean Talent of the Solidarity Federation and the Copywrite Kid!