The Plot to Kill Franco - Stuart Christie

Was General Franco a Fascist? by Brian Bamford

JOE Bailey sends NV a quote from Paul Preston, historian: “If people are looking for a quick and easy insult to those on the right, then fascist, is your go-to term,” he says. “If you’re asking an academic political theorist what constitutes a fascist then you’d have to say Franco isn’t.”

Derek Pattison had asked the question 'Was Franco a Fascist?' and he drew attention to some similarities and differences: 'Franco did use forced labour, concentration camps, and mass executions and terror was a deliberate strategy used to pursue his goal of overthrowing the republican government and winning the war. He then established a military dictatorship, but I don't think he'd much time for fascism, the Falange or its leader, Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera.'

The historian, Sir Paul Preston, is an interesting personality to turn to for an answer to this question 'Was Franco a Fascist?'. The then Prof. Preston answer to the interviewer Rob Attar, was:

'If people are looking for a quick and easy insult to those on the right, then fascist, is your go-to term,” he says. “If you’re asking an academic political theorist what constitutes a fascist then you’d have to say Franco isn’t.'

And then Preston continued:

'But that’s not intended to let the Spanish dictator off the hook. “I caused quite a stir in Spain a few years ago when asked this question,” Preston recalled, “and I said Franco wasn’t a fascist … he was something much worse.

'What I meant by that is that the only absolutely indisputable fascist leader is Mussolini and the only indisputably fascist regime is Mussolini’s regime. And, there are so many ways in which Franco is different.'

'How, then, was Franco “much worse”? Preston argues that Franco was a “deeply conservative” man who, having previously served with the Spanish Army in North Africa, “had the mental furniture of a Spanish colonial officer”. This had seemingly imbued him with a shocking disregard for human life.'

Derek Pattison was questioning Stuart Christie's assumption that Franco was a 'Fascist' and I believe Derek is right to say General Franco didn't have much time for the Falange (the Spanish Fascist Party). In 1963, my boss pointed to a house where a local Fascist lived in Denia, Alicante, and told me that he'd been imprisoned for a time under Franco. What Sir Paul Preston now calls 'the mental furniture of a Spanish colonial office', Sr. Juan Paris, my boss, saw Franco as a solid army man who couldn't be swayed by the dodgy nature of party politicians. Later on in 1975, after Franco had died* my boss told me that he then regarded democracy as the best thing for Spain.

Juan was probably the best boss I've ever had and he looked after me and my family as best he could, but when I think on this, I'm put in mind of what Ignazio Silone said in 'School for Dictators' where he wrote on Fascist Italy about how folk flock to those in power and this was his advice:

'Don't be in such a hurry, I beg you. The poets and the monsignori, the generals, the ladies and their escorts will all come to you after you are in power. With some exceptions, they flock to success like flies to honey, or if you prefer, like rats to cheese. Democratic when there is a democratic government, they are naturally fascists under a fascist dictatorship and Communists under the hammer and sickle. The behaviour of the priests might surprise us, if the pagans hadn't already advised us that the winning cause has always pleased the gods. Christian theology later corroberated this interlectually, explaining that all authority comes from God. And as for the ladies, it's well known that Venus has always felt a particular attraction for Mars, the God of strength.'

This quote is probably a good explanation of the evolution of Franco's Spanish dictatorship, which was an authoritatian, regime rather than totalitarian as in Hitler's Germany or Stalin's Russia.

Sir Paul Preston himself also represents a good example how to get on in academia, he doesn't yet seem to have commented on the death of Stuart Christie, which is a little strange given that he was very keen to court Stuart, particularly in the early days, and Stuart told me he helped to get some anarchist publications into print in English. One of Preston's students 'Neil' told me that Preston made much of his association with Stuart in academic circles. When I once, some years ago, mentioned to Stuart about Prof. Preston's association with the International Brigade Memorial Trust, he told me that 'it was his bread and butter'..

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

* Officially, Franco died a few minutes after midnight on 20 November 1975 from heart failure, at the age of 82 – on the same date as the death of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, the founder of the Falange, in 1936. Historian Ricardo de la Cierva claimed that he had been told around 6 pm on 19 November that Franco had already died.[171] Juan Carlos was proclaimed King two days later.

How the war in Europe began?

Johnathan White

by Brian Bamford

WHAT caused the Second World War? 

Many answers can given according to A.J.P. Taylor:  'German complaints against the peace settlement of 1919 and the failiure to redress them; failure to agree general controlled disarmament; failure to agree collective principles of security; fear of communism and, on the Soviet side, of capitalism and its impact on international policy; German strength, which destroyed the balance of power in Europe; American aloofness from European affairs; Hitler's unscrupulous ambition - a blancket explanation favoured by some historians; at the end, perhaps only mutual bluff.'

A view from the Morning Star

In the Morning Star the journalist Jonathan White on Monday, September 30, 2019 wrote:

'The second world war started, apparently, because of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and the dual invasion of Poland. It was the dismemberment of free and independent Poland by the “totalitarians” that started the war.' 

Here he is reacting to the decision on September 18, 2019 by the European Parliament to vote by 535 votes to 66 to support a resolution 'On the Importance of European remembrance for the future of Europe.'

The historian A.J.P.Taylor wrote 'English History - 1914-1945' that 'On 23 August he [Ribbentrop] and Molotov signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact.'  And 'Soviet Russia promised to stay neutral if Germany were involved in war' He adds:  Thus 'Hitler assumed almost certainly that, without the Soviet alliance, the Western Powers would run away.'  And Taylor thinks:  'Stalin probably made the same assumption.' adding 'Both seem to have expected that Poland would be diminished or dismembered without general war,'

The totalitarians, Hitler and Stalin, both got it wrong with regard to Britain, but Taylor says 'The French almost came up to these expectations.'  'French statesmen stood aside' writes Taylor, 'and let things happen during the days which settle their destiny.'

In Britain reactions were different and the 'Nazi-Soviet Pact was regarded as an affront, a challenge to British greatness'.  Thus, Conservatives turned against Hitler and Labour were equally bitter against Stalin.  Taylor records:  'Even members of the Left Book Club were determined to show that they, at any rate, were sincere in their anti-fascism.  The stir was confined to parliament.  There were no great public meetings in the week before the outbreak of war, no mass marches demanding "Stand by Poland".  It is impossible to tell whether members of parliament represented the British people.  At any rate, the M.P.s were resolute and the government tailed regretfully after the house of commons.'

 Anglo-Polish Treaty Signed & War Begins

Despite what Johnathan White now says about the Nazi-Soviet Pact; Taylor observes that: 'On 25 August the Anglo-Polish treaty of mutual assistance was at last signed.  The British government had announced on the 22 August that the Nazi-Soviet Pact would not change their policy towards Poland' 

In consequence the British ultimation was delivered to the German government at 9 a,m. on the 3 September 1939, and the Germans made no reply, and the ultimatum expired at 11a.m.

Despite all the post-facto chatter of a 'world campaign against fascism', now echoed by Comrade White in the Morning Star, only 'France, Great Britain, and Dominions were, the only powers who declared war on Germany.'  As Taylor writes:  'All other countries which took part waited until Hitler chose to attack them, the two World Powers, Soviet Russia and the United States, as supine as the rest...  Perhaps the British and French could boast that they alone joined the crusade for freedom of their own free will.'

Aa A.J.P. Taylor writes:  'Probably the British people were surprised at the noble part which events had thrust on them.'

 *******************

Blessed Be the Bigots!

How Northern Voices gives space to opposing views

by Brian Bamford (Joint Editor)

IN a recent critical comment on this Blogg Tony Greenstein, a blogger who is a descendant of Jewish immigrants, proclaims that 'it is a pity that the Northern Voices Blog does not have an anti-racist or anti-fascist politics.'

Let's be clear, Northern Voices doesn't have a party-line or what might be called a politically correct platform

Let me offer some personal history; in February 1963, I met with members of the FIJL (Iberian Federation of Young Libertarians) in the Belleville working-class area of Paris: the refugees from the Spanish Civil War had begun arriving there in 1938.  In 1963, we were keen to involve ourselves in the struggle against the dictatorship of General Franco and were about to be dispatched for the shanty towns of Barcelona.  So if we consider Franco to be a 'Fascist', I suppose I was an anti-Fsscist over 50-years ago.  But what does Mr. Greenstein really mean when he accuses Northern Voices not having 'anti-racist or anti-fascist politics'?

It is not so easy to answer this question because even in 1944, in the journal Tribune, George Orwell struggled to tackle this puzzle in an essay 'What is Fascism' thus:

"Of all the unanswered questions of our time, perhaps the most important is: ‘What is Fascism?’

One of the social survey organizations in America recently asked this question of a hundred different people, and got answers ranging from ‘pure democracy’ to ‘pure diabolism’. In this country if you ask the average thinking person to define Fascism, he usually answers by pointing to the German and Italian régimes. But this is very unsatisfactory, because even the major Fascist states differ from one another a good deal in structure and ideology."

Finally Orwell concluded that:
 "Except for the relatively small number of Fascist sympathizers, almost any English person would accept ‘bully’ as a synonym for ‘Fascist’.  That is about as near to a definition as this much-abused word has come.  ....All one can do for the moment is to use the word with a certain amount of circumspection and not, as is usually done, degrade it to the level of a swearword."

Mr. Greenstein makes free use of the word 'fascist' describing Greenswiper thus:  "The little fascist Greenswipe tells us that Robinson or Yaxley-Lennon is ‘a beacon of light.'  And goes on to tell us:
'Here you see the bigot and racist in all his glory. It may be gloomy for this poundshop bigot but not for most people.  Whether it is food or music multi culturalism has triumphed over British marching bands!  Or maybe what he means is that he doesn’t like mixing with Black people but doesn’t like to put it in those words."

But perhaps Greenstein forgets that we had our own 'Bigotgate' in Rochdale in the General Election campaign in 2010.  The then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, on the election campaign trail, was faced with a disastrous turn of events after a Labour supporter, Gillian Duffy, confronted him about his party’s plans to cut the deficit and its stance on immigration as he was interviewed live on TV in Rochdale. 

Later Gordon Brown went on to regret calling Mrs. Gillian Duffy a 'bigoted woman' when he was recorded calling her in such disparaging tones.  To a Northerner this language all comes over as being a bit snobbish about people who take a different view like Tommy Robinson and Greenswiper himself.  Greenswiper is clearly wrong when he claims 'Tommy Robinson represents about 90% of people', but the instincts of Greenswiper and Mrs. Duffy can't be ignored because they do represent a certain tendency, call it an impatience, among white working people.  Some are arguing that the phenomena of political correctness and identity politics is fueling the rise of people like Trump, Tommy Robinson and the Brexit Party.

No amount of smug sneers about 'racism' and 'fascism' from Tony Greenstein will change what is the deeply embeded xenophobia in our culture.  Nor will implying that because English people like to eat Indian food or aren't still fond of brass bands must therefore mean that they have accepted the triumph of multi-culturalism as a political entity.

One can still enjoy a jitterbug dance, and the same person could delight in 'traditions' on a local scale, like the annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at the chapel of King's College, Cambridge on Christmas eve.    

Fascism is often identified with nationalism and tradition, but this is not always the case.  In the book 'The Inventon of Tradition',  edited by the Marxist Eric Hobsbawn and Terence Ranger, HUGH TREVOR-ROPER wrote:

"It is ironical that if the Highland dress had been banned after 'the Fifteen' instead of after 'the Forty Five', the kilt, which is now regarded as one of the ancient traditions of Scotland, would probably never have come into existence. It came into existence a few years after Burt wrote, and very close to the area in which he wrote. Unknown in 1726, it suddenly appeared a few years later; and by 1746 it was sufficiently well established to be explicitly named in the act of parliament which then forbade the Highland dress. The actual inventor, I understand was an English Quaker from Lancashire, Thomas Rawlinson. The Rawlinsons were a long-established family of Quaker iron-masters in Furness."

So even the iconic Highland kilt so central to the Scottish nationalists was originally made in Lancashire by an English Quaker?
 
Meanwhile, Mr. Greenstein rages on about Greenswiper's complaints of an England in the 21st century shrouded in an ‘Alien multicultural gloom’; to whichTony Greenstein is nothing if not pompous:   'Here you see the bigot and racist in all his glory. It may be gloomy for this poundshop bigot but not for most people. Whether it is food or music multi culturalism has triumphed over British marching bands! Or maybe what he means is that he doesn’t like mixing with Black people but doesn’t like to put it in those words.'

Here we may be experiencing bigotry from both Greenstein and Greenswiper, yet in some ways it  is the canary in the coal mine that warns us of approaching disaster. 

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

Tommy Robinson & Blow Up Dolls

by Les May

SOME people live out their erotic fantasies with blow up dolls. Others, if you will pardon the expression, ‘get their rocks off’ by inflating the importance of minor political figures, then having first built them up, they attack them to demonstrate their own impeccable anti-racist/fascist/nazi credentials.

I’m sure Tommy Robinson is grateful for the publicity he gets from this treatment. He’s no fool. He knows that every stunt he pulls will generate predictable outrage from ‘the left’ and so double or triple his news value.  A cool appraisal of his activities shows a lack of coherence.  What I gathered from his election leaflet is that he would make as much trouble as possible in the European parliament if he was elected and he was going to give his salary to the victims of sexual grooming. Get the violins out!

Attacking Robinson by trying to suggest that what he stands for is synonymous with the political systems of Italy and Germany in the 1930s and 40s may give some people the cosy glow that they are ‘fighting Fascism’.  They’re not, they are posturing.

As a child I knew men who really had fought the Nazis.  A childhood friend grew up without the father who had died being part of that fight.  I was educated by a man who became a Quaker after the horror of what he had seen in the war.  In one of my first jobs I worked with a man who had chased the Nazis out of Italy after that country surrendered.   Don’t dishonour these men by posturing.

Next time you hear a man claiming that he is ‘fighting Fascism’ by shouting at Tommy Robinson and his ilk, ask yourself this question; Do I think he would change places with just one of the men who landed on the beaches of Normandy on 6 June 1944?  I wouldn’t; would you?

**********

Free Speech and Cheap Bigots

 by Christopher Draper

ANARCHIST beat-poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti warned us that, “Freedom of speech is always under attack by Fascist mentality” and last week (5.3.2018) a gang of masked, black-clad thugs calling themselves London Antifa smashed their way into a meeting at Kings College London in a coordinated, violent, attack on “Free Speech”.  

With perverse irony, “FREEDOM” an erstwhile anarchist website celebrated this exhibition of “fascist mentality”; “Well done to London Antifa for taking action against one of (sic) major universities assisting an alt-right speaker in spreading hateful propaganda.”

The New Authoritarians

Fascist-minded “No-Platformers” claim a unilateral ability and right to distinguish “Free speech from Hate-speech” but there is no distinction to be made. 

As George Orwell said, “If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear” - regardless of how hate-filled the speaker may be. Noam Chomsky advises, “If we do not believe in freedom of speech for those we despise we do not believe in it at all.”

“Hate Speech” is the modern equivalent of “Blasphemy”.  In 1697 Thomas Aikenhead was the last man in Britain executed for Blasphemy.  In the 19^th century the editor, printer and publisher of The Freethinker were all imprisoned for Blasphemy and as late as 1977, according to the trial judge, “It was touch and go” whether Dennis Lemon, the editor of Gay News, would be imprisoned for Blasphemy (he was fined £1000 and given a suspended prison sentence). 

 

When the British State finally abolished the crime of Blasphemy in 2008 “direct-action” bigots eagerly adopted the abandoned role of punishing those deemed to “speak the unspeakable”.  All around us Commissars now claim the right to control what is expressed even in university halls and anarchist bookfairs.  Where the State formerly identified accusers and offered the prosecuted an opportunity of “due process” and an argued defence the new authoritarians operate in the dark, anonymous, masked and unreasoned. These new arbiters of the new Blasphemy don’t debate they assert and attack.

Free Speech - the Bedrock of Liberty

Northern Voices considers dissent inevitable, healthy and to be welcomed. We are happy to debate FREE SPEECH with anyone in any public forum but the authoritarians don’t respect reason.  Bans, censorship, blacklisting and physical attacks are their modus operandi.  Indulging in such antics lost the organisers of the Manchester Anarchist Bookfair their former booking at the “Peoples’ History Museum” and seems likely to lose their current venue, “The Partisan”, the financial support of local trade unions. 

 

Violent suppression of Free Speech caused the organisers of the 2017 London Anarchist Bookfair to abandon plans for a 2018 event.  The vandals have kicked open the gates and are rampaging amongst us.  Whilst FREEDOM applauds Antifa attacks on Free Speech and publishes books like “BEATING THE FASCISTS” its Board of Management (David Goodway, Peter Marshall, Ernest Rodker et al) timorously cower behind the barricades.  It’s time for all decent minded folk to come out of the closet and stand up for FREE SPEECH.

******

Avaaz team analysis of 'Trumpism'

WE wanted to write from the heart about what just happened in the US, and what's happening around the world.

 The shock is justified - the most powerful nation in the world will be led by a breathtakingly ignorant, bigoted, violent, pathologically lying, sexually predatory, vengeful, authoritarian, corrupt reality TV star. Those aren't insults, they're facts.

 How is democracy coming to this? How do we deal with it? We want to offer 5 points:

1.Acceptance - we can't wisely change anything about the world or ourselves if we don't first accept it. So take a deep breath, and let's face it. President Trump. And Trumpism striving for power in many of our countries.

2.Holistic Evaluation - I can't find a better phrase for this idea, but our brains have a deep negativity bias. We are easily overwhelmed by fearful focus on the negative, and we make awful judgments when we are. This is how demagogues rise. We can't let it happen to us. So looking at the situation holistically, here's some reassuring points: ◦He's not all-powerful - The US President faces many checks and balances from Congress, the constitution, the courts, his own party, and foreign leaders.

◦He was recently a liberal! - Trump is dangerous, but not a maniac. He has praised Hillary Clinton and donated to her campaigns and many of his positions are more reasonable when you scrutinize them. "Building a wall" is just saying he will physically police the US border. It's distasteful, but not crazy. Much of his party opposed him because he wasn't conservative enough!

◦He's tapped into legitimate concerns - Trump's supporters are not simply a racist ignorant mob. Polls show at least half are people who are well aware of his faults but are desperate for change, hate Hillary Clinton, and are willing to gamble on him.

◦The "people" are not with him - Trump lost the popular vote in the election (he just won through the US's quirky 'electoral college' system). So don't think this was a landslide.

3.Focused Alarm - now that acceptance and holistic evaluation ensure we're not freaking out unproductively, let's focus our concern where it most needs to be: ◦Climate Change- Trump says it's a hoax and wants to tear up the Paris climate agreement. Climate Change threatens our species and we're running out of time - but IF we can make sure that world leaders don't slow down, but speed up, the US alone can't destroy us. The rest of the world will drive a clean energy revolution that will make renewable energy much cheaper than fossil fuels - the US will be forced to switch by simple economics.

◦Fascism - we just don't know what kind of leader Trump is. Is he a Berlusconi, the Trump-like Italian billionaire Prime Minister who was outrageously corrupt and ridiculous but not a fascist? Or is he a Mussolini? We will have to watch like hawks and respond fast to the tell-tale signs of eroding the rule of law, rigging the electoral system, intimidating the media, or promoting hatred of some minorities.

◦Terrorism and War - Trump's instincts in the campaign were to call for things like murdering the families of suspected terrorists and introducing widespread torture. This direction is a gift to ISIS and will fuel the global conflict with militant Islam. His ideas are mostly illegal, but we'll have to watch closely and push back hard - domestically and through US allies - if this erratic man-child uses the US military brutally.

4.It's the Media Stupid - Despite ALL evidence to the contrary, the American public overwhelmingly sees Hillary Clinton as MORE dishonest and corrupt than Donald Trump. This, by itself, is the reason why Trump is president. And it's the media's fault. US network news devoted more time to coverage of Clinton's totally BS email scandal than TO ALL POLICY ISSUES COMBINED. One the one side, we have ruthlessly sophisticated partisan propaganda media pushing Trump, and on the other an 'impartial' media that chases fake scandals and ratings and suggests false equivalence between the sides in the name of appearing balanced. This is the dynamic that gave us Brexit as well. We desperately need a smarter media. Very few organizations campaign on this, and Avaaz needs to.

5.This is a HUGE opportunity, let's rise to it - change doesn't happen in a steady, linear way. We human beings learn best from crisis and calamity. Our brightest lights emerge from our deepest darknesses. World War II gave us human rights and the United Nations. And the darknesses of Trumpism could help us build the most inspiring movement for human unity and progress the world has EVER seen, to not only beat back the Trumps in each of our countries, but to do so with a new, people-centered, high-integrity, inspiring politics that brings massive improvement to the status quo. Let's get to work on it :).

 With hope, and apologies for the long memo,

 Ricken and the Avaaz team. 

Phillip Green's 'Unacceptable Face of Capitalism'

02/08/2016
Dear Northern Voices  ,
Letters  : ' Sir Phillip Green - “the unacceptable face of capitalism”.

As the great Eugene  Debs said nearly  one hundred years ago in 1918 :

'I am opposing a social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars, while millions of men and women who work all the days of their lives secure barely enough for a wretched existence.'That same 'social order in which it is possible for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions ' has collaborated, facilitated &  enabled Sir Philip Green to drive BHS into the ground and has put the pensions of thousands of staff at risk. 
38 Degrees member Heinz doesn’t think we should honour a man whose greed destroyed a business. He’s started a petition for the BHS boss to be stripped of his knighthood. This is what happens when a 'rogue' CEO is left unchallenged and left unaccountable.

The government’s already considering taking the knighthood off Philip Green.  And today, a damning report by a group of influential MPs is splashed all over the news.
A huge petition, right now, could convince the government to stop honouring 'the unacceptable face of capitalism'. I am fully aware that for many Northern Voices readers there is indeed no 'acceptable face of capitalism ',  and that I am mindful of Lenin's quote that:  'Fascism is capitalism in decay'.  

We can all of us comrades  see that dysfunctional  'decay'  with a pub crawl round Rochdale town centre if we have eyes in our head and a heart that still retains a beat. That said we should be mindful of the part the internet plays in 21st Century working class resistance. If we can stand on a picket line, oppose fascists and demonstrate on the streets we can also spend a few minutes on the keyboard contributing to the critical mass that will eventually bring this rotting and decaying system crashing down.

Stripping Philip Green of his knighthood won’t bring back BHS or the jobs of thousands of people. But when Britain decorates people like Philip Green with awards and honours, it says to the world that they are someone important: a role model, someone worth listening to.
 This is a man who got rich by destroying the futures of thousands of people who work on the shop floor. If we convince the government to strip him of his knighthood, we’ll show big business everywhere what we think of putting greed and money above the lives of ordinary people.
So far 139,926 have signed this petition.  Please can concerned readers of Northern Voices add their voices to and sign Heinz’s petition now.
It takes less than a minute here's the link : https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/strip-philip-green-of-his-knighthood?bucket=blast , Thank you.

Yours faithfully

Andrew Wastling

'Dare Devil Rides To Jarama'

Townsend Productions in association with Harrogate Theatre and The Place Bedford  'DARE DEVIL RIDES TO JARAMA' A new play by Neil Gore TICKETS ON SALE NOW FOR AUTUMN 2016 UK TOUR. View this email in your browser

Buy Now Buy Now Buy Now

DARE DEVIL RIDES TO JARAMA:  A new play by Neil Gore Spain 1936: Speedway star and daring Wall of Death motorcycle rider Clem "Dare Devil" Beckett felt his place was with Spanish people defending freedom and democracy against Franco's rising fascist armies. Commissioned by the International Brigades Memorial Trust, this play tells his extraordinary story as part of the 80th Anniversary of the Spanish Civil War and the formation of the International Brigades. AUTUMN TOUR DATES 2016:  TICKETS NOW ON SALE!!!!! SEPTEMBER 24 The Place Bedford (Box office: www.theplacebedford.org.uk; 01234718112) 26 -30 Harrogate Theatre (boxoffice@harrogatetheatre.co.uk; 01423502116) OCTOBER 1 Harrogate Theatre (boxoffice@harrogatetheatre.co.uk;01423502116) 4 Loganlea Miners Welfare (Box office: The Pitstop, 01501-763354) 5 North Edinburgh Arts   (Box office: 0131 315 2151; northedinburgharts.co.uk)    6 -7 Lowry Salford (Box office: 0843 208 6000; Groups Line: 0843 208 6003) 8 Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury  (Box office: 08448717607; www.atgtickets.com/shows/aylesbury) 11 Guildhall Derby (boxoffice@derby.gov.uk; 01332 255800) 12-15 Oldham Coliseum (Box office: 01616242829; www.coliseum.org.uk) 18-19 Castle Wellingborough   (Box office: 01933270007; www.thecastle.org.uk) 20 Chilwell Arts Centre Beeston (Box office: 07861 308044) 21 The Lansdown Hall Stroud (Box office: The Subscription Rooms 01453 760900) 22 The Seagull, Lowestoft  (Box office: 01502 589726; www.theseagull.co.uk) 24- 29 The Bussey Building Peckham (Box office: online www.clfartcafe.org; 02077325275) 30 The Marx Memorial Library London [extracts & songs] (Box office: 02072531485; www.marxlibrary.org.uk)                                                                                                     NOVEMBER 1 Hertford Theatre (Box office: 01992 531500; www.hertfordtheatre.com) 2 Wedgwood Rooms, Southsea (Box office: Wedgewood Rooms 02392863911  Kings Theatre 02392828282) 3 The Plough Arts Centre, Gt Torrington (Box office: 01805624624; www.theploughartscentre.org.uk)                                                                        4 Dorchester Arts Centre (Box office: 01305 266926; www.dorchesterarts.org.uk) 5 Bridport Arts Centre (Box office: www.bridport-arts.com; 01308 424204 7 Theatre Royal Margate (boxoffice@margatewintergardens.co.uk; 01843 292795) 10 Barnsley Civic (Box office: 01226 327000; enquirie@barnsleycivic.co.uk) 12 Cast Doncaster (Box office: 01302 303 959; castindoncaster.com) 13 Severn Theatre Shrewsbury (Box office: 01743 281281; www.theatresevern.co.uk) 14 -19 Lantern Theatre Sheffield (Box office: 0114 255 1776; www.lanterntheatre.org.uk) 22 -23 St Michaels Irish Centre, Liverpool (Box office: Box Office: 0151 263 1808 / www.stmichaelsirishcentre.org ) 24 - 26  Yorkshire rural touring scheme www.blaize.uk.net  dates to be announced. 29 Lighthouse Poole (Box office: 0844 406 8666; www.lighthouse poole.co.uk) 30 The Place Bedford (Box office: www.theplacebedford.org.uk; 01234718112) DECEMBER 1 Square Chapel Halifax (Box office: 01422349422; www.squarechapel.co.uk) 2 The Hat Factory Luton (Box office: 01582 878100; http://www.lutonculture.com/hat-factory) 3 Ruskin College Oxford (Box office: 01865 759600; www.ruskin.ac.uk)

'Letting it all hang out...' at Freedom

The letter below is a cute response to a report in the last edition of Private Eye No. 1403 about the goings on at the Freedom Press office and bookshop in Angel Alley, next to the Whitechapel Art Gallery in east London.

Freedom Liberties

Sir,

As a subscriber to Private Eye and an occupier of the building mentioned.   I was surprised at the unresearched article “Letting it all hang out...” (Street of Shame Eye 1403).

The Freedom building includes many active organisations, including mine, the Advisory Service for Squatters.  Between us we have kept the building going despite problems like the fascist firebombing two years ago.  Freedom is still published online and occasionally in in print, and the decision to change was taken after long and open discussion.

Your informant has clearly not bee near the building for many years, and bears a grudge.  The apoparent importance of the value of the building suggests monetary motivation.  You should not allow yourself to be used to print abuse.

We are not expecting “impromptu performance-art” in Angel Alley, but there are joint plans with the art gallery and local homeless hostel to improve the alley with furniture building, a library and plant growing.  Maybe you can send David Ziggy Greene to cover the opening.

We will not be stopping plugging your website on our website (www.squatter.org.uk).

MYK ZEITLIN

 

Who Killed Freedom?: an unauthorised history 3.

Talent for Trouble 

WITH only layout artist Jayne Clementson and cartoonist Donald Rooum remaining on the editorial collective from the old days it was no wonder yet another class warrior, Dean Talent of SolFed replaced Saunders. Having previously ousted FREEDOM loyalists Charles Crute and Kevin McFaul on the claimed grounds of economy and with the paper pleading poverty the collective curiously agreed to reinstate the stipend for Dean.

By 2009, FREEDOM had comprehensively alienated former supporters yet demonstrably failed to secure the support of a new network. Anarchists belonging to national organisations continued to prioritise the interest of their own organisations.  FREEDOM by then offered little to those of us with less narrowly defined anarchist outlooks who preferred informed and considered debate to hectoring demands and political posturing.  Nevertheless, when FREEDOM published a tendentious account of its history culminating in a panegyric to the Revd Toby Crowe I felt obliged to submit a comradely yet challenging alternative account. Predictably, Dean Talent refused to publish or even justify his refusal.

In 2011, Dean and the collective discovered they couldn’t treat everyone with such contempt and get away with it so easily.  Their arrogance and incompetence created the worst crisis FREEDOM had faced since the stick up of 1944.  Talent persuaded the collective to publish a book that had already been turned down by several other publishers (including the anarchist press, A.K.). 'Beating the Fascists' was the title and Sean Birchall the purported author, although this was widely held to be the alias of Gary O’Shea, leader of the now defunct Marxist 'Red Action' (R.A.).   Illustrated throughout with photographs of violent confrontations between fascists and anti-fascists the book presents Red Action’s version of how AFA (Anti-Fascist Action) physically fought the fascists off the streets. 

As soon as FREEDOM advertised the forthcoming publication they were, 'inundated with negative emails' and a blizzard of bad publicity; 'R.A. – a posturing bunch of macho bullies…shame on Freedom for giving them publicity';  'It is sickening to see Freedom publishing this inveterate anarchist hater';  'Why on earth are Freedom publishing this…would they publish Trotsky’s memoirs on Kronstadt?' 

Much of the criticism focussed on the character of the collective;  'A friend of mine emailed to see if they would be interested in publishing the first English translation of anarchist former prisoner Xose Tarrio’s book Hay! Hombre Hay!   She didn’t even get the courtesy of a reply, let alone the red carpet treatment Red Action have received';  'The stupidity of the current Freedom Collective…If they had any sense they’d have told R.A. to publish it themselves';  'Dean you are a fucking moron!”; “Freedom’s reputation has been very badly tarnished by all this'.

Anarchy in Action?

'Beating the Fascists' should never have been published by Freedom.  It is a paean to political violence.  Whilst some anarchists believe in going beyond defence to proactively seek out and attack supposed fascists most reject this strategy.  The former do not need Marxists to write the history of anti-fascism and the latter don’t want to promote such violence in any case. Although the collective voted only 5 for and 4 against publication FREEDOM went ahead evidently unconcerned that it is standard practice for anarchists to secure consensus before collective action.  Even that majority was questionable as Dean Talent was absent and voted by proxy.  A critical insider noted that, 'The four collective members had a choice of either supporting a project they disagreed with or resigning.  This is fundamentally un-Anarchist.  What kind of society do Freedom believe in if their collective is run in such a way?' 

The collective also gave scant regard to another traditional practice, checking copyright before publication.  Not long after 'Beating the Fascists' went on sale they heard from press photographer, David Hoffman that FREEDOM had included several of his pictures without permission, credit or payment.  FREEDOM initially refused to acknowledge their error, apologise or offer recompense. A political radical, sympathetic to anarchism, as a professional photographer, Hoffman nonetheless relies on the sale of his pictures to make a living and some of the included photographs even had his claim to copyright stamped on the back yet no-one contacted him pre-publication.  FREEDOM didn’t have a legal leg to stand on and as the book was being sold through commercial channels (Amazon etc) and bore the © Freedom Press imprint they had no moral justification either. 

In Hoffman’s experience the collective proved an extremely slippery customer.  FREEDOM either knowingly took a commercial gamble on overlooking copyright obligations or acted out of ignorance.  Either way once Hoffman showed up it was time to eat humble pie and beg for a low tariff on the pictures.   Instead FREEDOM tried to take the moral high ground, accused him of trying to unfairly extract money from an impoverished organisation and initiated a vicious hate campaign against him on the web.  Members of FREEDOM’s  editorial collective variously described Hoffman online as a, 'piece of shit', 'rat bastard cunt' and a 'piece of excrement'.

This debacle dragged on for another 13 months before FREEDOM finally handed over four thousand pounds to avoid court action (part of this sum was paid by Hoffman to the widow of Mike Cohen, whose copyright pictures had also been used).  Hoffman claims he would have settled for far less if the collective had acted honourably but:

'The greed and hypocrisy of the current incompetent collective has stained a previously respected organisation and it’s that issue that Freedom’s few remaining friends really need to address.'

The End is Nigh

By August 2012, FREEDOM was politically, morally and financially bankrupt.  The holding company still owned the building and Aldgate Press still printed the paper for free but the writing was on the wall, and the fate of Dean Talent?  In his own memorable words, 'I was slung out of the collective', so neophyte turned know-it-all Simon Saunders popped up to announce, 'Freedom Press is in some difficulty, both financial and in terms of volunteer labour – basically we need you…we are proposing to have a series of meetings…and discuss how we can drag the paper, the bookshop, the publishing house and the building out of trouble.'

Unfortunately this 'series of meetings' didn’t extend beyond London and the appeal soon proved entirely disingenuous. That very same month all copies of the popular magazine Northern Voices produced by a band of Manchester-based, unaffiliated anarchists were removed from the shelves of FREEDOM bookshop as the collective objected to an article it contained.

When, just a few weeks later, an anarchist was attacked at his stall at the 2012 London Anarchist Bookfair, and his publications stolen by a bunch of Anarchist Federation thugs the FREEDOM collective (which includes an AF faction) refused to publish an account of the incident.

The paper limped on with caretaker editors nominally in charge, whilst Saunders and chums remained behind the scenes, ready to tighten the leash whenever there was any danger of a politically challenging piece being published.  In January 2013 for example, editor Matthew Black promised (by email) to publish an article by anarchist Barry Woodling before being overruled by the ruling clique.  Unsurprisingly Matthew left before the end of the year to be replaced by an editor with even less knowledge or experience of anarchism than a freshly minted Simon Saunders.

Charlotte Dingle, a Green Party local election candidate was handed the, by then, poisoned editorial chalice.  She, no doubt, appreciated the editorial internship and political platform but her appointment only served to reinforce suspicions that the real power brokers had lost interest in the paper. Yet there was still time to squeeze in a bit more censorship. In October 2013, FREEDOM accepted a review from Northern activist Paul Salveson, with editor Charlotte Dingle confirming publication before being overruled by the ruling clique.

In the next installment Chris Draper assesses who is to blame  at Freedom Press, and asks if the asset strippers will take-over?