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My Granny Made me an Anarchist: The Christie File: Part 1, 1946-1964 ‘Born in Glasgow in 1946, Stuart’s book recounts his life in post-war Glasgow (and round about) and his political awakening, an awakening that brought him to via the Labour Party, anti-nuclear protesting and trade union activism, to anarchism.
‘Being a Glaswegian anarchist myself I was enthralled by his account of growing up in a Glasgow which was in so many ways similar to my own but, at the same time, was slowly disappearing. He gives the reader a glimpse into working class life and culture in the 1950s and 1960s, even down to the comics he read and the films and books which influenced him and his ideas. Unsurprisingly, many of his memories, influences and experiences I can relate to. Stuart said he became an anarchist outside the Mitchell library, I discovered I was one inside it. He talks about meeting anarchists like Bobby Lynn, a comrade I came to know decades later. He gives a good overview of the ideas of anarchism, its history and the state of the movement in the 1960s, both in Glasgow and in Britain as a whole. He discusses the anarchist resistance to Franco, providing background to his decision, at the age of 18, to go to Spain to assassinate the dictator. It is here that volume 1 ends. All I can say is I cannot wait for volume 2!
