Autumn Listings Update

Bookfairs and Book Launches          

At London Anarchist Book Fair on October 29th:

(For meetings of a radical-history persuasion, see previous post)

• Donald Rooum, author and illustrator of Wildcat Anarchist Comics and What Is Anarchism? An Introduction, 2nd Ed.
• Richard Parry, author of The Bonnot Gang: The Story of the French Illegalists, 2nd ed..
• Alana Apfel, author of Birth Work as Care Work: Stories from Activist Birth Communities, also at the Radical Independent Book Fair in Glasgow, Scotland on October 14th.
• Planka.nu, authors of The Traffic Power Structure.
• Brian Morris, author of Anthropology, Ecology, and Anarchism: A Brian Morris Reader.

9th Annual Belfast AnarchistBookfair in Belfast on October 15th.

Radical Independent Book FairProject in Glasgow on October 14th.

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News from Nowhere Club

Saturday October 8^th 2016

What Does Local Community Action Really Mean?

Speaker: Jude Leighton

"What are the possibilities & limitations of trying to transform the local area where you grew up? Jude has lived in Leytonstone all her life & has worked in several organisations, aiming to make a big difference to the quality of life of her neighbours. She has learnt several lessons through her struggles & will let us into her most recent thoughts & revelations, with a chance for the audience to contribute their own experiences & utopian desires."

 Epicentre, West Street E11 4LJ

 7.30 pm Buffet  8.00 pm Presentation and discussion

 All welcome. Free entry.  Enquiries 0208 555 5248

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Black History Month in Ealing Libraries (selection)

Michael De-Souza
Creator of Rastamouse

Join Michael De-Souza, the creator of Rastamouse, for a special performance during half term.
West Ealing Library
Friday 28 October        10.30am -11.30am
Ealing Central Library
Friday 28 October        12.30pm - 1.30pm
Acton Library
Friday 28 October        2.30pm - 3.30pm
Admission: Free. No booking required.

Bussing in Southall with Dr. Olivier Esteves

In the 1960s and 1970s many children of Asian origin were bussed from their homes in Southall to schools in other parts of the borough. This was to become a controversial issue for many, but was justified in the name of integration.
Ealing Central Library
Tuesday 18 October        6.15pm – 7.15pm
Admission: Free. Advance booking required.

Author talk: Horlene Hanlan

Join the author of ‘Sunset on the Horizon - the story of A Rebel Woman, Rebellion and the Jamaica Maroon Treaties’. This powerful novel explores family and kinship, romantic love, child mortality and the legacy of slavery. With a historical sweep from 1690 to 2008, the novel dispels stereotypes and misinformation about Jamaica and illuminates the connections between Jamaica and Britain.
Ealing Central Library
Thursday 27 October        5.45pm - 6.45pm
Admission: Free. Advance booking required.

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Independent Working Class Education Network:

Sheffield Day School

October 16th 2016 12pm- 5.30pm

Venue: Philadelphia WMC, Upperthorpe, Sheffield

"It's The Economy Stupid- A Day of Economic

Thought & Discussion"

Sessions including:

    What is Neo-Liberalism? Is there such a thing as Corbynomics?

    Free Trade - Freedom or race to the bottom?

    Everything you wanted to know about economics, but

    were frightened to ask - panel discussion

Tickets: £5 book through iwceducation@yahoo.co.uk

Pay on the day

Economy-related cartoon (published at least twice by Solidarity/Agitator)

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Peace History Conference 2016

This year's exciting and informative Conference will take place in Leeds, Yorkshire on 14th and 15th October 2016.

The linked programme & booking leaflet give all the details for the two days of events entitled 'Conscience and Conscription: Resistance to War 1916-2016'.

See the Movement for the Abolition of War website http://www.abolishwar.org.uk/ to book online.

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From Mary Quaile Club

A Bed Of Shards: House of Orphans

Writer Jane McNulty,
With Camellia Productions.

The tower block that has been their home for years is facing demolition, and a council bungalow awaits them.
But while Ronnie embraces the possibilities of a new beginning, her partner, the reclusive Button, fears the move will bring exposure and loss.
Packing up their home reveals more than the rodent damage to their hoard of teapots and junk.
Crammed to the ceiling with the detritus of lives lived and of disappointed dreams, is the flat a place of safety or a prison?
Home – there’s no place like it.

"Jane wrote our wonderful play about Mary Quaile; Dare to be Free. Please see below details of her latest play and support if you can." - MQC.

Also from the Mary Quaile Club:

Kinsley Women Day 19 -Leslie Leake, Marice Hall and Karen McGee  who are cleaners at Kinsley Academy in Wakefield in West Yorkshire. The Academy  outsourced the contract  to a private firm, C&D Cleaning Group

 Since then the company has cut the three workers’ wages from £7.85 an hour to £7.20 — the minimum wage. The company also abolished the sick pay agreement which the cleaners’ union, Unison, had with the council.The company   are refusing to recognise the union.

The women  are now on  Day 19 of  official strike. The company has attended some talks at ACAS but this morning it was learned that the company had advertised the three  jobs, hoping to recruit strike-breakers. 

You can help the women by writing directly  to the C & D management team  in support of the women and asking them to speak directly to the union. The more emails they get the better, so if you can  ask friends and colleagues to write as well, that would be helpful.

Customer Care team customercare@cdcleaningservices.co.uk

Gary Chapman, Managing Director gary@cdcleaningservices.co.uk

Nick Thorpe , Head of HR nick@cdcleaningservices.co.uk

Kate Speight, Operations Manager kate@cdcleaningservices.co.uk

Lorraine Hughes, Brand manager lorraine@cdcleaningservices.co.uk

Izy Evans, Brand Ambassador izy@cdcleaningservices.co.uk

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London Socialist Historians Group seminar series Autumn 2016

LSHG Seminar series Autumn 2016

For more information please contact LSHG convenor Keith Flett: email address at above link

Seminars in Room 304 Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, Malet St, WC1

5.30pm. Free without ticket

Monday October 10^th 

LSHG Seminar - Steve Cushion on women workers and the Cuban Revolution

Steve Cushion, 'A Working Class Heroine Is Also Something To Be: Where women workers fit into A Hidden History of the Cuban Revolution: How the Working Class Shaped the Guerrilla Victory':- When researching the biographical details of working class women, we are not only faced with that "enormous condescension of history" which EP Thompson criticized when writing about the history of working class movements, we also find that working class women are doubly "hidden from history" by the assumption that organised labour is male. However in Cuba in the 1950s, there were many important strikes which were initiated and sustained by women workers...

Monday October 24^th Ian Birchall: Lenin’s Moscow

Monday November 7^th Simon Hall: 1956, The World in Revolt

Monday November 21st  John Boughton (Municipal Dreams blog) High Hopes- Labour and the rise and fall of High Rise housing

Monday December 5th Merilyn Moos: Breaking the Silence. Voices of the British Children of Refugees from Nazism

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WCML enquiries@wcml.org.uk

Working Class Movement Library

51 The Crescent,

Salford, M5 4WX

Museums at Night
On Thursday 27 October we open in the evening (6.30pm-8pm) to mark the nationwideMuseums at Night celebration. Broadside ballads from the Manchester region from the ‘Middleton Linnet’ Jennifer Reid form a counterpoint to Battle for the Ballot, in which singer-songwriter Quiet Loner uses original songs to tell the story of how working people came to have a vote.  The story will take in events like the Peterloo Massacre and introduce the people – Chartists, politicians and suffragettes – who fought for the ideal of universal suffrage.
Admission free.

New series of Invisible Histories talks

Our popular series of free Wednesday 2pm tours:

12 Oct Katrina Navickas Protests and public space in Lancashire and Yorkshire in the age of radicals and the Chartists, 1789-1848. 

26 Oct Nicole Robertson “Organise, educate and agitate”: trade unionism and office workers in Britain, 1914-39. 

9 Nov Mervyn Busteed Engels, the Burns Family and the Manchester Irish.

23 Nov Malcolm Pittock Albert Evans, Bolton WW1 conscientious objector.

Full details of the talks can be found at http://www.wcml.org.uk/events. 
All welcome, admission free, light refreshments after. 

And on Tuesday 4 October at 2pm there will be a talk to mark Black History Month: Race, racism and the working class struggle by Lou Kushnick, founder of the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre.  All welcome, admission free, light refreshments after.

Exhibitions

On Wednesday 28 September our new exhibition, We Only Want the Earth, opened and runs until the end of the year. On the centenary of the Easter rising we explore the life of one of its leaders, James Connolly, socialist, trade unionist, nationalist and revolutionary.  We Only Want the Earth reveals the life and prolific works of this enigmatic man.

Exhibitions are open Wednesdays to Fridays 1-5pm, and the first Saturday of the month 10am-4pm. Admission free.

To find out more about the first UK reading of a new piece by Charlotte Delaney, playwright and daughter of Salford writer Shelagh Delaney, on 3 November, and other events before the end of the year, head to http://www.wcml.org.uk/events.

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Barnsley Festival of Labour History - Friday 14th-Sunday 16th October 2016

The Civic, Hanson Street, Barnsley, S70 2HZ

Talks, discussion, music film - weekend ticket £10

Organised by Barnsley Trades Council to celebrate the 125th anniversary of our founding

Sponsored by the Society for the Study of Labour History

Highlights include

Friday 14 October - opening with gig by David Rovics (£5 entry) at The Old No. 7 Market Hill Barnsley

Saturday 15 October - Sunday 16 October

Speakers include Malcolm Chase, Dave Burland, Jill Liddington, Keith Laybourn, Louise Raw, John Newsinger, Donny Gluckstein, John Field, Anandi Ramamurthy, Ralph Darlington

On Saturday night there will be a screening of Ken Loach's film The Price of Coal.

Tickets / more info from Barnsley Trades Council c/o 33 Western Street, Barnsley, S70 2BT

Cheques payable to Barnsley Trades Council.  Tel 07594857960 for more info.

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Courses in Manchester this autumn on the history of Radical Women

Michael Herbert will be teaching two courses on the history of Radical Women 1790 – 1980 this autumn, one in the evening and one during the day.

The first course will be in the evening and will take place at Aquinas College, Nangreave Road, Stockport.  It will begin on Monday 12 September, 6.30pm to 8.30pm.  The course will last 10 weeks and finish on 21 November.  (Half-term will be 24th October)... The second part of the course at Aquinas will start in January 2017 and covers the years 1918-1980.

For information about the course fees and how to book, please contact Sheila Lahan at the Adult Education Unit at Aquinas College, email sheila@aquinas.college.ac.uk.  Telephone:  0161 419 9163.

Michael will also be teaching this course during the day at the Working Class Movement Library, starting on Tuesday 27th September, 11am to 1pm. It will cover the same topics as the course at Aquinas.  The course will last 10 weeks. Half-term will be 25 October and the course will finish on Tuesday 6 December. As part of the course there will be an opportunity to look at original documents and items in the collection at the WCML.

The cost of the course at the WCML will be £60, payable in advance. For more information about the course and how to book, please contact Michael Herbert: redflagwalks@gmail.com

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London Review Bookshop
19 October 2016 at 7 p.m.

Sheila Rowbotham was one of the leading figures behind the Women’s Liberation Movement in Britain and one of the best-loved feminists of our times. In conversation with Melissa Benn, Rowbotham will discuss her latest book Rebel Crossings: New Women, Free Lovers and Radicals in Britain and the United States and its transatlantic story of six radical pioneers, showing how rebellious ideas were formed and travelled across the Atlantic.

They will discuss the fascinating perspectives offered by Rebel Crossings: on the historical interaction of feminism, socialism, anarchism and on the incipient consciousness of a new sense of self, so vital for women seeking emancipation. In differing ways they sought to combine the creation of a co-operative society with personal freedom, engaging with ideas and experiments that speak to our times today.

http://www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/events/ N.B. Costs £10.

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Social Histories of the Russian Revolution

SOCIAL HISTORIES OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
A year-long series of monthly discussion meetings, timed to take place during the run-up to the centenary of Russia’s revolutions of 1917.
Venue: Birkbeck, University of London
Full programme and further information:  https://socialhistories1917.wordpress.com/

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Housmans Bookshop

‘Irregular War: ISIS and the New Threat from the Margins’ with Paul Rogers
Wednesday 5th October, 7pm
‘Understanding Eritrea: Inside Africa’s Most Repressive State’ with Martin Plaut
Wednesday 12th October, 7pm
‘Purple Prose: Bisexuality in Britain’ with Kate Harrad
Wednesday 19th October, 7pm
LOCOMOTRIX POETRY & OPEN MIC EVENT
‘Kaleidoscope’ with Laura Taylor. Supported by Joy France
Saturday 22nd October, 6.30pm
‘The Bonnot Gang: The Story of the French Illegalists’ with Richard Parry
Friday 28th October, 7pm
‘China and the New Maoists’ with Kerry Brown
Wednesday 2nd November, 7pm
‘No Borders: The Politics of Immigration Control and Resistance’ with Natasha King
Wednesday 9th November, 7pm‘The Refusal of Work: The Theory and Practice of Resistance to Work’ with David Frayne

Wednesday 16th November, 7pm
‘Angry White People: Coming Face-to-Face with the British Far Right’ with Hsiao-Hung Pai
Wednesday 30th November, 7pm
Read more...           
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Guided Tours of Marx Memorial Library

""The Marx Memorial Library has reopened after our summer closure for guided tours of the building, now including an exhibition of rare material from our archives and new displays dedicated to labour movement figures.
A ‘hidden gem’ of London’s radical and working class history, the Marx Memorial Library (37a Clerkenwell Green, London EC1R 0DU), offers guided tours to the public on Tuesdays and Thursdays every week at 1pm.
These tours allow people to visit the room and desk where Lenin worked in exile in London in 1902-3, see the banners of the British Battalion of volunteers in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39 and view artefacts from major industrial disputes, such as the mineworkers’ and Wapping strikes of the 1980s. These include a unique collection of over 100 commemorative ceramic plates created by the National Union of Mineworkers and its branches.
Also on display is a Hammersmith Socialist Society Banner embroidered by William Morris’ family, dating from the early 1890s, along with original posters from the Spanish Civil War and the Soviet Union.
The most recent additions to our displays are a portrait of Fidel Castro, presented to the library by the Cuban ambassador on May Day this year, and a maquette of suffragette and activist Sylvia Pankhurst, designed by the late sculptor Ian Walters. There is also a rotating exhibition in the main hall showcasing rare materials from our archives and historical collections.
In addition the Grade II listed building’s historic vaults, which date back to the fifteenth century, can be visited, as well as a memorial courtyard dedicated to media workers killed in the 20th century war against fascism, from Spain in 1936 to victory in Europe in 1945.
The Library was founded by a group of socialists in 1933 in response to the Burning of the Books by the Nazis in May of that year and has been at the heart of the British labour movement ever since.
The Library’s Archivist & Library Manager, Meirian Jump, said: “We have a fascinating story to tell and this past year has seen a surge of interest in our collections, and in the history of our unique building.”
She added: “Everyone who enters the building agrees that we are one of London’s hidden gems. Recently we’ve added some exciting new displays which we hope will encourage even more people to take part in our tours.”
Booking recommended. For further information email admin@mml.xyz or call 02072531485. £5/£3 unwaged.""

Marx Memorial Library & Workers' School

37a Clerkenwell Green
Marx Memorial Library
London
EC1R 0DU
020 7253 1485 admin@mml.xyz archives@mml.xyz www.marxlibrary.org.uk Opening Hours: Monday-Thursday 12-4pm Registered Charity Number: 270309 to unsubscribe: http://www.marx-memorial-library.org.uk/index.php?option=com_civicrm&task=civicrm/mailing/optout&reset=1&jid=2720&qid=70833&h=4be4426c2cb74b44 

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Medact's new report launch: expert speakers & panel discussion

Risking Their Health: Children in the Armed Forces

7-9 p.m., 18/10/2016. 
Brighton University, School of Humanities (Room G7), Pavilion Parade, BRIGHTON BN2 1RD.

We would like to invite you to the launch event for Medact's latest report, into the British military's recruitment of under 18s. You will hear from an panel of expert speakers and be able to join a discussion about the UK's policy of recruiting under 18s and the impact this has on their long-term health. We'll also be discussing the militarisation of civil society and education, why we need to speak out and act against it - and how to do so effectively. Speakers include:
Joe Glenton: Afghanistan veteran, author & campaigner
Sally Slotowitz: Psychologist and a report author
David Gee: UK Coordinator of Child Soldiers International

It's free, and all attendees will be given a copy of the report & a toolkit on how to challenge militarism in the UK. Registration advised.

"The UK is the only country in Europe to recruit 16 year olds and the only permanent member of the UN Security Council to recruit under 18s into the armed forces. Although recruits are not deployed until they turn 18, there are many reasons why the UK faces pressure from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, the UK’s Joint Committee on Human Rights and many other organisations to raise the recruitment age to the age of majority.

Medact’s report details the risks to health that are disproportionately faced by child recruits, including self-harm, suicide, death or injury from combat, and post-traumatic stress disorder. It also examines how recruitment is concentrated in areas of socio-economic disadvantage, and how this and other recruitment practices lead to those children who are most vulnerable to trauma-related health problems ending up on the front line. The report will feed medical evidence and a health perspective into the widespread campaign to raise the recruitment age to 18."

"Indecency" in a Brighton Church, 50 years ago

On the 2nd of October 1966 a small group of demonstrators, mostly from London, took part in a direct-action protest against the then Labour Government's support for America in the Vietnam war; several were arrested and charged after a bit of a rammy. The fact that this took place in a church during the Sunday morning service caused particular outrage among those given to outrage on such occasions (although not on the part of the Methodist minister who was officiating at the time). In 2012 the story was summarised on a blog which compared the reaction to it with the arrest of the Pussy Riot protesters in Russia.
                The 2012 article, headed by image of pamphlet Indecency in Church, begins:
 [see comment by "anubis" below for corrections] 
Many years ago (Sunday, October 2, 1966) a group of protesters disrupted a sermon being given by George Brown in the Dorset Gardens Methodist Church.

He and Wilson were in town for the Labour Party Conference. The Vietnam war was on and Wilson was on the side of the Americans.

Eight peace-loving protesters were arrested under section 2 of the Ecclesiastical Courts Jurisdiction Act of 1860. Six were fined £5 and two were jailed for two months.

Though the issues, means and law are different, Pussy Riot have just been found guilty. Sentences are awaited.   [...]  (17 Aug 2012) 

This post drew the attention of one of the actual participants in the 1966 action, who commented:

(anubis 7:47pm Fri 17 Aug 12)

Yes, Roy, I was in the church that morning -- indeed most of the demonstrators came from London and met at our home before we proceeded to the church. George Brown was reading a lesson (not preaching)-- as was Harold Wilson ... it was when Brown started talking about beating weapons into plough shares, that Nick Walter (well known anarchist) shouted out that he was a 'hypocrite and a liar' (Britain was deeply involved in Vietnam, albeit covertly) that the rumpus began.

It was a worthwhile demonstration, highlighting the cant and hypocrisy of religion, in general, Christianity in particular (Wilson was allegedly a devout Methodist), when war is the order of the day.
So many years have passed -- yet tragically little has changed; the world remains in the hands of those who make their millions from the violence they fund. Remember -- the American invaders dropped much more tonnage of bombs on Vietnam than was dropped by all powers in World War II -- and everyday, scores of Vietnamese are injured and killed by the unexploded scatter bombs they've left behind. And before it even got hotted up, Eisenhower had said (reported in his memoirs), "we couldn't allow free elections because the communists would win!"

[Further comments & discussion followed, including:-]

… the Methodist church opposed the prosecution of the demonstrators; indeed no less a leading church member than Lord Donald Soper appeared as a witness for the defence, telling the court “the impropriety was not necessarily an evil thing in the presence of the tremendous evil of the napalm bomb and war in the world; describing the accused as indecent was a falsification of the facts”, adding the protestors “had probably done more good than harm”.

The interchange of comments also addressed the matter of Wilson having reportedly resisted pressure from the Americans to get Britain more involved; "anubis" did not endorse recent attempts at rehabilitating him in this respect. (The argument that things, or politicians, could be worse has never convinced such activists that people should put up with them as they are.)

The story is also told, after a different fashion, by a file in the National Archives, presented thus:

Reference:	DPP 2/4306
Description:	WALTER, Nicholas [Nicolas] and others: affray during a demonstration in Dorset Garden[s] Methodist Church, Brighton against Harold WILSON MP and George BROWN MP. Prosecuted by Brighton Police following advice by DPP
Note:	The naming of a defendant within this catalogue does not imply guilt.
Date:	1966-1967
Held by:	The National Archives, Kew http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6090922

Notes from the public record
(as accessed some time ago)

Some names may be familiar to radical historians in connection with the Committee of 100, Solidarity, and direct action protests generally in the 1960s. Since they are listed in open sources, there seems little point in disguising them here, especially since publicity was the object of the exercise - for the protest, but accepting the hazard of it getting personal too.

File DPP 2/4306 WALTER, [Nicolas] & others: affray during a demonstration in Dorset Garden[s] Methodist Church, Brighton against Harold WILSON MP and George BROWN MP. Prosecuted by Brighton Police following advice by DPP [Director of Public Prosecutions] 1966-1967.

Access: 80-yr.-closure originally (to 2047); "open" 2005 after application for review, but said to be "with govt. dept." 24-3-05; finally seen 13-8-05.

The Accused* listed as: Nicholas Walter [he spelt it without the 'h'] 31; Derek W Russell 23; Heather Russell (c'svnt [Civil Servant]); Bernard R Miles 30; Jim Radford 38; Andy Anderson (Civil Servant) 40; Faith Barron 23; Megan Walsh 22; Susan Abrahams 23.

File Contents: Index, lists, 19 statements totalling 48pp., plus 3 ‘documents’ which are -

1. Cutting from Daily Mail 28-9-66 p.4: Charles Greville article on Sue Abrahams (Secretary of the C100 at the time) and the Vietnam Action Group: predicts Wilson may be next target for a demo/action; mentions 'London Committee of 100 HQ', in a ('crumbling') house in Finsbury Park; Greville notes that there are definite signs of the phone being tapped, Sue is not just being paranoid - too many wrong numbers, crackles, 'heavy breathing from people who won't say who they are'.

2. Vietnam Action Bulletin No.2 signed by Jim Radford: says he put ad in Peace News and Freedom asking for volunteers; who were carefully vetted - had to be known, vouched for etc., and reliable; secrecy paramount. Refers to recent action at West End theatres, played down by managements. Wants dramatic happenings, out for publicity (but not sabotage); to embarrass and impede, persuade servicemen, Civil servants to refuse war-related work. No purists, need to focus on issue; no theorists unless ready to act.

3. 3-10-66 Daily Telegraph, 3 photos [apparently of Megan W.].

There are fairly detailed descriptions on the file of alleged circumstances of each arrest by the officers who made them; handwritten notes with: names, identification, behaviour, words, interview (not all completed); and Charge sheets.

Some of the statements of arrests imply that the arrestees were being saved from a hostile crowd: e.g. (2-10) Sue A being eyed in hostile manner, and told to be quiet; some assistance from congregation in ejecting Derek and Heather R; someone carried away ‘to prevent further disturbance’; crowd gathering outside.

Witness Statements were taken between 3rd and 21st Oct., mostly a couple of pages following similar pattern: details of witness, often description of church layout, what they saw and heard including exact words of protesters (the message got across, no-one in doubt as to what the protest was about), whether they could identify anyone, what they thought of it and others’ reactions – lots of denunciation along the lines of ‘disgusting incidents’ and allegations of causing distress etc. suggesting prompting or leading questions.

Examples, with dates of statements: 
21-10-66 Choir member: 'arty' type said to have been ‘talking in a strong voice’ [underlined]; heard word 'Hypocrite'; general confusion. Caretaker: one called out after George Brown reading, hustled out of gallery, then immediate outburst when Wilson began: [AA] trying to read from a paper; heard 'Vietnam' and 'Hypocrite'; [Jim R] standing, struggled. Persons escorted out. 15 mins disturbance. 500 present, "many upset and distressed by this riotous conduct"; general uproar.

11-10 Member of congregation: disgusting scenes, distress & upset
9-10 Member of choir: "It struck me that the main theme was 'Vietnam'."
8-10 ... as far as could ascertain, only damage 1 broken glass tumbler, but (allegedly) people upset; also ‘violent’ & ‘unseemly’; women crying, fainting; 95-year-old, elderly, children frightened.

A notable exception to the chorus of disapproval was Dr Newman (statement dated 9-10) who had conducted the service on 2-10 and shared the pulpit with Brown & Wilson. He described the events and said the service continued after the interruption, but in an improvised way, not as planned. When asked (presumably) about identifying protesters he said that he was in a position to identify individuals ‘but as a Christian conscientiously feel that I ought not to do so’. Again presumably in reply to a usual question, he would only make the intrinsically neutral pronouncement (as he had said at the time): ‘I have never witnessed anything comparable’.

Police Interviews:

DI Reg Field interviewed the arrested women individually in Holloway 5-10-66, asking about the ‘more serious aspect’, whether the action was planned (looking at conspiracy?); which of the others they knew, whether each was a member of the Vietnam Action Group (he was told it had no members) etc.  Faith B and Heather R both said they had been invited by post to participate, and didn't keep the letter. They were all ready to talk a bit about why they had done it. Megan Walsh (4-10) said pictures in Daily Telegraph were obviously her.

By contrast the men all made no replies when seen by Field on 10-10-66 in presence of solicitor B Birnberg (see Stuart Christie’s Granny book, he was on that case too) although Jim Radford responded with "I am all ears" when told the DI wanted to ask some questions.

Charges

22-10-66 letter from Police HQ Brighton to DPP: they had been asked to seek more evidence on Miles, and whether there was any legislation in the by-laws they could use in the case; they found something but it had no power of arrest attached and max penalty was £5 fine.

DPP advice (25-10 signed Ryland Thomas) to the Chief Constable was that while he thought there was evidence against the accused as individuals, a single joint charge would be more suitable.

Eight appeared in court (Faith B flew to the USA on 8-10-66), Nicolas W defending himself, on 31-10, followed by adjournments to 25/11.

Verdict: Guilty of joint offences; no evidence offered re individual ones. Nicolas W and Jim R got 2 months, other 6 fined £5. All said they were going to appeal, and to ask meaning of 'indecent' [behaviour in church] in the charge; 'riotous' and 'violent' had been deleted from the charge after the defence argued they were ‘wrong in law’.

See also: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2006/sep/25/past.labourconference - in which Nic Walter's daughter Natasha gives an account of the protest.

The Solidarity group published a 36-page pamphlet on Vietnam in December 1973

* Some of the accused:-
Jim Radford has spoken about the occasion in an interview, and claimed authorship of the pamphlet about it,, published by the Committee of 100: 

28 Jan 2015 - "I did a good pamphlet on this, which was reprinted three times while I was in prison, called. Indecency in Church."
Sue A as Secretary of the Committee of 100 had organised and participated a London-Paris walk against French nuclear tests in the Pacific a couple of months previously.
Andy Anderson was the author of the classic 48-page Solidarity booklet on the Hungarian Revolution of 1966. 

Ringleaders and Reds in Khaki – British Army mutinies during the First World War

From: Resisting the War: Deserters, Conchies and Mutineers, Remembering the Real WWI

Sat 15th Oct, 2016            2:30 pm to 5:30 pm              

Ringleaders and Reds in Khaki - British Army mutinies during the First World War

Date: Sat 15th Oct, 2016 
Time: 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm 
Venue: Friends Meeting House, BRISTOL BS2 9DB 
Price: Donation 
With: Julian Putkowski, Lois Bibbings,People’s Histreh 
Series: Resisting the War: Deserters, Conchies and Mutineers, Remembering the Real WWI

Julian Putkowsk is a college lecturer, broadcaster and writer with an established interest in military discipline and dissent in the British Army. With Julian Sykes he co-authored Shot at Dawn(1989); he actively supported the ensuing campaign to secure exoneration for soldiers executed by the British Army and the Blair government’s response in both Murderous Tommies (2011), co-authored with Mark Dunning and Three Uneasy Pieces (2014). Julian’s research about rebels in khaki was reflected in British Army Mutineers 1914-1922 (1998) and his views about military ‘collective bargaining’ can be accessed online here.

Drawing on forty years research, this talk will air and invite debate about the social interpretation, political significance and leadership of the mutinous outbreaks that convulsed the British Army during the First World War.

"British Military historians and assorted flag-wavers celebrate the enthusiastic rush to the colours; the ensuing blood sacrifice of British Tommies, White Dominion troops and (belatedly) colonial formations and even military labourers. The stereotype of soldiers dutifully marching to their deaths was always a conservative mirage but only a handful of books have drawn attention to the hundreds of thousands of soldiers and military auxiliaries who rebelled, mutinied and challenged their commanders and political masters during the First World War. The ‘Unknown Army’, the pioneering study by Douglas Gill and Gloden Dallas produced in the late 1960’s chronicled the incidence of mutinies in Northern France and the UK; Andrew Rothstein’s brave claim that the mutineers were unconscious or perhaps semi-conscious Marxist Leninists, and David Englander’s promising exploration of khaki collective bargaining all challenge the dominant deferential stereotype.

Though there have been a few TV commemorations referencing indiscipline and dissent, the absence of substantive research has left the field open to sensationalism and fantasy, and for the most part public understanding has long been skewed by ‘The Monocled Mutineer’, book and TV drama. Notwithstanding twaddle about Percy Toplis, the declassification of soldiers’ service records admits identification of ringleaders who were punished for mutiny but the personalities who successfully organised, represented and negotiated deals with generals and politicians remain largely anonymous. The latter escaped being court-martialled, they were intelligent, literate, and politically savvy individuals and their names were certainly unknown to more than a handful of mutineers..."

And there's a walk this weekend:

Sun 2nd Oct, 2016            11:00 am              

Resisting the War: Deserters, Conchies and Mutineers   

Meet at Bristol Temple Meads station forecourt. 

"Well over 50 people turned up when we put on this walk in July. It was so popular we’re doing it again."
 […]               Geoff Woolfe