Bash the Rich: True Life Confessions of an Anarchist in the UK by Ian Bone (Tangent Books 2006)

In fact, most anarchists kept their private lives completely divorced from their anarchist activities and would have been horrified if their neighbours had known about their hobby!

More to the point, I thought not talking to the media was missing out on major opportunities to spread our ideas. Yes of course we'd been misrepresented . . . blah blah . . . but still, however deformed, our ideas and existence would be read about by far more people in the News of the World (circulation 5,000,000) than a piece in Class War (circulation 15,000). After all, I'd first found out about anarchism in Punch. So when Andrew Tyler contacted us about doing a piece in Time Out about Class War in May 1985, me and Martin Wright decided to brave the cries of 'sell-out!' and go for it. If we were going to be exposed anyway, we might at least get a few good quotes in.

The Time Out piece was better than we could have dreamed of. Tyler had grasped the difference between us and the stultifying torpor that was British anarchism and written a coruscating piece that gave Class War an electrifying jolt. The oxygen of publicity resulted in a packed Class War conference two weeks later. The predicted criticism of our sell-out in Time Out came early in the day. 'Yes, I am sorry we appeared in Time Out,' I grovelled, 'I'm sorry it wasn't on the front page of the News of the World'. Tumultuous applause (well so it seems 20 years later). The case for talking to the press was won and has always been vindicated in my view. I was subsequently exposed in the Sunday Mirror, Today and the News of the World ('Dangerous lunatics who want to kill the entire cast of Eastenders' - don't ask!) and despite the vilification we got, our post bag was always rammed full the following week with people who'd never heard of us before but wanted o get involved now.

In particular, the quotation from the Living Legends lyric God Bless You Queen Mum appearing in the Sunday Mirror and wishing her an early death was especially popular. The key, of course, is not to believe your own publicity and the oxygen certainly went to my head in those intoxicating months in 1985. At the conference I had argued for '500 people with sledgehammers attacking the bridge at Henley.' By the time of that year's anarchist bookfair in Conway Hall, I was well away. Having sold shit loads of Class Wars with Martin I took the stage at the end of the day. Well, actually, there was already someone on the stage so I had to push him off it first. Unfortunately, that person was Donald Rooum - a veteran comrade I have a lot of respect for going back to his framing by the police for intending to throw a brick at the queen of Greece in the 1960s. However, it wasn't really Donald I was shoving off the stage but the old anarchist movement. Drunk as fuck I declared:

'You liberals and pacifists have had our movement for too long, now it's our turn. If we haven't reduced the place to ruins in five years you can have it back!'

Quite why I wanted to reduce the venerable Conway Hall to ruins was unclear. But what the fuck. I might have paraphrased Durrutti, but the point was clear. We were on a fucking roll.

If I was in London right now . . .

. . . I'd be thinking of popping along to this meeting:

‘What makes good radical writing?’

A panel discussion with Anne Beech, Ian Bone, and Suzanne Moore

Wednesday 9th May, 7pm

Entry £3, redeemable against any purchase

On Tuesday 1st May the first recipient of the Bread and Roses Award for Radical Publishing shall be announced. The process of creating a radical book prize has brought up interesting questions as to how to evaluate radical writing. Is the primary goal to effectively communicate ideas? And if so, how do we measure its effectiveness? How do we measure it’s radicalism? Must it be accessible to all readers, or is there a place for pedantic or even obscure writing?

On his influential blog, ‘Anarchist in the UK’, Ian Bone posed a fundamental, and as-yet-unresolved, question about radical writing: is it a matter of “writing about what you want people to know, or what they want to know?”

Based on their experiences within the radical wing of contemporary journalism and book publishing, our speakers will navigate the tensions between vanguardism and populism that have guided radical writing and actions for the last century, and reflect on how these tensions are manifested today.

Please join us as we tackle these questions in what will be an illuminating discussion on the forms and contents of radical communication.

About the participants

Anne Beech is the Commissioning Editor and Managing Director of Pluto Press.

Ian Bone is founder of the anarchist paper Class War, author of the books ‘Decade of Disorder’, ‘Anarchist’, and ‘Bash the Rich,’ and a long-time political agitator. He blogs at http://ianbone.wordpress.com/

Suzanne Moore is an award-winning columnist for the Guardian. She also writes for the Mail on Sunday.

The session will be chaired by Tess Carota.

Ian Bone's an entertaining public speaker, and it's a topic close to my heart.

Leighton Rees versus latent rouse*

Very funny anecdote from Citizen Bone's blog about the halcyon days of Solidarity in South Wales. Apparently it's the kick starter to an ongoing blog series about cock-ups on the radical and anarchist left. I'll look forward to that.

I wonder if that particular anecdote is included in John Quail's threatened history of Solidarity? I wonder if that bastard will ever get round to publishing it? Six years and counting. Slow burning fuse? Indeed.

*I wonder if there's still time for me to submit my entry for 2009's 'Worst use of a pun in a blog title' award? I've got a fighting chance with that piss-poor effort.

Five Go Mad in Dalston

Ian Bone brings details of what will be the Must See Film of 2015. (I'm pegging it for a 2015 release date unless the lottery commission is still doling out the revenue from the poverty tax for funding British films that won't make any money.)

The suggested chapter headings look intriguing. It looks like a mix of Green Street Hooligans and Channel 4's 80s comedy Dream Stuffing. If the filmmaker, Greg Hall, is taking requests for what scenes to pre-screen on YouTube, I'm especially interested in chapters 29, 38 and 41.

I wonder if David Baddiel will appear as himself? Surely only one man can play the late, grate Joe Strummer. But can he master the mockney accent for the part?

More info on the proposed movie adaption of Ian Bone's 'Bash The Rich' over here.

Until Pixar finally get round to adapting Breaking Free for the big screen . . .

Hug someone wearing an AK Press Hoodie Day

First spotted over at Ian Bone's blog, it now gets a very generous write up on the BBC website.

It's an alternative universe as scripted by Martin Millar . . .

A rolling Bone gathers no Moss

The title of the post comes courtesy of Robert of MySpace SPGB fame (as does the links below).

In 8-parts, the links to the YouTube clips of the Socialist Party's 20th October debate with Class War's Ian Bone on the subject of 'Which Way to Revolution?'

Debating for the Socialist Party was Swansea Branch's Howard Moss and in the chair for the meeting was a fellow SPGB blogger. (Mentioning no names. Providing no links. You'll have to guess for yourself.)

I've yet to watch the debate in full myself but I thought I'd post it up asap because H over at Cactus Mouth Informer was asking after it a few weeks back.

You can also download an audio version of the debate over here if you're more the iPod type of armchair activist.

Pt.1 'Which Way to Revolution?'

Pt.2 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Wkv31_D1Ak8

Pt.3 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=NissNsnNIjs

Pt.4 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=I2-0Txi5MDI

Pt.5 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1ylp3BQExzo

Pt.6 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc1PfYmd2mc

Pt.7 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=HpUM0dlYEr0

Pt.8 http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=A91UTei_zIA

Quote of the Day

From the intro to Ian Bone's recent radio interview with Tony Wood, organiser of the long established - and just passed for this year - London Anarchist Bookfair:

"Good evening anarchists, everywhere . . . On October 18th the most momentous event - some cynics would say the only event - in the annual anarchist calendar takes place, the Anarchist Bookfair. Thousands of anarchists suddenly appear like Brigadoon for the day before promptly vanishing again. Prompting the immortal quote from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, "Who were those guys?"

An mp3 of the interview can be downloaded here.

Freaks, Geeks and Class Struggle Anarchists

There's an (intentionally) hilarious thread going on over at Urban 75 at the moment on the subject of the *cough* rich tapestry of life that makes up the British anarchist movement. ('bam' for short.)

I'm not providing a direct link to the nostaligathon, as you can find it yourself if you're that interested in the subject. (Go on - sign up to Urban 75. There's enough left trainspotting anecdotes piled up in that thread to see you through the next 101 branch meetings.).

And anyway, despite my previously expressed irritation at the lifestyle ghetto of a lot of anarcho-types, none of us on the political fringes are in that secure a position to get on a high horse about such matters. You could swap 'Anarchist' for 'Trot' or 'Left Communist' or 'SPGBer', and come up with an equally hilarious thread . . . . intentional or otherwise. None of us are immune from such 'You're a bit fucking strange, mate,' finger pointing . . . and I include myself personally in that sweeping generalisation. You OK at the back? My words haven't offended you too much? Good.

On the subject of freaks, geeks and class struggle anarchists, I couldn't help but notice the striking resemblance between Ian Bone (in the '68 vintage photo on the left) and 'Harris Trinsky' from the seminal American comedy-drama series Freaks and Geeks.

Granted they part their hair on different sides but the dopplegangerish aspect of the two images is uncanny.

And when you consider the celebrity elder statesman status of Ian Bone within the anarchist movement - christ, I remember reading about him in the pages of the Sunday tabloid press when as a young teen my interest in politics stretched to nothing more than a hatred of Thatcher, the SWP and the External Fraction of the ICC - it does seem to overlap snugly with the role that Trinsky plays in relation to the younger geeks in the show.

Trinsky has the elevated status of the older geek whose been there, done that, got the wedgie up his arse in the school locker room from the 'jocks', and is now in a position to offer the sagacious advice to the others in between games of D & D.

The similarities definitely lock into place with this particularly memorable quote of Trinsky's, "Bodies are merely a shell which conceal our heavenly souls." Christ, that could have been lifted lock, stock and barrel from Class War's 'Heavy Stuff'

Now, if I could only find a picture of that Class War/Anarchist Federation bloke whose the spitting image - SPITTING IMAGE - of Boris Johnson, I'd be quids in. The bloke's either gone to ground through sheer embarrassment at the hand that fate has dealt him or he's quids in himself, doing the lookalike circuit. I hope it's the latter.

Class War's Ian Bone on the Jonathan Ross Show

A historical curio via Urban 75 and YouTube.

Ian Bone interviewed by Jonathan Ross around about 91/92. (I'm guessing the date because Major and Kinnock are mentioned at some point during the interview.)

Eighties, We're Living In The Eighties

Wasn't the ACA last week? oh, wait up they were there last week.

On the same day that I see via yahoo news that there is a current nostalgia wave for baby boomer heavy rock from the eighties, I spot that certain baby boomer anarchists are organising a Bash The Rich/Toffs Out walking tour of Notting Hill for tomorrow that will take in a pub crawl, a bit of local radical history, and will be rounded off with a walk-by of the gaffs of David Cameron, George Osborne, that posh bloke that Hugh Grant played in that stodgy film and Tom Parker Bowles to shout the odds and generally to take the piss.

All very Leo Baxendale, and a throwback to the eighties Bash the Rich/Stop the City spectacles, but the baby boomer anarchists know that better than most, as you can tell from the glint in Ian Bone's eye in this short YouTube clip advertising tomorrow's jollee.