The great anarchist historian and activist left us a message for these dire times ~ Natasha Walter ~ How do we keep hope and faith alive? People keep asking that question as we watch the climate slide into crisis, war crimes stream across our social media platforms, and authoritarian leaders take power. While our problems
Tag: Freedom Press
Radical Reprint: Conflict and class struggle
The anarchist split over the Great War (WW1) burst into print in November 1914, with grave consequences ~ Rob Ray ~ One of the most famous articles Freedom ever carried, at least in historical terms, was a piece by Errico Malatesta, that titan of the Italian anarchist movement, entitled ‘Anarchists Have Forgotten Their Principles‘, in
Spycops Inquiry to hear evidence of Freedom infiltration
Undercover Roger Pearce — later head of the Special Demonstration Squad — attempted to link anarchist paper to Northern Irish republicans in the 1980s
Radical Reprint: The Voice of Labour
With militarism and the expectation of a war in Europe on the rise, Freedom‘s approach wasn’t getting as much of a bump in readership as hoped, according to reports from the anarchists’ annual gathering in Newcastle in May 1914. Anarchism’s reach in Britain at the time was, as ever, limited compared to the greater movements
Spycops Inquiry: Closing statements roundup
Yesterday saw closing statements in the Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI), a sprawling investigation into the use of spycops covering four decades of operations, focusing in this tranche on the 1968-1982 period.
Book Review: A Normal Life
M Morrison takes a lengthy look at the autobiography of Vassilis Palaiokostas, better known as the Greek Robin Hood. A Normal Lifeby Vassilis PalaiokostasISBN: 978-1-904491-40-8Paperback: 352pp£15 (available here) Illegalism is a practice that has its roots in the French anarcho-individualist movement of the late 19th century. The idea in, its initial form, argued that if
Radical reprint: Wait! Wait! Wait!
In 1932, a Freedom Bulletin was produced which took aim at the state of the economic crisis in Britain, calling on workers to cease listening to the lies of the political class — it almost could have been written yesterday. The article, produced when Freedom consisted of Tom Keell (pictured and most likely the author)
Beer punks and anarchist cafes: politics for profit
Many could be forgiven for thinking it was a belated April Fools prank when, at the beginning of the month, Freedom Press released a statement reading that close to their premises in Whitechapel and out with their knowledge, the colossal Hilton hotel group had opened an upmarket cocktail bar bearing the name ‘Freedom Café’. Marketed
Freedom Press co-opted by … the Hilton?
This story is so utterly ridiculous that when we heard it yesterday we all initially thought it was an April Fools. Freedom Press has, admittedly, got an interesting sort of history and some nice old-timey aesthetics – we’ve been around for a long time after all, selling anarchist books and newspapers. There’s photos of Freedom
The Met spychief who infiltrated Freedom Press: a memory
Freedom, among many other left organisations, was targeted by the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) multiple times over the years, most notably by senior officer Roger “Thorley” Pearce. Back in 2018, we published the results of our investigation, tracking his articles through the paper and talking to old comrades, and revealed at least some of the