The results of an election 80 years ago prompted arguments which have familiar, rhyming lines for our modern context ~ Rob Ray ~ At long last, after its 1930s and 40s slumber, the name Freedom (incorporating War Commentary) reappeared on the masthead of Freedom Press’s late August 1945 edition, over the headline “Is This Peace?”
The great and good who had mobilised to fight against attacks on the anarchists’ right to free speech recognised its true threat was broader …
Following raids on Freedom Press by Special Branch, at the behest of the Home Office, which had been reported in January 1945 (recounted in last month’s column), pressure was kept up with a succession of court cases, reported on at length by the right-wing press ~ Rob Ray ~ That the February 24th edition of
A fierce working class propagandist, Motler couldn’t stand the stilted, esoteric tones of many anarchist and socialist writers – and wasn’t shy in saying so ~ Rob Ray ~ Freedom was contacted, around this time last year, by a small production company interested in doing a documentary for the British Sign Language Broadcasting Trust.
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
There is a very obvious article to reprint from the October 1914 issue of Freedom, which is precisely why I’m selecting a different one.
By the time Freedom‘s September issue hit the streets in 1914 the disaster that was to become known as World War One was already underway, and anarchists found themselves shouting sanity into a world that no longer wanted to listen ~ Rob Ray ~ The edition is a curious beast, mixing a thunderous front page
The international political grouping around Freedom was aware of the threatened onrush of what was to become World War I — and wrote with increasing desperation in its August 1914 issue, calling on workers to resist calls to arms as Austria used the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand to justify an imperial invasion.
For its July issue Freedom of course led with the most infamous event of the moment, and as ever was not shy in its take, headlining a short, wry report with ‘Cause and Effect.’ The assassination, known for sparking the series of events that led to World War One, was worldwide news and, with the
In June 1914 much of that month’s edition of Freedom was given over to a lengthy analysis in the aftermath of the Ludlow Massacre, one of the most infamous strikebreaking incidents in United States history.
French police directed the demonstration with flash grenades and tear gas ~ from Contre Attaque ~ Saturday, 13 September, a rainy day in Nantes.
To resist normalisation, we need enduring groundwork with attacked communities—and spaces for open strategising ~ Blade Runner ~ On Saturday 13 September, between 110,000 and 150,000 turned out in response to Tommy Robinson’s call, a mobilisation framed as a defence of “free speech” but saturated with white nationalist, Islamophobic and anti-migrant rhetoric.
Well-coordinated direct action catches the police off guard, showing the power of secure and strategic organising ~ Kevin Blowe ~ On 9 September, at around 7.30 in the morning, an advance bloc of about 150 protesters, their faces covered, suddenly appeared by London City Hall in east London, near to where Britain’s largest arms fair,
The regime deported 52 political prisoners in exchange for sanctions relief ~ Nikita Ivansky ~ Anarchist Nikolai (Mikola) Dziadok was among 52 political prisoners released and deported from Belarus to Lithuania on 11 September, following negotiations between dictator Alexander Lukashenko and US envoy John Colae.
Having gone mostly online in 2014, Freedom continues to publish an irregular paper today. Those and many other issues stretching back to our founding in 1886 are online above, at libcom.org, and via the Sparrow’s Nest.
The book publishing arm of Freedom Press has a history stretching back to the 19th century and continues to publish today. Check out our catalogue to order stock or you can order from Central Books.
Keep up with the news, features and interviews Freedom produces over the year with our irregular newsletters.
Email
editor {at} freedompress.org.uk
Phone
07952 157-742
Address
84b Whitechapel High St, London E1 7QX (12-6pm)
Map
Design & hosting
Squashed Fly
Copyright
Freedom uses the Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. All other content providers reproduced retain copyright unless stated otherwise.
