The student rebellion in America in 1968 was fuelled by revulsion against the Vietnam War. It gave momentum to previously existing anti-nuclear and anti-racist movements on the campuses. The difference between the anti-war movement then and now is that the students were being drafted to serve as junior officers in Vietnam. Mike Levine provides an eyewitness account of the student revolt illustrated by contemporary newspaper pictures. Roger surveys the hidden history of resistance to the war […]
We're taking you back to the 70s with a night of music from across the decade. 1970 may have seen the passing of Jimmi Hendrix and the disbanding of the Beatles but this decade saw the birth of new genres which were integral to fashions, the party and the political scene at the time. Punk Rock's anti-establishment and DIY ethic moved away from previous trends of the 60s, to create, as Tommy Ramone described "some pure, stripped down, no bullshit rock 'n' roll" and played a big part in the Punk […]
The dominant idea of strikes in the 1970s is that of the 'winter of discontent' of 1979 in which workers took industrial action in support of pay claims that breached the social contract brokered between union leaders and the Labour Government. However, the highpoint of workers' militancy was in the early years of the decade when rank and file workers led successful strikes across industry. This meeting will examine the strikes of miners, builders and dockers as well as industrial action in […]
Sweet Liberation (community choir), Richard Burley & Danny Ward (acoustic set), Red Notes Choir (4 part harmony), Lynda Sanderson & Pauline Setterfield (opera singer and organist). A celebration of roles played by St. Wulfstan, Thomas Clarkson and the Seven Stars pub played in gaining freedom.
The rise of militancy in the workplace, universities and the new left in the early 1970s Britain generated a reaction by the ‘secret state’. A major campaign was launched by Special Branch and MI5 to infiltrate and destabilise these arenas, which culminated in a plot to overthrow Harold Wilson’s Labour government in the mid 1970s. Investigative researcher Larry O’Hara will give an overview of the period, looking at the tactics and strategies of the secret state. Watch this talk: If you see this […]
The two-year strike (1976–1978) over trade union recognition at the Grunwick Film Processing Laboratories in Willesden, North London is iconic in left wing history. During a decade of industrial unrest, the Grunwick dispute became a cause célèbre of trade unionism and labour relations law, and at its height involved thousands of trade unionists and police in confrontations. The total of 550 arrests made during the strike was at the time the highest such figure in any industrial dispute since the […]
In the mid 1970s, a new generation of South Asian youth were growing up in Britain. They emerged less prepared to tolerate the racism in British society, which their parents had had to suffer. This period also saw heightened fascist and racist activity, increasing police violence and the institutionalisation of racism through discriminatory immigration laws. A racist murder in Southall was the spark for the formation of a new organisation: the Southall Youth Movement. This organisation made up […]
Ford plants in the 1970s were epicentres of worker militancy as recently depicted in the film Made In Dagenham. Carlos was a founder member of the Ford Dagenham Workers' Group and Brian worked at the Halewood plant from 1970 till late ‘77. They will discuss the reality of life in the Ford Company, the hidden history of the equal pay disputes and the changes that have taken place since that era. Carlos (Charlie) Guarita worked at the Ford Dagenham Engine Plant from 1976 till early 1980. He was a […]
The West Indies Cricket Tour to England in 1976 came at a time of mounting attacks and provocations on black communities both by fascist groups such as the National Front and by the institutionally racist police forces. The situation was inflamed by the comments of England Captain and native South African Tony Greig, who before the tour claimed "I intend to make them grovel", a comment which came amid the controversy about apartheid and sporting boycotts. Includes a showing of the BBC […]
'Straight edge' has persisted as a drug-free, hardcore punk subculture for 25 years. Its political legacy remains ambiguous and it is often associated with self-righteous macho posturing and conservative Puritanism. While certain elements of straight edge culture feed into such perception, the cultureʼs political history is far more complex. Since straight edgeʼs origins in Washington, D.C. in the early 1980s, it has been linked to radical thought and action by countless individuals, bands, and […]
