News Feed - Bristol Radical History Group

Escape was on Everyone’s Mind

The Tale of Jack Sheppard

The Greenbank, 57 Belle Vue Rd, Easton, BS5 6DP. Matinee Doors 3.00 pm, show 3.30 pm Evening Doors 7.00 pm, show 7.30 pm Paper Theatre by Otherstory See how an ordinary apprentice carpenter from East London became the legendary jail breaker and hero of the people, whose fame spread across oceans. Witness his daring escapes! Watch him outwit judges, jailers and the Thieftaker General - until the hangman's noose beckons and it's now or never, neck or nothing... To reserve tickets, email […]

Black Flags and Windmills

Creating power from below

When both levees and governments failed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the anarchist-inspired Common Ground Collective was created to fill the void. With the motto of 'Solidarity Not Charity', they worked to create power from below; building autonomous projects, programs, and spaces of self-sufficiency like health clinics and neighborhood assemblies, while also supporting communities defending themselves from white militias and police brutality, illegal home demolitions and […]

Eastville Workhouse Memorial

By Randell Brantley

Here are some pictures of sculptor Matthew Billington working on the memorial to mark the Eastville Workhouse burial ground on Rosemary Green. Over 4000 men, women and children were buried on the site between 1851 and 1895. The memorial, which is made from Welsh slate, will be unveiled at the end of November. Find out more about the Eastville Workhouse project.

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By Wu Ming

What does the Italian/ American mafia, the Italian Communist Party, Cary Grant, Field Marshal Tito, the KGB, and a McGriffin TV have in common? Well read this book and you will have a find out. All these are marvellously and skilfully interwoven into a rich plot that spans 541 pages of compelling reading. What makes the story even more enthralling is the fact that it is written by a collective of authors, going under the name of Wu Ming. Previously known as Luther Blisset, a famous black […]

Pauper deaths and burials in Victorian England

Funeral ceremonies were very important to middle class Victorians, with detailed and often elaborate rituals to mark the passing of cherished family members and those deemed ‘important’. But for paupers who died in the workhouses, things were very different. Building on continuing research into the unmarked graves behind the site of Eastville workhouse, Bristol, this talk exposes the contrast in treatment between rich and poor in death. This meeting is organised by UWE Regional History Centre as […]

Justice For Alice Wheeldon!

In 1917, socialist, feminist and anti-war activist, Alice Wheeldon, her daughter Winnie and husband Alf Mason were given long prison sentences for supposedly plotting to kill the Prime Minister Lloyd George and Arthur Henderson, the leader of the Labour Party. The evidence was flimsy, their accuser an MI5 agent provocateur so dubious the prosecution kept him away from the trial. It was a time when Britons were increasingly vocal in their opposition to the continuing and pointless carnage of the […]

The Secret War Against Apartheid

By Randell Brantley

Ken Keable, editor of London Recruits - the secret war against apartheid will be talking about that book and his own role in the story, and Pete Smith, who worked secretly for the ANC over many years, will be talking about ANC and South Afirican Communist Party member and scientist Dr Ron Press, who lived much of his life in Bristol . Many Bristol political activists will remember Ron Press for his publicly known work but few will know of the secret work that he did as an exiled South African […]

Eric Hobsbawn: Socialist Historian

This publication by The Socialist History Society is a record of a special event in 2013 to celebrate and assess the work of the late Marxist and historian, Professor Eric Hobsbawm. The centre section of this publication, entitled ‘Hobsbawm’s Tetralogy’ focuses on his four important writings The Age of Revolution, Primitive Rebels, The Age of Capital and The Age of Extremes, beginning at the French revolution in 1789 and concluding towards the end of the twentieth century in 1991. According to […]

The Bristol Deserter

Alfred Jefferies And The Great War

By Geoff Woolfe

The years leading up to 1914 saw a wave of strike action across Britain; at the same time there were fears of war with Germany whipped up by the press and in popular culture. Some like Bristol’s Trade Union Leader Ernest Bevin argued that workers’ interests were the same worldwide and that war would be disastrous. Nevertheless, when war broke out, patriotism won out over international brotherhood. Thousands of workers were persuaded to sign up to Kitchener’s army, including hundreds who worked […]

Jeremy Corbyn at Tolpuddle 2015

By Randell Brantley

Jeremy Corbyn MP speaking at Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival 19/07/2015 South West Unison Tent. The Captain Swing rioters get a nice mention near the start.