News Feed - Bristol Radical History Group

Book Launch: Futures

John Barker discusses his upcoming release 'Futures', a novel set in 1987 London. Barker will be reading from the text and discussing the finance industry, Thatchers' Britain, the world of drugs and organised crime and the various links to the City of London. More details can be found on PM Press' website. John Barker was born in London in 1948. In 1972 he was convicted of conspiring to cause explosions in what was called the Angry Brigade trial. He served a ten-year prison sentence and is the […]

Ukrainian Nationalism – a historical perspective

"DONETSK - SPLINTERING CITY. Founded by the Welsh capitalist John Hughes, the city's frequent changes of name - Hughesovka, Trotskya, Stalino, Donetsk - give some indication of its troubled history. Colin Thomas filmed there when it was still part of the Soviet Union, again when it became part of Ukraine and he returned once more in 2008 when its unease with Ukrainian nationalism was beginning to emerge. His book/DVD on the subject -"Dreaming a City" - is published by Y Lolfa. To include […]

The Quaker William Penn: An Alternative View of the Founder of Pennsylvania

By Randell Brantley

May 8, 2014 6:00 pm-May 8, 2014 7:30 pm William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania who lived in Bristol, is often viewed as a pacifist and promoter of religious freedom. Here historian Jim McNeil explores the darker side of the Penn family, including their involvement in the transatlantic slave trade and European expansionism in America. £7 (£5 Museum members) All participants must register to take part in courses, workshops, and lectures. To register call 01225 820866 or email […]

Spirit of Revolt

The Archive collects, manages and preserves multi-media records from Glasgow’s and Clydeside’s anarchist and libertarian-socialist past and present. The website allows you to access the complete catalogue of our Archive. You can access all material at Glasgow’s Mitchell Library. Furthermore, an increasing number of documents are [...]

175th Anniversary of the Chartist Uprising in Newport

By Randell Brantley

2014 is the 175th Anniversary of the south Wales Rising 1839. Read the Chartist Newsletter: Chartist Newsletter 4 (March 2014) screen version

Film Screening of Epiphany

Epiphany : directed by Suzy Gillett : produced by Ian Bone : 2013 Epiphany is a hybrid documentary evoking the Mystics and Anarchists of the English Revolution. Highlighting two little-known religious and political movements of the 1600s' Republic, The Fifth Monarchists and the Muggletons come to life in London as told by contemporary leading anarchists: Ian Bone and Martin Wright star as John Thurloe (Cromwell's spymaster) and Thomas Vennner. Venner led the only uprising through the city […]

WWI Resistance

Shirkers, Skulkers, Deserters and the 'Live and Let Live' Principle: Everyday Resistance to Combat on the Western Front in World War 1 With Roger Ball Fraternisation between opposing armed forces on the Western front on Christmas Day 1914 is part of the British collective memory; sold to us a momentary 'miracle' involving a few hundred troops. Of far more interest is the massive scale and crucially the context for these events. The everyday 'hidden' resistance of troops on both sides to the […]

Black Star: Britain’s Asian Youth Movement

Anandi Ramamurthy will discuss the prejudice and political struggles which Asian youth movements have encountered in Britain. Black Star: Britain’s Asian Youth Movement (Pluto Press, 2013) documents the vibrant Asian youth movements in 1970s and 80s Britain who struggled against the racism of the street and the state. Anandi Ramamurthy shows how they drew inspiration from Black Power movements, as well as anti-imperialist and workers' struggles across the globe. Drawing on her intimate knowledge […]

The Eco-anarchism of Street Farm

Steve Hunt will launch his book about Street Farm, published by Tangent Books in April 2014 Street Farm were an anarchist collective that worked to green the counterculture during the 1970s. Peter Crump, Bruce Haggart, Graham Caine and their friends put together Street Farmer, an underground paper that, alongside mutating tower blocks, cosmic tractors and sprouting one-way signs, propagated ideas for the radical transformation of urban living which they called ‘revolutionary urbanism’. Taking […]

The Fair Fight: women boxers in 18th Century Bristol

The Fair Fight is a pulsating historical novel set within the world of female pugilists and their patrons in late eighteenth-century Bristol. It is an unputdownable story which takes you from a filthy brothel to the finest houses in the town, from the world of street fighters to the world of champions. Alive with the smells and sounds of the streets, The Fair Fight is a major debut. Anna Freeman a lecturer in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University as well as a multiple slam-winning performance […]