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The Battle for Hyde Park - ruffians, radicals and ravers, 1855-1994. 20th Anniversary Edition. 20 years after the original printing of this pamphlet by Practical History, this has been reprinted in a slightly expanded version by Past Tense! Grab it for one euro, or add it as a free item at chechout if your order is over 20 euro.
Carol is a small-time cocaine dealer in 1987 London. She’s on her own with a young daughter, a good mother who is especially careful in her working life. For some punters, this involves being Simone. One of these customers is Phil, a financial analyst in the City who, with his longtime pal and fellow analyst Jack, fantasizes a cocaine futures market while on a coke binge. They look at it as they would look at any other commodity. At the top of the wholesale business are Gordon Murray and his brothers, who have an “in“ with the Drug Squad and are prepared to shop anyone to keep it that way, on top of the violence they use as and when needed. When the cocaine futures market becomes a reality, Carol has an opportunity to go for the big deal that could get her out of the business altogether. Meanwhile, a stock market crash creates havoc, and a once-in-a lifetime hurricane sweeps across London, ripping down trees and the communication systems of the stock market itself. Carol must make her choice, as three very different worlds are about to collide. Praise: “In Futures, John Barker has produced a fast-paced, hard-boiled novel that pulls you back, effortlessly, into morally corrupt Thatcherite London. Barker’s crisp, laconic, prose, eye-for-detail storytelling, command of the art of narrative, and his ear for fluid and convincing dialogue makes him, in my view, Hackney’s worthy successor to Tom Wolfe.“ —Stuart Christie, author of Granny Made Me an Anarchist “John Barker’s prose is so downbeat he leaves even the most gritty of crime novelists looking like they’re aiming for the preteen market. But if you want to get beyond the fairy tale version of the sordid underbelly of life, then you gotta check Futures out.“ —Stewart Home, author of 69 Things to Do with a Dead Princess “In this fast-paced, streetwise take on eighties London, boundaries blur between the cocaine trade and newly deregulated financial markets. High and low life don’t look so different, as everyone tries to make a killing. Barker’s portrait of a cynical, money-hungry culture skewers a moment in history that for good or ill (and mostly for ill) made Britain what it is today.“ —Hari Kunzru, author of The Impressionist “The prose grabs you by the throat and squeezes. The characters are by turns reckless, ambitious, vulnerable, and weak. The story is set in the past but couldn’t be more relevant. Futures is funny, frightening, and very dark.“—Ronan Bennett, author of The Catastrophist About John Barker: 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 author of Bending the Bars, a memoir of his prison time. He worked as a dustman and welder before being implicated in a conspiracy to import cannabis in 1986. In 1990 he was finally arrested and served a five-year sentence. Since then he has worked as writer and book indexer. Product Details: Author: John BarkerPublisher: PM PressISBN: 978-1-60486-961-3Published: 05/14Format: Paperback Size: 8 x 5Page Count: 384
The definitive book about the politics of the Class War Federation, including brief histories and descriptions of the capitalist system and how it functions.
The Value of Radical Theory achieves two main goals: It explains Marx’s economic theory, providing readers with a solid foundation in his critique of capitalism. Wayne Price’s political insights also offer a framework through which anarchists can understand and use Marx, while remaining anarchists.The result is an insightful primer that sidesteps the typical anarchist vs. Marxist debates. Price presents Marx’s theory as an as-yet-unsurpassed explanation of contemporary capitalism, one that will aid in the task of overcoming the market and ushering in an era of collective, participatory control of the economy, inspired by anarchist political and ethical traditions.Wayne Price is a long-time writer, theorist, and activist on the Left. He has been involved in a series of revolutionary libertarian-socialist organizations and has been active in dissident caucuses in teacher unions, human rights organizing, and the antiwar movement, from the Vietnam war to today. Price’s adherence to class-struggle anarchism has been complimented by a deep appreciation for Marx's critique of capitalism. He is the author of The Abolition of the State: Anarchist & Marxist Perspectives (2007) andAnarchism & Socialism: Reformism or Revolution? (2010).
This book lays out the anarcho-communist alternative Russian revolutionary opposition to the Bolsheviks. Anton Pannekoek was a Dutch worker, Socialist, and astronomer. He wrote Workers’ Councils amidst Nazi occupation of Holland.
C.L.R. James was a leading figure in the independence movement in the West Indies, and the black and working-class movements in both Britain and the United States. As a major contributor to Marxist and revolutionary theory, his project was to discover, document, and elaborate the aspects of working-class activity that constitute the revolution in today's world. In this volume, Noel Ignatiev, author of How the Irish Became White, provides an extensive introduction to James’ life and thought, before presenting two critical works that together illustrate the tremendous breadth and depth of James’ worldview. "The Invading Socialist Society," for James the fundamental document of his political tendency, shows clearly the power of James’ political acumen and its relevance in today’s world with a clarity of analysis that anticipated future events to a remarkable extent. "Every Cook Can Govern," is a short and eminently readable piece counterpoising direct with representative democracy, and getting to the heart of how we should relate to one another. Together these two works represent the principal themes that run through James’s life: implacable hostility toward all “condescending saviors” of the working class, and undying faith in the power of ordinary people to build a new world. Praise:“It would take a person with great confidence, and good judgment, to select from the substantial writings of C.L.R. James just two items to represent the 'principal themes' in James' life and thought. Fortunately, Noel Ignatiev is such a person. With a concise, but thorough introduction, Ignatiev sets the stage and C.L.R. James does the rest. In these often confusing times one way to keep one’s head on straight and to chart a clear path to the future is to engage the analytical methods and theoretical insights of C.L.R. James. What you hold in your hands is an excellent starting point.” ---John H. Bracey Jr., professor of African-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and co-editor of Strangers & Neighbors: Relations Between Blacks & Jews in the United States. “C.L.R. James has arguably had a greater influence on the underlying thinking of independence movements in the West Indies and Africa than any living man.”--Sunday Times “It remains remarkable how far ahead of his time he was on so many issues.”--New Society About the Authors: In the West Indies, C.L.R. James is honored as one of the fathers of independence. In Britain he is feted as a historic pioneer of the black movement. He is generally regarded as one of the major figures in Pan-Africanism, and a leader in developing a current within Marxism that was democratic, revolutionary, and internationalist. His long life and impressive career played out in Trinidad, England, and America. For the last years of his life, he lived in south London and lectured widely on politics, Shakespeare, and other topics. He died there in 1989. Noel Ignatiev wrote How the Irish Became White, recently reissued as a Routledge Classic. He co-edited Race Traitor (winner American Book Award 1997), and edited Lesson of the Hour: Wendell Phillips on Abolition and Strategy. He teaches at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Product Details:Author: C.L.R. James Edited by Noel IgnatievPublisher: PM PressISBN: 978-1-60486-047-4Published Feb. 2010Format: PaperbackPage Count: 160 PagesSize: 8.5 by 5.5Subjects: Politicial Science, Marxism, History
Against the backdrop of the early development of Palestinian-Jewish and Israeli society, James Horrox explores the history of the kibbutz movement: intentional communities based on cooperative social principles, deeply egalitarian and anarchist in their organisation."The defining influence of anarchist currents in the early kibbutz movement has been one of official Zionist historiography's best-kept secrets...It is against this background of induced collective amnesia that A Living Revolution makes its vital contribution. James Horrox has drawn on archival research, interviews and political analysis to thread together the story of a period all but gone from living memory, presenting it for the first time to an English-reading audience. These pages bring to life the most radical and passionate voices that shaped the second and third waves of Jewish immigration to Palestine, and also encounter those contemporary projects working to revive the spirit of the kibbutz as it was intended to be, despite, and because of, their predecessors' fate." —Uri Gordon, from the foreword"A brilliant study of anarchism in the kibbutz movement, particularly regarding economy and polity. Revealing the roots and processes of the influx of anarchist ideas and practices into the early Jewish labour movement, assessing the actual kibbutz practice and seeing the kibbutzim as both a model way to live and a set of experiments to learn from, Horrox gives this history the meticulous attention it deserves. A Living Revolution is comprehensive, caring and even passionate, but also critical. Horrox's study is an exemplary undertaking we can learn much from."—Michael Albert, editor Znet and Z Magazine"James Horrox's accessible and clear history of the kibbutz movement and its intellectual roots is interesting and informative. Sensitive to political contexts in which the movement has operated, it provides a refreshing reminder of the constructive possibilities of anarchist ideas."—Ruth Kinna, editor Anarchist Studies
Features: When Will We Leave the 20th Century?; Dancing with Death: The Excremental, the Sacred & Ecstatic Community in Free Party Culture; Archeology of the Radical Internet: Reflections on the early European Counter Network in the Age of ‘Networked Social Movements’; ‘They Hate Us, We Hate Them’: Resisting Police Corruption and Violence in Hackney in the 1980s and 1990s; Journeys in the Naked City. Adventures in New York Before the Rain; Wild Ride> Subcultural Rumblings in the Pacific Northwest _ form of: mutant vehicle; German Data Angst. Fiction and Poetry: Cut-Up-Marx; Incorrect Classification Possible; The Bodyshop; Star Spores: The Computerised City; Star Spores: The Magnetic Timetable. Print Reviews: Remixology: Tracing the Dub Diaspora; Sound System Culture: Celebrating Hudersfield’s Sound Systems; G.P.O. v G.P-O: A Chronicle of Mail Art of Trial; The Rabbit Hole and other writings by Cyrus Bozorgmehr; Splitting in Two: Mad Pride and Punk Rock Oblivion; Die Revolution war für mich ein grosses Abenteuer. Paul Mattick im Gespräch mit Michael Buckmiller; More Years for the Locust: The Origins of the SWP; Das Israelpseudos der Pseudolinken; Emperor Palpatine. Music: Invincible Tedium; Shuffle from Plunderphonics: ‘Chris Cutler’ Remixed; Vinyl Meltdown, Side B; Datacide Activities Since the Last Issue. News: Endless War; Surveillance, Control and Repression; Social Media and Internet Surveillance; Music Industry and Copyright; Uganda – Anti-Homosexuality Bill Update. Plus: Record Reviews, Charts, Comics and Illustrations, as well as the lives and times of Bloor Schleppy.
First edition hardcover, 1997. Used copy in good condition.
Editorial, by Occupied London Crisis, city and democracy, by Ali B. Repressive memories, by Dawn Paley A movement of antagonism in the city, by Alessio Lunghi Heroes of the street, by Tucker Landesman One message leads to another, by John Berger One revolt leads to another, by Occupied London On contours of urban revolts in Maribor, by Gal Kirn Strategic embellishment and civil war, by Andy Merrifield Hello Dr. Strangelove, by Dimitris Dalakoglou Moments of crisis, by Jacken Waters Statement on the ‘dismantling’ of the Golden Dawn by the greek state, by Occupied London
Picking up where the first volume ended, Dancing with Imperialism covers the period following the Red Army Faction's - West Germany's notorious urban guerrillas - near total decimation in 1977. This work includes the details of the guerrillas' operations and the group's texts from 1978 up until the 1982 May Paper. This was a period of reorientation for the RAF, who fought against the fascist state. Will be required reading for those interested in the history of protest movements and all who wish to understand the challenges of revolutionary struggle. The long-awaited Volume 2 of the first-ever English-language study of the Red Army Faction—West Germany’s most notorious urban guerillas—covers the period immediately following the organization’s near-total decimation in 1977. This work includes the details of the guerilla’s operations, and its communiqués and texts, from 1978 up until the 1984 offensive. This was a period of regrouping and reorientation for the RAF, with its previous focus on freeing its prisoners replaced by an anti-NATO orientation. This was in response to the emergence of a new radical youth movement in the Federal Republic, the Autonomen, and an attempt to renew its ties to the radical left. The possibilities and perils of an armed underground organization relating to the broader movement are examined, and the RAF’s approach is contrasted to the more fluid and flexible practice of the Revolutionary Cells. At the same time, the history of the 2nd of June Movement (2JM), an eclectic guerilla group with its roots in West Berlin, is also evaluated, especially in light of the split that led to some 2JM members officially disbanding the organization and rallying to the RAF. Finally, the RAF’s relationship to the East German Stasi is examined, as is the abortive attempt by West Germany’s liberal intelligentsia to defuse the armed struggle during Gerhard Baum’s tenure as Minister of the Interior. Dancing with Imperialism will be required reading for students of the First World guerilla, those with interest in the history of European protest movements, and all who wish to understand the challenges of revolutionary struggle. Praise: “This collection is not simply a documentary of the West German revolutionary Left at a particular point in the Cold War 1970s. It is more important for the insights it provides into the challenges, obstacles, and opportunities of waging armed struggle within the context of a wealthy, well-resourced, Western capitalist state. In this, the experiences and activities of the RAF are unique in the lessons they might teach organizers in Western capitalist milieus. In our own context, it is likely that future conditions of radical social change, and certainly revolutionary struggles, will more closely approximate those engaged by the RAF in 1970s West Germany than the much more influential examples of Russia in 1917 or Spain in 1936.”—Jeff Shantz, Upping the Anti "The editors of this work, J. Smith and André Moncourt, have created an intelligently political work that honestly discusses the politics of the Red Army Faction during its early years. Their commentary explains the theoretical writings of the RAF from a left perspective and puts their politics and actions in the context of the situation present in Germany and the world at the time. It is an extended work that is worth the commitment required to read and digest it. Not only a historical document, the fact that it is history provides us with the ability to comprehend the phenomenon that was the RAF in ways not possible thirty years ago" —Ron Jacobs, Counterpunch (on Volume 1) About the Editors: J. Smith is the pseudonym of an activist who has been involved in the radical left for over twenty years. André Moncourt is the pseudonym of a writer with his political roots in the movements of the seventies and eighties. Together they co-edited The Red Army Faction, A Documentary History, Volume 1: Projectiles for the People, and co-authored Daring to Struggle, Failing to Win. Product Details: Editors: J. Smith and André MoncourtIntroduction by Ward ChurchillPublisher: PM Press/KersplebedebISBN: 978-1-60486-030-6Published June 2013 Format: PaperbackSize: 9 by 6Page count: 480 PagesSubjects: Politics/History
Notes form the Portobello Style Underclass. Longhair, Beatniks, Druggies, Free Love!
(Active Distro info:) A down-and-dirty survey of the Surrealist movement written under a psuedonym in 1970 by leading Situationist theorist Raoul Vaneigem. Intended for a high-school readership, and dashed off in two weeks, Vaneigem's sketch bars no holds: disrespectful in the extreme, blistering on Surrealism's artistic and political aporias, and packed with telling quotations, it also gives respect where respect is due. Locating Surrealism's 'original sin'in its ideological nature, Vaneigem clearly identifies the 'radioactive fragment of radicalism' that the movement never managed completely to shed. If you want an unequivocal answer to the question, 'What was living and what was dead in Surrealism?', look no further. and for readers interested in the Situationists, this short book sheds a great deal of light on their attitudes, negative and positive, towards their Surrealist predecessors.
Issue 2, February 2014 The second issue of the Sic journal is now available.You can order copies here. Not an Editorial Woland, The Uneven Dynamics of the Era of Riots Leon de Mattis, Communist Measures R.S., The Conjuncture Woland, Rise of the (Non-)Subject R.S., The Movement Against the French Pension Reform Rocamadur, The Feral Underclass Hits the Streets Rust Bunny Collective, Under the Riot Gear Research & Destroy, Limit Analysis and its Limits Agents of Chaos, Without You, Not a Single Cog Turns
Can we find alternatives to the failed radical projects of the twentieth-century? What are the possible forms of struggle today? How do we fight back against the misery of our crisis-ridden present?"Communization" is the spectre of the immediate struggle to abolish capitalism and the state, which haunts Europe, Southern California, and wherever the real abstractions of value that shape our lives are contested. Evolving on the terrain of capitalism new practices of the "human strike," autonomous communes, occupation, and insurrection have attacked the alienations of our times. These signs of resistance are scattered and have yet to coalesce, and their future is deliberately precarious and insecure.Bringing together voices from inside and outside of these currents Communization and Its Discontentstreats Communization as a problem to be explored rather than a solution. Taking in the new theorisations of Communization proposed by Tiqqun and The Invisible Committee, Théorie Communiste, post-autonomists, and others, it offers critical reflections on the possibilities and the limits of these contemporary forms, strategies, and tactics of struggle.Contributors include: Alberto Toscano, Nicole Pepperell, Anthony Iles, Marina Vishmidt, Evan Calder Williams, Jason E Smith, Théorie Communiste, Endnotes, Jasper Bernes, John Cunningham, George Ciccariello-Maher, and Alexander Galloway.
Exploding as politically revolutionary at the heart of the Paris 1968 uprisings, the Situationist International has proved a tenaciously compelling radical movement in terms of asthetics and political theory.This crucially important book is not only a philosophical landmark, it is also a cult classic that has has established the Situationist movement -- of which Debord was the key member -- as one of the most influential of the twentieth century.This new translation by John McHale is the first officially authorised in English. The book has previously been available only in underground or online formats, so McHale's work promises to bring the work of the Situationists to an even wider audience.The Real Split in the International sees Debord not only evaluate the movement as a whole, but also signal the end of it. For him, it had become clear that the Situationist's success had produced -- within its own ranks as well as outside them -- a host of fans and 'onlookers' who amounted to little more than consumers of a radicality that had become fashionable. In this way the movement had begun to encompass the very 'society of the spectacle' that the Situationists had challenged. There was a danger that Situationist theory could turn into ideology -- Debord's reaction was to break up the movement. About The Translator John McHale has translated Alice Becker-Ho's Les Princes du Jargon, her L'Essence du Jargon and Guy Debord's Panégyrique Volume 2. He lives in London.Guy Debord was a revolutionary theorist, a film-maker, the indisputable head of the Situationists, and a key figure in the constellation of French theorists and intellectuals from the 1960s onwards. He committed suicide in 1995 at the age of 63. Identifying everyday life as the terrain of revolutionary activity, he added new and apposite dimensions to Marxist thinking in the late twentieth century:The Society of the Spectacle, his seminal work, characterised a society resting not only on the alienated labour of workers, but on the alienated lives of spectators.
Kristian Williams is the author of Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America,American Methods: Torture and the Logic of Domination, Confrontations: Selected Journalism, and Hurt: Notes on Torture in a Modern Democracy. Lara Messersmith-Glavinis the founder and managing editor of the non-fiction journal Alltopia, and on the board of directors for the Institute for Anarchist Studies. Will Munger was the main organizer of the Counter-Counterinsurgency Convergence in April 2011. "Together, the writers sound a sobering warning: the American government is an iron fist in a velvet glove whose purpose remains preserving the status quo and enriching the rich."—Publishers Weekly
Of all living composers, Dumitrescu is the one who has most exploded sound. Dumitrescu’s work is a negation, from the depths, of everything in contemporary music symptomatic of distraction, of banalisation, and of a radical loss of purpose. His music is not a new convolution in the knot of modern music, but an unravelling of the curse.Tim Hodgkinson As a creator of radical music that breaks convention, riding on the edge of the classical avant garde onto realms more closely associated with the likes of Nurse With Wound or The Hafler Trio, Iancu Dumitrescu has the talent to lure you in, mystify and startle with unnerving ferocity.Alan Freeman ContentsBen Watson: Why The AMM Says ‘Listen to Dumitrescu!’ 1Ben Watson: Spectrum Festival Preview 3Ronsen, Peyret, Leroy: Iancu Dumitrescu - Acousmatic Provoker 7Ben Watson: Statement at Conway Hall, Spectrum 2008 38In Resonance with Iancu Dumitrescu and Ana-Maria Avram 39Out to Lunch: Our Kinetic Kynicism Knows No Bounds 84Iancu Dumitrescu: On the Inside Looking In 87Tim Hodgkinson Interviews Iancu Dumitrescu 95Tim Hodgkinson: A Note on Phenomenology 107Costin Cazaban: An Adventure in Experimental Music 109Eugene Thacker: Pulse Demons (extract) 125Andy Wilson and Ben Watson: The Music of Iancu Dumitrescu 131Ben Watson: Spectral Music at the Beginning of the 21st Century 159Guillaume Ollendorff: At the Heart of Chaos 163Guillaume Ollendorff: The Society of the Spectrum 171Tim Hodgkinson: The Tasks of the Composer 193Iancu Dumitrescu: Reply to Tim Hodgkinson 207Tim Hodgkinson: Reply to Iancu Dumitrescu 213Ryan Kirk: Interviews Dumitrescu 215Ana-Maria Avram: Composer From Bucharest, Romania 237Iancu Dumitrescu: Biographical Notes 245Iancu Dumitrescu: Catalogue of Works 253Pressbook 263Discography 285Related Recordings 359Index 369
Robert Dellar’s reminiscences impart a strange, unwholesome joy, like smoking a cig dipped in popper juice. The only response to the atrocious farce of modern life has to be this savage laughter.Out to Lunch In this incendiary slice of under-the-radar British social history we meet everyone from Ronnie Corbett to a Broadmoor inmate whose index offence was the subject of a D-Notice. Robert Dellar’s anti-authoritarian and take-no-prisoners spirit of mischief makes it possible for readers of every persuasion to find something to offend their sensibilities.Simon Morris (Ceramic Hobs)
Philosophy and art with the imagination to actually change the world: this is the unfinished dream of history and the heart of the revolutionary modernism of the early 20th century, which globalised war and exploitation managed indefinitely to defer. Esther Leslie reopens the cold case on filmmakers, artists, thinkers and other animals, exiled or otherwise Disneyfied, and finds still-warm fertile ground for a wild future as yet unfulfilled. From ideal homes with traces erased to utopian rivers drawn back to their source, the alienated subject of history discerns its rightful place in the present tense, with no room for buts or half-measures. The derelicts of history find new life beyond commodified thought: would that the same could be said for all their readers..
First published by the IS Group (90s forerunners of the AMM & Unkant) in 1997, More Years for the Locust is a history of the origins of the SWP written by Jim Higgins, a leading member of the Socialist Review Group and International Socialists (forerunners of the SWP), who directed the group's industrial work for many years as well as working on Socialist Worker, before forming the IS Opposition which opposed the group's turn away from its rank and file strategy in the trade unions. The book tells the story of the British Trotskyists as they emerged from the Second World War, and of how the group around Tony Cliff built a distinct tendency based on the theories of State Capitalism and the Permanent Arms Economy. Higgin's describes the development of this, the IS tendency from Cliff's early years in Palestine, through the 50s and 60s, down to the expulsion of the IS Opposition in the mid-70s, shortly before the International Socialists declared themselves a fully blown revolutionary party, the SWP. Published with a new Foreword by John Game