Volume VllAutumn 1984

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ANARCHO- QUIZ1. What was the nationality at birthof Francois Villon and NapoleonBonaparte?2. Of what impossible crime wasAnarchist'Chicago Martyr' AlbertParsons accused of, long beforethe Haymarket Trial, and how didLucy Parsons cover up for him?3. What atrocity, alleged by Con-servatives to have been committedby the Bolsheviks in Russia, andlater by the Anarchists in Spain,is now a regular feature of Britishlife?

4. The Uscoques were a sort ofItalian co-operative trust in the

16th century, blessed by the ChurchChurch, in which the public ofSegna took shares and were paiddividends. It was esteemed a public

Distribution by A Distribution, B4bWhitechapel High Street, London E1.Discounb 1/3 to Bookshops andBulk orders.

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Having turned out so many issues inour fortnightly series as well as embark-ing on the expensive quarterly, it is apleasant surprise to realise that so farfrom increasing our massive imbalance .incurred during 'l 983/84, we havedented ;t. What can we say but keepup the good work? Usual nii contribut-ion from Moscow, World Council ofChurches, CIA and GLC Workingfor London grant. . . usual nil pay-ment for salaries.*Donations Derbyshire MC f5; Devonf 10 Minn, US D0 f 19.71 Briston A'sf40; KP .75; LP f 10; Leics PM f 11;Lanc CP fl; SW London JG f80;N. London LF f6; Shipley TG f3.50;Cam.bs PN f 17.50; London PP f5;M & P f40; AM fl00; TH fl00; LPf 1, G H f 15; FAU comrade f 1.30;Canada PD f30; T0TAL f496.76

MUTUAL AID/SOLIDARITYCarried forward f23.18; GuamSS f37.01; Cambridge A's f6; LondonPR f 1.06; Total in Hand f67.25. (Alsostill in hand f 10 for Vancouver prison-ers

- any more donations before we

send? -

and f45 for CNT Prisoners).Very quiet on this f ront no doubtbecause of the large donations fromevery quarter going direct to miners'families. Don't forget that for Spanishveterans we intend t0 make an annualend-of-year-habit of sending offremittances (see last issue).

rROIII PAGE. top: Scrb Cdch cilpey, ltCpaonTolE of T.cnthu, attackGd by frbotclE,c.Eing tl5ormo rorul of ,l-gr.Botto: Blmt @t c.n (Dd.upcNkcttroLli.c.l Ecd by plckcts u r bBi,crde rtSj,lvcr@d Collicry.

The 6 monthly rate hopefully willencourage more readers to subscribeand so help us pay our bills.

Prisoners, upon request receiveBlack Flag free. I{e exchange withother Anarchist movement papers.

Donations are always gratefullyaccepted, and don't forget the BlackCross too!

and religous enterprise -

but whatwas its business?5. In which countries couldanimals once be tried by a judgeand condemned to death; and inwhich country can they still belegally sentenced to prison?6. All Cunard liners had namesending in'...ia' (Berengaria, Lusitaniaetc)

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why did they suddenlychange their policy and call theQueen Mary by that name?

Answers on pageNOTE:

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A misprint in our lastissue Quiz had Paderewski dvingin his native Poland

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it w,as infact Portugal. Poland was underNazi occupation.Answers on page 39

CONTENTSAS WE GO TO PRESS'DIRECT ACTION INTENSI FI ESPREPARING FOR CIVILWARCIVILWAR PART 1,2&3G ER MANYLIBERTAR IAN PR ISON ERS.HOW NEAB WERE WE TO BEVOLUTION?MEXICAN INDIANSER ICH MUHSAMFREEDOM AS A SOCIAL PBINCIPLEVANCOUVER 5DECENTRALISED TOTALITAR IAN ISMWHAT IS THE ANARCHIST MOVEMENTREVIEWS & LETTERS

468I161920232428

32u3637

EDITORIAI: the saseagalnst Anarchlsm

It is rare that an Anarchist paper's editorialis a criticism of Anarchism from a Marxistiournal, Sociatist Worker. That the organ ofitre SWp feels it necessary to publish 'TheCase Against Anarchism' may be regarded asan acknowledgement of a growing interestin Anarchism and it obviously has to makeunfavourable reference. But beforo acceptingthe tributes to our magnamimity and obiect-ivity, let us say we regard the article as fair-

something rare indeed in Marxist circles'however'humanist Marxist'.MARXISM has alwaYs had to comPetewith rival theories in its struggle forinfiuence over the working class andoooressed. lts main rivals, apart fromsdriiqhtforward capitalist ideology'have- been social dCmocratic reform'ism (discussed last week) and Stalin'ism idealt with a few weeks ago)'but there has usually been an alter'na{ive standing, appaiently, to the leftof Marxism, namelY anarchism.

A narch ism clearly is not an importantpolitical force in Britain today, but atvario rs ,times in the history of the revolut-ionar y movement (most notably in theSpanish Civil War) it has exercised somecons,derable influence. Even now it hasctefin ite attractions for the younq andrebel I iou s,

ABSURDc )nsequently it is quite likely that at

som,' point socialist worker readers will"91-p,:

uD against some anarchist arguments'wha' then are the main differences betweenMar) ism and anarchism and what is theMar) ist case against it?

F irst let us be clear that Marxists cannotaf fo' d simply to scorn anarchism in theway capitalist 'com mon sense' does. Th is isbecaJse the ultimate goal of anarchism -a sc:iety of real freedom and equality inwhi( h there is no longer a state or anyforn of oppression of people by people

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is or e that Marxists share.S upporters of the present order dismiss

sucf an aim as absurd. Marxists do not' Ourdisa rreements with anarchism are not overthe ultimate aim but over how to achieveit, ti,at is, how society is to be changed.

--he starting point of this disagreementis a different view of the root cause ofexploitation and oppression' To the anar'chis, tne root cause is power. Power, in andof tself, power in all its forms

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statepos er, the power of political parties andunit ni and everv other kind of authorityand leaclership. Anarchists believe that itis tl e existence of this power and authoritywhi:h creates class divisions and all otherkin(ls of inequality and oppression.

rheir 'strategy' therefore is to denounceand renounce, on principle, all manifestat'ionl of power and authority, and aboveall r,very klnd of state power. To these theycounterpose the absolute freedom of theind vidual and the purely spontaneous re-bellion of the masses.

Anarchism i5 thus essentially a moralstance. lt lacks any historical analysis ofhow the things it opposes came about orof dhy it should be possible to get rid ofthem now, rather than any time ln thepast. lt simply condemns 'evil' and f ights f or'9ood'.ln contrast Marxism does not regardthe state (or'power'in general) as t-hefundamentai problem, Rather it explainsth emergence of the state as the productof the di;ision of society into antagonisticclasses. This in turn is explained as theconsequence of a certain stage in the devel'oprnent of the forces of production.

The central task therefore is the abolitionof class clivisions. This can be achievedonly through the victory of the wo-rkingclais over the capitalistic class. For this theworking class requires organisation andleadership (trade unions, the revolutionaryparty etc), and the use of power

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from

the mass picket up to and includlng thecreation of lts own workers' state to combatcou n ter-revo lution.

It is this last point which arouses theDarticular ire of the anarchists who echo theLourqeols arquments that revolutionaryoowdr leaos lnevitably to tyranny (thatLeninism leads inevltably to stalinism etc)'However, anarchism has failed to come up*itn any serious alternative way of resist-anie of-the capltalists and their efforts torestore the old order.-- So fir we have been discussing 'pure'

anarchism which has its soclal basis in theiaoical petty bourgeoisie which feels alien-"i.o trorn both

the power of big capital andthe power of the working class.

MERGEln so far as anarchism has attempted to

qain a base in the wbrking class, it has hadio ioanOon some of its individualist princip'les and accept the need Ior collectiveoroanisation. Thus it has tended to mergewiin synoicalism, ie revolutionary tradeunionism which rejects participation ln'bourgeois'politics and the role of therevolutionary partY.It is as anarcho'syndicalism that anar-chijm has come closest to Marxism, and inthe wake of the Russian Revolution manyanarcho-syndicalistS were dfawn to thecommunist lnternational. Nevertheless, itstaii or tneory, its absenteeism from politica*ttictt tear"t- ine tieto to the refotmists'ina-its f"itrt" to think through the realitiesof workers' power, continue to make anarch'i.m even in its svndicalist form inadequatefor the working class.

Thus in qeneral anarch ism remains anegative and marginal doctrine' lt condemnsCu5itutir-, condlmns the reforrnists, andcondemns the Marxists.

From Socialist Worker, August' 1984'

The f irst disagreement only comeswhenit says that Anarchism 'lacks any historicalanalysis' (weare usually accused of too much) 'Every theory has its own particular historicalanalysis, even fascism, but what they meanis that the Marxist historical analysis above isinfallible (and divine)' Marx held that social'ism is inevitably destined by history and hecompared his economic theory of the evolut-ion of socialism with Darwin's theory of thedevelopment of biological species' (ln effect,he rejects revolution as orthodox Darwinismreiects catastroPhism)'

The Marxists of today take Marx's analysisas an accepted truth. as the Christian acoeptsthat Jesus died to save the world. Regardlessof the truth or otherwise of the Christian orthe Marxist claims, the dogmas are Patentlyfalse: socialism isn't inevitable and the worldisn't saved. Everyone knows those simplefacts but expressed as dogma they are accept'ed as truths.

Despite her/his refreshingly fair analylis,the writer falls f or th Marxist Gon-trict onanarchism. Words change their meaning andin Marx's day the term'peffy bourgeois'meant the self'employed worker, the book-binder, printer, mechanic, blacksmith, cook,cartwright, carponter, dressmaker - as distinctfrom the real 'Bourgeois', the employer andmerchant. The peasants worked on the fieldsand the'proletariat'slaved in the factorieslor up to 18 hours a day. They couldn'tit was presumed bY Marx, have time tothink lot themselves, but asthey acceptedfaaory disci$line and could

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led by a'thinking'and educated class

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accept partydiscipiline and take over power' The self"employed, forced into the factories bycapitalist concontration, were f rustrated,iiependent, and undisciplined; they would

turn to individual violence or undisciplinedunionism (either of the type seen in theminers' strike todaY!

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throughcapital ist co ncentratio n, were f rustrated,independent, and undisciplined; they wouldturn to individual violence or undisciplinedunionism (either of the type seen in theminers strike today!

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though not self-employed, they have got used to more leisure,possessionsand so on. in good times)'

None of this makes ordinarY commonsense if by petty-bourgeois is meant what itmeans today, chartered accountants, solicit'ors, bank managers etc. Marx wasn't thatstupid! His followers are stupid or perhapscrafty.

The term individualism has also alteredits meaning

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since it has been appropriatedby the bowler-hatted,.striped-su ited attache-cise carrying Conservative. But if one lookssav, at the story of the American IWW organis'ing the hoboes, farm workers, railway workerc.miners; catering workers, one can see howind ividualistic revolutionary synd ical ism canbe! lf Boxcar Bertha or Joe H ill weren'tindividuatists but Olga Maitland andJohn Junor arg, the term has iust bscomegobbledegook.

Oddly, it is hard to fault the statementthat 'anarchism, even in iF syndicalist form'-

that is, working class anarchism - hasproved'inadequate' for the working-class'iPerhaps a better word is'inappropriate')'Those of the working class who want thingsdone for them and who accept things as theyare, and those who have built up organisat'ions alike, have been pushed out of their ownmovement, anarchist or socialist, and as a masshail Hitler or vote Tory. The reason for thishas been the triumph of the'educated class'on which Marx placed such store. But theimportant thing is that where anarchism isof iittle account there is no working classstruggle at all' The British labour move'ment, and many others. is centred roundreformism; the Russian scene is a crushingdefeat for the workers and in totalitariancountries there is no room for anarchism butindividual armed struggle' That is not tocondemn anarchism. lt is to point to itsnecessitY'

Page 3 Black Flag Autumn 1984

AS WE GO TO PRESSOOO

TTIE IENEMY WITHINI .

A couple of issues back we rePortedon the fate of Sid Richmond (picturedabove). Sid, a retired 70 year old miner,was stotrry>ed by cops as he was drivingalong in his car. Beca''se he refusedtc turn back (he was on his waY to seehis daughter) they ordered him out ofthe car, knocked him around and hand-cuffed him.LEITER.

Dear Ccnrrades,We all can cIearIY see the vital

work you are doing in solidarity withthe Miners heroic struggle. As mucha-s we can guage it there is widespreadqrnpathy here in Australia for them'ririy on a colrplete ban on coal shiprentsto the []K was established and nraintained'ee-yond that nothing more Lo report atthis stage, except that we have estab-hshed a-solidarity fund - money willbe sent direct when sufficient and athand.

Rebe1 Worker C,rouP(ausEalia).

lledlak Bibbry, the scab leader in Tilburyfucks, is no 'ordina ry worker, with no hard-fast political line'. qring the period '80-'82 as Independent councillor on thurrakCouncil (a post he had hetd, in fact, since1968) he consistently sustained the qte votennjority of a Tory led coalition. In additionBibby is a nrcrter of his local housirq crcnrn-ittee - not very danning you IIBy think, butthen another mefitber, and a 'social acquaint-ance'of Bibby, is the head of the Iondon PortsAuthority. Smll world.

Is Frank (tra5ple, olt-going head of theE[PU, an l{I5 flple? Probably not, althoughhe was otE a card carrying rnnber of theCF. Poor Etank ('we have a no-strike polic.Yin our uniqt') doesnlt kncr wtrat to do norttnt 9000 EEIEU ITExrbers in the NIIS have deciHto start selective strike action in a disprteinvolving pay parity. The EEI?U leadershipwas forced to ac:ePt the inevitable and isrelrrtantly backing the strike threat despiteofficial policy. llo doubt they will get a guickset lenent in their favour because of the';nliticaI' strike that is taking place withthe iliners disgrte. (The govertrcnt have areIl exposed polic.y of avoiding any otherconfrontations, if they can help it, whilettre ttiners strike is still on). Th guestionis will Ctrapple sho* his gratitude to theld,Ilt for providing ttre right conditiss forhis nerbership to secure ttre victory theyso badly want? Itard.Iy. But wbat is reallyraking Ctnpple sick is the prospect of theEEI?U strike sgreading' l'lready EIFU rErbersin the Porer Stations have indicated thattlry are prepared to shor solidarity withtheir NllS coru-ades - and if they ccrE out,rell rnthing would please the lLJil rpre.

And if that wasn't ernugh other EEIPU rebelshave recently qened up a 'third frstt' atthe British Aerospace plant at Filton. Tteydeciffi to stage a sit-in after nanual workersat the plant were evicted bty cqs after asit-in that lasted three rrceks. Thqse EEI"Uworkers that refused to cross ttre manual rcrkers'picket line were threatened with disnissalbry nnrng,ment and it was this threat thatprrovoked the EEI?U workers to cqre oLlt andset up their mn acupaLion. tatest news onthe action is thaL the EEI?U workers haveblrckaded sorc jets ready for collection [tthe USAF and are refusing to allcn the USauthorities to take thern away until the disprteis over.

Iabour Party leader, NeiI Kinnak, hasonderned any attsr[)t to orchestrate the sGcalled 'big bang' approach for all

I1I

Miners kids enjoying a holiday in the Netherlands, thanks to the anarchistsutr4rcrt network ovei tt.re. photo courtesy of De Vrie.

LEITM.

llar Friends,Thanks for the addresses you've sent

us. l{e've asked the people in Dorrcasterto write an article about the wsren'ssul4nrt group for our nngazine. Sotheyrre of great use!

I think it's not necessary to saYwhat we think about that fucking policeraid at I2I Bookshop. Here in Hollandthings are going quite well with solid-arity to the miners. Werre involvedin the same Amsterdam Support Cqnnitteeas the two wqnen who have visited youon their way to Derbyshire. The conunitteehas nanaged to coilect about 82,500,which was enough to pay a weeks holidayfor 40 people. In fact Saturday 25 August,32 miners children and 8 adults frqnCkrurch Warsop in Derbyshire arrived!Ssne of them are sailing, others areat the anarchist canp in Appelscha (amonth ago we've given some informationabout that canP to a guY who wantedto write an article about it for BlackFlag) and others tive at squats andwith outch families for a week. We hopewe'II IIEmage to get another group herein the auturnn holidaY (naYbe fromSilverdale where life is very hard forstrikers).

The press has alreadY given muchattention to the holidays of the minerschildren and in soilte cases we even endedup with sone political retrnrts and notjust the usual 'hunan interestr. Weare also planning a demonstration...TheNUM video's are shovring at nany places(squatter's cafes, etc) over the countryana punk bands are giving a series ofbenefits.

Good luck and keeP in contact.De Vrie-(rne

nree).

Pase 5 Black Flag Autumn 1984

ASTION INTENSIFIESThe beginning of August has seen thefirst co-ordinated attempt to forceI return to work in Yorkshire, priorto this there has only been odd attemptsby a couple of winders at Barnsley, anoffice worker at Armthorpe, a coupleof workers at the Selby complex and

a suspected attempt by two ininersat Rossington pit.

The week started with two minersgoing in at Allerton By Water pitnear Castleford and one minerentering at Askern pit, north ofDoncaster, these scabs were only metby small pickets. Meanwhile at Brods-worth pit near Doncaster a force of90 pickets met a TV crew that wasattempting to enter the pit to film the'damage' underground. The reasonthe pickets did not want the TV creyto enter the pit, was because TV crewshave previously been shown disusedworkings and because the majority ofpeople wouldn't know if a pit was ingood condition or not. The picketshad armed themselves with lengthsof wood as a laige force of rioipolicewas brought in. The branch delegatepersuaded the pickets to throw downtheir bits of wood, after the police'promised' not to use their batons.Once the police had removed thepickets' battons' the police attacked,(this is not the first time this hashappened, it occurred a few weeksback at Rossington and the police alsoused an ambulance.at Orgreave to geta barricade removed so they couldcharge). The pickets retreated back intothe pit yard. A union official manag-ed to get to talk with the TV crew 'who were being held at the localpolice station and persuaded them thatif tney insisted in entering the pit theheavill' out-numbered, out-equippedpickets would end up badly beaten up.The TY crew decided not to try andenter the pit and left. After thisincident the police made a big thingin the press about the fact that theyhad found two petrol bombs, whichwere in fact two bottles of petrol thatthe pickets had had there since thestart of the strike in order to keep theirbraisier going.

Tuesday 2nd August appears to havebeeri chosen for the return to workin the Doncaster region. At Brods-worth pit, pickets gathered from7.30amin the morning as the local branchbelieved that scabs were attemptingto enter, at the most there were 500pickets at any one time. There is ashort lane down to the pit of lessthan a hundred yards and the picketsgathered in two places at the top ofthe lane and at the 'gate house' to thepit. By 9.30-lOam when all thepickets had gathered there was a forceof police of two hundred plus on the pitcar park.

After the pickets were refused theirrequest to speak to the scab beforehe entered, a force of police in fireproof overalls, crash helmets etc.attempted to get behind the group of200 odd pickets at the 'gate house' inorder to force them back up to thetop of the pit lane. The pickets fellback to the pit yard, there were minorscuffles, individuals were dragged upthe pit lane and pushed through thepolice cordon. After about half anhow the police had managed to clearthe pit yard and forced all the picketsinto one place.

The pickets wete then pushed backfrom the pit lane , leaving a clear runfor any vehicle coming from the otherdirection which wanted to get intothe pit. This resulted in some stonethrowing and some quite heated debateamongst the picket, some wantedeveryone to fall back 30 yards sothere was a clear view so they couldchuck stones at the police; otherswanted everyone to get right up tothe police lines ready to try and blockthe road if any scab tried to get in.After that a convoy of police rein-forcements drove through the pickets,resulting in many smashed windows,dented vans and boken ariels. A smallgroup of around 150 younger picketsbroke away and attempted to runrouhd the back of the pit._They werecut off by a group of riot police, whowere stoned and responded with abaton charge which led to groupsand pickets in running fights withpolice. More police and reinforcementswere brought in by the coach andvan load. At around 12, the Scabwas taken in and the pickets dispersed.

Although the majority of theSCABsick with disgustI would spit at youyour pockets bulgewith forty pieces of silverslivers each of others futurethe press and the pigswill not stand by you forevervile Judasold fashioned words:honourrespectloyaltysolidaritythey mean nothing to youbecause you are worthlessI would turn awayrather than soil my visionI would turn awayand hold my noseto avoid the stench of betrayalhow does it feelto sell away the future?how does it feel

community responded in support ofthe pickeis bringing out cups of teaetc. which isn't surprising consideringthe police insulted and assaulted oldpeople, beat up a 14 year oldkid and broke his leg, there was stillsome of the older people talking aboutusing water cannons on pickets.

After the days events thescab went to the union and apologisedand promised not to go in till thedispute is over.

At Armthorpe pit the same daythree masked scabs were driven throughpicket lines totally unexpected. Theresult was that the pit entrance wasblocked by pickets and a barricadebuilt to stop the scabs getting outand more police getting in. The groupof less than 200 pickets waited aroundfor the scabs to attempt to get out.A convoy of police reinforeementsarrived and were heavily stoned by thepickets, as they were unable to drivestraight into the pit, the vans stoppedbefore the barricade and the policejumped out and charged the pickets,supported by more police from insidethe pit.

The police managed to block theroad running past the pit and despitethe constant stoning, the scab coachmanaged to leave. While the policewere busy waging war on the peopleof Armthorpe and obstructing thehighway, pickets were busy redirect-ing traffic around the police. Alsoonce the scabs were taken out, andthe police fallen back to the pit, peopleswept the stones and glass off theroad.

At Hatfield pit , two scabs weredriven through a small picket andafter cars had driven round the local

to be embraced bypeople who would do us dead?they1l suffocate youto turn you into heroic sheepwho fight for the right to slaughterforget historywe will not forget.Who will explain to your childrenhow do you explainbetrayaland when the face collapseswho will save you then?Will Thatcher pullyou outwill MacGregor scrape the coal from you?heroic sheep who smile at slaughterwlll pieces ot silverbuy your self-respect?can dirty money buy that?and when it's overyou'll still do the filthy workyou'll still be a slave

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will Thatcher love you still? =

does pus fill your head, scab? ;you iue nothing Tworth nothing.

Black Flag Autumn 1984 Page 6

ARMTHORPEcommunities with loud speak{s askingfor all people , a large picket gathered.Pickets were batoned bY Policeand one picket ended up in intensivecare with a fractured skull andsuspecte4 brain damage. One of thescabs after seeing the violence walk-ed out of the pit, escorted bY unionofficials to a mixture of cheers forrejoining the strike, and abuse forscabbing and causing the injurY ofmany pickets.

Barricades were also erected bYpickets at Bentley and Edlington pitsto prevent scabs entering and nonedid, but riot police still chased picketstlrough Edlington.

lYith Ftratfield, Brodsworth andAskern pits secured in the Doncasterarea, Armthorpe became the targetfot 2,000 pickets and a similar numberof police, who sealed off the sixroads into the village for a couple ofhours, more to stop Pickets ggttingout rather than getting in. A largebarricade was built and set alight andriot police chased and batoned picketsthroughout the length of Armthorpe,

22-8-84' Co mmun ity po I ici ng' streetbroke their waY into PeoPles homesand generally terrorised the wholecommunitY.

The majority of the piekets leftwithout the scab being taken in, thepolice blockade of Armthorpe wasrelaxed, but the road was still blockad'ed 400yds from the Pit entrance' Ataround 2.00pm a coach carrying thescab was rushed through the completelength of the village and was met withonly symbolic resistance as it tookeveryone by surprise because the pol'ice could have easily taken the scabround the other waY with no troublewhatsoever. This deliberately provoc'ative act served no PurPose otherthan to prove to the ArmthorPecommunitY that the Police weredefinitely in control. Soon after thescab coach went in, a couPle of SouthYorkshire police vans drove past underthe customary hail of objects' It isbelieved these vans drove past theminers welfare in order to Pick outindividuals for arrest at a later date aspeople have since been arrested andaccused of throwing things at the vans.

The majority of the police involved

meeting, 1984 stYle.at all these incidents came from ou!'side of South Yorkshire, including Kent'Greater Manchester, Somerset andAvon, CitY of London, Sussex, Essexand Metropolitan police, includingthose who arrived on the Wednesdaymorning a convoy of 20-25 coachesat 9.00am believed to have come uPfrom London.

The attemPted breaking of thestrike in the Yorkshire region hasnot gone.well for the NCB, with mostscab-s being convinced to stay out andbesides thi couple of miners going inat Allerton By Water near Castlefordand Gascoigne Wood at SelbY theonlY other scabs have been thesolidarity scab at Silverwood nearRotherham and the only increase hasbeen from 3-6 scabs at Kiverton Parknear Rotherham. The overall effectof the attempts to drag a few isolatedindividuals into pits has had the effectof strengthening the unity of the pitvillages, especially those directlyaffected and increased the numbersof police willing to become involvedAt ArmthorPe, shoPs carrY notices'saYing'NO POLICE"

jn?.:;:*+"'"+ffik*':

Page 7 Black Flag Autumn 1984

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''",'rrffi

Crash bariers being hurled at police duringthe siege of Parlianent.

Block l:las Autumn 1984 Pase 8

In the Last Blaek FLag Qua"tenly ue ?ePo?t-ed in detail on-W-E-st'otg artd detteloryentof the state's efforte od plans to emohnoss atrike oction otd./or revolt. lle alsodescri.bed ltou in tare teeent yeats the erner-gency netunrk lll;rs been integrated int-o tlehome- defence stmtctu?e. This eombined ener-gency/hone defetlee organisati,ott is cmoialio the plow the etate utould P?ePa"e to ilealtith oty tlveat to 'etobilityt or intemnleecwity. thether the tlveat be a Large seaLeuprising, a general strike, trtdeepread otdptolonged rioting, ot euen eioil tar- Butiet us- ttot get orteraaed by such plans: ueluve to be realistic but ae also hante tod.eoelop ou:? otm eow*er-pteparations as ttell'Beeoning acqtainted ttith ltow the state interdsto act inen pced vith a tlveat to eeeuritgie art inpreatiue otd essentbl step to takein nakiig sune tlat uhen ute act we do sodeeisistely md vith a degree of foresight.

Part Ore State ContingenciesAccording to the (classified) ermy land

Operations Manual, Counter-RevolutionarynLal concePt

6f=r:cssfUi counter-insurgency) is tlteworl

(ArrIEd Fsrcs IIQ's), strh as the sp atCatteric* (SRIIO 1.I). Ottrcrs oocupl, the oldRSG netuc*r as do sorc of the SRItQrs (snchas Dover RSG and Kelvedon Hatch). Scne ofttrem are based in deep bunkers beneath rr:nie-ipal buildir{F (e9, SFtItQ 4.2, }tertfond & 6.2,Basingstoke). Ihe north of Ireland SRIIQ isat @ugh Barracks, Anrngh. 8.2 SRIIQ (Sotttht{ales), is at Bridgend on the edge of anirdustrial estate. AII of the SRIters haveaGess to Sr4ply and Transport Depots lurdBuffer Depots (food). Ccnerally there arearo:nd 10 suctr depots per regicr. Each AFHQirrcludes a l{avy arxl a RAF senior officer asliasion, while each SRIIQ includes a JSIO (.IointSerTrice Liasiqr Officer) wtro advises andreports back, via the JIC at @Btr{A ard theAFTIQ.

Each Armed Forces llQ is headed b[, a Regiqt-aI Cqnnander, rrhile the SRIlQrs are headed bya Regional Cmrnissimer. In theory the Regianal@rmissiqrer will form a regimal governentunder an errergetEl,, although the RegiqtalCurnnnder bas corplete autancnqr wtren it ccnesdown to military matters. Altogether thereare 10 regional AFIIQ's throughout the countryand cpllectively they relbrt to the uK Oqrnnnd-ers in Chief Ccnmittee (tJKCi@

- pronounced

U Chick). (XCie is based at Wilton and oresunder the direct cqrmnd of UKLEHe (tK IandForcs IIQ), lreaded b1z Ceneral Sir Prank Kitsdl(c'ounter-insurgensj/ extErt, seator of thepseudo-gang theory, helped introduce internentin Kenya, lralaya, C\rprus, the north of lreland,author of Lolv IntenErly._Qgre!1ons, a manualonhmtoffi

In tires of Civil Y{ar txcic will probablyhave the option of noving to the Hawthorn-G>rsham underguround curplex, although thisrpuld be unlikely. tKCi is in itself dividedinto three cqnmnds: Air Ccnrnand HDF, basedat RAF Brary)tqr; CiC Naval Hqne Ccnunnd, basedat Fort Soulhwick (PorLgrputh); and CiC UKLF(wilton). Under civil war UKLE takes precedentover the other tso curmands. The GR (CaryositeCcneral Resenre) will also qrc under LIKLFacrmand. The GR will be an ad ha organisatianof loyalists wtro can be called qur to provioeassistanc to the state.

The 10 Arqr districts refer-ed to are:N Ireland, Scotland, lhles, Iondon, NE, lilw,Eastern, l{estern, ${ and SE). As for the AirForce, their HQ in tires of national emergencl,is at Stampre, wtrile the Nary CiC is at llorth-u'ood. Strictly speaking fhe 8th Field Force(based at Bulford, near Salisbury) is requls-ible for HonE EEferpe security and the assist-ance of trnlice and civil authorities in tfuesof national elrergency. But a further 30t ofall militarlt persuurel have also been allcatedHcnE Defence duties, depending on the natureof the crisis. In addition there are 301000TErritorials to call upon should the needarise. Just lately firbers of-the Territorialstnve been taking part in counter-insurgencywarfare exercises in W Cernnny at the LorEnange Reconnaisarrce Patrol IfQ at tleingarten,which is directed by a foner SAS officerand cqres under t,lATO jurisdiction. The rcS-- the @rman Border Police - have also beentaking part in sirnilar joint exercises aspart of Lheir official civil war training.other arqr units consigned to HcrrE DeferEeqrerations are Lhe 5th Infantn/ Brigade andt-he Hcrre Senrice Frcrt, first created in 1972and providing an official conplerent of around4r500 volunteers.

In tires of anergerrlt the polie have theircntn regiunl setup. There are exrerltenqrregional fplice llQrs in f.nck (Belfast), Edin--burgih, t'Ier Sootland Yard, Li1pettshill andllertsham (Lmdon area), Bridgend, Hutton(trestm), llartlesham (Ipsrvictr), l{akefield,Bristol, t{est HiIl (Winchester), Arnold (Notts),and Colrpre Circus (Birmingham). Under HcneDeferrce regiulatians the police will ccne underthe authority of the Regional @missioner(Cl) at each SIIQ. Regulations allm forthe police to enlarge the overall force bytp to 50t if need be. they will be able totake over buildings for ccnpulsory billetingof officers frcrn norrlocal forces. Ttre ErergencryServices Division (F6), first ceated in 1971,is tte nain liasion sectiqr between the policeand the Grn{RC net*urk. Ttre ESD asts as apotic.y mking section and advises ar operat-ional rmtters. Ore ESD recqrnendatim is theneed to form a National Riot Police otrt ofexisting PSI's (Police Su1port Units - theold Instant Res1nrrse Units or Special PatrolEaups). llany of the existing Suply and Trans-prt de1Dts aLso contain nassive guantitiesof riot equipent and amnnent". (a fer reeksback, riot police iire seen casualty sittfrgarourtd inside qp srch depot at Pegwell Bay,neaJr to the Kent coalfields, in readinessfor any trouble at the mining villages).

As for the Natiqral Reporting @ntre, thisras first knom as the Anti-picket Squad.The APS was csreived dr:ring the .72 l,tinersstrike and it becarre knorn as the NRC in r74.The concept of a natiqral police force, ora IDoI of police csltingents dt 1Erlnanentstandby was rp netJ concept: as far back astt{2 all Chief @nstables ure given a standingorder to report di-rect to the regiural Energenq/@rmissioners (predecessors of tlre regionalGI Ccnmissioners) in the event of invasionor any threat to civil order. Even furtherback, in 1910 a special natiornl force wascobbled together to deal with rioting in Tony-pandy (arising fron a minelorkers disfxrte)and over 500 police were sent in frqn su:round-ing counties and anoth,er 800 frcrn Lsrdon toseal off the area and furpose blrckades.Drirg tfurcs of greaL civil or industrial,unrest, police uill be deplol'ed to gruard aIIkey lnints, goverrurent buildings, porer stat-iars, fuel terminals, major industries, crcnnrunicatiqr facilities and broaticast centres.

i---f-i

llrllr1lt,_I

Itrect I

Black I'lag Autumn 1984 Page 10

Ttrey will be backed up by army personnel oninstnrtions frcrn the AFIIQ's. Freedqn of rpve-rent wilf not be allcrred: reny min routeswill have road blaks and st the wtlole ltnstcitizens will be forced to remain within theirlaalities. Official Erergenq, Regilllationsalso call for lthe restricbion of npverentof rnred individualsr. O:rrently an the l{I5arrest list of possible 'subversivesr is around201000 narrEs. If interrurent was introducedanl, carfis (sr.rctr as the sre at Rollestone-

used in 1980 during the Prison Officersdisprte) are likely to be reguisitioned ashofaing centres. If need be PEty criminalswill be released m parole frcrn the prisonsto rnake rocrn for the internees.

l,!I5, based in Orrzon Street, central tsldon,has itrs part tm in the state's civil warscenario. F Branch is the section in chargeof dcnestic subversion. The head of F Brarrchis tony ttansen. Ransen led joint intelLigerrceotrnratians in tbe north of Ireland and wasalso in drarge of t{I5 intelligence gathering,reprtirE direct to @EIRA, during the '72l{iners strike. F Branch specialises in tacklingall, forms of subversion, including the invest-igation of trade unictists, poliEical o4tan-isations, journalists, etc. A sub-branch ofF Divsiut, H(, q>ecialises in infiltrationinto Snlitical gocotrpings and trade unions.F6 is another sr:b-division - it specialisesin anarctrist and nern left activity. Accordingto the New Statesman the head of F6 (and E4)is fury-eassweffer. Gassveller lives at3 fonsurby Rd, London $t15 (telephone 0t-7889803). C Brarrch also has a role to play: Policyand opratiurat planning an ccnbined jointintelligence (Hr5, SAs, Special Branch, Arnl'Intetligenc, etc) activity for cotmter-insurgerqr. 'C Branch liases with @verrurent@rmunication lleadquarters (6IQ) at Cheltenhamand looks after $rone talping, general surveil-lance, br:rglaries, mi1 opning, etc. S BrarEhruns the curpr.rter deSnrtrrent, the Joint Coq>uterBureau - which is linked in to the l{16 cuputerfacility. Files on over 500,000 individualsare contained in the JCB. JCts is also linkedinto the police natioral canglber as wellas the Vehicle Licnsing Ccrqxrter at S{anseaand the DtlgS Ccquter.

nring the pr+insurgency tr*rase, an integralpart of ttre staters civil war plans is theblanking out of all nornnl aqrmunicatim facil-ities. Systn X, steadily being introducedby British Te1eqqn, provides total sunreil-lance capbility an all users as weII as pro-viding the facility for the blarkfutg otrtof ccrplete areas of the country or evenselected subssibers on a mass scale. Uringthe 1974 }tiners strike ttte GJ recunrendedthe setting up of a rtelephone prefererrcesystemr. It was code nalred rFederal' and inrpre recent years the technologD/ of SystemX has ncn nade Federal a reality. The systern,wtren fully olnrative, can cut off up to 981of all users if need be. The Teleptrone Prefer-ence Systen has in fact olrerated on a muchsuder level ever sirre l*{'2. Ttrree categorieswere devised: Category A - all essentialindustry, goverr[Ent, mititary, and police;Category B - all rajor ctnnercial users andcertain VIP private subscri-bers; and CategoryC - ttre remainirg pop:latim. In tfues oferergercy Category C subscribers (and B ifnecessary) can be cut off. rtre system alsoworks qt an area to area basis.

Ttre state has several additional cqrunicat-ian systers as backup in the event of rajorsabotage attacks on BT equitrnent. 'Ihe Covern-rEnt @ntrol tlet-work (eN), nm called theErergency Cqnnunication ltetwork (ml) is themain backup systen. The mN bl4nsses Lhe mainFf network and links together all SRIIQ's,AFtIQ'sr other military bases, goverrnent curnr-unication centres, the Hawthorn-Corsham cutplex,nrajor goverrrrent departrents, regiornl police[tQ's, etc, all within one system.

Part Two : The 5 Year CYcleThe staters civil nar contingencY planning

seems to have curred over five year crycles,coinciding with ctranges in governnent andmajor industrial disprtes. 1973/74-saw ttteenr6rgut e of the 6J frcm the old Errergenqloog;i;ti.*, the decision to set up a nationalp"iio force (the NRc) and the linking oftn O: network to lnlice and militarlt bases'igllfig witnessed the end of the Callaghangou".*=nt and a reorganisation of ttf OCIJiittin an updated Hcrne Defence network' Throughthe RE's tne O: was able to significantlyilprot u itrs intelligence SalfreJing capabilityanb strengthen its tinks with ttrc htelligerrceService. a nefl grant in MI5 - ?2 - was createdio. tni" Purpose. 1978 was also the year thatNicholas iriafey, no* Tory ninister of .trarLs;Drt'prlii"r,.o a se&et polic.Y feport

-on civil

iar cqrtingencY plans. Ridley made certaini""*tt=ttauli.ons tfrat he considered would takearouna fo:r to five years to becure fullyoperatianal. His reln-rt.was passed^?I.th'g:

"nA the recqnrendations incp4Drated as

offl"iif poficy- A@rding to ttrc Economj'st*Grio isar.y'" report csrtained an annexe

Tvo pickets handcuffed to street lanps'

Page 11 Black Flag Autumn 1984

that provided guidelines qr trcn a lbrlr govem-nent rptrld deal with any rmjor industriaLor trnlitica1 threat. Ridlelr recsnrended afive IErt plan to coLlnter such a threat:1. (The) retut."n on capital fi,gures ellouldbe rigged eo tlnt ot obooe aoerage tnge elainean be pa.id to the 'uulnerable, industries.2. The eoenttnl battle ahould. be on grow.td.el@een by the ?ories, in a field. theg thinkcould be tnn (railunys, British Leyl.attd., theCioil Sentiee ot Steel).

3. Every preeauti-ort should be taken againsta ehallenge in electricity or gae. Ang,ny,re&,otdcncies in tlwse indtstries are unlikelytc be required. the group (the CCIJ?) belieoestlnt the nost Likely futtle growtd vill bethe eoal in&tstty. Ihey (the gvoup) wuldLike the Tluteher gouertunettt to a) build upttpsi;run eoal stoeks, pa.rti.eulatly cit the WDe?stations; b) nake eontingency plans for theinport of eoal; e) encottrage the reetuitnentof non-tmion Lorry drioers by haulage conrpaniestc help moue eoal uhere neeeessa?y; @d d)introduce dual coal/ oil fi-ring in aLL puerstations as qti.ckly as posiible.4. the group belieues tltat the greatestthteat to any atrike utould be to eut off thenoney eupply to the strikes otd. np.ke th wrionfinance then.5. There ehould be a Lange nobile eqadof police equipped attd. prepated to upholdthe Lau against vblent picketing. ,cbod r@n-ttnion drivers' elnuld be reeruited to eross.pieket lines vith poliee proteetion.

Sirrce taking office the Ibry goverruenthas acted on virtuaLly every one of Ridley'sreccnnendations. Under I) perhaps the ncstrecnt exanples were the rail workers andp""E1 hprkers displtes

- both ended up makir,gsettlerents within the cLlrrent rate of inflationanril as a result both disgrtes irere concludedygry Suic*ly at a point in tine (during t}e1984 Miners strike) wtren a prolurged strike

in those industrirefuould not have been agreeableto tlre state. Under 2) the Tories wEre urnbleto get that me right. But it is interestingto note ttnt they cmsidered the railworkersand the car workers to be a pshover. Withthe steel uorkers under the guidance of trthe-line Bill Sirs ttrey were right. The Toriesalso won the eXfQ dislrute wtrich curcernedthe Civil Servic.

Ttre third recqmendatim indicates trcn rml,-nerable goverrlEnt is to any threat posedto the fuel and trner industries and just trcl,much it fears a nnjor conflict in the oalindustrlt. Significantly RidJ.ey reveal.s justtro mrch furyortance the state places on contin-gencry plans. With oal it reant the stakpilingof supplies over several years in anticipatiurof a dispnte, as weLl as mking pretrnratiursfor securing additimal staks through inports.Even as far back as r78 Ridley was recurrrend-ing that the ernergenq/ organisation obtainlists of non-union and scab lorrlt driverswtro can be called qur should a disp:te breakout. Under the Ridley recunrendations theroad haulage firms *ould be provi&d withinducqrcnts to take on non-union labour. Asfor the transfer of the p*er stations tooil, this has not gone as rell as the lorieshad hoped.

Recqrnendation 4 basically suggests thatsequestration of union funds or sLrike funds(or their limitation - a policy recently p:tfonvard by the Adan Snith hstitute) shouldbe fuplenented as a tol to break uniur lnreras smn as possible. Ihe NGA senred as thetest case in this respect and the sequestratiorof the South tlales t{Il{ funds was the collsB-qluence. Finally Ridley rade a recqrrendatiqrfor the consolidatian of a rpbile police force(perhaps on the lines of ttrc original Anti-Picket Squad), urr:ler the di-rectim of thellational Reporting CentJe.

:iffi:,

:'i" st: .:|r.v.$*.\ r.

oi \".,.

F_'.:.inir;'iii::ii: l:Sr'

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Black Flag Autumn 1984 Page 12

\ry

ss,

Perhaps the IrDSt iJrportant thing to belearnt a6out aU this is not that goverrnEnt'despite ttreir protestations to tbe contrarlt'is constantly intervening behind the scenesin all lmjoistrikes - ttreyrrre beeo doirg tttissirr.e trade uniqrign first began - but thatstate cdltingency plans are conceived andpit into effect long before the predictedlrisis ever materialises. Purthenpre it isclear frcm Ridley's reccnnendations that statepolicy sr industrial disprtes is clasely lir*edLo a npre curprehensive contirryerrlt arrargerentinvotving the state's Civil Har scenario.

Part Tlnee : Mobilisation

The five year contingenqr c1'c1e gives aclear idea of just hcn far the class enemlzorganises well in advance of any raior indust-riil or political activity. The forces ofState anB Capital are on a constant war-footin9,'they are the real 'enemy within', conspiringto lubvert and crush any threat to their [ffer'Ttre setting up of a npbile police force andthe introduction of anti-union labour lawsare only part of the cutplex arrangementsthat have been nade by successive goverrnentsover the years. Although both current eventsand history have shcrrn that, when it cqresdcr*n to it, the best thing the state can hopefor in any period of conflict is the disloyaltyof the oppressed class within its o*n rarks.As far as the state is conc'erned seIl-outsand scab c-ollusion is far preferable andstrategically rore rnnageable than any lastminute Lrmp deplolatent or eleventh hour ener-gerry legislation.- StateTcapitalist strategy can teach usall the i.mportance of long-term p)'anning'With a strike as biE and inportant as theMiners it was inevitable that the call forwider solidarity would meet with a huge andragnificent response, not only from withinth6 mining cunnunities thenselves, but frqnworkers and unenployed throughout the land'The sq4nrb gouPs are a natural consequenc-eof this solidarity and have sh*rn everyonethe part such groups can play in curbatingthe State's strikebreaking efforts. But what@pital/the state has taught us is that thesupport groups need to Ue per=man9nlr-not onlyin tne coat i.nAustry (where the battle isan ongoing one), but throughout all industry'--

e rfutw5rx of Strike Support C;roups, existingbefore and during a disSute and car4'ing on.once-the displte has corrcluded, could function

The usual idea of a civil war t1r5E situationis open warfare, dividing a nation-into those*no '"opp"tt the goverrunent or a military/p"fiti-.if faction and those who donrt' Hcf,'everit i" obuious that the state no longer sub-Lin"" to this dated def inition (did it ever?) 'i*i.ua civil war is seen as a constant potent-il;-a; G prepareo for on an ongoing basis'*nii.-"t.t.

"dtinget.l' planning rec-oginisesno-aift.t *= whatioever between the daily;;iiA" that take prac-e as Pgt! oI the class;il;i; and those drat contribute to the;;Gti; of civil war. ot this basis state;;;.gy-i" to 'contain' c'onflict'

-given that*y-;d;.4 nret is seen as a sign of weakness;d ;; undermining the principle of .goverrunent'iJ"u""..d" in ctrcing uhis b-y i cqruination ofclassic ttivide and rule and by maklng surettril-tn

" we fight back we do so in tenns

of-iiiiu""' and rarely as a unified lrnverent'Page 13 Black Flag Autumn 1984

a^c, a strike contingerrlt resource in ognsitionto the strikebreaking facilities of the state.!'lhatever the outcsre of the Miners strike,gjven that the state's contingenqr arrrnge-rents are so well organised, it would be fool-ish if any of the su14lort lEoups decided todisband. Instead all of us wtro are involvedirr sutr4nrt activity should do what Y{e cantc,keep that activity going beyond the strikeand help seate new sulport grouP aroundthe industries and/or neigtibourhoods wherew are based. (l{any Miners strike sq4nrbttroups have rade it perfectly clear, fronvery early on, that when the strike is overthey have every intention of carrying on. )

A pernanent network of Strike Support Gnoupsmight grw out of the current situation ornay end up devel-otrriryl out of other initiatives.Such a suplnrt network cottld be organised(as are rany of the ttiners Support Groups)around existing laal facilities (neighbourhocdctrntres, etc) and would need, of course, tobc open to waged and umaged alike. But soa:; to avoid the ever [xesent danger of ceoption and infiltration by local bureaucrats,parEy officials, reformists, trots and ol4nr-timists generally, each grouP would need toself-nnrnged, organised collectively, andplace its priorities on direct action. ALsoeach group would need to avoid local authoritygrants, direct funding frcrn one particularorganisation, etc; instead to geE funds frcrna wide curmunity base and directly frqn workersac rank arxl file level. Ideally each su14>ortgnroup r+or.rtd try to provide su1port for allworkers and unenployed involved in any dispute(official or otherrise), on a stricbly mutualaid basis. ftoups would not utly be in aposition to trx'ovide mutual assistance (wheresought) on picket su[{prt arxt (ongoing) fundraising, but would also furption as localsutr4nrt centres for neighbourhood strugEles(eg, qollective rent./rate bqfcotts, clafumntsactions), etc.

A11 in all a network of pernnnent strikesugnrt group operating throughout the qcuntrycould indeed IDse a formidable threat to thestaters contingerry set-up. The grou1>;s cpuldeasity link together to form area. or regional

federations and if ever strch a su[port networkwas catrnble of npbilisation during tfues ofwidespread industriat unrest (eg, the lead-upto or during a Ceneral Stri*e) then all of uswould surely be in a far npre confident posit-ion to fight back than we are now. Bridgingttrc gap between workers fighting in one indus-try and workers in another (at rank and filelevel), between the Ytagd arxt the unraged,and betrieen workplace struggles and neighbour-hood struggles, a self-organised sq4:ort net-work would have the trntential to form thebasis of a much wider resistarre lTrcvernentthat would help organise things under worker,/curmunity control during any pre-revolutionarlzarxit post-revolutionartz period - which isexactly hov the crcnmunity and workplac-e lFouPSworking within the Spnish CNI, the anarchist-slmdicalist uniot, organised ;xior to andduring the Civil war.

Such a sutr4nrt network is also capble ofproviding a solid base for any activistsinvolved in rearguard support. Sq4nrt ofthis kind nny end up being undertaken by localdefenc-e groups (a 'citizensr militiat ) tofight, say, police or hired thug intimidation,or (if ttre activity is to cover a wider areaand involves offensive as well as defensivereasures) by guerrilJ-a or tcornando-style'units. Ho,rever organised, an intensificationof direct actiqr into an open ccnflict situat-ion autqrnticatly prcnpts certain considerations.

Firstly, and nast iJrportantly, the qLlestionof security. By abfinition any grotrP thatengages in rearguard actions should be fornedfrcrn an existing affinity !troup. False i/d'sshould, preferably, have been pran:red wellin advarrce of any projected activity if thecarpaign is to be a long qte. Bbatants willneed to decide at scnp stagE whether or notthey are gping to qErate 'undergtround' orhhether they can stiU nanage to live 'normallivesr and carry out actions as rell. Withthe acquisititrl of transtrnrt, registrationshould be taken out under the false i/d. Asfor safe-horsing, if this is neeessary thiscan be either pne-arranged under a n* ider-tity or a nunber of trusted contacts can beasked to assist. rn an [ErqencY a house can

SUDDENLY, IN THE }IIDDLE OFTHE NIGHT, A FEW RIOT COPSARE PUT TO SLEEP...

s\ :l '

iI*p-s3;;:M*#

Orgreave: angled stakesmounted riot coPs.

be squatted for a tenporarlt period or a 'secdrdhcrne' (in a rural area) can be taken over.

Secondly, skills. ScnE kind of trainirryperiod is essential, if tilre ccnstraints allm.Each merber of the grolp (nwbering betlEen5 and 8) should obtain a particular ski[relevant to the $ork to be dsrc (eg, redicalaid, electricsZbreak-ins, dennliticr rork,car rechAnics, etc). Ideally ever), rrEsbershould knq ttor to &ive and be skilleo inweaponry and una:nned srbat.

Thirdly, tactics. If actims are restrlctedto a srml1 geographical area and other guerillaactivity has not yet q)rung up in other partsof the country then their is a high risk ofgetting caught, especially if the group rrrcrbersare kncrrn as rmilitantsr. Ideally any prolqrgedguerilla carpaign should cover a wide an areaas lnssible throughout the counLry and invoLv-ing as mny ccnbat units as possible (preferablywhere only one nerber of each grap, if that,knos anly qre nerber in qp other group).With widespread actions the forces of thestate will find that tlreir resources arequickly overstretched. Iss cqrfined actimslake it far rpre difficult for the SecurityForces to sueessfully infiltrate the cqbatuniEs. Initially SFoups should not be overarrFbitious but should *ork up experience by takingcl tsoft' targets (eg, conpany property, courtbuildings, supply depots, fuel plants, wrelay masts, etc) before going orr to ttre 'hard'ones (e9, police stations, army bases, lurerstations, anranrents factories, etc).

Po:rthly, sqplies. Arms and e:rplosivesr+ould need to be dtained bry raids eitherfrcrn qmers or frcrn suppliers. In additiqrcqrtacts within the suport network can assistin the qrversisr of spo6ing re4ux, Geven [l learning tra to nake inprwisedseaIDlrrlr. D(I)losive mterials can also beilprovised if neccessary. qrce obtained, annsand e:rplosives will need to be stored

":re1yin the right urditiqr.s in strategically placedduurps.

\-..

in road to deter

Finally, organisatian. t{ithout the active(or pa.ssive) support of the civilian resistarrce,any rearguard actims will have been carriedout in vain. Ecrever sltact between supportgroup activists and rrErrbers of any rearguardgroup strculd ideally be virtually ncrexistent,or at Least kept to a minimum, for securityreasons. Any resene personnel or back-upactivity can be st4pleflEnted by the lealdeferp.e militias, rho rny also be involvedin organisirg safe-housing or a courier net-nork. The actual sq4nrt network can in.turnhelp the ccrrbat goups bV helping out inintelligence work, prisoners aid, etc. Alsothe puropaganda activity of the suporE networkwill becqre ever ltDre eucial as the qtftictwidens.

It can never be o\rer-stressed that gn:erillaactivity shoul.d always, wittrout exception,ccnplerent the work of any suport network.Any instances of vanguardisn, or actimsundertaken for reasons of self-interest/se1f-prcrotion or adrition, should be conoenmedand dealt with inrnediately: any ccnbat groupthat adopts the role of a gang and does notrefer to the wider resistarrc but asts inisolation, such groups are counter-revolutionarlt. nrttrer:rrrcre all astions under-taken b1t any rrEnber of the resistance nustof therselves be self+vident: state propagandawitl be enployed to distort aL1 resistarrceactivity in an attar4>t to eiminalise thoseinvolved and to isolate thern frcm wider sq4nrt.

Ken tleHnan.

AdditisBl Sourc llaterial :llar and.Order, by Celiru Bledoutska-rouanA{ A'eEizens' l,lilitia, by Stuatt Chtistie.@eLL.Tou-TntAGTty operations, by Frank Kitsorl.ffiieantuess.TEe-poor uanl{,lantes Bond, by ktrt furon.

'enee and Resistance,llot,ks

Page 15 Black Flag Autumn 1984

Recently it r+vs announced thatRadikal, the iournal of the Berlinsquatters movement, wili no longerbe produced. This decision was tukenin the face of heavy and continuousrepression (jail sentences, raids etc.)snd the imminent death of the move-ment itself. There ure at this momentonly I I houses lefi squatted in Berlin,and 5 o! these will be evicted shortly.

llith the end of Radikaland thesquatters the time seems ripe for ashort review of the Berlin movement,its relevance to Anorchism snd the roleond ideas put forward Dy Radikal.

After the first few months of 1981the full iorce of the police state wasturned t,r destroying the Berlin move-ment. The authorities took the occupat-ions extremely seriously, as a directthreat to private property. The rulingCDU, backed by the constant mediabarrage, only gained credibility byattacking the squatters. Between Janand Aug'81 3,500 charges werebrought, 60 houses were searched (thisinvolved sealing off the whole streetet-c.) anrl 10 buildings were evicted.As time went on the Police built uP awhole industry of repression, watchingpeople, taPPing Phones, making newlaws, pec,ple following people, controlling andprocessing people, cross checking every-thing with computers, arresting andimprisoning people. In June 1981, whenthe Movement was still at its height, thequestiorr iame up for discussion in theCouncil and an incredible 50,000people took to the streets to supportthe squatters and rioting, looting andburning spread across the city. On Sept.l5th 1981 General Haig came to visitBerlin and 80,000 came out for thedemo and further rioting. This wasn'tjust a squatters' demo, but they certain-ly got the blame for embarassing theauthorities worldwide. Next day theInsennator Lummer announced that9 of the biggest squats would be evictedby the illst September. Writers, artistsand fan ous people moved into thehouses -o protest, but that didn't help.On the 22nd 1000s of riot pigs carriedout the evictions. Lummer gave a.victor-ious press conference ilside one of thecaptured houses. Shortly after, as riotingbegan, L9 year old Claus Rattay, a squat-ter was killed when he fell under a busduring r fierce baton charge by cops.A gigantic crowd gathered and marchedto the t'victed houses, the cops werenowhere in sight, then they opened upfrom tlLe squats with volleys of tear gas.It had lregun, the worst violence inBerlin since the War (with the Americanarmy offering to restore order). Againand aguin whole convoys of armoured

Anorchy in Berlinca$ were forced to retreat due to veryheavy stoning and petrol bombing.

After the night of extreme riotingfurther evictions were postponed tillafter Easter'82, but a heavy depressionhad set in on the Movement. The cinemathe pirate radios and tt.e Bezetser Post(squatters weekly paper) all closeddown. The movement was already splitright down the middle by the PolicYof legalisation/ criminalisation, abouthalf the houses favoured selling out,rather than endless uncertaintly andpersecution. Most of those who didget legalised (about 50 houses to date)got a lousy deal, some who negotiatedgot evicted by surprise anyway. What-ever the splits amongst the squatters(and there were more between'mollis'and 'mueslis', punks and politicos etc.)they always demonstrated violently'after evictions. Some of the nastiestscenes happened right after the truceended with surprise evictions in April'82, when 1000s of demonstrators weretrapped and beaten to shit by 1000s ofpolice to try and scare people off thestreets before the Reagan visit of June1982. However this policy only insuredthat the best rioters went to the Reagandemo, and the authorities were shockedby pictures of pigs running away andtheir vans burning going by TV aroundthe world. After that the repressionsand evictions came hot and heavY.The Lefties tried to organise a'totalsolution' so that desperate squqtterscould sell out, but this collapsed whenhouses which were due to get contractswere evicted by the police anyway. 15houses were 'searched' in one day (Aug.82) by.l000 riot potce. 2 hard linehouses were evicted without warning.Numbers at demos were falling off asthe police had learned how to totallycontrol the streets. Vigorous attemptswere made to revive things, like the'KULTURSCHOCK' festival of late '82and the Tent camps of summer'83,but the'fantasy' and enthusiasm ofearly'81 were gone forever.

The squatters replied to the repressionwith'Counter Violence' and the guerillaattacks of the Revolutionare Zellen (RZ,which also stands for Red or RagingZora, the womens' underground). TheRZ are people who 'hide in everydaYlife', carrying out attacks on banks,stores, institutions, landlords' property,sex shops, American bases, etc. Radikal

accepted RZ quite rightly as an integralpart of the movement, and therefore asthe Movement paper theY were boundto print their commuriques in Radikal,along with commentaries and discuss-ions. These make fascinating reading,the RZ were very conscious of the his-tory of the RAF (Red ArmY Fraktion)of the dangers of becoming ettist, cutoff and paranoid. Most of their attackswere those which anyone could do afldwere accompanied by appeals for morepeople to join in. Radikal's printing ofthe communiques was thus very import'ant to them, and in turn they remainedresponsible to the progressive wing ofthe movernent. The printing of thesecommuniques of RZ was the excusegiven for the trials of Benny and Micha,in which Rad ikal was'Proven' to bethe central organ of a.'terrorist group'.It is fair to say that it was not howeverthe raids, seizures, arrests, trials andprison sentences which finally finishedoff Radikal.. .What finished them wasthe death of the Movement itself.There are at this moment only 1 1 squatsleft, and five of these are due for immin-ent eviction, with most of the rest beinglegalised. Under immediate threat is theKuckuck, the big LIVE-WORK-PALACEof Tuwat (Do something festival) fame,where a goodbye festival is now takingplace. In Kuckuck also were the officesof Ecomedia, the International NewsService which also has an office inBrixton. This has now moved to a legalhouse where a cafe and info centrehave been set uP.

The Berlin Movement is just aboutdead, no one knows how or where itwill erupt again. However we could dowell to learn from their achievementsand methods of resistance, as well astheir use and adaption of Anarchistideas...

Comment: We hoPe the eruPtion willcome through a co'operation betweenwrtrkers (waged and unwaged) andresidents ( tenant s and rent'strikers )whose' occupations' and'insurrections'will overcome the divisions of 'marginal'and 'straight' which have plagued themodern rebellions of the West. . . ,Gimme that'ole time Social RevolutionGimme that'ole time Social RevolutionIt was good enough for SPain ('36)And, its good enough for me!

*radikal Ilr. l2lolrt. tlS.lohrgongt mlttottvarELli[itsafG(-aEidratDl^^L E laa ,l tthtnn I ORZ Dnto I 6

zeltung fii, dcn run ouf .lle Bohomos ato2lE t.ftnnralootailtlta ..I-.-mtollntir.a tEtlr

!IIIIIr:-

Buckground to'Rodikol' TriulI Recent Guerilla Actiom

Autum t83 sart a specEacular attack trlttre ccnquter centre of the ilAN euise uissilelaunch trucks plant at, Frarkfurt. OverE500r000 rorth of damage ras caused. RZgraffitti alpeared nearby and there was nodisclainer. tlAN is the 7th biggest cqnpanyin W @rmanlt and specialises in transportand anranents. At the tinE of the attack itwas involved in the nanufacture of 465 vehiclesfor the transprtatiqr of Pershing nissiles.

Other similar attacks on property relatirgto military tnrdnare plants that curedaround this tine irrluded the Sierens raidand the Littm Systems raid. The forrer tookplace an June 8 wtren a Sierens building wasrplotoved. Ttre latter hapened on June 23with the atterpted firebcrtring of a Littontxrilding in D-Eseldorf (Littm, Canada, nakettrc guidanc system for Guise). Al,so aroundthat tiJrE an attsq)t was nade on VicePresidentBush, wtro was ql a visit to W CrrEny, utrcnhis nptorcade was attacked by angfr dersrstrators.

Recently the Rz (Revolutimary @11s) haveissued a stern warnirq to all revolutionrlztEoups involved in direct action and guerrillarrarfare to benare of pseudo4angs - goupsthat udertake actions against seerdnglylegitfunate targets but who do so ot:t of self-interest or because of a strategy to disseditexistirg guerrilla groups. In particular theRZ point to the actions undertaken bY theneo--fascist HepP grotrp, wtrose actiqrs wereinnediately assaiated by scme as being attrilFutable to the Rz. Ihe Help grouprs targetswere US armlz bases, but the attacks reredeliberately designed i,n order that ttrcrewis a high possibility of indissiminateinjury. afternards, trre W Gerlrnn leftist daily,ttre 'iag', irmediately conderrred the raidbut at ttre sare tine feII right into the traPof cpndenning leftist actions generall.y (whichis ttre route soIE situtionists have takenwith regard to possible pseuderevolutiunrltactivity that has taken place in Italy).

The Rz also later stated that revolutianarlt!troups stpuld not cstfuse anti-inperialistor anti+ilitarist actions with any form ofcanpaign directed against the US people ingeneral. Tlrey clarified that they sere notanti-Arerican, but anti{rS inperialisn. TtrcRZ considered that the HeFP incident has broLlghtrmny lessons trcne to everyone. In particularthe need for clearer analysis on wtrat ishappening and the need for any undergroundor clandestine organisation/network to nakethat analysis rore widely available.

Fortunatery the attetrpts brlz the pseudegiangs of the extrere right have failed in[teir mission to break the solidarity of theleft and anarchist resistance. Ttre dirty tricksof the Hep Gang rrcre eventually fully eryo99O(by Anarchy magazine, for cte, tt* initia[yccrningTo the rrong oonclusion) for all to""".

in fact it should be the responsibilityof any revolutionary rpvelrent to develq itscrm intettigprrce capabilities and be ctrEtant-Iy watchful at all tines of ttre activitiesoi tn" extre$E right so that at any opPortunity

their conspiracies can be revealed and theirplans nipped in the bud. the fascist optpr-tunists are always loking for the right nulentto escalate their terror tastics, especiallyif the left resistarre is itself on ttre offen--sive.

2. ReprcsionIn Gernany to go ort strike is interpreted

by the state authorities as an act of violerrce(disruption of the curmunity by disrup,tingindustry). Section I30 of the Penal @decriminalises rirrciteflrent to class war' andagitation generally. According to one Sqrrene@urt judge, any advcacry of resistance againstthe state is prnishable... rthere is advrcacyin the form of an indi-rect atr4rea1, secudadrraacry in the form of an at[Erent distarrcirgof oneself , thirdly the desaipt.ion of oriminalactions wtrich invite imitation, fo:rthly adiro-caql in the form of giving alproval to a hist-orical event with the intention of present-ing it as a npdel to be imitated, fifthlyadvaacry in the form of an announcerent orpredictiur of acts of violence which inviteimitatisr, and sixthly adveacry of violerrcein the form of reproduction of the opinianof others in ritrictr the author i&ntifieshimself (sic) with that opinion in order toproduce a partiofar fuSrression. (Quote frcrn,Iaw, Order and Politics in West Germany, b1zSebastian Cobler. )

Sectim 131 of the Penal Code makes itan offerre to rglarourise or trivialise viol-ence'. Clause 111 prohibits prblicatiors orrEetings that irrite eiminal acts (thep:blishers of the biogaphy of June 2 HoverentBormi Barmrarur were raided and charged under11I). hter a IIDre catch-al] statute nas forrulated to sutErcde lII. Ttris nerr law erEbledthe prosecutidt of soIIEoIre not only for irrciterent but also for 'providing the right kindof clinate for irciterent'. In other words,any infornred argnrEnt that is sitical oftbe state as an institution and cottld 5rovokeanti-state ideas.

The big qte is 129, ntrich pernlises anyonewho suports or prblicises or syrqnthiseswith any organisation or corbination 'preju&icial to the state'. The salre clause alsog'ovides for suspects to be placed under arbiLrary surveillance, be raided, etc, in orderthat evidence of guilt by assciation maybe built up. Ttrose defendants who refuse tocooperate under Clause 129 provide the author-ities with the 'evidence' ttrey need: yourreeither guilty of nonqration or of support-ing 'cziminal'groups. Catch 22. Attendingreetings and reading prblications can be cpn-strued as rsutr4>ort' for resistance under 129.Ore p:b1isher, Klaus t{agenlrach, ptXrlisheda book called 'qt the Arned Struggle in lsternEuropet, written by a naf IIElIber. He was sentfor prosecution under I29. t{ore recently 129has been invoked against scne squatters lgouPs.In one best case the High Court ruled thatr:nder I29 a group of squatters can be definedas a criminal organisation in that the actionsof that group tttreaten the staters housinglaws and thereby the state itself.

Page l7 Black Flag Autumn 198'

h another test case txle srrrEn got sentencedto nine rnnths (suspended) for rerely dist-ributing leaflets about the RAF, cr theunderstanding that in future she alid notinvolve herself with any other slrqntheticactiors. Iater the Higher Court siticisedthis judgerent fon not being harsh enough.

tn nearly every instance wtrere the censor-ship laws have been invoked it has been againstarnrchist or,Jeftist lpoups, virtually neveragainst the grcning nurber of n+fascistgFoups that are springing up. The sarehappened in ttre '50's, r*hen over 20 left [trq:pswere siminalised, rtrile the right receivedprotection. Ttrc jail senterEes handed outtto the two editors of Radikal are nerely partof the long term careaffiTn w Gernany ainredat sushing all forms of resistarrce (whetheractive or passive) that is targetted at thestate. With the coognratian exterxled betneenthe intelligerrce arxl security services indifferent countries, and with the annolrEexrentthat part of the uork of Radikal was beingcontinued at the fZf enarcnlst -Centre, inBrixtql, it is not that unfeasible tc speculatethat the recnt raid on iZf ry rrenbers ofthe rAnti'-Terrorist Squad, rl@king for theELlropean connection', may b but a continuatianof r-his conspiracy to stafi[) out arErchistredia in Ccnnany.

He are alreadl' aware that the reS (ttreparatnilita:1t border police) who each yearhave to attend a cuqxrlsory 'civil warr trairring session, are working with British llcrreDefence Forcs (narety ttre recently e:rpandedTA's) on joint exercises on counter-insurgerEl,.FurLhernpre, se are asare of the specialschml in Weingarten at the fong ItangeRecpnnaisarpe Patrol IlQ, where NAIO counter-insurgerry training is parovided as part ofjoint operatiqs qr an aqoing basis.

Joint cooperatist between the securitystates of Europe is roving into a netr thase.Ttre @rman npdel has led the uay-as far asprovidirry an exalrple of just hc far saietycan be nranig.rlated to give total sqport bothe corlnrate state. And other Euro[Ean coun-tries are learning fast (e9, the uave of alrestsagainst anti-state sitics in Italy). Ihatis rtry g:blicatims like Radikal (and others),rto\rerrEnts like the RZ, arxal situatidls likethe Berlin sqr:atting scene are such a thornin the flesh to the W Gertnan authorities.ttadikal will lropefully rise again and thereuil.lE, no doubt, rw p:blicatims to sorkalqrg its side. Ttre Rz have so far beenuntor.rctnble; r.utlike ttreir predecessors, theJune 2 ttovement ard the RAF (Red Ar[E' Itactim),the arrest detectian rate ql RZ actims hasbeen minimal. Also the suport base for theRZ is mr:ch wider and their tactic of avoidinggoing undergomd and living a colpletelyclandestine lifestyle has seemingly paid off.A.s for the squatting rpvefiEnt, there havebeen scnre defeats, but ttrcre have also beenscme victories too

Finally, it should orre again be anphasisedthat ttre sucial nistake tlre fN @nmn author-ities have nade in their attack on Radikal(qstensi-bly for pblishing raterial aboutthe RZ, in reality for consistently frovidingan outlet for the anti-state opposition) ris tbat by instigating and widening censorshipthey have forced ttre resistance into, inevit-ably anal trWefully, becunirr3 nore trnlarisedand-thereby rpre solid within itself. A polar-ised resistatrc movemnt that kns a wide baseerientually takes on a strategic role withinthe class struggle and for llodel t{est Gernanythat can only rean qre thing: its days arefinally nurbered.

I{

I*t

Black Flag Autumn 1984 pase I8

{,t

Itelow is an updated list of libertariansot the moment imprisoned by Spain'ssociolist government. lile urge alltomrades and friends to show theirsalidarity by writing directly to them orby sending money for them to thetlnarchist Bhck Cross.

CARABANCHEL PRISON:Apartado de Correos 27007, I\{adrid280 - 25, Spain.,\LVARO ALVARO DEL RIO:,\rrested 1979 Sentence: 23 years(]UILLE&MO MARIN GAITAN:,\rrested 24-L-83. On Remand..TOSEP DIGON BALAGUER:.\rrested 24-1-83. On Remand.SOTERO DEL CAMPO BAZ:.trrested 24-L33. On Rernand"MARIO INES TORRES: On Remand.A.RMANDO GARCIA PONS: Remand.RAIMOND SOLER SUGRANES :On Remand".IAVIER CLARAMUNT CICERA :On Remand.IOSE M" VIEITES ARCAS:Arrested 1 3-2{0 (Barcelona)Sentence: 16 years.

SEGOVIAPRISON:Apartado de Correos 113,,10080 Segovia, Spain.FIDEL MANRIQUE GARRIDO:Arrested 1 -5 -78. (Valladolid).Sentence: 32 years, CNT member,JOSE HERNANDEZ TAPIAS:Caso E.R.A.T. Sentence; 30 yearsGABRIEL BOTIFOLL GOMEZ :Caso E.R.A.T. (Armed RevolutionaryWorkers Organisation).Sentence: 30 years.MANUEL NOGALES TORO:Caso ERAT. Sentence: 30 years.RAFAEL SIMON GOMEZ:Arrested 3-2-78 (Valencia)Sentence: 1 I years.GUILLERMO LORENZO TREVINO:Arrested l4-2A0 (Barcelona)Sentence: 12 years.FRANCISCO MEDIAN HERNANDEZ :Arrested 14-2.80 (Barcelona)Sentence: 10 years.

MODELO PRISON BARCELONAApartado Oficial de Correos 20,Barcelona, Spain.

JUAN MANUEL FERNANDEZASENSIO: Arrested 23-3-81.Sentence: 19 years. CNT member.FRANCISCO NICOLAS GARRIDO :Arrested l-8-79. Tried 3-5{2.Sentence: 43 years.JORGE GIL SALVADOR:Arrested 20-5 l. Tried l0-2{3.Sentence: 4 years and 5 months.MANUEL CRUZ CABALEIRA:Caso ERAT.FRANCISCO JAVIER CANADASGASCON: Sentence: l7 years - CasoCaso Scala.

LERIDA I, Irrida, Spain.ARTURO PALMA SEGURA:Arrested 16-l-78. Tried 1-12{0.Sentence: l7 years, CNT member.Caso Scala.LERIDA II,Apartado Oficial de Coreos 426,

Irrida II Lerida, Spain.MIGUEL MULET NICOLAU:

Arrested 1-8-79 (Barcelona). Tried 3-5-82Sentence: 31 years. CNT member.JOSE GRANADOS MARTINEZ:Arrested l-8 -79 (Barcelona).Tried 3-52. Sentence 3l years.CNT member-

LAS PALMAS (Canary Islands)Salto del Negro,Tafira Alta,Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.GUIILERMO'RODRIGUE Z LOPEZ

VALENCIA WOMENS PRISON,Carcel Valencia de Mujeres,Valencia, Spain.MARIA LUISA ALVARO DEL RIOArrested 1979. Sentence 10 years.

MURCIAPRISONMurcia, Spain.FERNANDO GARCIA MORALESArrested 3-2-78 (Valencia):Sentence: I 1 years.

PUERTO DE SANTA MARTA PRISONCarretera Jerez-Rota, Km.6 @rision),Puerto de Santa Maria (Cadiz) Spain.JOSE RAMON CORNEJO SANCHEZ(Imprisoned through previous convict-ions). Tried: 16-1 1-82.Sentence 4 years and 8 months.PEDRO GARCIA PENA:Sentence: 20 years.

RELEASED: Juan Conesa SANZ;Fernando Simon FERNANDEZ ;Miguel Angel Moreno PATINO;Fernando Merino DEL RIO; Jose LuisPiquero PEREZ; Emilio Nieva REPARAIGuillermo PALLEJA; Eugenio AsensioNOGUES; Jose Ramon Sanchez RAMOSAugustin Garcia CORONADO !

I'f

comit6 pro- presos cnt -ait

SPANISHLIBERTARIANPRISONERSLIST.

Page 19 Black Flag Aurumn 1984

HOWNEARWEREWETO REVOIUTION ?H ow near were we to revolution inand after the last war? The first timewas with the proqpective German in-vasion of Britain. This never came offbut the prospect was near enough forit to have inlluenced attitudes duringthe war for large numbers of people.The second time was with the Alliedinvasion of Greece, when the Govt.tried to take a large number of forseenmeasures tt, deal with the problem.The third tlme was after the war, whenit seemed - despite the upheaval inlYestern Europe and perhaps becauseof the Sovi:t Takeover in Eastern

.

Europe -that the soldiirs councils hadtheir'Indiaa Summer' in Egypt.

The coalition formed in 1940 underChurchill's leadership was able to learnthe lessons of the First World War,when manl of the Labour Party hadfound thenLselves in opposition

-industrial or military.The most authoritarian Trade Union

Leader Ernost Bevin was made Ministerof l,abour r,nd he strengthened theihdustrial " conciliation"

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in realitydictatorial

- tribunals with trade unionrepresentatron. In a determination tosee that tht, shop steward movementdid not branch out as a horizontalunion movt:ment inside the verticalmovement (as-it did during WWI, andstill in part does) he tried to involvethe shop st:wards as much as possiblein arbitrati,>n. This was finally success-ful after Rrrssia declared war and theimmense e::pertise of the CommunistParty was thrown behind the State.The Trotsk yi'sts however, influencinggroups of those ex-CP militants discon-certed by the Party's change of face,managed s(,me minor successes inwildcat ind ustrial opposition.

The pol-ity of the Govt, very clearlyinspired by Home Secretary HerbertMorrison (.vho loathed the CP aspe'rsonal ri.'als in Socialist Hackney)was tolerar ce for political dissent(after it hai banned the CP in its earlypro-Hitlervar time stance) except forfascists. This was because after Russiacame intci The war, Morrison wantedthe CP to Le exposed for its shifts inpolicy. Therefore he did not takeany proceedings against Trotskyistsor Anarchi;ts who would certainlyexpose the CP forever in a way Morris-on as a me nber of the Govt. alliedwith Russi.r, could not, until the lastyear of the war when both movementsfaced a ser,es of prosecutions for whatthey had b.:en doing with impunityfor five yelirs.

In the first world war, there had beena series of scandalous imprisonmentswith shooting and torture and deathof conscientious objectors. Not sohowever in WWII. Those who couldconvince *he tribunals they had object-ions to joining the Army mairrly religi-ous but often not were exempted un-conditionally or conditionally. Thosewho had reasonably articulate anti-l\'arbeliefs faced a few years in prison atmost. This invalidated the role ofconscientious objection as an anti-warforce. It made it a game. Most sincerelibertarian opponents preferred to gointo the Army, even if they did notaccept the line of "getting within theforces" directed by the Leninists atthe masses, themselves wisely perhapsignoring it.

Thus there was considerable potentialsympathy for the Anarchist movementin the Forces, beyond anything knownbefore or since in Great Britain.Commonwealth, a body growing outof Socialists who did not support theCoalition (but generally were for thewar) had already extended itself in theArmy, but usually in higher ranks,and especially in the Education Corps.

Most people of the authoritarian aswell as the libertarian left thought of"the revolution" coming at the end of,or precipitating the end of, the war.In the event, the vast majority settledfor safely voting Labour; but bothduring the period when Hitler lookedlikely to win, and later when he looked

likely to lose, there was a general con-viction there would be a revolution, andand many planned for it (hidine arms). 1This will be denied only by those whouse the oft-repeated lie "if Hitler hadwon, we would be German slaves";ifin fact he had invaded these islands,he would have met considerable resist-ance, which would have allied itselfrvith continental resistance. It wasbecause he lost that the revolutionaryfeeling subsided and hope was placedin the Labour Party because that meanttaking no action whatsoever and playingit safe.

There had been one or two uneasymoments during the war when unrest(in other words the realisation thatrevolutionary feelings did exist in theArmed Forces) became plain. One suchwas in Cairo, where CommonwealthArmy sergeants had formed discussioncircles and finally what they called the'Cairo Parliament'. It was nothing morethan a debating society but the interest-ing thing was that it was modelled onParliament, and had an overwhelmirglyleft wing majorlty. It also revealed. thatbecause of the overpowering effect ofthe four-year-long praise of Russia, andall its works from Dear Uncle Joe downto the delights of the rest camps inSiberia, with its forces doing all thework of fighting to the point of makingall others superfluous, Communist Partyinfluence was growing steadily (onlychecked by the anti-CP influence) andthis applied to the European resistance

;t

At Abbasia (British uniforms, l-r McNamara, Meltzer, (seated) Gregory). The Sudanese did not takepart in the strike (they were professional soldiers) and indeed took over guard duties from theBritish, but vrere friendly (as seen in the s,wopping of hats)

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there was no resentments as is naturalin an industrial dispute, partly because most soldiers felt that, strike or not strike, guard duties hadto be done in the interests of life security,

IT

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Black Flas Autumn 1984 Pase 20

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without opposition.- iro Morrison thereto modify repressionl

It was also thought that Common-wealth was tending to be Communistic,thor:gh in fact it had more in commonwith the SDP of today.

Tte 'Parliament' was disbanded, thesergrrants dispersed, and all its influencewaslLed away by the Army authorities.Hov ever, partly because of the immin-enct of the Second Front, a new situat'ion rrose where a very considerablebod'r of soldiers resented the wholerole of the Communist Party whichhad been thrust down their throat, andthe 'act of going to the aid of Russiawitt the implication they'd been in arest camp all the previous time.

Tlre CP's line of Open the SecondFro tt and its continual protests thatnotiring but a frontal landing on Francewot ld help the Soviet Union "carryingthe brunt of the war" tended to beless attractive to soldiers than to factoryworkers where, in any case, the CP wassh6:ring itself into a disciplinary force:rep rrting "slackers" for declassificationfor rnstance.

Aiter the invasion, revolution at homebec rme more remote, but revolution onthe continent became a distinct possib-ilitl , it was thought. Chance aftercha rce was "missed" in Europe

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theCP lominated Resistance movements,wit r Russian aid, bY this time, andbui ding itself up in Western Europe,tak ng over in Eastern EuroPe withthe aid of the Red ArmY.

During this period, PossiblY underrigl t-wing pressure, Morrison decidedthar the period of "tolerance" for Trotsanc Anarchists was over. It was justthe time when either or both had theopl,ortunity they never had before orsin':e, and failed to contact the bail.Th,)re are several reasons for this (theydeserve to be dealt with in a separateart cle, as the extent to which bothgrew, both faced internal dissensionsanrt broke up under pressure and policeinf ltratiot, has not been told nor theles:ions drawn from the reasons whYbo.h missed their chances,)j'he Workers in Uniform (anarchist)grr,uping was broken up2, the corres--poedence societies of soldiers and thepe'rple concerned went their variousways, and were demobilised in dueco rrse. But the last flowering of thcrer olutionary movement was yet toco rne.

)n 1945 the [abour Government cameint o power. The Communist Party byth rn was ehtirely a right wing movement-

t campaigned in the Election for a"I abour Government with Churchillas Prime Minister" and certain Conserv-at ves had countered with an appealfor the Communist vote "Vote forCl urchill

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Stalin's pal". Thanks toM,;rrison's policy of making sure theirtuists and turns from pro-Hitlerismto super-patriotism were known by thepeople who would mike it known, itnever revived as a considerable force.For a time the Trots, though now dis-ur ited and vanishing as a credible party

were able to fish for members in theshrinking CP pond.

The Labour Party, as one of its num-erous anti-working-class policies, wenton to decide to maintain peace-timeconscription (unknora'n in Britain;when introduced a few months beforethe war it had been definitely promisedthat this was a temporary measure).Not only did they propose to continut!National Service; after a time, thecommitments they had made forcedthem to cut back on the rate of demob-ilisation, the very thing that had trigger-e d off soldiers' strikes in the FirstWorld War. TheY felt theY wereinvulnerable.

In November 1946, when it wasthought that all was "safe" so far asupheaval was concerned, there weresudden strikes in Egypt. GHQ issueda laconic statement that as a result ofthe announcement of the new releasedates, "soldiers of some administrativeestablishments at Tel-el-Kebir weremissing from their work; similarincidents took place in Port Said, Suezand Abbasia". It tried to play thematter down though anyone knowsthat such a thing as strikes do notexist in the Army. It is mutinY.

The Secretary of State for War,Bellenger first tried playing down theprotests, issuing constant statementsreassuring the rest of the ri'orld

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British soidiers rr'ere after all spreadout in Europe, India. the Far East

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that all rvas quiet. "a number had beenmissing, they had returned. normalconditions now prevai.l". But GHQ wascontradicting him all the time. FromREME in Te1-e1-Kebir,it spread to thePioneers in Ismailia, ftom there to themassed soldiers centres in dbbasia, andfinally there was a massive demonstrat-ion in the centre of Cairo, EzbekiahGardens. The demand was solely aprotest against the slowing down of

demobilisation but at that meeting itwas decided to abpoint delegates toform complete co-ordination. The verydividing line over into mutiny had longbeen passed.

These delegates who met regularlYduring the week

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ignoring all militaryduties and rules

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went one step furtherand decided to push their luck and formsoldiers' councils. They knew the Govtwas afraid to go too far, that Egypt wasanyway on the verge of rising, Palestineready to explode (as it did with thefollowing years' Arab-Israeli clash),and that for the Govt to further provoketheir only conceivable "tool" in theMiddle East, namely the Armed Forceswould-be lunacy.

The .\rmy swallowed the pi11 by deal-ing with the delegates direct, thus enab-ling the soldiers' councils to exist. Thatthis was a momentous occasion anyonewi.th the faintest idea of revolution mustconcede. It was one thing to have aphoney debating society two years be-fore in Cairo, organised by respectabiesergeants, but this had been disbandedand anyway, all concerned must longsince have been demobilised. This wasa new generation. the post-1945 con-scripts, though stiffened in the councilsby people who had gone through thediscipLinary battalions detention barracksand more incLined to agitate among the]'ounger men. (\o women, those in the\liddle East were volunteers).

The soldiers' councils - the first inBritain - then decided to cail a generalstrike (of Army personnel). At christ-mas in Cairo, also in the suburbs oflleliopolis, Misri Gedida, Abbasia andother military barracks, not only allwork stopped (except for GermanPOWs who continued to work, andeven organised their own disciplinel)but every military duty except patrolsceased. (An overwhelming vote haddetermined that patrols continue,

II

, "ief:.

The atmosphere of the strike and the formation of soldiers' councils was very relaxed and iokey'some were held in leave camps, Naatis or christian centres. At Port Foud (photo abovr I the*iii"o sot in on the

".t. f f,I"'o11rniitee consisted of Meltzer, McCarthy and Stanlev trepresenting

Cairo, centre) -

seated.

Page 21 Black Flag Autumn 1981

largely because so many British troopsbelieved they would have their throatscut in the night by.the local populationif they drdn't. This mistrust made itimpossibie for the delegates to con-vince the mass meetings that theyshould c()-operate with Egyptianworkers.

The result of the soldiers councilsand the rnass meeting either causedthe airmcn to strike, or it may havebeen thal they had already struck andthis was the first time it was broughtto the soldiers' attention generally.(Thoselvho struck were not, of courseflying officers, but the lower ranks ofairmen). The RAF'however faceddifferent problems. The softly-softlypolicy adopted by the Army was notrepeated,

The Communist Party was stronglyrepresented in the RAF though not inthe Army. This tended to frighten thehigher ranks though in fact there wasno attempt to form councils as in theArmy, and on the contrary, most ofwhat they did - apart from striking -was to pass resolutions demandingspeedier demobilisation "to build thenew Britain".

I understand a Marxist historian iswriting the story of the RAF strike.Perhaps they will also cover the sold-iers'councils?

It shorrld be stated that in January1947 most of the Army positions inEgypt were in the hands of the sold-iErs' councils. They could not spread.In Palestine, the soldiers' councilsformed :ould not operate because ofthe tense situation; (or rather, becauseof the way in which the majority ofthe soldrers were inhibited by the localsituation). But in Egypt the councilsoperaterl during almost the wholemonth.

It is