Anarchists/communists in the Wapping dispute
Submitted by Glory hunter on Apr 28 2006
Admin - split from this ICC thread
devrim wrote:
To go back to England, and practical things, when I was living there( at the time of the Wapping dispute), there were two groups/publications whom the anarchists had connections with. One was run by an ex-member of the Spartacist League, and was called ‘Picket’. The other was run by a member of the Labour Party, and called the ‘Fleet Street Support Unit’. The first argued for more violence, and was backed by most anarchists while the second argued for spreading the strike to the rest of what was then Fleet Street, and had very little anarchist support. I feel that we (and I include myself within this) backed the wrong horse due to a lack of political theory. I feel that this is what comes out of just being involved in the struggle without any theory.
The picket bulletin, As it happens, I was involved with that. Used to write for it a bit, must have handed out thousands of copies of it. Actually Devrim, I think that you have it completely wrong on this one.
The main man, and driving force behind the picket bulletin, was an ex IMG, ex spart called Arnie Mintz (Boy, did the sparts hate him) Arnie, was a hardcore Bolshevik, who through years of political activity, had come to the conclusion, that he hated the left, and all socialists. Arnie was also a printworker, who when the wapping strike started, found himself in the peculiar position of being surrounded by Anarchists who were all up for it !
I think he had fantasy of forming everyone into a hybrid Leninist/Anarchist party, but he was always onto a loser with that one.
The Picket Bulletin, was just a couple of sides of A4, and it come out about every second day through out the course of the strike. It was just news of what was happening in the strike on a day to day level. It was also written almost entirely by people who were actually on strike, anybody who wished, could contribute to it, so needles to say the unions fucking hated it ! I don't remember it particularly advocating violence, but it was supportive of flying pickets when they happened. Picket was very much in favour of escalating the strike to the rest of fleet street, this being, politically, the obvious thing to do. And if this had happened, Arnie, along with everyone else would probably have wet our collective pants ! I can't see any problem with picket ? The fleet street support unit on the other hand, I can't even remember.
Apr 28 2006
#2
Yeah well, picket made a few mistakes, think that it probably could have taken it further than it did, for me , it was still a pretty remarkable thing though.
Apr 28 2006
#3
It was a remarkable thing. Compared to a lot of younger comrades, we were also very lucky to have had the experience of the late 80's when there was large scale class struggle even if was mostly defensive.
It doesn't mean that we shouldn't analyze what was good, and bad about what happened though, and try to learn things.
Devrim
Apr 28 2006
#4
Devrim wrote:
It was a remarkable thing. Compared to a lot of younger comrades, we were also very lucky to have had the experience of the late 80's when there was large scale class struggle even if was mostly defensive.
Lucky indeed. Here I am with nearly 10 years of some sort of engagement with radical politics and I've been involved in next to nothing. Some student stuff when I was at uni, a few anti-summit demos overseas and the huge disappointment that was the anti-war movement.
cheers
Pete
Apr 28 2006
#5
admin - nothing to say about wapping then?
Nov 5 2008
#6
Bumped because we've just uploaded every issue of picket:
http://libcom.org/history/picket-bulletin-wapping-printers-strike-1986-1987
If anyone knows any information about the people who put this together, please say and we can write a little something as an introduction to the archive.
Nov 6 2008
#7
There is some info in the first post on this thread.
Devrim
Nov 6 2008
#8
I never made it down to Wapping but was in contact with a Leicester support group and distributed a couple of thousand leaflets on my own and sent a fiver each week to Picket. The Printers in Warrington should not be forgotten in the struggle against Eddie Shah in 1983 also nor the scabs and Brenda "Thatcher"Dean for sabotaging the struggle against Murdoch.
Nov 7 2008
#9
Steven. wrote:
Bumped because we've just uploaded every issue of picket:
http://libcom.org/history/picket-bulletin-wapping-printers-strike-1986-1987
Nice one. Apart from a few bits here an there, i've only got the "Paperboys" pamphlet.
Nov 7 2008
#10
On a nostalgic note, I was very disappointed to see on www.closedpubs.com that the Britannia Arms in Cable Street has closed and is now a private house. I spent more time than I should have done in there on my periodic visits to Wapping in '85 /'86, more often than not stumbling out to streets deserted save for marauding phalanxes of the Met's 'Myrmidons'.
Nov 7 2008
#11
Correction, it's www.closedpubs.co.uk
Jan 31 2009
#12
I lived in Wapping during the dispute and was active in the mainstream TU/Labour movement, but had been an entryist anarchist when I squatted in the 70s long before the Trots became so prominent. I was a contributor to the Picket, as well as the more conventional Wapping Post. Arnie, who compiled and published the Picket, has since died. He was one of a kind. Although the TU leadership did not support the Picket, they all read it uncritically and secretly delighted in the organized disruption it formented. Well done BB for uploading all the issues of the Picket. I have put a link to it from my web site and will do so from Wikpedia if you're OK with that.
Jan 31 2009
#13
Here is a obituary of Arnie written by the IBT if anyone is interested:
http://marxists.anu.edu.au/history//canada/socialisthistory/Remember/Profiles/Mintz-Arnie.htm
IBT wrote:
Upon returning to England, he secured a job in a Fleet Street printshop where he worked on one of London’s dailies. In the run-up to Rupert Murdoch’s all-out assault on the printing unions that culminated in the 1986 Wapping strike, Arnie got a "buy-out" from his employer. This did not prevent him from playing an active role on the picket lines during the strike. The strike, which was ultimately broken, lasted many months and involved ferocious struggles in which the unionists and their supporters were pitted against the cops and scabs. Arnie was very proud of his participation in this struggle, and particularly of his role in producing the strikers’ paper, Picket, which he helped edit.At this time Arnie was connected with a group of direct-action anarchists, some of whom were subsequently associated with the publication Class War. Arnie thought that his role in the strike had led the police to target him for particularly brutal treatment, which in turn, he believed, triggered the onset of Parkinson’s disease which gradually progressed to full-blown MS
Devrim
Jan 31 2009
#14
Arnie did get a lot of police attention. Many of us did, and it was one of the reasons the Picket was managed so secretively. I got fitted up by the police but in court their story was so unbeleivable that even the magistrates didn't fall for it, and gave me damages against the police. For the next year I got followed, stopped literally every time I drove anywhere, threatened - but only by coppers from Camden (the outfit that tried to fit me up). They managed to nail one of my witnesses however, and made up a story that stuck in court. They made it clear it was related to him testifying against them and had one of the invariably biased magistrates who allowed so much perjured testimony from the police to convict so many pickets. Of course we weren't angels, it's just the police harrassed us and fitted us up for what we didn't do, not what we did do! Subsequent to the dispute we managed to identify at least two people involved in the clandestine activities around the dispute who were police informers. One did it to avoid conviction for an unrelated offence, the other because it made him feel important.
Feb 1 2009
#15
good posts here,and great that you have uploaded the bulletin.
Feb 4 2009
#16
noutrage wrote:
Well done BB for uploading all the issues of the Picket.
Not me mate, it was Steve.
Some of the brighton/sussex autonomists were involved in the pickets, however i'm not sure to what extent...
Watch this space.
Feb 4 2009
#17
Quote:
EASTSIDE COMMUNITY HERITAGE in partnership with TOYNBEE HALL:Do you remember the Wapping Dispute?
Share memories of the 1986 – 87 strike against the sacking of over 5,000 print workers by News International. The strike was pivotal for both the printing industry and the British union movement. The event will provide a chance for discussion around what lessons can be learnt and in what ways we should remember the dispute.
Were you a print worker, a News International employee, a trade unionist, a demonstrator or a resident of Wapping?
Do you remember the days of Fortress Wapping or do you want to find out more?
Thursday the 26th of February 2009 from 6.30 – 8pm in the Lecture Hall at Toynbee Hall, 28 Commercial Street, London E1 6LS. Close to Aldgate East underground station.
Speakers include:
Andy Walpole giving a historical introduction
Jeremy Corbyn MP speaking about his memories of the dispute
Former Print Workers sharing their memories
If you were involved in the dispute either as a striker, supporter, local resident or unionist and would like to share your memories on the night please contact Rosa Vilbr on 0207 538 4545 or rosa@ech.org.uk
There will be an exhibition to view and refreshments will be provided free of charge. The event is free. There is full access for wheelchair users. Please contact us for any further information.
This event is being organised by Eastside Community Heritage, a community history charity as part of the project Working Lives of the Thames Gateway that is recording the memories of East and South East London’s industrial workers.
To find out more please see www.hidden-histories.org.uk.
Yes, I remember what happened at Wapping. I remember the bloke who produced picket, and knew him well, as I knew you. I was also involved in some of the actions around Wapping including going on flying pickets with printers along with members of my Postman’s group.
My point was that at the time (and we were young), there was a fetisization of violence, and the picketing. I didn’t say that the Picket bulletin was a bad thing, but it did have those problems. In lots of ways it was very worthwhile.
I think the fact that you don’t remember the ‘Fleet Street Support Unit’ says a lot about my point.
Devrim