accounts
Archive of accounts with radicals and working class activists on libcom.org.
No war but the class war: remembering and reflecting ten years after - Practical History
Account of a participant involved in the No War But The Class War group at the time of the first Gulf War.
In September 1990, US, British and other forces were mobilising in the Gulf following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and full scale war was imminent. At Conway Hall in London's Red Lion Square a meeting was held on Sunday 2 September 'to organise a plan of action... to counteract the blatant warmongering and racism that is going on'.
Hull prisoners revolt, 1976 - The Red Menace
Paul Hill of the Guildford 4's account of the 1976 riot at Hull prison.
The years the Guildford Four spent in jail were not simply wasted time in which they sat and waited in the hope of eventual release. Every day in prison they faced a struggle to maintain their humanity against a system that denies it. Here we reproduce an account by Paul Hill [of the Guildford 4] of one moment in this struggle - the Hull prison riot of 1976.
Letters from Algeria: the situation after the uprising - The Red Menace
Accounts of a participant in the 1988 uprising against austerity measures in Algeria.
These letters were received by our comrades at Le Brise Glace (The Ice Breaker). We are publishing them because they give an interesting eye-witness account of the situation before and immediately after last year’s uprising in Algeria. The reference to ‘Chadli’ is to the president, ChadIi Benjedid.
Hello,
121: A brief personal trip down memory lane - Paul Petard
Paul Petard reflects on a squatted social centre, now evicted, that he used to frequent.
(Oh no I've got to walk down Railton Road again.)
121Railton Road: South London's world famous radical squatted house/anarchist bookshop/autonomous social centre/free community space survived for a record breaking 18 years before being evicted. Some people claim the place was haunted, by the ghost of euro punk perhaps.
Notes from the Enfield Visteon occupation rally
Comments and thoughts from the rally in support of the occupied Enfield Visteon plant on Saturday 4 April 2009.
At 2pm last Tuesday, 565 workers at three sites of Visteon, a car component manufacturer tied to Ford, were given six minutes notice of redundancy. They did not get their last week’s pay, though it turned out that the Friday before around four or five hundred quid had been deposited in each of their accounts in place of redundancy pay.
Belgian general strike diary, 1960 - Maurice Brinton
Maurice Brinton's vivid and captivating first hand account of the massive general strike in Belgium in 1960-61 against a new law "loi unique" to reduce workers' purchasing power.
THE BELGIAN GENERAL STRIKE: DIARY DECEMBER 28-31, 1960
THE BACKGROUND
Notes of a militarised Spanish Renfe rail worker, 1976
The very interesting personal account of a rail worker in post-Franco Spain when the railways were militarised following a strike in 1976.
RENFE: THE TESTIMONY OF A MILITARISED WORKER...
Renfe, through its rail services, spreads throughout the Spanish State, and is the company which employs most workers (72,000). Every Spaniard knows this and also knows that these workers have the job of ensuring a regular service to the country, crucial to its well-being and development.
Greek riots eyewitness reports - 10 December 2008
Eyewitness updates on the unrest in Greece on the day of the general strike.
#8, 16:46: Updates from Athens and Patras
ATHENS: High School students joined the trade union march. They pelted riot police with stones and paint. In the suburb of Kaisariani the school students attacked the local police station.
Jose Yglesias remembers the solidarity of the cigar makers and their lectors - Studs Terkel
A personal account, as told to the late Studs Terkel, of the cigar workers community in early 20th century Tampa, Florida - its strong traditions of solidarity and self-education; and the role of the 'lectors' or workplace readers.
Source; Hard Times - An Oral History of the Great Depression; Studs Terkel, Pantheon Books, NY, 1970.
Wobbly Fred Thompson on the 30s Depression - Studs Terkel
The late Wobbly veteran, in conversation with the late Studs Terkel, looks back on his experience in the class struggle.
Source; Hard Times - An Oral History of the Great Depression; Studs Terkel, Pantheon Books, NY, 1970.
