London
Transport for London workers vote for strike action over pensions
RMT members covered by the Transport for London Pension Fund have voted by a massive 15-to-one margin for strike action to protect the pension rights of people forced to leave their jobs through ill-health.
The union is calling on the employers involved (list below) to guarantee that they will not bring forward or support proposed changes that would dramatically affect qualification for ill-health pensions.
1850-1994: The Battle for Hyde Park: ruffians, radicals and ravers
A timeline and radical history of rebellion, riots, sex and subversion in London's most famous park
[9,500 words]
Contents
1855: Marx in the Park: "it looked as if the demonstration was going to simmer down to harmless Sunday amusements, but the police reckoned differently"
1866: The Hyde Park railings affair: "The police brought their truncheons into active use, and a number of the roughs were somewhat severely handled"
1914: Suffragettes on the Serpentine.
The Battle of Cable St, 1936 - Joe Jacobs
Joe Jacobs was in 1936 a local Communist Party activist in London's East End. This is his account of his involvement in the famous defence of the East End against an attempted march by Mosley's fascists.
Joe describes events leading up to the march, including the changes in the CP leadership's tactics as they finally realised their calls for a peaceful demonstration elsewhere would be ignored. His account corrects false impressions later created by official Communist versions of the events.
London tube workers strike over safety
A section of the Bakerloo line is suspended as 150 workers stage a 24 hour strike over staffing levels.
Drivers and station staff walked off the job for 24 hours at 10pm last night (Thursday) over management plans to reduce the number of station staff available to remove passengers from trains. This has caused the closure of the Bakerloo line between Queens Park and Harrow and Wealdstone.
The Many Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, and the Atlantic Working Class in the Eighteenth Century
Article on class struggle and compositon in the period leading up to and during the American revolution, showing how the struggles of sailors and slaves drove the movement to national liberation.
Introduction
The Stop The City demonstrations, 1983-1984
A short account of the Stop the City demonstrations of 1983 and 1984 which were described as a 'Carnival Against War, Oppression and Destruction.'
The idea of the “Stop The City” (STC) demonstrations was hatched by three London anarchists at a party in the early eighties. At around the same time people in Australia and America had had the same brainwave.
A review of Joe Jacob's 'Out of the Ghetto' - Al Richardson
A review of the late Joe Jacob's excellent autobiography. Growing up in London's Jewish East End, Joe was variously a Communist Party militant, anti-fascist, Trotskyist, and in his later years a member of the Solidarity libertarian socialist group.
Originally published in Vol. 5, No. 1 of the Trotskyist journal Revolutionary History.
Reprinted in Echanges et Mouvement no 80/81, 1996.
(A chapter from Out of the Ghetto is here; http://libcom.org/library/battle-cable-st-1936-joe-jacobs)
===========
Academy site occupied in Brent
Protestors have occupied Wembley Park sports field in an attempt to prevent the construction of a City Academy.
The protestors, including teachers, parents and sports ground users have set up tents on the field with the intention of staying there permanently until the proposal is dropped. Funded by the DfES and private sponsor Andrew Rosenfield, the Academy was approved in January by Brent Council and would sit on what is currently Bridge Road Recreation Ground.
Barker, Ambrose, 1859-1953
Short biography of East London radical secularist and anarchist, Ambrose Barker, who was active in the Socialist League, Walthamstow Anarchist Group and the London Freedom Group.
Ambrose Barker
Born 1859 Northampton, England. Died 1953 East London, England
The Destruction of Toy Town UK - BM Blob
A collection of accounts and analysis of the Poll Tax riot, 1990, published by BM Blob.
This articles is available in PDF format, if you have a text version, please contact us
