Partial online archive of Direct Action, a paper produced by the Anarchist Federation of Britain.
Direct Action: Paper of the Anarchist Federation of Britain (1945-1950)
PDFs courtesy of the excellent collection at the Sparrow's Nest Archive, Nottingham.
Many of the members of the Anarchist Federation of Britain went on to form the Syndicalist Workers Federation in 1950. The SWF continued production of Direct Action and our archive of this version can be found here.
There is a useful chronology of events leading up to The 1945 split in British anarchism by Kate Sharpley Library.
Direct Action (AFB) May 1945
The first issue of the newsletter of the Anarchist Federation of Britain. Including: British establishment's whitewashing of the holocaust, "Redundancy" - a new buzzword for unemployment, Tom Brown on factory committees, 35,000 Spanish anarcho-syndicalists hold conference in France.
Undated but almost certainly May: e.g. "Ten years ago; May 1955."
Attachments
Direct Action (AFB) May 1945.pdf
(4.64 MB)
Comments
Direct Action (AFB) June 1945
Undated issue of Direct Action, including: IWMA against war, news, Spanish and Swedish syndicalists, Stalin's puppet government in Austria, Don Coventry obituary, etc.
Undated but refers to May in the past tense, including "700 workers, labourers, storekeepers, chasers and inspectors employed by Handley Page Aircraft, London, struck work at 10 o’clock on Monday, May 28, for a wage increase."
Attachments
Direct Action (AFB) June 1945.pdf
(4.7 MB)
Comments
Direct Action (AFB) June 1945 (2)
Including: post-war conditions of working class people, sedition prisoner T.W. Brown gets extended sentence, 5,000 Napier engineers sacked, report on exiled Spanish anarcho-syndicalists conference in France, etc.
Undated but refers to events in May - and "In our last issue we published an appeal by the International Working Men’s Association" refers to previous June issue.
Attachments
Direct Action (AFB) June 1945 2.pdf
(4.36 MB)
Comments
Direct Action (AFB) July 1945
Undated issue of Direct Action, including: ex-servicemen squatting in Brighton, demobilisation and post-war conditions for workers, July 19th - anniversary of the Spanish revolution, etc
Direct Action (AFB) August 1945
Including: Labour Party in power, transport workers in struggle, prisoners in Spain, atomic annihilation, anarchist miner Robert Lyle wins legal case, etc.
Comments