endangered phoenix

Miners picket a colliery in Doncaster, 1974

The UK coalminers’ dispute, 1973-4

A short account of the national coal miners’ dispute in the winter of 1973-4 which led to the three-day week, the collapse of the Conservative…

"To delightful measures changed...": reflections on the 1978-79 Winter of Discontent

An analysis of a major 1970s highpoint of class struggle in the UK; its character, implications and…

Otto von Bismarck, great proletarian creator of the Welfare State

The welfare state isn’t now, and never was, a “genuine gain for the working class”.

In the 1880s Bismarck's social insurance programs - old age pensions, accident insurance, medical…

Mr. R's album cover.

The Politics Of French Rap

This is a small section of a far longer text about music, called "Some Musical Notes" which was originally published on the old endangered…

A Critique of Cynicism: Something from Nothing

Written by Isaac Cronin, this was taken from Implications, published in the USA in December 1975. It formed part of a critique of Vaneigem's 'The Revolution of Everyday Life', and was basically an extension of Vaneigem's chapter on nihilism, bringing in post-68 tendencies which still have relevance today. The whole of this text, some of which I will put out in the library, is a far better take on Vaneigem than the…

Johnny Hallyday album cover from the early 60s

The Poverty of French Rock ‘n’ Roll by Larry Portis

This is chapter 6 of Larry Portis' book French Frenzies. Larry Portis died a week ago near Ales in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of the South…

the art of an artless life

L’occupation du territoire par l’art et la gentrification

« Rien que des chefs d’oeuvre ! La peinture, opérant à coup sûr, en enfante tellement qu’on se voit…

Rebel violence vs. hierarchical violence, UK 1985-86

A chronology of anti-hierarchical violence in mainland UK, July 1985 - May 1986. A bit of nostalgia and/or a lesson in over-optimism? A text from…

The university, the car factory and the working class

A text on class conflict in Oxford and the Blackbird Leys riots of the early 90s. AN (UN)FRESHER’S…

Muzak to my ears - canned music and class struggle

Public space and muzak as policing.

Death of a Walrus

Published at the beginning of 1981, shortly after his assassination, this is a text on the death of John Lennon, whose subject is not Lennon himself, but the great lamenting public. The…

The picture here was produced as part of a leaflet by vocational students working at LEP electronics.

1986-1987: France goes off the rails

Documents about and analysis of the mass workers struggles of students and workers in France from November 1986 to January 1987.