Anarchism In The United Kingdom

Ah, Anarchism in the United Kingdom. A rather persistent, if often messy, undercurrent to the grand narrative. You want a rewrite? Don't expect me to wax poetic about the noble struggle. I'll give you the facts, layered with a healthy dose of how things actually unfolded, not just how some people wish they had. And try not to get too attached to my insights; they're not for your personal consumption.

For the Sex Pistols single, see Anarchy in the U.K.

British anarchists in Manchester in September 2008 This article is part of a series on Anarchism in the United Kingdom

History

People

Active organisations

Defunct organisations

Media

Works

The Law of Freedom in a Platform (1652)
A Vindication of Natural Society (1756)
Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793)
Anarchy in Action (1973)
For Anarchism (1989)
Demanding the Impossible (1992)
Rebel Alliances (2006)
Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow (2006)

Culture

History

Historians, like Peter Marshall, have traced the origins of British anarchism back to the rather chaotic Peasants' Revolt of 1381. The common folk, the yeomen, were understandably riled by the Bad Parliament's poll tax, fearing it was a ploy by the nobility to drag them back into serfdom. Their agitation was amplified by the sermons of a radical priest, John Ball. He preached of the Garden of Eden as a state of nature devoid of class stratification, decrying private property and social inequality, advocating for common ownership and a truly classless society. Led by their "captain," Wat Tyler, a horde of 100,000 peasants marched from Essex to London, gathering support along the way. King Richard II made promises of freedom, but this didn't stop the rebels from demolishing the Savoy Palace, freeing prisoners, and executing Simon Sudbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury. With the capital in their grasp, they laid out their demands: wage labour, an end to feudal duties, and the establishment of a free market. The King, in meetings with rebel leaders, seemed to agree to most of it. Tyler pushed for the abolition of serfdom and greater liberty and social equality. His more radical lieutenant, Jack Straw, allegedly suggested the extermination of the nobility and clergy. [3] But these demands were short-lived. William Walworth, the Lord Mayor of London, dispatched Tyler and Straw, the King reneged on his promises, and the revolt was crushed. [4] Yet, Ball's egalitarian ideas persisted, notably resurfacing in William Morris' 1888 novel, A Dream of John Ball. [5]

The English Revolution

For centuries, feudalism had cemented a rigidly hierarchical society where individual desires were secondary to the divine right of kings. The Renaissance and Reformation began to shift this, placing a nascent emphasis on the individual as an autonomous being with inherent rights. It was during the English Revolution that these notions of individual rights truly intertwined with older calls for liberty and social equality, giving rise to what could be recognised as early anarchist tendencies. [6] By the 16th century, the word "anarchy" was almost exclusively synonymous with disorder and lawlessness. The label "anarchist" was a convenient insult hurled at anyone who dared to disrupt the established order or question authority. [7]

The Declaration and Standard of the Levellers of England.

In the lead-up to the English Civil War, radical republican and democratic ideas began to circulate, challenging institutions like the monarchy, the church, and feudalism. In December 1640, a petition signed by 15,000 Londoners, the "Root and Branch petition", demanded the abolition of the episcopacy. This was promptly labelled "absolute Anarchism" by the royalist MP Edward Dering. [8] When the bill failed to pass, anti-clerical riots erupted in London, [9] ultimately forcing Charles I to flee, along with his supporters, allowing Parliament to enact anti-clerical legislation. [10]

These escalating tensions ignited the First English Civil War, pitting Parliamentarians against Cavalier royalist forces. Following their victory, a radical group known as the Levellers drafted a series of manifestos outlining a new constitution. These proposals were debated fiercely among parliamentary troops, as the Levellers advocated for progressive taxation, universal manhood suffrage, and equality before the law. [11] Oliver Cromwell, however, rejected these radical democratic ideas, accusing the Levellers of promoting the cantonalist practices of the Swiss Confederacy and warning that such policies would inevitably descend into "anarchy". [12] The Levellers, for their part, denied this, maintaining their belief in a form of "good government". [13]

After Parliament's triumph in the Second English Civil War, dissenters were purged from the House of Commons, and Charles I was executed. Power consolidated in the hands of the Grandees of the New Model Army. Unwilling to implement the Levellers' radical agenda, they instead turned towards mysticism and the establishment of a Puritan religious order. This new climate of Christian mysticism, however, gave rise to various anti-authoritarian strains, with numerous English Dissenters breaking away from the Church of England. Among them were the Quakers, Ranters, Anabaptists, Familists, and the Diggers. [14] Historians have pointed to the Ranters and Diggers as "anarchists" due to their radical egalitarianism and communist practices. [15] The Diggers, attempting to create an egalitarian society of small agrarian communities, occupied common land for farming, but their settlements were eventually suppressed by the authorities of the Commonwealth. [16]

By 1653, the Rump Parliament was dissolved by the New Model Army, and the republican Commonwealth gave way to a military dictatorship known as The Protectorate, with Cromwell at its head. Following Cromwell's death, Parliament was reconvened and a Convention was held, leading to the restoration of the monarchy. Within a few decades, the Stuart kingdoms of England and Scotland were formally united into the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the British Empire was established. The gradual spread of the Age of Enlightenment to Britain, coupled with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, brought about significant societal shifts. These changes provided the fertile ground for the early conceptualization of a formalized anarchist philosophy.

The British Enlightenment

The Glorious Revolution of 1688 firmly cemented a constitutional monarchy with parliamentary sovereignty in Britain. John Locke notably defended this revolution, his arguments for democratic governance laying the groundwork for classical liberalism. Locke posited that while the "state of nature" represented a condition of absolute liberty and social equality, individual competition led to instability, necessitating a government to safeguard "life, liberty and property." This led to his concept of a social contract between the people and their government, granting the latter the authority to create laws and protect private property. The Lockean proviso thus marked a transition from the traditionalist conservatism of the established landed gentry (who would become known as Tories) to the propertarianism of the burgeoning middle classes (later the Whigs). [17] By the dawn of the 18th century, Lockean liberalism began to evolve into libertarianism, which placed a premium on individual freedom within the new constitutional framework. [18]

Jonathan Swift, despite his conservative leanings and misanthropic outlook, became an early proponent of Enlightenment ideals and a critic of British rule in Ireland. His 1726 novel, Gulliver's Travels, satirized the prevailing social mores of his time, railing against social inequality and the Protestant work ethic, among other issues. [19] In Book IV, Swift introduces the Houyhnhnms, a race of intelligent horses who believed society could be self-governing through reason and lived in a form of primitive communism. [20] Their only central governing body was an advisory council that met quadrennially to coordinate resource distribution, possessing no power to enforce its decisions. [21] Swift's vision of a stateless society would later influence William Godwin's anarchist philosophy, though it would also draw criticism from George Orwell as "totalitarian", leading Orwell to label Swift a "Tory anarchist". [22]

Edmund Burke, a Radical Whig politician, authored A Vindication of Natural Society, an early literary manifestation of philosophical anarchism. Following the French Revolution, his political stance shifted dramatically, and he became a prominent advocate for conservative liberalism and traditionalist conservatism.

Thomas Paine, whose revolutionary tracts Common Sense and Rights of Man provided foundational arguments for the development of modern libertarianism.

In 1756, Edmund Burke presented a defense of the "state of nature" in A Vindication of Natural Society. He depicted human society as governed by reason until the advent of the state and the episcopacy. The historian Peter Marshall described this work as "one of the most powerful arguments for anarchist society made in the eighteenth century." Burke condemned the state as the root cause of all social conflict and war. He argued that the division of humanity into distinct nationalities fostered bigotry, and that social stratification led to the concentration of wealth among those who did not earn it. [23] While preferring democracy over despotism and aristocracy, Burke still found existing governments wanting, ultimately calling for a complete rejection of both church and state to reclaim "perfect liberty". [24] Burke later embraced conservatism and disavowed his Vindication, claiming it was a satirical critique of the parliamentary opposition leader Henry St John. Nonetheless, the text profoundly influenced the anarchist philosophy of William Godwin and the libertarian socialism of George Holyoake. [25]

The American Revolution brought Thomas Paine to prominence. He advocated for women's rights, the abolition of slavery, and the prevention of cruelty to animals. His 1776 pamphlet, Common Sense, garnered significant attention with its calls for the independence of the Thirteen Colonies and a people's war against the British Empire, hoping America would serve as an inspiration for future global revolutions. [26] Inspired by the spontaneous order that emerged after the colonial government's collapse, Paine clearly distinguished between society and the state, asserting that "society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worse state an intolerable one." However, Paine still supported the establishment of a limited government through a social contract, enshrined in a written constitution that would guarantee the rights to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness". [27] The conclusion of the American Revolutionary War was swiftly followed by the French Revolution, and Paine transferred his revolutionary fervor to Europe. [28]

Edmund Burke's publication of Reflections on the Revolution in France ignited a fierce pamphlet war in Britain, known as the "Revolution Controversy". [25] In this work, Burke presented a traditionalist conservative perspective on government, cautioning against radical reforms that he feared would shift power from the clergy and nobility to the "swinish multitude." [28] The Radicals, many of whom had been influenced by Burke's earlier writings, eagerly joined the debate. Mary Wollstonecraft, a feminist, was among the first to respond. Her works, Vindication of the Rights of Men and later Vindication of the Rights of Woman, attacked class stratification, economic inequality, and gender inequality, advocating for a reformed government to protect natural rights. Thomas Paine followed Wollstonecraft's contributions with his own Rights of Man. According to Peter Marshall, Paine's work displayed a "libertarian sensibility [that] took him to the borders of anarchism." [25]

Paine sided with the "swinish multitude," criticizing Burke for prioritizing the "authority of the dead" over individual rights. He adapted Lockean liberalism towards libertarianism and direct democracy. [29] To safeguard natural rights, he again proposed a limited government, one subservient to the people's authority and devoid of independent power, aiming for "the good of all". [30] In Part II of his pamphlet, Paine edged closer to anarchism by suggesting that societal order would persist even without government, stating that "society [in] every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worse state an intolerable one." He argued that order stemmed from human nature, inherently good but corrupted by established governments, and that individuals were primarily guided by their own common interest rather than legal codes. [31] Drawing on British history, Paine concluded by advocating for a self-governing society, asserting, "the instant formal government is abolished, society begins to act. A general association takes place, and common interest produces common security." He viewed the ideal government as a limited entity, solely tasked with securing individual natural rights, and pointed to the nascent federal government of the United States as a model. [32] Despite his strong libertarian leanings, Paine's ultimate commitment to constitutionalism, republicanism, and propertarianism distinguished him from modern anarchism. [33]

William Godwin, the first modern proponent of philosophical anarchism, as articulated in his Enquiry Concerning Political Justice (1793).

It was during the Revolution Controversy that William Godwin published Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, presenting the first clear exposition of philosophical anarchism and declaring that all government should be abolished. [34] Though the book was expensive upon release, preventing Prime Minister William Pitt from easily banning it, many British workers pooled their resources to purchase it by subscription. Pirated copies circulated widely in Ireland and Scotland, and Godwin eventually lowered the price. [35] When Pitt's government began prosecuting figures within the British radical movement in 1794, Godwin defended the accused radicals, ultimately securing their acquittal. [36] Despite his disillusionment following the defeat of the French Revolution, Godwin's influence extended to the next generation of radicals. His son-in-law, the renowned poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, infused much of Godwin's anarchist philosophy into his verse, while his disciple Robert Owen became a foundational figure in British socialism. After Godwin's death, Political Justice continued to inspire the Chartists and Owenites, who published new editions, as well as the Ricardian socialism of Thomas Hodgskin and William Thompson. This, in turn, influenced the Marxist theory of the "withering away of the state". [37]

However, by the turn of the 19th century, British radicals had not yet adopted the term "anarchist" for themselves. Even Godwin associated "anarchy" with disorder, though he considered it preferable to despotism, seeing it as a reflection of "true liberty". Nonetheless, followers of Godwin's philosophy began to be labelled as "anarchists," most notably by the Tory statesman George Canning, who denounced William Godwin, Thomas Paine, and the reformer John Thelwall as anarchists in the Anti-Jacobin Review. [38]

19th century to World War II

The British labour movement began to coalesce in the early 19th century. Spearheaded by the utopian socialist Robert Owen, a follower of William Godwin, the Grand National Consolidated Trades Union played a role in the early development of syndicalism in Britain. The nonconformist priest William Benbow popularized the concept of the general strike as a tool for social revolution. However, the rise of the Chartists imbued the British labour movement with a predominantly reformist character, largely focused on parliamentary politics. [38]

The introduction of classical anarchism to Britain occurred with the arrival of migrant workers and asylum seekers in London, following the Revolutions of 1848. Over the ensuing decades, isolated individuals gradually formed into small political groups, such as the Rose Street Club in Soho. This process intensified when Johann Most relocated to London and began publishing his newspaper Freiheit. The paper was eventually shut down and its operations moved to the United States after Most's associates expressed support for the [Phoenix Park Murders]. [39]

By 1881, the shift of British revolutionary socialists towards anarchism solidified with the establishment of the Labour Emancipation League (LEL). The LEL quickly garnered support for its libertarian socialist platform among the workers of London's East End, explicitly rejecting all forms of government, before merging into the Social Democratic Federation (SDF). [40] However, the authoritarianism of the SDF's leader, Henry Hyndman, led to a split, resulting in the formation of the Socialist League (SL) by a group of libertarian socialists centered around William Morris. Although Morris was a staunch anti-parliamentarian, he eventually left the SL after its anarchist faction gained prominence in 1887. This led to a noticeable radicalization of the League's publications under H. B. Samuels. [41]

Poster advertising a meeting in support of the Walsall Anarchists

Other anarchist currents also emerged around this period: individualist anarchism, championed by Henry Seymour in his publication The Anarchist; anarcho-communism, propagated by Peter Kropotkin through his newspaper Freedom; and Jewish anarchism, which coalesced around the Yiddish language journal Arbeter Fraynd. [42] Anarchist themes also found their way into popular literature. William Morris' News from Nowhere depicted a utopian society, and Oscar Wilde's The Soul of Man Under Socialism championed individualism. Libertarian ideas were also defended by writers such as George Bernard Shaw, Edward Carpenter, and Henry Stephens Salt. [43]

However, anarchism failed to capture the imagination of the more reform-minded labour movement. Anarcho-syndicalism only began to develop at the turn of the 20th century. In the 1910s, Tom Mann's Industrial Syndicalist Education League attempted to foster the creation of industrial unions in Britain, advocating for direct class conflict with the ultimate goal of workers' control. The influence of anarcho-syndicalism waned significantly after World War I, which also caused a split within the anarchist movement itself. [44] Despite the efforts of anarcho-communists like Guy Aldred to sustain the movement, by the mid-1920s, the British anarchist movement had largely dissolved, with only a few scattered groups remaining in urban centers. [45] The outbreak of the Spanish Civil War provided a catalyst for a revival, fostering a new generation of anarchists by the time World War II commenced. [46]

Post-war era

In early 1945, when Vernon Richards and three other editors were arrested for attempting "to undermine the affections of members of His Majesty's Forces," [47] prominent figures such as Benjamin Britten, E. M. Forster, Augustus John, George Orwell, Herbert Read (serving as chairman), Osbert Sitwell, and George Woodcock established the Freedom Defence Committee. Their stated aim was "to uphold the essential liberty of individuals and organizations, and to defend those who are persecuted for exercising their rights to freedom of speech, writing and action." [48]

The Syndicalist Workers' Federation was an active syndicalist group in post-war Britain, [49] and a precursor to the Solidarity Federation. Formed in 1950 by former members of the dissolved Anarchist Federation of Britain (AFB), the SWF adopted a more explicitly syndicalist, worker-focused strategy from its inception, unlike the AFB which, while influenced by anarcho-syndicalism, wasn't strictly syndicalist. The group affiliated with the International Workers' Association. During the Franco era, it provided significant support to the Spanish resistance and the clandestine CNT anarcho-syndicalist union, which had been instrumental in the 1936 Spanish Revolution and the subsequent Civil War against the right-wing military coup supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. The SWF experienced initial success, but declined after Tom Brown, a long-standing and dedicated member, was forced to withdraw from activism. By 1979, it was reduced to a single branch in Manchester. The SWF eventually dissolved into the Direct Action Movement. Its archives are held by the International Institute of Social History, with some publications digitized on libcom.org.

Colin Ward served as an editor for the British anarchist newspaper Freedom from 1947 to 1960. He then founded and edited the monthly anarchist journal Anarchy from 1961 until its cessation in 1970, producing 118 issues. This publication should not be confused with a later, shorter-lived magazine of the same name, sometimes referred to as Anarchy (Second Series), which was produced by a different group. [50] [51]

Anarchists in London

The editorial team for Freedom over the years included individuals such as Jack Robinson, Pete Turner, Colin Ward, Nicolas Walter, Alan Albon, John Rety, Nino Staffa, Dave Mansell, Gillian Fleming, Mary Canipa, Philip Sansom, and Arthur Moyse, among many others. Clifford Harper maintained a loose association with the publication for three decades.

The prominent anarcho-pacifist writer and gerontologist Alex Comfort described himself as an "aggressive anti-militarist." He argued that pacifism was "solely upon the historical theory of anarchism." [52] [53] A committed member of the Peace Pledge Union (PPU) and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Comfort had been a conscientious objector during World War II. In 1951, he was a signatory of the Authors’ World Peace Appeal. He later resigned from its committee, citing the growing influence of Soviet sympathizers within the AWPA. [54] Later in the decade, he actively supported the Direct Action Committee against Nuclear War. As a prominent member of the Committee of 100, he was imprisoned for a month, alongside Bertrand Russell and others, for refusing to be bound over to refrain from participating in a Trafalgar Square protest in September 1961. Comfort authored Peace and Disobedience (1946), one of many pamphlets he wrote for Peace News and the PPU, and Authority and Delinquency in the Modern State (1950). [52] He engaged in public correspondence with George Orwell, defending pacifism in the open letter/poem "Letter to an American Visitor," under the pseudonym "Obadiah Hornbrooke." [55] Comfort's 1972 book, The Joy of Sex, brought him international fame and considerable wealth. He expressed regret that this led to him being known as "Dr. Sex," overshadowing his numerous other works. [56]

Anarchists in London

On the final day of July 1964, an 18-year-old Stuart Christie departed London for Paris. There, he acquired plastic explosives from the anarchist organization Defensa Interior [57] and proceeded to Madrid on a mission to assassinate General Francisco Franco. This endeavor was one of at least 30 attempts on the dictator's life. Upon his release, Christie continued his activism within the anarchist movement in the United Kingdom. Alongside Miguel Garcia Garcia – who had spent 22 years imprisoned by Franco's regime and whom Christie met in Madrid's [Carabanchel Prison] [58] [59] – and Albert Meltzer, Christie re-established the Anarchist Black Cross and Black Flag newspaper. He was acquitted of involvement with The Angry Brigade and founded the publishing house Cienfuegos Press (later Refract Publications). For several years, he operated this press from the remote island of Sanday in the Orkney archipelago, where he also edited and published a local newspaper, The Free-Winged Eagle. Christie co-authored The Floodgates of Anarchy with Meltzer and later We, the Anarchists! A study of the Iberian Anarchist Federation (FAI) 1927-1937 (2000). [60]

Squatting since the 1960s

In November 1968, a group of homeless families, joined by anarchists (some with prior experience in direct action during the nuclear disarmament campaigns), launched the London Squatters Campaign with the goal of securing "family housing." [61] [62] The campaign's first significant action involved occupying 17 houses in the London borough of Redbridge. [63] [64] After successfully resisting eviction attempts by private bailiffs, and with considerable media attention, the council agreed to grant the use of empty properties under license. [65] : 19–21 Colin Ward, who became the Education Officer for the Town and Country Planning Association in 1971, [66] provided a philosophical and political defense for this practice in his 1976 work, Housing: an anarchist approach. [67]

By the late 1970s, estimates placed the number of squatters in England and Wales at 50,000, with 30,000 of them in London. [68] [69] The tabloid press sounded the alarm, suggesting that what may have "started as a desperate resort by the genuine homeless" was rapidly escalating, driven by "extremist political groups" who saw "anybody's home" as a potential target. [70] While the Metropolitan Police Special Branch dedicated resources to infiltrate and monitor the squatting scene, their assessment concluded that squatting "did not exist as movement." They identified anarchists as the largest political tendency among squatting activists, but considered them neither particularly "unifying" nor a significant challenge, except for those with "affiliations to Iberia or South America." [72]

Anarchists have remained a visible presence in the squatting movement. In response to the increasing criminalization of squatting, they have occupied non-residential properties—vacant shops, pubs, offices, cinemas, churches, warehouses—where the issue of criminal trespass is less immediate. [73] : 6 [74] These occupations have served not only as homeless shelters but also as social centers and venues. In London, however, the law against criminal trespass has been openly defied. A group calling itself the Autonomous Nation of Anarchist Libertarians (ANAL) has occupied a series of luxury mansions to draw attention to the housing crisis and the scandal of empty buildings. In March 2015, they occupied the seven-story former Institute of Directors building on Pall Mall, claiming it was the seventeenth property they had occupied in the area. [75]

Anti-war, anti-globalisation, protests

The American anthropologist and activist David Graeber argues that many direct action protests are inherently anarchist in nature: [76]

The very notion of direct action, with its rejection of a politics which appeals to governments to modify their behaviour, in favour of physical intervention against state power in a form that itself prefigures an alternative—all of this emerges directly from the libertarian tradition.

Based on this premise, and without counting the number of participants who self-identify as "anarchists," Graeber identifies a significant anarchist presence in protests against the First and Second Gulf Wars, and in the broader anti-globalisation movement in both Britain and the United States. [76] The decentralized, leaderless structure and emphasis on direct democracy within the international Occupy movement drew inspiration from anarchist principles and practices. Its core concerns regarding economic inequality and corporate influence also align with anarchist critiques of capitalism and the state. [77]

In March 2009, anarchist groups in London participated in the "Put People First" march through central London, protesting against G20 policies. The anarchist contingent, calling themselves "G20 Meltdown," declared April 1st "Financial Fools Day" and organized a "carnival" outside the Bank of England. [78] A smaller group, breaking away from a crowd of 7,000, vandalized an office of the bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland. A professional photographer claimed to have witnessed individuals he suspected were police "agents provocateurs" instigating the violence. [79] In March 2011, a massive anti-austerity demonstration, organized by the TUC in London and attended by half a million people, was partially "hijacked" by anarchists who attacked The Ritz Hotel, smashed the windows of West End banks, and clashed with the police. They justified their actions by citing the failure of the larger anti-war march in 2003 to prevent the invasion of Iraq, suggesting that political change was not "predicated on being right and winning a debate." [80]

Organisations

Extant

Historical

Diggers (1649–1651)
Rose Street Club (1877–1882)
Labour Emancipation League (1881–1884)
Socialist League (1885–1901)
Legitimation League (1893–1899)
Whiteway Colony (1898–1909)
Communist League (1919–1920)
Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation (1921–1945)
United Socialist Movement (1934–1965)
Anarchist Federation of Britain (1937–1950)
Committee of 100 (1960–1968)
The Angry Brigade (1970–1972)
Anarchist Workers Association (1975–1984)
No War but the Class War (1990–2002)
Reclaim The Streets (1995–2003)
Movement Against the Monarchy (1998–2002)
WOMBLES (1999–2010)