Book Review: ‘The Anarchist Collectives: Workers Self-Management in the Spanish Revolution 1936-1939’, ed. Sam Dolgoff (1990)

As a radical historian, interested in the history of protest, trade unions and the organisation of the working classes I have been intrigued and enthralled by the issues surrounding the Spanish Civil War. There have been many works published on the subject and many of them acknowledge the rural and urban collectives set up by the CNT-FAI in many parts of Republican ‘controlled’ Spain during the years of 1936 to 1939, and during the Austrian Revolt of October 1934. However, these publications have been rather lacking in details of how the collectives were organised especially, those in the rural areas, while the workers’ self-management of industry, instituted in the city of Barcelona, have been more widely studied. For those of us who believe there is another way of organising society, rather through a Parliamentary system, it is encouraging to have concrete examples of the alternatives, even of those which functioned for a short time. The Anarchist Collectives – Workers’ Management in the Spanish Revolution 1936 – 1939, edited by Sam Dolgoff, goes into some astonishing detail using eye-witness accounts of how these worked.

 

‘A Sweeping Social Revolution’

Dolgoff’s introduction is the reproduction of an essay on the Spanish Civil War by Murray Bookchin, American historian and political theorist, whose essay on the Spanish Revolution was written in 1973. Within the introduction, Boockchin suggests that as well as fighting against Franco’s Fascist Coup, there were others who were fighting to make a society free of oppression and poverty. He describes this as, ‘a sweeping social revolution by millions of workers and peasants who were concerned not to rescue a treacherous republican regime but to reconstruct Spanish society along revolutionary lines’ (p. xii). Bookchin doubts that there were many people outside of Spain who knew that this was the situation at the time and it is only with retrospective historical analysis, this that these aims and objectives can truly come to light in any detail.

The Context

Part one of the publication is written by Dolgoff himself, who attempts to put the philosophy of communal living into some historical context. Dolgoff is keen to explain that the Spanish people, especially in the rural areas, have always lived by some sort of collective method, such as looking after communal water supplies. Meanwhile, in the towns and cities, the CNT, had been educating workers on matters of Workers’ Self-Management since 1910 when the Union was founded. Dolgoff believes that the collectives during the Spanish Revolution were more successful than those of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 because of these things: firstly long-term education and practice in agrarian collective living and secondly, because the rural collectives were not forced to comply as they were in Russia. They were ready and able to organise a new revolutionary society by themselves and worked with the urban areas.

Above, left to right: Gaston Leval ,  Murray Bookchin (from Google images)

The Workings of Agrarian Collectives

For me, the most exciting part of the book is the eye-witness accounts. Dolgoff reproduces work by Gaston Leval, Augustin Souchy, Jose Pierats, Aldro Prats and H.E. Kaminski who travelled through Aragon, Levant and Catalonia and recorded how the rural collectives and workers self-management organised industries were implemented, interviewing people along the way. In the agrarian collectives private ownership of property was banned and there were no rents to pay. Machinery and tools were shared among everyone and all helped out in the fields and contributed food products to the collectivised shops or stores. Often, money was banned and replaced with vouchers or ration books dependant on family make-up, but local banks were set up to hold reserves of the national currency. The money was not loaned out or there to make a profit, just used for trading purposes with other towns and other villages, and to use for payment for transport into urban areas if needed. People in the Collectives recognised that not all wanted to live that way, so those not wanting to take part were left to fend for themselves. Eye-witness accounts do tell us that most of these people slowly came round to the idea of collective living or occasionally helped out the commune in the busy times – harvest time for example. Education was also made readily available within agrarian collectives. During the 1930s a large proportion of the Spanish population was illiterate.

 

Urban Collectivisation and Workers’ Self-Management

With regards to industrial and urban areas, workplaces were taken over and run by committees. There were no more bosses taking big wages and so this money could be ploughed straight back into the businesses and be distributed among the workers themselves. Working hours and wages were standardised in the factories. Many people, especially in the war industries, worked longer hours for the cause, making ammunition, converting vehicles into tanks or clothing for the militias fighting the fascists at the front. Shops, such as bakers, opticians and barbers were collectivised and although some shops were closed to make way for other more efficient ones everybody remained employed. Transport such as trams, buses and taxis were nationalised and ran, according to eye-witness accounts, much more efficiently than before. Health services were nationalised, with The Health Workers’ Union attracting 8,000 new members by November 1936, only three months after it was founded (p. 99). The Unions (specifically the CNT-FAI) played a very important part in holding the industrial areas together and forming the basis for collectivisation of industry.

onclusion

The authors acknowledge that the social revolution was not perfect. A lot of the organisation was done by trial and error with many group meetings to start with until things started to run smoothly. With regards to justice, there were systems implemented where the village or workplace committees would reprimand a first time offender and then would be referred to the village as a whole if the breaking of commune rules continued. Those involved in the social revolution were also aware that there may come the time when the communes needed defending and militias would need to be hastily arranged. These would be non-hierarchical and include men and women. Most of the social revolution work was conducted by women and older people, as the young, strong men were defending against the fascists at the front. Leval lists, the objectives and how well they were met, or not and despite the obstacles, Leval writes:  “the revolution developed in extremely complicated circumstances. Attacks from within and without had to be fought off. It took fantastic efforts to put anarchist principles into practice. But in many places it was done. The organisers found out how to get round everything.” (p. 170).

Inspired and helped by the CNT-FAI, with a bit of creative thinking, and the freedom to do it, the social revolution in Spain flourished, until it was betrayed from within by the Left and beaten by Franco’s troops. However, this book demonstrates that it is possible to build a new world even under the most extreme circumstances. It is the book I always wanted to read about the Spanish Civil War and to be inspired by.

Gig Review 2016 (part 1)

Stick in the Wheel

http://www.stickinthewheel.com/about/

There is no denying that Stick in the Wheel (see fuzzy photo above) are a folk band, and they describe themselves on their website like this: “we play the music of our people. We sing in our own accents. We record in our kitchens and living rooms. This is our culture, our tradition.” These are precisely the qualities that make this band so special and I have seen them many times throughout the last couple of years ever since they hooked me with a brilliantly haunting version of the traditional song, Hard Times of Old England during a performance at Cecil Sharp House in London. But they are not just a folk band – they bring traditional songs up to date and write songs around modern issues too, such as Me n Becky, which is about the London riots and looting, and a song about car boot sales too. But they add a traditional twist to them. They make old songs seem new and new songs slightly older, using basic instruments – such as a squeezebox, and sometimes just the use of simple hand claps is effective. The historian in me has a huge soft spot for folk music. Folk bands always tell the stories behind the songs, and these are songs for the people (us), written by the people (Stick in the Wheel). They also put together field recordings and arrange events showcasing both established folkies, like Martin Carthy and newbies – such as at the Workers May Day event at the café Otto in Dalston. It was at this particular gig, that I was introduced too…

Lynched

https://lynchedmusic.com/

I didn’t get Lynched the first time I saw them, but having listened to their last album Cold on Fire, on long car journeys and seeing them perform since in Stamford, I have grown to love them. Lynched are Irish. Their accents are very strong and they have a repertoire of material from Dublin’s old Music Halls, traveller’s songs and street songs. They describe themselves on their website as “Dublin folk miscreants.” They sing about boozing and one curious number requires the audience to shout ‘fresh fish’ at the end of the chorus. The four piece band sing in beautiful harmonies and play an interesting array of instruments such as the uilleann pipes and Russian accordion. And although noting that they can seem a bit dower (the band recalled the abuse they got on Twitter after appearing on the Jools Holland show, one of the quips being ‘the Corrs have really let themselves go,’) I think they are riotous fun, especially sitting in the slightly upmarket ballroom of the Stamford Arts theatre, which seemed to overwhelm them a little.

Jeffrey Lewis

http://www.thejeffreylewissite.com/

I have seen New York singer songwriter and comic book artist, Jeffrey Lewis, about a gazillion times in the last ten years. Jeffrey and I are the same age and I kind of feel we have grown up together. One year I saw him three times in one weekend (but only because he kept showing up on stage at Lattitude festival, I’m not a stalker!). Whenever Jeffrey Lewis comes over to the UK with a version of his band (Jeffrey Lewis and the Junkyard, Jeffrey Lewis and Peter Stampfel Band, etc.), I always make sure I go to see him because he puts on a great show. His songs are both comic and tragic, he writes from the heart, about life (Bugs and Flowers is a real tear Jerker), heartbreak (Broken, Broken, Broken Heart), rebellion (What Would Pussy Riot Do?) and monsters (Whistle Past the Graveyard), each one a philosophical master piece, but so simply done by the four piece band playing bass, guitar, drums and keyboard. During the gigs Jeffrey also shows his lo-fi videos (comics he has illustrated on A4 note books, such as Creeping Brain, the History of Punk Rock or the History of Communism part 1 – 5) and tells the story while the rest of the band play along in the background. It’s genius, although recently he has started to project them via a laptop. I suppose they are a lot to carry round individually. This year I saw Jeffrey Lewis and his band in a little backstreet theatre in Northampton and it was perfectly suited to this kind of performance. I like to discover new and tiny venues. It was also great to see Jeffrey’s Brother, Jack, back in the band as he was when I first saw them.

Penny Rimbaud and Gee Vaucher 

http://www.firstsite.uk/whats-on/gee-vaucher-introspective/

I find the individual characters that made up the 1970s / 1980s ‘anarcho-punk’ band, Crass, quite fascinating. Although the band themselves are a little bit ‘before my time’ I have seen the various members of Crass doing different performances. In fact, Steve Ignorant was at a Jeffrey Lewis (see above!) gig at the Portland Arms in Cambridge a few years ago, around the time that his band were performing cover versions of Crass songs (including Do They Owe Us a Living). I also saw the Crass Collective in 2002 in London performing ‘Your Country Needs You,’ which was an anti-Iraq War song. But I digress. Towards the back end of 2016, Crass artist Gee Vaucher had an exhibition called ‘Introspective,’ at Firstart Gallery in Colchester. Gee has produced so much work in her 40+ year career, that she could fill the gallery space. All her work is political, including Crass album covers, posters and banners. She has a series of photos taken while she lived in New York, paintings of Children (who have seen too much), and pieces about animal rights. She uses a mixture of mediums – photography, sculpture, collage, painting, etc. which makes the exhibition quite dynamic and eclectic. As part of the exhibition extras, Penny Rimbaud, poet and musician, preformed his ‘Requiem,’ an hour long performance of spoken word with a live jazz band playing Cello, Saxophone, gongs, flute and guitar in the background. This was completely absorbing and Gee provided a screen projection to go alongside it. I went away thinking about one of the strap-lines from the performance. ‘Don’t be the ripple. Be the pebble,” a very Crass type message.  The exhibition is on until February 2017 so there’s still plenty of time to go and see it if this is your sort of thing.

(below, piece I made for Gee Vaucher’s Community Collage while waiting for the Penny Rimbaud gig to start)

Book Review of 2016

 

I rarely read books for fun and when I do, I read a lot of books on political theory and history for academic purposes. However, here are three of the books that I have read for pure entertainment in 2016, what they are about, why I decided to read them and what I thought of them. I hope this inspires others to read something new…

A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway

Earlier in the year I read this book where the main character is an injured American solider based in Northern Italy during the First World War. Hemingway wrote this novel based on his own experiences of serving in the area during WWI. I decided to read this after staying in the town of Bassano Del Grappa in Northern Italy, a place that is very proud of its war history. There are still bullet holes in the walls around the central bridge and some there are sad tales of heroic residents from the town fighting against the Austrians and then the Nazi’s. The Hemingway Museum is located in Bassano, housed in a building which served as the American Red Cross HQ for the area. I enjoyed the book but found it reasonably hard to read due to the style which is quite journalistic. Rating:  7/10

 

Savage Coast – Muriel Rukeyser

This auto-biographical story centres on a group of people who are travelling on a train from France to Barcelona through the Pyrenees when the Spanish Civil War breaks out in July 1936. The train grinds to a halt and stops in a small sleepy village for several days while the railway workers go on strike. This book was not published until 2013 but when she wrote it in the 1930s / 1940s it was too modernist in style and was eventually done so seventy years later through the Feminist Press. In real life the author was travelling on a train to the People’s Olympiad (the alternative to the Berlin? Olympic Games) in Barcelona when the war broke out. Rukeyser was a journalist and wrote prolifically especially poetry. I decided to read this book after attending a Spanish Civil War Literature Conference in London during the summer where one of the papers presented concerned Muriel Rukeyser and her work. I was fascinated by the story and thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Rating: 9/10

 

The Bonnot Gang – Richard Parry

My most recent read is this book which tells the story of the Illegalists, a group of people with Anarchist leanings based in France, who carried out a series of crimes and ran rings around the authorities in Paris in the run up to the First World War. Parry sets out the context where the ordinary people of France are represented as a discontented class, still reeling from the defeat of the Paris Commune and riding on the wave of industrial strikes and general discontent. With no work, no money and little to lose, members of the group set out to expropriate – take from the rich to fund the poor and their cause, but a series of major crimes end up being committed. But this line of rebellion was set to go no-where and end in tragedy. This book is really well researched using archival material that has not been used before by other researchers of the Illegalists, however, the book is written in a way that is very easy to read and not like a history class at all. The pace of the book reminded me of a reader of an exciting car chase – literally. Rating: 8/10

George Potter and Radical Ideas in 1870’s Peterborough.

In the book Peterborough, Tebbs tells us that the first labour representation candidate to stand as MP for the city stood during the first general election by secret ballot, in 1874. The candidates name was George Potter and his nomination paper stated that he was, ‘the manager of the Beehive newspaper,’ a publication for workers which had a readership of 8,000 at its peak. Tebbs also states that Potter was a carpenter, trade union man and leader of the 1859 builders strike.[1] In my excitement to find radical history links to Peterborough I was overjoyed to find this paragraph in this very useful, if dated, local history study by Tebbs. I had Potter’s name in the back of my mind for a while and then, when I started doing some completely different research, into the early years of the TUC, the name George Potter, editor of The Beehive kept appearing. So exactly how radical was George Potter and does he deserve in place in the Radical History of Peterborough?

Potter and the Trade Union Movement

Potter was born in Kenilworth, 1832. He was the son of a Carpenter and took up his Fathers’ trade moving to London in 1853. Here he became the Secretary of a small trade union called the Progressive Society of Carpenters and Joiners. He led the conference of the United Building Trades during a campaign for a 9 hour day which led to a famous lock out in 1859, but eventually his position as leader of the trades was challenged by Robert Applegarth who established the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners in 1860. Applegarth was known to be a bureaucratic man, an advocate of larger unions and Potter preferred smaller societies and the direct action approach.[2] Potter established the Trades Newspaper Ltd. in 1861 to publish The Beehive, the official newspaper of the London Trades Council of which Potter was a member, as was Applegarth. The ‘Junta’ who were in charge of the London Trades Council did not think much of Potter. Musson argues the reasons for their dislike were because he was younger than they were, he disagreed with much of their policies and they were not keen on his direct action approach. Potter’s ‘drinking habits’ also came up for criticism. Despite this, Potter was reported to be popular with trade unionists in London and the provinces and he even made an impression on Gladstone who referred to him as, ‘the far-famed Secretary of the Trades Unions,’ following Potter’s condemnation of the Government’s 1864 Post Office Annuities Bill. The Junta was much more conservative and cautious than he, and in 1865 the London Trades Council took the opportunity to exclude him after he was featured in a report that was written about the years’ strikes and lock outs.[3] Undeterred by the expulsion and determined not to let the Junta dominate the trade union movement, Potter founded the Working Men’s Association in 1866 with Chartist Robert Hartwell, to act as a rival to the London Trades Council, and in June 1868 he was one of the founder members of the TUC, attending the first meeting of delegates from Trades Councils and Trades Societies which had been arranged in Manchester as a permanent body to bring the movement together. Eventually, Potter and the Junta put their differences aside to arrange a meeting of the TUC in London in 1870 and in the same year, due to a fall in the sales of The Beehive, the newspaper was put under the control of another editor and by the end of the decade it ceased to exist altogether.[4] Potter however, turned his mind to other matters.

Potter and the 1874 Peterborough Election (1)

A general election was announced in November 1873 and in the Peterborough Advertiser in late January 1864 it was noted that six Liberal Candidates had put themselves forward to be considered for the post of MP for Peterborough. This included local resident, Benjamin Taylor, who was billed as the working men’s candidate. There was one Tory candidate. At a meeting of the local Working Men’s Liberal Association, Taylor announced he was going to withdraw to let George Potter, ‘well known labour advocate of London,’[5] stand for election instead. He explained at a meeting that he chaired at the Corn Exchange that he withdrew because another more suitable candidate had come along and besides, he may be disqualified from Parliament due to the Bankruptcy Act. Taylor became Potter’s election agent instead. The meeting took place at the Peterborough Corn Exchange on 26 January 1874 and there was a large crowd in attendance where Potter was going to speak. Potter made a speech to the crowd regarding his beliefs and policies. He started off by telling those assembled that Britain was a ‘country in national crisis bought upon it by wisdom or un-wisdom of the Government.’[6] There were 11 million men with no representation in the Houses of Parliament and he wanted to change that. Men of common sense were needed, he argued, not ‘theoretical politicians.’ The Criminal Law Amendment Act, Potter went on to say, and the Master and Servant Acts were actually class laws designed to keep the working classes in check, while capital and labour had two distinct interests. The former desires profits and the latter, fair pay and a share of the profits he explained. Potter promised to redress the balance if he was elected. With regards to the vote he was reported to say that one day all men of age and ‘sound mind’ would be given the vote and that men who lodged in houses should also be entitled to it. With regards to taxes Potter suggested that while tax on food bought in 56 million pounds to the treasury, tax on income and land by house duty bought in considerably less. Therefore, the poor, he suggested in his speech, were being penalised with taxes on the one thing they needed for survival: food. He promised to address that too. Potter also spoke on education. He believed that all children should go to school and learn to read, write and to do arithmetic. This would mean children (boys) could then go on to get a technical education at night school and learn the skills for a decent trade. He said that parents should be made to send their children to school and that religion should not be ‘crammed down throats,’ in educational settings. With regards to the Church, Potter said he would vote for disenfranchisement and disestablishment of the Church. He was clearly no fan of religion. He would also abolish the Game Laws.[7]  Potter’s first speech in Peterborough was powerful, addressing the situation of capitalism, taxes, religion, education and the vote. It was progressive (within the limits of the time) and probably something quite different to hear in Peterborough in the mid-1870s. Potter and Goodman went on to be the two Liberal candidates for this election in Peterborough.

The Peterborough Advertiser went on to print Potter’s campaign pledge in full:

• Advocate compensation for injuries and loss of life to railway servants and other workmen
• Advocate amendment of cruel and iniquitous Conspiracy Laws
• Campaign for repeal of the arbitrary and unjust Criminal Law Amendment Act
• Campaign for re-modelling the Master and Servant Act
• Vote to repeal Income Tax
• Advocate total and unconditional repeal of Game Laws
• Promote the repeal of all duties upon tea, coffee, sugar, etc., and secure free breakfast table releasing all the necessities of life from taxation.[8]

Another article in the newspaper went on to list why people of certain trades should vote for Potter under the headline ‘Reasons why tradesmen should vote for G. Potter… direct representation of labour in Parliament will unquestioningly lead to the pecuniary improvement of the working classes, their increased purchasing power necessarily raises their value to the trading classes,’[9]:

• Butchers – working classes are the most numerous customers
• Bakers – working classes are great consumers of bread
• Shoemakers – their interest is bought up by this most numerous of classes
• Provisions dealers – working men are great consuming classes
• Clothiers – working men are chief supporters

‘Vote for George Potter the Working Men’s Candidate!’[10]

The election was to take place on Monday 2 Feb 1874 and in the 7 Feb edition of the Peterborough Advertiser there was a report on another meeting with Potter that took place at the Corn Exchange. The meeting, which was held the previous Saturday, when all the candidates were busy getting their final election message out, was preceded by a procession led by a ‘banner of placards’ stating VOTE POTTER. There was also a brass band. Not a lot was reported about what Potter said but the newspaper article recalled that there was ‘great indignation’ at the ringing of the church bells which drowned out even the loudest speakers. There were even accusations that the other Liberal candidate, Goodman, had arranged for this to happen in order to progress his own cause, but Goodman and his election team denied any such doings. The paper reported that on the Monday morning a detachment of police from Northamptonshire arrived in the city. Peterborough was well known for lively and disruptive election days and this one promised to be no different as mobs of youths and boys gathered in various places throughout Peterborough. Shops shut up early and in the evening, fights broke out between rival supporters, there was yelling and cheering at apparently nothing. Tall hats were acquired and kicked around like football the reporter said. As the evening went on, owners sacrificed hats running off only to be pursued ‘by the now dangerous mob.’[11] Several people were struck and wounded for their hats and police were injured too. Calm was only restored to the town after the violence escalated to smashing of windows in various parts of the city, which led to arrests by the police.[12]

Notice of the results, were not posted until 10am the next day. There was a turn out of 2,400 people out of the registered 3,050, pretty good by today’s standards:

• Hankey 1135
• Whalley 1105
• Wrenfordsley 666
• Potter 562
• Goodman 323
• Kerr 71[13]

Losing candidates gave speeches afterwards and Potter used his to blame the concept of money on his defeat, or rather lack of it. The winner, he argued, had access to money and had older voters on his side which meant that he had an advantage over the other candidates. However, he remained upbeat:

It is through principle I ultimately believe the working men’s cause will succeed… the disaster of this result is broken promises, abstinence through polling places of promised supporters to me…although we have been defeated I have not been disappointed… the working men in Peterborough have no cause to be ashamed of what I have done and the manner in which I have conducted the battle… concentrate all your efforts to the work, organise, increase your numbers… and let those who have triumphed understand this, that I am not a man to run away because I am defeated.[14]

Various newspapers dissected Potter’s defeat after the election. The Dundee Courier for example reported that, ‘George Potter an able man, the well-known trade union leader, stood for the suffrages of the electors of Peterborough, but that enlightened constituency, having preferred Mr. Whalley, leaving Mr. Potter somewhere about the bottom of the table.’[15] Meanwhile, the Western Morning News reported that Potter lost in the ‘essentially working class constituency… [of] Great Northern Railway employees,’ because ‘working men are always jealous of their own people.’[16] These two articles tell us more about the attitudes of the men working for the newspapers than Potter himself. However, pretty quickly Potter was back on the campaign trail, fighting for some of his election promises. The next month, Potter went to see the Exchequer in Parliament about his tax plans and then he was back in Peterborough at the end of March for a meeting held by by the Amalgamated Railway Servants to discuss matters of over-work and lack of compensation for injuries. The meeting adopted Potter’s resolution that combination was the best means for getting their objectives met and this was reported in the Stamford Mercury.[17]

Potter claimed he would be back to Peterborough to fight the next election. However, he pulled out of the race before the election.

 

[1] Tebbs, p. 98

[2] Musson, pp. 28 – 29

[3] Musson, pp. 29 – 30

[4] Musson, pp. 30 and 35

[5] Peterborough Advertiser, 31 Jan 1874 (BNA)

[6] Ibid

[7] Ibid

[8] Ibid

[9] Ibid

[10] Ibid

[11] Peterborough Advertiser, Saturday 07 Feb 1874

[12] Ibid

[13] Ibid

[14] Ibid

[15] Dundee Courier, Thursday 5 Feb 1874

[16] Western Morning News, 04 February 1874

[17] Stamford Mercury, 27 March, 1874

Review: Dare Devil Rides to Jarama

As I wrote in the notes that I produced on behalf of Peterborough Trades Union Council, I am obsessed with the Spanish Civil War. So, naturally, I was keen to see the Townsend Productions play Dare Devil Rides to Jarama when a performance was booked in a venue just down the road from where I live.

The Spanish Civil War started in 1936 when a Nationalist coup tried to dispose of a legitimately elected Republican Government. It attracted people from all over the world who went to fight for the Republic, in battalions that became known as the International Brigades. To start with there were Socialists, Communists and Anarchists fighting side by side, all of them hoping that by beating the Fascists they would be contributing to building a brave new world. It is this sense of hope, ambition and comradeship that makes me interested in this conflict in my role as a Radical Historian and active Trade Unionist.

In early February 1937 when the Battle of Jarama took place, this sense of hope was still the case. Madrid was still in the hands of the Republicans. However, the Nationalist army under General Franco looked to displace the Republican army holding out to the East of Madrid at the Jarama River. This was where the British Battalion of the International Brigades were sent for an early but strategic Battle. There were around 2,500 British and Irish people who joined the International Brigades in Spain, mostly Trade Union members. These included Speedway ‘Dare Devil’ Clem Beckett and poet and writer John Caudwell.

This two-actor play is based on the experiences of these two very different characters that fought together at the Battle of Jarama. The first part of the play is a little light hearted, setting the economic and political scenes (post-war depression and Moseley’s Black Shirts for example) and detailing the professional and personal life of Dare Devil, Clem. These points were demonstrated through spoken word and music directed by folk legend John Kirkpatrick. The audience already knew some of the songs that were cleverly woven into the scenes. There were also exciting motorbike stunts from the Dare Devil, Clem Beckett played by actor David Heywood. In the show, Clem came across as a young, handsome, cheeky chap, ready to face danger at any moment and a real people’s champion – hard for any girl to resist!

In contrast, Neil Gore’s character Chris Caudwell (aka St. John Sprigg) is older, more serious (philosophical) and not as self assured as Clem. This contrast between the two characters is reflected by the two parts of the show. When Clem and Caudwell reach war-torn Spain suddenly everything changes and is a lot more serious. Director, Louise Townsend has done a brilliant job of making the audience feel like they are riding on the Wheel of Death stunt with Beckett and Caudwell as they follow their journey throughout the show.

The venue for this performance was well chosen, as the beauty of St John’s Church in Peterborough’s Cathedral Square enhanced the atmosphere and mood of the story. And of course, churches are naturally great places for music and performances. There is also an irony in the fact that there was conflict between some of the Republican people and the Church in Spain with Catholicism being seen as part of the problem with Nationalism and the landowning hierarchy in the years leading up to the war.  Mind you, I’ve seen Arthur Miller’s The Crucible being performed in the same place, and that was about Witchcraft. I’m not sure which of the two is more controversial. However, it was nice to see this Church being used for a community event and Towensend Productions also bought along a pop up exhibition explaining key aspects of the Spanish Civil War which was a great idea. An educational and entertaining evening.

Although it would have been nice to see a few more people in the audience, the feedback was very good. Even the intrusion of a member of the general public during the second half did not spoil the show. The actors paused while the intruder was dealt with and did so in a professional manner, or as one member of the audience tweeted after the show ‘valiantly and smoothly.’ I think those two words sum up the whole evening nicely.

 

The Fluctuating Fortunes of your Ancestors – using the Census for research

The census of England and Wales was first carried out in 1801. It has taken place every ten years since then. Although the first few contained scant information and no names, the returns gained more and more information as they were carried out through the century, although they were still no where near as detailed as census returns are today. The census is being released into the public domain by the National Archives as they become 100 years old. The next release is set to be in 2021 – the 1921 census. This is a necessary safeguard because of issues regarding Data Protection, but what a way to tease us family historians, making our projects a never ending of labour of love.

 

The first useful census’ which are readily available online are from 1841. This census contained just place inhabited, names, gender, age, occupation and if they were born in the county or not. I can find out that I had ancestors from Brampton, Huntingdon, as follows and I will use their journey through the census to find out about the lives of three different generations.

1841 Census for Brampton, Huntingdonshire (residence not identified)
Name	M	F	Profession / Trade	Born in County?
John	40		Ag lab	Y
Sarah		35		Y
Thomas	14			Y
Hannah		11		Y
Ann		10		Y
John	8			Y
Benjamin	5			Y
George	5			Y

In 1851 more sections were added to the census introducing more detailed information about the Parish / Borough / Ecclesiastical Districts that people lived in. If we trake Thomas, who was 14 years old in the 1841 census as an example, we can see how his life is developing ten years later.

1851 Census: Parish of Brampton Main Street
Name	Relation to Head of the Household	Condition	M	F	Rank, Profession of Occupation	Where born
Thomas	Head	Married	27		Agricultural Labourer	(Hunts) Brampton
Ann	Wife	Married		26		(Northants) Clapton

 

As we can see, there is also more information about birthplaces and residences on this census. As far as looking in more detail at the specific people listed, this census shows that Thomas is now married to Ann and he followed in his Father’s footsteps as an agricultural labourer. One thing to note is that ages can often be wrong on the census – there is a three year difference between Thomas on the 1841 census compared to 1851 in this example. It could be because either the old hand writing is hard to transcribe or that the information has not been given quite right in the first place.  This is a challenge when it comes to making sure you are following the correct person but with perseverance things can easily fall into place. If you really want to confirm dates of birth or for that matter, marriages and deaths, there are two free websites researchers can use, FreeBMD for the 1830s onwards and FreeReg for pre-1830s.

1861 Census Parish or township of Brampton High n’ Shandle (?)
Name	Relation to Head of the Household	Condition	M	F	Rank, Profession of Occupation	Where born
Thomas	Head	Married	34		Millers’ Labourer	Ellington
Ann	Wife	Married		35		(Northants) Clapton
Clara	Dau			9	Scholar	Hunts, Brampton
Louisa	Dau			6	Scholar	Hunts, Brampton
Averill	Son			4	Scholar	Hunts, Brampton

This census still uses the same format as the 1851 census. Here, we can see that Thomas and Ann now have children of their own. It is hard to read the writing of where they are living and presumably this is a house name and the street is not included. If this happens it is worth looking around on the internet to see if the place exists or in Street Directories to see if there is a similar name which it could be. It is interesting that Ellington is now cited as Thomas’ place of birth, but again, these things chop and change depending on how precise the people giving the information are. Thomas has also changed occupation slightly to another trade typical of a rural, agricultural village. The age also follows the original 1841 census entry more closely again so this is evidence that this is the correct line to follow. Another thing to note is that the children are scholars. At this time, it would have cost parents money to send their children to school as there were no laws yet which meant children had to be schooled. As far as this family goes it suggests that despite rural decline, this family were doing ok. Perhaps the miller paid a slightly better wage than the landowner.

1871 Census: Parish or township of Brampton / Village of Brampton West Street
Name	Relation to Head of the Household	Condition	M	F	Rank, Profession of Occupation	Where born
Thomas	Head	Married	47		Corn Millers’ Labourer	Ellington
Ann	Wife	Married		45		(Northants) Clapton
Averil	Son	Single	12		Agricultural Labourer	Hunts, Brampton
Ann	Dau			9	Scholar	Hunts, Brampton
Garibaldage	Dau			6	Scholar	Hunts, Brampton

In this census, the family has increased with two additional children. There is more detail now to Thomas’ rank and profession and now the eldest child is at work too. Averil (and the spelling of his name changes throughout the census’) is age 12 and already at work as an Agricultural Labourer. This would not be unusual in a rural setting. He would now be adding to the family wage while being out at work in the fields. Meanwhile his younger sisters are both at school. The name of the youngest child is particularly interesting. I have not yet found out where it comes from – perhaps she was named after Giueseppe Garibaldi, the Italian politician, who was famous for being the founding father of a unified Italy around this period. Whether Ann (the wife) ever had a profession or not is hard to say. Victorian census collectors were not all that interested in the professions of women, as the powers that be thought they had a moral duty to stay at home or at the very least work in specific female professions.

In 1881 the field of Employer or Employee was added to the census. Generally that is quite easy to tell from the profession. I have not tabled the details of the 1881 census but if we follow the line of Averil it demonstrated that he has moved out of the village of Brampton and has gone to live in the big industrial city of Nottingham. Whatever possessed him to do that cannot be told from the census. Perhaps there was a particularly bad famine and little work for the agricultural labourers during the ten years between the census. Or perhaps, Averil just wanted something more from his life.

The coming of the railway from London to Scotland, passing by Brampton (with a station at Huntingdon) must have been a site to behold. Perhaps Averil dared to dream as he worked the fields while the steam trains chugged past. Whatever made him leave, his schooling must have seen him right. In the 1881 census, Averil is lodging at 6, Kirkby Street in Nottingham. He is listed as living with the Shearsmith Family whose head was a railway cashier from York. Averil is 22 and a Railway Clerk. The whole page of this census is worth examining. It seems that the majority of men living in this street worked for the railways in some way. Their occupations were as diverse as railway cashiers and clerks, to an engine driver. This sort of information, concentrating on an entire street is a good way of gauging what sort of community our ancestors lived in.

1891 Census: Civil Parish of Greasley, Town, Village or Hamlet of Kimberley, Rural Sanitary District of Basford, Parliamentary Division of Borough of Mansfield, Ecclesiastical Parish or District of Kimberley Alling (?)
Name	Relation to Head of the Household	Condition	M	F	Rank, Profession of Occupation	Employer or Employee	Where born
Averil	Head	Married	32		Brewery Clerk	Employee	Hunts, Brampton
Louisa	Wife	Married		30			Nether Castle, Shropshire
Harold K	Son		5				Nottingham
Annie L	Dau			3			Nottingham
Thomas E	Son		1				Nottingham

The cities recorded much more information about the area than the rural census. Districts, divisions and parishes divided the cities. With regards to the personal circumstances of our interest, Averil is married by 1891 and has a home and family of his own. He has moved out of the railway industry and is a clerk at a Brewery instead. Kimberley Ales, perhaps? Sometimes it is tempting to look at information from the census and take them as evidence of a family myth. There is a myth that suggests one of my ancestors died when falling into a vat of beer. Could it have been Averil? If it was him it wasn’t happening yet, because as we move into the next century, Averil is very much alive and his occupation is still a clerk. Except, this time he is working in local government. His family has also expanded.

1901 Census: Administrative County Nottingham, Civil Parish Nottingham, Ecclesiastical Parish St. Anns, County Borough of Nottingham, Ward or Municipal Borough of Robin Hood, Parliamentary Borough or Division of East Nottingham 8 Cromwell Terrace
Name	Relation to Head of the Household	Condition	M	F	Rank, Profession of Occupation	Employer or Employee	Where born
Avrill	Head	Married	42		Clerk (CC)	Employee	Hunts, Brampton
Louisa	Wife	Married		40			The Downs, Shropshire
Harold	Son		15		Printer	Employee	Nottingham
Annie	Dau			13			Nottingham
Thomas	Son		11				Nottingham
William	Son		9				Kimberley
Jennie	Dau			6			Kimberley
Gertrude	Dau			1			Nottingham

The next census is the final one released to date. The 1911 collection is of interest for a national reason. This period was at the height of the Suffragette campaigns and some of them rebelled against the census as part of the votes for women crusade. If a researcher finds that a women ancestor is missing from the census it may have been a purposeful act as many women refused to be added to this census or made sure they were not indoors when the collectors came round. This is not the case with my ancestors. The person missing is actually a man, Averil. Louisa is noted as head of the household but is not classed as a widow either. So the question is, where has he gone?

1901 Census: Administrative County Nottingham, Registration District Nottingham, Registration sub District Nottingham South East 32 Melton Terrace
Name	Relation to Head of the Household	Condition	M	F	Rank, Profession of Occupation	Employer or Employee	Where born
Louisa	Head	Married		47			Bishop Castle, Shropshire
Annie	Dau	Single		23	Lace Trade Stock Hand	Employee	Nottingham
Thomas E	Son	Single	21		Carter (Council)	Employee	Nottingham
William M	Son	Single	19		Bricklayers Labourer	Employee	Kimberley
Jenny I D	Dau			16	Telephone Instrument Polisher, National Telephone Company	Employee	Kimberley
Gertrude	Dau			11	Scholar		Nottingham

For the 1911 census people can download a ‘full address schedule’ which lists all the information in digital form. Although it is often easier to read it is not as much fun as transcribing the census return yourself. It also stops the researcher from looking at all the other people in the street as it concentrates on one household at a time. On the plus side this does attempt to guess at a year of birth. On this particular census return I am amused to see the occupation of Telephone Instrument Polisher. I imagine Jenny was quite proud of that job to give such detailed information in the return.

Another place to look for people missing from the census is the enumerator’s pocket book. It gives less information than the full census return and concentrates on housing rather than people. This has been useful in looking to see where Averil might have gone at this time. It shows that a male of the same surname is living at 2, Kirks Yard, in Nottingham. There is also a female (name unknown) living there too.

Other sources, such as the Street Directory for this time, have confirmed that the male resident of 2 Kirks Yard was an unemployed Clerk with the same first initial as my ancestor. Although this is not 100% proof of what has happened to my ancestor it is highly likely that this is he. Searching on the internet at local history websites I can see that Kirk’s Yard was in a major slum area of Nottingham.

In conclusion it is possible to use the census returns to trace the fluctuating fortunes of several generations of ancestors and follow their story. Their story can be traced through their occupations, the places they lived and their families. Although there are some dangers in using the census such as following the wrong path when there are wrong ages or places of birth it is a useful base to start your research. Back this up with evidence from other places and then set the context.

Why trace your family history?

Genealogy, or tracing your family history, can be a tricky and time consuming task but the rewards are immense. It can be like completing a jigsaw puzzle one piece at a time. It can take you through a journey of rich and poor, life and death, love and heartbreak. At each discovery a new twist is added. It is a great hobby to have and rather addictive. But what do you do once you have all your research completed?

Although you can record all the information on genealogy websites and some of these give you a snippet of what was happening nationally in key years, there is nothing like a bit of personal context. In my own research I like to get right in there. Where did they live? What did the house look like? Is it still there? What did that occupation involve? What was the employer like? What was fashion like at the time? What was going on in the local newspapers? Did they belong to a club or society? Who else was in it? Once I know, I like to try and write their story. People’s history, after all,  needs to be told.

It’s a little bit obsessive. Scanning through newspapers, examining census returns and trying to link things with very little evidence. But it’s good to know where you come from. Locate the ancestor that had the funny personality trait you can’t trace in living relatives and get to feel you know people that died centuries ago. That is the strangest feeling but a buzz that only researching your family history can give you.

**WARNING – SEARCHING YOUR FAMILY HISTORY HIGHLY CAN BE ADICTIVE**

Italian Pilgrimage – Part 2 Montecchio Precalcino

 

The reason we went to Italy was to go and visit the Common Wealth War Grave site at Montechhio Precalcino where my Great Granddad is buried, having contracted the flu on the Italian front during the closing weeks of the First World War.

Having looked at the place on a map before coming out to Italy, it was evident that it was a tiny cemetery holding just over 400 soldiers positioned on the edge of a small village the where the 24th Casualty Clearing Station was based. There was another CCS at another town close by called Dueville which at least had a railway line and soldiers would be bought to one of these two places from the Italian front on the Asagio plain. During WWI CCS’s were places that the injured, dying and dead would be transported to, a safe 20KM distance from the front line. Soldiers would be operated on, convalesce or be transported back to England from these medical centers.

For my Great Granddad, it would be his last stop. The Spanish Flu was rife in Europe at the time and the close proximity and bad conditions of the trenches made it spread much more quickly than it would have otherwise. At this stage, the flu had mutated to to kill fit young people who became victims of death from drowning in fluid caused by over production of the bodies immune system  to help fight the virus. It sounds like a horrific way to die.

The day we were scheduled to go to the cemetery was lovely. It was a beautiful warm sunny spring day. To get to Montecchio Precalcino, we took the Schio bus from Bassano to a small town called Thiene and then only just managed to change. The bus we had to change on to was not in the sign posted place. There was nobody to ask except the bus driver who didn’t speak English but a student helped and we made it to the tiny village and got off at the right stop. It was near a church whose presents suggested it was the central part of the town and the place to alight. It was then easy to follow the signs to the War Grave, which was up a slight incline a few minutes walk away.

I’m not going to recall the details of the visit to the cemetery except to say that I was planning on reading a poem that my Great Grandmother had written in my Great Granddad’s autograph book in the early 1900’s. It was supposed to be a kind of ceremony  but I found the whole visit too emotional and I couldn’t read it out loud as planned. But I wrote a poem myself about the experience which I hope explains the visit perfectly.

Montecchio Precalcino

Imagine – a perfect spring meadow

Sloping gently up towards the sky

And standing just below

A place where soldiers lie.

 

With stones of marble bedazzling

Standing in line to attention

So far,

So far,

So far from home

They rarely get a mention.

 

Beneath a cross of sweet salvation

Brothers, uncles, fathers, sons

From elder gents, to teenage boys

And medics who never held guns.

 

Listed etched into the marble

Names of loved ones left behind

And details of their morbid fate

But nothing there unkind.

 

The butterflies flit through the meadow

The birds all sing a happy tune

And it is such a perfect place

So far from war and doom.

 

From the battle in the woods and clouds

Where working classes fought each other

They bought the dead and dying here

And brother buried brother.

 

Beneath that cross of sweet salvation

Which doesn’t mean a thing

All these thoughts of wasted lives

Destroy the Alpine spring.

 

But as I stand

and watch

and listen

Feel the warm sun on my face

My heart is filled with peace

I think this might be my happy place.

Above: The cross of sweet salvation

We signed the visitors book and we left closing the cemetery gates behind us. And then back in the real world we walked, a little solemnly, back to the bus stop where there was time to have some refreshments at the only bar. We got up to catch the bus according to the time table but it never showed. And twenty minutes later, just as we thought we might have to start walking back to Thiene, a bus showed up – but we had to run for it. Typical Perry timing.

 

 

 

Women, Class, and Higher Education in England, 1965-75: An Oral History

Call for participants

Source: Women, Class, and Higher Education in England, 1965-75: An Oral History

The London Bubble

Following the EU referendum there was a lot of talk about ‘the London bubble’. I spent a couple of days attending events in London last week and while I was rushing around from tube to venue I was pondering this very notion.

I like going to London. I live about 75 miles away and regularly go there for Trade Union meetings, to see bands, visit museums, attend conferences. I like the liveliness of the city, I like the humidity of the place and that feeling of people living in close proximity and community co-operation. But I know it’s different to visit than to live there. Overcrowding, gentrification, capitalists v working people, austerity, high prices, etc.

As a radical historian I get frustrated with the amount of material that is available in the capital certainly compared to where I live. But of course it will have so much more – it’s so much bigger than the city I live in, plus it is the place where historically there has been most discontent (or at least it has been recorded) due to being where the seat of power has been since it moved from Colchester during the Roman period.

So, as an activist I also get frustrated. When you arrange things where I live there just aren’t the numbers of people able to attend events and protests, meetings and demos. Outside of the big historically industrial centers of Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, there is little to satisfy the appetite for radical history. Although it doesn’t stop me from looking. It doesn’t stop US from looking.

So while I was weaving in and out of suited business men, being squashed on the tube, oogling London’s magnificent buildings I was thinking that it must be difficult to look outside of the city and understand what’s going outside of the vast concrete jungle. Perhaps it would be best if the Mayor of London negotiated single market status for London. And London became it’s own city state.

But Parliament would need to move to a more central part of the country. And then perhaps we could develop a new center of radical activity, and give someone else a chance.

Anyway, this maybe a controversial point of view – you’re welcome to comment on my post. But please be aware, I do sincerely like London. There’s no other city like it in the world.