The Spirit of Revolt group are in the midst of their first exhibition, which is being held in the foyer of the Mitchell Library Glasgow and runs until Saturday 19th. January. The exhibition is called Radical Presses Clydeside, and tries to show the extent of anarchist/libertarian socialist literature that has been and is still being produce from independent radical presses across the area. The selection of literature on display covers the full spectrum from industrial struggle to feminism, from anti-war to syndicalist theory and more. There are pamphlets, books, leaflets and newspapers, going back more than 100 years. The aim of the group is to make this material more readily available to the general public in the hope that they can identify this past with the struggles we face today and hopefully learn from that past. The feedback so far has been nothing but positive. One of the books on display is Guy Aldred's "At Grips With War" and below is a quote from the book that one visitor asked if we could print out a copy for him. Which we willingly did.
Workers
Pledge in Time of War.
I
refuse to kill any child's father.
I
refuse to slay any mother's son.
I
refuse to plunge the bayonet into the breast of any
woman's
brother, lover, or mate.
I
refuse to murder and deem the slaughter glory.
I
refuse to butcher with the hands that were intended to
serve
and to caress.
I
refuse to soak the earth with blood and blind my reason
with
obedience.
I
refuse to assassinate another man and then hide my
stained
fists in the folds of a bloodstained flag.
I
refuse to be flattered, cajoled, or driven into hell's
nightmare
by a class of well-fed snobs, crooks
and
cowards who despise my class socially, rob
my
class economically, and betray and oppress it
politically.
Let militarism do its worst, I refuse
to
serve, I decline to kill.
