Spirit of Revolt, Show and Tell, The Free Hetherington.

      In conjunction with the Mitchell Library, Spirit of Revolt has another of its very successful and interesting outreach events, Show and Tell. This time the subject matter is on an occupation at Glasgow University that became known as the Free Hetherington. Spirit of Revolt archivist Paula will open the event, and present to give their story, will be some who were involved in the occupation. It will take the form of chats by some of those involved in the occupation of the "Hetherington", and an open discussion, questions and answers from any of those present. On display will be some of the material from the occupation which is now held in the Spirit of Revolt Archive.

        Display, talk and discussion on The  Free Hetherington occupation & other temporary autonomous zones - free spaces for thought, debate & action in Glasgow. Hetherington House, 13 University Gardens, was a place for mature and postgraduate students and staff to meet as a research club. From February until August 2011 students and staff occupied it against the cuts in Higher Education becoming one of the longest-running student occupations, known as the 'Free Hetherington'. It hosted an active schedule of talks, debate and discussion sessions. After months of protest actions and consultation an agreement was made between the occupation and Glasgow University management.

Details: FREE.

Monday 14th. May, 12 noon - 2pm.

Venue: Mitchell Library, 5th. floor,

Blytheswood Room.

 

 Visit ann arky's home at radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Natives Are Revolting.

        Spirit of Revolt in its continuing process of making the history of the ordinary people's struggles accessible to the public at large, is working in conjunction with The Mitchell Library, on putting on a free event. This event should be of interest to everyone who lives, or has lived in Glasgow or has connections with the city. So mark your diary, phone for a place, or pop in to Granville Street and book you spot.

Spirit of Revolt – Archives of Dissent
 
Show and Tell
Monday 12th February 2018, 12–2pm
Blythsewood Room, The Mitchell Library, Glasgow
Free event
Limited places, please book on 0141 287 2999 or at Granville Street
reception desk.

The Natives Are Revolting – over 40 years of organising & direct action in Castlemilk and beyond.

       A display of material from the Spirit of Revolt's John Cooper Collection.
John Cooper and Paula Larkin (Project Archivist) will be on hand to answer any
questions and inform the session.

http://spiritofrevolt.info/john-cooper-finding-collection/

Admission Free

All Welcome.

Visit ann arky's home at raicalglasgow.me.uk

Workers Know Your History, Spirit of Revolt Additions

       We've been very busy at Spirit of Revolt Archive, we always are, but recently we have had a wee marathon of work. Three new additions to our website, one is some drawings by Henri-Gabriel Ibels taken from the anarchist paper Le Pere Peinard, they can be viewed HERE: The book is part of our John Cooper Collection

       The next item is for those who missed our recent exhibition on the Rent Strike 1915, 100 Years On, held in the Mitchell Library, during the month of November, you can now read details of the exhibition with photos. The exhibition proved to be very popular and had a catalogue of wonderful comments from the public, who found it both interesting and informative. It also proved to be a stimulant for chat, stories, and questions about our history. So have a look and enjoy the exhibition you thought you had missed.

       The third item we have added to the website is one that I am rather proud of, not that I'm not proud of our entire archive, but that people can learn from it, is I think you'll agree, very important. We have added an educational workshop module on Glasgow's Rent Strike 1915, suitable for schools. It is called Understanding Solidarity Through The Glasgow Rent Strike 1915. It is available free for download as a PDF HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

 

Glasgow's Joe Hill Night Of Song.

       Our exhibition on “The Rent Strikes, 100 Years On”, in the Mitchell Library, finished on Saturday, November 28^th, and by all accounts it proved to be of interest to lots of people, some leaving very positive comments, others asking lots of probing questions. A big thanks to all those who took a slot in manning the stands and a special thanks to our many visitors.
      If you enjoyed or missed the exhibition, there is another chance to join us. Following on from our Mitchell Library exhibition, we are, in conjunction with Clydeside IWW and The Only Way Is Ethics,  holding what is shaping up to to be a wonderful night of music, in The Old Hairdressers, 7:30-11:00, on Wednesday December 2^nd . So come along and help us celebrate the life of Joe Hill, with a night of songs written and inspired my the man himself.
      As well as a variety of musicians, there will a floor spot for audience participation. Come and sing a song, read a poem, or just settle down and enjoy the music, the atmosphere and the camaraderie.
       All the proceedings will go to help fund The Spirit of Revolt archive.

Joe Hill, the man who never died.

Joe hill, his bio.

Wednesday December 2^nd. 7:30-11:00,

£7, Un-waged £4

Tickets at the door, or pre-booked from Monorail at Mono café bar 12 Kings Court Glasgow G1 5RB Tel: 0141 553 2400

The Old hairdressers,

20-28 Renfield Lane

Glasgow G2 6PH.

We apologise for the absence of wheelchair access.

SOME OF THE PERFORMERS
Richard Youngs
Fritz Welch
Josie Vallely
Paul Tasker
John Mcfarlane
Dave Featherstone
Enradgey
More will be added to this list.

 Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Rent Strikes And Joe Hill.

        Last chance, last few days to see the Spirit of Revolt exhibition, "The Rent Strikes, 100 Years On", being held in the foyer of the Mitchell Library. The exhibition will close on Saturday 28 November, so pop in and see it, and have a chat with the group members, before you have to say, GEE, I missed it.

       Following on from that exhibition, Spirit of Revolt, along with Clydeside IWW and The Only Way is Ethics are holding a Joe Hill song night, to mark the centenary of his execution by the American state. This is a "must go". It will be held on December 2nd. and will take place in:

The Old Hairdressers,

20-28 Renfield Lane,

Glasgow, G2 6PH.

7:30-11:00

£7, £5 un-waged. 

         This is the REAL Glasgow, be part of it. 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Rent Strikes And Walk Of Pride.

       The Spirit of Revolt exhibition being held in the Mitchell Library foyer has been running now for two weeks, and has proved popular and has had many positive comments. 

       If you have not yet made your way long to browse through the exhibits and have a chat with Spirit of Revolt members, you still have an opportunity, as it has a couple of weeks to run, it ends on November 28th.

      The main theme of the exhibition is the 1915 rent strikes, and is called, The Rent Strikes 100 Years On. It highlights the use of rent strikes across the world as a tool of struggle by people trying to improve or safeguard their conditions.  There is also display paying homage to the peace movement around the same period during WW1. As November this year marks the centenary of the execution of Joe Hill, there is a display marking some details of his life. 

      There is another event in which the Spirit of Revolt is involved. To mark the magnificent victory of the 1915 Rent Strikes. There will be a "Walk of Pride" held on November 17th. forming up at the Donald Dewar statue at the top of Buchanan Street and walking, noisily and with pride in our tradition of solidarity and struggle, making our way to the City Chambers in George Square. Do come along, bring your friends, family and the rallying implements of the rent strike, pots, pans, whistles, racquets and banners, let's reclaim that pride in our history and our working class culture.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Entertainment, Information, Education, Fun.

      Glasgow, great city that it is, always something going on, at the moment we have the Spirit of Revolt exhibition, The Rent strike, 100 years On”, taking place in the Mitchell Library foyer, running until November 28th. Following on from that we have an eight day festival of events from, “The Only Way Is Ethics”, running from November 29th. To December 6th. This festival has a myriad of events, so I'm sure you will find one or more to grab your interest. If I were to pick a couple that I will certainly be at, then it would be, “Banner Tales of Glasgow” December 1st, Free, from 6pm-9pm. Film, Live Music and Conversation. The other, a must, would be Wednesday 2nd December, “The Man Who Never Died” a Joe Hill Song Night, Live Music, 17:30-23:00, this is shaping up to be a fantastic night, £7, £4 un-waged. Both these events will take place in The Old Hairdressers, 27 Renfield Lane Glasgow G2 6PH. It's events like this that let's us take the council's sterile slogan, “People Make Glasgow” and turn it into a truth, the real people make the real Glasgow.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Joe Hill, One Of The Many State Murders.

 

        A small tribute to a big man, Joe Hill, murdered by the state, November 19th. 1915. There will be a tribute to Joe Hill at the Spirit of Revolt exhibition, Rent Strikes 100 Years On, starting 2nd. November in the Mitchell Library foyer, the exhibition will run until November 28th.

My will is easy to decide,
For there is nothing to divide.
My kin don't need to fuss and moan,
"Moss does not cling to a rolling stone."

My body? Oh, if I could choose
I would to ashes it reduce,
And let the merry breezes blow,
My dust to where some flowers grow.

Perhaps some fading flower then
Would come to life and bloom again.
This is my Last and final Will.
Good Luck to All of you,
Joe Hill

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Spirit of Revolt.

       For a couple of years now, a group of volunteers have been working, tucked away in a wee room at the Mitchell library, at collecting local grassroots history. They are self funding, not attached to any political party, and don't collect any party political material.  The aim is to build a large and useful archive of the everyday struggles of the ordinary people, creating a place where the people can see and identify with their own history, and hopefully learn from that history, as they continue the struggle to improve their lives and the lives of those who will follow them.

     Already the archive, named The Spirit of Revolt, has a catalogue of 25 collections, with more still to do, and has made them available on their website, www.spiritofrevolt.info Apart from the catalogue as lists of what is available in the archive, we are also putting images of the items, on the website, for all to view. This is a slow process but we already have hundreds of images on the website and will continue scanning and uploading as best we can.

    If you are interested in the non party political struggles of the ordinary people or think you may have material that will add to that history, then send us an email at info@spiritofrevolt.info

Thanks to Bob at citystrolls, we now have a wee film to introduce you to this exciting, and I think necessary, project.   Enjoy:

Spirit of Revolt Archive Glasgow from City Strolls on Vimeo.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Spirit of Revolt.

      Spirit of Revolt is a group of enthusiasts who are passionate about collecting, saving and cataloguing material from grass-roots campaigns and struggles, in the belief that it is an essential part of the history of the ordinary people, and is free of party political politics. It is the part of our history that seldom finds a home and is lost to future generations. Each generation can learn from the actions of the past, but only if that past is available. That is why the group is intent on making all this material easily accessible through the medium of their website and the catalogue system of the Mitchell Library. We are also keen to put on exhibitions in various locations similar to our recent successful exhibition on Radical Presses Clydeside, held in the Mitchell Library foyer.

     This is the history of the ordinary people of the Clydeside area, part of our culture, and if we let it disappear, we become a people without a history, a people without a culture. There is also the point that without this section of history, recorded history becomes a distorted image.

     The cataloguing is well under way, images are being scanned on a regular basis and will eventually find their way onto our website. The website is slowly taking shape but still has a long way to go, images being the next big part of the project.

      Why not visit our website, have a look, make a comment, 

www.spiritofrevolt.info

      Though all those involved are unpaid volunteers, sadly all this work can't survive on passion alone and funding is always a problem. So we welcome any donation no matter how small, it will always be gratefully received.

ann arky's home.

COMMENTS ON THE SPIRIT OF REVOLT.

     So the Spirit of Revolt's first exhibition came to an end on Saturday afternoon, and to all those involved it proved to be a demanding and exiting event. I think we can all say with confidence it also proved to be a very successful and rewarding experience. The flow of visitors interested in asking questions and offering praise was extremely pleasing to all those involved. I think it proves that the people of Glasgow recognised this as their own history and wanted to know more, as well as seeing it recorded and made accessible. A special thanks to the Mitchell Library staff for their support throughout the event.

     Here are just some of the comments, (there are more on the same vein, none on a negative note or critical.) left by visitors:

"This is the best exhibition I've seen in this space. More please! Well done to all involved."
"Loads of informative, inspiring and funny stuff - It's good seeing the creative output of Glasgow's radicals."
"Great stuff. Thanks for putting this together and getting it displayed."
"Very interesting exhibition, cleverly presented. Would love to see more from you."
"Excellent, thanks for holding it."
"Great work, need a bigger exhibition!!!"
"Enjoyed it, more on John MacLean."
"Fantastic! Good to know that a people's history gets a voice in Glasgow!"
"Very interesting - fantastic to see this stuff in public view!"
"Brilliant, we need more exhibitions like this showing Glasgow's REAL history."
     There are many more comments all in the same vein, but two that more than pleased me were the two from visitors from the other side of the world, Columbia, 
"Thanks for this exhibition and also for keeping the archive. This is crucial work and it is exciting to see that the materials are being preserved, made accessible and disseminated in the same spirit that produced them."
"Amazing view of a hundred years of resistance! It is great to see clarity, cleverness and sense of humour that keeps rising amongst the radicals."

    There you have it, a few of the reactions from the general public to a display of their own history -- interest, appreciation and a thirst for more.

ann arky's home.

THE SPIRIT OF REVOLT.

       The Spirit of Revolt is a group that are attempting to archive as much material as possible of anarchist, libertarian socialist, grass-roots activities, from the Glasgow/Clydeside area. To date we have met with considerable success and have now acquired and catalogued a fair volume of material, which we will make available to the general public through the medium of our website, still under construction, and the Mitchell Library catalogue.

      We have also planned to have a series of exhibitions highlighting certain aspects of the collection. The first of these exhibitions will be held from the 14th. to the 19th. of January, 2013, in the foyer of the Mitchell Library. It is called Radical Presses Clydeside it's free and should prove to be fascinating to all those interested in working class struggle. I hope you can all come along, have a chat with members of the group and find out how you can get involved.

 ann arky's home.

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS.

          The Spirit of Revolt is a group based in Glasgow who are attempting to collect as much material as possible from grass-roots campaigns in working class struggle, in and around the Glasgow/Clydeside area. We are grateful for any donations of material that people may have accumulated over time from their friends/relatives or their own connections to/in campaigns/direct action experiences, our only stipulation is that it is not in any way linked to party political activity/material. Our aim is to create an archive/collection recording the history of working class struggle in the Glasgow/Clydeside area and make it easily accessible to the general public.

           We will be putting as much as possible on-line with a physical collection housed in the Mitchell Library. We feel that it is important to record this history as most of it will not be recorded in mainstream history and therefore will disappear. It is part and parcel of our history, it is part of working class culture, and if we fail to record it, it never happened and we become a people without a history, a people without a culture.

          In time and with your help, we are sure this will become the best resource of its kind in Scotland. A place where the next generation can keep in touch with the history of their parents and previous generations, and their struggles for a better world. A place where they themselves, can perhaps learn how to continue that struggle for that better world.

        We have had material donated from several sources, with others promised, and are very grateful to those groups and individuals, but are still eager for more material. I'm sure there are bundles of original material lying around in boxes, poly bags, in drawers and under the bed. Have a wee look around and see what you feel you can donate.

You can contact the group through annarky@radicalglasgow.me.uk

ann arky's home.

THOSE WERE THE DAY'S!!!

           An appeal for help, all those old anarchists, socialists and communists who might have some info on the sadly missed Socialist Sunday Schools, well now's the time to pass it on for the present and future generations. Our kids should have an alternative to the bland pro-establishment pulp that is pumped from ever avenue of media, education and political parties. However, it is up to us.

Socialist Sunday School Project by Ruth Ewan, A Call For Information.

        For Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art (GI) 2012, Scottish artist Ruth Ewan will be investigating the Socialist Sunday School movement, prevalent in Glasgow in the first half of the twentieth century.

A SOCIALIST Sunday school, I'd  go ti tha'.

       The movement's aims were designed to counter the dominant influences of Liberalism, Conservatism and ultimately capitalism, thought by many to be promoted by both church and state schools at that time. The Socialist Sunday Schools had no formulated curriculum, although guidelines were circulated on ethics, morality, love and social responsibility. Throughout the UK these schools flourished in tandem with the Independent Labour Party up until its decline in the early 1930s. Glasgow however avoided this fate with some of its Socialist Schools remaining in operation throughout the 1950s and 60s, and, according to some sources did not cease completely until the 1970s.

Wi' dis socialist mean?

       For the GI Festival 2012, artist Ruth Ewan will create an exhibition, publication and programme of public events reflecting on her research into the Socialist Sunday School Movement in Glasgow. She will include and draw on material from city archives such as Mitchell Library, People's Palace and Scottish Screen.

My book's called "Mutual Aid".

        Importantly, Ruth is keen to hear from and meet as many people who attended, or knew others that attended, the Socialist Sunday Schools, to provide new oral histories and material to add to the archives. Ruth hopes that these contributions will form a major part of her project presented at Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art, which will take place from Friday 20th April - Monday 7th May 2012.

       If you or a friend or family member attended the Socialist Sunday Schools and you would like to offer your knowledge or memories please contact curators Siobhan Carroll and Kitty Anderson on sundayschool@glasgowinternational.org or call the GI Festival office on 0141 276 8384.

ann arky's home.