Bloody Coal.

           We should realise that going to work can mean death, trying to earn your crust of bread, can mean death. So many ordinary people go to work and never return home alive. Your friends, neighbours, family members, set off to earn money to pay the rent, put food on the table but never come home. In this capitalist profit oriented world, health and safety at work is considered as cost and so is pruned to suit the profit margins. United Nations estimates that six thousand people are killed daily at work - three times MORE people than in WARS, drug and alcohol abuse combined. [United Nations]
         April 28th is now marked as International Workers Memorial Day, when we should all come together and remember the real cost of this economic system that favours the few. Our lives are littered with, in most cases, avoidable disasters at work. Below is just one example of the price of earning your daily bread.

 

Blood Red Coal.
          The industrial revolution was driven by power that power in a large capacity was coal. We should always realise that coal is not black, it is red with stained blood. Coal supplied the power, blood and sweat oiled the wheels. Deaths in heavy industries during the rise of the industrial revolution and well into the modern age have been horrendous, sometimes individual deaths, sometime mass deaths and mining communities are no stranger to mass deaths.
        One such disaster of mass deaths was at a coal mine just outside Glasgow near Moodiesburn, the Auchengeich pit disaster, September 18th 1959. I’m old enough to remember that day. My father was a coal miner all his working life, the last pit he worked in was the near by and sister pit, Western Aucheneich Colliery, and he had just retired a few weeks before the disaster. The mining communities are close knit communities and my father knew all of those who perished. I can only imagine the effect those deaths had on the families, I know it shattered my father.
       One event, one day, in one community and 47 men lost their lives, the youngest 22 the oldest 62. All died of asphyxiation by poisoning from carbon monoxide, from an underground fire. 47 deaths in a small community. They say lightening never strikes twice in the same place. Auchengeich Colliery disaster 22nd. January 1931: Air Tubes Destroyed- Miners' Sacrifice to Save Their Workmates : Five miners were killed and six injured in an explosion which occurred early yesterday morning in a Lanarkshire colliery. Several men escaped injury in the explosion, but returned immediately to the danger zone in an effort to assist their comrades, and were overcome by gas fumes.
       Could the second Auchengeich Colliery disaster have been avoided? Like all activities where output and profit are the motives, safety often slips down the priority list, but it is not for me to judge in this case.
       I will however quote from the official inquiry report.
Quote from official report: 2. I find that forty-seven men on a man-riding train underground in a return airway died from asphyxia due to poisoning by carbon monoxide contained in smoke from a fire which originated in the driving belt of a booster fan farther inbye and spread to wood props and laggings used as roof supports.
Quote from part of conclusions: (9) By calculation, a balata transmission belt made of 33 ½ oz. cotton duck put on after the speed-up of the fan had an excess capacity of about 50 per cent. and the 31 oz. belt which caught fire about 25 per cent. But the first of these belts lasted less than ten weeks and the other only two days.
        (10) The belt which caught fire was not of the 33 ½ oz. weight ordered by the National Coal Board and failed to satisfy completely some of the tests prescribed by British Standard 2066.
        Live link to inquiry: http://www.scottishmining.co.uk/250.html Here you will also find a list of mining disasters in Lanarkshire from the 1800’s, and there are many.

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Memorial.

International Workers Memorial Day

       Keelie’s remembered the deaths of workers in unsafe workplaces, during the afternoon on 28th April, 2021 at the drying green on Glasgow Green. This was the site of the Templeton Mill Disaster, 1889, when high winds collapsed the building on over 140 women and children weavers. They made carpets for Titanic and Cunard ships as well as Royal weddings with Company assets of £26million in today’s money. Despite huge wealth, many of their workers died on the job in fire or crushing incidents. In 1889, the rescuers included the women themselves who organised frantic search parties for sisters, daughters and mothers. Regarded as a cover up the inquest blamed ‘confused responsibilities’ between the Architect and the Engineer. Keelies hung workers' aprons to commemorate the 29 women and girls who died at Templetons and other Clydesiders including, Stockline Plastics staff, Graftons Shopworkers, Antares Trawler folk, Asbestos, Auchengeich mine disaster, and NHS COVID 19 workers, and many, many more, plus individuals like Graham Meldrum who went to work and never came home again.
      United Nations estimates that six thousand people are killed daily at work - three times MORE people than in WARS, drug and alcohol abuse combined. [United Nations]
       Keelies say most die because their employer put profit and production ahead of safety at work. We should remember them and honour them, and take this as a reason to alter the economic system that sets these priorities. WORKERS LIVES are worth much more than an economic system of profit for the few.

 

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Insurrection!

           Away back in the old olden days when crowds could meet up and you walked with carefree abandon, mask free, the year 2009, a book came out and I read it and read it again, I still have a copy. The book was "The Coming Insurrection" by The Invisible Committee. I found the facts, analysis and pointers quite inspiring. I'm delighted to say that a revamped edition of the book is back out in circulation, on line for free download and printing. Go get it, read it and think.

 An excerpt:

    In the subway, there’s no longer any trace of the screen of embarrassment that normally impedes the gestures of the passengers. Strangers make conversation without making passes. A band of comrades conferring on a street corner. Much larger assemblies on the boulevards, absorbed in discussions. Surprise attacks mounted in city after city, day after day. A new military barracks has been sacked and burned to the ground. The evicted residents of a building have stopped negotiating with the mayor’s office; they settle in. A company manager is inspired to blow away a handful of his colleagues in the middle of a meeting. There’s been a leak of files containing the personal addresses of all the cops, together with those of prison officials, causing an unprecedented wave of sudden relocations. We carry our surplus goods into the old village bar and grocery store, and take what we lack. Some of us stay long enough to discuss the general situation and figure out the hardware we need for the machine shop. The radio keeps the insurgents informed of the retreat of the government forces. A rocket has just breached a wall of the Clairvaux prison. Impossible to say if it has been months or years since the “events” began. And the prime minister seems very alone in his appeals for calm.

DOWNLOADS:

Read on line

Print copy

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Cronyism.

       In this video the the reporter gets it right, well almost. Pointing out the inherent cronyism and corruption built into our political system, but falls into the usual channel of a blind allay, by suggesting that we change things so that we hold our government to account. Centuries of history has proved to us that this is impossible. Governments govern, until we step outside that framework of forming governments of professional politicians, the rotten apples will continue to spread their obnoxious rotten stinking odour, and continue to shaft the public to protect their power and privileges. Capitalism is the problem dear friends.  Thanks Loam for the video link.

 

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Anathema.

       The latest edition of Anathema, Volume 7, issue 3, is now available, to read on line or to download for free. As usual it makes for excellent reading, over a wide range of topics, all of interest to those who struggle for that better world for all. You also get a Margaret Atwood poem, Crow Song, thrown in, what more could you ask for. 

From Act For Freedom Now, Anathema:

Volume 7 Issue 3 (PDF for reading 8.5 x 11)
Volume 7 Issue 3 (PDF for printing 11 x 17)
 

In this issue:

Advances In State Repression
What Went Down
Local Repression Updates
Housing Struggle Questions
Dark Clothes Attract Heat
More Than A Three-Way Fight
Philthadelphia
To Attack Is Among My Instincts
325 Communique

“Crow Song”

In the arid sun, over the field
where the corn has rotted and then
dried up, you flock and squabble.
Not much here for you, my people,
but there would be
if
if

In my austere black uniform
I raised the banner
which decreed Hope
and which did not succeed
and which is not allowed.
Now I must confront the angel
who says Win,
who tells me to wave any banner
that you will follow

for you ignore me, my
baffled people, you have been through
too many theories
too many stray bullets
your eyes are gravel, skeptical,
in this hard field
you pay attention only
to the rhetoric of seed
fruit stomach elbow.

You have too many leaders
you have too many wars,
all of them pompous and small,
you resist only when you feel
like dressing up,
you forget the sane corpses…

I know you would like a god
to come down and feed you
and punish you. That overcoat
on sticks is not alive
there are no angels,
but the angels of hunger,
prehensile and soft as gullets
Watching you
my people, I become cynical,
you have defrauded me of hope
and left me alone with politics…

Margaret Atwood.

 

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Solidarity.

         All prisons are hell-holes, edifices to state repression and savagery, essential part of the states apparatus for creating a submissive population, of course they fail miserably. While they still stand, those enmeshed in its vile tentacles deserve our support and solidarity.
       The following is an opportunity to go all arty and at the same time support comrades caught up in the states loaded judicial system.

Image from Act For Freedom Now.

 From "Unoffensive Animal"

 

             As you all know, one of the main jobs we do is supporting comrades in prison and folks who have to cover fines after taking action. The reality of it is that we never make enough money in order to cover everything we would like to cover, even counting PayPal donations, patreon donations and merch.
         Luckily, many of you are super generous and want to help in any way possible. These time, we bring you something just a tad different thanks to @goaskforde, who has donated artwork to raise funds to support prisoners.
          We are going to run a little raffle for a couple of weeks. The tickets can be bought through our website for 7.50 GBP and you can get as many tickets as you want. If you win, @goaskforde will send:
– “Now” Framed original 10×12″ ink drawing of a wolf
– “Light a Match, Burn a Prison” signed 8×10″ fine art giclee print
– Large vinyl “Boltcuttter Birdie” sticker
– Large vinyl “Praying mantis” sticker
         In addition, we will send a hoodie of your choice (stock dependent!) and a bunch of stickers.
         So if you like art, or simply if you’d like to support us and help us keep helping folks, please grab yourself a ticket or two down below:
We will announce the winners on the 3rd of May, so you have 14 days to get as many tickets as you can and to share this around as much as possible!
         Also, please follow @goaskforde on instagram and support artists as much as possible. You can also find the artwork on www.goaskforde.com
Solidarity

 Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

Democracy??

         I find it mazing that a system can create an illusion, so far removed from reality as to be ridiculous, yet millions of ordinary people swallow it and even join groups and parties to support the illusion and in other cases take up arms to defend that phoney incredulous illusion. I am of course talking about "democracy". There is a whole apparatus of parties, states and armies all prepared to defend something we have never had, something that has yet to be experienced in this society. They are defending a lie, an illusion, a fabricated theatre of smoke and mirrors. We live in a society of illusions. It is said in certain places the Greece was the cradle of democracy, a nice story that helps to hold the illusion together, Greece in those golden days at the birth of "democracy" was a slave owning society. Ah, so much for the definition of "democracy".

 

       The following video is an accurate depiction of modern day Greek "democracy". However, we know that all other states follow the same model and definition of "democracy". 

 

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Whose Tomorrow?

 

    Over the last year or so covid19 has allowed the state to impose on us a new “normal”, one of subservience, standing by waiting for our next set of instructions as to how we can live our lives. Though most people will say it was necessary under the circumstances, rationalism and evidence tells us that it could have been done differently, with more control at community level and with science, health and welfare as the guiding factor, taking the political/economical aspect out of the decision making equation entirely. It has been obvious from the beginning of this crisis, that the political and economic factors played a major role, in how it was handled, putting the science and the well-being of the people second.
Now the crisis is easing and the establishment is keen that we get back to their designated “normal”, spend, spend, spend, increase consumption, get their tills ringing madly, the economy once again takes centre stage. We would do well to remember that the state will do all it can to hold onto that subservient attitude of the population. Expect lots of new legislation defining how we can live our lives, the state never relinquishes control it has engineered.

      During this crisis the only group that comes out better off then they went into it are the billionaire class. Now that we are seeing the possible end to the covid19 disaster, that same class is keen to keep that ill-gotten booty growing. So we can look forward to new aspects to their deemed “normal”, slashing of working conditions. Thousands of workers are being forced to sign new contracts or leave their job, the new contracts of course benefit the corporate bodies at the expense of the workers. Unemployment will soar, giving the boss class another weapon to threaten your conditions, pointing to the queue at the door waiting to take your job.
 

     

  It doesn’t have to be like that, we can ignore their god, “the economy”, and structure our lives around mutual aid, community organising and swap-shops among many other means of self help and organising. During the covid19 crisis we have seen mutual aid grow, common sense tells us that it shouldn’t die because the billionaire class want you to increase their wealth power and privileges, at our expense Over the last year the state has had more or less a free hand at shaping our “normal” let’s now take that power into our own hands and come together to shape our desired normal, one that sees to the needs of all our people, not one that pays homage to the corrupt bloated and privileged pampered billionaire parasite class.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

Re-born.

          A few weeks ago I posted an article about the Dutch police closing down several anarchist sites by seizing their server. One of the sites closed down was "Act For Freedom Now", you'll be delighted to hear that the site is up and running with a brighter cleaner look. 325 was another site closed down, but we should not point the finger at the Dutch authorities alone, these operations of stifling and trying to silence any voices that dare to speak up against the present economic system of capitalism with all its attendant miseries and corruptions, are done with international co-operation. We see it in Greece, France, Germany, America anywhere where the state reigns, authority will be brutal to any opposition to its power and privileges. At the moment Myanmar is probably the most open scene of state savagery and repression.
        The following statement is from 325, one of the sites the Dutch police, with the approval of other states, tried to silence. 

 

 Statement on the Repressive Attack upon International Counter-Information

         On 29.03.21 the Dutch police raided the data center that holds the nostate.net server, seizing the server itself as the part of a criminal investigation into 'terrorism'. Nostate.net is a collective that provided a platform for international movement websites from prisoner solidarity groups, multiple campaign collectives, anti-summit pages and international counter-information. Significant sites that used nostate.net as a platform that have been targeted by this repressive attack by the Dutch police are Anarchist Black Cross Berlin, Montreal Counter-Info, Northshore Counter-Info, Act For Freedom Now! (now re-activated on noblogs.org https://actforfree.noblogs.org/) and 325.
         We as a collective are aware that this was not just an attack by the Dutch police, but was done in coordination with the Counter Terrorism Unit of the United Kingdom in connection with their recent repressive attacks upon the anarchist circles in this country. Not only have they been threatening ourselves, but recently threatened nostate.net unless they shut down our site. Along with this they demanded information be given to them of the identity of anyone involved in 325. The extent that the authorities will go to attack us and anyone they suspect of aiding us is of no surprise to us, the examples through history of state forces repressing anyone who dares to stand and fight them are numerous.

 Read the full article HERE:

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Libertarian.

        We are still locked out of our archive because of this covid19 beast, though things are looking brighter. However we at Spirit of Revolt still manage to keep things moving, as best we can under the circumstances. One thing we can still do is bring you our monthly gem in the form of our "Read of the Month".

        For this month's “Read of the Month”, April, we have chosen a small booklet from our John Cooper Collection, “Libertarian Communist Review”, from away back in 1974. Though written back then, it is still as relevant today as the day it was written, so is well worth a wee read. While on our website, why not browse the many artefacts, leaflets, booklets, posters and thousands of other parts of our anarchist/libertarian socialist history. It is a wealth of information all relevant to today’s struggles for that better world for all.

Read on line HERE:

 

 

 

 

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Insurrection.

Issue No.4.   

 

       For those who may not know of it, "Insurrection" was a first class magazine produced by Elephant Editions. A gem of information, ideas, reports, theory, tactics and strategies. Sadly, Spirit of Revolt only has two of these magazines in its collections, No.4 and No.5, both in our Dek Keenan Collection. The good news is you can now read both of these issues on  Spirit of Revolt website Just click on HERE and then scroll down to Dek Keenan Collection -1-60, there you will also find a link to other issues which you can read courtesy of Elephant Editions Archive. sadly we don't have these other issues in our collection. Any body having any other issues of Insurrection and would like to give them a good home please get in touch HERE.

 

Issue No.5

 

          ‘Insurrection’ is an anarchist magazine of the 1980’s which was edited by Jean Weir of Elephant Editions, UK. Amongst agitational news reports of rebellion and repression, the publication carried some of the first English language translations of the work of Italian anarchist insurrectionist, Alfredo M. Bonanno, and remains an example of a high-quality revolutionary anarchist publication which has a confrontational analysis coupled with lasting insight.
         ‘Insurrection’ is the first publication to carry the key basic perspectives of anarchist insurrectional theory and methodology emerging at that time. Texts such as ‘Affinity Group’, ‘Why Insurrection’, ‘Beyond Workerism, Beyond Syndicalism’, ‘Informal Organisation’, ‘Beyond the Structure of Synthesis’, ‘Towards A New Projectuality’ and ‘Autonomous Base Nucleus’, all back to back with action reports informing and illuminating these theoretical ideas which have developed and spread around the world, becoming ‘dangerous’ tools in the hands of uncontrollables everywhere.

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Toothless Protest.

           A comedian once said that if the people you are protesting against are happy with your protest method, then you’re not protesting, you’re just having a shit day out. I’m inclined to agree with him. All the legislation brought in regarding protests is to make your protest acceptable to those you are protesting against. In other words, turning your protest into a shit afternoon out. The establishment would be happy with you quietly, in limited numbers, marching from A to B, of course you will achieve nothing. That is the aim of this new legislation being introduced by bumbling Boris’s gang. Giving you the right to protest as long as you don’t upset, inconvenience or annoy anybody, do it quietly, when and where the police tell you and in numbers decided by the police. Their vision of tomorrow’s protests is groups of six or so people walking quietly and sedately, saying excuse me to everybody they pass, this will be permitted for approximately 15 minutes, then you will be asked to disperse or face the heavy hand of the law. The new democracy fit for a fascist state.

 

 

             The following is an extract from an article by  Adrian Kreutz published in Roar Magazine.

London — 1936. In what we know today as the “Battle of Cable Street,” the Metropolitan Police protected Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists against almost 20,000 anti-fascist protesters, including socialist groups, Irish dockworkers, British Jewry and anarchist and trade unionist groups. That day, 3,000 paramilitary “Blackshirts” marched through a Jewish neighborhood. Mounted police charged at a crowd of peaceful counterprotesters, and many of the arrested reported violent treatment at the hands of the police.
       Following the events on Cable Street, the Public Order Act of 1936 forced organizers of large protests to obtain prior police permission and gave the police broad powers to arrest people for “insulting or abusive” speech. The ambiguity of the word “insulting” meant that the Public Order Act could be applied in a range of cases.
       London — 2021. Social movements protesting for racial and environmental justice disrupt public transport, deface the statues of slave traders, spread banners over Westminster Bridge and block the entrance to parliament. In response, the Johnson administration proposes the “Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill,” popularly know as the “Crackdown Bill” or “Protest Bill.” It fits the draconian script of recent years — the concentration of power, the limiting of government accountability and multi-pronged attacks on human rights.

Read the full article HERE:

 

 

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Obituary.

 

          Pompous, pampered, privileged parasite prince, who gave nothing and took all he could get, lived a life of self indulgence at taxpayers expense, totally ignorant of his own uselessness. Existed in a bubble of opulence and splendour, part of the plundering imperialist establishment. unaware of the lives around him, he cared even less. Lover of killing wild life, collector of guns, his life and that of those in his gang exists in a bubble of luxury, that sadly the ordinary people supplied the air to keep it afloat. When will we refuse to keeping their luxurious useless bubble afloat?

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk