The Radical History of Hackney

Easy to forget when looking at Meg Hillier, Jules Pipe, Luke Akehurst,Diane Abbott and the Labour gang in Hackney, but this is one London borough with a truly radical history.

Archiving this, on an occasional basis, is The Radical History of Hackney, a blog where the radical pamphlets, leaflets and publications of yesteryear are placed online for us all to see. Todays post is on the Angry Brigade and Stoke Newington Eight. Other offerings cover the campaign against the first Gulf War, Class War, the Hackney Community Defence Association and local squatting campaigns.

Comments

[Luke Akehurst]

Hi
you are right to highlight the radical left history of Hackney but the moderate Labour tradition I'm from is also prominent in the borough's political history. It was Herbert Morrison's power base from which he went on to run the London County Council, and in thec '20s Hackney Council led the set-a-legal-rate wing of London Labour versus the more leftwing Poplar, where the councillors went to jail over the issue. More recently figures like Charles Clarke and Tony Blair have been residents and members of the Hackney Labour Party.

Luke

[Larry O'Hara]

Let me get this right: you, Mr Akehurst are actually proud Hackney has been host to Herbert Morrison & other reactionaries, such as those opposing the Poplar line? And you are equally happy a blood-soaked war crminal like Blair polluted Hackney too? You're welcome to these memories--but don't use the term 'moderate' to describe your support for capitalist gangesterism, please.

[Luke Akehurst]

Hi Larry

Yes, I am a big fan of both H Morrison and T Blair. They actually did things to improve life for ordinary people in Hackney and across the UK (in Blair's case beyond by liberating Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone).

Luke

[Larry O'Hara]

Luke,

I think you are almost beyond parody. On a serious note, Blair always refused to visit or be seen with wounded service personnel, a coward of the first order. If you really think Iraq or Afghanistan are 'liberated' why don't you go on a year-long job exchange with a councillor from Kabul or Baghdad? I am sure somebody will sponsor you: dare say Paul could start up a fund. If you do go, a word of advice: get a single not return ticket.

[Luke Akehurst]

Harry

there are many things you can dislike Blair for but it's totally untrue to say he refused to visit wounded troops ("seen with" is a different matter).

The Guardian says:

"Over the years Blair has visited injured troops at the MoD's specialist hospital units at Selly Oak and Headley Court, now augmented by the spectacular unit at Birmingham's brand new QE hospital, but done so without publicity, thereby ensuring he gets criticised for not going."
(http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/aug/16/tony-blair-memoirs-british-legion)

This is an article about him giving the £4.6m he got paid for his memoirs to the British Legion's fund for wounded servicemen and women.

Luke

[Paul Stott]

I was amused to see Luke Akehurst mention Charles Clarke.

Clarke lost a safe Labour seat, Norwich, because the electorate was appalled that he adopted support for the same policies Luke Akehurst advocates - foreign wars, tuition fees and attacks on our civil liberties such as the imposition of identity cards (although Hackney's Meg Hillier as a Home Office Minister deserves most of the blame for the millions wasted on the latter).

To his credit, since losing his job Clarke has faced many of his most vocal critics, becoming a Visiting Professor at the University of East Anglia. On a personal level he has supported and assisted researchers like myself in a way that we will always be grateful for. Whether he has learned anything politically from the process I don't know, but I suspect that rather like Luke Akehurst, the initial success of the Blairite project simply blinds its adherents to all of its subsequent failings........

[Luke Akehurst]

Paul

a) Clarke's Norwich South was never a safe seat - it was held by the Tories from 1950-64, 1970-74 and 1983-87

b) a read of my blog would inform you I have been repeatedly criticlal of Clarke's political stance and of aspects of Blair's later years in office esp. around marketisation/choice agenda in public services - I publicly opposed 2 of his flagship policies (top-up tuition fees and foundation hospitals. On balance though I think the Blair years were a good thing for Labour and the country - easily the best government we have had since Attlee esp. in terms of investment in public services and helping poorer communities like Hackney.

[james walsh]

The Blair / Brown government destroyed whatever was left of post war social democracy and replaced it with social tyrantcy/facsism. The labour Party are just as much a part of the British state as is the Tory party just opposite sides of the same coin- one the interests of surbubia/countryside doing nicly vs the urban town/inner city doing nicly- all against the working class.

The Labour party repressents the interests of the middle management of the state- that's why the working class let their government fall.

As to foriegn policy- not that it's very relevent- Sierra Leone- one gang of gangsters vs another, so much so we had to wipe 200 allies of the West Side boys. Kosovo- as a gangster state that is behind most of the human trafficing in Europe. 'Liberating' Iraq & Afghanistan, the USA did that and Blair just got the UK invovled in their mess- good practice for the British army I guess keeping them up to moderm speed on counter insurency warfare.

The Labour Party history as far is as a counter weapon against what is radical and liberating for the British working class- a historical path that Luke is proud to walk along. The labour party real friends are the Tory party but they like to keep the emenies of capitalism closer to them. While Luke may claim the Labour Party are the nice slave owners of 'poorer communities like Hackney' you can bet they will keep them as a slave class.