I Intend To Escape ......................And Come Back

Benjamin Tucker Remembered

Yesterday marked the 72nd year since the passing of American Anarchist Benjamin Tucker.

Tucker, an individualist, is beautifully remembered in this tribute from the On This Deity website. Oh - and he did, of course, have the type of beard that was compulsory in the Anarchist movement in those days.

Hat tip: Tim Pendry

On This Day - 6 July 1983

"I am a socialist not through reading a textbook that has caught my intellectual fancy, nor through unthinking tradition, but because I believe that, at its best, Socialism corresponds most closely to an existence that is both rational and moral.
It stands for co-operation, not confrontation; for fellowship, not fear. It stands for equality, not because it wants people to be the same but because only through equality in our economic circumstances can our individuality develop properly. British democracy rests ultimately on the shared perception by all the people that they participate in the benefits of the common weal."

Tony Blair's maiden speech to the House of Commons, 27 years ago today.

Happy International Workers Day!

So - another May Day. 

Whether this is your thing

or this 

Today is the day to get out in the streets and be it.   

Twenty Years Ago Today............

This is how one 'radical' MP commented on the poll tax riot.

"Labour MP George Galloway … said … “these lunatics, anarchists and other extremists, principally from the Socialist Workers’ party, were out for a rumble the whole time, and now they’ve got it. If they didn’t exist, the Tories would need to invent them.”
Sunday Times 1 April 1990 Oh well - I guess George has always been on the wrong side. If only those rioters had been attacking a Starbucks near the Israel embassy, they would have had his unconditional support, and a series of reports advocating their case from Islamic 'human rights' organisations!

Hat Tip To Harry's Place.

Happy Valentines Day From The Ayatollah Khomeini

On this day in 1989, Radio Tehran reads out the fatwa sentencing Salman Rushdie to death for writing the Satanic Verses, along with all those involved in its publication.

If you have not already done so, say fuck off to all the world's little Ayatollah's by buying the book here.

The Last Words of Czolgosz

On 29 October 1901 Leon Czolgosz, an American Anarchist born near Detroit, was executed for assassinating President McKinley.

These are his last words:

"I killed the President for good reason, to punish through him the crimes of his class and arouse the oppressed who let themselves be ruled by the bullying rabble. I am not sorry for what I did; I am happy with it; I am only sorry that I was unable to see my father one last time".

Taken from Giuseppe Ciancabilla "Fired By The Ideal: Italian-American Anarchist Responses To Czolgosz's Killing Of McKinley " (Kate Sharpley Library, 2002).

On This Day 21 August 1988

All day drinking is now 21 years old!

I can (just) about remember the excitement  of knowing that come 3pm you did not have to wait until 'early doors' for another pint, and can recall seeing people rushing from bar to bar on first day pub crawls. Eventually the novelty wore off, and any excitement there had been was tempered by the knowledge that strict 11pm shut downs put us well behind our European cousins. 

Eventually we caught up. Cheers! 

Twenty Years Ago Today.......

The Irish solicitor Pat Finucane was murdered at his home in Belfast.

Anyone who doubts that the British state would murder its perceived opponents should consider the following:

Who supplied the gun used to murder Pat Fiuncane?

RUC Special Branch agent William Stobie.

Who shot Pat Finucane?

RUC Special Branch agent Ken Barrett.

Who led the UDA, which claimed responsibility for the shooting?

RUC Special Branch agent Tommy Lyttle.

Who supplied the intelligence that led to the shooting?

Army intelligence agent Brian Nelson.

Oh - and the murder occurred less than a month after Home Office Minister Douglas Hogg complained in the Commons that some Northern Ireland solicitors were 'unduly sympathetic' to the IRA.

On This Day in 1887

Four of the 'Chicago martyrs' were executed in Illinois.

August Spies, Albert Parsons, Adolph Fischer and George Engel were executed for allegedly throwing a bomb at police during a demonstration demanding the 8 hour day.

Spies last words were:

"The time will come when our silence will be more powerful than the voices you strangle today."

Six years later all original eight defendants were declared innocent, a 'reprieve' that came too late for Spies, Parsons, Fischer and Engel, and also Louis Lingg, who had cheated the hangman by poisoning himself.

The Great Disappointment

Had I been alive on 22 October 1844, I would have spent much of the day roaring with laughter.

Religions by necessity like to keep their predictions vague. This is after all a field where no one likes to be caught out.

In the United States however, the early 1840s saw a Christian movement build up that believed the second coming was about to occur, and a specific date was even chosen - the 22nd October.

It never happened, unless of course Jesus did come down, had a quick gander, decided he did not really like the look of the place, and shuffled off back where he came from! Read about the Great Disappointment here.

Venice, Portsmouth - Its All The Same

On 22 September 2003.

Tate Britain was forced to admit that two paintings by JMW Turner were not, as previously thought, of Venice, but........... Portsmouth.

Festive Lagoon Scene, Venice was renamed The Arrival of Louis-Philippe at Portsmouth. Procession of Boats With Distant Smoke, Venice was changed to Disembarkation of Louis-Philippe at Portsmouth.

The Death Of Belfast Celtic

Fifty nine years ago today, Northern Ireland's most successful football team, Belfast Celtic, played their last last competitive match.

If you are not familiar with one of football's saddest tales, Padraig Coyle's history is essential reading.

Munich - 50 Years On

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster, when Manchester United players and officials returning from the European Cup quarter final in Belgrade, crashed at Munich airport.

To Mancunians of my age and older, it is a central part of our identity. Those who mock the disaster, or United's desire to commemorate it, are attacking far more than a rival football club. They attack our history and our personal identity.

In 2005 I visited the Red Star Belgrade club museum. In there they have a picture of the United team taken prior to kick off, and a priceless card signed by all the players prior to the game.

I think United should have marked the anniversary by playing a charity game in Belgrade, with proceeds divided between Munich survivors (who were not always well treated by the club) and charities working for reconciliation in the former Yugoslavia. Finding time for such a match in the fixture schedule would not have been easy, but United did find time last month to visit one of the most oppressive countries in the world, Saudi Arabia.

Still, I am hoping Sunday's match versus City will be a fitting tribute.

There are various Munich tribute sites. One of the best is the Munich 58 website.

The Day French Rugby League Was Dismantled

On 19 December 1941 the collaborationist Vichy regime, banned the sport of Rugby League.

Marshall Petain's decree banning the support was instigated by the Rugby Union hierarchy, and backed up by force - Axis troops closed the French Rugby League office in Paris, and smashed up its records.

Happy St George's Day

Uncomfortable Truths No. 376..........

On This Day - 27 December 1997

The INLA add another to their greatest hits collection - shooting Loyalist murderer Billy Wright inside the Maze prison.

On This Day - 25 December

It is best to avoid all television sets at 3pm!

On This Day - 24 December 1919

Anarchist Errico Malatesta was able to re-enter Italy clandestinely. As he had been hiding in Cardiff, there had been little chance of him being found!

On This Day - 22 December 1989

At last - a story with a happy ending. After memorable scenes - including "that Ceausescu moment" - Romanian dictator Nicolai Ceausescu receives what was coming to him!

On This Day - 16 December 1916

In St Petersburg, Rasputin, the mad monk and "confidant" of the Tsarina, was murdered.

On This Day - 15 December 1921

Several American anarchists arrived in Moscow, fleeing repression in the US. They are informed that Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman have fled the USSR for the USA, fleeing Bolshevik repression!

On This Day - 1 December 1976

Dirty old fucker Bill Grundy made the mistake of interviewing the Sex Pistols live.....

On This Day - 30 November 1994

The situationist writer Guy Debord committed suicide by shooting himself through the heart.

On This Day - 28 November 1757

The writer of "Jerusalem", William Blake was born in London.

On This Day - 27 November 1986

It was revealed that King George V's doctor hastened his death with cocaine and morphine. Well done that man!

On This Day - 26 November 1922

"You don't want to do that" - Howard Carter opens the tomb of Tutankhamun.

On This Day - 22 November 1966

In Strasbourg the Situationist's classic pamphlet "On The Poverty Of Student Life" is published.

On This Day - 14 November 1948

After a difficult birth due to the size of the baby's ears, Prince Charles was born in London.

On This Day - 8 November 1986

In the Soviet Union, Molotov, who amongst other achievements was the inventor of the petrol bomb, passed away.

On This Day - 31 October 1998

Over a thousand demonstrators brave torrential rain to march from Hyde Park to Whitehall, dragging a replica guillotine in front of them. The Movement Against The Monarchy march is believed to be the first major Republican march through London in the twentieth century.

On This Day - 22 October 1964

Jean-Paul Sartre refuses the Nobel Prize for Lierature. "A writer must refuse to allow himself to be transformed into an institution".

On This Day - 18 October 1907

King Edward VII introduces a medal for heroic miners. Needless to say it features a portrait of himself on the front.....

On This Day - 17 October 1998

Chilean butcher General Pinochet was arrested in London at the request of a Spanish judge. With typical New Labour fortitude however, he was eventually allowed to return to Chile.

On This Day - 16 October 1854

Oscar Wilde, writer, dramatist and socialist was born.

I am not quite sure how someone who has been dead for over one hundred years can have an "official website" but you can visit it here

On This Day - 2 October 1972

In Belfast, the Four Square laundry and Gemini Health Studios were attacked by the IRA. These apparently ordinary businesses were both being run by army intelligence to monitor the community. Crafty bastards!

On This Day - 1 October 1973

Dennis Healy pledges that when elected Labour will tax the rich "until the pips squeak". We are still waiting Dennis!

On This Day - 29 September 1829

A grim day for Londoners, as the Metropolitan Police parade for the first time.

On This Day - 27 September 1998

It is all a load of bollocks - lab tests reportedly reveal that the Turin Shroud is not Christ's burial cloth.

On This Day - 24 September 1993

Three cheers for the mechanic! 13 years on and people are still laughing! Fascist singer Ian Stewart Donaldson dies in a car crash in Derbyshire.

On This Day - 21 September 1986

During a TV interview, Prince Charles admits that he talks to his plants.

On This Day - 16 September 1976

In N Ireland Ciaran Nugent became the first prisoner to go "on the blanket" and refuse to wear a prisoners uniform following the British governments withdrawal of political status for prisoners.

On This Day - 12 September 1992

On the last occasion Ian Stewart Donaldson's band Skrewdriver were to try to play in London, their followers are humiliated at Waterloo station by Anti-Fascist Action.

On This Day - 8 September 1946

In war damaged London, Communists help over 300 homeless families squat empty homes in Kensington and Bllomsbury. This was the first action of the post-war squatting movement.

On This Day - 2 September 1907

Who said nothing ever happens in Belgium? In Antwerp, British scabs breaking a docker's strike are fired upon.

On This Day - 1 September 1904

In the US, Helen Keller graduated from University. We learnt a lot about Helen Keller at school (teachers used to love stories of triumph over adversity) but they never told us she was a revolutionary socialist.....

Helen Keller hugs man's best friend!

On This Day - 30 August 1979

The story of President Jimmy Carter being attacked by a rabbitt (!) whilst canoeing in Georgia on 20 April, finally makes the headlines.

On This Day - 28 August 1972

The last British royal known to have the mad gene, Prince William of Gloucester, dies in a plane crash.

On This Day - 22 August 1989

Huey P Newton, co-founder of the Black Panthers was shot dead aged 47. To me Newton is one of the all-time politcal greats. You can read more about his foundation here

On This Day - 16 August 1973

In Moscow, the Soviet Union denounces Seasame Street as imperialistic.

Big Bird had apparently denounced the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia in similar terms....

On This Day - 15 August 1969

In Derry, with the RUC exhausted and unable to continue fighting, British troops enter the Bogside.