Steve hails from Liverpool and was a Union organiser in the Communication Workers Union. Now a post-graduate, Steve lectures at John Moores University. His recent projects include an examination of time, memory and movement in port cities (principally Liverpool) as co-author of Edgy Cities (2006). He has been a regular contributor of Bristol Radical Hisotry Group events.

Lessons from the Tredegar Medical Aid Society

Speaker: John Desmond

The Tredegar Medical Aid Society was founded in Tredegar in South Wales in 1890. In return for a contribution from its members it supplied free health care. This society contributed the model which established the British National Health Service

The provenance of John’s talk is a series of events which began last year. After recounting these events, he will discuss the lessons which he has learnt from his research into, and his reflections about the Tredegar Medical Aid Society. He will conclude by touching upon his current work about the health sector in Wales, which is informed by these lessons.’

John throws into sharp relief the contrast between the provision of a health service by the Tredegar Medical Aid Society and its current provision by the State.

Below you can find audio of all of these talks.

Ian Bone – 1919 – Year of Revolution’

Maria Spiridonova, Jaroslav Hasek, Gabriel D’Annunzio,Percy Fisher,Simon Radowitzgy, Gustav Landauer, Max Holz.

Steve Higginson – Liverpool 1911, A City On The Edge

“Rhythms That Carry”

<em>“You need not attach great importance to the rioting in Liverpool last night. It took place in an area where disorder is a chronic feature”.

- Winston Churchill</em>

When Churchill made this statement to Parliament, Liverpool was under martial law: a gunboat was moored on the Mersey, dockers, seafarers, and transport workers were on general strike.

Rhythms that Carry, will explore and illuminate new histories concerning the events of 1911. In 1886, a magazine described Liverpool as being the “New York of Europe,…..

A World City”. The open-ended nature of the port gave Liverpool a cosmopolitan edge and had a profound impact on the industrial, artistic, educational, cultural and social life of Liverpool.

However, there are questions that have remained unanswered with regards to the spontaneous nature and causes of the strikes that engulfed Liverpool across that long hot summer.

Rhythms that Carry, will attempt to answer these questions and much more besides.1911 represented the birth of Speed-Up Capitalism. A natural tide and motion was being replaced by time and motion. The prominence of women and people of colour left a lasting imprint and symbolised Liverpool as the epicentre of new interlinking cultural and social movements………What was the influence of Liverpool 1911 on Charlie Chaplin?

Sheila Coleman

The recent debate in the House of Commons which culminated in a decision to release all Hillsborough documents was generally  perceived as a victory for those fighting for justice. The debate arose because of an e-petition to release documents. The e-petition was initiated after the Hillsborough Justice Campaign issued a statement condemning the government for appealing the Information Commissioner’s ruling that it was in the public interest to release (under Freedom of Information), the minutes of a cabinet meeting, held under Margaret Thatcher in the days following the Hillsborough Disaster.

Sheila Coleman of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign does not think that the result of the debate was a victory for either truth or justice. Rather she believes that a potentially dangerous precedent was set when the government agreed to hand over documents to the Hillsborough ‘Independent’ Panel.

Sheila will review the BBC’s FOI request in light of subsequent developments including how it led to Hillsborough being the subject of the first e-petition ever to be debated in the House of Commons. She will also tell of the reasons why families and survivors of the HJC remain unconvinced by recent promises and how the HJC remains marginalised in spite of being at the forefront of the campaign for justice.

It will happen at the end of a week that includes an outrageously expensive royal wedding, local elections and a referendum on the latest parliamentary elections voting scam. It will happen shortly after the budget cuts of the national LibDemCon government, and local councils, will be known; whilst the job losses and cuts inherent in the austerity drive to bail out capitalism will be kicking in. The anarchist bookfair will be the perfect antidote to all this misery and displays of wealth inequality.

As in the Autumn we will have about 7 speakers and 10 history related stalls in the RHZ.

Find out more at the Bristol Anarchist Bookfair website.

From Dagenham to Grunwick, Glam to Punk and Wilson to Thatcher.

Talks, films and music, 13 free events between Sunday 14th November and Tuesday 7th December 2010.

• “Make Them Grovel”: The 1976 West Indies Cricket Tour
• From The Ford Workers’ Group to Made In Dagenham
  
• The Asian Youth Movement
• Grunwick: The End Of An Era?
• Spies, Lies And The Coup: State Repression In The 70s
• Cry Freedom Concert
• How We Won: Strikes In The 70s
• Glam-Punk Disco Inferno
• The Anti-Vietnam War Movement
• Punk And The Pistols
• From Recruitment To Dialogue: How Does The Radical Left Relate To Workers?
• Italy In The 1970s: Bodies In The Street, A Tale Of A Country Like Ours
• “Can’t Do Nothin’ If You Ain’t Bad”‘: The League Of Revolutionary Black Workers

Cry  Freedom, Cry Seven Stars – An evening to launch the new Bristol Radical Pamphleteer title Cry Freedom, Cry Seven Stars by Mark Steeds. Including a performance by the Red Notes Choir. This is on Tuesday 7th September.

The Atmosphere of Heaven – A Nitrous Oxide fuelled history walk with Mike Jay through Clifton exploring the themes of his new book; Dr Beddoes, the Romantic Poets and laughing Gas. This is on Sunday 12th September.

Bristol Anarchist Bookfair is on Saturday 11th September 2010 at Hamilton House on 80 Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS1 3QY.

Click here for the full Radical History Zone line-up.

Bristol Radical History Group will be hosting the ‘Radical History Zone’ at the Bristol Anarchist Bookfair on Saturday 11th September 2010 at Hamilton House, Stokes Croft. Over the last two years the Bristol Anarchist Bookfair has grown to be one of the largest radical gatherings in the city. This year it is expected that around 1000 people will attend the event.

As part of the recent interest in radical, social and working class history, Bristol Radical History Group and Bristol Anarchist Bookfair Collective have created the ‘Radical History Zone’, a dedicated space for independent history publishers, radical and local history groups from the South West and beyond. Meetings and workshops in the RHZ will cover DIY publishing, websites and research along with ‘Meet the Author’ sessions a chance to hear about some of the new radical history works on offer.

The very reasonable rates for bookstalls are on the attached booking form, and the suggestions are as follows:

1. Double table

2. Single table

3. Half a table (share with another publisher/group)

4. Generic table (share it with a few others)

If you would like to be part of the Radical History Zone the deadline for applications for stalls etc. is the 9th August 2010 (at the latest). Please e-mail the completed form to:

brh@brh.org.uk

or mail it to BRHG, c/o Booty, 82 Colston St., Bristol BS1 5BB.

If you would like to offer to be on a panel or present a ‘meet the author’ session (or have any other ideas) then let us know.

Download the booking form here.

Hope to see you in Bristol on the 11th….