Modern History (Post World War II) Archives - Bristol Radical History Group

Hartcliffe Betrayed: The fading of a post-war dream

Plans were drawn up post-war for the Hartcliffe area which would develop it into a “garden city” with modernistic facilities and open spaces but mistakes, bureaucracy and political constraints led to these dreams not being fulfilled.Wrington URC Chapel Roper’s Lane BS40 5NF

Bristol Radical Film Festival

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Bristol Radical Film Festival was set-up in 2011 to provide a platform for politically engaged, aesthetically innovative cinema, and is now part of The Radical Film Network, an international network of similar organisations involved in progressive, alternative film culture. Celebrating political, activist, and experimental filmmaking across two days, this year's programme engages with contemporary political issues and showcases an eclectic mix of unseen gems. Film subjects include media […]

Decades of Deceit

The Stalker affair and its legacy

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The Violence, Crime and Social Harm Research Centre, and the Centre for Crime Law and Society at the University of Bristol are delighted to welcome Professor Paddy Hillyard from Queen’s University of Belfast who will be discussing his new book 'Decades of Deceit: The Stalker Affair and its Legacy.’ This includes a forensic account of the Stalker inquiry into RUC shoot-to-kill operations in 1982. It questions the official narrative that there was no conspiracy to remove Stalker and details the […]

We must begin with the land

Seeking abundance and liberation through social ecology

Food is glorious. Food is glorious, but it is also increasingly precarious. This may not make headlines, but we all need to care. Office for National Statistics figures suggest that domestic food inflation has seen prices rise by more than a third since 2020. This is currently leading to a proliferation of food banks, unimaginable only a few years ago. Shockingly, world hunger has increased during the past decade, according to the United Nations. The reasons for this situation are complex but […]

Palestine Action and the Terrorism Acts

Why it is important to remember....

By Randall Brantley

This week (30 June 2025) the Labour government Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, began the process of proscribing the political group Palestine Action (PA) under the Terrorism Act 2000.[1] The following article considers the recent history of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (from 1974 to the present), and the attacks by UK governments on the legal defences of campaigners who carry out non-violent civil disobedience. It suggests, from the evidence, that rather than a supposed gradual extension of […]

Radical Lambeth 1978-1991

By Simon Hannah

This eminently readable and thoroughly researched book offers an insight to the rollercoaster ride of the London borough of Lambeth in the 1980s. For the whole of local government, the 1980s brought immense challenges. Under enormous pressure from the Thatcher administration, which stripped very substantial finance from councils, local government faced impossible challenges. But the story of Lambeth, as told by Hannah, offers a detailed insight into attempts to maintain local services, keep […]

Creating homes for Black Elders in Bristol

By Guy Bailey, Silu Pascoe

In 2023, I had the honour to meet Guy Bailey, OBE, whilst researching the Bristol Bus Boycott campaign of 1963. At that time I learnt of his social activism not only in relation to employment but also housing and cricket. In 2025, he graciously agreed to have a conversation with me about his activism against racism in Bristol housing. During the 1980s, he was particularly concerned about the housing needs of Black Elders who were either retired or nearing retirement. They were still experiencing […]

Hartcliffe Betrayed – runner up in local history book of the year

By Paul Smith

Bristol Radical History Group are happy and very proud to announce that Hartcliffe Betrayed, the Fading of a Post War Dream authored by Paul Smith has been awarded joint runner-up for the Alan Ball Award 2024 in the category of best Local History hardcopy publication. Since 1986, the Local Studies Group of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, acting on behalf of the Library Services Trust, has given annual awards to recognise outstanding contributions in local […]

CND Demands a Continuing Supply of History

We have a selection of posters, photos and printed materials from the early 1980s when Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher agreed to siting US Cruise missiles in the UK at the same time as the Soviet Union was deploying its new SS20 missiles in Eastern Europe. There was anger and anxiety across Europe, rejuvenating the anti-nuclear movements and triggering huge protest demonstrations. The membership of CND in Bristol and across the UK expanded rapidly and the new energy and ideas transformed the […]

Bristol Miners Support Campaign – 1984-85

The 1984/85 miners strike was arguably the most significant labour dispute in British history. Before the strike began, Arthur Scargill (President of the 200,000 strong National Union of Mineworkers) told his members and anybody else who would listen, that the future of the coal industry, and the people and communities whose futures depended on it were at stake. This was perfectly summarised in the strike slogan COAL NOT DOLE. The Tory Government used a combination of starvation, police […]