Republicanism Archives - Page 3 of 3 Bristol Radical History Group

English Republicanism

Radicalism, Monarchy And The Lost Liberties Of Anglo-Saxon Egland 1790-1820 - Steve Poole Although the English Jacobins of the 1790s were frequently characterised by their enemies as Republican followers of Tom Paine, in reality many of them could only commit to following Paine so far. The Rights of Man were all very well as long as they could be advocated without dumping long standing and cherished beliefs in an anglo-saxon golden age of elected chieftans and voluntary association - historical […]

Spectres Of Violence

Thomas Paine, George Cruikshank And The Age Of Reason

The aim of this talk is to take a fresh look at the image of Britain’s first Public Enemy Number One: Thomas Paine. From the 1790s onwards, Paine’s political and religious writings symbolized everything that the British establishment feared about radical ideas and the rise of the ‘common’ reader. Paine ensured his terrorist credentials with the publication of the Rights of Man (1791-2), but this talk will focus on his other massively subversive book, Age of Reason (1795), a study in ‘infidel’ […]

Regicide And The English Revolution

The Tyrannicide Brief - Geoffrey Robertson Renowned human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC examines the first trial of a head of state - Charles I, and how this groundbreaking moment in history opened the way for the trials of Augusto Pinochet, Slobodan Milosevic, and Saddam Hussein. Robertson became a barrister in 1973 and a QC in 1988. His became well known acting for the defence in the celebrated English criminal trials of Oz, Gay News, the 'ABC Trial', The Romans in Britain (the […]

Winstanley

Based on the 1962 David Caute novel Comrade Jacob. This film deals with some of the life story of the 17th Century revolutionary and writer Gerard Winstanley, who, along with a small band of followers known as The Diggers tried to establish a self-sufficient farming community on common land at St. George's Hill near Cobham in Surrey (wikipedia). Directed by Andrew Mollo and Kevin Brownlow, this is a true masterpiece of British Independent Cinema. The talent of these two film makers […]

Author’s Choice: Mike Jay

Britain is in the grip of a divisive war on terror. The government is forcing through new emergency powers to imprison suspected terrorists without trial. Dissent is spilling on to the streets, where popular opposition to the war is suppressed with violence. Secret intelligence sources whisper of a vast international terror conspiracy. The year is 1798, and Colonel Edward Marcus Despard is shortly to become the last man sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered for high treason. Despard's […]

The Liberty Tree – The Life, Times & Writings of Tom Paine

Leon Rosselson and Robb Johnson perform a musical event interspersed with contemporary songs that reflect Paine's ideas. These were influenced by the American War of Independence and were influential on the French Revolution. "When the rich plunder the poor of his rights, it becomes an example to the poor to plunder the rich of his property." Thomas Paine The Liberty Tree tells the story of Tom Paine's extraordinary life, interweaving Paine's own words, from his letters and the pamphlets which […]