Rebellion in Patagonia (Spanish: La Patagonia rebelde) is a 1974 Argentine film directed by Héctor Olivera and written by Olivera with Osvaldo Bayer and Fernando Ayala, based on Osvaldo Bayer\\\'s renowned novel Los Vengadores de la Patagonia Trágica ("The Avengers of Tragic Patagonia"), based upon the military suppression of anarchist union movements in Santa Cruz Province in the early 1920s. It was entered into the 24th Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Silver Bear In the […]
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 […]
Steve Higginson "Rhythms That Carry" "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 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 […]
Film: Despite The Sun The Wapping print dispute was one of the last large set-piece battles between the labour movement and the Thatcher regime and had ramifications that are still being felt today - in the working conditions of millions and in the way in which the mass media operates. On January 24, 1986, Rupert Murdoch's News International group with the support of the Thatcher government moved production of its four national newspapers to Wapping in London's Docklands. Over 5,000 production […]
The League of Revolutionary Black Workers was formed in 1969 in Detroit, Michigan. The organisation united a number of different Revolutionary Union Movements (RUMs) that were growing rapidly across the auto industry and other industrial sectors. The formation of the League was an attempt to create a more cohesive political organ guided by the principles of Black liberation and Marxism-Leninism in order to gain political power and articulate the specific concerns of Black workers through […]
In the 1970s, Italy came to the brink of revolution, the most widespread assault on state power Western Europe had seen since the Spanish revolution. Every aspect of the state’s functioning was aggressively challenged. Millions of people were actively imposing their demands - workers, students, women. New ways of doing politics were developed including strikes, wildcats, student revolts, armed struggle and people having fun. These are all part of the story. The history of Italian radicalism in […]
The dominant idea of strikes in the 1970s is that of the 'winter of discontent' of 1979 in which workers took industrial action in support of pay claims that breached the social contract brokered between union leaders and the Labour Government. However, the highpoint of workers' militancy was in the early years of the decade when rank and file workers led successful strikes across industry. This meeting will examine the strikes of miners, builders and dockers as well as industrial action in […]
The two-year strike (1976–1978) over trade union recognition at the Grunwick Film Processing Laboratories in Willesden, North London is iconic in left wing history. During a decade of industrial unrest, the Grunwick dispute became a cause célèbre of trade unionism and labour relations law, and at its height involved thousands of trade unionists and police in confrontations. The total of 550 arrests made during the strike was at the time the highest such figure in any industrial dispute since the […]
Ford plants in the 1970s were epicentres of worker militancy as recently depicted in the film Made In Dagenham. Carlos was a founder member of the Ford Dagenham Workers' Group and Brian worked at the Halewood plant from 1970 till late ‘77. They will discuss the reality of life in the Ford Company, the hidden history of the equal pay disputes and the changes that have taken place since that era. Carlos (Charlie) Guarita worked at the Ford Dagenham Engine Plant from 1976 till early 1980. He was a […]
A series of lectures, presentations and discussion presented by Bristol Radical History Group (BRHG) emphasising the importance and relevance of radical history. Using a diverse series of historical case studies the speakers will demonstrate the various interventions BRHG have made into their local and national histories including: uncovering hidden histories challenging established narratives questioning previous generations of 'radical history' linking new narratives and critiques with current […]
