The Bristol Radical History Festival returns this Spring for its eighth edition, with history talks, panel discussions, films, history walks, performance and exhibitions. There will also be space devoted to stalls, where you can stock up on history pamphlets, books and more, from over 30 publishers and distributors.
The festival is held over two days at two main venues: Saturday 25th April at Bristol’s social history museum on the city’s historic harbourside, M Shed; and, Sunday 26th April at the volunteer-run arts centre and cinema the Cube Microplex.
This year’s event has four main themes: Propaganda, Utopias, Welsh Risings and the 1926 General Strike, a singular event that lasted nine days and brought Britain to a standstill.
And most importantly, the festival is (almost) entirely free. And, whether you are a serious academic, local historian or curious first timer, all are welcome.
Incidentally, this year also marks twenty years of the Bristol Radical History Group. Our first event was the inaugural Bristol Radical History Week in October 2006. Since then the group has become a permanent fixture on Bristol’s cultural landscape, and along the way has hopefully shifted some perceptions about the city’s history (and the odd statue).
Gafael Tir: The Cube – Friday 17 April 8.00pm
As a preliminary to the festival, there will be a performance Gafael Tir on Friday 17 April at the Cube, a new show that shines a spotlight on the Welsh history of land rights and protest in folk song and story.
M Shed: Saturday 25 April 10.30am–4.30pm
Theme 1: General Strike 1926
The 1926 General Strike, and the months – long miners’ lockout which overlapped with it, was arguably the greatest ever mass mobilisation of the British trade union movement. It lasted nine days and ended in defeat, although there are many elements of the event which can still be celebrated. Workers in Bristol, including dockworkers, railwaymen, road transport, building, printing, electricity generation and engineering, all became involved at some point in the nine days, showing solidarity with the miners. In the wider region there were coalfields in South Gloucestershire, Somerset and the Forest of Dean, docks at Gloucester and railway stations and depots everywhere.
Theme 2: Propaganda
The way we are taught history in school and fed current affairs through the mainstream media leaves a lot to be desired. Often it is left to the forever curious to uncover what has been left hidden, whether deliberately or not. These gaps in our knowledge influence our views of the world. By revealing much that has gone unsaid and unheard our speakers will seek to dispel false historical narratives and shine some light on the darker side of our past.
Theme 3: Welsh Risings
The history of Wales in the nineteenth century is framed by the huge social changes associated with the industrial revolution and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of proletarians to work in mines, iron works and transportation. It is also a history marked by working class uprisings. These were driven by direct action over day-to-day issues such as freedom of movement, wages, prices, working conditions, and influenced by Chartist ideas of obtaining working class power. From the daughters of Rebecca in west Wales, via the ironworkers in Merthyr to the Chartist risings in Llanidloes and Newport, an array of Welsh historians illuminate this fascinating history of rebellion.
The Cube Microplex: Sunday 26 April 1.00pm–9.00pm
Theme 4: Utopias (and Dystopias) 1.00-6.00pm
Utopian thinking is oft derided as wishful thinking, whimsical, even useless. We live in an age of dystopian visions: AI, robot overlords, devastating climate change, corruption and inequality creating a split society of the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’. But can utopian thinking propel us into a bountiful future? Join us at The Cube Cinema on a magical mystery tour of utopian thinking from the Medieval period, through the 18th, 19th, and 20th Centuries… and even beyond to 2087 Avonmouth!
Is utopian creative expression a tool of radical hope? Can intentional communities be considered examples of utopian experiments? Is there a way to resolve conflicts in opposing visions of utopia? What is the relationship between utopianism and dystopianism, and how will the demise of capitalism be influenced by these different ways of thinking? What does the future look like for Bristol, specifically? And importantly, how do we ground our utopianism in a practicable theory of transition?
