Thomas Paine Archives - Bristol Radical History Group

Leon Rosselson And Robb Johnson The Liberty Tree

Tickets available in advance from: Bristol Ticket Shop 26 Union Street Broadmead, BS1 2DP Tel: 0117 929 9008 Legendary protest singer Leon Rosselson celebrates his fiftieth year in music with a special performance with songwriter/activist Robb Johnson. The Liberty Tree is an evening of contemporary songs reflecting the revolutionary ideas of Thomas Paine. These were influenced by the American War of Independence and were to have a huge effect on the French Revolution and the fight for modern […]

Who The Hell Is Thomas Paine?

On the 200th anniversary of Paine’s death, Peter Clark explains the contemporary importance of his writings that were so influential in the revolutionary ferment of the late 18th Century. Paine redefined the nature of political discourse with his ground-breaking views on human rights, democracy, the open society, racial equality, women's rights and the welfare state. Clark questions why this great British thinker is fêted in France and the United States yet remains a prophet without fortune in […]

Welcome To A World Of Paine

Come and celebrate the life of one of Britain’s greatest yet least known radical thinkers, Thomas Paine. Under the light of the full moon, join us in toasting the memory of this hero of the French and American revolutions with stories round the bonfire, cider, pikes and guillotines. Dress: Fancy and French, Attitude: Seditious. Download an A4 poster for this event (1.2 MB jpeg file).

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’ […]

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 […]

Thomas Paine Walk In Bath

By Randell Brantley

The author and publisher Andrew Swift will lead a history walk around Bath starting at 7pm. The walk will visit some of the sites that were associated with the distribution of "The Rights of Man" - selling it, giving it away, where people were arrested and the thuggery that was stirred up by the gentry who wanted to suppress the publication. Andrew's knowledge is extensive and the walks I've been on before with him have been excellent - did you know that in his early life Paine joined Captain […]