Direct-Action and Autonomous Organizing across the United Kingdom: London Solidarity

(Hardback)

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No history of post-war British left-wing activism would be complete without mention of the iconoclastic London Solidarity group. Direct-Action and Autonomous Organizing across the United Kingdom: London Solidarity is the first book dedicated to examining this groups surreptitious origins, influences and legacy. Part of an international and mostly informal movement breaking away from traditional left-wing politics at the height of Cold War tensions, the London Solidarity group contributed to the re-emergence of direct-action and autonomous working-class struggle in the UK. The group rigorously critiqued authoritarian exploitation in the East and West, championed sexual liberation, wildcat strikes, housing struggles and played a historic role in the 1963 Spies for Peace scandal which rocked the British government by revealing its secret preparations for elite rule after nuclear war. Direct-Action and Autonomous Organizing across the United Kingdom uses both first-hand participant accounts, personal correspondence, previously unpublished archival material and the latest historical research on left-wing radical politics to tell the story of this radical left group and its activities while locating it in various activist networks in Britain and abroad.

Author Bio

Chris Spannos is a journalist and Digital Editor and Co-Director of New Internationalist magazine.