Sheffield ’84 National Anarchist Conference

Over the weekend of 23-25th of November over 50 Anarchists from all over England and Scotland assembled in Sheffield for a national conference and get-together. The weekend was a follow-on from a similar one held in London three months earlier. During the Sheffield weekend we had many hours of excellent discussion, without any of the back-biting many of us have grown used to at NEAF (North-East Anarchist Federation) conferences. We also saw a video-recording of the ‘Sheffield Policewatch’ video on police tactics during the miners strike, which was kindly lent to us by a comrade, had a vegan meal together and spent 3 excellent evenings in the pub.

Judging from what people said at the conclusion of the Sunday session everybody was greatly enthused by the weekend, and we all left not only looking forward to the next conference, but to working more closely with each other.

The cost of the conference was raised entirely from a collection that was held. Collections were also held for the miners and the imprisoned Glasgow comrades.

NOTES OF WHAT WAS SAID AT THE SHEFFIELD CONFERENCE

SATURDAY 24/11/84

Group Reports

SHEFFIELD: ‘The Sheffield Anarchist’ is still being produced quarterly, weekly street sales and some retail outlets, sell about 500 per issue. / ‘School Stoppers Handbook’[1] : 1100 produced and distributed to schools in South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire, considered successful, lots of media coverage, hope to do another print run. / Weekly meetings held in local pub.

EDINBURGH : Magazine (‘Little by Little’) produced, also leaflets. / Collecting for miners, police confiscated 2 tins of money, but they got it back. Money given directly to womens support group or local strike fund. / ‘Counter-Information’ newsheet produced in conjunction with Glasgow @s [anarchists] – relating to strike mainly, but some other matters are covered. / Complain that nobody goes to Scotland.

BRIGHTON : Squat gig held in local cinema, but there were arrests and things have been in disarray since then. Nothing much happening. / Miners support groups are dominated by the Labour Party and Communist Party, but there are signs of things improving. Some Kent miners are critical of NUM hierarchy, but are scared to open their mouths about it. / Actions against the Tory conference, discussed at last conference, failed to materialise. / Got hassled in connection with the Grand Hotel bombing.

GLASGOW : Occupation of Price-Waterhouse offices [2] – those arrested are due to come up on trial in December. / Daily street collections for miners – threatened with arrest for illegal collecting – Trades Council issue licences for collecting, but is controlled by Communist Party – Miners have been threatened with having all official financial aid stopped if they accept money collected by Anarchists. On Thursday 22/11/84 5 people were arrested for collecting – stiff sentences are expected. / Group hopes to open bookshop shortly.

BRADFORD AREA : Anti-school pamphlet (‘Fuck School’) produced. / Hoax leaflets advertising free trolleys of food at a new Sainsbury’s supermarket were distributed to a posh housing estate, quite a lot of media coverage. / Campaign against Marcus Fox M.P./ “Knee Deep In Shit” magazine produced. / Attacks on Lord Mayor. / In Bradford street lighting is not coming on until about 9.00pm. [3] / Very serious rioting in Pontefract nearly every night, which is not being reported in the press. / Long running campaign against poultry farmer Billy Webb – a very nasty character. / Occupation of Halifax Building Society (who are attempting to repossess homes of striking miners) office on November 5th Day of Action – Leaflets distributed and stink bombs left before leaving. 

STOKE : Have been reduced to only a small group recently. / Produce ‘Careless Talk’. / Have been attending Trot miners meetings to put across an @ [anarchist] line. / General involvement in miners strike. / Produced a leaflet for start of new term at Keele University – “The poverty of student life” – critical of university life. / Scargill & Kinnock double bill coming up – other comrades invited to attend.

‘CLASS WAR’ – LONDON : Sell ‘Class War’ on demos – up to 700 on a large demo. / Continue with ‘second front’ policy. [4]

‘Molly’s Cafe’ - LONDON : Squatted cafe – claimants group, housing support group, miners benefits, jumble sales, discos, squatters bar.

Labour Party miners support rally in Stoke

For the first time Kinnock is to to attend a meeting about the miners. He says he hasn’t had the time yet he can fuck off to the funerals of Indian dictators at the drop of a hat, or to spend a week in Russia. The total rejection of the Labour Party would be as politically significant as the class violence already seen in the dispute. The rally is a make or break situation for Kinnock as Labour leader and politician. Stoke chosen because Kinnock has spoken there before with generally good reception – it is his best ground. Rally is tickets only, most of tickets to Labour Party members, but some will go to NUM, to be distributed with absolute discretion. This will not only restrict us, but the response of the miners invited will be very different to that of the rank and file. Things must go beyond polite heckling.

Footnote

About 35 of us succeeded in getting in to rally, very few militant miners did. The stewards were controlled from the stage by Scargill, who had given instructions that Kinnock was to be allowed to speak. The stewards had even been told to cheer and applaud Kinnock. The whole event was entirely stage managed.[5]

Edinburgh ‘Day of Action’

Edinburgh group are organising a ‘Stop the City’ type action. Suggest street theatre, porno trashing, ‘free with compliments’ etc stickers for shops, Xmas shopping. Complaints from group that nothing ever happens in Edinburgh –people are not interested in anything North of the border. Day of Action set for December the 20th. Would groups please advertise it and try and get along.

Pacifism

What is pacifism? Nobody seemed sure, but several criticisms of people’s experiences of pacifists and pacifism were given. “When you’re fighting a class war you can’t afford pacifism”. Pacifism is a religious decision. “If the miners were pacifists the strike would have been lost long ago.” The situation must decide the tactics. The Greenham women have failed absolutely, all they have done is upset a few local middle-class people. Pacifism and “Psychopathism” are false choices. Pacifists add to the mystification that is going about that governments can be negotiated with. Defence of Greenham women – there has been a development of their ideas, away from absolute pacifism and towards a more militant approach. It’s bad enough to discuss pacifism when there are pacifists present, but to discuss it when there are not is ludicrous. Subject abandoned.

Feminism and Sexism

Some very articulate discussion about these subjects. Sexism will be around long after the revolution unless we do something about it now. We must confront all forms of oppression. “Most feminist groups organise in an Anarchist way but don’t call themselves Anarchists”. A lot of the dynamism of the feminist movement has been lost because so many feminists and feminist groups have worked hand in glove with the state (women’s committees etc). 16 women and 37 men were present (+ 2 female children + 1 dog). Isn’t it a bit worrying to condemn half the population as being not worth bothering with? “Women are sexist as well, they must change as well. We must change the whole of society.” These discussions are never conclusive, but they cannot be. Stoke say they will organise a conference dealing specifically with these issues, this will be in the new year. Gay men are ignored (?) by their ‘straight’ male comrades. It is not a question of men giving up their power, but a question of men developing themselves to destroy the power system. We must ditch the ideas that are fed into us by the system. Anarchists must change themselves before they can change the system. Sexism must be challenged whenever it arises.

Glasgow Arrests

13 people arrested for occupation of Price-Waterhouse offices. Trial date set for Wednesday December 12th. Suggestion that people are invited up by Glasgow group.

SUNDAY 25/11/84

Organisation

Bristol group have their mail tampered with (who doesn’t), often only hearing about events after they have already taken place. Suggest transfer of important information by word of mouth to stop infiltration. Develop support for each others actions. ‘Counter Information’ service (Edinburgh-Glasgow) invite people from other groups to get involved

Copies of C.I. taken to picket lines and strike centres with good reception and exchange of information – 2500 printed.

The Direct Action Movement (DAM)  [6]

DAM is now officially the British equivalent of the Spanish C.N.T. Their delegates are able to address C.N.T./ I.W.A. conferences not only on behalf of the British Anarchist movement, but on behalf of the British working class. Despite this DAM are pathetically small organisation after several years of existence. They exist to infiltrate and take over the British @ [anarchist] movement. They have no factory groups. The miners strike has been a big boost to them as they have been able to collect money, and money has been sent to them by IWA groups abroard – £3,000 to Hull DAM alone.[7]  Great personal differences exist between East London DAM and South London DAM, and even greater differences exist between the DAM groups in the North and those in the South (2 small groups in London and 2 people in Chatham). Two long standing Anarchist magazines have been completely taken over by DAM every member of ‘Anarchy’ collective is a member of E. London DAM, and every member of ‘Black Flag’ collective is a member of S.London DAM. 

When the C.N.T. finally gets the enormous assets (millions) seized by Franco after the civil war, DAM will be getting a decent sized slice of the pie. But, as there are several squabbling factions of the C.N.T., DAM must continue to support the main faction uncritically. The only DAM member who has dared to criticise this C.N.T. publicly has been ruthlessly denounced and suspended. DAM were involved in the ‘LOGO’ incident.[8] DAM are beyond the pale, we should not have debate with them. They have nothing in common with the active syndicalist movements of the past, they are not involved in direct action in the workplace, they are “closet-syndicalists”. Sheffield in particular complained of the unscrupulous entryist tactics DAM were prepared to use, these tactics had been used to manipulate the North-East Anarchist Federation (NEAF) on many occasions over several years. Doncaster (masquerading as the ‘South-Yorkshire Anarchist Group’) had told a whole number of lies about the Sheffield group ranging from allegations of scabbing to allegations of kneecapping. DAM are a definite threat to the real Anarchist movement, the local autonomous groups. Be vigilant comrades, you never know what they might stoop to next. 

Miners 

Fights developing between those scabs who have gone back recently and those who went back earlier on in the dispute – 1 pit had to be closed recently for the day because of this. A lot of non-reported incidents of riots and disturbances from all over the country. Hit and run tactics used at Pontefract, but not directly related to miners strike – Similar occurrences going unreported at Hackenthorpe, Sheffield. – How many more places? Striking miners benefit gig held at Bradford 1 in 12 club and picketing is planned. Regular picketing by Edinburgh group. Little solidarity action has been shown by other workers. We must open up the ‘Second Front’. Even during Leeds ‘Stop the City’ a noticeable number of cops were taken away from local picket lines. 

Notes

1, See https://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/4163.pdf

2, See ‘The day we took the white tower’ [Price Waterhouse occupation, Glasgow, 1984] by Brian Biggins https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/4xgzxz

3, Power cuts were a sign of dwindling coal stocks for generating electricity during the miners’ strike.

4, i.e. calling for inner-city riots to take police away from attacking mining communities.

5, See also the account in ‘Miner Conflict – Major Impact : an Anarchist Communist perspective on the Miners’ Strike 1984-85’ by Dreyfus https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/wstswm

6, Internal and external criticism of the DAM was not unknown in the anarchist press in this period, driven by tactical and ideological disagreements, along with the ‘fallout’ from other conflicts (the CNT split, the trajectory of Freedom Press, etc.)

7, In September 1984 Hull DAM reporting passing £10,000 on to the NUM from Dutch syndicalists. See ‘Dutch, French Unions Support NUM’ https://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/3bk54x

8, Logo is online https://libcom.org/article/logo-99-1983  

From Sheffield Anarchist v.3, no 7 Winter 84/85 

https://www.thesparrowsnest.org.uk/collections/public_archive/15147.pdf