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Vol. IV No. 13 1977 15p "*.>. *••«*.. ,'- MURDERED Coming out of a bar in the boulevard Belleville in a working-class suburb of t Paris last October, comrade Laureano Cerrada Santos, one of the last of the old guard anarchist activists, was ambushed and murdered by a police agent who had managed to penetrate the ranks of the Spanish Resistance. Cerrada had discovered the activities of this despicable character who was acting for the Spanish secret police in ice (working in close association ith the French police) and was paring to publish details of them ten this hero of fascism discovered he known, and shot dead our veteran mrade - an unarmed man of 14. death is a double blow to the anarchist movement because, apart from his drive and energy, he was a skilled forger whose talents were dedicated to the struggle against tyranny and the Laureano Cerrada Santos was one of the few remaining survivors of a generations who were prepared to - and countless numbers of them did risk their lives in the struggle for social justice. He had been one of the founders of the railway union of the CNT. a disciple of Francisco Ferrer and a comrade of the legendary "Sugar Baby." the fighting secretary of the anarcho- syndicalist union movement. He fought it goes without saying, in the civil war and afterwards joined the resistance which spread through Spain and France where he was one of the most dangerous to the Francoist regime He upset many 'puritans' in the move- ment during the period of Resistance because of his organisation of forger on a widespread scale and a huge bla market operation. It was felt that •?y»3a*'..v ; movement and the Resistance alive, and the fascist State maintained its pervasive influence in part by the control il had over rationing. Among the attempts against Franco in which Laureanu participated was the abortive attack on him while in the company of Iliilcr and also another in San Sebastian in l^S. He held his anarchist ideas to the end one of the many who held back the march of tyranny and did not li' the dawn. What of his assassin? He I smuggled out of the country by the French police, into Canada. Does Canada, then, admit terrorists? We h a lot from the Canadian Cabinet last r about their determination to keep orists out of their country when rhe editor of this paper was to be flown in for a TV interview with CBC. Not this forgery gave the anarchist movement kind however! They can be congratti- a bad name, but it did help keep the lated on their new citizen who should

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Vol. IV No. 13 1977 15p

"*.>. *••«*.. ,'-

.1

MURDEREDComing out of a bar in the boulevardBelleville in a working-class suburb of

t Paris last October, comrade LaureanoCerrada Santos, one of the last of theold guard anarchist activists, wasambushed and murdered by a policeagent who had managed to penetratethe ranks of the Spanish Resistance.Cerrada had discovered the activitiesof this despicable character who wasacting for the Spanish secret police in

ice (working in close associationith the French police) and was

paring to publish details of themten this hero of fascism discovered he

known, and shot dead our veteranmrade - an unarmed man of 14.

death is a double blow to theanarchist movement because, apart fromhis drive and energy, he was a skilledforger whose talents were dedicated tothe struggle against tyranny and the

Laureano Cerrada Santos was oneof the few remaining survivors of agenerations who were prepared to - andcountless numbers of them did risktheir lives in the struggle for socialjustice. He had been one of the foundersof the railway union of the CNT. adisciple of Francisco Ferrer and acomrade of the legendary "Sugar Baby."the fighting secretary of the anarcho-syndicalist union movement. He foughtit goes without saying, in the civil warand afterwards joined the resistancewhich spread through Spain andFrance where he was one of the mostdangerous to the Francoist regime

He upset many 'puritans' in the move-ment during the period of Resistancebecause of his organisation of forgeron a widespread scale and a huge blamarket operation. It was felt that

•?y»3a*'..v ;movement and the Resistance alive, andthe fascist State maintained its pervasiveinfluence in part by the control il hadover rationing. Among the a t temptsagainst Franco in which Laureanuparticipated was the abortive a t t a ck onhim while in the company of I l i i l c r andalso another in San Sebastian in l^S.

He held his anarchist ideas to the endone of the many who held back the

march of tyranny and did not li 'the dawn.

What of his assassin? He Ismuggled out of the country by theFrench police, into Canada. DoesCanada, then, admit terrorists? We ha lot from the Canadian Cabinet last

r about their determination to keeporists out of their country when rhe

editor of this paper was to be flown infor a TV interview with CBC. Not this

forgery gave the anarchist movement kind however! They can be congratti-a bad name, but it did help keep the lated on their new citizen who should

BLACK FLAG Vol IV No. 13 FebruaryPublished by Black Flag Group & printeby Anarchy Collective.12 issues (home), Canada,£6.00 (U.S. $13.00) Black Rag, (Water, Sanday, Orkney, KW17 2BL

Anarchists in New Zealand or just visitingcontact: Anarchy, P.O. Box 22-607,( ' ri Jn •. i ; \

Our apologies to all comrades and readersfor the lengthy delay in binding The BlackHiig Anarcho Quiz Book (due to circum-stances beyond our control). With a bitof luck this title should be ready withinthe next week or so.

Issue No.2 of The Cienfuegos PressAnarchist Review will go to press onMarch 1st and advance copies should beready by the end of the month. This issueis much larger than the previous one with64 tightly packed pages (A4 size withcard cover) with articles covering a widerange of subjects including: B. Tr;Master of the Revolutionary Novel;for a Police State; Anarchism in Japan;Anarchist Alternatives to NATO; Noteson the Study of Anarchism in Germany;Anarchism (Peter Kropotkin); The Histof the Anarchist Movement in Poland(Nagorski); Witchcraft: Geomancy; The

• . • I ' : . : . . • ; • : •detailed reviews of books dealing withanarchism in the ILK., U.S.A.. Canada,r-rance. Spam, etc., - hours of interestingreading "All human life is there" Prof.Hagbard Celine. This is superb value at£1.00 (+ 20p p&p) but it will befree to all sustaining subscribersCienfuegos Press (£6.00 per year/life sub).

State of Play : Encouraging.

>.Black Flag deficit carried fwd £1490. 48Production & printing costspaid to date 115.00Postage -10. "5

1646. 23

Sales &sub« £90. 82Donations* ' 82. 00 272.82

deficit brought fwd.£1373. 41(actually down!)

Donations:London Smithfield workers £35 (see lastissue); L.S. £5; Jumble sale at MuswellHill C14; Nottingham A.B. £5; ReadingA.S. £10; BatnT.L.J. £1;R.E. £1;Leeds M.S. £2; Huddersfield Meeting £5;Glasgow A. McG £1; HMP M.S. £3; •Germany £10(

[ For The Symbionese Liberation Army1974.

They caM it terrorif you are fewand have no B-52sif you are not a head of statewith an army and policeif you have neither napalmnor tanksnor electronic battlefieldsterror is if you are disposse:and have only your own two handsand each otherand your rageIt is not terrorif you are New York's finestand you shoot a 10-year black child in the

backbecause you think black peopleall look like they've just committed a

robberyis no terror if yd buy the men

but do not be fooledthere is no weapon they will allownothing that works will be called legitimateunless we fight fpr itunless we educate ourselves and others

i we separate resistance from oppression

ie same editorials that scream terrorismscreamed mob ruleat the civil rights marches of the early

sixties

\t theOnly those whocan be terrorists

I

N.I Jo nolthe enemy define the mistakesbecause he is experiencedand has ten thousand printing presses at

his backes the tanks and guns

and he will say, the people don't support

and savin* it can make it so *f weie will say, you only turn offhose you are fighting f<e is helpful

no anti-war marchno sit-inno teach-inbut had its helpful editor to sayhow much more we

"j

or preferably nothing.

Jt iat the anti-war demonstrationsthousands of busted heads laterthey say, of coursewe always upheld the right to preaceful

protestThe attitudes they offer up in printwith little tabs, cut them out and wear themwritten by men who have notseen a jail cell from the insideor hungeror the face of a duly constituted officerof the law as he saysmake one move and you'll be deadthey say, we cannot condone violencebut watch outfor whether they say it about murdering

prisonersor about kidnapping Patricia Hearst

>out the disinheritedor about the inheritors . .

9

"*

ish bydoing less

Sisters and brothers, think hard beforeyou jump

onto the bandwagonof condemning terrorismremember who is making the definitionsremember not to strengthen the hand

at will turn in an instantist every means of resistance to

oppressionThat bandwagon rolls straight towards

fascismdo not forget the real terroriststhat lurk behind the masks of heads of statedo not be afraid to hold strongtogetherwith all who dare to struggle.

'A sister in the Weather Underground."

December got us well and truly out oftrouble; apart from the surprise gift fromSmithfield, many comrades rallied aroundto our S.O.S. and our comrade from wayback in the "Coptic" days, Anna Blume,weighed in from Germany with a heftycontribution out of her pay packet.Thanks to Robyn and Mark organising thejumble sale, we shared the £28 withCentro Iberico - appreciation to all who

helped. Wonderful work, all concernedwho helped us survive the end of theyear!

Finally, our postage bill has beenconsiderably reduced by the newPublications Distribution Cooperative.

MURRAY DEFENCE COMMITTEEMoney urgently required: 155 ChurchRoad, Celbricige, Co. Kildare, Eire.

3. Which U.S. general was a formerMarxist, and is claimed (inaccurately) bythe German Social Democratic Partyas their founder?

Why was the toughest, most militantting spokesperson for the US;o hostile to women's suffrage?

5. John Brown - transformed duringby all who go out to battle for truth and the Civil War into a secular saint ('hisi ustice? soul goes marching on') - was at the

..,. : i if* -• • • -

ANARCHO-QUIZ

1. What was significant about Mrs.Sukhanova getting her husband to stayout all night?2. What, according to PlaywrightHenrik Ibsen, in the play "An Enemy ofthe People," was the lesson to be learned

time of his invasion of slave-owningVirginia at the head of an army of undertwo dozen, regarded as 'insane,' 'criminal,'and 'ruffianly' and execrated as was theSymbionese Liberation Army in our day.Who was the anarchist writer whodefended him? (Was his project imprac-

Ible? Why did public opinion chaWhat cowardly royal assassinatic

ice at Smithfie

I lie bogey of trade unionism is raisedmore avidly by the press and politiciansthan it has been since its earliest years,when it was regarded as a criminal con-spiracy to band together to formcombinations of workers with the purposeof increasing wages. Nothing is too badto throw at the unions: they are bothrunning a.itl ruining "the country", theydictate to the public, deny freedom totheir members, are destroying the"middle class" and causing inflat ion Ianartificial State-made process if ever therewas one). The press even views sympa-thetically the Plymouth Brethren claimtnat if they joined an appropriate tradeunion they would be "unlawfully yokedwith the heathen" (though they pouredscorn on the "straining of Biblical texts"during the war when the selfsame peoplethought "thou shalt not kill" was meantto be taken literally.)

To pass from the fantasy world of thepress and the politicians to the factoryfloor is like the inter-war experience ofgoing into a slum inhabited by pauperJews and being handed a Mosleyiteleaflet explaining they were the realrulers of the world.

Does It Exist?The larger employers all welcome theformation of unions, and the closed shopin particular. They want to do businessthat way and the idea of 3 free "freemarket" - freedom of choice for theworkers to join or form what unions the)wished, to bargain any way they wanted,and to have no imposed discipline fromoutside professional organisers, wouldsend them round the bend. As the Stategoes further into business it incorporatesthe trade unions into the organisingmachine, - while the Conservative presscondemns it as bureaucratic and kow-towing to the "unions" in its columns,it does precisely the same thing in preciselythe same way and good care is taken notto have any unyoked Plymouth Brethrenround the place . . .

Not only, however, are the unionsnot so powerful as claimed - except intheir utility value to the State and largeemployers — it is even doubtful whetherin the true meaning of the term, thetrade union movement exists at all exceptin name. This may seem a surprising orprovocative statement to make sincetheir power is stressed over and overagain. But the Soviet trade unions arethe largest, and possibly the largest-financed, in the world. Do they exist inthe true sense of the word, then? Havethey any powers other than acting as anadjunct of the State machine? In thenormal use of the word "trade union" asclearly understood when not meaningto deceive and confuse, trade unions donot exist in State Communist countries.

But they are ceasing to exist in theso-called "Western world" too as theygo the same way. There is a generalmove in the economy from rule based on

profits to rule based on |>owei. It ispart of the hocus-pocus of Leninism tosuggest that "Communism" in their senseis implacably the opposite of "Capitalism."What we are moving towards in thecapitalist countries is State CapitalismThe term has been misused by dissidentMarxists as an alibi for State Communism(" ihe evils in Soviei Russia do not springfrom Stale Communism or from Leninism:Viihnsin has introduced State Capital-ism").

Ihe question of what is "StateCapitalism" represents a semanticdifference among libertarians, too. Some- among our groupings too would savthat Stalinism is State Capitalism. BuiI would say that as the Russian economy

TRADE

Ihat explain:, the divisions in the Con-servative Party since what is good ! < , , •the individual employer and his p ro f i t sdoes not necessarily correspond w i t hwhat he regards as good for "the nat ion"that is to say the Stale.

The workers today possess t remendouspower though it is whittled away bytheir gradual displacement in p r o d u c t i v ework into useless tasks that producenothing but enable the parasitic class tomaintain their importance. r/jigineu-may be laid off. but there is always jdemand for lower grades of office v v o i k e i vlor cleaners, for doorkeepers, forchauffeurs and drivers . . . . Politiealhthey have been total ly displaced by aleft with its roots in the academicestabishment of the ruling class whit!?has turned the workers out of the i i ownmovement: indus t r ia l ly the\e beenslep by step incorporated i n t o M i m e ' l i n awhich calls i tself the t r ade un ion move

\RE THEY A MENACE? UNIOrAitis not based on competition or prof i t ,it is very clearly State Communism(which Bakunin foresaw could be aneven greater tyranny than capitalism),whereas State Capitalism is the type ofcontrol by (salaried) technocrats.a c c o u n t a n t s , s o l i c i t o r a n d seat-vvaimciswho const i tute the managerial societyof the West, which does very nicelywhether it makes a loss or not for thecompany or the nationalised industry,and whose power lies in the fact ofcontrolling ra the r than in the abi l i ty tomake it profitable.

Is It Free?Reformist trade unionism had a placein the free economy, as only wagebargaining could lift the workers out ofa species of industrial serfdom. Thatwas the basis of competition. But underState Capitalism competition betweenunions is eliminated, or at any rateregarded as something discreditable andinterfering with the "normalcy" ofproduction. Even bargaining itself, byindustrial action, is regarded as virtuallyan act of treason - in spirit if not in law.The higher interests of the State ( thoughin the usual guise of "the country")are threatened. The unions themselvesare to some extent reluctant entirely togive up the old methods of wage bargain-ing and occasional strikes because theyknow full well from experience that itmay be that they will be replaced withsomething new, something militant andsomething live. Perhaps this could bebought off. But that would only bene-fit the capitalist, not the superannuatedT.U. leaders.

The larger employers — those withmore experience of working conditionsknow too the dangers of a new unionism,or a return to the older unionism, and

ment but every day Ceases in he ..IK .,.' i!becomes more like a to ta l i t a r ian !;!>--M;:front even though main ta in i iu : >onvindependence yet. When one look^ . 'what a real union is (alas. nw.\ onerealises the gap there is between .'//.//. i i u l w l i . n w e have

As It Was . . .Read v v h . i t 14 I uu : • i i . - , - . .the railway men's un ion in \ l e \ i . n n.the curly ll>2()s. In those u . ivs : t wasstill anarcho-syndicalist ( t h e n a i u i a ll iber iananism of the workers ha> since.in Mexico as everywhere else, beensidetracked and l iqu ida ted : t o d a > . i lis more like the N l ' R l . But this i-what it was l ike then

"The ra i lwaymen of Mexico are all \vi tho ' •exception members of a first-class union.radical to the buck bone unJ never aversefrom a strike: aiiJ they hunt losoilu-1 if ,cman. Their organisation and tin- spun pievailing in il make sclt-rcspcum: mm ' I i!:em.who ure vapor lo improve thcm.solu-s :eit i /ens of llu'ir country. Com icons aiitihelpful, always laughing und joking. !hc\nno resemblance al all to the g r o u t i n g .milsnarling N.( .O's who. disguised ;.•> i a i l w a \.make travelling in ( enlral I uro| c such a dU-agrceable experience. They are no! thesubordinates of arrogant supori> r officers, lo iall share as comrades in the prii ic of I heirorgunisution. The fireman ma) he pcsidcniund spokesman of Ihe group ,11 whoso meetingthe chief of the line sits modestly on the samebench us shunters, pointsmen anJ wheel-greasei-.and listens quietly and at tent ively to theproposuls the fireman has to make, as chairman,for improving the conditions of the railwayworker. And in the event of a strike, thechief of the line, whose pay is ten times thaiof a wheel-greaser or shunter, does not organisethe technical staff us an emergency gung. Onthe contrary, he gets out the bills und posterswhich inform the public of the reason andthe necessity for the railway strike, becausehe is better at writing than the fireman, thoughthe fireman is chairman and spokesman. Thechief of the line and the shunter eat tromthe sume spoon, so to speak; by virtue oftheir organisation the dirty wheel-greaser is

The 'PETTY BOURGEOIS" SAGA

Religiously repeating the trite remarksout of context from the saviour godphilosophers, any Marxist-Leninist willrepeat the words "petty bourgeois"when talking of anarchism . . . it mattersnot that they nowadays invariably comefrom the wealthier student class, theycannot be "petty bourgeois" becausethey have the light, whereas the Anar-chists must be "petty bourgeois" andthey can produce chapter and pagenumber of one of the other of the godphilosophers to prove it.

The Communist Party is adept atthrowing up false fronts, and now theMaoists come to copy them - the

•- ~- i:" ~Y - ^sf' ^Spanish Communists in London adoptethe name "Centre Antonio Machado,"after the distinguished poet. Note theMaoists have a rival club, the "ClubAlvarez del Vayo." Senor del Vayo wasa distinguished Socialist career diplomatfrom the upper classes, who becameForeign Minister and, after Negrin becamePremier, went closer to the Stalinists.He never did a day's work or fought forhis principles in Ins lite. Not indeed a"petty" bourgeois! But when you thinkof all the workers in Spain who havefought so hard and bitterly againstFascism, who have provided great namesthat are remembered and unknown namesthat are not. would you not think oneof them could have provided a betteralias for Marxist Revolutionaries? Afterall, the dead cannot object . . . Butthe problem is. all these workers wereAnarchists. Mere "petty bourgeoisopportunists." Trotsky said so.

KEITH PATON KNEW MY FATHER.1 •

For a bit of unmitigated humbug, werecommend Keith Paton's leaflet"Alternative Liberalism - in search ofideological neighbours."

It is an appeal to the Liberal Party.especially the Young Liberals, now indeep disarray and confusion, to adopt"non violent" anarchism.

"We are heading towards a situationwhere the challenge of the traditional(white/male/industrially based/Labouror Leninist) Left will be countered bymilitary/fascist reaction." Stop Pharii.ee!

Ignore the "Labour Leninist" bit.You are putting things in terms ofAmerica, with which you have a love-hate relationship. If there are fewerblacks in Left politics here, it is notbecause - as in America - they havebeen excluded in the past, but becausethey as immigrants, have no traditionof being in politics. All "Left" groupsask for black support. Will "military-

fascist reaction" take any form exceptagainst industrially-based organisations?Anything less does not need the Army.

But, goes on Keith Paton - advocat-ing "Peace News" as his ideal,"If you go back in your own liberaltradition beyond Mill, you'll come toWilliam Godwin, from whom we anar-chists derive our claim to be able tosynthesise the best in liberal, as well associalist, thought. I'm not talking aboutthe violent or destructive currents ofanarchism or the anarchism that tail-endsMarxism and is obsessed with preventingthe "emasculation" (sic) of the revo-lution We claim a long and largelyhonourable tradition: e.g. it was weanarchists whom the Bolsheviks firstattacked in r>:t-revolutionary Russia,April 1918; e.g. the social creativity ofthe anarchist influenced workers andpeasants in Spain in 1936/37, beforesnuffed out by the troops of right and

left; May 68, to some extent. Manyliberals have been moving our way fora decade, and 1 thought it would benice to say a friendly hello! to thenearest wing (fringe?) of you lot."

Humbug! "We anarchists" whom theilsheviks attacked, "we anarchists"

rho fought in Spain, and struggled eversince - what have "we" to do with you?Or are you pretending that it was "PeaceNews" types that fought in Russia andSpain? What with, bunches of posies?Welcome to Keith Paton, Liberals — ifhe's not in the Loyd George tradition,who is?

THE "CLEAN HANDS" SAGA

Academics spend comfortable lives onGovernment grants churning out theses- sometimes, alas, based on our work whichwe produce under hurried conditionsin what time we can spare from workingto bring in the cash to finance them.They can draw on what books they likeand have State-aided research facilitiesyet they enjoy nothing better thansneering at our occasional slip ups. Butwhat are they to theirs?Just ran across this in The CulturalContradictions of Capitalism by DanielBell: " . . . This is the theme of Conrad'spowerful novel about nihilism, TheSecret Agent, which was prompted byanarchist activities at the turn of thecentury — the bombings and the randommurders of "bourgeois-looking" peoplein the streets. It is the novel thatadumbrates the more widespreadterrorist by radicals in the 1960."(our italics).

Conrad wrote a book based onNihilism ("Under Western Eyes"). "TheSecret Agent" was supposed to be about

Anarchists, though Conrad was unclearon what they were. At no time does thebook deal with "random murders of'bourgeois-looking' people" and it ishardly necessary to say that only anidiot could have supposed this everhappened. It is a variation of the "shotfor having clean hands" story. Imaginesomebody — and especially in time oftranquility, not even in a revolutionarysituation — shooting people at randombecause they looked "bourgeois."This "adumbrates" not the turn-of-the-

century or 1960 radical "terrorism" butnationalist terrorism which singles outpeople of one particular race, nationalityor colour. In Belfast, where nothingcan be stranger than fact, they shootpeople at random knowing their religionon sight.

Even there, they would be hard putto it to distinguish which are "bourgeois".Do these mythical assassins now, or then,recognise their quarry by wearing"collars and ties" (another hardy annual!)- by bowler hats and umbrellas? - ormaybe by wearing specially frayedscruffy jeans?

What rot! Yet the exact opposite isthe truth. Reactionaries do, in manycountries, go round and murder working-class-looking people. The police inmany countries, in times of riot, singleout the working-class scruffy-looking, orminority group, looking people, beat themup and sometimes shoot them. In timesof strikes, in many countries, even incomparatively democratic countries letalone dictatorships, groups of workers aretaken out and one in every dozen, orevery hundred, arrested, sometimes shot.In times of military mutiny, this is thecourse even in the "freest" States. Whenor where, however, are officers ormembers of the Board of Directors, takenout, and imprisoned or shot by theworkers? Or by terrorists? Answer,Never. Mr. Bell is not only a propagandistand a liar, but a clumsy one at that.

ANARCHIST OUTLAWRY

Listening to the radio a sudden phrasecaught my ear. A German politicianwas explaining how we were movingtowards "the outlawry of anarchism" . . .It is typical of State paranoia - peoplecan be forced to love the State. Youcan impose fear by bludgeons, but respectmust be won and love is always free . . .

At the height of the inquisitionpeople were not allowed to question thedictates of the Church. But providedthey outwardly conformed the Churchwisely did not say that people had tohave faith, provided they were silent ontheir disbelief - or confessed and askedforgiveness.

It is possible to make anarchist propa-ganda illegal or to ban anarchist organisa-tions. It is possible to make it sounpleasant for anyone to be an anarchistthat they will refrain from calling

TRADE UNIONS Cont.more to the chief of the line than the statecan be, or the interests of trade and industry,or the common weal, all of which comesecond to the aim of securing the necessitiesof existence for the pointsman, his comrade.For this reason the engine-driver need nothave asked his fireman what he had to say;for he might have known what answer he'would make; and what answer all the otherrailwaymen who were standing about waitingfor the goods train to start, would make also.

It was a question first of all of their ownunion members; but even if they had all been >safe and sound, still they would have gone,because there were the passengers in desperatestraits. Even though they put the members oftheir union first, the passengers came second.Indeed the railwayman feels a greater respon-sibility for the welfare of the passengers thanfor the welfare of his own family. For thatis what his union teaches him. And hisunion is never wrong whatever anyone, thearchbishop included, may say."

Quote from The Treasure of the SierraMadre.

Try that on for size and see if it fits.

Albert Meltzer.

FILMSFRAME UP - the story of Martin Sostre;and RED SQUAD will be shown inLondon on 12th MARCH, 7.30 at theTabernacle Community Hall, Powis

, Netting Hill.

Harold Wilson Prizefor Sincerity

Making an attack on the Trotskyists ina speech in Derbyshire (reported in fullin the Guardian, Jan. 22) Shirley Williams"took up the issues raised by the MilitantGroup." She was not concerned withthe fortunes of right-wing members ithe Labour Party facing personal dis-placement by the infiltrators — oh no.She was concerned with individualliberty. Trotsky himself, she said withbrilliant insight, "cared nothing forindividual liberty . . . his actions in the1920s as one of the leaders of the SovietState — for example, his part in thecrushing of the Kronstadt rising, makesthis clear."

Yet when Emma Goldman was deport-ed from Russia and came to England tomake the crushing of the Kronstadtsailors — among other facts about Russia,she was abused and calumniated by theLabour Party — including such figures

as George Lansbury and Ernest Bevin.Bit late in the day for Shirley to showhow the Labour Party cares for indivi-dual liberty when it connived at themassacre by silence over the facts.andabuse for those who related them?

When you read Alexander Berkman'sRussian Tragedy reflect that at thetime the Labour Party was falling overitself to apologise for Soviet Russia eventhough it was holding off the BritishCommunists at arms' length (they readLenin too on the reason he wanted theBritish CP to affiliate).

When, of course, you hear Toriesmention Kronstadt (they have at lastcottoned on to the fact that it is asizeable count against the Russian dic-tatorship) consider how they woulddeal with a sailors' mutiny to enforce thedemands of the revolution and smashthe State. They are libertarians but "asfar away as Russia is."

ROON 'N' ABOOT.themselves one. It is possible to carica-ture and denigrate anarchism to deterpeople from naming themselves such.But unless they have found a way ofmaking us all masochists, the State willnot be able to "outlaw anarchism."

WHEN WEALTH IS KING

Multi-millionaire Howard Hughes hadeverything that the rat-race can offer —he made it, and had his pick of womenas a sexual commodity, men as objectsof service, luxury, adventure, power,influence, prestige. He was one ofcapitalism's winners for whom thousandsof people were directly sacrificed tomake way and millions exploited.

Those who drop out, whether fromchoice or necessity, must wonder some-times at all they missed. Take a look atHoward Hughes's last days now beingrecounted in books and newspapers.For years a completely mad recluse, acrazy meglomaniac reduced to sittingnaked surrounded by well scrubbedar i> ' jterilised equipment and dozensof bought followers, of whom it is hardto say if they were his warders or hisprisoners. His money provided for hisevery repellent whim, he preserved hisurine in glass jars around him, he wascovered with bed sores and squanderedsums that would have kept whole citiesin order to ensure his privacy or cawhichever it was.

What use was he to society? Absolutelynone. Yet anarchists are accused ofbeing "against society"! The Stateensured his wealth . . . but in what wayhad he earned it? Like a pet dog left afortune by an adoring mistress, thisemaciated relic of a man held in hishands the destinies of thousands ofpeople, though being no more and noless capable of acting than the pet dog.The only thing that spoke was the money.What distinguished Howard Hughesfrom any other capitalist is that mostof them enjoy the luxury and commandtheir wealth brings them. But theirutility value is equally nil and only theweight of property-based laws ensures theyget what they "pay for."BAND OF HOPESurely the funniest piece of Christianhope reported recently was the actionof Caerphilly councillors in demonstrat-ing against the Sex Pistols with thecounter-attraction of a carol concert inthe car park of the hail where theywere playing?

NO RESPECTER OF PERSONSA leading Gaullist and prominentChristian Conservative, M. GerardAmanrich, diplomatic counsellor to theGovernment, was brought back from hisAmbassadorship to the Vatican (due tothe decline of Gaullism) and, apparentlyout of pique, brutally murdered his wife,18 year old daughter and 16 year old son.

'^f- 5

He said he was going to commit suicidetoo but "lacked courage."

The murders were directly concernedwith his Statist opinions and conserva-tive prejudices. His career was slipping.Would that have mattered had he beena libertarian?

Will Paris hold up its hands in horrorat those who are preaching politicalCatholicism and Conservatism? WillGaullism be declared a criminal con-spiracy? Will President Giscard go toStrasbourg seeking to make Statism anillegal international conspiracy? Wefear not.

Yet that his murderous actions wer^a result of his deeply held convictionscannot be disputed.

When it was discussed a few years ago"what would you have done had Hitlerwon the war?" many leading Englishpoliticians sharing M. Amanrich's viewssaid they would do precisely the same.Mr. Enoch Powell on television put itsuccinctly: So long as the King wassovereign he would have resisted. If theKing abdicates there would be nothingleft (not illegal guerrilla action, obviously)but suicide — and no doubt he would nothave "lacked courage" to take his familywith him. Every right-wing politician-hocd this.

P" :Now consider how French opiniontreats of an Anarchist who say (sktyyearsago) shot a gend;strike in which

ie course of atervened..

It is with great sorrow and a feeling ofdeep loss that we learned recently of thedeath in December of our close comradeand collaborator Aaron Rogat. Wheneverwe were faced with a financial crisis —which was (and is) often — Aaron wasalways among the very first to contributehis hard earned cash. Aaron's widowinforms us that he has left a considerablesum of money in nis will to Black Flag,Cienfuegos Press, Black Star and theBulletin of tne SRAF. We can only tryto live up to the high expectations of tnissorely missed veteran wno played an import-ant part in giving continuity to the ideas ofrevolutionary activism. We hope we docredit to his memory.AN QBITUARY FOR

manager of F.A.S., Joseph Cohen. Cohensucceeded in ousting Merryson as editorof the paper and took on the job himself.At that time I was editing an Englishlanguage monthly which was publisheclandestinely by the "Free Society"Group and when Cohen began ihis revisionist position outdoingthat of Dr. Merryson, 1 wrote two articlesshowing how non-anarchist his positionwas. He replied, but refused to allowany follow up to the discussion bysaying that my reply quoted too manyanarchists. Most of the "Free Society"Group were in sympathy with my positionand, after many discussions, it was agreed

. .Marcus Graham, one of Aaron Rogat's closestcomrades of many years standing, writes:

California in the 1920's was the Meccawhich attracted many radical youngsters ofwhich I was but one. I had known before-hand of the existence of the anarchist group"Free Society" and it was there I metAaron Rogat for the first time. Themajority of the group members werereaders of the Jewish anarchist paperFreie Arbeiter Stimme (Free Workers'Voice), issued by the group of the samename and sponsored by the JewishAnarchist Federation which in turnwas made up of groups in different partsof the country. The paper had a chequeredlist of editors, the most outstanding beingDavid Edelstadt who was considered bymany to be one of the most outstandingpoets in Yiddish literature. Throughcarrying out his editorial duties in adamp basement David contracted TBand died in a sanitorium in Denver,Colorado. Another M. Katz, was awell-known literary critic, but the longestto hold the position of editor was Sh.Yanovsky who was brought over fromEngland to do the job. Yanovsky was abrilliant journalist, compared withRudolf Rocker, the editor of the Londonpaper Arbeiter Freund (The Workers'Friend) he was far from being a revo-lutionary anarchist. In World War IYanovsky sided with the anarchists whoopposed it, but in World War II he dida complete volte face and went as far asincluding an advert placed by the U.S.Government urging readers to buyLiberty Bonds! He ended his editorshipwhen he started collaborating on thesocialist daily Forverts (Forward).

When the social revolution took placein Russia and the Bolsheviks managed toabsorb the then editor of Freie ArbeiterStimme, Dr. J.A. Merryson, althoughthought of as a revolutionist, realisedthat the revolution has been betrayed bythe Bolsheviks and set out to expose them.Most anarchists outside of Russia werenrr>.Rnkhpvik includine the business

should be formed to counter the revision-ist and pro-Bolshevik stand taken byFreie Arbeiter Stimme. I drew up amanifesto which was read and approved bythe group, and which was signed byAaron Rogat, Joseph Spivak and myself.This manifesto also announced that Iwas to embark on a hitch-hiking lecturetour to enlist the support of the Jewishspeaking groups. Cohen's reply, to thiswas to publish an attack on us in anattempt to ridicule Rogat and Spivak asignoramuses and to call into questionthe method by which 1 earned my living.(It was well-known in our circles thatI only worked at either of my two tradesif I was in material need). Theimmediate protest made against thislibel by the "Free Society" Group wassuppressed by Cohen. Our group sentrepresentatives to the publications groupwhich issued Freie Arbeiter Stimme todemand that Cohen retract his unfoundedand unwarranted accusation. Theyappointed a committee to investigate thematter and later printed a partial retrac-tion. The Radical Library of Philadelphia,where Cohen and I were once members, setup an honourary tribunal composed ofseven members, and both Cohen andmyself were asked to attend. Cohenrefused to come, but I did attend andafter many sessions the committeepublished a lengthy report whichdenounced Cohen's insinuations asutterly false and indefensible, anddemanded that he retract them. Heprinted the report, but issued noretraction and it was only when Dr.Michael Cohn became secretary to theFederation that Cohen was forced toretract publicly in the paper. However,Cohen did succeed in putting our attemptto form a new movement on the defensive,and thereby killed it. It was at thisjuncture that Aaron Rogat, Joseph Spivakmyself, and many others of the "FreeSociety" Group withdrew from anyfurther participation in the Jewish speak-ing anarchist movement.

In 1923 Hyppolite Havel and a groupof comrades founded "The Road toFreedom". This paper was to appearmonthly until 1932, and Rogat, Spivakand myself gave it moral and materialsupport. Within the labour movementitself Freie Arbeiter Stimme took the sideof the socialists who were in control ofthe paying jobs. Cohen and his associateswanted the Road to Freedom to do like-wise and, when Havel refused they with-drew their support. It was then Havelwrote to me to say that this decisionsealed the fate of the paper's continuedexistence, and to encoruage me to starta new paper. The Italian speaking com-rades of San Francisco were most anxiousto have a paper to take the place ofRoad to Freedom and they agreed tosuspend publication of Emanzipazioneto support our venture. Thus MAN! firstappeared in January 1933 published bythe International Group of San Francisco.When the paper was moved to LosAngeles Rogat was overjoyed. TheInternational Group consisted ofcomrades of many different nationalitiesand languages and lasted up until 1940when it was eventually suppressed bythe U.S. Government. Rogat was theTreasurer of the Group, and havinglearned the key typing system was ofenormous assistance (I could not breakthe habit of two finger typing). Aaronwas also invaluable in proof readinggalley pulls.

In 1968 when the magazine Anarchosfirst made its appearance Aaron gave ithis full enthusiastic support and, in1969, when a group of comrades inSeattle, began to publish a duplicatednewsletter called Ideas (later renamedBlack River) he also gave it materialsupport. The same whole-heartedmaterial support was forthcoming forMatch and Aaron did everything hecould to build up its subscription list.When the break between the editor ofThe Match and myself came (becauseof my criticism of the anti-revolutionarystand taken by that paper) Rogat wasdeeply hurt when the Italian speakingcomrades — at whose affairs he was oneof the most active participants — continuedto support that paper financially, disregard-ing the vicious attacks made against meby the editor. Aaron went through allthe correspondence between myself andthe editor of The Match and typed it allout as the best proof of the editor'santi-revolutionary position. There wasno need to issue this correspondenceafter Black Flag denounced the editorfor the rogue he was, (although Aaronhad prepared everything for the printerwho was eventually to do it). Aaron alsoinsisted in sharing with me the cost ofpublishing MAN! through CienfuegosPress and has since contributed substan-tially to Black Flag and Cienfuegos Press(as well as leaving them a considerable sum

cont. pi 3

how

With one record ("Anarchy in the U.K.")and a small amount of pissing and tele-vised swearing, the Sex Pistols punk-rockband burst into the British press in abig way. To the papers they areAnarchists, plain and simple. Ourcomrades Noel and Marie Murray,though, whilst awaiting their appeal onDublin's death row, were "anarchists" —with inverted commas, and "self-styled"ones as that! The Sex Pistols conformto the Fleet Street view of what anar-chism is of course — wild-eyed andvomiting, spreading outrage andvandalism. Anarchism as a revolutionarycreed is dismissed or left to gentleacademics for dissection. When indoubt reach for inverted commas, orbetter still substitute "Marxist" or"nationalists!"

Still for all Fleet Street's calculatedignorance, what about the Sex Pistols?Does their brand of punk-anarchismbear a second startled look? Not asanarchist propaganda it is sure; but thenit is only music (or noise, or theatre)."You pays your money, and you takesyour choice." Need we expect more?Some clearly do, though perhaps "it wouldbe more fruitful for the anarchist move-ment if they expected more of them-selves. One after the other, half a do;

f-styled" comrades, impress oniow punks like the Sex Pistols and

like are giving anarchism a bad name.Could it be worse already? Apparentlyso. Johnny Rotten has succeeded whereWinston Churchill failed; les Enragesare out-raged! Yet if punk-rock ISgetting anarchism a bad name it is cer-tainly getting the crowds too; whilstthe anarchists with ruffled feathers, whoassure this is the case, certainly are not,for all their righteousness.

Punk bands are chastised for pavingthe way for fascist hordes because afew of their number sport Nazi emblems(next to pictures of Karl Marx) and have

.but it needn't be. It is not the Sex Pistolswho are to blame if every teenagerdoesn't become a revolutionary. If theNational Front are at'-acting disillusionedLabour voters from t' . working class it

LISTEN

PUNKS!a passion for leather gear. If fascismdid seize power the punks and theiryoung working class fans, who revel inthe ridiculous and violent, would bemarked down for early entry intoconcentration camps. Authoritariansof any brand can not tolerate the out-spoken. Trendy pacifist liberals whosnigger at the Sex Pistols but raise BobDylan to King should laugh while theycan. If fascism does engulf Britainthey would be the first to suffer; theadvantage of shooting at pacifists is thatthey don't shoot back. But the streetpunks, like every generation of workingclass youth before them, are not so tame.The dumb insolence and aggression bredinto them at school or in the dole queueis fertile ground for resistance. It maybe that they will be fu ture storm troopers

would be more useful to think why WEare not attracting them.

The same people who hailed MickJagger as an "anarchist" in the 60s andnow wax so hot under the collar overa few punks having fun ought to askthemselves a few questions. Mr. Jaggeris not the "street fighting man" he usedto be, but then he never was...PerhapsJohnny Rotten will climb the same ladderto tax-evading seclusion as part of themusical establishment too. That is notthe point. People can listen to whatmusic they like. The Sex Pistols, or anymusician will not inspire the unemployedto revolt, but then we shouldn't needthem to. It is not the punks who giveanarchism a bad name, it is too manypeople who are anarchists in nameonly. Henrv Black

SCHOOLFOR TERRORISTS

A singularly gruesome school ofterrorists was recently described ashaving been set up in London's OsterleyPark. "They taught ungentlemanly artslike strangling with bare hands andsuffocating with wire," it was reportedin me Daily Telegraph colour supple-ment; also "that three inches of brokenglass in the road would stop any tyredvehicle, a wire four feet from the groundwould stop any motor cyclist, and sheetshung across the road from trees woulddraw the fire of a motorised column,leaving the flanks open to attack.

"They were also taught how to poisonwater supplies and that the art of street

fighting is to stay out of the streetsknocking holes in houses so that youcan run from one to another undercover."

Men were also taught how to "attackairfields, sabotage planes, derail trains,blow up ammunition dumps, fire petrolsupplies."

The worst case was a publican whokept one of his beer pumps chained andtold customers that the pipe leaked. Infact he intended to abandon his pub,having attached the chained pump to abarrel of beer treated with arsenic. Hebelieved that German soldiers wouldhelp themselves to it. For this was all

official Government directive, in 1940when invasion was thought possible. Itwas not "terrorism" at all! Sorry tohave fooled you. But if I have fooledyou for a minute, what have you tosay to the moralists who are trickingyou all the time? "But this was war,Hitler might have won." He did inSpain. But the Spanish Resistanceis still called "terrorist" by the peoplewho would have supported this sort ofthing in Britain. Yet when did it everdescend to the level of poisoning thewine of ordinary soldiers?

E.B.M.

PRESS HYSTERIAThere are no political prisoners inEiiglana, we are assured time ana againand by none less vigorously than theTories. But some prisoners seem to uemore political tnan otners. It illuminesonce more wnat tne Anarchist BlackCross nas stated many times that tiie^ranting of political status is rarely ofbenefit to prisoners — it merely serveswhen granted to divide them from others(as in the case of the Irisn politicalprisoners); otherwise, such status is neldto justify aarsner treatment againstthem, as witness tiie case of Russia,Germany (Nazi or otherwise) Spain,China and otner totalitarian countries.

There has been a hue-and-cry overthe release of Anna Mendelson. Firstpicked up by the Sun in its circulationdrive against the Mirror (they hadscored in putting Marcia Williams onthe rack; so the Sun picked up inFebruary the startling news that AnnaMendelson had been released from prisonin November. (Only a minority ofjournalists were not surprised: they hadread it in the December Black Flag).As the Sun had missed it before, theysaid it was "being kept secret."

The Tory M.P.s rallied around theSun, ultimately bedmates, following itup with a series of vicious personalattacks . . . . the Press not to be outdonecame in - but what marks this as acampaign of unprecedented viciousjiesswas the fact that here was a prisonerhaving served five and a half years inprison (they said four - convenientlyforgetting the time before sentence)out of a 10 year sentence, who hadbeen recommended to clemency by thejury at the time, being accused afterrelease of crimes of which she wasacquitted. Eight were accused, fourwere acquitted unanimously and four,of which Anna was one, acquitted ofall crimes relating to causing explosions.Now, four years later, she becomesa "terrorist"; she becomes a "founderof the Angry Brigade" (not thenalleged); even by implication, amurderer. Comparisons are made bet-ween her case and that of peopleconvicted of several murders and senten-ced to life. Why, they're all"terrorists" aren't they?

The ravings of the Tory M.P.s arenot entirely divorced from the factthat they're frightened little men towhom the Angry Brigade posed apersonal threat, whereas the I.R.A.poses a national one. This is wheretheir politics intrude upon justice forit cannot be denied that had the StokeNewington Five not been sentencedas political prisoners they would all.be out long since if judged on theircharacter.

The three sentenced with Anna aredue for remission — as indeed they havebeen due for parole for a long timenow - but Jake Prescott has lost twoyears' remission because of his activityon behalf of prisoners in the Hull 1976protests. (An excellent summary ofthis case is available from PROP,339a Finchley Road, London NWS).He was active in the struggle against ill-t rea tment , particularly serious in Hull- and which was notoriously triggeredoff by the National Front prisonwarders who can anticipate their fascistUtopia by stepping up the disciplinenow. Blacks, "reds", Jews.. . versusfirmness in uniform . . . today Hulltomorrow the world . . . what masturbationfantasies must be induced.

Time and again Prescott has beenrefused even the opportunity of beingconsidered for parole because he hasbeen on top security . . . a classificationthe prison authorities have been reluc-tant to lift for purely political reasons,nothing to do with security, but becausehe too is classed as "a terrorist" thoughin his case all he was convicted for waswriting envelopes. His struggle againstbrutality in Hull is to be condemned.Since the facts about conditions in Hullprison have been shown clearly —television has pinpointed it -- why is heto be made the scapegoat?

or in progress across America. It willbe used to "cure" prisoners who struggleagainst oppression and fascism in thenation's prisons. It will be used to"cure" prisoners who seek prison reformand who defend constitutional rightsand humanitarian treatment of all humanbeings. It will be used against any andall prisoners who attempt to exposethe crimes of the State.

Those prisoners scheduled for treat-ment will be labelled troublemakers,violent, radical elements, and revolution-aries. The unit will be used to isolateprogressive prisoners from their peers.

It is becoming increasingly dangerousfor anyone to speak out about this oranything else wrong in the WashingtonState Penal System. All people whodo are sent to the Washington StatePenitentiary and then to the IntensiveSecurity Unit, or are transferred to thefederal system at Marion, 111., or itsequivalent elsewhere.

Here, the paper work is gathered upand prepared on us prisoners and the listsperfected as to who requires immediatemodification. This, and other unitsacross the nation will slowly invade thefree communities, especially in the poorand minority areas to begin with, underthe guise of law and order.

The community should take warningand deal with this danger, so that it canhave a voice in its future. All people,and especially any prisoners who helpbuild the Monroe Unit are traitors tothe people themselves, and their fellowprisoners. Monroe prisoners know what

BEHAVIOURMODIFICATION"The day has come when we cancombine sensory deprivation with theuse of drugs, hynosis, and the astutemanipulation of reward and punishmentto gain absolute control over anindividual's behaviour.

We want to reshape our societydrastically, so that all of us will betrained from birth to want to do whatsociety wants us to do. Today'sbehavioural psychologists are thearchitects and engineers who areshaping the Brave New World oftomorrow. I do hope the legal profes-sion will help us decide what we shouldbuild and show us how to institutethe most desirable of building codes."

Prof. James V. McConnellDept. of Mental Health ResearchUniv. of Michigan, Ann Arbor

from A Psychologist looks at Crime'and Punishment circa 1969,

The new maximum security unitbeing built by Monroe, Washington isa behaviour modification centre, thefirst in this state, but one of many built

8

Maximum Security Units are for, and itwould be a crime for them to aid in theconstruction.

The media, especially the undergroundmedia must become aware of the dangersof behaviour modification and educatethe public to the danger this form ofmind control represents. The goal ofthis unit is not penal reform; it is thoughtcontrol and the eventual ability tomanipulate all human behaviour inthis country, and then the world, forthe sake of p r o f i t . . .

Educate and organise to expose andparalyse this movement to enslavehuman beings.

Carl Harp.For more information and documentationon behaviour modification write to: —Sanity Now, P.O. Box 261, La Puente,CA 91747. Free for S.A.S.E.Carl Harp, 126516, Box 520, Walla WallaWN. 99362. U.S.A.(Carl would like to hear from comrades atthe above address where he is serving a95 year prison sentence).

-OLVIDADO...O EXPRESAMENTE ELIMINADO DE LA AMNISTlA...

i EL PRESO POLITICO CON MAS ANOS DETRAS DE LAS REJAS I

FERNANDO CARBALLO BLANCOrepetidamente perseguidoen los primeros ariosde la « pal » franquista

Carballo with his wife being greeted by Madrid comrades in the Plaza de Espana (Valencia, Tarragona, Ocana.("Frente Libertario") "Puerto de Santa Maria)

APPEALTO

tue detenido en 1964como militante libertarioy condenado a 30 anos;aim le quedan 18 anospor cumplir...

CONFEDERACIONDEL

OMITE

\A INJUSTICIA RECLAMA LAINMEDIATA MOVILIZACION POPULAR/

POR LA LIBERACIONDE CARBALLO

POR LA AMNISTlA GENERALThe two coloured poster published and distributed in thousands throughoutSpain by the Comite National pro-Presos.

GENERATIONS"The publication of our Confederalorgan, CNT, which brings new life tothis era, marks a decisive guide-post inthe process of bridging the generationgap between the battle-scarred veteransof so many social struggles and theyoung fighters who support our newunions and federations today.

The men and women all around usin the CNT today are well aware thatthey belong to an organisation whichpromoted one of the great revolutionaryhopes of this tragic twentieth century,since our unions also contain fighterswho have battled on the barricades, forthe collectives, on the front, and inthe underground resistance movement.

From this past experience we knowthat our present organisational dimensionsare still far from what the Confederationwill encompass. Yet our revolutionaryaspirations are still the same.

From what the CNT has meant inthe history of the working class of thiscountry and the entire world, we alsoknow that our present situation istemporary, very different from what theConfederation will be in very shortorder. When the working masses of thenew generation will have seen forthemselves enough of the electoraldeceits and demagoguery of every

political party, each of which onlyaims to perpetuate the governmentalmandate in its own way, it will be theend of the present "democratic" illusionsand of the glamour bestowed on thoseparties by their persecution underFranco totalitarianism, obscuring therecollections of their own reformist orauthoritarian roots.

The labour movement must recover itstotal independence, and the struggle forits goals of emancipation can no longerbe delegated to political and bureaucraticintermediaries. This experience isbeing forged in our present struggles —and anarchosyndicalist activity andpropaganda are playing an increasingrole in shaping it.

When the day comes for the socialtransformations which workers longfor, the revolutionary syndicalism ofwhich the CNT is the historic representa-tive will again be the liberating impetusof direct action, unconquerable by thegarrisons of reaction now crouching inthe anterooms of power."

CNT National Committee.

Financial support for the CNT can bechannelled through Black Flag. Allcontributions should be clearly marked"C.N.T."

Q

POLICE WARN ON ANARCHY"Police representatives from all overBritain warned their MPs this afternoonthat there is a real danger of militantstaking control of the Police Federationunless the demand for a £6 pay increaseis met.

They said there could be consequentdemands for affiliation to the TUC andthe right to strike, now banned by lawfor policemen. There might even beanarchy and an eventual take-over bystate control backed by an armedservice!'

vide Press

It is enlightening to note the spread offascist ideas among the police, even atthe time when they are moving towardsan apparent militancy in wage demands.(Perhaps of course, the National Frontelement in the police are deliberatelydiverting these demands which is theclassic fascist technique). It is theMarxist case that the achievement ofanarchy, a free society in which thereis no room for police, is impossible,but the Fascist case that it is possiblebut inevitably must lead to "eventualtake-over by state control backed by anarmed service," which is to say by them-selves or by a rival which they variouslydescribe as any one of severalconspiracies in their own image.

CARRARANew police provocation: members ofthe Anti-Terrorist Squad search GoliardoFiaschi's home looking for weapons andmembers of the N. A.P. (ProletarianArmed Cells).

At 5.35am on October 28, 1976,armed police wearing bullet-proofjackets rang the doorbell of thehome of Goliardo Fiaschi. As soon ;his aged mother opened the door thepolice pushed her onto the landing.At this point Goliardo got out of bed tosee what was going on. As he went tohelp his invalid sister he heard the voiceof the chief of the police squad shout,ordering him to leave her and come aheadwith his hands up.

.""•-. la"- • i »Jfc'-£jjSp

Goliardo asked them who they werebut received no answer. He assumed atfirst that they were a fascist commandocome to kill him and his family. Later,while the police were searching His house,he asked the armed men once morewho they were, finally getting an :they were members of the Anti-TerrorismSquad ("Security Service") and theyhad an order signed by the Judge ofMassa-Carrara to search his house.

The police squad also searched theanarchist cultural club organised byGoliardo Fiaschi. Both police searchesdrew a blank and they went away empty-handed.

This sort of neo-fascist action, anattempt to discourage political activity,is not new in Italy. Recently in Milanthe anti-terrorist squad went to searchthe home of a suspected member of theRed Brigade. As they entered the housea gunfight began resulting in the deathsof the Red Brigade suspect and twopolicemen. Last July the anti-terroristsquad went to search a hideout of theN.A.P. Finding no one there they waitedoutside. When a girl - Anna MariaMantini, a member of the N.A.P.opened the door - they shot her withoutwarning.

Such actions means only one thing:Italy is undergoing the militarisation ofeveryday life. The natural responseto such a growing state of repression isactive resistance.

Goliardo Fiaschi, a veteran of thecivil war and resistance in Spain hasalready spent 8 years in Spanish jails and9 years in an Italian prison until publicopinion gained his release. We denouncethis latest attempt of the Italian policeto continue the persecution he hassuffered for his belief in anarchism.

VALPREDA

Pietro Valpreda is staying away from thefourth 'Milan Bombs Trial' now inprogress in Catanzaro Calabria, in protestat the delays. Though Valpreda and

three other comrades still face chargesof multiple manslaughter it is at lastgenerally admitted in the press that theirrole in the affair has been only that of". . . victims of Italian justice . . . It hasbeen transparent, almost from the beginningthat the Valpreda group had been framed"(Guardian: 18-1-77). Though not trans-parent enough, we have noticed, for tiGuardian to change its opinion ofValpreda's innocence several tihis six year ordeal.

Also facing identical charges iisame trial is a group of neo-fascists aItalian police which includes a formerchief of Italy's secret police. PrimeMinister Giulio Andreotti (who wasDefence Minister responsible for theItalian Intelligence services in 1969) isamongst more than 241 witnesses due tobe called in this fourth attempt to judgewho was responsible for the bombingof the Milan Agricultural Bank onDecember 12, 1969, in which 16 peopledied and 100 were injured. GeneralGian Adelio Maletti, former head ofInternal Security Division (SID), is oneof several senior intelligence officers inthe dock.

Valpreda was not arrested until fourdays after the explosion yet within onlya few hours of it police were proclaimingit was the work of anarchists. Not untiltwo years afterwards were two neo-fascistsFranco Freda and Giovanni Ventura,arrested on the same charges. Valpredaspent more than three years in prisonawaiting trial until finally grantedprovisional liberty. Of the 33 defendantsin this fourth trial, only one is still inprison - Guido Giannettini, a neo-fascistand paid informer of the Italian secretservice. Our comrade, Giuseppe Pinelli,then secretary of the Milan Black Cross,

was amongst 100 anarchists arrested forquestioning at the time. Pinelli "fell"from a window to his death whilsthelping police with their enquiries, witha little help from Police CommissionerLuigi Calabresi. Calabresi has since beenkilled, as has Vittorio Occosio, (theRome judge who lead rhe early investiga-tions), shot last July. Other potentialwitnesses on the right have disappearedin the direction of Spain.

The professional intelligence informerGuido Giannettini stands accused offorming a right wing group with theimmediate aim of carrying out terroristacts designed to subvert by violent meansthe constitutional order of the state.

That he did so with the knowledge ofhis superiors, who may have encouragedhim and certainly did not take actionto stop him.

- That Giannetti attempted to organisethe escape from prison of GiovanniVentura.

That General Gian Adelio Maletti(former chief of SID) provided a secondneo-fascist with a fake passport to enablehim to leave Italy when police werelooking for him in connection with thebomb attack. Three neo-fascists, includ-ing Ventura are charged with organisingand carrying out the attack for whichValpreda was blamed.

. The likely outcome of this trial, as inthe previous hearings, is that it will grindto a halt over the question of militarysecrecy. It is expected that witnesseslike SID General Vito Miceli (now a neo-fascist senator), himself under investiga-tion for his involvement in an allegedright-wing coup attempt, will refuse toanswer questions on the excuse of"national security." It is poor justicefor Valpreda.

Right-wingers Franco Freda (right) and Giovanni Ventura pictured in an Italian courtwhere they face charges in connection with the 1969 bombing of a Milan bank in which16 people were killed. There are 3.3 defendants in the case including the anarchist

Pietro Valpro.la and this Is the fourth time It has been brought to trial

(The Guardian)

SPAIN:AID

In order to help the Spanish strugglewhat is needed now is printing and allied

.facilities. In making this appeal to allfriends of the Spanish working-classwho have fought so long against tyrannywe perhaps need to explain - in view ofpast endeavours - that we ARE referringto communication facilities and not usingthe term as a euphemism for anythingelse.

The strength of the libertarian andconfederal movement has always lain inits locals and a diversity of papers hasstrengthened this. In rebuilding theunions now, every local needs its ownfacilities.

Black Flag, the Black Cross and CentreIberico have sent six duplicators so farto Spain. We extract from a letterreceived from the Regional Committeeof the Asturias:

"Asturias, January 1977Dear Comrades,

A short note to confirm the safearrival of the latest electronic duplicatorsent by you through comrade

It is impossible to convey our gratitude,but the benefit this has brought us isenormous. Apart from helping with ourimmediate needs it has enabled us topass on the duplicator we had here tothe comrades of Leon who had no meansof propaganda at their disposal. Slowlybut surely we are overcoming all thedifficulties facing us here and we aremaking our presence felt. Thanks toyou and the duplicators we are nowable to publish magazines and put outpropaganda which was impossible forus before.

.. . un fuerto abrazo y salud(Regional Committee of the CNT in Asturias,Leon, Palencia and Santander)

Many more need to be sent. Thereare probably dozens of duplicators andmimeograph machines lying around -second-hand ones will do, and there aremany willing hands to renovate them -once bought by groups or clubs and nolonger used, rusting, or replaced bysomething better. (The NUAW let ushave two old ones, which are now beingused by agricultural workers in Spain).

Eventually we hope to be able tosend offset litho printing equipment asour contribution to the Spanish struggle.But at the moment we are concentratingon duplicators as being more readilyaccessible. We can arrange transport toSpain (and pick up within reasonabledistance from London). Overseas readerswho can help should write to us first.Contact Miguel Garcia. 123 UpperTollington Park. London N.4.

Michel Camilleri

GARI prisoners still remaining inFrench prisons awaiting trial

Michel CamilleriMario Ines TorresJean-Marc Rouillan.All three now starting their third year inprison AWAITING TRIAL. Their cases(from March '76) have been passedfro.i. the State Security Court (whichnormally handles political cases) to theCourt of Assizes, the inference beingthat they are bandits (criminals) ratherthan political prisoners.

The prosecution investigations arenow completed but no one knows yetwhen or even if their trials will takeplace . . . or whether, like all other personscharged with membership of the GARI

Mario Ines Torres

and participation in the wave of protestat the murder of Puig Antich they willbe granted "provisional liberty" as aconvenient wXy of excusing the habit ofthe French police of imprisoning anarchistswithout evidence, hoping while they arelocked away, to find or invent thenecessary facts to keep them in jail stillfurther.

Our three comrades feel, as we do,that they are being used by the FrenchGovernment as hostages of the official"anti-terrorist" policy. As in the caseof the Murrays in Ireland, anarchistsare here being made the scapegoats forthe Government hypocracy . . . that allowsnationalist terrorists to come and go,

Jean Marc Rouillon

saving valuable arms contracts betweenFrance and the Arab world, whilstproviding a show of fighting terrorism.Send letters of protest to the examiningmagistrate;

M. Guy PI AJuge d'Instruction,Palais de Justice,75, Paris.Messages of solidarity to the three

in jail to: --Prison de la Sante,42, rue de la Snate,75014 Paris.

More information from: Comited'Informations sur les Detenus desex-GARI, Martin BP 4098-31030 ToulouseFrance.

.Civil rights campaigners in Israel haveappealed for a campaign of support for24 year old Palestinian Musa JumaTalalka, who was sentenced to death on17th !._...- b- the Lydda Military Court,tor his part in an al Fatah raid on the ..Savoy Hotel, in March 1975. The raidon the hotel, which was intended tosecure the release of Palestinianprisoners jailed in Israel, ended whenthe commandos stormed the hotel,and one wing of the building whichhad been mined, exploded, killingmany hostages and most of thePalestinians.

The Middle East Research and ActionGroup (MERAG) has asked Britishgroups wishing to support the appeal, tosign the following statement:

"We, the undersigned demand thatthe death sentence passed against MusaTalalka be commuted."

Petitions should be sent to'LeahZemel, Advocate, 14 Koresh St.,Entrance E, Jerusalem. Further detailscan be obtained from MERAG, 5Caledonian Road, London N.I. (Tel:01 278 - 9308).

(source: Free Palestine).

POLANDPolish workers Marek IAdam Zukowski have been sent tcprison for 3 years each-for their partduring the anti-government strikes atUrsus last June. Letters of protest tothe Polish

SPAINThe libertarian women's organisationMujeres Ubres which was activebetween 1936 and 1939 has beenreformed on new lines, works forfeminine emancipation and has estab-lished relations with other radicalwomen's groups. The movementaccepts support from men, consideringthat its struggle is not against menbut against the political and socialstructures which place men andwomen in opposed positions.

Fernando Carballo Blanco, Spain'slongest serving political prisonerhas been released by the Carlist Regimefollowing a national and internationalcampaign on his behalf. Fernando iswell and sends his regards to allcomrades and readers of Black Flag.

NEW ADDRESSCentre Documentazione Anarchica,Via Guido-Reni 96/610136 Torino,Italy.

- ^Si cl--GERMANY

ManhuntOfficial posters are being displayed inpublic places carrying the announce-ment "700,000 DM reward, anarchistcriminals sought," followed by photo-graphs of 14 "criminals" (six men, eightwomen). The capture of each of thesepublic enemies will account for 50,000DM (about £12,500). This is the pricewhich, in the opinion of a "socialdemocratic" government, is to be put onthe heads of so-called anarchists.

The Police Versus the AnarchistFederation of Baden.The growth of the ABF and its recentanti-electoral campaign has beendisturbing the authorities. Slogansdrawn on walls in Bruchsal haveunleashed police repression and a policeappeal has been circulated asking peopleto denounce the "criminals". AtUlstradt, a commune, where many youngcomrades are living was raided andsearched - the discovery of a nakedwoman in a church had provoked theindignation of the guardians of orderand propriety.

Meanwhile the police attemptedenrol a comrade as an informer.ey promised him money, a flat,

ob, and a holiday abroad - in returnfor incriminating evidence and otherinformation concerning the Federationof Baden.

The ABF is functioning in spite of thesedifficulties and the continuing policeharassment.

from Le Monde Libertaire.

U.S.A.Bar None is an American paper intendedfor prisoners and distributed to themfree of charge, and now for the firsttime during its two year existence it hasissued an appeal to pay off its cripplingdebts. Issue 10 could be the last unlessthe appeal is successful.Bar None, P.O. Box 134, W. Somerville,Mass. 02144, USA.

Dragon the paper of the Bay AreaResearch Collective (Berkeley, California)which was established about a year anda half ago with the intention of providinga foium for debate between the over-ground and the underground is to ceasepublication. Although the collectivehave been under financial pressure(which they partly resolved by doing allthe printing and collating ofbragonthemselves), the main reason forthe decision to stop was that most ofthe support and response to Dragoncame from people in prison and outsidethe Bay Area.

Over the 13 months during whichDragon appeared correspondence

10

increased tremendously and morepeople were drawn into dialogue withthe underground. Much as the groupattempted to keep things in perspectivereaders often made the (wrong)

sumption that the revolutionaryovement in America is larger and

etter organised than it is, and that theB.A.R.C. was larger, stronger and moredurable than it is. Collective membersfelt that such a situation was intolerableand coupling this with a need to sitback and evaluate successes and failuresand discuss new directions for theirwork, they decided to suspend publica-tion. The collective itself is continuingand from time to time will distributeimportant items to individuals on theirmailing lists. B.A.R.C. still have copiesof the Last SLA Statement andDragon No. 10.B.A.R.C., Box 4344, Sather Gate Sta.,Berkeley, California 94704, USA.

TUG (The Urban Guerrilla) stillcontinues to occupy the same functionas Dragon provided Peoples'Information Relay No. I, New WorldLiberation Front, 423 Oak St., SanFrancisco, Ca. 94102, USA. 50 centsn rrinua copy.

In their letter to subscribers Dragonreports a major split within the WeatherUnderground Organisation and thePrairie Fire Organising Committee —given the increasingly heavy-handednessof marxist-leninist rhetoric fromWeather Underground, and the movesabout 18 months ago to tighten updiscipline in almost slavish imitation ofthe North Vietnamese, it is not surprisingthat a split has taken place.

Anarchist Cal Harp is currently onhunger strike in protest against beingconfined to the "hoel" for 6 months forinforming other prisoners about meansof legal aid. Letters of solidarity toCarl Harp (126516), Box 520 Wallawalla,Washington 99362, U.S.A. Letters ofprotest to Gov. Evans, State ofWahington. Carl (who prefers the nameAsin) is selling paintings and poems in anattempt to raise money for a new trialand to fight prison conditions. These canbe obtained as follows, Carl Harp, c/oAnn Neitlich, 27 Pierce St., Arlington,MA-02174, U.S.A.

WAP newsletter.

Eddie Sanchez (see previous issues ofBlack Flag) - New prison address:-No. 18827-175, P.O. Box 400,Springfield, MO 65802, U.S.A.

titLr } ij'--:«v . tiik ' iiiiLjj,- " .VU-

Woodstock Anarchist Party NewsletterNew Address: (mail only) Box 171,Stockton, CA. 95201, U.S.A.

Since 1953 five Puerto Rican nationalshave been confined in American jails.One of the five is Andres Cordero,currently in the U.S. Medical Centre,

Ronan Stenson was acquitted in Dublinon all charges. After a year and a halfawaiting a murder charge carrying thesupreme penalty you would think thiswould make news. The silence wasdeafening. The Murrays had alreadybeen sentenced and spent a record timein the death cells. Marie Murray is stillfacing the deatn penalty; Noel's "guilt"nas been confirmed by the court wnichhowever lifted the charge of capitalmurder. Meanwhile Ronan Stenson diunot come to trial.

The press said he "had a nervousbreakdown" immediately on interroga-tion. But he was in a bad way physicallyand mentally and this was somethingmore than a "breakdown." He wentinto the interrogation cells a normalhealthy young man. As a result oftorture he was unable to face trial untillast week - when the court decided theevidence against him was inadmissible.In what way inadmissible? It could notbe admitted as evidence because it wasobtained under torture. Yet it is on

precisely this type of evidence that NoelMurray faces a lifetime in jail and Mariefaces the noose still.

How dare the press in these circum-stances talk about its freedom beingthreatened when the printers declined toprint David Astor's attacks on themwithout reply? Noel's refusal to gothrough the farce of the Appeal Courtwas headed "Killer pleads to hang;"Marie was a "self-confessed killer." Nomention of her giving out a "verbal"inculpating herself only to stop Noelbeing tortured . . . which is now, in thecase of the "third man" regarded asinadmissible by the Irish court itself.One could understand the Irish presscovering up it has to face seriouspenalties. But what reason did theEnglish press have? The Irish court'sadmission that the evidence againstRonan Stenson was inadmissible coin-cided with the Irish Government's caseagainst the United Kingdom at Strasbourgon the admitted torture and inhuman treat-ment in Northern Ireland . . . was the

.

omission to mention Stenson's case anact of Christian forebearance and charity?Or an instance of class solidarity?

Congratualtions to Ronan Stensonwho is quietly recovering at a relative'sfrom his ordeal.

We do not forget the others -Columba Longmore, Bobby Cullen,Desmond Keane - all still in the Curragh.now deprived of their contacts - theycan no longer receive books and papersfrom fellow libertarians and theircorrespondence is severely restricted,though a trickle of letters out still getthrough the Shamrock Curtain. Mean-while the Murray Defence Committeesthroughout the world can quietly takepleasure that their work for theMurrays has created the climate inwhich Ronan Stenson could be acquitted.

WORLD NEWS Cont.Springfield suffering from cancer. Allare now old and unless released soon,could die in prison. The names of theother Puerto Ricans, (the longestserving political prisoners in the USA)are:- Lolita Lebron, Rafael Miranda, Irvingrlores.

WAP Newsletter.

Among the resolutions passed at the35th General Convention of the IndustrialWorkers of the World (IWW), held overthe Labour Day weekend in Chicago atthe end of 1976 was a resolution ofsolidarity with the CNT pledging theIWW to do everything possible to aidtheir fellow workers. The resolutionwas passed unanimously and $100was later appropriated from GeneralDefence funds to be sent to theCatalonian Regional Federation ofthe CNT.

(source: Industrial DefenceBulletin}.

BULGARIAOur Road, the monthly Bulgarianlanguage review of the Anarchist-Communist Federation of Bulgaria(FACB) in exile, is celebrating its25th anniversary year of activity. Those25 years have seen 218 issues of OurRoad, containing mroe than 2,500articles, including 200 biographiesof theorists and militants and "exem -

plary combatants" and 300 of an ideo-logical nature. During this periodabout 30 books have been published.All without outside assistance by ahandful of workers, scattered throughten countries on four continents, intheir struggle against Stalinist dictator-ship. Contact:- Our Road, P.O. BoxA 586, Sidney South 21000, N.S.W.Australia.

HOLLANDPortuguese militants living in Hollandhave begun publishing an anarchistreview, Tierra Liure. So far threeissues have appeared.

BELGIUMThis year's "CanipnLibertaire Ecologique" will be held atRouse-Renaix, Belgium, and a localgroup "Liberia" has started preparations.They are appealing for help for thefestival which will be held from July15th to August 15th. For furtherdetails contact:- Eric Sobrie,Zonnestraat 3, 9792 Wortegem-Petegem, Belgium.

AARON ROGAT

of money to enable them to continuethe good work they are doing).

Rogat has left a companion, a son andtwo grandchildren. As a furrier by tradeRogat was also active in its union, refusingto side either with the light wing whichcontrolled it. or the left that aimed atgaining control.

His passing at the age of 86 is a greatloss to our movement, but as the sametime he is an inspiring example of thefine devotion that our ideal inspiresamong sincere thinking people.

Marcus Graham

Whatsight is more heart warming thanthat of an old comrade rejoining theranks? I refer of course of PhilipSansom's return to print with his longand scholarly review in Freedom jfAlbert Meltzer's The Anarchists inLondon 1935-55. It seems like an agesince Philip let us have the benefit ofhis sharp and original insights and hisbluff and genial personality.

Some may say it was wrong ofPhilip to spend more than a page ofFreedom's precious space to describinghis own activities during the periodin question, but here one must pointout the essential good nature of theman himself in including in his articleonly an extremely small photo ofhimself on the public platform, andthat the caption to the picture listsno less than twelve other people, halfof them not even visible in the photo.

That Philip's name appears twicein the one caption seems totally

justified in view of the publishers'failure to include two photographs ofhim in the book.

Not that there is anything commend-able about over modesty of course.For if Philip's reappearance in printamounts to a Resurrection, the Parableof the Talents reminds us that a manhas a duty to himself. Some comradesmay object to Philip's popping Aloertinto a pigeon hole along with theStalinists and the fictional dictatorsof 1984, but surely the point is thathere is Philip doing his best to put therecord straight for the sake of themovement he loves, and refusing tomince words in the process. 1 knowthat for Anarchists it is heresy toquestion the dictum that life comesbefore truth . . . but 1 sometimeswonder if we aren't all just a weenybit too strict on this one.

Man o' the Movement.

' • ' I ' V ' X M V S ! Vol. I I , , , : . .in the P> rainid. Vol. II The Golden\pplo. Vol.111 Leviathan, by Robert Siieaana Robert Anton Wilson. Sphere. 75p each

•_' r « V **"The lunatic wing of the authoritarianr igh t has always delighted in conspiracytheories. Offhand, indeed, it is hardlor them to find any other reason whythe masses are not perfectly happyw i t h despotism and exploitation. "It'st he Freemasons": "it's all a plot" . . .t l ie detai ls of the plot have ranged fromthe t- ldcrs of Zion to the Communisticworld conspiracy now ranking favourite.Taking the more esoteric conspiracytheories of history in Oeadpan fashionthe authors of "Illuminatus!" havecreated a riproaring mind-blowing spoofof the struggle between the two majorconspiracies and counter-conspiraciesin "history" dating back to Atlantis -that of the authori tar ians and that ofthe anarchists

Lxpiooiiaiii'i, dun. > • ; in:,least-known that ought to be more widelycirculated)'

Whereas in England this is the doctrineof the extreme law-and-order party, thehang 'em, flog 'em, jail 'ems, in America

using the same economic gurus likeF.A. Hayek - it has traditionally dis-trusted central government and stoodfor States' rights (which it has confusedwith federalism). This right wingillusion has consoled ra ther thanconsolidated the revolt against authori-tarianism. Just as middle-class so-calledleft libertarians were consoled bymilitant liberalism, which enabled themto decline military conscription and liveas free lives as possible but left them guiltyabout their possessions, this theoryconsoles those who want to smoke potand the rest of it but not feel guilty aboutthe way they bought their leisure.

The authors are to a large extent

Starting off in apparently orthodoxlate night TV fashion with the good Jewishliberal cop tracking down a murdermystery and finding himself up againstthe conspiracy that governs the worldit goes off in Book I into an acid-typefantasy in which one begins to despairof ever tracing the threads of thenarrative together. But by Book IIit gradually becomes easier to pick upthe pieces as one gets into the occultconspiracies and sees how governmenthas always been a racket through whichthe elitists have aspired to rule the world,while throughout history the anarchisttendency has tried its damndest to seethey didn't succeed. The dolphins,incidentally, are anarchists from way back,and their spokesfish, Howard, is one ofthe nicest characters in the story.

This is a major epic in what onemight call parascientific fiction, and it

•rings the changes on every conspiracytheory in the book (though the endingin Book II is somewhat of a shaggy-doglet-down) and is a superb occult mickey-take which ought to be translated into(or at least annotated in) English someday - the American references are asesoteric as the conspiracy.

A reservation of the authors' viewson anarchism as here presented, whichmay strike the non-American reader asbeing deliberate deadpan humour likethe Laurel and Hardy interpretation ofhistory which also comes in and is one ofthe funniest theories yet. They are inearnest about their propagandism of"anarcho-capitalism." The Americanright has always cherished the illusionthat enterprise and initiative, withoutany Government force, can build upwealth. This is the theory of so-called"individualism" (which is not so at all)that Kropotkin smashed notably in his

ignorant of traditional revolutionaryanarchism. They try to be fair to it,defining anarchism as the "free market"in which all (!) anarchists believe butwhereas "right wing" anarchists believeit will involve competition, "left-wing"anarchists t h ink the emphasis will be onco-operation. Thus they are mor

"hatred". As they krso little about anarchism/activistwhose names they drop — as distinctfrom "libertarian pioneers" on whomfhey are knowledgeable;-and so feel safe inbringing in as a "typical" anarchistactivist, John Dillinger! (There is asuperb comic reference to the JohnDillinger Died for You Society). Insome ways this type of anarcho-agorist(as some call themselves since they arestuck on the "market" rather than oncapitalism) is more anarchistic than thosewe would regard as right wing, but theyleft wing "anarchists", pacifists, quietists,and so on, such as the Catholic Workerand examples nearer home. But theirlibertarianism goes just so far as criticism:since they rule out revolution except asrhetoric and apparently th ink theworking class does not exist (everyonebuys and sells like the proverbial Chineselaundrymen) they have no idea how tobring about this libertarianism and soare hooked on science fiction and pot whenit comes to the nitty gritty, and the authorshave made these three strains into a superbmickey-taking narrative.

Especially after this book, I am notsure one can deny that some at leastof the agorists are anarchists; but theyare clearly not what we mean by it. It'sbowdlerisation which will be read bythousands who will (and should) readthis odyssey of fun for its own sake.It may be read as an anarchist in-joke,a cult book for the cynical esotericist,

o l l U I I I V i . 1 ! ,S i i a V t i . N HI ,111. ,K.U aoc Oj

just for laughs; and the secret of what isreally hidden in the Pentagon sent me atleast into convulsions.

{The Illuminatus' trilogy lias been nominatedthe Cienfuegos Press Book of the Year Ifanv-hody wants to argue the point we would like tohear from theml

INVERGORDON '31 : How The Menof The RN Struck - And Won. BarryDuncan. £1.00.

Though there have been many classbattles in the long history of the sea.noth ing shakes the British Governmentmore than to f ind, at times, tha t even theRoyal Navy, the very bulwark of theState against foreign aggression, hasb i t t e n the hand that whips i t . TheBritish seaman was the last slave onBrit ish water; the press gang broughtmen into a life with its floggings,arbitrary punishments and tortures,confinements, hardships and povertywhich no free person would submit toeven under the name of patriotism.

After the horrors of naval life weremitigated quite late last century, thoughthe Navy was treated to patrioticrhetoric, when it came to singing ofthe Wooden Walls of Old England, itreceived contempt when it came todoing anything for the sailors. Any-thing was good enough for the matelots,and in 1931. when cuts in pay worebeing worked out, it was natural andin the order of things that the Navyshould be treated the worst.

It was well known that by then mostof those in the Navy had done so toescape the privations of the Depression;why assume that they would object topay cuts? In any case discipline couldalways be maintained in the Royal Navy

it would be a poor lookout for OldEngland if this were not so . . . .

Barry Duncan gives a stirring accountof how the Navy would not be treatedin this cavalier fashion — "how it struckand won." Who was "behind the strike?"It has ever since been suggested it wasthe Communist Party. Duncan showsthe true role of the Communist Party.It was very much outside the struggle.The men who organised it were the"barrack room lawyers" • "sea lawyers"- the agitators who have served theirclass so well, the village Hampdens, whohave defied their tyrants. . . and forwhom the Inns of Temple lawyers, thewig and gown fraternity, feel as implac-able a hatred as can be felt against peoplewho know their rights by people whoare paid to know, and conceal, them.One or two of them, such as Len Wincott,subsequently joined the CP — seeing itmake so large a noise outside andassuming that they were linking up withsomething "organised" instead ofthrowing away their grassroots contacts.

12/21/76Dear Comrades,The Italian comrades in the US had afundraising gathering at Negri's at whichthey collected £1040 for the anarchistmovement worldwide. Of this totalthey decided to send Black Rag $50. •We all wish you the best in your continuedefforts on behalf of anarchism.

Sac re men to, Cal." . Pit • i . * i •

From a letter from Joe Remiro . . .

"After three years of being locked-downin the 'hole' I've been put into the main *population which is a very strange andabrupt transition for me to make. I'venever realised how much I was beingaffected by my time in the 'hole' butgoddam, all these people and all thisspace to walk around in takes somegetting used to. One of my problemsis that I've never been ir\n beforeand that I've been kept segregate'd inisolation since first arrested. I'mclassified as HVP (high violent potential)but the way it works around here is that

I was told that if I was smart I'd keepaway from the writer's workshop group.Of course I had to go and find out whythis particular group had been singled outso I went, I enjoyed and 111 probablybecome a group regular

... my love & regards to the folksat Black Flag,

Love and rage,,,.-. Joe.

Dear Comrades,We hope this small donation helps tokeep one of the finest RevolutionaryAnarchist monthlies around till the jobis done.

Fraternally,M.H.M.

From a correspondent:

I love your exotic address and I'd likeJf * • £.\vHt

to hear from you to be sure mail reallygoes there.

The Orkney Islands are civilised andcannibalism has practically died out.Cienfuegos Press has its bookshop andoffice there. Pending a new Londonaddress, "Black Flag" correspondencegoes there.

Dear Comrades,I've been following the letters that

the only ones who are kept in the 'hole' appear in the Flag, concerning thebehind that kind of classification arethose whose rebellion is consciously ofa political nature. Anyway, with a littlehelp from my friends I'm slowly gettingmyself together.

Besides promising me that I'd bekilled if I laid a hand on one of "theirofficers," when 1 was let out of the 'hole'

imprisoned Scottish Maoists andlike to throw my two cents in.

Although I have a few minor disagree-ments with Barry W., over all I mustagree with him.

Although one might find all types ofpeople of all shades of thinking as yourallies while in prison (everyones first

uioughts are how to get out and how todo over the most immediate forms ofauthority that hold you down) onequickly realises that all authoritariansare alike. The only i Iference is thatthe group in power has the ability toenforce their laws.

Instead of being labelled as 'criminals'against property and tossed into jail, aswe are under capitalism, the Maoistswould, (if they ever got the chance)jail or execute us as 'criminals againstthe working class.' It's like asking acondemned person whether they wishto be hung or shot.

Russia, Spain, China etc., are goodexamples of how, as Trotsky would putit, "fellow socialists" practise solidaritywith anarchists and libertarians. It'stime that we stopped being thebeautiful losers!

Finally, although I don't believe inlet alone jailing someone, the

ome of a battle between politicianspolitical gangs has little to do with

my life except their destruction. AllI can say for them is - 'you play thegame, you take your chances.'

Fraternally.Ralph Franklin (Fifth F.state).

We hold no illusions as to what any ofthe authoritarian parties or groupswould do to us if they managed toattain power, hut in the meantimepersonal experience lias shown «.> thatour concern for all political prisonerscan and d(>es bring round a notinconsiderable number of them tolibertarian ideas. (Kds.J

Another was Fred Copeman. Copemanlived and died an ardent Stalinist, neverdisillusioned with the Party, and tookpart in its dirty work in Spain. Wincottwent to Russia and the rebelliousnessthat took him into battle with theBritish State also brought him to aRussian concentration camp.

The strike itself was, within its termsof reference, a success. The men were

militant, not revolutionary in theirthought, but so in their deeds. Theysucceeded in shaking the Governmentwhich had to reduce the cuts from 25 to10 per cent. But more than that, neversince has a Government felt itself freeto take the Navy for granted. In timeof war they were no longer scum, intime of peace they are treated as skilledworkmen. As Duncan shows, in his

extremely informative book,this was not achieved by obedience butby struggle.

v.^FSSff-GAIN OF THE MONTH:

A.M.

at is Property? An Inquiry in tothe Principle of Right and of Govern-ment, P.J. Protidhon, Trans, by Ben. R.Tucker, Wm. Reeves, London £3.00 h /b418 pages. (price i

ANSWERS TO ANARCHO-QUIZ

1. In the absence of Menshevik deputySukhanov, his wife (a Bolshevik sympa-thiser) invited Lenin and his committeeround, and they planned the coup d'etatof 1917.2. Not to put on your best trousers.3. Carl Schurz was a colleague of KarlV rx before he left for the USA andbecame a General in the Civil War. Thepresent-day Social Democratic Party(which once, correctly called itself the"party of Marx and Engels" and then

are exactly "the party ofimmed its post-war sails to

itself "the party of Carl SchurzMary Jones - better known as!ier Jones - who fought the mine-

owners and militia tooth and nail rightinto her 80s and 90s and led miners'wives with mops and brooms into battleopposed the vote, saying she had raisedall hell over the South without any vote,and the parliamentary struggle was adiversion; but one must also add thatshe disapproved of women having to goout to work which she felt was a demandof the middle-class women and onewould bear hardly on workinwomen.5. John Brown had defeowning armed bands in Kansas andted attempts to dislodge "Free Staters"(non-slave settlers) in his native Ossawa

'* tomie; it was not impracticable that hecould have carried out his plan to seizeHarper's Ferry, the main fort of Virginia,and he then hoped for a slave insurrectioiThe abolitionists rushed to disown him,

?-;ut^ ,: .-; • •except for David Thoreau - the anarchistphilosopher, sometimes regarded incorrect-ly as a "quietist" - who defended himin a moving essay (still relevant). Laterthe Republican Party took advantage ofthe situation by praising Brown because

,ige of public opinion ini of John Brown's stand when

the hands of the State of Virginia,;the way he faced execution after thedeath of his sons.

Wat Tyler, at the head of theiels, had entered London whichce Essex was also in revolt - they had

cy. The young King Richa:h the rebels at Smithfield

of the royal party treacherousmurdered Wat Tyler. Richard II thenadroitly put himself forward as "

f f

&~va -:-•Bl ••

LAUREANO SANTOS'S MURDERERnow resident in Canada, is 52 year oldRamon Benicho Canuda, alias RamonLeriles, nicknamed "el Leriles." We urgeall Canadian and North Americancomrades to do everything possible totrace the whereabouts of this manand to pass the information on to us assoon as possible. We hope to obtain aphotograph and a detailed descriptionof Canuda in time for the next issue.

\e a suitable recruit

- if they can be quite sure he is notacting for someone else's militaryintelligence — but at the same timewe would like to assure them thatLaureano's murder will not be brushedoff lightly!

How the fascist gangs of Spain andthe secret police of three countriesmust have enjoyed their Xmas whenthey heard that the "notorious publicenemy" Cerada was killed! Theirtriumph is a tribute to our comradewho was going to retire to write hismemoirs which, in turn, would havebeen a major inspiration to all whofight for freedom. Laureano CerradaSantos - we salute your memory!

t