Dave (the editor)

As part of the Anarchist Festival that took place at a range of venues across London and beyond from Friday 31st May to Monday 3rd June, I attended this discussion at the London Action Resource Centre on the Saturday: Working Class Anarchism versus Middle Class Identity Politics. The speakers were Lisa Mckenzie and Martin Lux. Let’s just say that after they had spoken, the ensuing discussion was pretty lively… Had it not been for speaking with a throat infection at an event earlier on in the day and pretty much losing my voice come late afternoon, I might have piped up with my contribution as well!

Since last weekend, I’ve made a fair few notes about my thoughts on the issue and the discussion that took place. The aim was to use these notes to write a piece for this blog. Fortunately, I was talked out of it! One reason being the amount of material I’ve already written on the issue. So, instead of trying to write something new about the issue but ending up repeating what I’ve already said in a different form of words, below are the pieces I’ve already written. As ever, constructive criticism and comradely debate are welcome.

Working class anarchism

An anarchism for our class
When I heard about the Working Class Anarchism versus Middle Class Identity Politics that was taking place at the Anarchist Festival, I wrote this piece in advance, partly as a response to the debate and also to help clarify my thoughts.

Building the base for radical change
This is an honest look at our approach to working at the grassroots on the estates. It’s a hard, unglamorous slog but if you’re serious about radical change, this is one of the places you have to start.

Identity politics and class

Finding a way forward
This piece arose from a discussion – The Future of Working Class Anarchism – that took place at the London Action Resource Centre as part of the Not The Anarchist Bookfair event on Saturday 20th October 2018. It starts off by looking at issues such as intersectionality, privilege theory and the like and ends up…with what we do on the estates!

Cultural identity, class and change
Is cultural identity fixed or is it something that’s always evolving, adapting and changing? This is a partial re-working of a piece I wrote for the Independent Working Class Association way back in 2009 – ten years ago… I’m including this because it shows some of the roots of my thinking about identity politics. Suffice to say, I’ve learnt a fair bit more about the issue since then!