This blog has been written by one of the Archives and Special Collections Centre volunteers. Our volunteers are working with us remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Introduction
After finding out about the LCC Zines Collections Website I decided to look at some of the groups of zines present. The zines on anarchism took my interest particularly. Zines can be a useful way of spreading ideas, such as political thought, meaning these zines looked especially interesting. Therefore, I decided to look at the tags of anarchism and anarchist zines. I at first found it odd that the zines were tagged differently, though from looking at them realised that the tag 'anarchist zines' was for zines more focused on anarchism, while the 'anarchism' tag is more for when anarchism is mentioned within a zine.
Anarchism Zines
These zines include anarchism while this is not their focus, so can draw attention to wider issues. No Quarter is a zine from Anti Fascist Action, an Irish group in the 2000s. This demonstrates the type of debates which have continued throughout history. There is a link to the second issue (2005) present, which mentions issues of anti-immigration movements, opposition to them, including interviews with residents on racism. There is more specific culture, with mention of the memorial of Kit Conway, an Irishman who died fighting for the Republican side in the Spanish civil war.
The zine Synthesis approaches anti-establishment issues such as feminism, veganism and straight-edge culture; whilst the anarchist theme comes mainly from an interview with the author, Laura W. under the synonym of Albatross, that the website links to. Similarly there is Reason to Believe, a hardcore punk zine of the early 2000s, which also involves anarchism.
There are other areas covered in this tag. Rum-muffel: a Rum Lad / Morgenmuffel collaboration, is a collaboration between people from different zines giving their perspective of a trip to Scotland. There is also Cats Hate Cops, a more humorous zine which is simply reports of cats attacking cops from 1805-2012.
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While these are not fully anarchism focused they still look at the issue within other contexts, so are certainly worth examination.
Squatting News
Crowbar: squatting news, was a zine on various social issues: anarchy, police brutality, government protest or youth revolt, and the squatting movement, which is particularly relevant as this zine was published in London at the height of the squatting movement. In order to fill viewers in on this, the website links to an essay by John Marsland, Squatting: The Fight for Decent Shelter, 1970s–1980s. I had not known of this subject previously, but from seeing this zine while browsing I was able to immerse myself in the culture and issues of the time. This demonstrates how these self-published works can prove useful on a micro-historical scale, providing a window into the mindset of the past.
Tarnac Nine
The Coming Insurrection (L’insurrection Qui Vient) is notable because it led to a legal case against the Tarnac Nine. The anonymous author Comité Invisible wrote this in 2007. There is a link to The war against pre-terrorism, which explains the situation to interested parties. From this the suppressions Government can take part in due to their fears are highlighted. The Coming Insurrection came about from riots in France but is detached from the more widespread Left movements, being linked to younger, more radical forms of resistance against the authorities.
This is not a manifesto
This is not a manifesto is a non-manifesto by Jared Davidson from the Garage Collective. Along with linking to the original text of 2009, LCC also links to an updated version from 2011. This text is on graphic design and anarchism’s links, and the possibilities from the intersection; particularly interesting, as this is an area which is not addressed frequently in popular culture.
Conclusion
All these demonstrate that anarchism zines can be a useful way of looking into the history of political thought, as individuals instead of large companies try to spread out their ideas. Not all of these zines have anarchism as their focus, but others do touch on the issue and demonstrate new ideas from the writers. They address topics the readers might not have been aware of and so are useful from a micro-historical perspective of looking into the past. The LCC Zine Collection also has a Facebook page.
For further information about the LCC Zine Collection contact libraryspeccolls@lcc.arts.ac.uk.