Of course the very nature of anarchism means that not all anarchists agree on what is regarded as permissible or not.  To kick off, anarchists generally agree that the purpose of money is a practical necessity, a tool to ease the exchange of goods and services. Things change a bit when we move on to the profit motive; we could also call this capitalism and this is where things get more interesting.  Most individual anarchists regard capitalism and the profit motive as exploitation, closely aligned with the government or state apparatus.

If this view all sounds a little on the socialist side, that’s not really a surprise and there’s no real reason why, if one believes this, it’s not the correct view.  So now we come to the next salient point – the anarchists willingness to allow everyone to act as they want as long as there is responsibility for one’s actions.  So can we then head down to the casino for some slot machine action, some dice-throwing on the craps table or some baccarat?

The general feeling is that, yes – one should be able to take part in those casino pastimes even though someone, somewhere is making a profit out of the whole proceedings.  This is the convenient aspect of anarchism – there are no rigid rules and regulations which one must abide by.  If some sort of dichotomy raises it’s head, well hey!  This is anarchism, do whatever you want.

Whatever, I’m going to carry on paying poker – handing over my rake money to whichever online or offline casinos will have me while away from the green baize, I’ll stick to my anarchist principles and keep checking the casino reviews.

Freedom has a mission statement published in every issue as follows:

“Anarchists work towards a society of mutual aid and voluntary co-operation.  We reject all government and economic repression.  This newspaper, published continuously since 1936, exists to explain anarchism more widely and show that only in an anarchist society can human freedom thrive.”

While that statement in itself doesn’t really shed much light on the subject of anarchism, it does prompt the casual reader to take a closer look at the journal if they’re keen on learning a bit more.

Freedom Journal

1886 was the year in which the first version of Freedomi was published.  It was then and is now a not-for-profit venture and the volunteers behind the first publication were Peter Kropotkin and Charlotte Wilson.  Kropotkin was a Russian communist and author of several influential tomes and Wilson was an early member of the socialist Fabian Society.

It’s always been called Freedom but the subtitle has varied; the first was “A Journal of Anarchist Socialism” but by 1889 it had become “A Journal of anarchist Communism“. Currently it has no subtitle.

One might describe Freedom as more of a diary publication with a review section attached.  It has articles and editorials but much of the content is devoted to reviewing other anarchist, socialist and communist publications.  The diary section lists upcoming events involving associated groups and organisations.  One might argue that this lack of self-promotion is all part of the socialist/anarchist ethos of reciprocal aid – at least for similar groups and publications.

Freedom is published by Freedom Press which is the largest anarchist published in the United Kingdom.  Based in arguably it’s spiritual home of London’s East End, over the years it has published a number of anarchist, socialist and related titles and it’s editorial team is a who’s who of British socialist commentators.

Hara-kiri (1960)

Charlie Hebdo started life as Hara-Kiri in 1960 when Georges Bernier and Francois Cavanna launched the first monthly print.  It immediately gained admirers and detractors and a letter from one reader describing it as “bête et méchant” (dumb and nasty) became a well known French phrase after the magazine embraced it.  The magazine received it’s first banning in 1961 and remained out of circulation until 1966 when it returned with a slightly different line-up.

By 1969 it had established itself in the French popular psyche somewhat and had been renamed Hara-Kiri Hebdo which soon became Hebdo Hara-Kiri.  It gained massive publicity in 1970 following the death of President Charles de Gaulle in his home town of Colombey.  It happened several days before a nightclub fire in Saint-Laurent-du-Pont killed 146 people and Hebdo lampooned the media’s priority of de Gaulle’s death over the club tragedy by producing a headline which stated “Tragic Ball at Colombey, one dead”.

In the contemporary French style, that produced another banning which was avoided by changing the name of the magazine to Charlie Hebdo.  It then ran on until 1981 when readership dwindled to a point where it became necessary to shut the presses.

Hebdo Hara-kiri

The 1991 Gulf War prompted several of the original contributors to begin working for a similar magazine named La Grosse Bertha.  This magazine was edited by the entertainer Philip Val but a falling out between Val and the publishers led to a walk out which included the Hebdo contributors.  The obvious solution was to restart Charlie Hebdo and Val funded the enterprise.  The first issue sold all 100,000 copies which had been printed and the magazine was back in business.

Much of the controversy surrounding Charlie Hebdo in recent years has revolved around it’s re-publishing cartoons of the Islamic Prophet Muhammed and drawing some of their own.  It was commercially successful but led to allegations of racism from Muslim organisations.  A court case subsequently cleared the magazine of any wrongdoing but in 2011 the offices of the magazine were firebombed following a front cover cartoon of Muhammed.  Despite this setback, Charlie Hebdo continue to uphold the standards of press freedom.

Dennis Leary

above all others.  We’ve already written about Lenny Bruce, the godfather of this style of comedy.  Bruce was followed by the incredible Bill Hicks but alongside Hicks was Dennis Leary – a one time friend of Hicks (but more of that later).

Dennis Leary was born in 1957, the son of Irish Catholic parents, in Massachusetts.  He attended Boston’s Emerson College where he met other, now notable comics including Steven Wright and Gina Gershon.  Following graduation he began to teach comedy writing classes at the college.

At the same time in the early 1980s, Leary began to find work in the local Boston comedy scene and was involved in writing Lenny Clarke’s Late Show; a local comedy production.  At this early stage in his career it became clear he was a comedian from the ‘alternative’ mould and that his appeal was to a younger audience.  The television station MTV picked up on this and used him in several commercials and sketches.  His high speed rants against a variety of contemporary targets became his trademark style.

He gained some significant international exposure in 1993 with the release of his satirical song ‘Asshole’.  This lead to a series of ads for Holsten Pils beer in the United Kingdom and some impressive exposure in Australia.  He has since become something of an actor, playing smaller roles in a number of films and the lead in the television series’ Rescue Me, which he co-wrote and The Job.

Dennis Leary is undoubtedly a successful actor and comedian so it’s worth taking a few sentences to explain why he fell out with Bill Hicks.  There is a tradition of some minor plagiarism within the world of stand-up comedy but it seems that Leary has pushed the limits somewhat.  He has even been accused of stealing Hicks’ style and image, particularly the references to smoking.  While Hicks was still alive he once said to an interviewer “I have a scoop for you.  I stole his (Leary’s) act.  I camouflaged it with punchlines and to really throw people off, I did before he did.”

Leary’s a funny, innovative guy so you’ll have to make up your own mind whether he’s also a plagiarist.

Ingrams left the Eye in 1986, being replaced by Ian Hislop and in 1992 set about establishing The Oldie.  While it may sound like an offshoot of the Saga magazine, or perhaps a fanzine for grumpy old men, it has been more accurately described as the spiritual successor to Punch.

Richard Ingrams says that his aim was to “produce an antidote to youth culture but, more importantly, a magazine with emphasis on good writing, humour and quality illustration.”  That ambition has certainly been achieved and as well as being a critical triumph, The Oldie has also proved a commercial success – no easy task in the 21st century.

Aside from what Ingrams mentions in the above quote, The Oldie manages to avoid any type of celebrity association except when it is lampooning them.  It’s tales of reader’s chance encounters with famous and infamous characters are a popular staple of each month’s magazine as are it’s literary reviews, competitions and cartoons.

The Oldie of the Year awards are a notable annual event in literary circles and are a recognisably tongue-in-cheek nod to a person of mature years who has achieved a certain amount of recognition or notoriety over the previous twelve months.  Previous winners have included Terry Wogan, Ian Paisley, David Hockney and Prince Philip.

Here’s a few quotes about this gently satirical magazine from U.K. sources to convince you that it may be worth shelling out for one issue to se what the fuss is about:

“The most original magazine in the country…..their eclectic embrace of human variety is a monthly rebuke to the formulaic, celebrity led concept of features in our newspapers and magazines.”

The Independent

“An indispensable antidote to the triviality of the 21st century.”

P. D. James

“Age only matters if you are a cheese.”

Terry Wogan

]]> http://www.underdogpress.com/the-oldie-magazine/feed/ 0 http://www.underdogpress.com/guy-fawkes/ http://www.underdogpress.com/guy-fawkes/#comments Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:19:39 +0000 admin http://www.underdogpress.com/?p=86 Continue reading →]]> The history of the anti-establishment movement is a long, interesting and occasionally

Guy Fawkes

violent one.  As we’ve written here previously, the term ‘anti-establishment’ was not coined until the 20th century but of course the sentiment has existed since the class system has existed.  And not just the class system, royalty and the organised religion have also been regarded as legitimate targets.  Guy Fawkes was one such anti-establishment protagonist and you can read the story below.

Born on the 13th April, 1570, Guy Fawkes was born into a world in Catholics and Protestant reformers were battling for the hearts and minds of 16th century Europe. England at this point was a Protestant, vehemently anti-Catholic nation.  Offspring of relatively wealthy parents, Guy Fawkes sold his inherited property following their death and made off to Europe to fight for Catholic Spain against Dutch Protestant reformers in the Eighty Years War.  A reasonably distinguished military career followed under the pro-Catholic Sir William Stanley and in 1603, by now a Captain, he journeyed to Spain to petition Philip III for support in fomenting a Catholic rebellion in England.

Philip III received him well but, quite possibly with the failure of the Spanish Armada in 1588 still in living memory, was unwilling to get involved in another confrontation with England.  It was at this point that Guy Fawkes turned to what might be termed the anti-establishment lobby; led by Robert Catesby, this small group of Catholics planned to assassinate King James and have him replaced by the pro-Catholic, third in line to the throne, Princess Elizabeth.  Guy Fawkes came to the group fairly late and was recommended to Catesby via a chain of anti-establishment figures including Sir William Stanley, Thomas Wintour and Welsh spy Hugh Owen.

Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot conspirators

Guy Fawkes was a particularly impressive figure; he is known to have been a tall, powerful man with red hair, a red beard and moustache.  His qualification were also impeccable; he was intelligent, had plenty of military experience and was a staunch Catholic.

The inaugural meeting of the complete group was at the Dog and Drake Inn at The Strand in London on 20th May, 1604.  It was here they conceived the original plan to destroy the Houses of Parliament while it was in session and attended by the King.  It is believed by some, based on a confession from Wintour, that the group began to dig a tunnel from a nearby house but no evidence of his was ever found.  One way or another though, the group happened upon an undercroft (a ground floor storage room underneath a building) which they managed to lease from the tenant.  36 barrels of gunpowder were brought in to this storage room, enough to level the building and some distance around.

Unknown to the conspirators, Robert Cecil’s (1st Earl of Salisbury) network of spies across Europe had detected fairly specific rumours of a plot being hatched.  The group had also tried to warn Catholics within parliament about the plan but from this, word reached King James who ordered an immediate search of the area.  Eight of the plotters were arrested, tortured and eventually executed but Guy Fawkes name lives on as one of the earliest anti-establishment figures and of course the reason for November 5th – Bonfire Night.

Bill Hicks

of satirical stand up comedy in the United States.  If Bruce was the first generation to air the kind of views which were almost unacceptable in his time, Bill Hicks was surely the second generation.

Born in the southern U.S. state of Georgia, he was brought up by relatively religious parents – they were Southern Baptists.  They eventually ended up in Houston, Texas, where Hicks was educated.  Citing influences such as Woody Allen and Richard Pryor, Hicks began writing comedy routines with a friend to perform in front of other children. After his death his mother spoke about how his initial interest in comedy was piqued when he realised you could actually make a living from being funny.

Stand Up Career

Straight from High School and still in his early 20s, Hicks began his career as a stand up, performing mostly in the Houston area.  His set remained unchanged for some time and in his desire to push the boundaries of creativity he began to experiment with substances that, probably due to his upbringing, he had never tried.  He tried alcohol, he started smoking and he started to use various illegal drugs.

As his reputation in the smaller, more progressive venues (universities, nightclubs) became established, he came to the realisation that alcohol was not the answer and neither were the mind-altering drugs with which he had been experimenting.  He had become however, a chain-smoker and never managed to quit with any degree of success. Fans of Hicks’ material will be aware though, that the benefits of drugs and the freedoms to use them became significant parts of his routines.

Rodney Dangerfield & New York

In 1987 he moved to New York and appeared on a Rodney Dangerfield show, Young Comedian’s Special.  This provided his career with a much needed boost and for the next few years he was performing at an average of about 300 times per year.  Jack Mondrus was hired by Hicks in 1988 as his first professional manager and helped to promote Hicks’ image as a comedian who’s wild days were behind him.  Through Mondrus he also met his future fiancée, Colleen McGarr.

Bill Hicks was a regular visitor to Europe and his the United Kingdom in particular were an extremely receptive and appreciative audience.  The relatively liberal outlook of the British may have added to an atmosphere for Hicks in which he was preaching to the converted rather than haranguing an American audience (albeit in a funny way).

Hicks’s targets were as you would expect from a satirical comedian – religion and politics to name a couple – and he became wildly successful among more left-leaning audiences.  The mainstream were not so sure and he was regularly censored and banned from television shows worried about what he might say or do.

Eventually his nicotine addiction caught up with him and he was diagnosed with cancer in 1993.  He knew he was dying and it was in fact the side effects of his treatment which killed him at the age of 32 in 1994.  Some os the last words he wrote, two weeks before he died were:

“I left in love, in laughter and in truth and wherever truth, love and laughter abide, I am there in spirit.”

Comedians are a breed of performer who tend to have a greater leeway in what they can

Lenny Bruce

say and get away with.  Your average public speaker would almost certainly face much harsher criticism for expounding the type of views that a funny man does.  In some cases of course, that person pushes the boundaries to such an extent that the authorities will eventually take an interest and one such character was Lenny Bruce,

Lenny Bruce was born Leonard Alfred Schneider in October 1925 in New York.  He saw action in the Second World War after joining the U.S. Navy but in 1942 claimed to be having homosexual urges and was (eventually) given an honourable discharge.

Lenny’s mother was a performer and perhaps it was her influence that persuaded him to take a shot at being a stand-up comedian.  He settled back in New York after a spell with his father in California and began to work within the local scene, joining the many others pursuing the same dreams.

Joe Ancis

Another famous Jewish comedian, Joe Ancis, influenced the young Lenny Bruce more than anyone else and in 1947 he earned $12 for his first stand-up gig in Brooklyn.  His mother remained a major influence on his career and apart from introducing him to industry figures, he began to write screenplays in the early 1950s, Dream Follies and The Rocket Man in 1954, to name a couple.  He had met his wife, Honey Harlow, in 1951 and was constantly working hard to try and ensure that she didn’t return to he original job as a stripper.  Many of his early routines evolved from performing as an Master of Ceremonies at the grimy strip clubs where he found work.

During this period he also released four albums of original stand-up material and it was these which first demonstrated the subjects on which he was to become famous.  Fantasy Records was the label used and that company still exists now, albeit owned by Concord Music Group.  Many of Bruce’s subjects were the controversial ones of the period – politics, religion, race and abortion – subjects which still provoke argument now.  This was the 1950s though, and an American nation which was largely unprepared for satire of this nature.

Carnegie Hall, 1961

Lenny Bruce continued the stand-up career during this period and continued to release records of his performances.  In 1961 he performed a stand-up gig at Carnegie Hall in New York, a concert which was possibly the defining moment of his career.  It was also in 1961 that he began to come to the notice of the authorities, almost certainly as a result of his increased popularity.  His first obscenity related arrest came following the use of the word cocksucker during a routine.  The jury acquitted him but he had now come to the notice of the police who began to take an interest in his performances.

More arrests followed, none of which deterred Bruce but which in fact provided more material for his diatribes.  He was famously banned from several cities and Australia; his opening line at a gig in Sydney was “What a fucking wonderful audience“, following which he was arrested.

Lenny Bruce influenced many of the comedians which followed, Woody Allen, Denis Leary and Peter Cook to name a few but ultimately his predilection for drugs overtook him and he died of an accidental overdose on August 3rd, 1966.

If Private Eye is the new kid on the block at a youthful 50 or so years old, then Punch

Punch Magazine Issue 1

Magazine was the senior partner, the forerunner of many other satirical publications which have emerged around the globe during the last century and a half.

Although the name has always been Punch, a working title was The London Charivari and this was a reference to a satirical humorous magazine which was already underway in France.  That magazine was entitled Le Charivari and until political satirisation was outlawed in France in 1835, it lampooned the political  and monarchist classes.  In fact Le Charivari was also an offshoot of another French satirical publication, La Caricature.

Mayhew & Lemon

Henry Mayhew and Ebenezer Landells founded Punch on 17th July 1841; it was edited by Mayhew and Mark Lemon (who also wrote for the world’s oldest field sports magazine, The Field).  It’s always a little difficult to tell whether the intent of some editors is to create a satirical magazine or a funny one, but in this case it seems that Mayhew and Lemon really were satirists; Mr. Punch, the charming wife beater of Punch and Judy fame was the masthead and the inspiration behind the name.

Although Mayhew and Lemon may have been enjoying themselves, their editorship of the magazine lasted barely a year before they ran into financial trouble.  Bradbury and Evans were the printing and publishing company which purchased Punch; they were at the forefront of the use of mass-print technologies and notably also published Charles Dickens novels.

Charles Dickens was actually one of a number of contemporary writers who provided reviews and other material for Punch, others included Charles Keene and Richard Doyle. Financially the magazine still struggled until it gained a type of acceptance in drawing rooms, casinos, blackjack rooms and gentleman’s clubs, after which it became a necessity for what might be termed the Victorian chattering classes.  Its popularity was accelerated by the inclusion of Punch articles in The Times and The News of the World which brought the magazine to a wider audience.  Punch magazine was also ultimately thought to be read by royalty, which could of course be regarded as something of a downer for a supposedly satirical publication.

Punch saw competition from another London publication, Fun, in the 1860s and 1870s but by the mid 1870s it once again had the market to itself when Fun closed it’s doors.

Curate’s Egg

One of the most notable achievements of Punch magazine is the coining of the word ‘cartoon’ to refer to a comic drawing; it also gave birth to some of the most enduring cartoons and articles of the era including the ‘Curate’s Egg’ cartoon, Diary of a Nobody and 1066 and All That.  The quality of the cartoons was a enduring thread throughout the life of Punch and subsequent artists included Norman Thelwell, Bernard Hollowood and Bernard Partridge.

True Humility - the title of the Curate's Egg cartoon

Circulation reached it’s highest level in the 1940s at the relatively modest number of 175,000.  Almost certainly a magazine of it’s time, it closed in 1992 after almost 150 years in print.  Harrods owner Mohammed Al-Fayed resurrected it in 1996 but after six years of poor sales finally closed it doors for good.

The Establishment Issue 1 Cover

November 2001 but sadly only ran for 12 months until November 2002.  It was not a truly anti-establishment publication as such but it did tick a couple of the boxes we like to see in any work.

It ran for 13 issues and was the brainchild of Ian Edginton and Charlie Adlard.  Edginton was a successful writer in the United States (including a spell at Marvel) following a career with 2000AD.  He then returned to 2000AD and still works in the U.K.  Adlard is an artist also familiar with 2000AD and has notably provided artwork for The Walking Dead.

The Establishment was a superbly well-drawn piece of work revolving around a group of superheroes that did in fact work for the British government.  Although one could view the series as a genuine addition to the superhero genre, others were able to spot satirical and anti-establishment nuances in the plot and storylines, whether they were intentional or not.

There are some interesting characters featured as part of the roster of superheroes and some seem to be based on other literary and comic book creations.  The nominal leader of the group is Jon Drake who appears to take his name from the television show The Prisoner and its predecessor Danger Man while Mister Pharmacist has been linked to the Tom Baker version of Doctor Who.  Equus and Scarlet seem to based on characters from The Avengers cult TV series, John Steed and Emma Peel in that order.

There is a real nod to 1960s television series, aside from the ones mentioned above.  The Golden – three superhero children – look to based on The Champions and George Bulman and Christopher Truelove appear to have similarities to to characters from Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased).

The Establishment is worth checking out for these references alone but it also stands up well as an artistic success with some clever story lines.