-ResignCameron- Class War at Downing Street (26332127975)

Class War is an

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

group and

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

established by

Ian Bone Ian David Bone (born 28 August 1947 in Mere, Wiltshire) is an English anarchist and publisher of anarchist newspapers and tabloids, such as ''Class War'' and '' The Bristolian''. He has been involved in social campaigns since the 1960s, inclu ...

and others in 1983 in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. An incarnation of Class War was briefly registered as a political party for the purposes of fighting the

2015 United Kingdom general election The 2015 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 7 May 2015 to elect 650 members to the House of Commons. It was the first and only general election held at the end of a Parliament under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011. Loca ...

Events

In the 1980s, Class War organised a number of "Bash The Rich" demonstrations, in which supporters were invited to march through and disrupt wealthier areas of London such as

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

, and

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buc ...

, bearing banners and placards with slogans such as "Behold your future executioners!" A third Bash the Rich event, scheduled to march through

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

, in 1985 was largely prevented by a heavy police presence and was acknowledged by Class War to have been a failure. This event was seen by many as a major setback for the group and many members left to form other groups or drifted away.

2010s onwards

In the 2010s, Ian Bone revived Class War as a political party. Their activities included a weekly protest about " poor doors" outside One Commercial Street in

Aldgate Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London. It gives its name to Aldgate High Street, the first stretch of the A11 road, which included the site of the former gate. The area of Aldgate, the most common use of ...

, with Action East End and '' Freedom News''. These protests ended in partial victory in November 2014. Group member

Lisa McKenzie Lisa Louise Mckenzie (born March 1968) is a British anarchist and research fellow at the University of Durham whose work relates to class inequality, social justice, and British working class culture. She was active in the Class War party and her ...

was found not guilty under

joint enterprise The doctrine of common purpose, common design, joint enterprise, joint criminal enterprise or parasitic accessory liability is a common law legal doctrine that imputes criminal liability to the participants in a criminal enterprise for all reaso ...

for causing criminal damage. Class War also encouraged a demonstration against the

Jack the Ripper Museum The Jack the Ripper Museum is a museum and tourist attraction that opened in August 2015 in Cable Street, London. It recreates the East end of London setting in which the unsolved Jack the Ripper murders took place in 1888, and exhibits some ori ...

. In the

, Class War stood seven candidates which received a total of 526 votes. The party was voluntarily deregistered with the

electoral commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

in July 2015. In July 2021, a group emerged at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

called 'LSE Class War' demanding the abolition of the LSESU Hayek Society, a private-school-free LSE and a

David Graeber David Rolfe Graeber (; February 12, 1961September 2, 2020) was an American anthropologist and anarchist activist. His influential work in economic anthropology, particularly his books '' Debt: The First 5,000 Years'' (2011) and ''Bullshit Jobs ...

lecture series to commemorate the life of the late academic. The President of the LSESU Hayek Society responding saying they were "totally illegitimate" and have, "no affiliation to the Students’ Union, no affiliation to the university and they’re not an official campaign of the Students’ Union".

References

External links

*
Class War covers gallery at Libcom

Class War archive at Libcom
{{Authority control Anarchist organisations in the United Kingdom Anarchist newspapers Anarchist political parties Mass media and culture in Swansea Publications established in 1983 Political parties established in 2014 2014 establishments in the United Kingdom