Joe Strummer, Rock Against the Rich and Spycops

In 1988 Joe Strummer embarked on a 'Rock Against the Rich' tour organised by anarchist group Class War. The tour had its origins in the Warwick Castle pub in Notting Hill where Class War's Ian Bone and the ex-Clash lead singer came up with the idea over a few pints.

 

As part of the ongoing Undercover Policing Inquiry, thousands of  reports filed by police infiltrators have been published. Among them are many reports from 'HN10' Bob Robinson (real name Bob Lambert) who infiltrated animal rights groups in north London in the 1980s but also kept an eye on anarchists and others he came across in London Greenpeace and similar groups.

Lambert, who was married with children in his 'real' life, notoriously had a number of  intimate relationships while undercover (none with informed consent) including fathering a child before vanishing. Part of his schtick was  to use music to develop connections with activists, travelling to the Glastonbury and Cambridge Folk Festivals and peppering his letters with references to Steely Dan and Van Morrison and, seemingly, his police reports with references to The Clash.

In his reports to his Special Branch and security service bosses he notified them of the emerging plans for the Strummer gigs. The first report in March 1988 includes the claim that Strummer was 'contacting Mick Jones and other former members and associates of The Clash with a view to reforming the notorious punk band especially for the gig'

A second report on the 10th May from this 'secret and reliable source' noted that 'Ian Bone and. Darren Ryan, leading Class War activists continue to have regular discussions with veteran punk music star Joe Strummer in connection with a series of planned Rock Against the Rich concerts... certain to attract a high level of interest amongst London's resilient punk community'. The report also mentions a forthcoming Rock Against the Rich launch party at the Golden Lady pub in Albion Road with disco provided by an Animal Liberation Front activist'.

There's a couple of pages about the tour in Class War newspaper, no. 28 (1988), some extracts follow:

'Welsh band Anhren are bringing out a Rock Against the Rich benefit single'

Round up of Rock Against the Rich gigs, including Strummer playing in Brixton (at the Fridge) and Camden. The latter was at the Electric Ballroom on July 7th 1988, supported by Chelsea and World Domination Enterprises. Found an account on facebook from somebody who was there: 'Set included his single Trash City , covers of Big Audio dynamite songs V13 & Sightsee mc, Keys to your heart from his pre Clash 101ers days & the stuff most of us were there for White man in Hammersmith Palais,Police & Thieves, Police on my back ,This is England, Somebody got murdered, he also chucked in a lively Pogues cover If i should fall from grace with God'. 

'At a time when rock music and its surrounding cults and causes are about as threatening as a bowl of marshmallows, Class War has initiated Rock Against the Rich to put class politics back onto the agenda, using music as a weapon'

Class War's Darren Ryan has written an account of the tour, conlcuding: 'It may not have been how we originally intended it, but it was moderately successful in some ways. And it was a lot of fun. But I look back in anger at it, as we had such great ideas for it, and it still gets my blood boiling the way it was turned from potentially dangerous to pleasantly adventurous by people who used it as their ticket into the music industry. And such are the best of working class ideas, watered down for safe consumption for the middle classes. However, the original idea and plan of Rock Against the Rich remains as relevant and as dangerous as it was then'. Not all planned gigs happened, in particular events on the Isle of Dogs and at Hackney Empire were blocked.

Probably shouldn't romanticise all this too much. I think some of these gigs at the time were seen as being quite shambolic, Strummer backed by an unprepared band. In a way it was a bit out of time in emphasising rock when other musics were becoming more important. Other things were stirring in 1988...

From NME, 30 July 1988 - a Rock Against the Rich gig at the Tunnel Club in Greenwich with Anhrefen, Sign on Valley Rangers and the Mega City 4. Another South London gig mentioned in the Class War article was apparently scheduled for July 2 1988 in Lewisham, with The Dispossessed and Beethoven.

See previously:

Unite Against Racism demo in East End 1994 + a spycops report on David Bowie donating to Anti Nazi League

'Do not play acid' - London club listings October 1988

London Club Listings from a local paper in October 1988 (Westminster and Pimlico News) in the midst of the acid house upheaval. KISS FM crew 'know how to make a rave swing' at Second Base at Dingwalls 'but steer well away from acid'. Meanwhile at Memphis/Legends DJs Rajan and Tim Archer 'do not play acid' but do mix in some Chicago House with their P-funk and r'n'b. Cafe de Paris offers 'salsa, soul and Balearic beats for a packed dancefloor of sloanes, trendies and those who know the doormen'. ACID! very definitely promised though at Asylum at the Harp Club (later the Venue) in New Cross with 'total mayhem, surprises and visuals'. Not sure of the exact music policy  at The Rok at Brixton's Fridge but there's 'delecatable deejays' and 'dishy dancers'.

('Top Twenty' chart here is just a pop listing from HMV, not representative of club sounds from the time).

See also other listings posts:

London Gay Disco 1972

NME Guide to Rock & Roll London (1978): Disco

NME Guide to Rock & Roll London (1978): Gay clubs

NME Guide to Rock & Roll London (1978): Reggae

London Club Listings 1982 - Time Out

Clubbing in London i-D listings, 1984

Clubbing in Sheffield i-D listings, 1984

Clubbing in Manchester listings, 1984

Clubbing in Luton, 1984

1987: Dancing in Brixton and beyond

The Face London Club listings, March 1989

Speed and other London clubs, i-D 1995

Muzik Magazine 1995 club listings

More 1995 London Clubs

 

Stop Clause 28 - a queer (near) riot in London, 1988

'Section 28' of the Local Government Act 1988 was a piece of culture war-style legislation framed by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government to ban 'the promotion of homosexuality' by local councils. It prompted a massive movement of opposition with probably the most militant LGBTQ+ demonstrations ever seen in the UK, including in early 1988 in Manchester (see previous post) and in London. The following is a report from the Pink Paper ('Britain's only national newspaper for lesbians and gay men') of the demo in London on 9th January 1988. The march went from the Embankment to Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park by the Imperial War Museum in north Lambeth, with a breakaway en route to Downing Street. Although the movement failed at one level - the law was passed - it paved the way for the largely successful movement for equality that followed in the 1990s.  

Pink Paper front cover, 14 January 1988

'More than 12,000 lesbians and gay men and our supporters marched through London on Saturday to protest about Clause 27 (now 28) of the Local Government Bill, which bans "promotion" of homosexuality by local authorities - and 33 of them were arrested and charged with criminal offences.

The Rally attracted four times as many marchers as its sponsors, the Organisation for Lesbian and Gay Action, had expected. Police rapidly revised their own estimate of attenders from five to eight thousand as trouble flared at Whitehall, where part of the march broke away to besiege Downing Street and make their feelings known to the Prime Minister, who was hiding in Number Ten. The march ground to a halt as activists, scene queens and bar dykes all gathered round to shout their anger at the Goverment-backed attempt to turn homosexuals into second class citizens. There were several minor injuries as police forced the crowd away from the entrance to the Thatcher residence and about 20 people were arrested for obstruction or assault. Organisers appealed for calm as police threatened to bring in officers on horseback to disperse the crowd.

After almost three quarters of an hour the tension abated and people drifted back to the route. There were further arrests at Waterloo. People from as far apart as Pontypridd and Norwich, Brighton and Edinburgh, crowded into Harmsworth Park to hear Chris Smith, Linda Bellos and other speakers. The father of a lesbian spoke movingly about the pain of having rejected his daughter before learning to understand and love her. Robin Tyler, US entertainer and activist gave a hilarious account of her affair with Dame Jill Knight - "That bitch - she swore she'd get even" - and talked about Ronald Reagan being "Margaret Thatcher in drag". But her speech turned to anger as news came through that police were arresting and harassing people at the perimeter of the park, picking out young women and black people. "If they want to arrest all of us, they'll have to arrest millions" she shouted, "including MPs and members of the Royal Family".

Legal observers and organisers rushed to the trouble spot, where Kennington police had brought up 10 mounted police ready to charge and were arresting people carrying banner poles or kissing. Both marchers and locals were arrested for drinking after hours - about three minutes after hours in fact at a nearby pub. Arrests continued at Cannon Row Police Station, where a lesbian who had gone to enquire about her girlfriend was charged retrospectively with assault on a policeman earlier in the day at Downing Street. Later, the legal officer of City Anti-Apartheid Group, Anhil Bhatt, was arrested outside the station for obstruction while waiting for the last person to be released. "He was nicked just for being there and being black" said Jennie Wilson of OLGA who witnessed the arrest'

 

(note advert for Fallen Angel bar in Islington - I believe the Pink Paper had an office upstairs there at one point. Used to go there for lunch when working in Islington in early 1990s)

'There are 12,000 men and women after Saturday's march proud to say - "I was there". There on the day when the lesbian and gay movement of Britain came of age; there on the day when we put our differences aside striding step by step as one; there on the day when the gentle loving people became angry and we started fighting for our lives.

Even before the march left Temple in central London an uneasy sense of expectancy hung in the air. This was no Pride Carnival. There were no floats, bands or balloons. The drag queens were in their civvies and all the pink was tinged with grey. In only three weeks the organisers had attracted four times the numbers they expected as the ranks of the regular activists were swelled by representation from all sections of our communities. There was no gay or lesbian, no black or white. We were one. Strong and defiant.

All around people united. Fearful that our businesses will be closed, frightened that our jobs will be taken away, afraid that our books will burn. Our very existence is at stake and we are beginning to battle'.

List of banners on the demo

Appeal for witnesses from the January 9th Defence Campaign 'Were you on the OLGA/Stop Clause 27 Campaign March in London on Saturday January 9th? There were 33 arrests at Whitehall, Waterloo and Kennington. Charges brought against people include obstruction and assault'.

I was in Whitehall, lots of pushing and shoving at the entrance to Downing Street, not quite Stonewall 1969 or San Francisco 1979 but it was quite heavy. Here's a couple of photos of mine from Stop the Clause demos in London. I think the first one was from that day, the other one possibly from a later demo.

'the first breath of a chilling wind of intolerance'

My 'Council workers against Clause 28' badge. I recently donated this to the LGBTQ+ archive at the Bishopsgate Institute, as I realised that they had a set of a similar badges but not this one (including 'Librarians against Clause 28' and 'Defy the Clause' 

Report from Counter Information, February 1988 - referring to 'Jill's Bill' as it was proposed by Dame Jill Knight, a Conservative politician who had been a member of the far right Monday Club.