Direct-Action and Autonomous Organizing Across the United Kingdom: London Solidarity

By Chris Spannos

No history of post-war British left-wing activism would be complete without mention of the iconoclastic London Solidarity group. Direct-Action and Autonomous Organizing across the United Kingdom: London Solidarity is the first book dedicated to examining this group's surreptitious origins, influences and legacy.

Part of an international and mostly informal movement breaking away from traditional left-wing politics at the height of Cold War tensions, the London Solidarity group contributed to the re-emergence of direct-action and autonomous working-class struggle in the UK.

The group rigorously critiqued authoritarian exploitation in the East and West, championed sexual liberation, wildcat strikes, housing struggles and played a historic role in the 1963 "Spies for Peace" scandal which rocked the British government by revealing its secret preparations for elite rule after nuclear war. Direct-Action and Autonomous Organizing across the United Kingdom uses both first-hand participant accounts, personal correspondence, previously unpublished archival material and the latest historical research on left-wing radical politics to tell the story of this radical left group and its activities while locating it in various activist networks in Britain and abroad.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1350274720
• ISBN13: 9781350274723
• Release Date: August 2026
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 9.2"