TheRealWW1

A series of talks and discussions every Tuesday evening at 7pm from 30th September to 11th November 2014.

Curated by Deborah Lavin, and presented by Conway Hall Ethical Society and the Socialist History Society.

All lectures are £5 (£3 concessions and members of participating societies)
Bookable Online

www.conwayhall.org.uk

30 September at 7pm

Norman Angell – Liberal, Radical, Socialist, Pacifist or Patriot?
Prof. Martin Ceadel

7 October at 7pm:

Bertrand Russell’™s response to WWI
Chris Bratcher
Ramsay MacDonald and WWI
John Grigg

14 October at 7pm:

British Labour Movement and the Outbreak of WWI
Prof. Willie Thompson
A Movement Divided, The Labour Movement and WWI
Prof. Keith Laybourn

21 October at 7pm:

Irish Labour and WWI
Prof. John Newsinger
Radical Liberalism and the Outbreak of WWI
Duncan Bowie

28 October at 7pm:

The Pankhursts at War
Katherine Connelly
Isabella Ford – Socialist and Feminist Peace Campaigner in WWI
Prof. June Hannam

4 November at 7pm:

1914 and the Schism in International Anarchism
Pietro Dipaola
Not Our War
Tony Zurbrugge

11 November at 7pm:

From Slaughter to Mutiny
Ian Birchall
WWI and the Russian Revolution to 1923
Prof. Christopher Read

Conway Hall,
25 Red Lion Square
Holborn,
London
WC1R 4RL

Conway Hall is owned and operated by Conway Hall Ethical Society.

Registered charity 251396

Please publicise widely:

100 years since the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Remembering the Real WWI presents:

A TOUR OF WHITEHALL
Remembering the victims and opponents of World War 1

Saturday 28 June,
1.30pm

Parliament Square
London.
SW1P 3BD

The official commemorations for the start of WW1 will focus on the sacrifice and suffering of the war. But the statues displayed around Whitehall – of Lloyd George, Churchill and Haig – show that the British establishment still has few regrets about that suffering. These WW1 leaders were responsible for sending a million men to their deaths in a war that killed 16 million, a war that led, inexorably, to fascism and the horrors of WW2.

But Whitehall has an alternative history, a history of protests by suffragettes, soldiers and workers. Join us to explore that history.

(Dressing up is optional. But it would be great if people came as anti-war suffragettes or ‘unknown soldiers’ – and the more Archduke Ferdinands and Duchess Sophies, the better!)

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the night before, some culture:

Remembering the Real WWI presents:
Abel Gance’s anti-war film, ‘J’ACCUSE’

Friday 27 June,
7pm

at the Cock Tavern, 
Phoenix Rd,
Euston,
London.
NW1 1HB, 

Free admission

By 1918, after almost four years of war, European society was in a state of shock.
French soldiers had mutinied and the Russian revolution had shown an alternative to capitalism and war. But there still seemed no end to the slaughter. In this atmosphere, Abel Gance resolved to make a film exposing ‘the horror of war’. The result was J’Accuse, a complex love story that culminates in stunning scenes of the war dead rising from their graves ‘to see if their sacrifice was worth anything at all.’

A veteran himself, Gance used French soldiers to play these ‘zombies’ – many of whom, in real life, went on to fight and die in the last battles of WW1. Gance was inspired by the idea that ‘if all the dead came back, the war would stop at once.’ A romantic delusion? Yes, certainly, but more radical and thought-provoking than the barrage of TV programmes presently commemorating the centenary of the conflict.

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The Imperial War Museum will be opening its new WW1 exhibition on Saturday 19 July.

The museum was set up in 1917 by the very same generals and politicians who started the war. Join us on that day to commemorate the fact that it wasn’t victorious generals and politicians that ended the conflict, it was mutinying soldiers and striking workers – and they did so in revolutions that, almost, toppled the entire capitalist system. More details to come soon…

Contact Remembering the Real WW1 (London):

Email: therealww1@riseup.net

Two upcoming talks about the people behind the event that ignited World
War 1… Short notice on the first, apologies…
That we are publicising these events doen’t necessarily inply support for
opinions expressed in the talks… But they look interesting nonetheless.

1. The ‘Young Bosnia’ Group: Terrorists or Freedom Fighters?

Sat 14 Jun 2014, 19:00

Alternative perspectives on the Sarajevo assassination that sparked World
War I.

The ‘Young Bosnia’ were a revolutionary group of young men from different
ethnic persuasions who came together in the early years of the 20th
century with the aim of freeing Bosnia from the Austro-Hungarian Empire
and creating a union of south-Slav peoples. Misunderstood and
mis-represented by the dominant powers of the day, the truth about Gavrilo
Princip – ”the man who ignited WWI” – and his companions has long been
debated. This talk brings together two leading experts from Princip’s
homeland(s) of Bosnia and Serbia, and offers a unique and ‘inside’ view of
this contentious movement.

With Bosnian author and journalist, Muharem Bazdulj
And Dr Dejan Djokic, Reader in History at Goldsmiths College, University
of London, acting as chair and discussant.

Conway Hall,
Red Lion Square,
London
WC1R 4RL

Tickets £5

This event is brought to you by the Conway Hall Ethical Society & the New
Humanist Magazine, in cooperation with Istros Books.

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2. The Trigger – Hunting the assassin who brought the world to war
A talk by Tim Butcher.

Wednesday, 25 June 2014, 6pm

Author and journalist, Tim Butcher, discusses The Trigger – his book about
Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassin, Gavrilo Princip – at Southwark
Cathedral in London.
Butcher will be speaking just three days before the Centenary of the
murder of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne in Sarajevo, the event
that triggered the First World War.
Writing about his research for The Trigger in Centenary News, Butcher said
he found ‘no evidence to support Vienna’s claim that Princip was an agent
of Serbia, the grounds given in July 1914 for Austria-Hungary’s
declaration of war on its small, troublesome neighbour.”

Southwark Cathedral
London Bridge,
London,
SE1 9DA

Tickets: £5 Cathedral Shop
or £5 plus booking fee from:
http://the-trigger.eventbrite.co.uk

London At War

Some interesting events here from World Wars I and II; catch some of this now (before number III breaks out…?!)

With walks, workshops, lectures and talks, this special events series explores some of the unexpected dimensions of the city during the two world wars. The series takes place across May and is open to all. It is convened by the Raphael Samuel History Centre and some of the museums, archives and galleries which make up its History and
Heritage Adult Learning Network (HHALL).

Events include:

· Keynote Lecture: Jerry White, ‘London in the Great War’, 8 May

· Sex in the Wartime City 1914-1918, guided tour, 13 May

· Bethnal Green tube disaster, talk with Juliet Gardiner and a panel, 21 May

· The politics of the Imperial War Graves Commission 1917-1939, Michèle
Barrett, 22 May

· Animals and humans on the London Home Front 1939-1945: exploring diaries and letters, Hilda Kean, 28 May

· King and Country (1964), film screening, 12 May

· National Maritime Museum: Drawing the War, 7 May

· The exiled nation – London Poles during the Second World War, archive
talk, 14 May

· ‘Taking London’s wartime pulse’, Londoners’ health archive talk, 15 May

· Told and untold stories: Protecting London’s children during the Second
World War, reminiscence workshop, 16 May

· Archives and war workshop at Bishopsgate Institute, 20 May

· The war-torn City 1914-1918, London Metropolitan Archives, archive talk
and tour, 23 May

· Bloomsbury at War: Closing talk and drinks reception in the Keynes Library with Dr Jo Winning, 3 June

To see the full programme, go to: http://www.raphael-samuel.org.uk/sites/default/files/downloadables/London%20At%20War%20flyer%202014.pdf

or see the events section of the RSHC website
http://www.raphael-samuel.org.uk/events

We hope that you can join us for the London at War series.

Katy Pettit

Administrator, Raphael Samuel History Centre
http://www.raphael-samuel.org.uk @RSHistCentre

I work part time and usually respond to emails on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

If your message is urgent, please contact Barbara Taylor bgtaylor11@gmail.com

Sunday 18 May 2014

at No. 88 Fleet Street
London EC4 1DH

(entrance in St. Brides Avenue),
Blackfriars or Chancery Lane Tube)

 11.30am – 6.00pm

In all the hype surrounding the centenary of World War 1, where are the voices of those who opposed the war? The official commemorations and the deluge of TV documentaries, exhibitions and art projects so far have mostly reflected the myths of national unity, self-sacrifice, a war for freedom… The other side of the story needs to be told – the origins of the war in the imperial rivalries of the great powers, how they sold the lie of the ‘just war’ to those they used as cannon fodder, and the collective and individual resistance that resisted and undermined the war effort, and in the end, helped to bring it to an end.

The official accounts and commemorations of the anniversary of World War One mask the real social history of the period. This conference is a chance for us to educate ourselves about the protests, strikes, mutinies and revolutionary upheavals that preceded, provoked and, eventually, ended the war. We will also discuss how best to oppose both the official commemorations and future wars. Please bring food to share if you can.

TIMETABLE

11.30 – INTRODUCTION

12pm – 1pm:  WORLD WAR ONE AND ITS RELEVANCE TODAY

Why did the war start: Imperialism? The reassertion of masculinity? An attempt to forestall European revolution? Why did so many support the war? Did World War One ever really end? Why does capitalism need war?

1.30-3pm: WOMEN’S PROTESTS, MUTINIES AND REVOLUTIONS

Why were the first mass protests of the war started by women? Did politicians keep the war going to prevent the Russian Revolution from spreading? Did mutinies in the Russian, French and German armies end the war? What about the rebellions in the British army?

3.15-4.15pm:  UKRAINE, PUTIN AND WAR IN EUROPE TODAY?

Was the Maidan Square uprising a revolution – or a fascist coup? Should we take sides between Putin and the West? Will the Ukrainian crisis lead to another European conflict?

4.30-6pm: COUNTERING CAMERON’S COMMEMORATIONS

Why is Cameron so keen to celebrate World War One? How do we celebrate the mutinies and revolutions of the period instead? How do we counter the official commemorations without disrespecting the dead?

All welcome, this event is free, but donations would be gratefully received on the day. Disabled access is unfortunately poor…

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This event is organised by Remembering the Real WW1 (London). We are a small group of activists, historians and rebels, part of a growing network of groups and individuals working to highlight the histories of the Great War that official ‘commemorations’ will sweep under the carpet.

For more information email us on: therealww1@riseup.net

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