pasttensehistories.bsky.social
@pasttensehistories.bsky.social
London radical histories & mysteries. Obsessions: open space, gentrification, strikes, riot, music, drink, spycops. https://pasttense.co.uk/
If you’re coming to the Anti Capitalist Bookfair - If you’ve never been here Jeffery Hall is quite hard to find, on Bedford Way it says #11 on outside, then 2 floors down
pasttensehistories.bsky.social@pasttensehistories.bsky.social · yesterdayA reminder : Anti Capitalist Bookfair at Jeffery Hall UCL, London WC1H 0AL tomorrow 10-4 Past Tense will be flogging our London radical history publications and more
#OnThisDay in London anti-fascist history, 1937: mass opposition prevents British Union of Fascists marching into Bermondsey wp.me/p74yfw-KP
Today in London anti-fascist history, 1937: mass opposition prevents British Union of Fascists marching into Bermondsey
On October 3rd 1937, the British Union of Fascists (BUF) gathered at Millbank, Pimlico, to hold a march to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the BUF. It was a year almost to the day after the famo…
wp.me
A reminder : Anti Capitalist Bookfair at Jeffery Hall UCL, London WC1H 0AL tomorrow 10-4 Past Tense will be flogging our London radical history publications and more
pasttensehistories.bsky.social@pasttensehistories.bsky.social · 3d agoPast Tense will be doing a stall at the Anti-Capitalist Bookfair, this Saturday, October 3rd, 10-4 Jeffery Hall, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL Lots of other great booksellers will be there… www.instagram.com/p/Dc0vvAxAml...
Past Tense will be doing a stall at the Anti-Capitalist Bookfair, this Saturday, October 3rd, 10-4 Jeffery Hall, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL Lots of other great booksellers will be there… www.instagram.com/p/Dc0vvAxAml...
wellredbritain on Instagram
instagram.com
Available from Past Tense: “The Impotence of the Revolutionary Group” Sam Moss A critique of the practice of ‘revolutionary groups’. published by Bandit Press, September 2026. pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com/product/he-i...
#OnThisDay in London radical history, 1650: ‘Ranter’ Abiezer Coppe questioned by a parliamentary committee for alleged blasphemy. Feigning madness, he is returned to Newgate gaol and not brought to trial, 1650 More on Abiezer Coppe: wp.me/p74yfw-Rb
Today in publishing history, 1650: House of Commons orders burning of of A Fiery Flying Roll by ranter Abiezer Coppe.
“Howl, howl, ye nobles, howl honourable, howl ye rich men for the miseries that are coming upon you. For our parts we that hear the Apostle preach will also have all things in common; neither will …
wp.me
#OnThisDay in London's military history, 1759: army recruits mutiny in the Savoy barracks wp.me/p74yfw-1gy
Today in London’s military history, 1759: army recruits mutiny on the Savoy barracks
As covered in earlier posts on this blog, part of the old Savoy Palace building – built in the thirteenth century for Edmund Earl of Lancaster, on land between the Strand and the river Thame…
wp.me
#OnThisDay in London striking herstory, 1995: Hillingdon Hospital cleaners strike against casualisation pasttense.co.uk/2020/10/01/t... Five years later - they win!
Today in London striking herstory, 1995: Hillingdon Hospital cleaners strike against casualisation
‘We’ve met people from all over the world who are supporting us: from Russia, India, South Africa, America, Germany – even Winnie Mandela! They know we are low-paid workers. They know we are mostly…
pasttense.co.uk
Past Tense will be doing a stall at the Anti-Capitalist Bookfair, this Saturday, October 3rd, 10-4 Jeffery Hall, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL Lots of other great booksellers will be there… www.instagram.com/p/Dc0vvAxAml...
wellredbritain on Instagram
instagram.com
#OnThisDay in drunken London history, 1736: a rumoured Uprising against the Gin Act wp.me/p74yfw-Dl
Today in drunken London history, 1736: a rumoured Uprising against the Gin Act
In 1736, the Gin Act, introduced heavy excise duties on gin production, and licensing to restrict its distribution, to try to reduce the English love of getting hammered on ‘Madam Geneva’). These m…
wp.me
#OnThisDay in London policing history: PC Aldridge dies, after beating by crowd, Deptford, 1839. wp.me/p74yfw-p8
Today in London policing history: PC Aldridge dies, after beating by crowd, Deptford, 1839.
When the Metropolitan Police were introduced into the streets of London in 1829, they were wildly unpopular with much of the working class, who saw clearly that the ‘Raw Lobsters’, R…
wp.me
Past Tense have produced some A3 colour posters featuring episodes from London radical history.., Hopefully the first of many! Available from our online shop pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com
Past Tense Histories
DIY Radical history publications from London's turbulent past... Self-published pamphlets, posters, pamphlets and the London Rebel History Calendar
pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com
#OnThisDay in London history: the Duke of Bedford closes his private road, Bloomsbury, 1798. Gates were erected to try to prevent undesirables passing through his property… wp.me/p74yfw-f4
Today in London history: Duke of Bedford closes his private road, 1798.
“The Duke of Bedford… has stopped up the road from Southampton-row to Somers-Town. This, though called a private road, and as such, not open to carriages, has been a footway from time immemorial. I…
wp.me
#OnThisDay in London financial history, 1613: North London’s New River opens to supply drinking water to London. Public works funded by private money – the earliest Private Finance Initiative? The River was run for profit for centuries… wp.me/p74yfw-Ti
Today in London financial history, 1613: North London’s New River opens – the earliest PFI?
Water, Moral Economy and the New River North London’s New River was built between 1609 and 1613, in an attempt to alleviate, but also to cash in on, the shortage of water in the City of Londo…
wp.me
#OnThisDay in London riotous history: police shooting of Cherry Groce sparks a riot, Brixton, 1985. More in our pamphlet: Brixton Through A Riot Shield First Hand accounts of the 1985 riot pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com/product/thro...
Through A Riot Shield
The 1985 Brixton Riot A rip-roaring account of the events of September 1985, when a large-scale riot broke out in Brixton, South London, in angry response to the police shooting and crippling of Cherr...
pasttensehistories.bigcartel.com
#OnThisDay in London's theatrical history: playing Bottom in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ on a Sunday gets Mr Wilson into trouble, 1631. wp.me/p74yfw-eT
Today in London’s theatrical history: playing Bottom on a Sunday gets Mr Wilson into trouble, 1631.
The branches of protestant Christianity generally lumped together and described (particularly when discussing the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Britain) as puritanism were in fact widely v…
wp.me
#OnThisDay in London's rebel history: ruckus outside a Clerkenwell school ends in arrests, 1969. wp.me/p74yfw-f1
Today in London’s rebel history: ruckus at a Clerkenwell school ends in arrests, 1969.
On September 26th 1969 a mini-riot broke out among pupils at Philip Magnus School, Clerkenwell, after they had got into conversation with some young rebels who were leafleting outside. One of those…
wp.me
#OnThisDay in London's psychogeographical history, 1960: The Situationist International‘s fourth conference opens in Limehouse, East London wp.me/p74yfw-eX
Today in London’s psychogeographical history: Situationist International‘s fourth conference opens, Limehouse, 1960.
Upon their arrival in the English capital, delegates were set the ‘psychogeographical’ task of locating the British Sailors Society, where the conference was to be held. The following r…
wp.me
#OnThisDay in London religious history: Sir John Oldcastle, leader of the activist wing of the Lollards, is convicted as a heretic, 1413. wp.me/p74yfw-pd
Today in London religious history: John Oldcastle convicted as heretic, 1413.
The Lollards were religious reformers, heretics against the Catholic Church of the 15th century, proto-protestants, in some ways. Lollardy derived from the teachings of John Wycliffe, a 14th-centur…
wp.me
#OnThisDay in London religious history, 1971: Gay Liberation Front protests against the reactionary christian Festival of Light continue wp.me/p74yfw-Du
Today in London religious history, 1971: protests against the reactionary christian Festival of Light continue
Just over two weeks after the Gay Liberation Front, women’s liberationists and other activist from London’s underground had made a laughing stock of the reactionary Christian Festival of Light at W…
wp.me
#OnThisDay in London radical history, 1744: master tailors petition Parliament complaining that the journeymen had organised combinations & are refusing to work for the legally enforced wage levels. More on 18th century tailors organisation in London: wp.me/p74yfw-4i
Today in London’s radical history: striking tailors riot in the City, 1792.
The journeymen tailors had a history of solidarity dating back at least to the early 15th century. What nowadays would be called trade unions were then in existence, under the names of ‘clubs’ or …
wp.me
#OnThisDay in insurgent history, 1848: The trial begins of Black Chartist William Cuffay and several others, accused of ‘making war on the queen’ - planning a revolutionary uprising. wp.me/p74yfw-1dM
Today in London’s radical history, 1848: Armed Chartists arrested as they prepare for revolution
Traditional histories of the Chartist movement mostly end with the mass meeting and demonstration on April 10th 1848, when the third great Chartist petition was to be delivered to Parliament. The v…
wp.me
Developer fined £1m after man killed by falling window on Albert Embankment www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Developer fined £1m after man killed by falling window
Mick Ferris was crushed when the 130kg window fell from The Corniche building in Vauxhall.
bbc.co.uk
#onthisday, 24 September 1927, #Bermondsey opened its £150,000 Grange Road Baths. Some papers lammed the council for providing 'luxurious' #TurkishBaths on the rates as they were well fitted out for a local authority facility. Gay friendly. Closed 1973—"structural defects". Demolished 1975. 🗃️ #C19th
hi so shitty rich people are trying to shut down the oldest nat history museum in the americas and do ~something~ with the +19mil pieces they have so if people could sign and boost itd be sick since this fuckass country has a bullshit war on science. save-the-academy.org
Save the Academy of Natural Sciences
Don't mourn — organize. The museum's last public day is Sunday, Sept 27. Ten things you can do today.
save-the-academy.org
#OnThisDay in London anti-fascist history 1978: Blockade against far right National Front march on Brick Lane, during a year of intense racist violence and resistance in the area wp.me/p74yfw-vS
Today in London anti-fascist history 1978: Blockade against National Front march on Brick Lane.
BRICK LANE, a long East End street which runs from Whitechapel to Bethnal Green, was one of the earliest parts of the East End to be built up. Being just outside the walls of the old city or London…
wp.me
#OnThisDay in London anti-racist history, 1983: National March Against Racism and Racist Attacks sees 2000 people march on the streets of the borough in support of the Newham 8, who were arrested for residing racist violence. files.libcom.org/files/newham...
files.libcom.org
#OnThisDay in London penal history, 1778: 150 convicts in the Woolwich prison hulks riot. A short history of Thames prison hulks: wp.me/p74yfw-20K
Today in London penal history, 1777: convicts stage mass escape from prison hulk, off Woolwich
Current Home Office proposals to use barges and disused cruise ships to house asylum seekers, to placate racists who object to refugees being housed in hotels, include packing 500 people into a bar…
wp.me
#OnThisDay in London radical history: Major Cartwright, long time agitator for political reform, dies, St Pancras, 1824 wp.me/p74yfw-pa
Today in London radical history: Major Cartwright, long time reform agitator, dies, St Pancras, 1824
John Cartwright, the third son of William Cartwright and Anne Cartwright, was born on 28th September 1740, at Marnham, Nottingham. His brother, Edmund Cartwright, was the inventor of the steam loom…
wp.me
