Guy Aldred
Encyclopedia
Guy Alfred Aldred - often Guy A. Aldred - was a British
anarchist communist and a prominent member of the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation
(APCF). He founded the Bakunin
Press publishing house and edited five Glasgow
-based anarchist periodicals: The Herald of Revolt, The Spur, The Commune, The Council, and The Word, where he worked closely with Ethel MacDonald
.
, London
. His father was a 22-year-old lieutenant in the Royal Navy
, and his mother was Ada Caroline Holdsworth, a 19-year-old parasol maker. Although Ada was socially unacceptable to the young naval officer, he married her shortly before Guy's birth. After the wedding, he left her at the church to return to his mother. Guy Fawkes
night, 5 November, gave Guy his forename. Guy was brought up in the home of Ada’s father, Charles Holdsworth, a Victorian
radical
. He attended the Iron Infant's School in Farringdon Road
, later moving to the Hugh Middleton Higher Grade School, where he was presented to the Prince of Wales
because he was the youngest pupil. One of his fellow pupils was the son of Hermann Jung, the Swiss watchmaker and one-time activist in the First International. His first adventures in propaganda
were with the Anti-Nicotine League, the Band of Hope, and the total abstinence movement, and he remained an abstainer in these respects all his life.
His grandfather, an Anglican, encouraged him to attend the church of St Anne and St Agnes
, where he took communion in 1894. However, he soon developed a critical attitude to the church, even though he was close to his cousin, a curate at Holloway
.
At the age of 15 (1902), he was made aware of his London provincialism when Sir Madlio Singh, the Maharaja
of Jeypore
, visited the city. He became fascinated by the newspaper accounts of the Maharaja moving around with his "travelling god":
Later that year he gained a reputation as a "Boy Preacher", printing and handing out his own leaflets, which were often received with ridicule and disdain. He found employment as an office boy with the National Press Agency in Whitefriars House, where he was promoted to sub-editor. Working with an evangelist named McMasters, he co-founded the "Christian Social Mission", opening shortly after his 16th birthday as the Holloway
Boy Preacher. His non-conformist approach aroused concern following his first sermon.
After contacting Charles Voysey
, Guy was eventually granted an audience on 20 December 1902. The 74-year-old well-to-do Voysey was surprised to be confronted with a coarse-dressed 16-year-old working class boy. After careful preliminaries on the part of Voysey, the meeting lasted three hours. Their friendship was to continue until Voysey’s death in 1912.
In January 1903 the Reverend George Martin, an Anglican priest, visited Guy with one of his leaflets, asking to meet the Holloway Boy Preacher. Martin worked in London’s worst slums, and Guy joined him in his work with London’s poorest. His friendship with Martin lasted six years and influenced Guy strongly. He soon gave his last sermon from the pulpit and left the "Christian Social Mission".
, but soon felt it was time to set up his own organisation. In 1904 he founded the Theistic Mission, which met every Sunday. With a considerable, though sometimes boisterous, crowd, Guy was gaining a reputation as a forceful young orator. He was also shifting towards atheism
. By August, the meeting banner was changed to read The Clerkenwell Freethought
Mission. Meetings often generated extreme hostility. On one occasion the crowd charged the platform, knocking Guy to the ground and beating him. Police intervention put an end to the meeting. Around this time he became interested in The Agnostic Journal and became friendly with its editor, "Saladin", a Scotsman
. It was at the Journal’s office that he met another Scotsman, John Morrison Davidson, and Guy became more interested in Scottish affairs.
was an India
n nationalist newspaper edited by Shyamji Krishnavarma. When Krishnavarma left London for Paris, fearing repression by the authorities, the printing of the newspaper was first taken over by Arthur Fletcher Horsley. However, he was arrested and tried for printing the May, June and July issues. (He was tried and sentenced on the same day as Madan Lal Dhingra
, who was convicted of the assassination of Sir William Hutt Curzon Wyllie). At Horseley's prominent trial the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Alverstone, indicated that anyone printing that sort of material would be liable for prosecution. Nevertheless, Aldred, as an advocate of the free press
, published it, bearing his own name. The police obtained a warrant and seized 396 copies of the issue. At the trial the prosecution was led by the Attorney General
, Sir William Robson
, at the Central Criminal Court
. Robson highlighted parts of TIS which Aldred had himself written, particularly focussing on a passage which touched on the execution of Dhingra:
Aldred also remarked that the Sepoy Mutiny, or Indian Mutiny, would be described as The Indian War of Independence. Aldred received a sentence of twelve months hard labour. His involvement with The Indian Sociologist brought him into contact with Har Dayal
, who combined anarchism with his Indian Nationalism
, based on his view of ancient Aryan
culture and Buddhism
.
, but left in 1906. He was a political conscientious objector
during the First World War and also a founder of the Glasgow Anarchist Group. He initiated the Communist Propaganda Groups, in support of the October Revolution
, which subsequently became a component of the Communist League
in 1919. Following its collapse, he founded the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation
(APCF) in 1921, and gradually moved towards opposing the Soviet Union
. His links with left communists across Europe brought him close to council communism
.
In 1932 he split with the APCF and later founded the Workers Open Forum, which eventually became the United Socialist Movement
. During World War II
the USM worked with people from across the political spectrum to oppose military action, in a form of Popular Front
, and came to advocate World Government
. After Joseph Stalin
's death, Aldred became increasingly supportive of the Soviet Union.
(9 April 1890 - 4 July 1932), a pioneer of birth control
and sister of Milly Witkop
(who was, in turn, partner of anarchist Rudolf Rocker
).
Together they published an edition of Margaret Sanger
's Family Limitation, an action which saw them denounced by a London magistrate for "indiscriminate" publication and, despite expert testimony from a consultant to Guy's Hospital
and evidence at the appeal that the book had only been sold to those aged over twenty-one, the stock was ordered to be destroyed. Their case had been strongly supported by Dora Russell
who, with her husband Bertrand Russell
and John Maynard Keynes
, paid the legal costs of the appeal.
Aldred and Witcop had a son, Annesley, in 1909. Although they were drifting apart by the time Aldred settled permanently in Glasgow in 1922, finally parting in 1924, they had a legal marriage on 2 February 1926, when it seemed possible Witcop might be deported for her continuing work on family planning
.
, Glasgow, on 16 October 1963, leaving his body to Glasgow University's Department of Anatomy
. His remains were cremated at the Maryhill Crematorium, Glasgow on 4 May 1964.
Aldred's long-time associate and literary executor
, John Taylor Caldwell
, produced a biography Come Dungeon's Dark: The Life and Times of Guy Aldred, Glasgow Anarchist and ensured that Aldred's work was collated and preserved on microfilm. He was survived by his son, Annesley.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
anarchist communist and a prominent member of the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation
Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation
The Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation was a communist group in the Britain. It was founded by the group around Guy Aldred's Spur newspaper - mostly former Communist League members - in 1921...
(APCF). He founded the Bakunin
Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin was a well-known Russian revolutionary and theorist of collectivist anarchism. He has also often been called the father of anarchist theory in general. Bakunin grew up near Moscow, where he moved to study philosophy and began to read the French Encyclopedists,...
Press publishing house and edited five Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
-based anarchist periodicals: The Herald of Revolt, The Spur, The Commune, The Council, and The Word, where he worked closely with Ethel MacDonald
Ethel MacDonald
Ethel MacDonald was a Glasgow-based Scottish anarchist and activist and, in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, a propagandist on Barcelona Loyalist radio.-Early years:...
.
Early life
Aldred was born in ClerkenwellClerkenwell
Clerkenwell is an area of central London in the London Borough of Islington. From 1900 to 1965 it was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury. The well after which it was named was rediscovered in 1924. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. His father was a 22-year-old lieutenant in the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, and his mother was Ada Caroline Holdsworth, a 19-year-old parasol maker. Although Ada was socially unacceptable to the young naval officer, he married her shortly before Guy's birth. After the wedding, he left her at the church to return to his mother. Guy Fawkes
Guy Fawkes
Guy Fawkes , also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries, belonged to a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605.Fawkes was born and educated in York...
night, 5 November, gave Guy his forename. Guy was brought up in the home of Ada’s father, Charles Holdsworth, a Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
radical
Radicalism (historical)
The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general pejorative term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...
. He attended the Iron Infant's School in Farringdon Road
Farringdon Road
Farringdon Road is a road in Clerkenwell, Central London. Its construction, which took almost 20 years between the 1840s and the 1860s, is considered one of the greatest urban engineering achievements of the nineteenth century...
, later moving to the Hugh Middleton Higher Grade School, where he was presented to the Prince of Wales
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
because he was the youngest pupil. One of his fellow pupils was the son of Hermann Jung, the Swiss watchmaker and one-time activist in the First International. His first adventures in propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
were with the Anti-Nicotine League, the Band of Hope, and the total abstinence movement, and he remained an abstainer in these respects all his life.
His grandfather, an Anglican, encouraged him to attend the church of St Anne and St Agnes
St Anne and St Agnes
St Anne and St Agnes is a church located at Gresham Street in the City of London, near the Barbican. While St Anne's is an Anglican foundation, it has been let since 1966 to a congregation of the Lutheran Church in Great Britain.-History:...
, where he took communion in 1894. However, he soon developed a critical attitude to the church, even though he was close to his cousin, a curate at Holloway
Holloway, London
Holloway is an inner-city district in the London Borough of Islington located north of Charing Cross and follows for the most part, the line of the Holloway Road . At the centre of Holloway is the Nag's Head area...
.
At the age of 15 (1902), he was made aware of his London provincialism when Sir Madlio Singh, the Maharaja
Maharaja
Mahārāja is a Sanskrit title for a "great king" or "high king". The female equivalent title Maharani denotes either the wife of a Maharaja or, in states where that was customary, a woman ruling in her own right. The widow of a Maharaja is known as a Rajamata...
of Jeypore
Jeypore
Jeypore, is the largest town in the Koraput district of Orissa, India. Along with Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Sambalpur, Rourkela, Balasore, Puri and Berhampur, Jeypore is one of the prominent places of Orissa. It is encompassed by hills of the Eastern Ghats and the more famous Araku hills on three...
, visited the city. He became fascinated by the newspaper accounts of the Maharaja moving around with his "travelling god":
Later that year he gained a reputation as a "Boy Preacher", printing and handing out his own leaflets, which were often received with ridicule and disdain. He found employment as an office boy with the National Press Agency in Whitefriars House, where he was promoted to sub-editor. Working with an evangelist named McMasters, he co-founded the "Christian Social Mission", opening shortly after his 16th birthday as the Holloway
Holloway, London
Holloway is an inner-city district in the London Borough of Islington located north of Charing Cross and follows for the most part, the line of the Holloway Road . At the centre of Holloway is the Nag's Head area...
Boy Preacher. His non-conformist approach aroused concern following his first sermon.
After contacting Charles Voysey
Charles Voysey (theist)
Charles Voysey was an English Anglican priest who was condemned by the Privy Council for heresy and went on to found the Theist Church....
, Guy was eventually granted an audience on 20 December 1902. The 74-year-old well-to-do Voysey was surprised to be confronted with a coarse-dressed 16-year-old working class boy. After careful preliminaries on the part of Voysey, the meeting lasted three hours. Their friendship was to continue until Voysey’s death in 1912.
In January 1903 the Reverend George Martin, an Anglican priest, visited Guy with one of his leaflets, asking to meet the Holloway Boy Preacher. Martin worked in London’s worst slums, and Guy joined him in his work with London’s poorest. His friendship with Martin lasted six years and influenced Guy strongly. He soon gave his last sermon from the pulpit and left the "Christian Social Mission".
Agnosticism
Guy became a speaker at the Institute of TheismTheism
Theism, in the broadest sense, is the belief that at least one deity exists.In a more specific sense, theism refers to a doctrine concerning the nature of a monotheistic God and God's relationship to the universe....
, but soon felt it was time to set up his own organisation. In 1904 he founded the Theistic Mission, which met every Sunday. With a considerable, though sometimes boisterous, crowd, Guy was gaining a reputation as a forceful young orator. He was also shifting towards atheism
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
. By August, the meeting banner was changed to read The Clerkenwell Freethought
Freethought
Freethought is a philosophical viewpoint that holds that opinions should be formed on the basis of science, logic, and reason, and should not be influenced by authority, tradition, or other dogmas...
Mission. Meetings often generated extreme hostility. On one occasion the crowd charged the platform, knocking Guy to the ground and beating him. Police intervention put an end to the meeting. Around this time he became interested in The Agnostic Journal and became friendly with its editor, "Saladin", a Scotsman
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
. It was at the Journal’s office that he met another Scotsman, John Morrison Davidson, and Guy became more interested in Scottish affairs.
Indian Sedition Trial, 1907
The Indian SociologistThe Indian Sociologist
The Indian Sociologist was an Indian nationalist publication in the early twentieth century. Its subtitle was An Organ of Freedom, and Political, Social, and Religious Reform....
was an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n nationalist newspaper edited by Shyamji Krishnavarma. When Krishnavarma left London for Paris, fearing repression by the authorities, the printing of the newspaper was first taken over by Arthur Fletcher Horsley. However, he was arrested and tried for printing the May, June and July issues. (He was tried and sentenced on the same day as Madan Lal Dhingra
Madan Lal Dhingra
Madan Lal Dhingra was an Indian revolutionary freedom fighter. While studying in England, he assassinated Sir William Hutt Curzon Wyllie, a British official, hailed as one of the first acts of revolution in the Indian independence movement in the 20th century.-Early life:Madan Lal Dhingra was born...
, who was convicted of the assassination of Sir William Hutt Curzon Wyllie). At Horseley's prominent trial the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Alverstone, indicated that anyone printing that sort of material would be liable for prosecution. Nevertheless, Aldred, as an advocate of the free press
Freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the freedom of communication and expression through vehicles including various electronic media and published materials...
, published it, bearing his own name. The police obtained a warrant and seized 396 copies of the issue. At the trial the prosecution was led by the Attorney General
Attorney General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales, usually known simply as the Attorney General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown. Along with the subordinate Solicitor General for England and Wales, the Attorney General serves as the chief legal adviser of the Crown and its government in...
, Sir William Robson
William Robson, Baron Robson
William Snowdon Robson, Baron Robson PC was an English lawyer, judge and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1885 and 1910....
, at the Central Criminal Court
Old Bailey
The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court...
. Robson highlighted parts of TIS which Aldred had himself written, particularly focussing on a passage which touched on the execution of Dhingra:
Aldred also remarked that the Sepoy Mutiny, or Indian Mutiny, would be described as The Indian War of Independence. Aldred received a sentence of twelve months hard labour. His involvement with The Indian Sociologist brought him into contact with Har Dayal
Har Dayal
Lala Har Dayal was a Indian nationalist revolutionary who founded the Ghadar Party in America. He was a polymath who turned down a career in the Indian Civil Service...
, who combined anarchism with his Indian Nationalism
Indian nationalism
Indian nationalism refers to the many underlying forces that molded the Indian independence movement, and strongly continue to influence the politics of India, as well as being the heart of many contrasting ideologies that have caused ethnic and religious conflict in Indian society...
, based on his view of ancient Aryan
Aryan
Aryan is an English language loanword derived from Sanskrit ārya and denoting variously*In scholarly usage:**Indo-Iranian languages *in dated usage:**the Indo-European languages more generally and their speakers...
culture and Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
.
Socialism and anarchism
Aldred joined the Social Democratic FederationSocial Democratic Federation
The Social Democratic Federation was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on June 7, 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury and Eleanor Marx. However, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx's long-term...
, but left in 1906. He was a political conscientious objector
Conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion....
during the First World War and also a founder of the Glasgow Anarchist Group. He initiated the Communist Propaganda Groups, in support of the October Revolution
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
, which subsequently became a component of the Communist League
Communist League (UK, 1919)
The Communist League was a small organisation of the far left in the United Kingdom. It was founded in March 1919 by the London District Council of the Socialist Labour Party and various anarchist groups in London and Scotland. These included Guy Aldred's Glasgow Anarchist Group...
in 1919. Following its collapse, he founded the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation
Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation
The Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation was a communist group in the Britain. It was founded by the group around Guy Aldred's Spur newspaper - mostly former Communist League members - in 1921...
(APCF) in 1921, and gradually moved towards opposing the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. His links with left communists across Europe brought him close to council communism
Council communism
Council communism is a current of libertarian Marxism that emerged out of the November Revolution in the 1920s, characterized by its opposition to state capitalism/state socialism as well as its advocacy of workers' councils as the basis for workers' democracy.Originally affiliated with the...
.
In 1932 he split with the APCF and later founded the Workers Open Forum, which eventually became the United Socialist Movement
United Socialist Movement
The United Socialist Movement was an anarcho-communist political organisation based in Glasgow. It published a journal, The Word.The group's roots lay in the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation. Guy Aldred, a leading figure in the group, came to believe that Parliamentarianism was essentially...
. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the USM worked with people from across the political spectrum to oppose military action, in a form of Popular Front
Popular front
A popular front is a broad coalition of different political groupings, often made up of leftists and centrists. Being very broad, they can sometimes include centrist and liberal forces as well as socialist and communist groups...
, and came to advocate World Government
World government
World government is the notion of a single common political authority for all of humanity. Its modern conception is rooted in European history, particularly in the philosophy of ancient Greece, in the political formation of the Roman Empire, and in the subsequent struggle between secular authority,...
. After Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's death, Aldred became increasingly supportive of the Soviet Union.
Free love
Aldred worked closely with his partner Rose WitcopRose Witcop
Rose Lilian Witcop Aldred was an anarchist, journalist and pioneer of birth control and sex education. She was born Rachel Vitkopski in Kiev, Ukraine to Jewish parents - Simon and Freda - who brought her to London, England when she was five years old.Witcop was a member of the anarchist Jubilee...
(9 April 1890 - 4 July 1932), a pioneer of birth control
Birth control
Birth control is an umbrella term for several techniques and methods used to prevent fertilization or to interrupt pregnancy at various stages. Birth control techniques and methods include contraception , contragestion and abortion...
and sister of Milly Witkop
Milly Witkop
Milly Witkop was a Ukrainian-born Jewish anarcho-syndicalist and feminist writer and activist. She was the common-law wife of the better-known Rudolf Rocker...
(who was, in turn, partner of anarchist Rudolf Rocker
Rudolf Rocker
Johann Rudolf Rocker was an anarcho-syndicalist writer and activist. A self-professed anarchist without adjectives, Rocker believed that anarchist schools of thought represented "only different methods of economy" and that the first objective for anarchists was "to secure the personal and social...
).
Together they published an edition of Margaret Sanger
Margaret Sanger
Margaret Higgins Sanger was an American sex educator, nurse, and birth control activist. Sanger coined the term birth control, opened the first birth control clinic in the United States, and established Planned Parenthood...
's Family Limitation, an action which saw them denounced by a London magistrate for "indiscriminate" publication and, despite expert testimony from a consultant to Guy's Hospital
Guy's Hospital
Guy's Hospital is a large NHS hospital in the borough of Southwark in south east London, England. It is administratively a part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. It is a large teaching hospital and is home to the King's College London School of Medicine...
and evidence at the appeal that the book had only been sold to those aged over twenty-one, the stock was ordered to be destroyed. Their case had been strongly supported by Dora Russell
Dora Russell
Dora Black, Lady Russell was a British author, a feminist and socialist campaigner, and the second wife of the eminent philosopher Bertrand Russell....
who, with her husband Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
and John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes, Baron Keynes of Tilton, CB FBA , was a British economist whose ideas have profoundly affected the theory and practice of modern macroeconomics, as well as the economic policies of governments...
, paid the legal costs of the appeal.
Aldred and Witcop had a son, Annesley, in 1909. Although they were drifting apart by the time Aldred settled permanently in Glasgow in 1922, finally parting in 1924, they had a legal marriage on 2 February 1926, when it seemed possible Witcop might be deported for her continuing work on family planning
Family planning
Family planning is the planning of when to have children, and the use of birth control and other techniques to implement such plans. Other techniques commonly used include sexuality education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, pre-conception counseling and...
.
Death and legacy
After initially refusing hospital treatment for a heart condition, Guy Aldred died, almost penniless, in the Western InfirmaryWestern Infirmary
The Western Infirmary is a teaching hospital situated in the West End of Glasgow, Scotland. There is also a Maggie's centre at the hospital to help cancer patients, as well as the Glasgow Clinical Research Facility....
, Glasgow, on 16 October 1963, leaving his body to Glasgow University's Department of Anatomy
Anatomy
Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...
. His remains were cremated at the Maryhill Crematorium, Glasgow on 4 May 1964.
Aldred's long-time associate and literary executor
Literary executor
A literary executor is a person with decision-making power in respect of a literary estate. According to Wills, Administration and Taxation: a practical guide "A will may appoint different executors to deal with different parts of the estate...
, John Taylor Caldwell
John Taylor Caldwell
John Taylor Caldwell was a Glasgow-born anarchist communist and close associate and biographer of Guy Aldred. He wrote two volumes of autobiography which recount his early life growing up in Belfast, his early career as a mariner and his political development, as well as his close involvement with...
, produced a biography Come Dungeon's Dark: The Life and Times of Guy Aldred, Glasgow Anarchist and ensured that Aldred's work was collated and preserved on microfilm. He was survived by his son, Annesley.
External links
- "The Guy they All Dread," Albert MeltzerAlbert MeltzerAlbert Meltzer was an anarcho-communist activist and writer.-Early life:Meltzer was born in London, and attracted to anarchism at the age of fifteen as a direct result of taking boxing lessons . The Labour MP for Edmonton, Edith Summerskill was virulently anti-boxing and his school governors at...
's reminiscence of Guy Aldred from his autobiography I Couldn't Paint Golden Angels, - Class war on the Home Front, articles from the pages of Solidarity, the paper of the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation
- Anarchist Encyclopedia entry
- A Brief History of the APCF
- Anti-Parliamentary Communism the movement for workers' councils in Britain, 1917–45
- Against the War: Guy Aldred, BBC World Service radio programme broadcast 1989
- "Guy Aldred: Rebel With a Cause", Ruth Kinna, Berfrois, 30 September 2011