start [radical printshops]

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This site is devoted to building a history of late 20th century radical and community printing collectives in the UK; the poster collectives, the service printers and typesetters, the print resource centres. The presses were part of a network: activists in organisations wrote and designed the books, pamphlets, posters, newspapers and leaflets which they needed to further the cause. Typesetters and printers produced them. Activists, distribution cooperatives and independent bookshops distributed them. And today? Still activists, still typesetters (digital) and a few presses (eg Calverts, Aldgate, Footprint), still sympathetic distributers (Turnaround, AK, Bookspeed) and independent bookshops (eg Housmans, Centerprise, News from Nowhere). There is also a fascinating resurgence of activist screen-printing (eg Occuprint). But to a huge extent the internet provides the means for radical communications. The history of the presses is a history that doesn't exist except in the memories of the ex-workers, friends and clients. The idea is that people who were involved in the printshops can create and edit the pages. You need to register and get a password to do this. Just click on the login link at the bottom right of this page and it will take you to a dialogue box with a link to register.

The printshops have been divided up into four categories; service printers, community printshops, poster collectives and women's printshops. Some appear in more one than one category. The service printers basically did the printing for you, the community printshops showed you how to do it and the poster collectives… designed posters. Radical typesetters have been included in with service printers or where appropriate women's printshops. There is a separate resources section (scroll down this page) for digital archives of related documents, pamphlets, articles

agitpopcatweb.pdf (Exhibition catalogue of Agitpop 1968-2008, Londonprintstudio)
anti-nuclear_press.pdf (The Alternative Public Realm: The Organisation of the 1980s Anti-Nuclear Press in West Germany and Britain by John D Downing)
devofunderdevcomedia.pdf (The Alternative Press: The Development of Underdevelopment by Comedia)
authorproducerbenj.pdf (The Author as Producer by Walter Benjamin)
constitmediatheory.pdf (Constituents of a Theory of the Media by Hans Magnus Enzensberger)
arbeiter_illustrierte.pdf (The Arbeiter Illustrierte Zeitung in Weimar Germany by Charlotte Morton)
communist_pressbritain.pdf (The Communist Press in Britain 1920-24 by J Ure Smith)
the_working-class_press.pdf (The Working-class Press: Radical and Revolutionary Alternatives by Colin Sparks)
copy-this.pdf (Copy This! A Historical Perspective On the Use of the Photocopier in Art by John A Walker)
use_or_ornament.pdf (Use or Ornament? The Social Impact of Participation in the Arts by Francois Matarasso)
freedomofpressbelongs.pdf (The Freedom of the Press Belongs to Those Who Control the Press by Jess Baines)

external links

Article: Radical printshops (Baines 2010) http://www.afterall.org/online/radical.printmaking
Article: Radicals co-opting the Gestetner (Cushing 2010) http://www.aiga.org/cranking-it-out-old-school-style-art-of-the-gestetner/
Article: Screen printing & politics (Cushing 2009) http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/meshed-histories-the-influence-of-screen-printing-on-social-movements
The International Institute of Social History http://www.iisg.nl/index.php
Kate Sharpley Library. Exists to preserve and promote anarchist history http://katesharpleylibrary.net/
IRR Black History Collection. Institute of Race Relations archive (1950s-80s) of printed material from black community and grassroots groups http://www.irr.org.uk/bhccatalogue/
Black Cultural Archive. Collections include material from late twentieth century radical politics in UK http://www.bcaheritage.org.uk/collections
Feminist Library (UK based). Archive of Women’s Liberation Movement literature http://feministlibrary.co.uk/
Women's Library (UK based). Holds extensive historical collection of feminist publications http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/thewomenslibrary/
Working Class Movement Library (UK based) http://www.wcml.org.uk/
Bishopsgate Library (UK based) Collections of Co-op & Labour Movement, radicalism & protest materials http://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/content.asp?CategoryID=968
Glasgow Caledonian University. Significant collection of radical materials http://www.gcu.ac.uk/specialcollections/collections/summary.html
LibCom. Online libertarian resource and community. Includes good historical and archive sections. http://libcom.org/
Big Flame online. History of the UK libertarian Marxist organisation, Big Flame (1970-1984). http://bigflameuk.wordpress.com/about/
56a Infoshop. London Radical Social Centre. Houses substantial archive. http://www.56a.org.uk/
Alliance of Radical Booksellers. http://www.radicalbooksellers.co.uk/
Housemans. London radical booksellers since 1945 http://www.housmans.com/
Freedom Press. Anarchist bookshop and publisher. London. http://www.freedompress.org.uk/public/news.oml.html
News from Nowhere. Liverpool radical & community booksellers since 1974 http://www.newsfromnowhere.org.uk/
Left on the Shelf. Specialist online second hand bookseller of material on all topics to do with Socialism http://www.leftontheshelfbooks.co.uk/
AK Press. Worker run book publisher and distributor organized around anarchist principles http://www.akpress.org/
Central Books. Independent Distributor of Books & Magazines http://www.centralbooks.com/
Radical Routes. Network of radical co-ops whose members are committed to working for positive social change
Grassroots Feminism. Ongoing transnational feminist archive http://www.grassrootsfeminism.net
Justseeds/Visual Resistance Artists' Cooperative http://justseeds.org
Anarchist Media Project. Free downloadable graphics, badges, posters, etc http://anarchistmedia.wordpress.com/
Inkworks Press. U.S based Radical Printshop started in 1974. Poster archive on site http://www.inkworkspress.org/
Docspopuli.'dedicated to documenting and publishing oppositional artwork of the late 20th century' http://www.docspopuli.org/Archives.html
Women in Print. Oral history project about U.S radical feminist printshops (1960-1985) http://womeninprint.wordpress.com/about/

EXISTING UK RADICAL/COMMUNITY/CO-OP PRINTSHOPS:

Occupy Printhttp://occuprint.org/
Manchester Area Resource Centre http://www.marctheprinters.co.uk/
Footprint Workers Co-op. Leeds http://www.footprinters.co.uk/
Calverts. London http://www.calverts.coop/
Aldgate Press. London http://www.aldgatepress.co.uk/
Upstream. London http://www.upstream.coop/
Thread Me (garment printing co-op). Leeds http://threadme.co.uk/
Resource Centre. Brighton http://www.resourcecentre.org.uk/printing
Community Print Resources. Nottingham http://www.veggies.org.uk/page.php?ref=645

radical service printers

community printshops

poster collectives

women's printshops

resources

external links