For Peace!

In August 1971, the Angry Brigade bombed the Territorial Army centre in Holloway. In the displayed poster, Who Are the Stoke Newington Eight?, published by the Stoke Newington Eight Defence Committee, the attack is described as ‘a symbolic act which pinpointed the source of war — here in England. A violent 'No' to the government’s policy of internment [in Northern Ireland].’ We also display Communiqué 6, which addressed the Territorial Army centre bombing, in which the Angry Brigade describe that violence is not only a product of the state but also present in the bleakness of everyday life and the exploitation of labour under capitalism.

The Angry Brigade was a far-left group associated with grassroots organisations such as Claimants’ Unions, workerist groups, and the women’s liberation movement. They were responsible for a series of targeted bomb attacks against property, including Barclays Bank, the Department of Employment and Productivity (in protest against the Industrial Relations Bill), and the Territorial Army Recruitment Centre mentioned above. The group's actions were directed solely against property, with evident care taken to avoid endangering lives. However their tactics raise questions about what can be defined as non-violent direct action, which have often been central to the peace movement. Some argue that if illegal direct action is understood as a scale, from non-violent to violent, then attacks on property sit alongside activities such as industrial sabotage, or trashing a war plane. However, when regarded as part of the wider anti-militarist movement, this form of direct action against the state has little effect in isolation if it is not part of a broader movement for peace.