start [radical printshops]

discussion

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 chain: 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 and independent bookshops distributed them. And today? Still activists, still typesetters (digital) and presses (eg Calverts), still independent bookshops (eg Housmans, Centerprise)… 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 three categories; service printers, community printshops and poster collectives. 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. There is a separate resources section (scroll down this page) for digital archives of related documents, pamphlets, articles etc.

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)
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 C 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)

external links

http://www.posterworkshop.co.uk The Poster Workshop 1968-1971
http://www.iisg.nl/index.php The International Institute of Social History
http://katesharpleylibrary.net/ Kate Sharpley Library exists to preserve and promote anarchist history
http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/thewomenslibrary/ Holds extensive historical collection of feminist publications (UK based)
http://www.wcml.org.uk/ Working Class Movement Library (UK based)
http://libcom.org/ Online libertarian resource and community. Includes good historical and archive sections.
http://www.56a.org.uk/ 56a Infoshop. London Radical Social Centre. Houses substantial archive.
http://www.housmans.com/ London radical booksellers since 1945
http://www.freedompress.org.uk/public/news.oml.html Freedom Press. Anarchist bookshop and publisher. London.
http://www.grassrootsfeminism.net Contains ongoing transnational feminist archive
http://www.footprinters.co.uk Leeds-based workers co-operative printshop
http://justseeds.org Justseeds/Visual Resistance Artists' Cooperative
http://www.inkworkspress.org/ U.S based Radical Printshop started in 1974. Poster archive on site
http://www.docspopuli.org/Archives.html 'dedicated to documenting and publishing oppositional artwork of the late 20th century'

radical service printers

community printshops

poster collectives

resources

external links

discussion