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Set the people free: the opposition to ID cards in North London, 1950 (and 2006). David King. Past Tense. 14 pages.
Identity cards were introduced into Britain during the First World War. The government was purely interested in how many men were still available for recruitment. Under the National Registration Bill, introduced in July 1915, personal information on the adult population was compiled in local registers. One the War Cabinet discovered how many men were still available for national service, politicians’ interest in National Registration waned. By July 1919 the register was abandoned. During the Second World War ID cards and a national register were brought in under the National Registration Act of 1939. Failure to produce a card when asked by a policeman would result in fines or 3 months in prison. The police demanded to see ID cards as a routine event. As C.H. Rolph, an ex-policeman, noted:
"The police who had by now got used to the exhilarating new belief that they could get anyone’s name and address for the asking. If you picked up a fountain pen in the street and handed it to a constable, he would ask to see your identity card ... you seldom carried it, and this meant that he had to give you a little penciled slip requiring you to produce it at a police station within two days."
In a debate in the Commons in 1947 it was pointed out that 20,000 deserters were at large. Despite not having ID cards they were able to obtain food and clothing (rationing was still in place) and so ID cards were of little value. Clarence Willcock, a Liberal, was stopped by police whilst driving and asked to produce his ID card. He refused and then refused to produce it at a police station within 2 days. He was fined thirty shillings. He then appealed and the case was taken to High Court. It was ruled that whilst the appeal was dismissed, no costs would be given against the appellant. Willcock then started a campaign against ID cards. They were withdrawn in 1952. Willcock’s campaign had only a marginal effect on withdrawal, but they did affect the statistics for police arrests and prosecution over ID cards as figures fell, with police becoming more reluctant to prosecute if there were appeals.
This pamphlet examines this history and how ID cards could be resisted in the future. The Government has learnt from the past and realised that the only way that people will keep cards is if they are linked to something they need. WW2 cards were tied to rationing and now the Government is linking it to passports, and are considering linking it to the DVLA vehicle licensing database and using automatic number plate recognition. Plus the police have already tested mobile fingerprinting technology.
“A shabby London suburb”: a walk around the working class and radical history of Hammersmith. Past Tense. 18 pages.
A guided walk around Hammersmith and its radical history. William Morris, the anarchist tailor James Tochatti, the New Model Army agitators, the Levellers, Lucy Parsons - they’re all in this little pamphlet.
Reds on the Green: A short tour of Clerkenwell radicalism. Written by Fagin. Past Tense. £2.00. 72 pages.
And on to Clerkenwell with a more substantial pamphlet. A fascinating tour, featuring Wat Tyler and the Peasants’ Revolt, the notorious rookeries (slums), the London Mob, the master thief Jack Sheppard, the Gordon riots, the Chartists, the Fenians, Lenin, the anarchists Dan Chatterton and Guy Aldred. An enthralling and well illustrated history of the district.
The Communist Club. Keith Scholey. Past Tense. 20 pages.
The Communist Club was founded by German émigrés in London in 1840. It played an important role in the radical politics of London and Europe during the mid to late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It linked Chartism, utopian socialism, the First International, early anarchism, and the first Marxist groups in Britain. Its fascinating story is told in this little pamphlet. The anarchists Frank Kitz, John Neve, Johann Most and Errico Malatesta feature in its history.