The Russian Anarchists and Dissidents in East London from 1890-1910

A story of immigrant politics and anarchists, where the long grasp of Lenin, Bolsheviks and shadowy underworld were de rigeur.

Join us for an evening with Clive Bloom (Emeritus Professor of English and American Studies of Middlesex University), best-selling author and publisher, as he leads us through the shadowy sub-culture of Russian anarchists and dissidents living in the East of London from 1890 to 1910.

On a freezing day in January 1909, two Jewish, Latvian anarcho-communists - Paul Hefeld and Jacob Lapidus - attempted a wages snatch in Tottenham. They failed, and in the pursuit that followed - which became the longest chase in British history - the two armed robbers killed a policeman and a child and wounded several others. This was the Tottenham Outrage, the crime that shocked Edwardian Britain.

A year goes by. The Tottenham anarchists were connected to another group of revolutionaries called 'The Flame', hiding in the East End.

They too attempted a robbery in Houndsditch in December 1910, but are rumbled. The police begin a roundup, looking also for the enigmatic 'Peter the Painter'. The round up catches most of the gang who live in seedy rooms in the ghetto of the East End.

Three of the gang vanished but two are traced to 100 Sidney Street. The most famous gunfight in British history ensues with Winston Churchill present.

This is the story of a lost world of immigrant politics, anarchists, Yiddish theatres, two old kosher restaurants called Cohen's and The Warsaw, where most of the meetings and plottings took place, of the long grasp of Lenin and the Bolsheviks and of an underworld where guns and molls were de rigeur and not one character in the drama (including Morris's barrister) are quite what they seem, and no one uses their real name.

Register to tell a friend about this lecture.

Comments

If you would like to comment about this lecture, please register here.

©2003-2006 Niminim Limited. Created by

Any ad revenue is entirely reinvested into the Lecture List's operating fund