UC27 April-May 1978 by Christopher Squire

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Undercurrents 27 May-April 1978 Contents

1 Eddies 6 Readers’ Letters 9 What’s On/What’s What 10 Soft Energy-Hard Politics - Brian Martin 14 Fast Breeder - Dave Elliott 16 Small Tools for Small Farms - Herbie Girardet 18 Counter Measures - Jan Huss 20 Dirty Work in Denbigh - Simon Watt 22 Freewheeling - Philip Brachi 24 Opportunity Docks - Jane Bryant 26 Compost Cares - Sue Stickland 27 Whole Lotta’ Shakin’ - Nigel Cross 31 The Food, the Whole Food ... - Lizzie, Paula and Woof 33 Micro is Beautiful - John Garrett and Geoff Wright 36 You makes yer own . . - Rain magazine 38 . . or You Pays Yer Money - Brenda Vale 39 Finiston’s Follies - Simon Watt 40 In The Making 41 Book Reviews 47 Small Ads 48 ‘Monthly blurb’ and Subscription Form ______________________________________________________ Undercurrents is published every two months by Undercurrents Ltd, a democratic non-profit company limited by guarantee. ISSN 0306 2392. Printed by Prestagate, 10 Kennet Street, Reading, Berkshire. EDITORIAL OFFICE: 27 Clerkenwell Close, London EC1R OAT SUBSCRIPTION DEPT: 12 South St., Uley, Dursley, Glos. CONTACT: The phone number of the editorial office is 01-253 7303. If there is no-one there (and there often isn’t), try ringing 01-261 6774 during working hours and asking for Chris Hutton Squire. WRITTEN CONTRIBUTIONS: Undercurrents delights in unsolicited offerings, and prints a very large proportion of those received, in line with our aim of being an open forum for alternative ideas. If possible, things sent to us should be typed, double-spaced, on just one side of the paper, with wide margins on each side. PERSONNEL: People responsible for Undercurrents include Barbara Kern, Chris Hutton Squire, Dave Elliott, Dave Kanner, Dave Smith, Duncan Campbell, Godfrey Boyle, Herbie Girardet, John Southgate, Joyce Evans, Martin Ince, Martyn Partridge, Pat Coyne, Pete Glass, Peter Bonnici, Peter Cockerton, Richard Elen, Rosemary Randall, Sally Boyle, Tony Durham and Vicky Hutchings. There are also dozens of other folk who help out here and there, and whose only reward is anonymity. Many thanks to them all. EDITORIAL MEETINGS: The magazine is cooked up at weekly meetings at the editorial office on Wednesday evenings at 7. Anyone who would like to get mixed up with the thing is welcome to come along, COPYRIGHT: The entire contents of Undercurrents from the merest pen-line right down to the last semi-colon, is the joint copyright of the respective authors and Undercurrents Ltd. Permission to reprint will be joyfully given to non-commercial folk who apply in writing, and sold to anyone else. DISTRIBUTION: British Isles: Publications Distribution Co-op, 27 Clerkenwell Close, London EC1R OAT. Telephone 01-251 4976 . United States: Carrier Pigeon, 88 Fisher Ave., Boston, Mass 02120. Telephone (617) 4459380 Australia: Book People of Australia, 590 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne 3000. Telephone 679 249. France: Librairie Alternative, 36 Rue des Bourdonnais, 75001 Paris. Telephone 223 0840. Holland: Bas Moreel, Nobelweg 108, Wageningen, BTW Kode 13/60241. West Germany and Austria: Pro Media, 1 Berlin 36, Postfach 162. Telephone (030) 618 1258. Eire: Frank Bambrick, 120 Stannaway Rd., Dublin 12. Telephone 508 293. Rest of the World: Please address all business enquiries to Chris Hutton Squire at our editorial office. ______________________________________________________

Published bv Undercurrents Limited. 27 Clerkenwell Close. London ECl R OAT.

SCRAM to Torness McNee hits FOE Official Secrets Christiania

Sun sellers Bredbo Fest~vdl AT academ OlJ programm~

SCOTS TO RESIST SCRAM (the Scottish Campaign to Resist the Atomic Menace) is organising what could be Britain's first large demonstration against a nuclear power plant. The rally wheduled for May 6th and 7th aims to demonstrate the *ength of opposition to the proposal to build an Advanced Gss-cooled Reactor at Torness, 30 miles east of Edinburgh. F'eople will gather at midday on Saturday May 6th at Dunbar md then march t o Torn-, where ICEIWsite is aveilabla. A 'Corn*'-styled AT festival is then planned, wi* talks and display6 on nuclear power, alternativa t e c h n o l w and anti-nuclear tactics. Bath Civil Aid is to provide food, but obviously participants should bring their own supplies, tents and aquipimnt. t is hoped that the site can be eft, after the rally, i n a better condition than when the d a m n stratom arrived, with the beach cleaned, local stone walk rapairKIand all litter removed. Tha vpropriate slwan is: 'Wa left this site clean and &a, an i w ~that t it stays that way

The rally will be prec >tanningmeeting f jaturdey April 1st Sundw April 2nd, Edinburgh off ice. to attend are aske SCRAM. The meeting is regarded as crucial if the demonstraTion is to be a success. A large action of this sort obviously needs co-ordination. I f the demonstration itself is to reflect

the values of the anti-nuclear movement (and by contrast expose the values of thme who are proposing nuclear p o w ) i t must be democratic, selforganising, peaceful and not damage the environment.

FOCUS No con s yet started point in maintaining a full 'citizens' occupation' of the site. The idea is, rather, to show by a massive peaceful ratty that, if constmction were t o start, opposition would be immdiate and effective. In which case it i s vitat'for a larger number of eople to turn out. Feeling inst nuclear p m r is increas' Scotland - witoess the emonstrations against um mining in the Orkneys, waste disposal at Loch n, Galloway. The Torness onstration will also be a cus for ttqe nuclear opposk n all over Britain. SCRAM o t take the mem fact of i n southern England as cuse for a k n c e . irks: SCRAM, 2a. A i d i a Edinburgh 3, Scotland. 31-225 7752 (daytime).

Dangerous chamical mixtures facility. Hot liquid sodium circup l w d a pert in two incidents lates through Dounreay's fast British nuclear plants during the breeder reactors, and it appears rim of 1977. A t Windscale on that some had solidified and rek &ril, plutonium contarnine h a i n i d attach& to disca,ded ion was blown into a laboratow reactor components, ~ b a rreaction between pbtoniBoth incidents appear t o have um nitrate and carbon powdar i n been 'whumohs' racher than a sealad handling facility. The con'bangs'. No one was seriously intamination esmped after a 'presjured in either, and radioactive con. ure rise' had blown a plastic tamination was not serious. uasta container off one of the The firework industry sets a sealed facility's outlets. As has , good example by building its been known sin- the discovarv plants so that chlorate and sbld gunpowde,, mixtures hf meial phur never meet. BNFL, hownitrates and carbon powdar are ever. oermined a careless experiviolently inflammable, though me"t'with a mixture approx.imahay do not usually exploda unless ting to radioactive gunpowder. lacked into a confined space. And UKAEA chucked out the At Dounreay, on TO May 1977 schoolboy prankster's favourife L reaction between water and 2.5 water-sensitive material in a damp :g of sodium lifted the concrete radioactive rubbish bin. ,overs off a solid waste disposal

Front ban hits FOE march Friends of the Earth's 'Stop Windscale' demonstration has been postponed to Saturday 29th April, following the two-month ban on marches in London. The ban was imposed under the Public Order Act of 1936, by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Davit McNee, and came into effect a 6 a.m. on Friday 22n1 February. Its avowed aim .was to stop the National Front marching through llford on the following day, but among the other casualities of the ban was the march from Speakers Corner to Trafalgar a u a r e which Friends of the Earth had planned for Sunday 19th March. was fought, at a cost of Â£50,00 The FOE march, expectad to at the Whitehaven inquiry last draw up m 10,000 supporters, year. FOE then followed through uas rapidly moved t o tha first with a three-pronged attack, pub date on which Trafelqar Square uould be availeble after the 6nd lishing a book*,pushing (through MPs and the press) for publicatic af the ban. The sevenweek postDonament han put FOE'SLondon of the Parker inquiry report bemarch uncomfortably closa m fore any Government decision, this spring's other major antiand organizing the London demc nuclear damonstration, which will stration as an indication of the t&a place at Torn- in wutharn strength of public opinion. Scotland on tha very next weekTransport and publicity plans end. were shattered by McNee's edict. The Sconish Campaign to FOE had already printed posters Resist the Atomic Menace and leaflets for March lgth, (SCRAM], organizer of the Torand special trains and coaches ness protest, fears that some had been laid on from all over people who would otherwise have &itain. attended both demonstrations may The march, on its n m date not 'now turn out two weekends of April 29th, wiil aswmble at running. And SCRAM members Speakers Corner, Hyde Park at are likely to be too busy with 12 noon, departing towards Tratheir own last-minute arrangefalgar Square at 12.30. ments to travel down t o London For further information confor the FOE march, though tact FOE, 9 Poland Street, Lord< SCRAM is on the list of twenty W l V 3DG (tel: 01.4% 16641, organizations which support iC or local FOE groum and anti-nuThe demonstration i s Part of cl-r o~anizations. FOE'Scontinuing campaign against, British Nuclear Fuels' plans for a What choice Windscale? by big new oxide fuel reprocessing Qech Conroy. Friends of the plant, known as THORP, at Wind- , ' ~ a r t h ,Â£1.00 scale in Cumbria. The first stage

1 hBCBirthdayDemo I

AT Academy

Wnday Feb 19th was the first ~niwemryof the arrest of Crispin Barry and Buncan d l 1 on charges undm x t i o m 1 & 2 of the micia1 wets Act. To oelebmte the -aon a 1'birthday cake* wm mared -retad with a single mdk m the shape of J well ncun Prohibitwd Official Tower. Some live hundred eager partipants then set off on a grand Bur, handing out slices of the cake : various secret governmnt ffices. After passang Euston o w r , home of the Post Office ~vestigationBranch, the first ice was cut at 140 Gower St, here MI5 and MI6 have a joint ifice. This showed the cake to be as npty as Merlyn Rees' promise to veal Section 1 of the Act. The column then moved on to R dd , ,m and swallow": AEC campaign's 'birthday cake'. ~ MI5 ~~ ~~ ~" ~ . m~isa post office T Jarters In Curzon St. Ministw f Defence Headquarters, New totland Yard, and finally the a mesage w%u ome Offt~e,~where )toned lnto the external microhones. Throughout the march bemused fstanders were bombarded with An early autumn trial date aflets and runnlng commentafv .The ABC W e n = Committee hm been fixed f o r journalist# om a loudspeaker van, explainhas set up a permanent office in C r i i i n Aubrey end Duncan lg what was go~ng-on. lime Out% prem~ssat 374 Campbell, and ex-soldier John In splte of the rapweek Grays Inn Road, London WCI Brry, ell thma chargad under mosphere, the march had a (tel: 01-278 2377 ext. 236 ~r eadly serious purpose. John the Official Swats Act. Tha 2421. The office has been busy thrw are due t o appear at the erfv and Duncan Campbell face prciducin~a newlettar, m d a Old Bailey on 5th Saptember, ossible 14 year 1a1I sentences new leaflet called 77aese am tfte more than 18 months after *SY w no reason but the establishOfficial which ses out amstad at Brry's f l a t As mnt's sensit~vityto criticism. ihe ~nfarmat~on revealed in corneders can add weight to the a condition of bail, all three mittal prweediqgs in Nwsmber still haw t o report daily t o a rotest by wr~tingto Merlyn Rees 1977. t tne Home Off~ce. m1iw.stMion. U ~ WJohn .

Trial Date Fixed

Benefit Concert

Sunshine Superlamp

A benefit concart for the Comm~m will feature the jazzrock band Swift, hishty praised

Tha Centre for Alternative I n d W i a I and Techndogical Wstems. mi UP by the Lucm Am space Cbmbina Shop Stewards in wnjunction with North East Lon don Polytechnic, wns formally launched at a press conference in London on Februaw 7th. Projects currently fiderway Include an attempt t o asses the market potential of some of the products propwed in the orig~nal corporate Plan - for example thc heat pump and the kidney machine. I n the two years since the publication of the plan the market situation has changed enormously, and many of the alternative energy products proposed i n the Plan are now being given serious consuierat~onby the government and by industrial ists both in the UK and else where. It i s hoped to produce a Mark 2 version of the Corporate Plan, updatlng and extending the proposals. At the same time the Centre is werking on a tietafled analysis of the viabilitv of 'alterne tive Industrial stiategyr with the emphasis on labour-intens~ve production des~gnedt o avoid structural unemployment. These various projec* - and the Centre's pIm6 fw prototype develo~ment- will prov~de valuable support to the CoMfne Camminee i n its fight against redundancies. Student pro!ects and reseatth bV Faculty Stdf Should ensure that CAITS h o m e %a major resource centre fnr the theow and.practice of 'socially usefulc production.

h ,

3%Dissent

i g o l two by m other l d rna~or ~ Maker, obands. PIUS ~robabty ttes on c B'intejtactwt -UII~European ~ i t ein h thirtv isin IUI. ~Iinstiom'', if wa ar* t o beliew a Sunday 2nd Apt3 at 8.30 p m at Solar energy m a r c h h 6 proand Technolwv, in practice they D~ngwall's,Camden LockEuropean Connnbion poll of op- taste Only 400 hours. lnw~tablv m d a mom $fi*e-nt electric inion i n nine w u n t r k . The poll, London NWl. Ticksta ar%Cl&Q, *t bulb. The bulb is lined with the bra-Test I ~ T WIII Pcost S more or f1.W for cIalman& a i d t o explore public attitudss film which trahsmie vislkle light than ordinary ones. 'Spy-equipment* prizes are t o scienw, found a widespread anreflects back infra-ra rad3aW ~ I enough, V M.I.T. and Duro- offered in the Comm~ttee's w n w m w whish took i n two out Test seem to have followed the an. The film wa6 ori@nally deof three Europeans. The wnsansu raffle. T~cketsat 2Cp each, or same path as the P h ~ l ~ ~ s m m ~ a nthree v by the Massachu~~tts 4-d for 5@, get you the @ante view was that %knee, though psIn Europe, kt in the reverse dirstitute of Technology t o impm win (f~rstpr~ze)a radiolwssette mntially danmus, is one of tha %tion- Philips already Use infr* we the efficiency of solar e n e w morddr, (Znd pr~ze)a pair of most important factom in the red-refle~tiw m t i n g s fn Some of ~llactors,But-it-he now b w n binoculars. (3rd ~ r i z eal camera i m ~ r w a m nof t dailv life: there e d t o US lamp manufactuhear discharge lamps. As part of or (4th prize1 a iear'i subscrip many good thin& I& t o be r Duro-TestCar~oratiion.h m p s r their exper~mentalsolar house tion to lim Out. The draw will dimovered in science, the consonat Aachen<West Germany, they m t e d on the i@& with the film be held at the concert on 2nd 'sus holds, and in particular, it used solar collectors consisting of B daimed t o give as much li@t help t o improve life in d a d o >z silica tublog treated w ~ t h a coating astandard 1 W bulb, while wntriez. Europaam, i n other develwed from the one that they IIV wtuuming 4 W . Such a rds, lave xionce. already used in t b i r lamps, np would be almost ns acofio-=a a w e n ' d i i n t ' groups w m The ABC Defence Campaign is k!&at the Ph111ps and Duro-Test tcal as a f t u o m m t lamp. But i&,tif&, w k d b n from ~ thi plennlng a very full set of events processes have In common is that W W be ~ frea from the flicker view. mrw mntof *a g e m between now and the steft of the they employ advanced technology d peculiar cdour effects which p p l e mllad fell *to that d i i m trial. The t ~ m t a b l eIS not-yet finaltar many y w l e f w p . u s ~ f l u & g Wand the reach of d-i-y enthutim g m p - r i W ns 'intallised so that the best Ideato write . -SIB-. No one has yet develwed ~ents. mek with ecolwiml inolinatbd. % esimple solution whlch will double to them at Tlme Out for details. m i s group is mid t o be the most E l WLIIbrtng you evew Issue of the the efficrency of 11ghtbulbs or The new Duro-Test lamp ISWIU&W to a a p t that s i e n w is cempalgn newsletter &tween now solar cOllectors if painted on the m t e d to be on sile In the USA the most imortant - - +=tot ---- in im. and the opentng of tral. uuiside - but there seems no ring 1979..lt lssald that twill p r o ~ i n i d a i Glife. The EC repon The campaign IS alsv, like the #e a lrfe of at least 2 5 M hows, reason why lt should not be w s this group is wmposad main1 utvalent t o over 3 mpnths con-. -,.done, given tlme and research. Anrest of us.very short of money; of males, living in twm, who h a uous use~Qr&qarv l a m p s ~ ~ - ~ ,-other % more lmmed~ateposs~bil~ty even Undercurtanis has chipped had hinhmr aducatian - . -.- and - - are - In, and any ~ndlv~duals or groups would be to dwse a way of re~fmedt o f i s f ~ u r by s the sGong-opinion leaders. The other Ilke TU branches who cgn do the lnufacturers, but hccordlng t o cvcl~ngold, coated lamps as comd d n t i n g groups were c o m p d same can be sure that thelr money dence glven to the Pari~amenponents of hlgh-efflciency solar &*fly of elderlv oeode with WIII be well went, v Select Comm~tteeon Sclence collectors. only primary du&tion.

-:-.

10,000 at Alternative festival .The spirit of W00dsto~klives on - in Australia. E3ettv-n Christmas and the New Year about 10,000 of Austratia's Down to Earth movement folJowers celebrated the festive season with a Festival for Alternatives, near B m d h some fifW four miles south of +he Federal capital, Canberra. .ester de Adorjany reports from New South Wales

jects was a large k~tcnenleat~ng c o m heat, and -insplex that was built from a pine -There w a ~ dust everywhere+o@nt-33 log framework and packing cases -&ring the scattered gum t* that were given to the altern* every time a car drove dowq -it rose up in c~oudsfilling tha tive community by automotive firms. This bullding was erected ~mpwnding this there ws We *, usual Austranan problemef f h in less than ten days and even while it was under construction and the river water was undrfnF ' it was producing three meals daily able. As a result a few c a m of dyfor the 10,000 pecple at a cost of sentery broke out* as wall a s w e ulcers, and on the fimt offiiiaf day sixty cents each. .of the festival a serious snake bite Initla1 funding for thege protive and mntralictory because it miswa the third fativa iects came from a SA60,OOO loan, was reported, is alienat&", he said. "Alien~nAustralia. Tho first two were personally guaranteed by ation is the &SIC soc~alillness of ,held at N i i b i n i n 1973 and at Ca~rnsin order tofloat the festiF u ~ I EC~mmullitj' the scientiftc, industrial society, c~mr wwer in1976. val. Subs%uently this was repaved because it has concentrated on the teir s u ~ this , yew's fmtival despite them dr b~ funds that came partly from a ProdUCtFon of things and has for30k p l m m a 2,770 ww farm hks, by the New year the $A10 per perwn mistration fee. gotten the necessity for personal which w a I d wi* an option was sufficiently tm*er to hd6 growth and for supportive co-op?o buy for fJ~eputposo o f b t a b t i i mcst of these problem. When the erative human relvtims. There h a Ink a permanent almrnatiw a m Work&@ps time c a m to discuss the future of never been a w x ~ e l yin recorded unity smlement. the festival site i t was decided to g the ,jaily const. history in which people-have ln A key organiser was Dr Jim @he& and purchase the land for mction activities there were dismtrns. Australia's last ~ e p u t y - ~ c i m ebeen more alienated from one develcping an alternative commun cussion groups, craft denionstra. Prime Minister, who r*igned --->*another." . pions, mud-bri~k buildins meditaiw settlement. Althou~lhS O W PLX --fahthe Labour Party in August 2- -- -.,>a P1efelt that the PrwerW Was ii~n~classes and 6oft t e ~ h o o l g i , 977 after a stormy politkcal a -% , constficted @;&-i&t harsh and dry, Dr Cairns and a fw as.be11 as workshops In organic ireer. Dr Cairns M s become Among the other 10,000 at the others argued that the land could nutrition and films on . deeply inwlved in alternatives festival there were people of alf be restored by the ~ n t r o d u c tof i~ issues such as the present wer the Past years and was ages and walks of life including ej , iw dprol r , , , . variws , of whales.. Keylinedamming (a system of stor *he princinal at the 1976 +essionalsand other nine-to-five D ~ ~featured ~ ~guest~speakers ~ I ing o raln ~ water ~ in the so11~tselfl, otter R~verfest~val.He has retypes as well as the usual "Bigperma-culture agr~culture,a - from overseas such as stephen G ~ ~ and . cted h e notion of rvresentaBat'' dropouts, l f nothing else - ~ * t e mof mixed Cropping advwkin, whoofleads en alternative comve demOCraCY.and beriev= " this reveals a diverse and growing munity ,,QW ted by BIII Mollison from the Ur T~~~~~~~~ Iat hand Over Power Interat in alternatives in this versity of Tasmania. pro~osa!sw call& The Farm. Gaskin discussed Isomeoneelse is to hand over country. And because lt was a put forward to develop the WI The Farm's schools, health centres, '~0nsibjIlW for control of Your . do-~t-yourselffestlval i t was interand as a site for future festivals, as a par7 esting to see such contrasting pecple dairy small p u scale b l i ~ iindustry w ) ,citing(soy them conference site, and as the possiblc @nlire. He now cipatow demOcracGIn the future healing village working side by side to build every~ project. ~ dhomeb of a ~ examplesfop the ~ ~arpeopleWIII learn to take resalong the lines of the one that thing from the start, including $he1. There was music from local Snsib~lityfor their lives themwrang UP along the bank of a rive1 ters for eatingand sleeping, geofolk md pw groups. ~h~~~were mlves, imteed of rely~ngon im with masseurs, iridolwisB, and desic dpmes, totlets and water also mimes, roaming drama groups ?rsonal,dlstant bureaucracies. =upuncturists. llnes. All these facllitles were donand stalls providing everything alking about this Dr Cairns ex. stfucted literally overn~ghtby who. from wholemeal b~scuits to inforthat theconcept Of -1- ever fell J~keparti~~pating. ArchmatIan on drugs. lternanve Society came to h 1 m ~ ~ 4 Geslgned % - ~ ~rhe~buildings ~ on , The festival did have some low hen he found he could no ~ o n w r - ~and , then i ~ volunteers ~ ~ ~ ~- ~ points like the harsh conditions af lke the 'OndltlOns men women and children - assisthe surrounding countryside, the fi. *d ted UI the actual building process. Is *If - The most prominent of these pro-

,,&

ion group at Br*

festival.

1 in trouble. Financial crises h a hit two of France's ecological magazim& Ecologie, established in June 197i was closed down at the end of 1977 after 11 irrwularlv-timd issues. The mwazke never recow ered financially after a blunder which left it mmporarilv without the tax and ~ o s t aadvanw l ges normally allowed t o parwdicats in France. However, the p u b lishing collective APRE will mn. 1 tinue t o ~roducetheir weeklv bulletin Ecolog~e-hebdo from their base i n Montargis, 100 k m wuth of Paris. h o t h e r magazine, ie Ponc appealed to its readen in January t o help raise 50,000F t o pay ursent bilk. Le h n t has a circul& tlon of 5000 and hoped t o raise money from donations, new sub. scriptions, fresh subscriptions from lapsad subscribers, and sales of back numbers. This is *e second appeal for money in tbu magazine's two years of existence The plan was t o re-launch the magazine with a number of improvements, including a scheme for regional readam' meetings, %t we do not vat know w h & w 1 Le P m t has survived.

wmmm--m

ng reprieves Christiania

O n February 8 the Danish parliament voted t o allow he Free C i t y of Christiania, Europe's largest collective ,ommunity,to continue f o r at least another t w o years. -he decision came a week after t h e Danish Supreme :ourt ordered the I000 residents o f Christiania t o imnediately leave the 40 acre site, an abandoned military George Wood reports. It was in 1971 that hundreds sf homeless Danes, mostly young eople, occupied the former army #as,naming their new home Christania. after the Christianshavn Bction of Copenhagen i n which I was located. Christiania was 'rganized as an anarchist comiunity, an alternative t o the inustrialized and impersonalized lanish welfare state. Automobiles #erebanned, along with hard drugs. bt soft druas like hashish were penlv sold.-dogs ran free, and the rass grew back around the central

....

The occupation deeply polaried Danish societv. The Defence 4inister called i t "worse than i e worst slum", and other Danes omplained about the free sale of ashish, the clutter of rubbish round the area, and the ElO0,OOO lectricity bill run up by the resi. ents of Christiania over the years,

Micism Much of the criticism could be ~ m m e dup in comments of a Por. Jguese member of a Swedish lm team visiting the site: "I was rought up In a gypsy camp in pain. I t beats me why anyone ~ o u l dwant t o exchange a modrn, comfortable apartment w ~ t h ot runntng water for a tumble. own shack or rusting carava"," Christiania's supporters strongly efend the alternative society they BY they are building. Valiant (most !sidents of Christiania go without 1st names) explained why he pre. !rred living with seven other eople in a large room in Christiiia to life outside: "This i s my way of life. I like >have friends around me, I don't link I can do much by myself, ~t w h m we are rnany people living >gether,with a good relationship, !en we can do a lot together. I l u l d never live like this outside."

The Junk here is Natural" Valiant also defended Christiiia against complaints about the utter; "In the society outside things e verv streamlined and look verv ean, but tney aren't because t h i y e pooson ng the water, poNsonang e earth, po'son~ngthe vegetab es, ~isoningthe p e w l e who work in e factories, making everybody >k and ruining everybody's fes. But i t looks very streamled and it looks very clean "Here, things look messy. What !ople don't realize is that this big le of junk over there, that's iron e're collecting t o be sold. And is big pile ~f iunk over here,

that's wood for our fireplaces, A lot of the junk out here is really natural, and nobody gets sick from it. It's lust not cleaned uo vet. We're work ng very hard here, and we can't fdn around and polish Chr~stsannafor evew tourist. I f they want t o see h o k nice i t is then they have t o come and look for something other than dirt." Reprieved: the Free City of Christiania.

Off Hard Drugs While critics denouce the free sale of soft drugs In C h r ~ s t ~ a n ~ a , they have to admat one th,ng the free city has been highly successful in helping people get off hard drugs. Take John, for example: "I was doing speed and morphine, and LSD, and I was selling hash here in Christiania, But I liked the ideas behind Christiania. I stopped dealing and using drugs and switched t o meditation. Meditation gives me more life," The freedom and understand. ing within Christiania has helped people get off drugs when the state institutions have failed, Valiant and his friend Leonard have fixed up a building with a flea market, painting studio, and a theatre, t o give people trying t o get off drugs something constructive t o do. "In rnany people's opinion," Valiant told me, "the institutions are absolutely helpless t o help drug addicts. Leonard and other people here have had much better results. "The girl who is living w i t h us now has tried 14 times t o get off drugs, without success. She's come here and Christiania has developed answers through our practical way of life that we can offer her help, This time she believes she's going t o make it."

Court Ruling Results like that were enough t o convince the Danish Social Democratic government in 1973 t o recognize Christiania as a social experi. ment for three years. Before the three years period ran out, the inhabitants of the Free City filed a suit in the Danish courts challeng. ing the right of the city of Copen. hagen t o move them out and build long-planned luxury apartments. The case came t o an end on February 2, when the court ruled that the inhabitants of Christiania had no legal right t o be there. But the court said i t was up t o the Danish parliament, the Folketing, t o weigh the human and social considerations, After a five hour debate on February 8, the Folketing

voted t o allow the residents of Christiania t o remain in their homes until the city of Copenhagen can draw up a development plan for the area, which is expected t o take two or three years t o corn.

olete. The liberais.and conserva. . tives had tried t o force the inabitants out immediately, b u t the ruling Social Democrats, aided by the Leftist Socialists, carried the day, 89 votes t o 71. ~

Home testsfor Lucas heat pump Corroboration for the Lucas forget the question of diversifiworkers' .orooosals for heat oumo cation, One steward was warned . production came recently f r k m ' that the company 'will not tolerthe Department of Energy. An of. ate him bringing about social ficial report on Heat Pumps, pro. change in Lucas'. duced bv the Enerav Technoloav The company is also in the S u p p o r ~ ~ n ipoin-ied t, out that-' throes of a major re-organisation, insufficient attention had been following the appointment of a nf given t o this technology. There General Manager, who has intimai was a large potential market in ed that significant cuts in the wor the domestic sector - where heat force would be desirable. Once pumps could be used for space the shop stewar again it looks l ~ k e heating. Particular emphasis should will have t o fight off another rebe placed on natural gas powered dundancy threat. units. This is exactly what the Lucas workers' Alternative Corporate Plan sa~dtwo years ago. The heat pump prototype project, w h ~ c h followed pressure b y shop stewards at the Burnley site, is nearing corn. pletion and two units based on a modified diesel engine - will shortly be handed over t o the Energy Reserach Group at the Open University, for installation Over 8,500 people i n Croydot and testing i n council houses i n have just declared they w i l l no Milton Keynes. longer buy sparrn-oil treated I f the tests are successful. then leathers, report Croydon Friends LUCB~ maior orders could follow - --.-of the Earth. This, they p o i n t have est.mated that mere could be out, gives the lie t o the British a E200m mafket an tne EEC alone Leather Federation's claim that Whether the company will beentithe public are "demanding the ced t o diversify into this area, resperm-oil-treated leathers". And mains t o be seen. they call for a complete ban on Some Lucas shop stewards feel all whale product imports t o the that the company will be prepared UK, similar t o the ban already t o ignore this market, rather than imposed b y the USA i n 1971. be seen t o yield t o s h q floor presFriends of the Earth publish a sures. This belief is reinforced b y list of items known t o contain recent developments at Lucas whale products, and others know where activists involved w i t h the t o be whale-free; (sac t o FOE Ltd campaign have been told by the 9 toland Street, London W l V company, none too discreetly, t o 3DGt.

Sperm ascetics

ies

Sun grants ploy,

ATonTV

Industrial laundry and dry-cleaning equipment has for forty years been the business of Neil and Spencer Holdings Ltd. Now the 600-employee firm, hardly a household name, is making a bid to become the leader in the UK domestic solar heating market. An ingenious in practice unlikely to cost the firm a penny offer could hire many householders away from smaller cornpanies unable to offer competing terms. The vital lever in this commercial ploy is the government's indecision over grants for solar heating.

A SERIES of TV and radio proyninw. covering many of the

for a government grant announcement. The offer was intended to coax those supposed cue tomem into the market It also created a strong incentive t o buy from Spencer rather than from any of the eighty-odd other firms now offering solar installations. Most of the other firms art small, and Jeffrey o~rftenext34yw. Townslay it aware that ifhis 'Spanmr Sohrii intends to be market offensive is successful number one in t b i ~ busimaf mid it may drive many of them Mneral manxwr M r a y Townout of business. He has little ky. Total UK u4n of domestic sympathy for the 'ccowbws' solar water heating Â¥yitmw*ra unning, in 1977, at about 4000 and 'flybynights' in the business, whom ha accuses of units, worth about Â£ million. OW installations, and excesSofioftncw Sotarixa atone horns > i claims of performance. As to crt! t w - w many ~ syftek for the good small firms (and par year as all other companies do at present. some, surely, are competent , and conscientious) Townsley I n an effort t o attract says they 'must look after business immediately, in January themselves'. the firm offered buyers a The system offered by chance t o act their system halfSoencer Solarise uses Alcoa orice. It works like this. The aluminium panels, and stainless Parliamentary Select Committee steefpipework (said t o be as on Science and Technology has cheao as cooper) for the oilrecommended arants of UD to filled pricircuit. The 50% toward* the cost of domespanels are inglass-fronted. tic solar water heating systems, galvanised steel casings, and but so far no such grants have i r e designed to be fixed on been announced. lfgrants are existing roofs. Systems will announced before March 31st. be installed by local franchised and if they are not made waildealers. A Â£70 four-panel able retrospectively, the offer system is claimed to be capable comes into play. Spencer of saving 1600-2400 k w h per Sotarise themselves offered t o year. By taking electricity as the reimburse customers for the comW?'non fuel and assuming grants'they had missed by buyits price will rise 15% per year jog 1oa.soon. They combined the firm calculates that the, . this with an offer of cut insulation. could 'pay for itself in - ssystem he or seven years. But the sums The company believe* . would not look so good if the potential customers have -w cornParison were gas and relatll delayed buying solar units ly stable prices were assumed. because they wanted t o wfcESwmst-9

The latter are the times we list here.

rosed i n Undercurrents over the pt few y e w will be hitting the urnusmeting B r i i public over the next few month] or at hast, those of them who on get up at 6.00 am on a Monday to listen to the radio, or 6.40 am on a Tuaday to watch the telly. If5 lucky for the lazier souls amongst us that

Th* firm's subsidiary Spencer Solariw has been tmt marketing solar watw heating systems i n louthorn England <inc> April 1977. TWO hundred lyromi were installed btwwn thm & Jan* ry 1978. Now, with a full-mle marketing effort, Spencer SoteriM hopÃ to Mil 30-40,000 lyiteim

>,;'

a t much more civilised times.

The programmes, which go out at &ghly month y intervals. form part of the Open Un~vers.ty's new 'Control of Technology' course. I n fact, the first Brogramme has already been shown it was about Friends of the Earth and their activities during the Windscale Enquiry. (If you mis ed it, it'll be shown again next year when the course is re-run I. The titles, dates and timings of some of the other TV and Radio programmes are shown in this table.

TELEVISION IBBC2)

firogramme 77th Drugs: the induÃ§trand the regulators Nuclear Opposition in the USA.1: legal intervention Nuelmr Opposition in the USA 2: direct action at Seabrook Protecting Jobs: the Lucas shop stewards alternative corporate plan Alternative Technology Centre (CAT, Machynlleth) The Whole Food Chain: community food co-operatives in Vermont Appropriate Technology

RADIO radio

Thus and 6-. 0920 Sat 8 APr. 0920 Sat 6 May 0920 Sat 3 June 0920 Set 8 July 0920 Sat 5 Aw

0920 Sat 2 Sep^

0920 Sat 30 Sep

4, VHF)

Government control of Technology 1640 0600MonlAw Trade Unions and the Environment: the 1640 Sat Green Bans movement 1640 Sat 12 Aug Community Technology: the Washington soap factory - . ~ Appropriate Technology . - ' , ~

Right of Reply dove EIliott apd Godfrey . BWh, two members of the Open University course team that prod u d the Control of Technology (COT) course, are ateo members of the Undercumants editorial ooHÃ§Mw They wore KHnewhat pined-off with Chrii HuttonSquire's review of the COT course 'Ruder; The Politics of Technology, which appeared i n the tat inue (page 46).Hue's their reply.

1 ~ -1, s

~hris ire, treasurer and Financial Times fan, got it all wrong hi ftiijeview The Politics of Tfchaohw inP C 26. I f he'd botheredto consult ha fellow collective membera before rushing into print with this bad-tempered and autorisingly Incoherent dismissal, he would have discovered that the took consisg of a set of reprints of 'tÃˆckgfoun<papers for a course the main part of which contains probably ten times at -much specially-written printed material. oluseiaht TV oro-' gram&,eight radio p& mas, a student project and up to 121iours of face-to-face tuition. it the Reader 'staffs' things it s because it was never intended t o contain everything, Not that the Reader m fact omits many of the things Chris wft mils.TtÃ subject of forwstaroÃ§and its

hdercwrana'

-1

"N. Scotland and Wales -Â 0040 FrifSat night effects on workers is in a fine article by M along the lines of the appeared in UC20. And what on earth

progress would rap

be more likely to turn into net" feudalism. A society based on

"5 ^

cooperatives will still need nical progress (though of a different kind), and such a will need to be consciousilv eor' strum&: we can't rely on ftr 'crisis of capitalism' to bringit about automatically. As far his jibe about 'w Marxist bias', that's the kqd mindless, unsbuslantiated you have t o resort to Tf you {as Chris seems to) that Jim Callaghen's Labour Govemia~itby subsidising Polish ship deal] and forcing British A' buy British planes, th veals itself as a bunch

reading the Financial much. why doesn't he se

reviews to them instead?

includesuch well known radicals as Jonathan Dimbetby and Malcolm Catdwell. There will also be exhibitions, filrm-anda 'cultural event' lie, a folk & theatre evening). Cost is â‚ for fee, food & basic accommodation (bring a sleeping bag). (?ooms,bookable, extra. Furtherdetaiis: TWF, 232 CSwIey Road, &ford; Telephone. 0865 45678. -

Thear of Practical f I & Sufficiency. Hilda Cherry Hilss and Lawrence Hills, director of the Association. The fee is E2.5kincluding wholefood lunch. Details from Doreen Wright Larksborough Farm, Whitchurch. Hants (sae please); Telephone: 025-682 2933.

TOP PRESS! Fo emonstration has

h o t 4 reprocessing plant suggest that the Gowtftment has decided to give the Windaaie schemethew ahead. We need 20,000 people in Tmfalgar Square to make them think again. Speakers will include Bruce Lalonde, golden wonder of the les Vem, the French wpoliticians (who will be focussing their efforts on stopping the reprocessing plant a t Cap la Hague) and someone from the German groups opposing the plant at Gorleben, Lower Saxony. For details of special trains, etc, contact your local Fo E group (address from FOE, 9 Poland Street, London W1; %el: ' 01-434 1684).

lie next MIDLAND WOMENS LIBERATION CONFERENCE is t o ba h d d i n Shrewtbury on Mwch 1 8 and 19. We hope to hive workihopt on-I different themes, show film and Hold a disco on Saturday evening where the Ytork-tewd band. Sitter Gin, will be playing. Food will ba provided by Crabapple Natural All ~~~h end creche facilities wli be from the ere very -let us know ifym ba Gmiw, as mod to K.BI. of Phone Sue of CrowHouses 418 or Trudy at Ellesmere

L'BERTY-HALL

I -

2726. c L E R K E N w ~FESTIVAL 1978is being organised by Gaudearnus Music L t d (resident at nearby 31, derkenwell dose, London ECU and will take place from April 8-IS. Events will be heldat the City University, Finsbury Town Hall and i n local churches. There will be class/cel andjazz concerts, exhibitions o f musical instruments, local craft activities, this advance notice printing andsculpture. If whsts Your ~ w e t i t e ,Write for more-deta~lsto: Gwbmwts Music Ltd. at the above address or 'phone 01-253 0485 (24-hour service).

i Obbthrt

&scrh itd ifasm ' wmiTMrcial clubs'; two itemsfrom their forthcoming programme show what thii mum: On Sunday May 7 a member of the Campaign Against Repmsion in West Germany will be speaking about the Berufsverbot (black list of prison, redi*)'t"ld delighttRÂ¥comnNnde for who feels 'oapmswd' by the Callaghen regime. 'Bec :is tR ie a l The fO"O""ng e yu n < st thay Demand The Impossible', a recreation of the heady days of May '68 68081 the French a grabbed their bourgeoisieby the short end cudies. Liberty Hall meets at the Everyman Bistro, Hopa Street, Â¥m Sunday a t 8pm; adminion is ittually members 25p. non-meinbars40p; memfmnhip u Â£1 Contact: d o Top Flat, 7 Grow Pa*, Liverpool 8.

MYSTERY MARCH! The International Group, Amalgamated Protest an planning e march and conference in conjunction with Big Fi, Fools Against Food and the IWP on April T. Although the march his been banned along with all other demorutrations i n the capital during the next two months (and thus reducing Time Out's Agitprop co,lumn t o a shadow of its former sTH, AP are determined to mmt, rally, march and confer. In order t o overcome the expected difficulties, AP me sun that by changing its slogans It can quickly assume the appearance o f a non-political demonstration. Rally at Trafalgar Square, 2pm April 1and join the mystery march!

Anyone wh0 thinks that we Undercurrents folk lack an ideology land many do) may be interested to learn that ourcomrades Radical ," Wen= Journal are holding seminars at 5 Cardozo Road, London NT; the next two are Roger Prooter on 'The Cultural Meaning of PopularScience: Phrenology & Hegemony in Nineteenth Century 8ritain"tApril 111and Mike Hales on "The Labour Process of Operation Researchers" on May 9.8m

SERA (Socialist Enviroment & Resources Assoca i to i n) needsvolunteers to work pan 01 full during office hours inour Lon*n office. We have no money for wages but we can offer an interestingand challenging job in a building crammed with activists (FOE, BSSRS etc). oneprojectthat needs ' is our proposed Trade, Union conference on nuclear power this autumn. we needsomeone to help organise this-with assistance from our Energy Group. Experience is less important than enthusiasm and commitment. S E W 9 Poland Street, London W1: Tel: 01 -439 3749.

GARDENING FOR SELF SUFFICIENCY is the subject of a one-week course i n Wales from April 7 to 13. This is being organised by Resurgence, who now live in South Wales. John Seymour, Ken Harding and KatieThear will be guiding the course. The cost is Â£2 for board and lodging plus the course fee. If you fancy the sound of this course, and want to spend a week in pleasant surroundings write for more details to Resurgence, Pentre Ifan, Felindre :archog, Cr~mych.Dyfed. Telephone Newport IDyfed) 820317. NEW MILLS in Somerset is continuing t o expand its membership and areas of activity. They provide a base for study, meetings and local action on a range of rural topics and more meetings and courses are planned for this year. Two of the forthcoming events are "Folklore and Folkmyth" and "Traditional Brewing and Wine-Making". The former is on March 24-29, west speakers will examine Possible origins and contemporary relevance of Britains folk-lore and myths. Also, there'll be folk song end roetry from Somerset (Oooh-Aaaart). The boozy course will be on March 31 t o April 2, about honw.br.w~ are, wine nÃ§kin and cider (OQOo~-Aaa&W.L. Don't get the dates inixod up. Cost is'about Â£ Â£2.5 per night. For mats details, write t o New Mills, Luxborough, Watchet. Smmst TA23 OLF phone Wahford 281. ,

The CAMPAIGN AGAINSTTHE ARMS TRADE'S next national meeting t o plan action against the British Army Equipment Exhibition in June and other activities for the next three months, is at Friends Meeting House, Wynards Lane, Exeter on April 1 & 2. Details from CAAT, 5 Caledonian Road, London N1; Telephone 0Ãˆ-27 1976.

-SERA ACTIVISTS are mwting together the weekend o f March 31 m April 2 at 23 8ensei. Road London $523 to discuss current and w o r e work, parrIwlarly the campaign to+implenvnt the LucasAerospace alternative you y 6 u I d like t o join them, contact o/an.. If the SERA office (9 Polandstreet, London Wll 01-699 1464. eveningshveekends. - or 'nhone .

LASS FIBRES-A SAFE SUBSTITUTE? is the title of a broadsheet recently published by BSSRS (Sheffield Group). It gives information on the formation of glass-jibres which are used in insulation, in making yarns for textjles and ~nreinforced plastics. The Broadsheet provides basic information, useful to consumers and activists, on the health hazards of glass fibres (ie. the s q p @fibres can get trapped in the tiniest air sacs' in the lungs) and alternatlxe materials t o use, Packed full of information,

rbq the united rqatjons in1964 has been reprinted. isa 7.volume reporton the proceedings of a conference on sun; Wind an# geothermal energy. Each of the 7 are availabl individually. Our Swiss informant writes that Vol7 on windjs very good. He also writes t o say that he has a small cabin in Switzerland which he would be glad t o share with others I the summer, especially ifthey haveexperienc on how t o construct a wind charger or a and would help to build them,.Write t o JamesRunyon, Schlattweg 8, CH41' AES~~.Switzerland for more information.

WANTED: research ideas for medical school fund^ project in obnetrics/Gynaocolow, in area of~ochemistry/physio+ogy, -j-he work mist be of 3 months t o 2 years duration for one or two people. Examples: E Brunner, c/o BSSRS, 9Poland Street, London W1.

SOUTH LONDON STOP PRESS. . , Just opening. at the time of writing this page, is the LEWISHAM WORLD SHOPat 1 Sydenham Road, sE2g the bridge by Station). There you will be able to buy COMPLETEGUIDE TO SELF wholefoods such as brown rke, peanuts, kidney IMPROVEMENT is an eight-page pamphlet beans etc. Also crafts, leatherwork, bags and exploring the connection between architectui necklaces will be available as well as new/ body-building, punk and feminism. We're not secondhandbooks andmagazinesorr sure whether if6 a load of rubbish o r the fates development topics. LewishamWorld Shop is in revolutionary thought. Whichever the case, an educational project concentrating on is essential reading for looking). Not sure development issues andathe ll -profits-wofill where but Free ploughed back into the project. They are open a n d P u b l i c a t i o n s , c/o Rising Free, 18S Upper Stn from loam to epm but shut on wednesdays Nl. worth~ ~ h ~ ~ d ~fromy 1.00-s 1.45~ ~ Londres ~ ~ Send ~ about ~ 20p, ~ it's ~n o t ~ (Apity, that). much meire. '

Undercurren..

LETTERS 1 iRISE YOU MAIDENS tenn Adam waeve and Eve spann, tho thenn was called a Laedie's Mann? The BaU(s) Revolution. Attending as I did, the collecive's 'do' at the Freemason's isms I must say that I enjoyed the evening - at first. As I sat munching the choice food and listening to a chap from Shepherds Bush expound his plan for setting up a woodworking shop in West Ireland I thought 'this is the life, I'm with Real People at last'. Then came the denouement chatting to Godfrey Boyle and Pete Glass about the magazine it was casually mentioned that there was going to be a Midsummer Woman's Edition - because the girls o f the collective had been rumbling. There it was, staring me straight in the eye as the food in my mouth slowly recycled back to compost - and I had helped it along by not reading the magazine intelligently. The penny, my jaw and my peeker dropped (not necessarily in that order) - Male Chauvinism had caught me up and I was, once again, a pig. I, who went through life shrilly yapping against an elite was caught in its coils. Alas, I thought. here endeth the New Kultur - But what to do? Sternly restraining myself from flinging out of the room shouting curses upon their works I let my political training take over - retain the foothold, work for the revolution from within that's the ticket. Aux Arrnes! Barbara. A bas Chris Hutton Squire! To the barricades! Joyce and Sallv. One edition in five years, eh? To serve the need, of fity per cent of the counter culture. eh? Not good enough ies enfants. Arise you maidens, you've been lumbered, Arise y e prisoners of Kant. Revolt for freedom and from slumber, It's time to satisfy your want. When your Home is quiet, with he soft grey day unfolding and ou take the milking stool out to he cow, do you feel, just for a moment, as those soft eyes turn a you, that she is Rosie O'Grady .) your Officer's Lady and perhaps. after ;ill, you are 'Sisters under the skin?' I weep for you, My Earth Sisters.

Tfie women's issue will probably be the one after next. i.e. N o 29 Aueusti'Seutember. Am woman who

wcus, or write to us at the 'dress above.

SOCIALIST ENTREPRENEUR SEEKS WORK A friend of mine in London has

sent me Undercurrents 23 containine Simon Walt's article on work done by the Appropriate Technology Development Organisation in Pakistan. I am pleasantly surprised that he is the only one who could pinpoint the central theme of the Fourth Report, although this Report was studied and commented upon in many countries. 1 am, however, dismayed to find that bureaucracy in Britain is as effective as in Pakistani, llas the human race no safe place anywhere under the sun? Simon has called me a "Socialist Entrepreneur". Of what one sees of socialist and socialism in action, and in thought. these Jays everywhere, including Britain. 1 wonder if i t is a lei1 llandcd compliment? In practical politics, the overwhelming majority of socialists, even in under-developed countries, not excluding those in Pakistan think of nationalisation of indue try as the solution of evils. i n practical life one finds that nationalisation has succeeded in exterminating competition, by making the State a single monopoly capitalist, without the advantage of efficiency. Or at other places nationalisation has succeeded in providing a service t o capitalists, at the cost of the people, by making the State run essential but losing industries like railways, taxpayers meeting the losses. So I would prefer to be called -a 'realist'. for I believe in assessing trie iu'cas o t J countn sep.ir4teI) and proviJing .I >elution tuiiing tlie l~i->tori^il, ycu~raplii~iil, i-ultural i n d 'loi'ial cundilions of the societ). rather than through JII inapphc~ble p ~ e k a ~0! 1e uniters~ld , ~ g m ~ '1i . helieve in'pn,diiction 10 meet the needs of people' (stage marxist, please note). Ways to achieve this aim may differ from society t o society. Moreover, in my way of thinking. mass oroduction means ~~~

~~~~~

tion by masses would then mean mass employment. So only the participation of people in work can ensure effective development. While I have immensely enjoyed the article, there are a few factual errors, which though unimportant, I prefer to correct them, while I am writing. I"or example, I never worked in Leeds, never obtained any diploma or degree in Britain, not even HND. I was in Britain

1 path for development for my own :ountry. This experience was a iismal failure, as, later, I found that the solution lies right in Pakistan. Another small error is about Mubashir Hasan. He was Minister of Finance in Pakistan, not just an Engineer, and it was Late Dr. Schumacher whose advice he accepted, rather than mine, although I gave him more practical advice for ages. In fact, Mubashir Hasan always regarded me a crank and so disrezarded my advice. For example,

Undercurrents 27 Clerkenwell Close London EC4 in spite of my views, he effected a massive nationalisation. which has now aborted. Then, I advised him at least 10 go slow and inject only such a do& of nationalisation for which professional managers were available. He brushed my advice aside and we are in a mess. He only forced me to accept a thankless job because he is a very dear friend and secondly to gain fresh experience -. experience of the internal workings of bureaucracy. I have the highest regard for his sincerity, all the same. At that time I only obliged a friend but I am mighty happy that I did, not because I have anv illusions about a revolutionary success far from it - hut because I hope that I may leave behind factual cxperirnc which future generations ma< find useful. Mr. Editor you-kind-self and Simon Watt think that Britian needs 'socialist entrepreneurs* like me. You are free to have my services. It is no joke. Situation as it is, bureaucracy may sack me at any moment. It may happen soon. When do I expect my airline ticket?

Ghulam Kibria Ministrv of Finance ~ p p r o p r i a t eTechnology Development Organisation 1-B. St. 47 17-711. P.O. Box No. 1306 Islamabad Pakistan

PLAGUE THOUGHTS I was interested in the issues raised by Rosemary Randall and John Southgate in "Emotional Plague" (Undercurrents 25). They discuss an issue which is often avoided by people and publications who are more at home"with technology than resolving conflicts. The idea of emotional plague is interesting, but I failed t o understand why it occurs at particular times: we are all the time invading each other. Manv oroiects start on

to complete the project, or what completion will be. Individuals become involved on the basis of unrealistic ideas of how easy things will be (a stroll through the country side suggests that growing vegetables is very easy). Many individuals involved don't possess traditional skills and find it very difficult to locate new ones. Skill has be: come a dirty word and many people assume that AT will be simple and 'obvious enough for an unexoerienccd total sir~nyerto opi~iti.'. Many projects i ~ i hddusc l people start out with unre.ilistii; goals, which only appear unrealistic with experience, e.g. self sufficiency on a farm which is very small, with little experience and using untried technology, and often incorporating new social arrangements which those involved find frustrating. But, we all want t o hope; for many of us our alternative projects not only represent hope, but also escape from the hassles of urban capitalism. One of the crucial times for

t o succeed in the way people hoped things have gone wrong due to a lack of experience or initial unrealistic hopes I'm sure that the projects which are most likely to succeed involve relatively small changes in technology, and people with experience and others who feel its valuable to learn skills, rather than regarding them as oppressive outdated ideas. Obviously, an "open" technology is a good long-term goal, but it is unlikely to be immediately achievable. In practice, many groups (all groups?) have disagreements, in some these seem relatively minor, in others they are seen as the cause of the breakup of the group. Whv is this? I don't think that theconcept of emotional plague really provides an answer. Gordon Fiver

26 Lennox Road London N4

IGNORAMUS Most of your articles concern s u b jects I know little or nothing about, so I tend to assume your contributors know what they are writing about; but this assumption tends to eet shaken whenever I do know something about the subject. Take Undercurrents 25. Mike George says in his article on "Positive Sabotage" that G.D.H. Cole "conceived and promoted the ideas of Guild Socialism in the years before and after the First World War". In fact Guild Socialism was conceived by A.J. Penty as early as 1906 - when Cole was still at school - and it was soon adooted b\. R.A. Orage's paper the New &e and adapted by S.G. Hobson under the influence of working-class syndicalism. Cole didn't become orominent in the movement until 1913, when he led an unsuccessful campaign to convert the Fabian Society to Guild Socialism. Mike George then says that "Guild Socialism died through demoralisation and reaction in the mid-1920s when unemployment soared again after the war, and conventional defensive trade unionism took over." In fact Guild Socialism - and syndicalism - died because most of the leaders tics took over. Peter Glass savs in his review of Disabling ~rofessionsthatJonathan Caplan "examines very briefly the leial professions who have escaped critical attention for far too long". On the contrary, the Law has alway; 3een recognised as the second d i e ibling profession, after the Church, ind has always been one of the first targets of social protest. In Luke's Sospel Jesus says' "Woe unto you, lawyers"; in Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 2 , the Kentish rebels say: 'The first thing we'll do, let's kill ill the lawyers"; Dickens devoted whole novels to attacks on the legal profession; and so on. Martin Ince says in his review of The Break-Up o f Britain that Tom Nairn is an "academic". At the most he has done freelance part-time teaching, and his work derives much

LETTERS 2 if its strength from never having aeen confined t o an official insti-

SELFISH SUFFICIENCY

:ution. (Incidentally, I am worried

Woodstoves provide a page of book reviews in Undercurrents 26, but in ten years readers will be tearing the things out. It is insanity to believe that wood burning is long term selfsufficiency. The present madness has reached the stage of advertisements in the Country Landowners Journal plugging furnaces for the wealthy that are fed with whole tree trunks. All this works while Dutch elm disease provides an exceptional bonanza of dead wood, but in a short time it is going to end - and rebound with the felling of the splendid specimen trees of parkland England, as self sufficiency becomes selfish decimation of the environment. What makes sense in the great forested exoanses of Norway and Suedcn c.tinut be ~ d n p i r d?.ir J countr) almost L I d ~ ens4 pop u l ~ i e dJS .ins in the world. One tree cover isonly eight percent of the total land surface, and even field hedgerows are being ripped out at the rate of hundreds of is miles a vear, The population . . 56 million. What you are advocating is called a desert. Rodney Legg

ibout Martin Ince's workload; he ayshe didn't come across Nairn New Left Review because he is unconscionably in arrears" with

that paper - but Tom began writng in it 15 years and 90 issues ago!) Andrew Lycett suggests in his

=view of A Guide for the Perplexed h a t Schumacher thinks "its was De: x t e s who started the process of .dueing phenomena to numbers as hough everything in the universe was quanitifable in the sam currcn;y". It was Pythagoras who first ried to reduce the universe t o lumbers, 2000 years earlier; but .he point is that Descartes didn't io - and Schumacher didn't say - anything so silly. What Descartes rgues was that scientific proposiions should be based on proofs is certain as those of rnathcmatics, ind that philosophical propositons should be based on ideas which ire clear and distinct. This rcducionist form of rationalism iry - has long heen discarded in "avour of the empiricist form of .ationalism which is the basis of nodern pliilosophy and science, ~ u itt is still preferable to the nystical irrationalisnl of Schunacher. Anabelle Green sneers in her eview of Phenomena at "the avings of straight science" in attemr ing to explain strange phenomena, iut straight science hasn't done so iadly duriiiif the past few centuries. 'o take her own example of thune r . does she seriously prefer the ild maizical or reli~iousexniana-

ilwavs will be things that science .annot explain, since it depends n the finite powers of human obemation and reasoning; and no loiibt there have always been and [ways will be stupid scientists who ry to explain away or even deny eat phenomena: but science still rianapes to explain a lot more than ny other method. 1 ollowers of 'harles I o n like John Michell and Robert Rickard can h:ive all the un they u;tnt with uncritical colections of anecdotal reports of nysterious events, bin if these {lings d o actually occur and if they r e eventu:illv exnkiined. it will be iy applying scientific methods of bsewation and reasoning. TIte dognatic ii~nosticismof "plicnoinenili>ni" is in f:ict ;I form of fnostiism, since it assumes that anyhinp an! one says happens docs lappen as it is said to happen, a ypotIie\is which pretends not to ie ii hypothesis and which belongs o thc same r~iysticalirrationalsin xhich is so fashionable today. ~

Nicholas Walter <ationa!isi Press Association $8 1slin:tc~n lligli Street .ondon N 1

Black House Maperton Ridge Wincanton Somerset

WOOD BIND May I make a few comments on Brenda Vale's review of our recently published Woodburning Book (Undercurrents 26)'! She refers to "the profusion of litcraturi? un w oodburntny now iv:iilabl<" Mdy I ask u,licrc this it~~ra1liri.IS'? Ap.irt from iu u American imports which make no effort to cater for the British reader, our book is the only one available written specifically for the UK. The a c t that we sold out in 11 weeks and havejust reprinted is an indication of the real need there is for information. Secondly she seems to assume that the only people who are interested in and can afford woodstoves "live in large farmhouses in Sussex and sip gin whilst leaning on the gas fired radiator". Really Brenda! Do you actually believe that or did you just dash off something silly that would be suitable for publication in Undercurrents with their political hang-ups, rather than a more intelligent and objective appraisal?) If Brenda. or anyone else .~>'iociated ~ ~ . . with ~hidercurrents.had bothered to curie to our smallholding when we had our Woodburning Open Day, they would have found an exhibition larger than the London Building Centre's Display, and met hundreds of ordinary peonle. including Undercurrents readers, whose sole concern was to reduce their energy costs. Thirdly, the review made no mention if the environmental aspect that was emphasised, and the ~~

information given on growing replacement trees and o n coppicing. Finally, the whole point of the 300k, which Brenda entirely missed, was this: if people had t o write iff to all the manufactureres and importers for the information published in it, they would have to spend a lot more than the Ă&#x201A; 1 it costs, in postage. Katie Thear Practical Self Sufficiency Broad Leys Publishing Co.

PUNK As a dearly departed member of the old style counter-culture and one not altogether uninterested in music, I was pleased to see Dave Elliot's article on Punk Rock, called Spitting in the wid' (Undercurrents iJJ.

It is high time that Undercurrents paid attention to music both as a popular cultural form and as a grass-roots phenomenon, for there are a great many lessons to be learnt from music as an expression of identity emotion and eroun ideo-,,:.. 10t;y. In view of this it is sad 10 refICJI that uhilc Dave I'lliol prepared Undercurrents readers with the proviso. that thev "might be interested iiit"spendin~theirprejudices for a \\liiIs", that ho actually excludes himself from his own overdue advice. I won't be niggling and say that he all too easily confuses Punk Rock with the media styled New Wa#e', rather I feel he serves the reader up with a mixture ot quasi-sociological jargon and half truths. It is not difficult to see that Dave Elliot's sympathies lie, despite protestations to the contrary, with the hedonistic tribulations of the hippy counter-culture. It is essentially this allegiance which allows him to believe that the counter-culture turned its back on the middle class ~reoccuvation w i m i i t e r ~ s~ii'>f.iction, ~~l in tlie 1 ~ i r ~ u01i i J net\ set oi vJues n. while mi'i5int; the t.rui.-ial icir point, that it was these;? same material acquisitions that set everyone up for the great hippy experiment. After all you can't lounge around in the country, or as Timothy ~ e a i yso succinctly put it "Turn on, tune in and drop out", without being either educated enough to play the Social Security system or rich enough to support yourself. With this in mind, Dave Elliot's comments about the Skinheads and working class youth movements in general, take on a smug simplicity. He describes working class kids as looking towards materialism, being in opposition to the Hippies and embodying a "reverence for a fairly fixed and conservative set of values". If you were a working class kid, how would you feel if you saw a bunch of people who had never had it so good, Idoning around and saying that they'd never had it so bad, while all the time you knew, you'd never had it at all? Dave Elliot's misconceptions about class, are perhaps only the ground work for his views on the revolutionary potential of various youth groups. He says that "the hippy counter-culture tried to free sexuality from the confines of hypocrisy". and all this despite the fact that the average hippy male is as fine example ol'an old style patriarch as you'll find in the back end of a Durham pit village. I will agree whole heartedly that "the punk rock movement tends to slide easily into titillation and pornography", yet that onlv makes them aualitativelv ~

NOT-SO-POSITIVE CRITICISM As one of the designers of Undercurrents I would like to reply t o some of the points raised in Chris Pitts' ill-natured letter (Undercurrents 26). In the first place it is not the policy of the collective to regard school kids (even primary school kids) with contempt and ridicule, and it would not therefore occur to us to reject a potential cover design on the grounds he suggests. In anv case. no-one who knew

by a child. It was. in fact, drawn by Frances Tomlinson, who is a college lecturer, and was intended to represent the intrusion of patriarchal attitudes into the otherwise sane life of a community. Fear and abhorrence of children is just such an attitude, incidentally. Frances is not a professional artist, nor an 'expert' in matters of graphic design. Whatever the consequences for Mr Pitts* refined sensibilities this is at least consistent with a long-established principle of the magazine that people should try to surpass the limitations of professional mystification. Anyone who would like to see an extensive example of this should look out for the second edition of The Barefoot Psychoanalyst, which is illustrated in comic-strip by Frances in a way that most neoole could readilv understand. ~ t i as successful innovative way to communicate ideas which are often needlessly complicated. Anyone who, on the other liand, is not content with illustrations which are simple and informative, might instead look out for back issues of O z , which were great fun in their day, but which we are in no way trying to emulate. And as for the little drawing alongside Tony Fletcher's piece in Undercurrents 24, it was intended to be, in Mr Pitts' words, 'an example of exactly the kind of crap that Tony was criticising'. ~f only we were able to illustrate all our articles with examples of their subject matter, Martyn Partridge 27 Clerkenwell Close rondon I C l

. .

Undercurrents 2:

LETTERS 3 differently from the hippies, the same basic assumptions about the worth of women prevail. So what are the differences between Punk Rock and the counter-culture, that warrant the allusion to 'Spitting in the wind'? Dave Elliot assumes the punks will be ineffective (unlike the hippies?) because "The emotions

and attitudes expressed in Punk rock gatherings are negative: opoosttion t o outsiders, hostility t o vther types o f music o r life styles (what even Reggae?). all the paraohernalia of a defensive, insecure rang. " What's especially detrimental about that? Every single youth group and a great many other organisations, especially in the formative stages, huddle together in this 'negative' way; the hippies did it, the punks do it and even breakaway religious factions d o it. So, if it's not what they d o it must be how they d o it that distinguishes them from other subgroups; and indeed it is. For Dave Elliot "The emphasis o n crudity,

vetting drunk, spitting at the iudience, throwing up everywhere sf part o f the cult's attempt t o identify with working class culture. (it's) an attack o n middle class perceptions o f civilised behaviour. " I couldn't agree more that there are competing moral codes in our society. or that public mor~lityIIJS Y ,pecul ion%standlnx middle class bias, but is the act of 'spitting and spewing' (essentially the most newsworthy facet of a moral panic fanned by the media) primarily directed at the middle classes, and if it were, would it automatically constitute an "atempt to identify with working class culture"? It may d o both. but simply to assume as

affront to parental control and thus in some measure an anath.-rna to wurking cia^ culture. riicsc things arc not synoynious with one another and as discrete sntities thev reauire detailed analysis My final criticism of Dave Elliot's analysis of Punk sub-culture is straight and to the point, in one breath he confronts us with the Punk's "anti-intellectualism and abhorrence of analysis" which "could lead to oroto-fascism". and later confides in us, that "so far they (the Sex Pistols) have succeeded in steering the movement in a left-wards direction", not bad I'd say for a bunch of 'spewing, spitting' thickoes. Could it be then that they too, like most things, embody a whole plethora af contradictions, and that to get down to the nitty-gritty of it all we have to be more analytical and less reliant on superficial observations? So come on, if we're going to have music in Undercurrents lets get some roots over our rock. 9 Prospect Terrace Tim Senior Allerton Bradford 15 West Yorks

SOUL FORCE

COMMUNITY HAM

One or two readers have question;d my assertion that sexual contin?rice (as well as avoidance of drugs) is esscnti~lu' people iirc to h ~ b eiiny .-h-ince of gaining reliable knowledge of supersensible forces. Gandhi, whose comprehensive sustem of Non-Violence offers the only answer t o the colossal political, economic and environmental threats witn which the world is faced, makes clear in his writings that the power which he himself exercised so successfully, and called Satyapaha or soul-force. was the result of a consistent control of the senses ~ n d triinsmutation of their urges. 'Transmuttition IS not cquiv~lentto supppression but is a psychophysical process by which the bodily fluids and nerve-currents are conserved and directed upwards to the heart and brain, rather than allowed to flow downward and be dissipated. This process vivifies the higher centres, giving inspiration, enlightenment and expansion of consciousness, and is entirely safe and beneficial in its effects. strenethenine the entire system: Robert A. de J. H a t Rushbury Church Stretton

Seorge Woods says (Undercurrents 26) there's no reason why amateur radio shouldn't be used for two-way communication, but I'm afraid he hasn't got it quite right. The Radio Amateur License conditions and the Wireless Telegaphy Act 1949 forbid messages to amateur stations in general except initial C ' Q' calls (so no unauthorised news services), 'which includes remarks of a personal nature in which the licensee or the person with whom he is in communication has been directly concernid' (no third-party messages, nothing remotely connected with business, propaganda, general mews, any social, religious, political, ar commercial organisation). The RSGB runs an Intruder Watch Group to check you don't transgress, quite apart from what the Post office may be doing for the Home Office Radio Regulatory Department. While the RSGB keeps on insisting that amateurs are privileged group and must ustify the trust placed in them, lam conversations will continue to be of the 'Reading vou 4 and 3 I'm running J l ~ ~ h f u l t i - intu 11 I 5 ' 8 whip ground planed to the :ar roof variety iind consist of their own private technical slang ind an exchange of Japanese equipment type numbers. We need to assert that access to the airwaves is a right limited 3nly in the same way as the Road Traffic Acts make us behave on the roads (which is why I hope you ion't print any more unstable clumsy VHF transmitter circuits in the BC band) and make the Kome Office justify their restrictions at every point. Incidentally, my remarks in Undercurrents 2 2 about CB have been misunderstood: I'm not pain st it; I limply think it's nut that useful for normal purposes. Peter Sommer 35 Uplands Road London N8

CHICKEN LIB Ian Lyall, who wrote t o you concerning the bliss of beine a l12n cunitned 1,ir her lice i n a b.itlery cap<, (LiiJercurrenis 261, should Link at A't'u, Scic'ntisi. 26th January 1978,page 216, and' read the article "Hens will do anything to get out of batteries." This is an account of the first experiment ever made the object of which was to ask the hen whether she likes living in batteries or not. The hens' answer was an unfaltering No! Battery hens, given free-: doin. could not be lured back into thcir little wire hells even b} o o d inside ~ n starvation d outside or h! c^inpiiny inside and lunclincss outside. The experiment was done by the animal behaviour group of the Zoology Department of Oxford and was presumably fairly conducted, Of course we shouldn't anthropomorphise but we should surety allow Old Mother Common Sense to inform us as to what is fairly natural for animals and what is patently abominably cruel. The Third Law of the Organic Philosophy lays down that: "We should husband other forms of life that are of use to us in conditions as close as possible to those for which they were evolved." Anyone interested in forming a Society for the Confining of Battery Cage Owners in Battery Cages? A hijack or two in the name of humanity to hens might d o quite a lot of good, John Seymour Fachongle Isaf Trefdraeth Sir Benfor Cymru.

MANIFESTO I've read Fiona-Canell's "Mum Truths" Undercurrents 26 and I've decided to stick my neck out. Feminists have been very successful in convincing both men and woman that men are wicked oppressors of women. As a result, men are too guilt-ridden to defend themselves and women are shutting themselves up in their own little worlds from which men are excluded. Well sisters, for those of you who are open-minded enough to listen, here is a party political broadcast on behalf of - urn, well - some men anyway:

We're quite nice really. We like you and we want t o share the world with you, if only you'll let us. When we upset you, it's usually because we don't understandvou and that could be because you don't give us enough help. You're too secretive. We're just as sensitive as you and you often upset us too. Try

and imagine what it's like to be a man. Try and communicate with us. You might find we're not as bad as you think. That's all for now. I hope that lots of people will write and say what they think. There's not inough written on what men an women think about each other x i s it just that I don't read the right magazines? Rex Hora 15 Downham Court Shinfield ~ o a d Reading.

. . OR HARMLESS? was rather shocked to read you irresponJents' horrify ingl! ignt nt statements on magic mushrounn Undercurrents 25 & 261. Apparenll) ley have not tried them, or they 'auld nut be reg~lingus with old 'ives' t ~ l e of s .'horrifyins to\icity", t c. I know that it's uossible for me t o onsume more than 100 gm. of Ama manita Muscaria without ill effect in fact without anv effect at a l l I 'as moved to try it by tlie report of n American wntcr u h u Wiis simt irlv dis.innoint.id ;inJ cont'uded that h e ~ u r o p e a nfungus had some magic igredient missing from.American nes. 'Taint so. I also recall reading hearsav evidence again!) that a lethal ose o f muscaria would be over 2kg. f raw fungus The admirable Collins Guide t o fushrooms & Toadstools states that he active ingrcJients J V C strophinc nd muscannc. uhi_-htend ro i.eitt ilise otii' another, hut i ~ i ~ t ' s t i of on

he funeus normallv causes an atrovadsiool seem to be very unusual. Veil. I didn't even get this much of hu/z. so 1 nun't t)e trading Jnv tcindecr fur tlieru I Ins is not to uggest that everyone should go out n d fill themselves with fungi, but lease, people, no trip-laying. There re enough things you could be warnng us about without inventing false mes. Len" c/o The Back Bar The Crown Clerkenwell Green

ALTERNATIVE MEDICIN We are in touch with a private hospital in the south of Englar where alternative medicine is practised, and the form of treatment used is that which is thought to be most suitable for the particular patient. There are conventionally qualified doctors who with others also practise homeopathy, acupuncture, healing and other therapies. The trouble i s . . . they can't get enough staff. Nurses in particular seem to get so totally involved in the orthodox training that alternatives never enter their heads. They especially need trained nurses, and even administrative staff. It's a lovely secluded old country house, and they are vegetarian. If anyone is interested x to me and I can put them touch. Vicki Coleman Papa Stour, Shetland.

political forms. However, some of the political assumptions underly ing the

- .most likely to be achieved. But let me stress that I have to qualms about the

value of Lovins'^work. I have recommended it highly to my friends (especially scientists) and personally

- --

&& Wins'book Soft Energy Paths has rightly been acclaimed by die &&emmental movement,says.Brian Martin. But in this f (towns'work, he argues that Lovins is wrong when he and the 'Hard' energy paths l)o6iethe soft path a decentratist pol &mnaticaHy. If we're not careful h i e of 'soft' and 'hard' energy &-'hard' political system we all know

toft'

AMORY $OVINS1BOOK, Soft new Paths ,i s a valuable contribu-

but as a complement -

to the environmentalists' cause.

ts of technological

wins' eloquent and well-documented g u m t is in favour o f a soft energy b r e -one in which renewable sources and diverse and access" le technologies, appropriatelymatchfto their end-uses, form the basis itĂ&#x192; pluralistic, non-repressiveand ie"-i~atory social and political frameThe alternative, which Lovins IEWY

thebasisformincreasinglycentralis-

cd.

destructiverand non-

democratic social and political formation. Environmentalists can hardly disagree with Lovins' preferences, both for technologies and for the associated-

-. -

1 This sketch is based on an imaginative proposal by P. E. Glaser of Arthur 0. Little Inc., in which huge arrays of solar cells in stationary orbit round the Earth collect the Sun's energy. Each array here measures 3 km by 4 krn and falls within the tarth's shadow on only 80 days of the yearand then for at most 72 minutes a day. A microwave transmitter (centre) beams the energy to Earth, for direct

It is becoming increasingly accepted h t the reasons for the development, choice, and promotion o f particular forms of technology are as much political and social as they are technological and economic.2 Particular technologies tend to lead to particular types of social and political change, such as fostering equality or inequality. "Therefore technnlfwies are selected in large part because they serve the social, political, and economic goals of (hose who promote them. And because powerful groups in society have the greatest control over technological innovation, the goals which have their choice of technologies include fragmentation and powerlessness'of the labour force, maximisation o f profits and bureaucratic growth, and ideological justification for inkqualities in wealth and in decision-making power. For example, nuclear power is an appropriate way to produce energy if it is also important to maintain centralised control over investment and production, keep decisions in the hands of experts and their empolyers, and maintain a habit of passive consumerism in $he populace. On the other hand, research and imolementation of technologies for l&l collection and use of solar energy has been neglected for years mainly because these technologies cannot easily be placed under monopoly conlnrf, and hence are unattractive t o energy utilities. Moreover, once a preference for one type o f technology becomes institutiond i d , it becomes even harder for afternatives t o compete. Nuclear electricity has not only benefitted from immence research and other subsidies, but also has the advantage of a large, already-existing electrical grid system, and a built-in consumer dependence on electricity through appliance design: a$&

trends, it seems'-quite Ă&#x192; Â§ ~ i w i v a b t e - l f t of centralised tilyi technology. But a transport system "may develop which as the ecological and T o m i c , and is based partly on Bicycles and atcoholrely cheap. In terms of political and hence pofitfcal;&s@map of hard powered buses, and partly on cars ~onomicpower, this economic advanenergy paths become more apparent, powered by petrol synthesized from age is reflected in the enormous . reformers will fight for the necessary - regulations to promoet solar energy ndustrial and bureaucratic organisations . coal. To conclude that soft technofogies fsociated with electrical goods and in terms that don't threaten basic will be introduce^-only when they are el-vices, which have'a vested interest economic and political patterns. politically 'safe13ay seem like an n opposing decentralised solar The challenge to existing j e t i o extremely piasihnlstic evaluation. $ut ethnologies. presented by solar technology Trthat similar developments have occurred is relatively easy to develop the techA Hard C h d ? before in the history of Western liberal nology so that it can be understood democratic capitalist societies - for and eventually produced by individua many Of Lwins exmple in the introcfuc&on of univer& malt groups. Furthermore, it is ethnological and economic problem$ .sal education, the democratic franchise, more sensible to use solar technology ssociated with high technologies. and industrial unionism. Each of these in conjunction with small groups of a i <ed inpart on their hi* cost*, their developments was thought by many households (with, for example, a nvironmental effects, the risks of at the time to pose a major threat tb. .common reservoir of hot water), a najor breakdowns, and ultimately on current political and economic structures, development which might foster ack of citizen control over their But thanks to the efforts of refomers collective action. Finally, the basic . levelopment, in overcoming enormous resistance by resrouce, energy from the sun, cannot ~ u a teft energy path be monopolised or easily used for interests* the changes were meluded widespread adoption of locallybrw*t about in a *at bo* profit. witrolled technofogies would pose red protected and soiidiffea the essentiajs If; on the other hand, solar energy langers to existing political and of the established structures of the >---.J-Ă&#x192; is tf> be introduced without disturbim conomic structures. People might be .- -current societal structures, it is likely ncouraged to take control over their (The actions of vested interests, that i t s widespread adoption will t& ives in many ways: working ducation, health, and perhaps even- reformers, and other decision-makers deliberately delayed, and that: in society should not be attributed to * emphasis will be on research into - - conscious plotting to thwart or produce more niphisioited (&=ontrol*OioG*f production itself. Particular types of change. powerful as electricity from solar energy); - . F~~~ the pointof view of existing STOUPS in society understand their * solar technology will be designed political and economic structures, there motivations and actions in terms of a &d regulations drawnup (for eems then to be a difficult choice: set of Concepts and ashm~tiOtlSwhich building regulations) so thatthe ither a hard energy path beset by echnologkal and economic difficulties ""pEn their point of technology must be bought on the . This perspective serves as a justmarket at a relatively high price; -, nfl rising public discontent and TG,.:. on, in terms of serving commun* developments in other areas (& pposition; or a soft energy p a t h e e e the conditions for a 2 , terests, for maintaining current as tax concessions) will ensure that ., 5trUGtUreS 0 the benefits o f solar energy go first . hallmge ta the &rent political and conomic structures. Byt this choice -- avenues mathr *e to the wealthiir portions of the population i falsely posed, because particular cant features o f present Society which ethnologies do not necessarily lead 'Even with present social arrange/vested interests ""id" ? particular types of social and polkments, it i s apparent that the better-Q i n the transition to a soft eneigy path? :al change. That b, while particular and suburbanites (with more %me of the rn imnwtant ;L=Bchnoloaies Ifad themselves to particsufficient money to install sofar systa stand to benefit from solar pchnoltar social and political structures, 'the onnection is not automatic. For much more than inner city dwek~s;, xample, local production of'Wfh appropriate regutations concerm eaters is easier than local production safety and visual amenity, a relatively if nuclear reactors; but adoption of sophisticated technology, and centralis -organisation of installation, (tistributio olar heaters does not necessarily lead -1 a local production: centralised pGdu and use systems (solar syatems as pan an would still be possible. Similarly, of conventional house construction), Component 1: energy conservation. conomic equality will be easier to the encouragement for self-managemet This component o f an energy wilt beminiiTit'SBd. .. chieve in a society with universal ublic transport, but equality i s not strategy challenges none of the essential features of present society. It is likely vceswc/ly promoted by adoption of niversal public transport. tobeopposedonlybythefewgrThese considerations suggest a directly affected adversely, such as. ossible alternative to Lovins* hard electric utilities and uranium mining Component 3: less energy for transpol The present transport system &pen nd soft energy paths: a gradual companies. *-= ransition t o a combined system of heavily on private control over central ised production (cars, oil, roads) and ard and soft technol@us, the transitalso promotes economic and political an to soft technologies occurring as inequality.5 These characteristics can son as they can be introduced in a Component 2: solar energy for heating. be maintained temporarily by smaller This highly touted alternative to arm that maintains the essentials of - 1 cars, production of liquid fuel from resent social, political, and economic coal, oil, and electricity does not pedy coal, and eventually perhaps use of threaten present institutions as long us tructures.3 Already we can see plans alcohol as fuel. or expansion of nuclear power generatthe physical hardware Is centrot& prom and serious research into massive duced, the units purchased on the One change which might seem mor &itin$ solar collectors, and a rapid market and used by Individual houssthreatening t o current structures woufi holds. Of course the widespread icrease in energy conservation be the intruduction of widespre leisures (recycling, insulation) and the introduction of solar energy wilt be public transport. However, eginnteg o f a boom in application o f public transport systems are stfonrfy opposed &f energy utilities, at0tnergy.'-Extrapolating from present oil companies, land dwr-proponents intensive and require cen@isetJ

esisttace heating. A4.@r& faews,'

end to make centralised energy relat-

which'

mlicatiOfB

rdiw

-- -

by the 'consumers' is matter deserves t and consideration. i t is possible to have stems which, through routing, and differresewing- decisionstem to the plannto transport problems quire drastic changes in structures would

-- -

slow, -and

%%W%S4; t collective goods and

Produced and managed, as. .as possible, in local communities.

les are local production of food ~ z ~ m l m i tots, t y low-cost local Ãˆffl<trtes community mwiefTV, and newer tools. trucks and boats

than. in terms of the poWfcr struggle d u d in such a way as to maintain that must occur to bring Aange about.private control over production, maintab economic inequality, and maintain - - One Can look in vain for a significant mention in Soft Energy Paths of: lack of local control over the design (1) how change will occur in terms of society. altering institutions; (2) historical pe The changes necessary to attain any soft energy path, even if they come *-spective (why powerful governmental aid business constituencies, which n~ about, are not going to come about Promote and benefit from hard easily: The forces backing and benefitttechnologies, came into existences); or ing from hard energy paths are enor(3) the existence of substantial citizen mous, and they are only likely to give in as it becomes apparent to economic - movementsThis restriction to 'rational1 argumeni and political leaders that the safer soft is nctwhere apparent than energy future is possible without major Lovins' extensive chapter on "rebottting structural changes in society. It is the nuclear genie". The rationality (lei terms of die interests of humanity) of of decision-make mt in favour of stopping proliferation and of eventual disarmament and world peace has been will be their very apparent for decades if not millenia. system against col But the forces behind the arms race the difficulties of ate, not motivate by rationality, or At die same time, theattention and toast not by a ra!ionatlty rooted in effort o f manv social reformers wttl the k t interests of all p!3Qple. Thes be directed preventing a hard forces include Hie quest by power el energy future. One consequence of -for economic, politid, and military this is likely to be a lack of attention dominance; the institutionalisation 01 towards the political and economic ' planned waste7; and the need for so circumstances in which the soft comand political stability created by the ponents are adopted (or rather, an ' ~ 0 9 b i l i t yof overwhelming disasters implicit assumption that political and 'Rational' discussions, at least among economicstructures are to be maintaindecision-makers and their apologists, ed as much as possible). serve mainly as moral justification fc

A good example of this i s given t the Australian Government's recent announcement of its decision to allow The possibility of widespread use mining and export of uranium. It,k of soft technologies in a 'hartf political apparent to $1 familiar with the situatframework is not ready considered by ion that the primary motivation for Lovhs. The main reason is that he the decision is the profits likely t o t does not see it asasifiniificant possibilreaped by- a few companies: even in ity: a centralized rnahagement the affluent or depressed future market, the sale of approach to a soft path simply would ould be severely not work." (p.149). My argument is Australia'; high-grade uranium should be profitable. Naturally, the Governmaintenance of that such an approach not only could and political -X;&~Ãˆ work hut is a'tikely possibility, because ment explicitly denies this motivaticn W --e s . 5.B3F'S- of tfter wav e x k t i n ~~oliticaland econand cites a "moral res~onsibilitv"to .Â¥Wi-as- ornic systems ope&&. . supply uranium to ener ^ttun& countries of the world (Europe, U.S. As I said Wore, Levins' goal of a ), a concern about proliferation soft energy future does not differ nuclear weapons, and a desire to greatly from my own (especially i Ip stop the introduction o f the fas more democratic political structu Bh reeder reactor. Such arguments are and control by individuals an ,.Â¥Snathe military establishment iÃ itffulty weak, and are obviously on1 communities -aw (heir own I wintegral part of the current organisa moral smokescreen for naked veste The question i s whether Levins'interests. No amount of rational argu @ of society, and since economic analysis is mose effc(BÃˆel geared ment refuting the Government's >e<(tfalityis an Integral feature of it, towards brifi$f@ abotrtftiture, 'reasons' would have altered matters &possible component of an energy or whether it is more suited towards except to the extent that ft promote rategy is likely 20 be left completely introducing soft technologies within a the citizen's movement that has beca wS&hed by any except those 'hard' political framework. There are- torftenging the political,and economic at least three reasons why 1 &ink the emain obstacle to . mining . and -@asilao itn of society. ; .latter possibility is more likely. port. I discuss these not in or& to I Lovins' work i s valuable for precis is last @ifpow- altering people tc especially critical of twins, but be the absurdity and non-necessity of h i t approach i~ typkat-of many others who approach matters from the technic- "current dife&ons. However, when he calls far "a fresh start at attacking ti a) side. Indeed, it is tiecause his work tensions and inequities that are at the is so powerful and successful in this root -of the E~t-West.andNorth-South that special &tention needs to be yein omk - -. , - s-(ere such as to permit easy use, and mulfioie annlicationt.v7, -.r.-r -&the problems of planned oh&les@& would be overcome as well as Itiple versions of goods individuals. It is apparent

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changes and increase the strength of t) -movenwpt for institu&al change.10 streragies are undertaken, it will be (5) Practise (as much as possible) easier to bring about beneficial social the principles o f the future, society t o +iion-maken - and poirtical change. within the movement for institutional - The trouble with this view i s that change: develop democratic, selfmanagi second limitation of soft technologies-are net introdurced in - organisational forms for straggle, devel ;pro&- is its &entation to decisionisolatiw, but in a social and political develop non-violent strategies afl& akert-and not to citizens and activists. context. tactics." ~ilienLwins mentions whit "we" can thy oopos!te approach needs to Just Portions of this article do <as he often does), "we" ~ b v i o u s l ~ any pqles; mmm adapted by the author be reto policy-makers and n o t to - seeking significant institutional change o f Lovins' article ("En a mass movement. (For - ,h society: political demands must be.'. the & not taken?** examp'e* . . . we are &Iiged to'stan .-7--intimately linked with demands that October 1976)) entiti com@ttmg money -now long-term - command wide support from conventhe line not taken?", the coming reptwwent technolm'fof tiomi perspectives. % reason for this in Chain reaction the decades " (p.19). Lovint isJon& isthat awareness of the need for s t r u ~ ine of Friends of the On whtfcpo'icy-makers and should aha^ grows most easily out of (No.3(2),1977). ~ e ~& t / ~ do (".m"properly uiing the markets actual struggle* which demonstrate the able from 51, Nicholson St,,Cart*we haw , may be the greatest possib///ty of alternatives and the im_ Victoria, 3053, Australia. Cover single stepwe could take toward a possibility of attaining them within is 5 1 (Aust) sustainable, humane energy future" . . societal structures as they exist The (p.351b and short on what the implicof the attons are for concerned citizens. nuclear sn&&mtarises from its tink-Furt!iermore, Lwins more or less ing of concern over radiation and the explicitly *opts tfnsvalue systemOf -: environment with the wider issues of -. 3. ~ m o i yB. m , ~ pare. top Acision-makers (especially. in ' 2.-*%~entralised control over planning and. toword o dumb& pace ;New York; chapter 2, which originally appeai-ed%-;-+5-wopment, civil likrties, and -< ->, . ~allinger,1977; lbcmondsworth: ~aimfw Fore# d'it~, an impeccably establTsh- ,-muniw 1977). &cision-mAing2. David DicksoB. Alternative. techmt journal), so as to expose incon-sistencies in their position and not " -the politics o technical chyme (Load Fontana, 19 4); Steptten -A. MaixUo, . disturb @em with threatening changes "What do bone do? The origins *od. in social structure. The problem with functions of hierarchy to capitalist pro*uction", Refew sfmUcd p a U W this- fs that the result is selectively useCritiques are notoriously inadequate economics. b* Ty 6 (Summer pnÃˆ^ an 197 ful to decision-makers who want to .when it comes to suggesting positive preserve existing economic and political actions, and this one is not-an excepta hard path, because he w stnictares namely by bringing in soft ion. Here I+ briefly summarise and political relations to be f to the definition of an enpathtechnofogies h.a 'pfe' way as W r k b e d same pf tlw-wysim-@ch wtivi* &. hw bwIesw Hwkt Gb* eariier - me much less useflri to can link the'rtruggb f o r political activist* who (like Lovifts) consider d change with the struggle for a soft -S~ u t ~e kins 1 ,? italist 7 ~ ,part America III; G.Wew ~ i ~iw iaal "that today's yalws arid institutions " energy future. Domhoff, Tfte agony o f the America! - _., are imperfect" (p.15). : , - (1) Emphasim the political and SOW 'o6iections t o a hard energy future and The consequence hi that t w i n s democracy: Ant-rial Oft*gives almost att his attention to their inseparability from environmental York; David MeKay, W3),dl.8. 5. Ivan IS&, E w g ~ aid equity (~onz.bm, technical fix- and other politically issues: the cqtrallsation of economic Odder and &yam, 1974). non-disturbing facets of an energy and political control, the requirement ^^_ ucantralizstrategy. Even when he mentions social for social mil political stability and ed energy systems have been built by changesas a way to do ore with less -repression to prevent environmental institutions in no position to ask w t ~ o wWeem m Q ~ ebest way energy, it is Jn terms of s ch things as disasters, Ã‡botaÃ or economic collapse. .@t@ use fQ'li2tbm - an car-pooling, crossing to suit the weather, (2) E w fte political& facial and recycling, and not such fuftdataentadvantagesof a soft energy future: Ion pricing .einforced of all farms by tan of comirtent energy . undet. @r <Ã more personal security due t o freedom al changes as self-managed production, utility regulation which automatically increased profit* in opsrtion to capital collective use o f goad$, or reduction of -.-from breakdowns'or sabotage of central-invested." @P. 140-fi- But he does not ~ & e dtechnologies. more control and -- the military establishment. explain why institutions were structured-' In this vein, it is n o t a m that Lovim, A+tisfaction from work and commu-nity this way or why regulations were drawn decision-making. like those he so effectively criticises, up this way. On the creation of r e p i l a ~ (3) Concentrate on the issues that ory conunissions by the businesses they never question what It produced, but . are supposed to regulate, see Domhoff,. is concerned with how to obtain in a .- really concern people: jobs, employon. eft. faote 4 ) and Gabriel Koko, TK ment, and work (rather than just rational manner the energy for producttriumph o f Consavotism: a reinterpretUis ion and consumption as they are . - environmental issues); the quality of, of American history, 1900-1916 (New York: The Free Presi of Gkncoe, 19631. and paitici~atKX)and control over work presently organised. It Is clear the 7. Paul A. Baran and Paul M. Sweezy, Stonconditions, education, health services, planned obsolescence, manufactured opoty capital: art essay on the ArnÂ¥TtdB demand, and mllttary hyperproduetion and community planning (rather than - economic awl local order (New York: are major reasons for high energy use. just the technologies and techniques Monthly Review Press, 1967). 8. Herbert Marcuse. One dimensional ~m But not only does ~ o v h i sassumfe no involved); the di5tftbution o f income, (London: RwUedgs and Kegan Paul 196. fundamental changes in lefestyle; more :benefits and losses in a soft energy Saul D. Almsky, Ruks of red!ca&: a : fundamentally, he does not argue for future (rather than environmental -.. 9._ pmtical primer for na&tic ,dieils Wm (or even mention) changes in productbenefits atone, which often are seen as- york: Random HOU*, 1971). i relations. middle class concerns). 1O.Andre Goiz. Strategy for labor: o radical proposal (Boston? Beacon fay, (4) Organise within the workplace, 1967)shnical change and social change . :unions, schools, community groups, 11.Jahn M. Swomley, It., Liberation ethtcs Lovins takei the view that the - ' --.I. and neighbourhoods, and formulate a (New York: Macnullan, 1972); George set of positive alternatives, demands, Lakey, Strategy for o living revolution urgency of introducing soft energy .. strategies is paramountr and that - %- and strategies, based on a vision of a . (New yak: Gram. 1973). changes in social structure can come just and equal society and how to attain afterwards. The idea is that action attain it, which both lead to beneficial --

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expected the ~indsc& m i r y to kad to the abandonment of , fte commitment to reprocessing, much tea halt in our seemingly-inexorable &towards the plutoniumeconomy. Kitwhat it did illustrate was that the ucfear power is not getting ose with ffie power to , isions. In part this may be o f them justdun% want in part it is the fault of ide @Ãˆ.'nuclea movement. With some lotable exceptions, the objectors' case itive, confused sad often un- unless that is, you were

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of public opinion will sipport non-vio direct action when it has been clearly demonstrated that there is no other Ie, recourse. But are we really at that stag h the UK? The Fast Breeder Rewq (FBR) inquiry kyatt@come. Mitants will say that this will just tie up the anti-nuclear groups for another two years or so, when they could be out organising a mass campaign. Maybe so. But the 1 occur apd it seems wise to use w atever resources can muster to ensure that we are representedeffectiveiy at it. At present the form of the inquiry is, apparently, undecided. The first battle ' will be to ensure that the procedures are designed to avoid some of the overlaps and duplications that occurred at Windscale. The Political Ecology Research Group (PERG), working with the Nuclear Information Network, is producing a detailed prop-yl. An important element in any such. ' proposal would be a request @at the Inquiry is structured voyiffi-Issues wst o-rganis&ons. Thmsh(Suttf ,&&week

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Environment and Resources Associawill not be stopped by public inquiries (orwhatever) on health and safety at tion) argues that nuclear power is a or even by technical argument work, a period set aside for proliferation, bad investment ip that you could get and similarly for security implication+..although these will help. It will be the same amount of energy for less stopped by political action - that is by envir6nmental impact, employment -. -,--, investment from the alternative effects and so on. i-sTT^ : '-=^ :.. winning the public over to seeing that energy sources - thus freeing capital To do this there would be a need; +-'/'Jy not only i s it dangerous and unnecesfor investment in other industries, * $ sary, but the alternatives are better -for a pwinquiry meeting, of a few the social services and so on. As cheaper, safer, more job-creating and or maybe weeks, which set up th& i and receive claims from ~ b j e c t i n g g r o u ~ s- likely to underpin rather than destroy - Barry Commoner has armed in The Poverty o f Po*, if we opt for for participation in the eventual inquiry. - ' - ourprosperity. are likely to be nuclear power Objecting groups should be able to make use of some centralised data banks p r o - - Nukes? - -- - --- - facedwith capital starvation: the . vided by the inquiry secretariat during - --, Given this situation it i s ~ i t d that-, -- nuclear power programme will soak the subsequent research period. Provisions - the anti-nuclear movement has a clear Ă&#x201A;ÂĽ up alt the spare capital (oneestimate for thq UK is 10%of our GNP). Far for funding for research would obviously - understandingof what it's against and be &&We, if objectors to be a b l s - what i t i s for. A t present the movement - from leading to prosperity, jobs and economic growth, it will therefore to mount realistic critiqu@:Obvi@slf --<?'"represents an uneasy coalition of contend to increase unemployment and there are problems. No gqernmenfisgo; :y"wvationists, ecologists and radicals. ,reduce growth in the vital nianuTheir reasons for opposing nuclear ing to hand w t motiey t o eve@ objectof factoring sector which we depend. who cares t o ask, and a 'means test' or- .-- -power are many and varied, although SERA argues instead for selective :- -. there is broad agreement over the 'relevance test* would be difficult togrowth in industries which p~oduce environmental, proliferation and health operate impartially. One solution might needed items (incladin6 alternative and safety issues. But otherwise, embe to meet costs retrospectively accordenergy systems) and in the public phasq - and tactics - tend to vary. ing t o the value of the contribution services. made, as judged by some independent ;-- Some o f the groups who have access to Conservationists tend to see the technical expertise have focussed on- 1 _ body - one on which" the detailed economic, technological, issue somewhat differently. Their aim of objecting organisations 'environmental or safety issues - onlyis a stable-state economy - an aim ~ uthis t would not pr&i -to find themselves having to match Shared in the longer term by SERA the research period, when fu expert for expert with the energyThedisagreement is mainly over theneeded. May be grants would planners UKAEA and BNFL. It's easy time scate. native, awarded on the criteri t o get lost in this sort o f in-fighting - " Conservationists tend to see by the SRC and SSRC? and very easy for the public to be con'growth' as the key problem. They fused. At the other end of the spectrurr argue that growth usually means the is the 'emotional' approach - replete production of shoddy products with with horror stories o f plutonium probuilt-in obsolescence which misuse and Country Planning Act 1974, and Iiferation, explosions, terrorists and scarce resources and do not meet social needs. Now this is clearly true. so on. Clearly over-reliance on this But SERA say the remedy is not just proach can be counterproductive; it to halt growth. For the moment many people depend on growth, even place in a.m0vernent if it leads to spurious security. What to democratising decision we need says SERA i s to fight for selective growth in socially-needed A key task for the next phase of should be JocaW more centrally production and for redistribution the debate is to open up economic London being the obvious choice. of economic power as a preliminary issues and demonstrate that nuclear This would cut the cost toabjectors to m"vin& in a planned way, to a power does not make sense economicconsiderably. stable-stateeconomy in the longer ally. It's a bad investment, even in Allevidence to the inquiry should be term. A zero- or low-growth economy Straightcapitalist terms - as has been published well in advance, with supplecan only be introduced as Part of a realised by several large US energy firms, mentaries only allowed for more Programme of politicaland econowho, despite offers of guaranteed fundrecent developments. -. . -mic than@ - otherwise ft wilf ing-from the government, aregettifig - &nother suggestfo%ls&atthe government shpflw specfficiJl~:fund, out o f nuclear ppwer fast. Thawnot - simply maintain or increase the present inequalities and exploitation. %q3sYthat --,-quickprofits; can't bcmadfc ,-me independent research group to It is crucial that these different Tartrofsome aspects of nuclear power. produce a detailed critique of the 50 interpretations be explored and disTor some nuctear component manuprogramme, together with an assesscussed more widely, of else tiie antifacturers, nukes represent an economic ment of the energy contributions lib nuclear movement will be portrayed bonanza funded by the taxpayer. At -ly from alternative technology. just as a middle-class 'nogrowth' the same time nukes appeal to the But the ATmovement has yet to movement, dedicated to reducing government as a way to ensure continputtogether a convincing alternative ued energy supplies, freed from threats living standards forthe bulk bf the energy scenario. Alth by the miners or OPEC and perhaps population. It has to be demonstrated ERG and o t h w ill h that energy growth and economic - growth are not necessarily linked, . Our task is to demonstrate that this, that quality of life can increase . approach not only undermines demo- --_without ever increasingenergy production based on ever-more-comcracy but is also irrational. There . -, plex technology. And it is t o be are several strands in the counter_ Energy Strategy for the UK. Howev shown that nuclear power will in fact . .a research group at die University o 'Aberdeen i s currently doing a cornrent anti- . - reduce our standard o f living, that . there are viable alternatives, and that parative study of all the v'ariou~offi in short we dbn't'need nukes. Only and unofficial strategies/scenario's, then will the uncompromising 'no which should be of considerable use nukes' slogan gain wide support. when completed. For example SERA (The Socialist In the end, however, nuclear power Dave Etli

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"RURAL RESETTLEMENT" and "SELF-SUFFICIENCY" are just two of the growing number of labels under which the back-to-the-tand movement is gathering strength. And there isn't always full agreement about aims and how to go abput it when one is faced with practicalproblems. Horses or tractors +? is just one of the , / questions. Herbie Girardet otterssome opinions.

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mnii RURAL RESETTLEMENT on a significant scale can succeed only if there are reasonable economic prospects for the new 'settlers'. I n a highly capital intensive, industrialized economy such as Britain's, this i s a tricky problem. This is highlighted when we look at present employment in agriculture in this country. According to government statistics1 there are a total of 669.000 people employed i n agriculture, o f whom 219.000 are full time farmers and 213.000 are full time farm workers. It i s assumed that these figures are not going to change significantly over the next decades though there may be slight regional fluctuations. In this system of industrialized agriculture there is employment for just one person per every 100 acres or so. Every place o f work requires capital investment of tens of thousands of pounds per workers, whether employed or self-employed. On this scale the creation o f employment in the context o f rural resettlement would be a very expensive business. And it must be added that despite the enormous level of capital investment in agriculture farm workers still only get a basic wage of about Â£4 per week. The self-sufficiency movement is, of course, concerned with a very different approach to working the land. It assumes that people should work small acreages intensively, for their own benefit rather than the benefit of the national economy. But one of the fallacies of this movement i s to make people believe that getting back to the land i s going to be easy. Many people who contemplate a move t o the countryside have some practical experience of smallscale gardening. But farming, even if it is only on a few acres, is a different thing altogether. For a start you have to be able to handle a very different set of tools, hand tools alone won't get you very far.

Capital investment in tools will depend on the acreage and crops involved and the number o f people who participate, but typically it would be in the region of Â£1000per worker. On this scale one person would work 10 acres or less rather than 100 acres or more as is the current practice. This sort of approach is frowned upon - t o say the least - by government, farmers' and farm workers alike. And i t i s well established by now that i t i s rather difficult t o get planning permission for a dwelling on a piece of land i f the suggestion is that it is intended t o practice self-sufficiency there. Many people pay lip-service to the 'ideal' of self-sufficiency but the experiences of people who have attempted it indicate that it is ultimately an unattainable and unachievable goal, and, as a high degree o f selfishness i s implied, an undesirable one. I f rural resettlement i s to become a realistic option the prospects have to be considered very carefully. There is still far too much wishful thinking about the 'hidden treasures1in these' green fields.. . all we have to do is find them and everything will be alright. hi^ isnot the to getthe sup. port which we clearly need if land settlement is to become a reality. One thing i s clear: Land resettlement does imply more labour intensive methods of production than are current today, i.e. the finite amount o f productive land available will have to be shared by more people. Among other things this has technological implications which I want to discuss in some detail. British farming technology i s geared up entirely to the large holdings which dominate UK agriculture. The average farm size is 137 acres at present.

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The agricultural equipment industry is concerned only with making the tools for these large scale, capital intensive

farming methods,The smallest tractors now made i n this country are 35 hp! There are no agricultural tools made that slot between this size of tractor and the small rotavators which are used by gardeners to cultivate up to one acre o f land. I n other words, there are now no tools made i n this country for the small farms which still exist as enclaves between the prairie farms and where land resettlement is now taking root on a small scale. This presents problems as well as opportunities. It would be silly to make proposals for land settlement on the assumption that sufficiently large numbers of people could get together and dig up hundreds of acres by hand, and i n that way cultivate communally owned land. Some sort o f intermediate farming technology is required both for smallholdings and for community farms, which is half way between the 35 hp tractor and the 5 hp rotavator. Intermediate size tractors, suitable for relatively labour intensive cultivation, are now imported from Japan, and the USSR. These have about 20-25 hp, but they cost Â£2,50 or so. There are also some smaller imported one-axle tractors on the market2, but even these cost in the region of Â£1,000 i f the price of some basic implements i s included. Presently, the only realistic alternative are post-war second-hand British i tractors and implements which are available quite cheaply but which often require a good deal o f repair work to make them usable. The best known postwar tractor which is still available in reasonable numbers is the Ferguson T2o whose production was stopped in 1957. These machines are extremely engineered and some can still be used without a major overhaul. They cost between Â£20 and Â£40 for one which is in reasonable condition. But tractors without implements are not much use. In fact. second hand implements

Â¥ quite cheap; a two-furrow plough xts between Â£5and Â£100A simple iitivator or a finger-bar mower, suitlie for a small tractor, costs about the me. A set of farming equipment, litable for a 10-30 acre farm can be aught for around Â£1000This sort uf equipment can be found in farm sales or at second hand farm equipment dealers, but to get hold of the right , equipment does require expertise and "me.

ring Back (he Fergy Now, what has all this got to do with rural resettlement and employment? The point is that post-war British farming technology must in my opinion be considered as the most suitable for the semi-labour-intensive production methods which will be required if more people are to work the land again. Small tractors like the Fergy, the nickname for a T20, use asuprisingly small amount of fuel even with fairly extensive use. A year's fuel supply is likely to cost well below Â£50at 40 pence a gallon f o r agricultural diesel. And it should be remembered that tractors like the Fergy are very sturdy machines, which have far less to go wrong on them, or rust, than say cars of the same sage. There are many tractors of this sort of age now being scrapped which could certainly be reconditioned with a reasonable amount o f effort m reasonably well equipped workshops. Here is a lot of potential work for urban car mechanics who seek to make a living / in rural areas. The introduction, or re-use, or 'outdated' farm equipment could thus create employment, or self-employment, in two ways: By providing reasonably cheap, but adequate, tools for those who want to work the land on a small to medium scale; and by providing rural work for people With experience in mechanicalengineering, of whom there is a great lack in the countryside, These would be the modem-day blacksmiths, with all the versatility that such work implies. There is also a great lack o f carpenters in rural areas and of people with skills in repairing agriculral buildings! The demand for small agricultural power-tools is increasing rapidly and this clearly represents considerable opportunities for rural co-operatives. By reconditioning old equipment people will acquire the skills to be able to make new agricultural tools, suitable for small-scale cultivation, most of which are at present being imported. New'kinds o f tools will have t o be made for advanced organic farming methods, for example, the extensive application of mulch on market gardens. There is also a strong case for solar technology workshops in rural areas: i n fact, several are already in existence.

~ c aProcessing l of Local esources

employment is the processing of local raw materials, for example, wool. Virtually alt wool now produced in thiscountry is bought by the wool marketingboard and processed by . giant companies. Rural co-operatives have been set up in Wales and Scotland which have shown that it can bevery viable tomake textilesin rural workshops, particularly if there are direct sales outlets locally as well as i n the , cities. There would be considerable scope for co-operative textile worksbifs* community farms as part o f a 'mixed economyr consisting both of agriculture and craft production. It must be emphasised that the economy of rural resettlement would have little chance of success if based on horticulture and agriculture alone. Rural resettlement implies a much smaller ratio of people to land than is common in British agriculture today. It is true that there are market gardeners in some parts of Britain who manage to make quite a good living on just a few acres. But their land has in most cases been used for market gardening for many generations and they have all the necessary know-how and market outlets which newcomer; will take some time to establish. It should also be remembered that vegetable prices fluctuate very considerably from year to year, and 1977 was a bad one for marketgardeners,as the prices were very low indeed. Not a very good year for new market gardeners to make a start. The success of rural settlers will depend on a high degree of versatility and Â¥thua wide variety o f skills. k t craft skills can be acquired in courses which are taught in urban colleges of various kinds. With agricultural skills the problem is more difficult as access to courses is extremely limited. And the courses themselves tend to focus on thti ttau'uemeatsof<arge-scale, capital irttensivea&itu~ture.There are now a number of alternative agricultural training schemes, some of which are only just getting off the ground. Breconfillege of Further Education ran a smallholder; course in 1977 which wasextremely well attended. Another course will be held in ~ 9 7 8 . ~ Course* also being planned by COMET Combinedorganic movement for edufation and training which will concentrate on practical experience on farms.4 There are, of course, a number of bootswailabbe which deal with the practical skills of working die land, but most of them concentrate on gardening, using hand tools, or onsmall scale agriculture, using-horsesas a power source. 1 don't think that this i s a practical proposition for the beginner. (Horses require a lot of grass, a lot of training and the price o f implements tends to be hi&: vou have to

lawn. Horses are not for inexperienced newcomers!) Perhaps tbe m&&&$s; practical guides for new smallholders 5 are three booklets by Sedley Sweepey,.; published by the Soil Association.

Lower Capital Investment A regeneration of rural employment * will happen only if it can be shown that viable work places can be created at a , much lower rate of capital investment than i s the rule today. This is most obvious when we look at farming where no adays capital investment of tens of thousands of pounds per worker for to&' alone is typical. Enormous acreages are necessary to make such investment pay. But as the example of the agricultural workers shows, high productivity per ma does not necessarily mean high wages. lir some areas, particularly Somerset, there are market gardeners who manage to make a reasonable living on only a few acres and with investment in tools of only about Â£1,000But their example i s not easily imitated by newcomers who have only a small amount of farming experience. People who are seeking to make a living on individual smallholdings should be prepared to have to rely on some outside income for a couple of years at least. But the efforts of individual smallholders wilt not add up to rural resettlement on a significant scale. Community farms with a mixed economy o f co-operative agriculture and crafts will offer a more satisfactory lifestyle than individual land settlement. But schemes of this nature go against the grain of the present society and it will require a' lot of effort to make them a reality. In the cities proposals for labour-, or skill-. intensive workshops are now beingconsidered very seriously as a way of overcoming high levels of unemployment. Central and local government are now spending money on such schemes. It i s time that initiatives were taken to show that rural employment can be created in a similar way, particularly in rural areas with a high degree of industrial unempl6yrnent. The Co-operative would appear to be the most suitable form of organisation for the regeneration of rural employment. As there i s now a Co-operathe Development Agency, let us hope that there will at last be some government support for groups of people who seek to start community farms. Herbie ~ i r a d e i References: 1. Asrtculture into the 1980s. Manpower, Agriculture EDC, NEDO, London, 1977; Ãˆ0P 2. Tools for Agriculture, compiled by John Boyd, ITDG Publications, 9 King StreÃ Lo@on, WC2; 3. &&&I College for Fwther Educatior., Pow* Wales . 4. COMET, Combined Organic Movement for Education and Training, c/o Dick Kitto, ' Lower Shaw Farm, Shaw, Swindon, . ..

1s the legal interventions against nuclear power plants zontinue t o fail i n Britain and t h e US t h e 'Ecology Movement' will increasingly t u r n t o direct action. With the demonstrations a t Seabrook, Brokdorf, Malville and others serving as models, a debate is ieeded o n the politics (organisation and purpose) ind technology (tactics) o f direct action. Jan Huss h o u l d provoke some thoughts. 'RIGHT Y O U GUYS, we've come this vening t o say a few words on th' stinkin' vay you ran the Malvilie frolic an' I vould like t o introdooce non other than 'our own JEAN-PAUL DUBOIS. Thank ,uh. O.K. J.P. th' floor's yours." "Fellow dissenters, I would start with his statement: A large crowd can be ontrolled at a personnel ratio o f 10: 1 >y a determined force which is cohesive, ias good communications, uses flexible actics and is prepared to be physically iggiessive. Conversely, i t is difficult for hat force to control to that degree, an ~ppositionwhich is scattered, moves in arious directions, forms no large groupngs and does not appear t o have a comnon target that can be forecasted. A t Aalville '77 the movement suffered a rue defeat, i t did not reach its objective, Iver which i t was woolly minded, and it nade no lasting impact o n the body polic where, our image has now been disortcd b y the riot police. It allowed itself o be harried b y gas and grenades, t o the nai-tyrdom o f one o f us, and permitted he initiative to be held at all times by 'ur opponenets. I submit that it is necssary in the coming season t o once again ake the field at Malville and renew the cbate, but this time w i t h a change in dch ~ n liitlics. d We have come t o SFIR out some tnielliods whereby we c

maximise the cost to the opposition, watch o n the oppo an' milk them fer place people o n the target, protect ourtheir intentions. Finally he can find a selves and t o some extent disperse the nice hole in th' real estate an' when the ci-devant forces. A t this point I will oppo starts rappin' on th' air he can be hand you back t o Pete." a great little butinski an' jam their traff "Right fellas last time they did everyThen there's jochen, th' gadget freal thing except dip yuh fer Warblefly, Next - we've outfitted him with smoke cani! time around I wanna have them pickin' ters - great gear man - without infrared yuh just don't know if a smoke up every goddam cow an' go lookin' for us under them, see. Now, we ain't in the screen's hidin' one or a thousand guys, same class as the CIdmsheli outfit - those so yuh have to come a'lookin'. If guys are real vets - an' we're goin' to be they get a column on th' run, then runnin' a bigger operation with f i f t y smoke m it's rear will slow them down thousand head so let's take a look at to a crawl. He can get you over a strean some o f th' things we'll be gettin' t o through barb wire an' bust locks or he thei-. First there's th' Counter Measu Tail End Charlie's' a penetrationgroup Groups (C.M.G.'s) - we should be settin' trip line actuated rockets to let n g at least thirty o f them an' here' yuh know if your bein' followed up. what they can do. Sot a neat way to immobilise autos I' sets th' locks, slams th' doors an' pump Now let's have a look at th' skills quick settin' epoxy inta th' keyholes. these guys have an' how they can be Then there's me, th' orienteer. My used individually. kinda freak is good with maps an' gettii We'll start o f f with Jean-Paul here over the ground economically so we jus He's trained to observe, make an apna-Wherly makegood runners for group preciation an' come up with a decision. to group/column head to tail communiHe can lead penetration, recce and other - cations or whatever. You need us most1 team tasks, act as an advisor t o column when yuh wanna keep radio silence. leaders. I think we've told yuh enough Morgan, he's the radio ham, he can .about th' C.M.G.s to get yuh exterpolsplit it three ways. He an' his buddies atin' fer yourselves except that they speak an exotic language so they can irecommitted well ahead of 'H' hour. supply a secure radio net over th' whole A t first light on The Day th' m e t r a t i o doin's - or avam he can keen hsteniii'

Jndercurrents 27

sition. organise off site protest.

ZOUNTER MEASURES GROUP: To he used for 1I Penetration To make a 'touch down' at the obiactwe. 2) Reconnaisancfl To locate opposition grouping* and read his forward tactic*. 31 Pathfinding To direct the dam clear of blocks and ambuscades. 41 Dissimulation To fool the opposition into committing forces away from the demo. 51 Gadfly To directly intervene in the oo~oaitim'soneratiom 6) Communication Tb ralav information inlout o f t h a area and- to ~- the - - media. 71 Co-ordination To form a co-ordinatingcommand point behind the opposition. B1 Direct Support and supply its skills as required. To march with the &TO 51 Clutter To force a 'weeding out* owration on the oo~ositionand as a means of removing pressure on the main body at the final phase. ~

oys will be lying doggo a few hundred letres short of the prime objective hen they get The Word they move inta i' area an' lay smoke, release rockets, alloons, anything t o get th' competion to move men back unto th' target n' away from th' citizens in th' columns. leanwhile the Dissimulation groups will e doin' their thing - detour boards at rossroads, road blocking, an' so on. Pathnder sections will also be already staked ut along with th' Gadfly people waitin' 1see how th' junket goes. A t th' end f theday when th' demo breaks up these roups will try to keep th' baddies tied own playin* Chase Me Charlie. So, ack to J eanPaul an' we'll have th' uestions at th' end. "As Pete has pointed out we expect I give strong support to the operation y the tactics we can action through his M . groups, so let us now consider a :w points. Wellington delivered a sharp Â¥ssoto the Emperor Napoleon 1st on ie foolishness of attacking a defensive ne with a column. Therefomit is m e ary to weaken their KM, infiltrateor utflank it, since there is absolutely othing to gain by maintaininga conÂ¥ontottowith It Large numbers are squired on the protest to give it the

field. Now let us look at some of the options that are open to us assuming that fifty thousand will get through to the area and that they will be pacifists. Prior. ity must be given to action causing the opposition to disperse itself over wider territory which should be away from, rather than radially around, the site. To achieve this let us dispatch ten thousand to march on say a length of major road and block it be staging a sit down protest sandwiching as many of our people within the resultant car columns as possible - any attrocities perpetrated upon the group will then be witnessed by a considerabte number of unaligned people. A further ten thousand could then be sent off to march on the largest reachable urban centre with a like result. With the rernainingpeoplewe should aim for a muftl-promedadvance on the objective spreadoutww the widest obtainable front. 'Die more adventurous should be persuaded t o move across country in packets of not nw,e than fifty, supplying them withasmuch informatKkB &.is practicable. ,. We will now consider the preparation requwedbeface the went. we see it there $ i d to:-

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Clamshell, during i t s protest, was in" a considerable position of strength dpe t o the spectre o f the Kent University massacre which hung in the minds of every National Guardsman and polificia involved. We, therefore, should attempt to get the Kent and similar cases debate in the media just prior to the protest underlining the hazards o f aggressive on the spot decisions for both the protagoi ists. I n interviews with the media, our spokespeople should point out to the public, and to our movement, that the attempts to intimidate us that took plac during Malville '77, the threats to shoot the calibre of weapons, etc; must be discounted as being nothing more than wh they were - attempts at psychological warfare. This should hinder the powers of decision of local commanders on the lay. During World War 2, the German Army used " Brandenburger" forces to good effect. They were trained saboteur who wore the uniforms of their opponents and used disruptive techniques. The Brandenburger tactic does not need to be carried out to work. so long as it is believed, the known threat will of itself cause disruption and slow down action within a force. By leaking inj mation to the authorities, overt attc , to purchase uniforms from manufacturers, attempts to suborn storemen, etc., a believeable threat could be founded. In this same area their costs could again be escalated by attempts to charter a helicopter - again a believable threat. This would involve them in checking flight plans, interdicting airspace and policing it. For each econologst that can make the venue on theday there will be wnsiderable numbers that just can't get there. These off-site people, for the prici of a few telephone calls, can discharge their obligations quite simply. They can interdict all public phone traffic in the area and make every police post virtually incommunicado. Every racjio and TV station which gives us a bad or non-existantpress can have their switchboards flooded with protest which willrevise their attitude and earn us covem Phone-in protest should also be directed against every politician with a responsibility in the area or in the subject We will leave it there for tonight, friends. We do not pretend to have sup plied answers to all the problems that beset us, for instance our own militants. I returnyou toPete to have a final wore "Before 1 throw th' meetin' open fer questions I've fot somethin' I'd like answered m'self. Last time out I think we were lucky to have rain or else we'd have given th' locals a fly problem you freaks do with th' nine ton you musthave produced on th'

Undercurrents i SAND was egistered through the industrial b m m o n Ownership Movement ICOM) i n December 1976 as a worker's ^-operative, t o make exclusive ladies ashions clothes for the wholesale trade md export markets. The company was ormed by Orean Moss, a one time ~hilosophylecturer (?)with a convinceng turn o f phrase who had just come back lack from working i n Israel, and a friend :alled Leon Cohen. Within two months :hey had obtained a loan o f Â£500 'rom Industrial Common Ownership Finance (ICOF), and a grant of over â‚¬60,0 from the Manpower Services Commission t o pay the wages of 21 people for a year. Fashion and fabric designers were recruited, a master tailer was employed, and a business manager was appointed. A London showo o m leased i n the heart o f the fashion srea, was supposed t o form the base through which export orders w o u l ~ be channelled. They were given the money they wanted within two months; the subsequant debacle has made i t almost impossible for similar ventures in the area to get funding even after 5 months o f patient requests. An old corn mill outside Denbigh in the lovely Vale of Clwyd was bought (rented? - this is still unclear) and the company started up in January 77. From the start, extensive alteration and improvement works were made to the mill, costing many thousands of pounds. Dresses were designed, workers were hired, and the venture got a lot of publicity from the press in an area where unemployment is twice the UK average. The Mayor o f Denbigh and local dignitaries opened the retail shop at the mill on 20th April to fanfares, and a 'Winter 77' collection for a Â£200 fashion show at the Inter Continental Hotel, London on 4th May 1977. I t was everyones idea o f a brilliant success, articulate socialist (or so it seemed) entrepreneurs using their talents for the benefit o f the

WORKERS CO-OPERATIVES are exciting interest for a host of different reasons. In particular the Manpower Services Commission see them as bein1 a way of boosting the 'informal' sector-the bits of wealthproduction left over after capitalism's feast, and reducing the embarrassment of high unemployment. Simon Watt recounts the sad experience of one such co-op set up in Denbigh, North Wales.

workers of Denbigh, i n beautifull surroundings (Dewi Rees, the chief o f the MSC even took his ladyfriend there on avisit).

An 'In-appropriate' venture The fashion display was a total flop sold and the company was deep in debt with nothing t o sell. The gamble had failed: Emotional plague set in and Leon Cohen was sacked, reinstated, then jacked of his own accord lateron. Debtors began knocking on the door, and an Annual General Meeting called on 22nd July. At this stage, according to the present coop members, 'frantic efforts were made t o ask the workers to be members'. When the facts about the debts became known t o the meeting the ordinary workers wanted to know exactly what was happening, especially as there had been no money in the kitty for the June wages left over from the MSC money. Orean Moss was then asked t o stand down as chairperson. - nothing was

apparent after anICOF audit, Mrs Moss was dismissed by the cooperative comm ittee (the members have not been allow< to see these or subsequent audits). The complete history of this venture has yet to be written. Mrs Moss had l i t t business experience and had romantic ideas about cooperatives and breaking down the barriers between managers an workers. She spent a small fortune on taxis, hired cars, hotels and hairdos (E2 for a perm on one occasion), and 'had plans for a bungalow with a swimming pool' by the mill. The middle-classes play at being business men/women at public expense. I t is easy t o be critical ( the early management o f Brookhouse Ampersand - if they had been able to sell their dresses then all would have been well. They didn't, however, and tileft the cooperative with Â£19.00 of debts. 'They tried too much, too soon

Left: Lil Gentles, the elected administrator. "It's different to managing in the NAAFI. Here I can only advise and suggest, or lead if i t is expected. The girls come and go as they please, and this isn't easy, but then I don't have to ask them to work late if it's necessary." Below: Brookhouse Ampersand's mill workshops-a romantic setting for the English country gentleman's idea of a workers' co-operative. Hardly economical.

- aiming for the top and ignoring bread m d butter work' said Lil Gentles,the tewly elected administrator. I h e coop struggles on

With huge debts t o pay and no work "n sight, the MSC cut its losses and cut iff the coops funds in October. The newly elected committee, without business skills or experience in the rag trade, lad t o learn from scratch how t o find work. They took work from any quarter - doing straight run production work making anything from pyjamas t o Presses for other companies. They even tried their hands at making up their own 'oods from cloth left over. I n a meeting n November with Dewi Rees, then chief i f the MSC - a smartly dressed man with i flickering smile like Dostoyevski's lolice chief who could crack a wet bag af cement with a laugh, the coop were told that they would not be getting the remaining Â£5,000allocated t o the ;ompany from the JCP. MSC have since denied that this money was ever available (does this mean that MSC shelled out this cash 3 months in advance of the wages being paid?). The ICOF representative also washed his hands o f the coop and told them that they had had rough luck but that it had been an unforgetable :xperience for them, - 'an experience that we could have well done without' said a disgusted coop member. Amongst the debts were Â£4,00 owing in taxes and taken from the members wages but never paid: Mrs Moss has since commented that 'this money was used to pay urgent debts and it is now the coops responsibility to meet it's debts, it's been a painful! including i t s taxes'. experience I want to forget' she added. And Â£7,00 o f MSC money taken i n the early months and spent on items that cannot be traced. Indeed, with accounts kept i n a very scrappy manner and few receipts available it will be hard t o pin down where any but's few thousand of the Â£19,00 debts have gone. Amongst the debtors banging on the door were two men sent from London t o reclaim the sewing machines; the coop negotiated from behind closed doors and when the men heard the full story, they refused t o take the machines and settled instead for Â£20 o f f the bill. Now there's solidarity for you. With no money in reserve and small money coming from the outwork, the coop members took a cut i n wages o f one third t h i s Christmas; they now earn Â£22/week Lil the administrator gets Â£42/week doing outside work for a national company who is supplying everything, cotton and all. The coop ma makes 500-600 dresses a week at 7 0 pence each; these are sold i n the Dutch market at a huge price (remember the Economist saying that this is now a low wage country?). The coop members are fully aware that they are i n effect a selfdisciplined and self-exploited workforce, but they prefer this t o sitting at home on the dole (even though the dole would pay better) or working under piecework conditions for someone else.

Lil Gentles, the elected administrator who had previously worked for 20 years i n HM's NAAF1, said - 'we have struggled so hard t o stay here that there is no way we will give i n now'. Their phone has been cut o f f and their story is making front page news i n the local paper and has been related-onthe radio and N.The local chamber o f commerce has expressed the customary criticism o f coops i n general and o f MSC handling in this particular case. One member said - 'he hopes that it has been the first as well as the last workers cooperative in Denbigh.' Another said - 'they have been selling at cost and undercutting local firms, and taking in any case we local staff away opposed this venture right from the start.'

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What can we learn from all this? The informal sector, despite the praises sung and chanted by such a mixed choir as can hold Ivan Illich and Robert McNamara, is essentially an exploited and second class sector. If the Holy vessel o f cooperative values is carried into the cold grey o f the market place where all the main stalls are cornered by big business getting their goods from the cheapest quarter (no quarter is offered i n the sweat shops of South-East Asia where machinists work for pennies), then we must expect it t o be dashed t o the ground. It is completely unfair t o expect ordinary people who are neither heros nor saints t o make a success out o f cooperative working without the security o f a guaranteed outlet for their goods that allows them a reasonable income whilst they get on with the cooperating. I n the case of Brookhouse Ampersand, if the larger Coop Retail Stores took their goods then they would have a chance o f widening their product range and commissioning new designs from further afield t o provide some jam for their bread and butter work. A strategy o f this sort amongst coops would be similar to the strategy o f Third World countries who seek t o trade with each other on an eaual footing- instead

o f trying t o slug i t out against the powerful! developed countries. Cooperatives must be allowed to have their own Bank, technical and commercial advice and, if they are to be allowed t o succeed, must be able to pay for experienced managers who, although sympathetic and committed t o the cooperative ideal, nevertheless know how t o handle themselves i n the rough and tumble o f the market place. Central Government cannot provide this function -its distance and shifty burocratic nature make it too unreliable to be trusted i n the task o f building human work places. I n Spain Mondragon (UC25) has succeeded because it was able to build up its resources and i t s Bank duri a period when they were protected by the War from foreign competition and by the lower wages in Spain. They also had a 'just cause' t o work for. These conditions are not met anywhere i n Britain now, with the exception perh o f Wales - but even here there are fe! who would be prepared t o take cuts i n wages similar t o those at the Denbigh coop. If this society recognises the valu of cooperative working, which plainly the market system dominated by vestei interests (ie, capitalism) doesn't and cannot, then it must also allow it a fa share o f the main areas o f wealth p r a ing work and the cash to finance it, Nationalise wealth-producing work as v as the crag-ends o f the informal sector and de-centralise it t o worker cooperatives. The informal sector making clothes, whether cooperative or otherwise, occupies the low ground i n the sink nei the plug-hole o f the dole; they can be flushed away at any time if the hand 01 the tap chooses t o flood in the imports of cheaper goods from overseas. The present members o f Brookhouse Ampersand, from believing the comfort able mvth that the State orotects their interests when it comes &I the crunch. now look at the order o f things with

Jndercurrents 27 \

bitterness. 'Why should we be Allowed previous management The question of the cost of maintaining the unemployed to go bust', they say, 'when it will cost almost as much to keep us on the dole when s o m a n y d Aatcanktbe flnade are as our wages cost now - and then we at many the won't be producing anything?'. This argument was put to Dewi Rees, then want,& chief of the MSC, when the group asked the use of an empty schooljrt the.q&#e * for their cash allocationfrom the JCP of Denbigh for ww year, Wvynfawn, programme in November in order to 'CIWyd'sOwe/opmentOffic~, whohas help them survive the debts left by the . hew &&#w the 000p;praisedGlyndyr

Council's far sighted move which would save jobs. The coop haw been unable to carry the debts created by the previous management, he said, and this move will give them a good chance to start again. (Will the monies still In doubt from Jhe, used to pay off the debts, and will Oreaa h&ss*be paid the monies supposedly owing to her family?) . .~iroon watt -

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--ITS ONE of those nights - or should I say mornings? The aftermath of Guiness has nudged me awake at three am. this ear(y summer's Saturday; and I ponder dimly the fluid miracle that has removed all trace of black. Outside, the frst pale light and fading stare. After weeks of grey-long days, a springthat Wer dried up, hew conies* dawn too good to squander deep .,, ..ing. From the telewrid&*d on Sutton Coldfield, the first blackbird strikes up: territorial imperative, or simple joie de vivre? "Okay, ofcay, I surrender." I yield to that primitive delight; the exhausting fullnest* coniesso easily when* casionally I syne my day to that of the Sun. Aninstant coffee* black; a quick thick sandwich packed, and I wheel the&*&

footpath new to me. A c p s the twin &y tracks, ever threatened with closure, feeling their strength and p convex shine: parallel lines converging at infinity where beyond Butcote; Iron Way to the imminent

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out into this other twilight. heedless hedgeless Lincolnshire? Labour-intensive certainly, East is the only way to go today, out from the city. I free* even with that sturdy rotovator; and maybe no bad thing down the young Avenue, almost treeless, turn right, with so many of us lost in jobs or jobless, and daily spending litter, Past pastthe paper shop, the chippie, and their conj Â£1 million importtng food. (I'm imaginingthese islands selfthe estate whose third-formers bring Mary too o ea close to reliant again, finally free of the export-or-& ind tears. A baby cries and cats fight. Gone for now, though, the perative. What new freedoms vague promise of urban violence: bower boys and girl6 (let's - . ) Come on Sun, work to do! m t be sexist, or naive) are in bed, hard edges softened. Trent Right on cue, he comes; further north than i' End Agro dream, OK? Left, through the y&p;hard pressed by Nottingham sad and by some zany symbolism rising symetricdy yet a &age st%; micynical, unselfconscious in its jubilee buntnearest pylon: "Danger 400,000 volts". Nice one, ing. In the shop a freezer hums; the birds, already busy, are stop and stare at the Sun, somehow squashed, flattene uieternow; the firs t t w i l d , a c t honey)are on*& roses. the effort of bootstrapping owr the rim of tly world so is when the tidy s ~ t h a s i tproud s hours. With traffic qpickly. fusion of eight minutes ago warms my cheeks stilled, there's time and place enough to stop and stare and . across ninety &Hion mi@,?nding a shiver of empathy; pure sense afresh those tiny 'cofUge gardens that tell who cues, feeling. We ride 'bthe , bike and I, twentieth century centaur who gives a damn. Roundliere ?re do. 1feel I have never throwing ashadow a quarter-& tong. Hawthorn blossom been here before. Not properiy.: blushes palest pink, its soft-core pistils poised receptive; at - least two cocks are crowing. A lark ascends a manic thermal North-east, onto the broad Lincoln road$o need t o s t o ~ w give way, just code an ear to left and-right; the A612 ttuw. -" ' ofmag; and another follows, hovers babbling, till each falls formed, where sixteen hows a day i'd not dare risk 'et and earthward. (You mean to say every dawn is liki lieck. I pass a postman off to work, loosely uniformed; the . Brsr words, the first contact of the day: smiled "Good momI pass beneath the pyion's dozen fizzing wires, and know tng" exchanged because each means it. A few fields away the that this is @nerating country; where Derwent, Trent and Scar Rent meanders by monochrome Fresians hardly awake, the : - average just Ã dozen miles between power stations, the least in frtiieh to waste the heat of thirteen hundreweight from whole scene hung with a windless slip of pist at crossbar ewty hard-won ton of coal, en route to clean simplicity. bkht. ' "Tin& electric" indeed! Meanwhile, across the steaming -%(test vehicle ahead, a car by the sound of it. Aftffl river, the soft Vale of Belvoir rests before its ha hdf-minute audible before it blurs by, lights still on; zs i t square area of less glance in the mirror, contact avoided; Exeter for breaktonsu~iptton. fast? Doppler-sfiifted deeper, the aoise-iecedesslaa'h&&

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At the ticking of the bike's freewheel a peasant, as fat as football and barely airworthy, breaks cover beside me, deiling my train of throught. The land teems with life; above 1with rabbits, back and breeding hard;long extended fames munch young corn. And, had I brought my catapult, I ight have bagged and jugged that sitting hare. Time for breakfast anyway; and I settle for the river bank id that home-baked sandwich of heroic proportions; the spberry summer of '76 preserved in mother-in-law's jam. D senses honed in crud-free air, it's a flavour as clear and arp as light itself. Feasting slowly, I share this space with usi-kamikaze swallows breakfasting with barely a ripple here air and water meet; while always just beyond my vision, ie fish plop up for theirs. By the bank here, thin bubblefts from below the weir move and meld and break, m a p ng invisible flows. "Frarmk!"; sixty feet above a lone heron lazes upriver. ack on the bike, I'm headed the other way on the humping idle-path, barely bikeable. I roughstuff it the mile or two I Caythorpe: up off the saddle, weight forward, shared beveen flexed arms and legs, pushing fast in lowish gear. Alive ;ah, the machine enjoys the closely contoured shake-out; id my every organ, muscle and bone vibrate to this field's lythm. Onto the lane and into the village, preening itself to be otts' best kept; a fellow early-riser is painting the bottom ne inches of his ultra-white house black, lest it be soiled ihind the wallflowers. I soft-peddle past, thinking that this nsual transport is like Kahil Gibran's definition of work , "love made visible". The bicycle is awareness made mobile. stride it I have efficiency of movement to beat anything in iture, or of man's making; necessarily in touch with the all around me; with sun and shade, wind, slope and temirature; with my body and breathing and my own fuel needs. ouch and taste are a stopanywhere step away; and I've irect line of sight, sound and smell; pigshit and honeysuckle ght now. To cycle is to travel gently, with the road blocks I the senses cleared. I mean, look at the colour of that ower! I'll iust stov and. . . CRASH! tween me and the here-and-now: braking and turning Push-bike and pushing thirty, dumped gether in the gutter. Bearded, blue-leaned, bleeding it a little; small wonder the grey-ilanneled prepr1001 lad passes by on the other side. Nothing oken but journalistic continuity. It was borage the hedge, by the way; self-seeded, and an communicable blue. And I'd better add a sense id a sense of humour to those the bike enhances. 1 loose grit.

Philip Brachi

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Hull is a city whose wealth was founded on the pursuit of fish over the high seas. A rather dangerous and inefficient way of eating, too, and one increasingly bound up and restricted by the small print of international fishing agreements. Jane Bryant argues that a thriving fishing industry might yet survive in the ruins of its predecessor HULL DOCKS are the heart o f (be City in an historical and physical sense. Hull has always derived a s e w of identity from the presence of her centre docks. They comprise a most important was\ feature and recreational 1 i t y -although thisisatpresent restricted toashing and people taking a walk along . the docksides. Various pieces of dockside paraphenalia bollards, capstans, winches, bridges, dockgates - remain as reminders of busier days.

Various proposals have been putforward as to how the now redundant dock areas should be developed. Queen's Dock,

the first to be built, i n 1778, was closed in 1930 and the site has since been filled in and 'landscaped' as 'public open ipaee*. Proposals for the fate of the tnree ing docks includehousing, hotels, carparking facilities, super-stores, a marina and offices. Obviously all of these, with the exception o f the marina, would involve the filling in of the dock basins, thus destroying the visual quality which i s supplied by their sheer size and the expanse of water. . Proposals which involve expensive infilling of the basins, for the erection of buildings which will only add to the city's existing stock of vacant office

space and ill-frequented new super-stores, are wahsurdity made initially viable be because ofthe availabity o f funds from central government for inner-city developments of this nature in industrial Development Area*. When considering the future of the docks from an Alternative Technologybased viewpoint, it is important to seek a solution which maximises the existing resources o f the dock basins themselves and which gives fullest consideration to the long term energy and ecological implications, whilst maintaining and enhancing the docks asa facility for tht people o f Hull.

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;*genesis o f thecconcept offish Mlture in the docks came about when EoBsidering how they could be retained m-aproductive way but essentially in their existing form. Research showed* that such a scheme would be possible M d economically viable. A fish farm in Mull Docks would: Require minimal adaptation o f the' basins themselves. Provide a solution sympathetic t o the tradition o f fishing industry i n Hull. Maintain Ae visual qualities offered by the expanse of water and enhance existing facilities for recreation. Provide limited employment initially, with a view t o expansion. I t w o u l d also be particularly appropriate in the context of A.T., due to' *The importance of growing food in the inner cities. *The onportunities offered for intee" ration with other traditionally rural activities which take place nearby, e.e Hull Pie Unit * The fullest use which can be made of existing resources with minimum long-term-input, particularly i n the - .carp production. The low energy requirements, i n the short and long term, o f such a scheme.

Princes Dock Preparing dock basins Ancillary buildings Equipment Pontoon & pontoon-bridge

CAPITAL COSTS Railway Dock Â£201,69 Preparing basins (incl. solar panels) Â£302,50 Ancillary buildings Â£3,00 Lquipment Â£35,00 Â£542,19 TOTAL Â£737,69

synthesis in algae, for protein production. Yields and returns: Carp are the common feature of the diet in India, Asia and on the continent; but in the U.K. the popularity of coarse fish for the table has steadily declined since the middle ages. They are now bred in the U.K. almost exclusively for angling purposes, a trend which may be reversing as we are now importing each year to

fulfill the demand for the fish as food, mostly from immigrant communities. We can assume therefore that readily available carp at a competitive price would ^c marketable. Yields vary enormously. A non-fcrtilised, still water pond in this country could only expect an average 'crop' of 4000kg/ha/vr, whereas the range quoted for Japanese running water ponds i s 400,000-2,OOO,OOOkg/ha/yr. %

The most suitable species for cultur

in this context are trout and carp. The design plan shows trout,raceways in Humber Dock, it beingchosen for trout Â¥iroductiobecause o f the location o f a iowerful spring at its Southern edge h i c h could provide the throughput of water necessary for viable culture o f the species. However, since the commence'nent ofresearch, work has begun o n the :onvi!rsion o f Hurnber-Dock into a narina. The fate o f Princes and Railway, locks has yet to be defined so concen: ration will be on the carp production: "Carp are hardy fish very tolerant to I wide range of temperature, salinity and ixygen levels. The intensity o f cultivation vl4 depend on the fertility o f ponds, legree o f Supplementary feeding and rater temperature. They require only a - : mall through-put of fresh'ivatffr, revised by ah Artestafi well a t the orthern edge of Princes Dbtk,although %creasedflow can improve the harvest. n energy and resource terms, carp are articularly efficient. Thedocks are ighly silted: all other proposals for Jture o f the docks would involve it atal removal, but in this context th te can usefully remain. Carp are mniyores, feeding on the naturally ccurring and introduced organic matter I their ponds. A fibrous, semi-permeable bedding, topsoil and manure laid on top of the silt would provide a fertile environlent t o encourage algal growth. Thus irp production represents peak efficiency I energy terms as it i s another method o f ipturing ambient energy, via photo-

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Full details of Jane Bryant's research e given i n her report Hull Docks, :sh Farm, (March 1977, Hull School f Architecture, Building & Civil ngineering.

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Undercurrents27 >

he yield fcuJ'rinces and Railwqy Docks, .*total of 3&&wtarei isestimated at 0,000kg/@yr. Allowing the 0.5 ha i r the harvesting and fingerling areas aves 3ha producing^120,000kg annually. .etaildg at-Â£2/k gives an estimated nnu&neome of Â£20,000 (50%return). The-stal outlay for the construction Â¥ar &, and operational cost (including aff wises) during the first season would e approximately Â£800,000- (see table), ie annual returns being about one eighth f the capital cost. Operational costs gttfidgradually be reduced as the onje--@lure of phyto and zooplankton gY2e.d developed. Additional income P& I atso be had itexcess fingerling k& were sold for the re-stockingof BgBng takes. I t ts interesting to compare the capital ssfs of this scheme with the cost of the tfaer proposals, which involve filling-in ~ l landscaping d Queen's Dock: these 'ereestimated at 1200,000 in 1930, quivalent to Â£ million at '77 prices! The author &id* th" fi* ~ M Wt th* Cuntr* far A l w r n t i n Tachnology lane B~~~ -

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compost is just a load of old rubbish. Other e Stickland for one

1 HAVE LEARNT Imust develop a feeling* for my compost heap. No longer must it be the smelly pile where Ichuck my orange peel and tea leaves;every Â¥norninif I'm not fate and it's not Â¥ainmgNor must Irandomly deposit the sodden results o f last weekend's weeding on top. The material that goes nto the heap should have the dampless of a squeezed out sponge and it ihould be mixed to maintain the correct carbon-nitrogen' ratio Let's start at the beginning. This for ne was the first organic gardening course ield by COMET (Combined Organic Movement for Education and Training) tt Lower Shaw Farm in Swindon weekend of theory and practice. First came the talk about soil texture. 1was told that if I had a sandy roil it was likely to be too well drained; f I had a clay soil, on the other hand, t was likely to lack drainage and if I lad that most coveted of soils, oam, it was likely to be even w it least clay forms cracks to let noisture run away, whereas those flannels became blocked in loam by lie finer s i l t particles. Then came the hock of testing the acidity of my soil 'swahome -dug in sudden remen stance by torchlight the evening bt

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and stored inplastic bags amongst toothbrush, knickers and gumboots. Did 1 ay acidity? The indicator liquid became greeny blue, a p H of around 8, well on the alkaline side of neutral. The solution was at hand - plenty of organic matter, and hence to the compost heap. Decay of organic matter, you see, is carried out by bacteria, and some acid i s produced in the process. But the bacteriaare discriminating creatures and, if your compost is going to be ready to use on your vegetables this spring rather than by the next tenant the year after, you have to supply them with five vital ingredients: air, heat, moisture, lime (if the heap becomes too a i d ) a& adequate nitrogen. The first two of these are catered for by how you make your compost bin. A wooden box with air channels formed from rows of bricks on the ground inside, will both allow ventilation and prevent heat loss. The last three ingredients depend on how you fill the bin which should not be done piecemeal but ideally in one go. IWM I must store up my daily orange peel and tea leaves in a plastic sack for the big day when it would form but one of Ae lavers in Ihe hem. It should

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d be spread a layer 01 manure supplies the nitrogen, which in ordinary garden rubbish is swamped about 50:1 by its carbon content; the older and more woody the material is, the more carbor Â¥i contains and the more nitrogen you will need to supply. The compost bacteria like a ratio of about 25:l. Follow the manure by another 8 or <so inches of waste material and scatter it with lime. Then start from the beginning again; waste material, manure, waste material, lime and so on until the bin is full. That's it then. Fully satisfied, the bacteria should start work, enough heat should build up to fully cook your weed seeds and you are well on the way to sweet, crumbly compost, something to be felt and smelt with pleasure rather than banished to the back of your mind . and garden. Sue Stickland 'COMET is a co-operative effort by all the main groupsconcernedwith organic foodproduction (including the Soil Association and HDRA) to set up training courses both at agricultural colleges and independently. A series of weekend courses for the amateur oardener are being held. Further information can be obtained from Dick Kitto, Lower Shaw Farm, Saw,

ndercurrents 27

A Shaker din-: brethren at one end of the meeting room and filters at die other dance in formation. One &kr h a pediapf received the 'wwhiriing gift' md hu now f e e n to the flool die may be speikine in tongues or pming on qidt m w from Shakers m Heaven.

neres noining panicuiarly new %go wformcommunities of kindred spirits. It's a very old habit,In fact. kcapologists of bygone days had quite a lot in common with our own ontemnoraries, too, as Ni@ C ~ Q W 'Scribes. IMAGINE apractically self-sufficient ural commune of some sixty or seventy nen and women. The communards share verything in common and live as one Family' in a large communal building. "hey practise an enlightened, productive, irganic agriculture and horticulture, and nanufacture a variety of craft products -

at a relaxed pace in their own workshops. Originally designed and made for the communards' own use, these craft products are o f such renowned quality that they now find a ready and extensive market. The cornmunards also market bottled fruits and preserves, medicinal herbs and garden seeds. ~. ~. -

of perhaps three hundred people. The village i s a model of cleanliness, order and calm. Its barns, workshops and communal 'family houses' are designed and built by the village communards in a simple, functional but elegant style. The villagers share a common philosophy, believing that they should strive to make the earth more nearly perfect, spreading their philosophy not by exhortation but by example. They are pacifists and take no p a d in politics or affairs of the state. Imagine a federation of some twenty%.^ -Ă&#x201A;ÂŁS> - .- a s ^ --~Tx

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Hen, women and children. Each village for this. In 1779 their first converts theirright knee first. 5 autonomous in its practical affairs, just came from the Baptist 'revival', a reWhen we clasp our hands, our righ t awakening of religious fervour in IS Is evwy 'family' within avillage, but-~ thumbs and fingers should be above dl sixty thousand cornmunards share a : America. our left, as uniformlfy is comely. m m u n i t y of interestthat ensures a ~'; The Shakers believed that they were Although sharing a communal family baring and caring between 'families' in the resurrected, 'risen with Christ'. Since homeand Often sleeping in Small iine of need. 'in resurrection, they neither marry, nor a landing from This was the achievement ofthe ~are given in marriage, but are as the angel* One another> the sexes were carefuH~ Shakers, a religious sect that flourished of God in heaven' (Matthew, 22, 30) they n the USA in the nineteenth century. renounced the of the in kept wart. Sexual equ4iw was practised, but w o m e n g t ~ a l i ydid : the \swell as their enlightened order to be 'married to Christ'. Like n d superior craftsmanship, early Christian Church they began tothe . =.- ,womn,s wmk, .of domestic chores, cooking, washing, etc. Each brother eople were technologically practise communism. had a trade he mainlyprstised, but naking numerous invention not to the exclusion of all other kinds ~icalimprovements that sui Shaker life of work. There was, of communal womoted their chosen way of life. necessity, a constant need for the Between 1790 and 1810, some ork towever' lhatway Of lifewas a doz& 5^communities were founded, sharing of dutie. md uncompromising one. They saw hemselves & the resurrected and they :~ dated themselves from 'the world', vhich they regarded as a lower order of ixistence; they werealready half way to 'aradise. They. practised the strictest elibacy; men and women were regarded n d treated as each others'equals, but ived very separate lives. They submitted o their own laws which prescribed the ninutest details oftheir lives, and to an minipotent, self-perpetuating ruling ministry'.~ From obscure origins, the Shaker novement rose to its miximum of some ;GOOmembers, and then declined; but t still survives as a handful of old ladies, wo hundred years after its first cornnunity w e established. It rem,ainsthe irgest, matt successful, and, to many, he most fascinating o f the experiments n communitarian socialism that blossomd in the nineteenth century. Shakerism retains a fascination for us oday, Ithink, for what we can learn of ts attitudes to.tgchnologyand Be; ,~~ .~..:. . ; nu,.s vnuvauvu, u-x. ...u.~Ku..=.. uw~~b.3s.u~ y.q~nl.-.. itsCflrti- .. :. . . FlexÃ‘n Hffl, ~entucky.Ulride,the tmSyh-.p-symnietri~tlly,p@idinglep$ra+~~ ~., . ,, nvironmekt.M&y, - . . . .-aipe$$of ... :. .-~- : .~., ..~ . . .~ - . .-> ~ u n i t i e s ~ e f l $ ~ t ~ ~ t & ~ ~ e t ~ c . . e f ..m .. .2::. o & lb' nu~t ' " ~ dm n * f l o n f m bo@ . wft.~--.~. *.~.~..-. .:il..~ .: -.~ . .~. ~ ~ ---. . . ~ . . , , . :~. , :.--~. . ~, = .-. ., . 2!. Iternativete@inolugy or 'biotechnic' .:: ~.~ .~ . .. .:.~ . ~.~ . ~ . .~ . ~ . ~ . .~ . .. ommunities. Also, and in particular, in seven States. These all adopted the:. 5.: Thegeneral dailylife oftheshakers~ he Shakers designed and created a range Ordered, @d p ~ a ~ e f u<.-.l i $ - ~ . ~ ~ ~ was basic Shaker style of government, orgin- uniquely identifiable isation and life-style. Eachsociety was industrious. I r i - ~ I D l e n t ~ ~ o ~Were trast - . ~ - -:,<.~ ..-. artifacts that mbodied hdsus.g~ned:@@rhighly^. theirweekly (afsoinetimeimore :1; d e d by a Â¥ministry of usually two. rincipled:fife-swe-;+..-S*"- ,=:.-:.,*:,:.. <- . . ... . Elders ~d two Elderesses. This ministry frequent) religious rneetingsjwhich~~. . :appointed Elder @d'Elderess to each ; maintainedthefervour atidactivity . 'family' within the society, apd the ,:: dg$r(ie(!;$g<Shak$i^_ttieir name.: ;#@&@i&i~gxTV~~arch i c assem-. . 'deacons' and 'deaconesses' who r& fhe shakerism originated in England but these meetings gradually bec+:! day-to-day business of a family and (as transplanted @,and blossomed in, handled i t s dealings with the world. more ordered but were still notable for^'. America. To all.inten@ &nd purposes it The ministry also appointed its own the ritualised dancing or'mari?hitig"~i~ an beregarded as A m e r i c a G w g ;:c: successors. rows, with the &lieversldappingm~..~:,~~. lent - the gr.eat!?ojr$i%' 0f;GQnwrts.:. .i.:~ Each 'family' looked after its own singing lively hymfi..Of~nindivid.uals"~ : :. . : would receive%-'gift' to.speakin., eing Americans; Itbeganban offshoot:-:= :temporal affairs, but long lists of rules if the Quakers; bodily tr6mblingduring . -: and regulations covered virtually every tongues ocpass on&ssagesfWom t h e - ~ worship:eamed them the name 'Shaking ..y aspect of a Believer's life. These were spiritworld, or receive the 'Whirling ',.. bakers', henpiShakers'. hel leading Ã ˆ embodied in the Mlttenlal Laws, which .--' gift'. Kanter(1972) has likened these ;~ hakerwasAnnLee, a Manchester . . not only laid-down the general principles Shakermeetingst@:today's encounter England) blacksmith's d,wghter.born . .._.of the organisation of the Society, the groups, valuablefortheir psychological -~ ~. ::.. ::.~.~. :, 1 1736. .+d u t i e s oftheElders, etc., but also suchÂ¥-_,.I- ~.~:,- .~.::~. . - . .:~.>-:r"*;.,e l e w . -: ~. -~ . -~ :-<.-, .~~ ~ .~..<'~.>;:-.~.. . . 1 .. .. to herviii>ns, 2nd &tails as: . . .. . . .~ .~.,%=* .,...,-- ~. . ..~ . . - ~ . ~ ..".^,t^ . . xal int01~r'anetoward the smallb&ndZ -.:!+ : . ~ : : ~. . Brethren andsisters may not shake-, :.! &::f&akei Industries f Sh&&rs;?$nh&;i&d lead her. ~;*. ' hands together. ..:

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obvious-that alternative societies need t o create alternative technologies. Certainly the Shakers createdtheir own special language o f social action by creating their own special environ-

A 'retiring room' in the Centre Family house at Pleasant Hill. The chui is h brood which runs at door height around in Shaker rooms.

Andrews, 1953),Only those crops which were found suited t o the local soil and climate were cultivated, thus complying with the 'natural order'. Plants also seem t o have been :rested with a care, even love, that is now echoed in'the 'talk t o your slants' syndrome. Elder Frederick Evans told Dixon (1867), 'A tree h its wants and wishes, and a man should study them as a teacher watches a child, t o see what he can do. If you love aplant, and take he af what it likes, you will be well reaaid by it. I don't know if a tree ever :omes t o know you; and I think it may; but I am sure it feels when you ;are for it and tend it; as a child does, as a woman does'. There were also positive attitudes towards what we would now call coniervation and recycling. Hayden (1976)' drawing on an account by Charles Wingate in The Sanitary Engineer o f 1880, notes that 'rainwater was channeled into laundry tubs, kitchen waste was circulated to the orchards, and waste i n earth losets used for compost heaps, all aspects o f a sacred, closed system t o

these seed-bags, and own printing o f labels, for which they ted hand-printing machines. ne o f the earliest Shaker Industries airmaking, an offshoot o f their t o equip themselves with ture designed to their exacting and aspirations. Shaker design is renowned for its mplicity, i n contrast t o the g styles o f the nineteenth I n both furniture and archithe Shakers preceded the nalism o f the twentieth century Modem Movement i n design. They achieved this by adapting a vernacular, craft approach to the expression o f their beliefs, aspirations and shared conscience. The Shakers had many other miscellaneous industries producing items both for their own use and for sale. For example, broom and brushmaking was widespread amongst Shaker families (the flat broom was a Shaker invention). There was also tanning, which in turn led t o leatherwork industries, such as saddles, harness, etc. There were many, many other goods made by Shakers - indeed,

Their buildings- many of them ite large, such as the four or fiveorey family houses, the big barns nd workshops - were designed and etailed i n the Shakers' own crisp ular.l-hey were painted ina colour-coding system laid down i n the Millenial Laws - white for the meetinghouse and light c o ~ o u ~ f o r - t ~ ~ houses and works(1bp$frdnting the mad, dark red or brown for the barns and back buildings. Interiors were also specified i n the MilIenlal'Laws - ' what colours for the floors and walls, and for the curtains, carpets and covers, what furniture in a-room, etc. I n making the objects o f the environment, the Shakers strove for the best, the soundest, craftsmanship. On this quality rested the reputation o f their products i n the world. It was a reflection o f their beliefs, conveyed in tenets such as: Do your work as though y o u had a thousandyears t o live, and as ify o u were t o die tomorrow. A l l work done ough't t o be faithfully and well done, butplain and without superfluity. Just as Shaker phi1osophy'~romoted simple, the plain and the orderly, it repi dialed 'ftiperfluity'. A Section o f the Mlllenial Laws begins

rds design are a direct Believers' spiritual Merton (1966) compares sm and its manifestation in ;rafts&mhip with the simitar philosophy )f WiBiam Blake: N& the Shakersnor Blake would at the thought that a knd> c"pbdwtabfe in and for Heaven:.did not test mtshtity at the *

YfWih'wd the stilt more spiritual "ferce' from which the form pro&? akers' design activity has been d as a principal reason for their as a communitarian experiment. @rough enviroomental design they were 'F~Hingtheir aspirations to creates @wn.on earth. Other communitarians m d either to regard environmental k g n as unimportant, or else to have HjSptanned utopian designs which they flapme on themselves. In contrast, says fiyden (1976), 'the Shakers were w t d y sensitive to the effects of the ihysical environment on the life of their iommunities'. In contrast to one-off-communities, he Shakers' ability to recreate their awn special environment at different (Rations is regarded by Hayden as a >articularstrength;it i s 'the critical st for any communaCgroup which llaims to have a strategy for social," Â¥athethan personal, reform'. The >baker Strategy was to create Heaven )h Earth - but the inexorable decline n their numbers over the last 100 . wars has meantthat what they created ~f turned-merely into museum xhibits. Some of the surviving Shaker villages ire now maintained as complete museum Mages. The principal ones are: Han;0ck, Massachusetts; Canterbury, New tempshire; Sabbathday Lake,'Maine; ~d Pleasant Hill, Kentucky.

C" Shaker contribution to ;oni>nunitarianism There were, of course, many experipent$ in communism in nineteen&tntwy America (and in Europe). Their legrees of success were varied; some ti&survive in compromised form toby. The early success o f the Shakers' fernonstrationof the practicality of &&an' communities, gave inspiration @many of the other communitarian xpcrioients. Holloway (1966) says of k Shakers that 'They were the first

enduring foundation for others to build upon,' ,Engets argued that the p&ti&biliiy of communism was dm?nstrapd by w ~ c c f s s o f American groups. Of the Shakers, he saiid,that %were 'the first P"@@ in America' and in fact the world, who effectively created a society based en the joint ownership o f property'. He attempted to dismiss the religious base o f the eqkptoremu~itartansocieties in America, w i n g that the 'most absurd and irrttionalivkws on certain = w sub^ts'~W ~,.r ^ S s a,+ . ^ M & +u ssects ^l*v

that both these theories are wrong; but that it is true that a commune taexkt harmonjously, must be corn, posed vff~[sons who of one mind upon some qaestfon whicfi ti them shall appear so important as to take the place of a religion, if it Is not essential& religious, though - -It need-oat be, fwiafleWy &dd. NOrdhoffs perception in these matters i s perhaps evidenced by his comment 'that 'the Germans make better communists than any other people - unless the Chinese should some day turn their attention to communistic attempts'. The Shakers certainly had a-'fanatical retiglous thought' as the'i 'cementing ,

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of their suppression of natural sexual impulses, their restrictions upon persona) liberty, and their autlwltarian sty19 to government. Yet he adds that their positive contributions t o the ' communal Meat were .mportant: Almost alone amongw&societies, they produced skilted craftsmanship rand a folk art oftheir own. Their insistence on.&soiMe eqgai/ty

faughtslavery, war, m d the worst

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'ha~aosolutetynothing to do dth coniwiunistn'. The many 'curbm opinions' of these groups he regarded as a hindrance rather than a help to communism: 'If hi spite of &&^the community proves successful, how much easier still must it be for others ~w6ich<te not have such crazy ideas.' Itawewr, Ã ˆ %ems nowadays to tsdom that some

Nigel Cross . REFERENCES Andrew.Edwtid Denring, 1932 The Commum'ty Jndustries of the m e n , The h e r e & oÂ the State of New Yolk, ~lbany.(Republished by Potcuptae Cress, Philadelphia, 1972). Andrew%EdwÃ§Beming, 1953, Thtfleopk Called SImkm, Wxford University PresspNew York. (Republlahed by Dover Publicattom, +

mnwnism that a

espfetsof society at that time, net by pleading with a wwld in which their voices would havebeen lost, but by offering what they consider- , ed to be a model of the good life.

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a century oW.Nordhoff (1875) coneluded afft fife â‚¬Ao f 'The Cornmunistic Societies of the United State':

HoBaway, 1966, HeÃ§voamEaitkDoves PutBcatKMis,NewYork. fctntei. Rosabeth Moss, 1'972, Commitment and Community, Hu-vud University Ken, bubridge, Man. Meiton, Thomas, 1966, 'Inttoductian*in Andrewa, E.D. and Faith Andrews, Religion m Wood: a book of Shaker furniture, Indiana University Res, Bkxnnington.

ndercurr

res is an association of over thirty co-operatively run wholefood The Federation of Northers Wholefood Colt shops, restaurants and a warehouse, covering uiĂ&#x192;whole of the North of-England. Lizzie, Paula and Woof trace its history and development, its aims and ideals, and its practical The Natural Foods Union (NFU) came achievements. into existence i n 1973 out o f a succession

THE POOD. THE

of meetings between the eight major wholefood shops then i n existence i n the UK. These meetings were convened main1 to discuss joint purchasing of commoditie between the eight, but gradually points of common policy began t o emerge, and i n 1974 the NFU published a statement of its intentions, detailing clearly the kind of food with which it involved itself, and i t s ecological considerations, and stating that its intention was to set up an alternative to the food industry, but without any details o f just how this alternative system was t o be organised. By mid 1975 i t was becoming obvious that this loosely organised and widely dispersed 'union' was inadequate for any growth of activity and i t was agreed to attempt to set up regionally-basedfederations. That is how the Federation of the Northern Wholefoods Collectives came to exist. I n the early meetings perhaps a dozen wholefood shops in the North of England were represented and discussion centred mainly on the recognition of common experience, and common problems, and the possibilities of cooperative bulk buying. Gradually the group found its commoi ideals beginning to be given definition by looking at the structure of the shops whk asked t o join. Shops were accepted or rejected depending on the way in which the shops were staffed and run, with the emphasis being placed on the desirability of common ownership, and control by the workers in the most equitable and democratic way possible (collective work ing). Naturally, these ideals were also applied" to the organisation of the growing Federation itself. The rapid growth and development o f Suma, the collectives' bulk warehousing and distribution centre in Leeds is inextri ably involved with the growth of the FNWC, due in large part t o its working closely with the separate wholefood outlets through consultation with them en masse at regular NWC meetings. This has undoubtedly encouraged the proliferation of wholefood retailingco-operatives throughout the north: encouragement an the advantages of common experience ga ed at NWC meetings with the capability to make available from Suma to those beginning new ventures a complete range of basic wholefoods.

Constitution By June, 1977, an actual constitution was compiled, from which the following has been taken. The FNWC is trying to provide food at non-exploixative prices, and o f the highest quality - i.e. food which is organically grown, and processed in the most natural way, free from additives. We also try to distribute information about the foods we sell, describing them with aclear statement o f their origin, ingredients, and any processing used; and to demonstrate that i t i s possible to eat simpler and cheaper. By

ti&$are involved in developing idea! to hwe regional meelinfe and looking *eatingnewmarkets wfrhopt to e n w r for tow technology machines for use for a warehouse, in the spring of 1977. e; farmers to use more natural methods in the shops - e.g. muesli mixers and In the autumn of that year, groups f cultivation, which promote a living bagging machines. centred around Buxton, Manchester, ril; and also stimulate interest in the Exchanges have been taking place Lancaster, and Leeds also began to rods that can be grown in this country, in an unstructured way between organise regional meetings. evelop their uses, promote the introworkers in various collective co-opIn December 1976 a questtonaire was uction of new crops which could grow eratives, in an effort to increase our circulated to discuss trucking and food ere, and encourage peopte to work on, pool of experience, skills, and ideas. i d learn from the land (e.g. by learning - needs. It was suggested that people truck Exchanges are particularly relevant together with their neighbouring shops, ?out wild edible and medicinal plants). now that Suma i s trying to devolve helping Suma with supplying and We operate the federation on the responsibility to the regional areas, as delivering goods. It i s still hoped that blowing principles: Democracy involves there is a need for the warehousing a trucking collective will emerge. pre than just majority decision making; skills to be passed on. te group has a responsibility to the = . ishes and feelings of each member of Finance Possibilities w group, and its customers. We believe The Movement Collected together in a federation, the e can organise ourselves by co-operation There has been a move t o take a awareness of available forms of finance take a fuller responsibility for more active part i n the Industrial is increased. Throughout the history of ,and encourage othersto do the same, Common Ownership Movement, which the FNWC there have been suggestions id by so doing replace the present - . although directly representing the cofor an alternative banking scheme. A t ppressive patriarchal structures which operative ethic, has not catered for the first it was considered that banking liairround us. legal framework of the small collective bilities were too great, and it was wggesin working togew in our collectives eo-operatives such as ourselves. We feel led that shops bank with the Co-op Â¥ will be guided by the following: that we differ from the common owner-_ Society bank, which has branches worldresisting the tendency to GGalisaship firms such as Scott Bader, in thatwide, and could be instrumental in tion and unequal distribution of power - developing links with the International we have a greater internal equality (%g. and encouraging an exchange of skills decisions are by consensus, and wage &-operative alliance, by revolving jobs and responsibilities. differentials arehased on personal Some of thesmall shops, who were need only, and not on skill or exper gettingtheir total stock from Sum, creatingan environment where anyallowed them to handte all their cash. one can express themselves regardless ience.) The FNWC has approached the ICOM councit regardingthe setting up Sums was then a sort of hnker. A t of sex, sexual orientation, class, race, of a collective council, which will some times, credit has been given to or age. advise and promote the idea o f collec^iops, bet it is preferable f& the shops integrating work and play tive work situations. to pay for goods when iwsetved. Having mowy up lessened the central Directories have been compiled from thatwage differentials should be based on personal need only, not on skill. Xime to time, listing wholefood shops, warehouse's effectiveness. workingtowards dealing only with collective groups, and relevant organother collectives who share an antiisations. It is felt that less energy i s profit stance --Self-educatfon and Research likely t o be lost to the atternative Strengthening the ~ o n o m i c ~ o s i t i o n movement when people disenchanted working towards a collective economy one side of the ' of the coQec1ivesis with particular collectives are aware of in the NWC and with other collectives story. It is felt that it is also important other groups they can move to and working towards the common ownerto take better care of ourselves and our work within. ship o f individual enterprisrty their fellow workers. There is much local We fcel we CM influence society by members and of any NWC assets by interest in housingcooperativ&, selfof contact of outside people the member collectives rs e in codechelp medicine, therapy for u rs who are fee to use tive situations, wholefoocT~~tr%on, the principle o f direct representation initiative, judgement, and responsibility shop awwntancy and CO-OP in their work. If wewish our ideas on that both in member collectivesand merit techniques, etc- Courses are food, ownership, politics, lifestyle, etc. inthe NWC as a whole there isa maxiarranged around these and other topics to become known to a wider public, mum size for effective collective for weekend seminars, and the 3 day then we will have to take them to a working. .* -. conferences o f the FNWC held every wider public. Encouraging the developn y individual group can apply t o join 6 months. In our collective situations 5;G,--,~.f"@entof the practical demonstration i d they must show a commitment to there i s an emphasis on educatingall > i %,^f such ideas is-the most effective way allective practice, and register as a cornworkers to take on competently all a ; , ,,*a'* can do this. '*Â¥"Â¥ ion ownership enterprise with ICOM th6 tasks in our work situations. Lizzie, Paula and Wo, ndustrial Common Ownership MowIn October 1976 there was a d i s c u k s kt). * sion around Ae idea of employing a from the FNWC Was f a good tilingto encourage full-time research workers, and rfiordy sM&y w,& cENA Filiation with the FNWC of shopsand afterwards, the member collective, Centre for Alternative Nutrition and 3llective activitiesJn other areas, which Lifespan Community, assumed the G-Wefatiw Management, 11-13 W h f f auld be mutually beneficial. However, responsibility of taking on Street, Leeds 1, nce a group gets too large to organise of themes suggested to them. This self with any degree of cohesion, materialised in several information ureaucracy y i d subtle (sometimesnot leaflets on herbs, the use of whole) subtle) cliques develop in the name foods and methods o f cooking, recipe f efficiency. The large group could beneleaflets, and a self-produced newsletter t from splitting into smaller self-governwhich was widely distributed in shops ig bodies, At present there is a loose and a few alternative bookshops. Lifefiliation of southern wholefood colfecwan was given a grant to cover the ves, and within the FNWC a Scottish wages of one full time workers (Â£2 holefoods collective is presently cornper week). ig together, as well as the development Another research area is the recyclf five sub-regions within the FNWC. ing and re-usingof jars, aluminium his was inspired by the shops in the and paper, and t h i s is already put into wth east around Durham beginning oractice bv manv shoos. Other coflec-

The radical technology movement has concentrated t o o much o n windmills and solar collectors, and n o t enough o n other technologies w i t h an equally liberatory potential, according t o John Garrett and Geoff Wright. The very mention o f computers makes post people think o f 1984, b u t recent advances in microcomputers and telecommunications could, they reckon, make possible a decentralised, self-managed anarchist utopia.

DURING the current recession, many industries have been technologically stagnant, owing to lack of new invest, ment and cutbacks in research and development. But the computer industry has been in a state o f frantic excitement almost bewilderment over the technology it has created.- -' Here was an industry which only five years ago was quietly expanding, putting its main efforts into improving reliability and in giving the chiefs of commerce and industry the increased central control they wanted thcottgh the provision of suitable management information. All it was seeking to do was to run the statusquo a little more-efficiently. The market was dominated by one major company, IBM, with i t s comtfetitors realising that to survive, they would have to follow the leader and start making IBM-combatible equipment. The trend in the use of computing power seemed to be towards large computers handling large corporate databases in centralised data processing departments. The hierarchical nature of the machine architecture, the data-base

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software, and most importantly, the data procpsdngdepartmentsthemselves, seemed to mirrorexactly the cumbersome, inflexible, bureaucratic organisations they were servicing.

Distributed Processing *

Five years on,'this trend isstiII tontinning. But strangely, new contrary tendency i s beginning to upset the steaay progress towardsa computerised 1984, a tendency towards distributed processing. This has been made practical by the introduction of low-cost commercial mini-computer systems, from 1966, and even lower cost commercial micro-computers, from 1972. Distributed processing is the decentralising of computing power around a network of computers, instead o f all computin'g Power residing in one, usuall~large, central computer. Advances in communications technology, particularly the British Post Office Viewdata system, suggest an unlimited access to any such networks. George ~ o b r President , of Singer Machines in the US, has said that in twenty years time, the present phase of computer technology will be seen as the end of ,

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centralised data-processingactivity, What perhaps set the seal on the changed direction in the industry was a decision made by IBM in February 1975 to abandon its next Bngyef even more >pe&t,daita-ba%bahdlOTgcomputers, -galfed Future Series' (FS). IBM had found itself threatened, not by i t s old,familiar rivals but by the midgets of the industry, the mini-computer manufacturers, and even by the semi-conductor suppliers who had started to assemble thcir-own microcomputers.

- ~ , , ~ ~ , j ~ ~ i In a major turnabout;l~M have develop ed a mini-computer - which'in~idcntall~ came out of what IBM's other branches termed the 'toys division', who made office equipment. It adopted the radicalIYnew philosophy of distributed processing, in i t s SNA (Systems Network Architecture). In addition, IBM have -investedheavily inthe communications industry, taking a 30% stake in Satellite Business Systems, who are developing communications satellites for intercomputer transmissions across the globe. Let us examine more closely some ,?--

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lew products and ideas in the three apidly merging industries in this field: ~kctronics,computers and communkaÂ¥ions In particular, we want to look closely it four developments which could be of p a t potential significance for the creaion of a fundamentally-changed society.

* k

The emergence of the cheap programmable micro-processor The 'domestication' of computers, i.e. the use of standard household devices for input, storage and power supply The development of computer networks The decline in the idea of centralised computer power.

He Microprocessor 1977, it has been said, was the year of he microprocessor. It was certainly the fear in which the computer industry ~gan to wake up to some of its impli:&ions. The microprocessor has a similar archiecture to the mini- or larger computers, it i t s central processor can be contained ~none, two or three semi-conductor chips which can cost as little as Â£12A complete nicroprocessor system with memory, wffers, interfaces, power supply and a ,imple input/output device can cost from E l 000 to Â£40- or even less in kit orm. Microprocessors can contain two types if memory, Read Only Memory (ROM) md Random Access Memory (RAM). Programs stored in ROM are permanent md most can only be charged by substituing another ROM chip. Processors containng ROM only are mainly used in 'dedica~ed'systems, where there i s a single ipplication, such as controlling traffic ights or lifts. More interesting from a Radical Techwlogy viewpoint are microprocessors with tandom Access Memory (RAM), as these ire reaJily reprogrammable without any ieed to change the hardware. In addition hey can modify themselves by altering heir own programming to respond to external changes. Their main advantage is that when incorporated into machinery such as numerical control (NC) or process control squipment, they allow far greater flexiaility. The replacement of hardware by oftware enables the same machine to aerform a greater variety of tasks. One machine can do the work o f many, thus .educing the installation costs for a manufacturing requirement. In addition Ãˆrogram can be made 'conversational', e. the machine will ask the operator h a t it should do and respond accordingy. Conversational programs allow the aperator greater control over the machine md also enable mistakes to be rectified juickly. All these characteristics make hem eminently suitable for small workhops or factories producing small batchmany different components, under .ers' control.

Microprocessors could also be used to control the heatingor cooling of dwell-

ings - for example, in heat sources to be quickly switched from solar to standard energy supplies in response to changed external conditions. They could also be used in controlling the light, heat, waterins, ventilation and humidity in greenhouse - perhaps with a different program written for each variety o f plant <The New Alchemists' are exploring this idea in their 'Arte' on Prince Dward Islandin Canada.) Predictably, micros have been attacked by many of the proponents of centralised computing as meaning a 'twenty-five year leap back'. They are relatively slow, unsophisticated and have fewer software aids than larger computers. But in most computing applications, there is little need for speed and their basic nature makes them both flexible and, moreover, fun to use. These qualities, as well as their low cost, make them ideal for a democratic, small-scale industry.

The Domestication of Computers Perhaps the most striking demonstration of t h i s occurred in September, 1977 when the French firm, RZE, brought out the Microl V computer. The ' V stands for valise or suitcase. In one standard suitcase is a Zilog Z80 processor containing a 32K main memory, a 150K floppy disk drive, a forty character plasma display and thermal printer. It can be programmed in Fortran and Basic and for its---= power supply it can be plugged into'* the cigarette lighter socket of a car. Computers have got smaller, but more importantly, are using familiar household equipment Data can now be read from and written to conventional audio-cassettes and transmitted using the telephone network, via a 'modem' which superimposes the pulses of digital data on to a carrier wave. Data can be entered using ordinary handwriting using the Quest Automation Datapad' in which the machine can be taught to recognise individual styles. Speech input and output are also being developed so one will soon be able to hold a conversation with a computer. The television set has become a computer output device which with a teletext decoder can receive the teletext services, Ceefax (BBC) and Oracle (ITA). Moreover, from mid-1978 when the remarkable Post Office service, Viewdata, commences its pilot scheme, the television set will become both an output and an input device, linked by telephone line to Post Office computers. Viewdata, unlike the teletext services, is interactive, allowing a subscriber to receive and transmit information. Subscribers can use a 'keypad' to communicate with the Post Office data-base. Prices of Viewdata-equipped TV sets will initially be an artificially high Â£200-Â£2above the cost of a

normal colour television but the differ. ence is soon expected to fad to well below Â£00. In this society, it will probably be used by supermarket chains to give their stores instant updates of prices. A free society should be able t o do much more with it. The significant aspects of Viewdata for us are twofold:* It provides potentially-unlimited access to information from all kinds of data-bases linked into the system It also provides a potentially-unlimited medium o f communication. Homes equipped with Viewdata television could use it to communicate with each other, as well as with any data-bases in the system. The system would be ideally suited for democratic decision-making. (If the Post Office restrict its use t o isolated subscribers on line to a Post Office database, it will be a political rather than a technical decision.) What the domestication of computers really means is'that the computer i s rapidly becoming available and compre hensible to the ordinary person.

Computer Networks The development of computer networks is perhaps the most significant of the four changes in political terms. S u c h networks have been operating for many years, but previously consisted o central computers with remote termina on which datacould be sent to the computer, and output received back. In recent years, however, terminals (oftenkith the aid of microprocessorshave become 'intelligent', i.e. the terminals themselves can carry out simple programminglocally. The trend has not stopped there. There are now full inter-computer networks, with mini-computers in place of terminals. Each site can now have i t s own local computing facilities but having the added advantage of a shared data-base. Communication is commonly via the telephone service but in future is likely to be via high-speed computer 'grids' (the Post Office is currently developingone for the UK) or via communications satellites. Computer networks were originally developed for the defence of state communications in the event o f nuclear attack, enabling the administration to survive the destruction of its key computer centres. In the event of parts of the system not operating, the network will 'reconfigure' itself to branch around them. Ironically, what was designed for the defence o f the state could become the communication structure of a decentralised society. Communes, farms, workshops and factc ies in a region, each with a computer in the network, would be able to do their own computing to link to others or to update and use shared data-bases. The ability to reconfigure round non-func-

?*---

timingunits means that the system ent kinds o f data are held in different iould still be able to operate even if independent structures with n o links alf the communes could not get up in assumed. Access to data can be more ie morning! - -direct. Trading between units could be achiev- - . I n s purely practical sense, the d by each inputting the goods and architecture of a machine or a piece irvices they had available, and those of software is irrelevant. Hierarchically ley required. Economic co-ordination organised structures may be the most lould be helped by consumers giving efficient for one-particular task, reladvance warning o f what they desired tional structures for another. i d producers outlining what they However what is significant philo- , , sophically is that designers are no tended to produce.' A decetitralised society needs a very tonger automatically thinking in terms 1st and efficient decision-making system, of 'hierarchical' or 'tree' structures * ivolving all thos.e.Who might.bft affected. when creating either hardware or,*, he traditional democtatic methodaf.. .,._.+,software. They are using concepts -elegate conferen*, asmany have ex- Â¥Ã‘f'^ such as 'parallel' structures, 'ring' erienced, can end up being slower and -structures or 'switched systems', all lore hidebound by rules than central of which imply either no central conirection. Communication networks trot or that o f cwrdination only. ~ouldallow decision-making to be The technology of a society is liter, more responsive to events, and more than its tools. Because it is con~eoreticallyenable a//members o f a crete, we use it to describe abstractions. nit to beconsulted"rather:t$an just -+ I f technical systems are hierarchically c t uwer ewill d ,tend to see ne delegate. Politics c o u l d ' b e C ~ ~ e . ~ ~ ~ ~ T i ~ uthen ay-to-day occupation of the many .:"j}social systems in. those terms. . By the same tolien, the results of"-"-ither than the personal gamesmanship F the few. having distributed intelligence in machines'or computer networks may Care, however, must taken to foid control o f any computer network have an impact in popular social ideas control of information in the netfar greater than their physical uses. ork being in any one unit's hands. To One is tempted to compare the - emergence o f these products and ideas -event this, data-bases themselves can i decentralised round the network. All - " - i n the centralised bureaucratic societies iat i s strictly required of any central 'of the industrialised world with the mputers i s to route transmissions development of power-driven machinI their appropriate destinations like a ery at the end of the Middle Eages. The lephone exchange. Even that role social class that had produced it, the in be reduced with more cross-conGuild Craftsmen, were not Capable of ictions - though obviously the more ." exploitingit. It ook $e rise of capitaliks, the greater thecost of the system. - ism and the introduction of factories to utilise fully the productive forces - . - the craftsmen had created. We believe ecline in the idea of centralised we have now at our disposal a technolimputing power ogy that i s not capable of being fully The present generation of large exploited in the industrial societies mputers have central rocessors we live in, and which point? the way hich, however powerfu ,can only towards a new kind of decentralised indie one instruction at a time. But future. me of the newer 'supercomputers', We have concentrated on developch as the Cray 1 or Controt'Oata Star merits which should increase an 10, have replaced the one central proindividual's control over what he or ssor by sets of 'functional processors', she produces and the way he or she ch specialising in specific processing -,.does it. Equally however there have *a beendevelopmentswhich displace sks - so that one processor handles struction fetching, others handfe "; %ffilmaii beings entirely from the productive process - in particularly the rious different arithmetic and logical notions, and others store the results introduction o f robots into assembly memory. line work and the idea of an automaE d factory. We feel one of the In computers like these what is left debates in the RT movement must be a 'central' processor i s thus changed to weigh up the advantages of humanthat of co-ordinating a series of nctional processors. . - less mass production as against small As well as changes &side the, workshops using their infinitely flexachine, there have been changes inible,programmable machine tools to ' e storage and handling of data. The produce aweaith of small-scale and w types of 'Data Base Management, ' non-standard variety. Perhapssome ' -' products are more suitable for the 'stem' (DBMS) have shffte'd aday one and others for another. If so, what ~m 'hierarchicai' structures and to- kind of mix? irds 'relational' structures. In a Let'us now look at the political as~rarchicalDBMS, retrieving data pects of the crisis. Automation is likequires searching through rrtany levels ly to continue for very good economic indexes or pointers for each item reasons. Not only does it improve iich often proved to be slow and efficiency and - productivity, it also has ifficient. tn a relational DBMS, differ-

.ST^.:*3'^

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cost advantage. While the cost a fi~tere of automa$ciequiproent is becoming cheaper, workers' efforts to improve their standard o f living are pushing up the cost of labour. In addition, recent legislation to improve job security has led to an increase in workers' power .?jch is considereda threat by those 'wnaowrfand control industry. Recenfc CBI surveys have shown a general desire to automate, even among quite small firms, rather than employ more labour. This iseven more true in countries with higher wages than our ow". In Japy,_thqe.qe even state sub -_sidiesto replace workers with robots. The JapaneseMinistry of international Trade and Industry have started designing an automatic rnetal-working factory in which the production section is completely unmanned. The promise o f an investmentboom which will mop up unemployment will not be fulfilled. Any investment boom will be more directed to capital rather than labour. But there are limits to this process. One is'the social danger of a growing class o f permanently unemployed.5econd.i~ thatgovernments have to finance unemployment Even ifa government were willing t o tolerate a high level o f unemployment, with all the social dangers, a point would be reached where the financial burden . would be crippling. The third is that unless the unemployed were paid generously, the amount of purchasing power among consumers would not be sufficient to, buy the increased production. This would apply throughout western Europe, Japan and North America, so the only expanding market would be the Third World and Communist-countries. But the Third World i s also industrialising and it is likely that they will enact further legislation to protect their new Industries. Potential unemployment is therefore likely to be substantial. As far back as 1967 the British Institute of Management estimated that $here were eight million peaple'uhn~&@ifffy'~m~lo~ed by British industry. This was well before a lot of new equipment was developed. The top ninety British companies are planning up to a thirty per cent reduction in their labour force. In the last five years the print industry unions have lost fifty per cent of their members and accept that in the next five years they will have to accepta further forty per cent reduction. Our main point is that through devetopment of mainstream technology, the present social and economic system i s producing a structural crisis. At the moment the politicians are saying things will go on in the same way as before and those who want to find alternatives to traditional forms of work are a l a y bunch of parasites. But the traditional Puritan work ethic becomes a nonsense in a situation whereimore can be produced using less people. The fact is that the politicians are wrong and the

hippies *re right, even if the hippies filled to analyse the reasons. We are reachingthe point where the restructuring of industry and work must be the concern of everybody, not just minority groups.

Future Po I t i s not our task to produce a Utopian blueprint but we can indicate some possibilities, suggested by the development of technology, in three main areas: democram, economic management, and decentralisation of population and industry. There is no point i n talking about extending democracy without extending the availability of information. At the moment both government and the controllers of industry hog information t o help them maintain control. Information and communication have always been organised hierarchically in harmony with bureaucratic control. With recent develop ment in computer networks, decentralised control with no loss of efficiency is possible. All homes and workplaces in the country could be networked via the Viewdata system. If all available economic, social and political information were in the system, it would then be available to every citizen. Such a system makes possible decentralised, democratic, economic management on the feedback principle. People feed their needs into the system and the information i s directly available to the producers who can gear their output accordingly. Whether such a system is created i s a political decision. The technical means are available. Other political decisions are whether to use automation to free people to participate in new creative industries. Shall we have a guaranteed minimum income in terms of goods and services? Shall we decentralise both population and industry by taking over large farms and estates to establish new communities and industries? What about work-sharing of necessary but unpleasant work? We believe that it i s the job of the RT movement to examine these possibilities and the technical and political means of achieving them. The present 'ecology' movement has little appeal to most people. I t s public image suggests a preparation for the impending collapse of civilisation and a return to a pre-industrial society: hardly something to make people dance in the streets. We disagree with this whole approach and say a Golden Age i s quite possible. Instead of predicting gloom and despair we should inspire people with a vision of the next stage of social evolution. If people have a clear idea of what is possible then the political means of achievement can be created. I t i s those of us wfio are young now who wilt consign the present system' tffthe history books. It is up to us to s@rt the debate. Ă&#x201A;ÂĽSE fr

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John Garrett and Geoff Wrigh

Whatever the long term saving in cost and energy, a hodstove is a pretty hefty investment for anyone. It might just be, however, that most of the vital ingredients are lying around in your local junk yard, or even gatherim

rust in your back garden. Thii article, reprinted from the American magazine Rain explains how to put it all together. A STOVE i s essentially a device to s w arate the smoke from the heat The more heat-radiating surface you can run the heatlsmoke through before it gets out of the room, the better. There is a point of diminishing returns where there i s not enough heat to carry out the smoke. The following is a design for a simple, efficient, cheap woodburning stove. It can be the end-product itself; it i s almost simple enough and clean of line to be aesthetically pleasing, However, the almost is not quite enough for me personally, and I suggest you see it as a principle in an early evolutionary stage.

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Materials: 2-20 to 25 gal. drums (preferably old onegbecause they're thicker and easiei to weld to) 1 piece 16 ga. steel about 10" x 24" 1 piece 114" steel plate, at least 19"dian 2 heavy hinges (door or gate) 6" o f 5/8"round steel stock 22" of 318" round steel stock 1-112" of 3/16" or 114" gas welding rod 5 lengths 118" gas welding rod something for legs, use your imaginatiol (All of the above can be second-hand material, except for the weld rod.) 4

100lb box of plastic refractory (about $14). This i s the key to the life and efficiency of the whole stove. I would bit recommend building one of these without it. 1 have been using an A.P.

(If you can't find anything that answers this description then you will have to make do with filling the bottom of the barrel with sand and watching it gradually disintegrate. Another idea is to use a condemned propane bottle for the burner, as this has much thicker walls, so will last longer. - Eds).

Undercurrents 27 k

Step 2 : Be sure barrels are empty o f whatever they contained, then fill them with water before cutting them with torch. This prevents them from exploding and killing you in case there are flammable fumes. ( A childhood mentor o f mine died that way.) (our advice is only use a barrel if; know what '1 ~. was in 11 you know how to get rid and 2) of it completely and 3) you do get rid of i t comStep 6 : The handle BS~-Y*~ pletely. ~.gi7*~y>v-fife: E.g. i f the dregs are soluble in alcohol, then wash thoroughly with meths and finally with water - Eds.)

Step 1 : Cut the 16 ga. sheet into two pieces, 6" x 24" and 4" x 24". Form with hammer into cylinders 6" and 4" long and 6" diam. and weld. The 6" long one goes between the barrels and the 4" long one should be fitted t o the inside o f the large end o f a 6" stove pipe before welding. Place thecylinders against the barrels and mark them t o f i t the contour o f barrel and cut to that mark.

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Step 3 : Gas weld connecting cylinder and legs to bottom barrels, making ass end o f barrel one or two inches higher than front end. Step 4 : Gas weld 314" long pieces o f 1/8" welding rod to inside of sides and back end o f bottom barrel on 3"-4" centres, tedious but necessary as anchor pins for refractory. Weld at slight angle to perpendicular like this.

Step 5 : Place front o f bottom barrel on 1/49?inch plate and scribecircle, c u t out circle and cut at 113 diam. thusly:

to create small air space

Arc-weld bottom of front onto barrel and then hinges onto bottom front, then onto door.

into corkscrew

arc-weld 114" pin ends to A

' \ -

handle pivots on pin

118" angle welded to nside barrel to receive notches in handle

r . '

hole in door for handle is slightly oblong to allow up and down movement of handle

Door is open for air at beginning of fire and closed down to dampen.

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Step 7 : Line inside of bottom barrel with refractory, cutting o f f chunks with a putty knife and pounding in place with rubber mallet. Stand bottom barrel on back end and do that first, working from outside in toward the center, aiming for 112" to 314" thickness. Then, leaving the barrel standing on end, apply to sides working up from the back. Applying refractory is a 3-4 hour job.

Step 8 : Allow to stand in that position undisturbed and air dry for 2 days before standing upright and welding on the top barrel. Cure refractory slowly with small fire at first- Build fire directly on ash residue, emptying out when ash starts spilling out the door. If this stove is kept dry and not allowed to rust, it will give you 20 years o f good efficient heating.

vou pavs

I n fact the efficiency will depend on many factors such as type of wood used, sizes o f pieces o f wood, moisture content, chimney design and, how the stove is used. We run the stove at a minimum setting and get through 40-501b o f wood per day. This is consistent with an output Wh over 16-17 hours.

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For a n y o n e t o o i m p a t i e n t or t o o rich, however, Brenda Vale l o o k s a t some of t h e off-the-peg options. FIVE YEARS AGO it was just about impossible to buy any kind of efficient heater that could burn wood rather than coal, but now there are about a hundred different wood burners on the market ranging in price from about Â£8 for a simple stove to Â£80 for a combined cooker and central heating boiler big enough to heat an uninsulate mansion. The firms making them vary from one lerson operations in garden sheds to huge oundries which in some cases have iesurrected Victorian designs t o meet the current demand for stoves and nostalgia. This particekc branch of AT has wt yet been co-opted by the multi-nationals, but i t i s not alternative production for eeds by any stretch o f the indeed none o f the flnas w, co-ops. >. * Some o f thÃ reasons for (his a&" popularity o f wood burners n o doubt are articles i n Sunday newspapers, Dutch elm disease and the increasing cost o f fdilfuels. ,.

Waste wood 'jnspite of the fact that wood stoves

are fashionable they are both useful and effective. The Building Research Establishment estimate that a b W 2 muion tonnes o f waste wood are produced i n the UK each year, part from offcuts left i n the forest after felling and part i n the sawmills. The 2 million t o f l n e s b not include the wood thatis wasted on building 6 r denr~tttieff~ites, broken pallets and packing cases etc. Wood for fuel can be obtained free ifytni are lucky, and if you are unlucky it cost up t o Â£0 or even Â£2 per twne. At this price you should get it sawn to length, split into stove s$Ã§

Comfor This is enough heat t o keep a well lumps and delivered to your door. Howinsulated house very comfortable, with ever even at Â£1 per tonne wood is half temperatures varying from about 25OC i n the price o f coal on an energy basis. the room where the stove is, t o 1 5 K i n The 2 million tonnes of waste wood the bedrooms. The heat given o f f by the could supply the space heating demand o f stove is largely in the form o f radiation, about 700,000 well insulated houses, i n and this makes the room feel very other words nearly 4% o f the existing comfortable in comparison with convenhousing stock. This is where wood burntional central heating which has no high ing stoves come in. I f properly designed temperature component installed and used, they are about 3 The kind o f fuel used has a major times more efficient than an open fire. effect on the stoves performance. Mostly In other words, any wood stove that is we burn slabwood, which is the outer installed in an existing open fireplace bark- covered parts o f trees that are makes available the fuel for two more trimmed o f f at the sawmill. The slabs, stoves. almost all softwood, come in lengths The Jdtul602 of about 10 feet, 4 or 5 inches wide and 'Turning from the general to the an inch thick. Two hours work with a hand saw cuts up enough fuel for a week. . When burning slabwood the stove needs nter:Tt stffl seems to b% inaood, attention every 4 or 5 hours.since it cwdition, there are no cracks andthe burns fairly fast and hot. A t night it is dark green enamel finish shows n o signs best to p u t i n a large log, this then o f failure. The initial costoW25 appears Smoulders slowly with a reduced heat to have been well spent. output. The fire can be got going again The model 602 was designed i n 1940 quickly by opening the draught control. ancTls made at "the-largest wood stove Installing the stove was very simple. foundry in Europe" in Osto. Inside the The chimney opening has been blocked stove cast iron bafftts protect the sides o f f with a horizontal galvanised steel from intense heat, and a horizontal sheet and the flue pipe goes through a baffle at the top guides the flue gases hole i n the steel sheet There are two under the cooking plate, to the flue pipe positions for the flue pipe so that the at the rear. The idea is t o keep the gases pipe can be taken out vertically or within the stove for as long as possible, so horizontally t o suit any particular as tomtract the maximum heat. A chimney. doortcmtrotittw ^? . . r a w shutter* One small criticism, the top internal . air Inlet holes, designed so the 3" baffle plate can be dislodged b y trying t o wood and gases burn completely. - * cram i n too much wood. If this happens The U K importers give a maximum the performance o f the stove will suffer, output o f 4.5 k w and the US importers - but it is easy t o replace the plate when say that the maximum efficiency is 69%, '- AÂ¥Â¥ the stove i s cool. The stove also once obtained when the stove is burning 1.2 k g suffered from the phenomenon o f "back of wood an hour and giving about 3 KW. I n puffing" which resulted in an explosion which lifted the cooking plate o f f the top, but this is probably not a design fault. It should be noted too that the controls are never too h o t t o touch. We have no real criticisms o f the JAtuI 602, although we have not used any other makes t o make a comparison. It i s solidly made, attractive if rather whimSical i n appearance and apparently efficient in operation. A wood stove is not a miracle - if you live in a draughty un-insulated house a J$tuI 602 will not heat it any more than a 3 bar electric fire would, b u t as a source of simple heating at reasonably low initial cost (and very low fuel cost) the model 602 seems excellent. Brenda Vale

-A

A?-'

If any o f our readers have a different woodstove, we would be interested to hear about I t for comparison.

Undercurrents 27 -

-*-

" & ? -- ,

directly rnpondbfe for thii. Can our*Wamy

survivewith unemployment at this level? If amginwring is laid t o be tho control md m a n i ~ ~ m oaf n tnatural ruourew for the benefit of human kind, doesn't this repr~en a gross wate of human resources, the h u f f l ~ capital upon whom all future wealth must

Wend?" (Here thechairman stopped h i *ping from two people).

the first hearing held at Manchester University in January. THE CENTRE OF POLITICAL thinking in Britain today is bankrupt of any ideas of what to do next, and would lack ' the political will to do it even if they knew. Small wonder that writers like Tom W i n * identify this paralysis in the English disease - the absorption and de-fusing o f radical ideas by the English middle class, and the sucking out of the desire of working people to make profound changes in the way power is exercised and used by giving them reforms when the pressure for change seemed likely to cause a rupture. The near coilaptB^ sata o f our wealth producing industries is the now too obrious proof of the historic industrial de-^ ;line of Britain. Lack of investment, . ?oorly used machinery, corrosive industrial relations, a demoralised and uncaring management, engineers and designers eaving industry as fast as they can find i Civil Service job, make companies i n >her countries laugh all the way to the breign exchange counter, This spiralling lecline in our industrial base has at last ;me into the 'public eye' and a Governrent enquiry under the chairmanship rf Monty Finniston has been commis.inned to Find Out What To Do About It. n keeping with decency, open meetings ire being held in all parts of Britain at which professional engineers; technicians, md other concerned narties are invited o give their own evidence as to the auses of the decline. Addressing the 500 keople at the first meeting, Monty Finnison said he wanted in particular to hear he views of the younger engineers as to he sort of changes theywould like t o w n the future. Perhaps this was a deliher- Ã‘ te comment, because the contributions made by the older members lacked almost without exception any understandingo f the changes that are taking place all around us. All of them wanted more noney and more status - they wanted in ffect to be refined gents like Doctors nd Lawyers. More significantly, they Iso wanted a return to the days when '

Engineers are confusing class and status. Doctors and Lawyers are privileged because they carry their meal tickets in their advice which they sell at a good price. Engineers want this status but being involved intimately with wealth production, they cannot avoid, or are not prepared to face up to, the implications of their classposition. They get punched from below and kicked from above as they make profits for the owners o f the industries. At the Manchester hearing, Rudyard Kinglip, who announced himself as a radical tech6ologist, made a submission. We printit here because of the way the chairman stopped him because his evidence was 'irrelevant'. "The enquiry is looking into the sad and 'Â¥emorali state of the profe* siom in the UK. ~tn trying to find out how

the status and confidence of engineers, upon -d, can bÃ improved. Thisis only half the question; the her half inv- toparaphrase an ~ ~ politic*!tciMitist, thaquntion of the uham and. for h ,BB.i ai -A * Ensinwins isdirectlyinvolved with wealth production,and therefore directly involved ~ i t how h our industriesare controlled and directed-Wacann0t the mOrewntlemmly nqlmt th wider political aspects.

Production of what? Production can only be legitimate i f it pmduces goods and cervices that enhance human life. To this extant, much of modern production is irrelivant or directed into the wrong uv,canlearn from the Lucas Aerospace Shop Stewards Commit* who hava out fonÃ§ordapla for p r o d u c b .ocialiy &I g o d i ~ ofor warfare t w i n * to poaible redundancy.

fioduction by Perhaps two third* o f our ~ w nunamt p oiyment -,of deli* Government policy to control inflation.But a large part of it h~ b e ~ caused n by the jobs being mecha n i d out of ex"-"". b a r the last tan years nearly 1%millioh jobs hew been lost to manufacturing industry; the MSC indicates that* similar number will be hat of the next 'On -anisation programmes

Production for whom? "Cempanin an said t o o m benefit of their shareholders. thairworkforce, and the consumer. I n practi thov operate d e l y for their shareholders. Unemplqyment due to mechanisation is carried &t t o make bigger profits and t o nuke the company become more competifive in the nurket plice. Those laid off have t o bÃ paid for b y the state; the social pmbleimÃ§l<have to be paid for by the taxpayet who is therefore dirtctty sulxidising private shareholders. Engimers are employed by companies t o make the goods at the greatest Profit -they are agents of the company

-"..

Engineering in the UK is certainly i n a poor state of health. ~ uis tit t o be improved bv making bigear profits for shareholder! a i improve the wider social good? ~f we ignore these quetions, i f we teak only to give our'^*8* m * m u s and wÂ¥a" m- m w t h y from thelarwPM <rf '"wuhtion whose live. will be disrupt. by our work:'

The arguments behind t h i s submissii will be familiar and commonplace to readers of Undercurrents, yet it was received by the meeting with blank and emharassed siience. Only a few people understood what it was about - that engineers cannot achieve the respect they want and see accorded to European engineers, unless they take an active part in 'the control and direction of natural resourc for the benefit of all mankind. Judging byi the .submissions made in ~ ~ this first enquiry meeting, we cannot expect too much from the professional engineers who are stricken with the English disease. Which is a tragedy, as only they have the technical knowledge to rry out the essgntial-work of impleme n g the technologies of the new order, a fact which appropriate technologists enthusiasts, with the persistent failure of their technical devices, should bv no\ be painfully aware. a The Fhniston Enquiry is trying to make the engineering professions less of a Cinderella and to encourage more giftf people them. Despite its for forward looking V ~ Y S of the Younger ~ ~ engineers, it seems mainly concerned wiin getting better and more efficient captains and lieutenants for industry. They are n asking if the battle i s the correct one, or if we should be th'nking of new fronts, or even a staged withdrawl from our o b session with economic growth. Pressure for radical change can only come from working people who have most to lose, everything to gain. ~ as ~workin. ~ people, will have to become aware of

:AIR PLAY

WORKERS CO-OPS TAMESIOE WORKERS CO-OP. ERATIVE plan to open a wholefood shop i n Ashton-under-Lyne, and also a furniture reoaid or furniture making scheme.in ration they are concentrating o n raising capital through conventional work, through loans and through a monthly house-to-house waste paper collection. They need people t o join them, particularlv for their furtniture scheme. andare open t o other suggestions. Contact: Dave Morgan, 154 Long Lane, Charlesworth, via Hvde, Cheshire.

preps-~

RURAL RECONSTRUCTION A GROUP OF people from Dumfries and Galloway, concerned about their apparently 'dying community', have come forward w i t h a scheme for its reconstruction. Their basic proposal is t o establish a network of small units o f em~ l ~ y m ethroughout nt the area, each unit t o be based on some Iocally felt need o r local resource. The units would employ about a 1 0 people w i t h a skilled worker providing the training. Each would work t o make itself selfsufficient, and as far as possible should be run on a co-operative basis. These various units would have a nucleus i n a Centre for Rural Reconstruction based at some large house. This Centre could provide some of the basic and specialist training necessary for the local projects and carry out market research. Suggestions for the local projects are the manufacture of glass fibre boats and woodburning stoves, various crafts and book ~ u b l i s h i n a( t o be linked w i t h the tourist industry), and the rum ning of small-holdings. The Galloway group hope t o set u p a Development Fund and investigate various sources of finance. They would appreciate any kind of help and information. Contact' Helen Steven, Loreburn Hall Dumfries, Scotland.

TEACHING HOSTELICO-OP THE INTERNATIONAL CENTRE CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY has been set u p with the aim of establishing a network of International Centres ( I C s ) around Britain and, later, abroad. Each IC would be a kind of 'hospice' catering for short-stay residents from as,many countries as possible. As a rule, at least one co-op member would be res~onsiblefor every 1C and deriv; a part of their personal income from this service. The idea o f the Society has evolved from the experiences of people involved i n t h o existing centres - the Harlow 1C (starred in 19691 and the Exeter 1C (1973). Both centres provide short-term ccommodation. -~ ~. a meetina olace for local groups ana some language courses- A London o f f ice was also established t o assist foreign students, and later a school which registered as a co-op in 1976 using ICOM model rules. This now employs 15-20 members and has about 200 students from all parts ~

IN THE MAKING 5 the 1978 edition of our 'Directory of Co-operative Proejcts' is now out: 80 pages of proejct entries, articles, information and reviews covering all aspects of collective working and radical technology. Send for your copy now (address below)! In this issue the project entries are divided up by area: Scotland, Ireland, Wales, North,Central and Southern England. The new arrangement makes it easier to find out what's happening near you, and will hopefully help the growth of local projects. I t also shows up some gaps - for example we know of far fewer projects in Scotland and Wales than in London and Central England. We are starting to collect entries for the first supplement now, so if there's a project in your area that you think we should know about, please write to us! ?f the world. The group have ound the co-op structure a pracical way o f meeting both the :eachers' and the students' requrements, The 1C Co-op Society now sees wo ways ahead: i) Starting other IC's from cratch w i t h new members; iil Joinina UD w i t h other commtible projects.' Regular full or part-time emilovment i n IC-based activities would be.a oualification for memiership. present members earn their iving b y a vairety of work which s socially tseful and compatible vith the'hospice' function of the C's. The includes writing, build ng;teaching, crafts and music. Members with similar work expern c e would be welcome, as would hose w i t h other backarounds e.g.

I 1

farming, AT, shops, printing and publishing. Individual IC's and the CS as a whole would be involved i n a variety of non-incomegenerating activities, mainly educational anc t o d o with Third World, peace, ei vironment and co-op issues- The CS would also promote international exchanges and provide helo for travellers and newcomer communities. A t generi members would decide on all matters of organisation and oolicv. o n camDaians and o t l initiativeskhich are f i t should b organised by the whole co-op. For further details about the Scoeity, please write giving your own particulars to: The Secretary, International Centres Co-operative Society, 67 St Michael's Street, London W2 (01-262-28731. ~

SUBSCRIBE T O ITM! Despite a larger directory, and rising printing and postage costs, we have been able to keep the price of I T M 5 at the same level as before. Subscribers receive copies of the I T M Directory plus updating supplements as soon as they come out, all post free. The rates are:

Â£ Â£ (US 84) Single copies of I T M 5 cost 60p plus 15p for post and packing. Back copies of I T M 4 and I T M 3 (including supplements) are available for 60p and 35p respectively, plus 15p post and lacking. W mail to: I N THE MAKING, c/o Acorn, 84 Church Street, Wolverton, Milton Keynes, Bucks. Ordinary Subscription Donation Subscription lif you can afford it)

Â£ Â£

Institution Rate Overseas Rate

FAYRE PLAY K I D S is a proe c t where local kids of the rural community will be participating with any kids o n a monthly basis. The emphasis will be o n toys made out of local materials: music with simple instruments (e.g. sheppard's flutes, ocarinas); painting. Spontaneity, ~xpression,dancing, singing etc. will be encouraged. The group will be mixed i n age, culture and race. The site is an o l d farmhouse a few milesaway from Skegness, Lines, i n a quiet (but not isolated area ) - it needs funds t o repair it. Anyone w i t h 'sensitive ways' and with willingness t o participate and become committed is welcome - and i f really interested could become collective owners. Abilitv i n ~ublic-relations, simple organisational skills, bookkeeping would be a help' Write with details about yourself & 5.a.e. to: Arelena Castilla, 19 Woodland Way, Woodford Green, Essex. 1G8 DQE.

US9BILITIES UNLIMITED U S A B I L I T I E S UNLIMITED is :ollective t o be formed through the ex~ansionof the Magic I n k printing Services, which for sontime has been getting more enauiries for work than it can handle. The aim is t o bring t o wther ~ h v s i c a l l vand mentally disabled people,together w i t h any interested able-bodted peo pie t o form the group, which at moment consists o f Ian (not seuerely disabled - partially paraplegic) and Caroline (severely d abled - deaf and dumb). They write:

Ideally we will complement each other's disabilities/qualitie and share anv 'sur~lus'accordir t o need or on an agreed basis. Like all idealised concepts the realities of living and working together as a collective will never be easy. Many of us not only have t o cope w i t h our disability. the effects of which car makeus very difficult to get all with. b u t also additional proble that some of our parents and teacherslsociety inflict o n all 01 us, especially during our formal years as children. We are still looking for peoc not afraid of work - a l o t of whcih is thought b y many t o bi boring, who do not wish t o be permanently unemployed or ur emolovable and livinq off the state, people who are adaptabli and have initiative and who wai t o make a positive contribution t o those less fortunate than the selves and who see the relevanc o f this project i n a world wide context. In too many societies we are thrown on the scrapheap through n o fault of our own. Whave t o concentrate o n wh'at (little) we have and NOT constantly on what's missing. The ultimate aim of Disabili Unlimited is t o help the disabled leave us and set themselves up as independent b u t inter-related projects. Disabilities Unlimited, 22 Dane Road. Maroate. Kent CT9

Undercurrents27

MUCKand Maoism The Wealth of Some Nations Malcolm Caldwell; Zed Press 191 pp.; Â£ (Â£3.3 by mail from 57 Caledonian Road, London Nl). PHIS IS A book to be recommended unreservedly. Not because every Undercurrents eader will agree with its contents, far from it. Every reader will object t o this or hat analysis,,fact or argument. Or more likely you will want to write your own book o refute, extend or correct some part of it. What Malcolm Caldwell does i s provide I clear and coherent account o f fossil fuelJmperiatism' from the 8th Century to the k t , taking in political analysis and the law$ of thermodynamics, industry and agriulture, Kropotkin and Mao. Vhat i s most useful i s that you don't lave to take his word for it. In this short book there are 160 . eferences, many with brief cornmentares that should enable the reader to ;heck outaay particutar aspect. Gal& yeit's own summary of the first half >fthe book is as follows: 'We began y investigating the role of the fossil uels in enabling rich countries to ustain hitherto undreamt of standards tf living In the second chapter, we ooked into the question ofprecisely vhen (over what p e r m of time); and low, historically the now rich countries tad succeeded In thus establishing an ^questionably privileged position 'nd we concluded that the economic urplus of food/foodstuffsawHable o them had been vastly Increased in wo ways (both dependent upon securvg access to steadily growing supplies if fossil fuels and other non'-r&newab/e eel resources): one, by raising the ~roduction of domestic agriculture via topped up Inputs of fertiliser, pesticides, n a s h t w y , eleca/cefty heated or m r e d installations, and so; two, by mporting foodon an enormous, preiously unheard of. scale. The imnorted'" aod is obtained on the one hand, by xtending highproductivity domestictyte agriculture to certain favoured 'ands of recent settlement' (the USA 'anada, Amtralia etc) which themselves I time became rich industrialised ountries, and paying for the resulting iwl surpluses by the export of manuictured gotids, and, on the other hand, y extending imperialist control over the ?stof the world and converting their conamto tomeet theneeds ffnclMjng forfossil fuels,

.. .

realfes. A

>..

stuffs) af the metropolitan economies.' The author then goes on to define what hecalls 'overdevelopment' - the ~arge-scakeconomies of capitalism and the USSR and satellites. Amongst other things, the appalling social andinvironmental evils are described and listed, like poor diet, pollution, drug abuse, declining health and literacy and ail-die other evils we know about. He does seem to miss out how the system also sends people off their heads with a previously unheard of level of neurosis and psychosis. This situation is contrasted with that of the People's Repubtfc of China, North Korea and Indoclana whw Iftdustry - and agrmiltureare pore integrated, where ecebgid consciousnessis far greater, , md how-seff-sufflciencyand self-rnanagement, i t is argued, are practiced. Finally he argues that there is no way that Overdeveloped countries can survive particuEarly as 3rd World countries cease to underwrite the West with fossil fuels and food resources and devote such . aarrow nationalism or regionalism. A t factors to their own self-sufrieigut the same time the goodies of cars and economies. Finally the Ovewtevet@ consumer products can (and do) attract economies will have to eniu%.the party elites to the Russian model, t Chinese and develop self-&&*@my,-a WKer*atmost readers would return to agricultural productfo'n, AT, <KK} Want to write a book of their own. 4 co-operativesni& scale production. l-hus, he argues, thecentralised lone- would want to cover a dimension that does not appear in the book at all. This man d a g e m e n t ' of east or west is, is the influence of character structure, doomed. Catdwett does net- th ink that the patriarchal family and the 'emotions the Jugoslav solution i s a way forward either, since their coo~rativescompete Plague' and how the puritanical attitudes to sexuality and the family for profits and wages, i.e. exchange if+ social situations like China can encour value the AT self-manaeement has to age messianic leadership and bureaucracy be based,upon the socially useful-use But this would be my book and t h w ig value. it for reasonfor m. The Malcolm bod he Caldwell has writm,ist o wrfK no In my view, C*welJ does not give enough attention to the internal w n - . justified in its own terms. . tradictions-of the ese examples. An - John -.*-- - r f ~ & = " F . > z-z- Ktf^^ia-\* ..

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%-^

Undercurrents 27

DatedAT 'iolar Energy and Building (Second Ediion 1977) i.V. Szokolay; Architectural Press; 6.95 F YOU WANT to build a solar colector to heat your hot water you are not going t o find Szokolay's book much 'ielp. If however, you want to calcuate collector performance, cost effectiveness, solar gain, or tilt optimism, the book will provide enough clearly explained formulae to keep your pocket calculator going well into the night This is a book o f theory written by a building scientist, and the "scientific" outlook pervades it. Simple solar systems such as the use o f the well insulated and thermally massive building as the collector itself, the solar wall and the trickle collector are dismissed i n a line or two so that the author can get down to the details o f the lithium bromide absorption solar air conditioner and other delights of the white hot cutting edge of solar technology. The odd thing is that he never says that the simple systems are no good; for example, o f the trickle collector (as used at BRAD) he says, "thissystem can be almost as efficient as a closed flow absorber at much less cost", but after this comment the system is ignored in favour of more complex ones. Of the passive solar heating methods ("building as collector" and "solar walls") he says. can significantly re"both methods. duce the energy requirement o f the building, b u t neither provides a flexibility o f controls and neither is precisely predictable in its performance. " This may well be true, but on the other hand I don't think that Szokolay'scomputer studies o f the Milton Keynes solar house design precisely predicted that the roof would have to'be dismantled three times because o f corrosion. It is not so much that the complicated solar energy methods are more predictable in practice, as that you can produce some convincing looking sums, whereas the passive methods have to be built t o get the

No Lws for

results. The calculated systems may well be put out o f action by unforeseen corrosion, by algae blocking the pump, or by thermal expansion which cracks the glass, but because they have been designed with the aid o f a computer they achieve a spurious authority i n the eyes o f the scientific establishment The author's prejudices allow him to dismiss interseasonal heat storage as "uneconomic" and lead him t o show only four o f the possible circuits for solar space and water heating without adding that there are many more. It would be good t o know why interseasonal heat storage is uneconomic at the moment and t o have more detail o f the work being done in this field rather than this simple dismissal. The major drawback of the book is that it is out o f date. Although ostensibly in a second edition, the 1974 Building Regulations amendments on insulation are not included, fuel price comparisons are four years out o f date and the Milton-Keynes (sic) solar house is described as still under construction and drawn back t o front. Solar energy is a field o f rapid changes and if a book is described on the cover as "Second Edition" you expect it t o be up to date. I n fact the book has been updated by adding a survey o f recent developments and some additional theory and methods at the end, but the body o f the work is out o f date to the point o f being useless i n some cases. This i s really a book for people like architects who don't want to get their hands dirty, but who want to talk reasonably knowledgeably to the services engineers who will do any necessary nuts and bolts designing. I t may help with the planning o f a collector installation (don't put too much faith in a computer simulation) but don't expect i t to tell you how t o do anything in the real world.

The Conscript Army: A Study of Britain's Unem~iovedEdited bv Frank Field; outl ledge & Kegan PA Paul; 160 pp. ; Â£3.25 UNEMPLOYMENT is just the tip of the iceberg. This book maps out the tip with great thoroughness, at the same time indicating how the vast mass i s drifting in the economic currents o f the 'free market system' (i.e. capitalism.). During the 19301s, many o f the Great British bourgeoisie convinced and comforted themselves that the unemployed 3 million were idlers and bums unemployed by their own choice. The same comfortable myths are heard again about the present 1% million unemployed. This book presents the facts about unemployment, the poverty i t causes, how much benefit i s available, and the costs, in order to show how working people are actually being effected. The authors argue that of the present 1% million out of work, about 1 million are there because this Government labour' to control inflation from wage pressure by creating a fall in the demand for goods by deliberately creating unemploy, ment. That is, the mad scramble up the wages escalator is disciplined by flooding the tunnels and drowning those at the bottom. This i s grossly unfair, a deliberate attack on the young, the old, women and immigrants, and people in the regions, and has been totally ineffective. Wages have hardly kept up with the rise in prices, despite the mini-explosions of several years ago, and unemployment i s still rising. Barbarians like Milton Friedman suggest that unemployment may even have to go higher before wage -induced inflation, such as i t is, i s dampen ed down. The costs of this army of unemployed people conscripted to fight inflation are colossal; payments and lost production amount to something like Â£700 per person per year - nearly one seventy o f the gross domestic product annually. We really do have a crisis, and

Robert Vale

me uartington society Liarringion nan. 1orne5,uev(

New Themes for Education Annual Conference 3rd-8thAmill978

Among those taking part: M~chaelYoung. Dbrectar, the lnst!tutefor Community Stud~es,Aurel~oPecce~, Pressdent,Clubof Rome. Lawrence Stenhouse, Director. the Centre for Amlied Research in Education. Henryk Skolimowski. Professor of Philosoohu,Umuersitv of Michigan. FritioH Capra, Author of The Taoof Physics. [an ord don 6rown, ~ i r e c t o rthe , cenrre of l e a n s personal ~sycho~ogu, ~dward dc ~ o n o ' .H O ~ rector, Cognitive Research Trust, Cambridge and Author of Lateral Thinking, James Robertson. Author of Power. Money and Sex, Ed Berman, Director of Inter-Action Trust, London. Liz Greene Psuchothera pistand ~ u t h oof i ~elatina:~ i v i n ~ g o g e t h e ron a s m a l ~ ~ i a n eandothers t, '~>rc~mstan<es wrm~rt~ng

Computer Programmers Zeus-Hermes Ltd is an energetic software house of 80 pople situated off Tottenham Court Road. We do minicomputer software, real-time and microprocessor work, and we are now looking for assembly code programmers with ambition to achieve results. Name your right starting figure, then go up with us.

Undercurrents 27

Fuel for our leaders are terrified and lack the imagination and conviction to do anything about it. Several remedies are put forward in this book to reduce unemployment. The nvolve sharing the work out by reducini ivertime and the working week, making perhaps half a million jobs (and raising :he minimum wage t o make overtime nnecessary) and a policy on imports to :ontrol the inflow o f goods that can eadily be made here. About 1% million jobs have been lost to manufacturing industry over the last 'en years, and i t has been estimated fron i survey carried out by the Man Power services Commission that another 1% nillion jobs will be lost over the next ter (ears as the mechanisation programmes, n part financed and subsidised from ~ublicmoney in the largest 9 0 companie vho produce the bulk o f generated vealth, take effect. This fact, together vith the bulge in population, leads many o suppose that there will be 2% million mt of work by 1985. This structural nemployment is barely mentioned I this book; nor is the question of the icreasing cost and scarcity o f raw ;sources; nor are the remedies put irward by radical technologists: decen ecentralising production to less capital ~tensiveworks (by nationalising or takh controlling interest in selected impanies), making jobs to conserve 'sources in energy and waste-recycling hemes, allowing people land to grow lings etc.. This language has n o t yet itered common currency, i t seems. We ould also note that the people who ive been warning of these things as sciples of the late good Doctor are iw conspicuous by their silence. What's e matter with them, are they afraid o f sing their pensions, or is the talk o f cially useful! work just good crack to ver the impracticality of their ggestions? The promise of the post-industrial ciety i s turning sour on theconscripts. iey didn't ask for i t and unless the otestant work ethic is publicaly and cnly exorciscd, and tho doles arc made .o a decent living wage, the frustration t by the unemployed, especially the ung, will explode and big business y lose everything. There are signs now i t the message is getting across to the companies who are showing serious erest in the 'informal sector' as a way employing the young. Have they begun think of having servants again? What !Id be more labour intensive? I t would alace washing machines by the human t d there could be re-cvcline on a massive scale degree courses for charring; the rich man would again be in his castle and the poor man at his gate. Any volunteers to scrub lim'dhack?

, ' . -

Simon Watt

Hazards of Nuclear Power, Alan Roberts and Zhores Medvedev; Spokesman 95p; 73 pages.

ing the environmental and safety questions and ploughs straight on to the essentially political implications. His argument is that nuclear power is last refuge o f scoundrels. But rather than just hurl invectives at 'capitalism' he provides a detailed assessment o f the economic and political forces that have led the big corporations, aided by nation states, to rely for energy generation on a technology which "looms above all others, in its ominous implications for the future o f humanity, and in its significance as an issue on which mans action against the systems irrationality is likely. " The extent o f the systems irrationality can be judged from the fact that, even in conventional market terms, nuclear power is not cost-effective. Roberts quotes the Chairman o f the Edison Electric Institute as saying (in 1975) that "it is impossible in present circumstances to build a power plant that will yield a satisfactory return on investment." Now this might be thought of as special pleading by monopolists greedy for more taxpayers money to fund their projects. But it indicates that there is more than just raw profit behind the drive to nuclear power. Essentially what we are seeing is the growth o f a giant oligopoly,.a centrally controlled energy industry, in which nuclear power performs a key role. As Roberts puts it: "The interests of the capitalist class are n o t to be conceived as simply the making of a fast buck. They include also the preservation of a structure o f industry which will anable the capitalist system to continue. Long term security and control is thus eqtially important - as a political objective objective for monopoly capital. But what about bureaucratic state capitalist countries, like Soviet Russia? Doesn't the same apply there? Not quite, suggests Roberts: "With a total list o f inly 25 plants, including those under construction or on order, the nuclear 7rogramme of the USSR is insignificant 77 comparison to that o f the U.S.A,, which 5 some 75 times greater in power output. Indeed, France's alone outstrips the bviets in capacity (by about 50%). . . 3ut Roberts, a well known activist in the Australian radical environmentalist and workers control movement, is no apologist 'or the Soviet r e h is well aware that 'the absence o "

to 'solve' its disposal problems with a

The second part of the book consists o f Zhores Medvedev's account o f the nucleaj waste storage accident that occurred in the Urals 'at the end o f 1957 or beginning of 1958', which, according to Medvedev, severely contaminated an area o f some 1000 1000 square miles with nuclear waste. This account which originally appeared in New Scientist (30 june 1977) fits rather uneasily with Roberts more wideranging analysis. I t is simply an attempt to prove that an accident occurred, by collating evidence from Soviet biological and zoological journals. It's fairly convincing - a large area was clearly contaminated with massive doses o f radioactive material, providing botanists and zoolog ists with an opportunity to study the effects o f radioactivity on animal and plant life. But what is thepolitical objective of this article? Presumably to demonstrate that Soviet bureaucrats are just as unreliable and secretive as Western technocrats, a point which hardly needs stressing, but which in any case has been made far more graphically by the comradely denials than anything untoward could have happened emanating from the UKAEA' Some British anti-nuclear activists have subsequently tried to suggest that the accident was not the result of an explosion occurring in a waste storage bunker, as Medvedev insists, but a result of a major disaster involving a nuclear power plant. (perhaps a breeder reactor?: Their object presumably is to undermind public confidence in nuclear power plants. Given Soviet tardiness, i t will be some time before the truth is revealed - i f i t ever is. Although it's obviously useful to demonstrate how technocrats try to cover up accidents of this sort, personally I would have been happier to see Roberts' excellent general political analysis, couple with something on the specific health anc safety risks facing workers in the industry, something on the wider civil liberties implications and something on altertative energy sources. Even so, this book is a valuable contribution to the debate on nuclear power and ought to be o f onsiderable use in convincing the traditional left (and the rest o f us) that, _i Roberts puts i t "the struggle over nuclear power. . . poses questions about the very shape of society itself."

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Dave Elliott

Undercurrents 27

,. .-

' '

'ffw things don't work. Victor Papanek arfJames Henneisey. Pantheon, $4.95

The best among automatic drip coffee

nor with things such as washing machines whose chief attraction i s to hive them-right there; instantly available in your own home. Kits are praised because they save . money, give you a better product, and ensure that you understand how your . potsessions work before you star using them or trying to maintain them; Not - everyone enjoys assembling motorcycles or televisions, even for own use. But an alternativewould be to have small,.localassembly workshops, buying kits at wholesale prices and assembling them, in non-alienated fashion, to the final customer's precise requiremetits, It's an intriguing new recipe for decentralised industry. The chapter on planned obsolesccn~ z shrewdly observes the symp,bms of what many would say i s a deep-rooted madness in America's (and our) econa ic system. Owning things is now expen sive, because even if they don't b e c m obsolete or worn out in a few years, they'll be stolen or vandalised or at lea you'll have to pay huge insurance premiums in case they are. Gimmicky 'improvements' often make things wor 5 . less well. Digital clocks make it harder

(3.70. From Compendium Books). (72 pp.

. HAND-PUSHED LAWNMOWERS, $cycles, Citroen 2CV, Heathkit elecronics, Volvos, buying secondhand, ^cycling toilets, and most serious sports md camping equipment are all good. assembly-line cars, self-cleaning wens, wosol cans, dishwashers, vending nachines, electric carving knives, and he Polaroid SX-70 camera are all iwfut. Not a very clever way to sum .. : ' i p this damning and witty book, but t should give you the idea. It's easy to poke fun at canned air yr pet rocks, but they're just the tip rf an icebergwhich includes many iroducts central to modern life. 'apanek and Hennessey shoot holes n the prevailing designs of car, bath, ~i-ti and tin-opener. More important, hey offer alternatives. Some of the ilternatives already exist but are mder-used; others have been designxi from scratch, often by students uho were at Manchester Polytechnic luring Papanek's recent two-year irofessorship there. The authors have strong prefermces, and you needn't agree: Personaly Iwouldn't choose a folding'bathu b made of soft plastic, for example. would be afraid of leaks, difficult . leaning, and the growth of nameless melly organisms if the tub was fold:d away not quite dry. The two Nomadic Furniture books vere full ofneat designs and ways of naking things, but gavelittle insight ;. .., nto why things are ill-designed and - - - . low it could be different Big themes traceable to Design for the Real Vorld) now reappear in Papanek and -tennesseyls work. Sharing: people lon't share their hoovers because they

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''to j~dg~time~in~~~ils,'.easilyvisua~isei as ^Sles on a dial. Electric Wpewriter! die when thdpower dies. Bathroom scales are unreadable bythe really fat people who need them most. The authors have anticipated some of the most obvious criticisms of their book. They apologise for emphasizing cars, stereo equipment and cameras. This isn't elitism, they say, it's just t h a the most ridiculous (as wellas them a advanced) innovations tend to show UI first in these areas. The authors are aslm quite clear that this isn't your book i f you are looking for radical answers to

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-stand communal use. Freezer mowers, electric drills could

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have though, that it things.that are work and often, such as basic hand tools,

F m l i t i are ~ available for students with a first degree or experienceat equivalent level to undmteb &@I r-ch or project e r k in fields of their own chcasiw, leading to a ~ of d MPhiiIPhO degrms. Further details m y be obtmined from: The Reojarar, Ref VE 101, An and Omiw, North Eat London Polytechnic. Grwngme Home. Greengate Street, London E130BG. Tel: 01472 1499.

smash the present sysjem.'They believi they can give-us'aglimpseofbetter things before the revolution. I think - it's a fair defence: the book is inspirin! i t could lead on to more searching criticisms of the way things are. The book is full of enthusiasm. Some claims I suspett areexaggerated. But . rmd it, choose' the ideas which suit you your family and your environment, an leave the rest alone. One idea which I hope everyone will leave alone is the electric continuity tester on page 108 which carries main voltage on bare metal probes. T h i s particular Papanek/Hennecsey design could kill, and no DO NOT TOUCH warning wilt make i t safe. Get yourself a neon mainstester, and mayb a cheap multimeter, and live to learn something about electricity..

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.-7

We've criticism! the Intermediate Technology Development Group in the ~ a sfor t neglecting the relationship between technology and social organisation, so it's good to see the first of their new series of pamphlets on this very iroblem, Hand-pump Maintenance by Arnold Pacev (IT Publications Â£1.4 1 lost paid 38 pp) Most of the deep well lumps installed in the rural communities o f the Third World break d o w a , s 3 ~ - ~ - "I ~ t delineates r the merits, virtues, and ind are abandoned after a few years^:. healing qualities of our most common Pacey explains why this happens ad^',= 'weeds' with illustrations of each from nakes i t clear that no pump s h o ~ l d ' b e 'v~ o~ ~h n Gerard's "The Herball or General1 installed without consideration o f who History o f Plants" 1597. Nicely presented. is to maintain it, this may seem obvious It's the companion volume to A Handful1 - L u-"Laut i t is not; i t seems the Western ui n c i u'1. ingineer's instinct is to redesign the Still on country matters, Dry Stone aump. It is chastening t o be reminded Walling (British Trust for Conservation ust how inappropriate a response that is. Volunteers. Â£2.75 120 pp) is the latest 'A little o f what you fancy does you in a series o f handbooks by Alan Brooks 'ood' seems to be the motto o f One intended for the National Conservation Van's Munch, a vegetarian cookbook Corps, enthusiasts who spend their leisure kom the New Age folk (PO Box 4, Hexclearing the natural scrub from what lam, Northumberland 36 pp. 45p). Mind are quaintly called 'nature reserves', tau they seem to have substituted sugar maintaining disused towpaths, etc. . I f aid treacle for meat. But the recipes are you have any drystone walls on your 'un, even i f you'll need to use a desk weekend hideaway get this book, and ,. :alculator to tot up the calories. And with any luck your guests will be inspired :here are a few lentil and nut based first to try their hand; if you're a smallholder ;ourses, in among the cakes and cookies. get a roll of wire and some posts. Other titles by then are: Waterways Plants with apurpose (Richard Mahev: and Wetlands, (Â£3)Hedging (Â£2.0); and illustrated by Marjorie Blame) The Power Chain Saw (Â£1.45)They are Collins; Â£4.50 is a guide to tk.all well written and illustrated, and a practical use o f wild plants, intended to pleasing mixture of practical and scholarinspire its readers to get opt amongst th ly information. Brooks should n,ow apply native flora and to learn the skills and the same treatment t o draining, a vexing techniques which were common knowproblem for homesteaders on poor land ledge a few decades ago; and also, perhaps and short o f capital. in so doing to develop the creator's eye Thesis writers, TV researchers, would(or ear, or nose, or whatever) for the! be communards and all the rest of the possibilities inherent in the vegetable earnest enquirers who plague us for inforkingdom. Because, like the man says: mation about the 'alternative society' will "the potentialities o f plants are so like two new reference works, the New 'imitless that perhaps i t is n o t too much Periodicals Index and the Directory o f if a fantasy to look forward t o an era o f Alternative Communities in Great Britain moden carriages powered b y 'the and Eire (Ulster is apparently excluded). essence o f stone'" (and lubricated with The Index comes from Mediaworks seed oil from the jojoba shrub). (P.O. Box 4494, Boulder, Col 80306, Reading this book may not only USA. $25 for two issues). I t indexes, by persuade you to start weaving your own author and subject, articles from 70 disposable rush spoons, perfumed mats, 'alternative and new age' periodicals, all ~askets,hats, shoes, etc., not to mention North American except Glow Internationiroducing your own dyes, perfumes, air a l (India), Onearth and Openletter from Fresheners, insect repellants, soap, wood Findhorn and Undercurrents. Which says ind metal polishes, brooms, brushes, volumes about the indexers' view o f the toys, tools, paper, ink, string, cloth, world. ;he, etc., etc., but may also set you off The Directory certainly fills a gap, an a path o f discovery and invention one that some cynics might think better which could even make you famous. left unfilled: 'communes', the editors point out at the beginning, 'are not freak The Virtuous Weed garnered by Joy zoos to go and take a look at, but Sriffith-Jones; Blond and Briggs; 95p) people's homes'. Here anyway are details Mas inspired by Emerson's rhetorical of 38 communities (5 listed only by question "What is a weed? A plant whose number): their beliefs, economic rela{irtues have n o t y e t been discovered. "

tions, decision-making processes, etc. For anyone who really wants the info, it's a snip at Â£1.5 from The Teachers, 18 Garth Road, Bangor, Gwynedd, North Wales. READING NEWS (8pp 8p) i s a bright eyed community paper started last 0 c t ober; i t is attractively laid out (by Redesign), well written and not too high minded to lead on an eye catching story:Reading's Sex Drug Con Trick tells how a local sex shop is selling rheumatic ointment as 'female bliss cream' at four times the price. I t is banned, needless to say, by the local Smith's. a sure sign that its getting under the skins of the local oligarchs, who seem to be as small minded and greedy as anywhere in the country: last year they slashed council spending by shutting ten public conveniencesi Anyone thinking of starting a community paper would do well to have a look at the News and pinch some of its ideas Editorial office: 49 Manchester Road; tel 83275) Best read of the lot for aspiring politicos who feel the urge to test their ideologies against some facts i s the Central Statistical Office annual Social Trends (HMSO Â£6.9 or any reference library), a compendium of facts and figures that documents the social change going on around us. Some o f i t quite surprising: did you know, for example, that there now more colour tellies in Britain than black and white? So some people have money t o burn. And we are relatively well off for housing. On the other hand we're bottom of the EEC league table for cars (and dishwashers) per household. All in all there are statistics here to buttress oc demolish every prejudice. According to the blurb, Pollv Toynbee spent five months collecting the material for Hospital (Hutchinson, Â£4.95)This collection o f anecdotes, which could have been cobbled together in as many days, tells us far more about the dire state o f British journalism. Had Ms. Toynbee spoken to the DHSS she would have found that they intend to close all hospitals in order to make room for more bureaucrats. A t least it will put a stop to this kind o f book.

Undercurrents 27

South Downs lowdown English Enigma, New Edinbu Spring 1977.) It is a place w "Prefets, Burgermeister and crats toast their feet at the I library. Outside, it is junior and Deputati who are being croquet on the lawn. In dining-Hall the Atlantic " The fled by claret. Boys network and a magazine which circulates amongst its privileged me ship. I dare say that walkers who take

South Downs Way. Sean Jennett; HMSO; 112pp.; Â£2.95 THE SOUTH DOWNS WA Y was yfficial/y opened in July 1972 and THE SOUTH DOWNS WAY was officially opened i n July 1972 and stretches from Eastbourne t o Buriton. The original intention was that the route should run as far as Winchester, where it would join the Pilgrims' Way, but the full distance o f this intention has not yet been realised. This is the seventh in a series of longdistance footpath guides published forthe Countryside Commission by HMSO Unfortunately i t ' s got nothing on the style of Wainwright's inimitable guide to the Pennine Way, with its detailed pen and ink drawings and curiously idiosyncratic prose. Nevertheless, jennett has adop right approach. The descriptions a unambiguous, the maps are clear, there is plenty o f incidental informati on the geological structure of the S Downs and on the flora and fauna I to be encountered. just one o f the curiosities en route is Chanctonbury Ring. and there hangs a tale. Chanctonbury Ring is an impressive site which can be viewed from a distan of nearly forty miles. The collection of beeches, ash, pines and sycamore

Wiston House now has an entirely = different function and walkers will not Find themselves given a traditional travellers' welcome. jennett describes it i s a European conference centre and eaves it at that. In fact, lelongs to the Foreign Office and it became a centre for re-educ Serman officers at the end Norld War. Tom Nairn has described its present ise more appositely as, a permanent iniversity o f the British Way, (The

Peter Moore.

AD o f the usual reviews &'dead1 books, here's a wftte-ug'~fiii~? we feel readers o f Undercurrents mightlike t o tr;

A special mention shou~d&e made o f the superb, but unnamed, blues singer, who brought the @ole audience t o its feet and who sparked

STATION MANAGER

So, for a really enjoyable evening,

AMSTERDAM daily from Â£10PARIS Â£10.5 ATHENS Â£3DcLHt Â£8

Phis world wide economy travel .

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Undercurrents 27

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WHOLEFOOD shop collective requires a new worker. Send us some information about yourself and we'll send you details. Down to Earth, 406 Shamowdale Road, Sheffield 11.

WANTED enterprising person/ couple t o manage new wholefood/ craftlexchange shop. Market town. Breconshire. 3 bedroom flat provided in return occasional childminding (boys 2.4). Profit-sharing + salary. Mrs. F. Roberts, ~ e n b a r t Fach, Llenbedr, Crickhowell, Powys; tel. Crickhowell 810758.

YOUNG married man, 5 yrs. experience general work (relief milker, tractor/comhine driver) requires permanent job (not fa;lory farm). Specially with horses and sheep. Interested in self-sufficiency and biodynamics farming. Cottage required. Anywhere eonsidered. Yves Leibig, 6 1 Albany St. Hull East Yorks.

I I

US WOMAN, 30, seeks rural, farming-type community living situation in England. Veterinary assistant, experienced in the care of large & small animals, small scale farming, gardening. I have lived in rural England before & am anxious t o return to England & become involved in farming situation with others sharing my interests: animals, organic gardening, arts & crafts, simple living (I am strongly against nukes!). Any leads greatly appreciated! I will he in GB 14th Anril t o 5th May t o explore possibilities. Please writ?: Summer Lee-Sankey, c / o D. Ress, 7 Sefton Close, Petts Wood, Orpington, Kent BR5 1RL. THE TEACHERS is a community searching for hard-headed realists who are not into money, status, marriage, religion and Politics. We're looking for those into social responsibility and reform through education. We work like stink and we don't allow aggro. If it sounds like you, write f o r more information sending 30p t o 1 8 Garth Road, Bangor, North Wales.

UNAIS nt-cds ctgncultural volunteers for Rohvid. 2 people for post harvest coffee and cocoa Droccising, and one general agriculturalist, preferably with tropical agricultural experience. to work in community development projects. Trainine ~ o s s i b l cfor coffee ..and -..cocoa posts. Spanish useful, language training provided Volunteer terms. Write: UNAIS 3 Whitehall Court London SW1A 2EL. CONCRETE AND POETRY: Great Georges Community Cultural Project (The BIackie) offers hard interesting work t o menlwomen 16+. Rebuild The Blackie alongside trained builders (skilled work and labouring), and work on cultural activities (games. workshops, events). Some admin.. housekeeping. Accommodation provided, and food if staying a month o r longer. Small wage neeotiable after 6 months. Great Georges Project, Great George St., 709 5109.

:SHELTER 1FANTASTIC bargain in scenic

,Afan valley (London 2% hours).

immediate sale. Owner moving ,!Forsoon as possible. Artist's studio, is

iccommodation & workshops. 516 bedroom h o t e l 4 bedroom f a m l y house. Rice Â£12,50 the lot or ill sell separately. Write Comer IHouse. Avond.de Square, Cymmer, West Glumorean; t e l 0 6 3 9 8 3 410.

IFOR SALE o n Shapmsay, Ork1ley:

COMMUNITY SACRAMENTAL APOSTOLATE Advertiser wishes t o found and endow an Ecumenical community based o n belief that all life should be sacramental and based on the Litrugy, and practising self-sufficiencv and ~ r o t e c t i o nof the environment Based on existine bookselling and church furnishing business and hoping t o go into agricul-

WE ARE a mixed age group planning village settlement project with opportunities for village industry, community living, etc. We need others t o join us. For information write box PE. PISSEDÃ‘OF student seeks contact with people wanting t o start AT based community. Please write t o Alan Hardy. Shearbridge Green, Bradford University, Bradford. TWO PEOPLE interested in forming craftsworkers community in Ireland wish t o hear from other likeminded people. Contact: Leslie Reisz, Dominic Scott. 53, Dean Kavanagh Place, Kilkenny, Ireland,

Sell your woodstove here! Small Ads at special giveaway price: 2p per word; Box Nos. 50p. Copydate f o r No.28 is April 26. Please send copy & replies to Box Nos. to our London office.

EVER CHANGING commune has lost some people and would like to replace them. Egalitarian, antisexist. wholefood faddist, incomesharing, non-couple oriented, selfsufficient etc. Write with SAE for details: Crabapple Community, c / o 1 6 St Mary's St.. Shrewsbury SY1 1EQ.

WORK

stone built 4 roomed croft,

ixtensive outbuildings all with mains ,,ilectncity. Small protected garden Sr greenhouse. 1 5 acres arable land.

W m e or phone J Domldson. 7

Madeira Place. Leilh. Edinbunh. 031 554 2775.

HOLIDAYS WE ARE a n organic farm situated in 3eautiful N. Devoq countryside and affer cheesemakine, spinning, buttermaking, animal husbandry & general lann horticulture & full accommoiation a t an all-inclusive Â£3per week. Send saw for details to: Vernon & Oatley. Butlers Farm, Shittlebamholt, Umberlaeigh, N. Devon. NALK into lost worlds and be rereshed. 'Head for the Hills' arrange Â¥xpeditioin ten mysterious areas )f Wales & England. Small groups. ow cost, natural foods diet, Camp cwried ahed by vehicle. 21 Pembroke Ave,, Hove. Sussex (+ stamp).

JNIQUE holiday o n self-sufficiency brientated organic smallholding vith 77 acres of woodland nature r eserve. Exmoor National Park, sea I miles. Seven camouflaged caraans. Modern toilets. Trout, dairy i horticultural produce available. itamp for brochure. Cowley Wood F'arracombe, N. Devon. TeL ParraC ombe 200.

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YEAR-ROUND Countrycraft f o r adults and Activity Holidays for unaccompanied children and young People. Aspects of involvement include: Dairywork; animal care: gardening; bee-keeping: Rockclimhing; camping; hill walking; Kitemaking; spinning; painting. We aim to enalie visitors t o share in full the joy of life o n a self-sufficient homestead, t o experience country life am t o learn new skills. High Trenhousc, Malham Moor, Settle. N. Yorks. Tel Aixton 322.

ETCETERA SINCERE, educated, attractive divorcee lacking capital seeks presentable, intelligent, gentleman with funds aged 35-47. over 5'9" tall & genuinely interested in build ing a new life togetherness. partial self-sufficiency & possible cottage industry in rural area. Box 200.

WANTED information o n all subjects that Undercurrents stands for! Also wish friends everywhere. Martin Ross. 17 Aberporth Rd., Gabalfa, Cardiff. South Wales.

NON-CHURCH-AFFILIATED readers are invited t o call 01-554 1258 for a free copy of the hook 'Introducing Quakers'. DAWN: Irish journal of non-violn c e . Revised subscription rates: ten issues Â£2.5seamail: worldwide airmail Â£4Send 12p for sample copy. 331 Ormeau Road, Belfast 7, Northern Ireland. YORK'S Other Bookshop for a wide range of new books including fiction, poetry, drama, children's books, psycho log^, feminism, food, consciousness, left politics, anarchism, education, plus posters, badges, cards, comix. magazines. pamphlets and second-band books. Community Bookshop. 7 3 Walmgate, York. Mon-Sat 10-6. 0904 37355. PEACE NEWS for non-violent revolution. Reports. analysis. news 3f non-violent action for social resisting the megamachine. covers mti-militarism, sexual politics. icology, decentralisation, etc. l5p fortnightly. %5.50 for a year's mh from 8 Elm Avenue, Nottinglam. XS: The information excham naeazine. For current Isme ~ n d iOp t o Alternauve Title. 19 Martin .lose. Whitwick.Leict. LE6 4DY. ENERGY FARMING: Most agriiultural land now supports liveitocfe. Let's release it f o r 'energy arming'.& make nuclear power mnecessary. Send 40p f o r leaflets & booklets with recipes, ideas and lardenina hints for sustainable iving. Vegan Society, Dept. F, 17 Highlands Road, Leatherhead, iurrey. W EDUCATIONAL package m "World Food Prospects" is low available (Â£1.7 inc. P & P J.K.) from EGIS Environmental nformation Service, North Lodge, ilswick Cemetary, Newcastle Upon Fyne 4. This package is a review of he current world food situation md of the prospects of the future.

SREAKING THE TIME BARRIER beyond patriarchy A series of ?incarnation experiences present I chdenfcine Dicture of a femtnine -feministsociety. based on nonnaterialstic values, plus details of he simple trance techniques used. i transforming experience. 75p rom Lux Madriana, 40, St. John it., Oxford. 'RESTON'S Fly in Amber is a t 17 "ishergate Hill. Wholefoods, herbs, brganic vegetables, books, (radical, Iternative & feminist as well as ood): lots of magazines & mamphlets.

EASY build generator pi Modified alternator wor" low revs. Â£2.50Dept Ll' Stnaley St. Lincoln. ASTROLOGICAL birth chart & detailed character analysis: send Â£5with future trends/potentials Â£ + date, birthplace. Alternatively send f o r free price list. John Wilmott, Knockatt. Bunessan, Mull, Argyll.. PILES, arthritis, rheumatism. female ailments, digestive dis orders, etc. treated by herbal,

PLANNING AID: Arpln-aliens and appeals. Traditional sensible '. ' building desien fur new ,exter ~.~~ renovated houses, workshops, For advice ring Gary Burton Munderfield (Herefords). 617. ORGANIC growing and living One Day Conference and Exhibition 6th May at Whitchurch, Ham shire. Katie Thear 'Aspects of Self Sufficiency,' Cherry Hills 'Maki the Best Uce of our Rodies' 1.a Â£2.0 or Â£2.5 (including wholefood lunch). Write t o Doreen Wright, Larksborough Farm, Whitchurch, Hants for more details - sae please. HONEY direct from producel Wiltshire. 3 lbs. JE2.35 + 7 5 ~ Organic beekeeping; excellent flavour. Malmesbury Vale Honey Co.. Bristol Rd. Malmesbury. Wilts. STARTING beekeeping or building up an aviary? Working sto, for sale in commercial hives c < plete with bees + 2 supers Â£SL Delivery early May. Malmesbury Vale Honey Co., Bristol Rd, Malmesbury Wilts. ALTERNATIVE'S Slion courses ( Welsh Border: self-sufficn-nt-v. al1i.-cnative technoloav. cummunal l i ~ n e . alternative medicine, alternative -' 1 therapies, small-scale enterprise. meditation. Beautiful surroundings, wholefood meals. For details send sae to: Alternative Ways (U). Lower Hergest, Kington, Hereford shire. Tel. Kington 781. BUILD a new future - with ecological land bonds. Save with security, through Index. linked Bonds, t o set up farmstead! where people can adopt an ecoloe ical life style, and create their own alternative work. with Iik, minded people who question tl._ values of our present society. Participate full time or part time. Now forming East Anglian and SW CO-OPS. Details and prospectus Â£1 Ecological Life Stvle Ltd. 27 Burnham Rd. St AIhans (697""'

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e're thinking about bringing wtercurrents out monthly. Well, almost. nd we'd like to know what you, our aders, think of the idea. What we want to do is bring out the mgazine ten times a year-ie. monthly icept for a pause tojecover our inactive breath i n mid-summer and lid-winter-instead of the present x-times-&year frequency. And first, the good news. We want to riuce the cover price to either 3Sp or Dp for an issue of either 36 or 44 pages smpared with 52 pages at the moment). Of courts, the subscription price wM have to go up a bit-to Â£ a year mud of a u t wen that works out at s l i i better deal if you calculatethe ast per page. We think that 'going monthly' would mbably improve our sales figures: afto 11, there's something 'natural' about a lonthly frequency, isn't there? (is we?}.

Another majpf reason for going mnthly is that it would enable us to give Ã§tte coverageto current (undercurrent?! undercurrent?) events. At the moment, fa story catches our final deadline, it ppwrs in 2-3 weeks; if not, it can't each our readers for 10-11weeks. With 'monthly' publication, we woidd ope to cut those delays to a minimum if 1-2 weeks, and a maximum of 4-5 weeks. Which still isn't exactly nstantaneous, we know, but it's a bid mprovenmnt. Now for the bad news. We reckon that o finance going monthy, we need omething like Â£5,000-t pay for rivertising and promotion, to pay a v p l a p m ~ m h of m the collective to vorkon the mag part-time, and to tide us iver the anticipated cash-flow deficit inti1 monthly publication becomes liable. And, to put it bluntly, we'd like you to help. How? For example: if only 20 of our more effluent subscribers (demmit, there nust be some) took out "Life" subscriptions at Â£10 (equivalentto 25 years at Â£ a year), we'd raise Â£2,000 an and they'd have en inflation-proofedsub for "lid e". And, i f just 100of our Mtecribers became "supporting subscribers" at Â£2 (equivalent to a 5 year sub at Â£41we'd raise another Â£2,000and they'd still b e Inflation-proofedtheir subs for half a decade. We might just manage to raise the remaining Â£1,00 ourselves. Whet do youthink of the proposal? Write and l e t us know. And if you feel like enclosing a chegu for a subscription along the lines suggested above, we won't exactly object-though we'll certainly offer to return it if we don't go monthly.

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1Who controlsscience 7 1Why are there so few women inscienceand technology 7 1 Are the probtemsof poverty, population and pollution tecnnological or politic*! ? 1Who gains what from advanced industrial society ? Is alternativetechnoloav'theonlvwavforward? I f you re interested in questionslikethese and In acquiring someof the relevant k n o w - h o w of both the naturaland sociatseierrew wrrte for details of the B S c a n d B S c ( H o n o u r s ) in S o c i e t y a n d T e c h n o l o g y ( C N A A ) course. t lastsfour years (ten terms plusa placement period) 1YOJ will need any t w o A levelsor equivalent or appropriate experience Write t o t h e Admissions Office (ref. C2041, Middlesex Ploytechnic. 114 Chase Side. London N14 5PN, o r telephone 01-882 1074

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