Sources of radicalism

Abstract

Working class writing and publishing workshops had their origins in the counter cultural trends of the late 1960s. By the 1970s they engaged with urban communities where there was a strong class consciousness. This chapter charts the way in which working class culture became a significant source of new ideas and practices. In particular, the cultural role of schools, adult education, community organising, adult literacy, popular history and the labour movement are examined in relation to the emergence of a movement of working class writing and publishing workshops. In each of these areas, ideas about culture, technology and tradition were being reworked in order to foster popular cultural participation.