Wapping Autonomy Centre (also known as The Anarchist Centre) was a

self-managed social centre Self-managed social centers, also known as autonomous social centers, are self-organized community centers in which anti-authoritarians put on voluntary activities. These autonomous spaces, often in multi-purpose venues affiliated with anarchi ...

in the

London Docklands London Docklands is the riverfront and former docks in London. It is located in inner east and southeast London, in the boroughs of London Borough of Southwark, Southwark, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Tower Hamlets, London Borough of ...

from late 1981 to 1982. The project was initially funded by money raised by the benefit single ''Persons Unknown''/''Bloody Revolutions'', as well as benefit gigs by Crass and

The Poison Girls The Poison Girls were an English anarcho-punk band from Brighton. The singer/guitarist, Vi Subversa, was a middle-aged mother of two at the band's inception, and wrote songs that explored sexuality and gender roles, often from an anarchist pers ...

Project

The centre was set up in a rented space in Metropolitan Wharf, Wapping in 1981. The initial costs were paid using funds raised from a benefit single. It was a split single composed of ''Persons Unknown'' by

and ''Bloody Revolutions'' by Crass. The warehouse had been suggested by Andy Martin from the

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

Little A printers who worked in the building. Like later squatted centres, it had no alcohol or music licences.

Activities

During its short lifespan, the Autonomy Centre became an important focal point for the

anarcho-punk Anarcho-punk (also known as anarchist punk or peace punk) is ideological subgenre of punk rock that promotes anarchism. Some use the term broadly to refer to any punk music with anarchist lyrical content, which may figure in crust punk, hardcor ...

movement in the UK and Europe. Most of those involved with the project were anarchists who participated in protests and direct action against targets such as vivisection laboratories, the meat industry and the policies of then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The Kill Your Pet Puppy collective organised events. Some of the bands that regularly played at the centre included

Anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium ''Bacillus anthracis''. It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The sk ...

, The Apostles,

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, Conflict,

Rudimentary Peni Rudimentary Peni are a British anarcho-punk band formed in 1980, emerging from the London anarcho-punk scene. Lead singer/guitarist Nick Blinko is notorious for his witty, macabre lyrics and dark pen-and-ink artwork, prominently featured on a ...

Hagar the Womb were formed in the toilets. Albert Meltzer records that the centre was " Ronan Bennett's brainchild." He goes on to say that "the punk support, especially from followers of Crass and Poison Girls, was substantial. Punk has lasted a couple of decades, long outlasting the proposed club. With the punks' money came the punks, and in the first week they had ripped up every single piece of furniture carefully bought, planned and fitted, down to the lavatory fittings that had been installed by Ronan from scratch, and defaced our own and everyone else's wall for blocks around. In the excitement of the first gigs where they could do as they liked, they did as they liked and wrecked the place. Loss of club, loss of money, loss of effort. End of story." The centre eventually folded when the benefit parties failed to pay the rent.

Legacy

Many of those involved with the centre went on to become active at the Centro Iberico, a squatted project with similar aims and ethos in west London. The centre also inspired other squatted self-managed projects in London such as the Ambulance Station on Old Kent Road, Molly's Café on Upper Street and the Bingo Hall (now the Garage) at Highbury Corner.

Penny Rimbaud Penny Lapsang Rimbaud (born Jeremy John Ratter, 1943) is a writer, poet, philosopher, painter, musician and activist. He was a member of the performance art groups EXIT and Ceres Confusion, and in 1972 was co-founder of the Stonehenge Free Fes ...

from Crass commented "It was a good try. We’d made all this money to defend Persons Unknown and it wasn’t needed. I think it was something in the region of ten grand, which was a lot of money in those days."

References

External links

Photographs
from the centre on the Kill Your Pet Puppy website * The Autonomy Centr
record label
{{coords, 51.50658, -0.0527, display=title Anarchist organisations in the United Kingdom Social centres in the United Kingdom Former buildings and structures in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Wapping 1981 in London 1982 in London Infoshops Anarchist collectives 1981 establishments in the United Kingdom 1982 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Anarcho-punk venues

Project

Activities

Legacy

See also

References

External links