Spirit of Revolt Archive

The Spirit of Revolt Archive,^[1] based in Glasgow (Scotland), is dedicated to collecting, managing and preserving multi-media records from Glasgow’s and Clydeside’s anarchist and libertarian-socialist movement. It is a ‘community archive’,^[2] largely run by volunteers. It was constituted in August 2011 and today forms part of Glasgow City Archives’ collection^[3] whilst maintaining its organisational independence. Its catalogue will join the National Records of Scotland in 2013.^[4] The archive derives its name from the title of an 1880 pamphlet by the Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin.^[5] The archive’s digitised documents are hosted on www.archive.org.^[6]

For its initial scoping and start-up phase, Spirit of Revolt Archive was funded by the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust^[7] which seeks to ‘advance public education, learning and knowledge in all aspects of the philosophy of Marxism, the history of socialism, and the working-class movement’.^[8]

Material selected for retention in the archive provides one or more of the following: evidence of a campaign, movement, organisation, or individual’s activities; information pertinent to the anarchist movement, e.g., expositions of anarchist ideology, political positions, rationale behind activities; an insight into membership and associates of anarchist organisations; evidence of the impact of anarchism culturally and politically. Material from political parties is not collected, according to archival policy.^[9]

In January 2013, the archive organised an exhibition, called ‘Radical Presses Clydeside – 100 Years of Autonomous Protest Literature’ at Glasgow’s Mitchell Library.^[10][11]

In March 2013, Spirit of Revolt was represented at the 19th "Alternative Futures and Popular Protest" conference at Manchester Metropolitan University.^[9]

Spirit of Revolt Archive also works in conjunction with "Radical Glasgow's Strugglepedia" which gives information about Glasgow's radical history.

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