Black Flag, summer 1994
On how many occasions have members of the 1 in 12 Club been asked these questions? By a band arriving for a gig or a brewery rep touting for business, a visiting team in the Pool and Doms league or a visitor checking the place out for the first time. As often as not the answer will follow a familiar pattern: "There's no gaffer, no one's in charge", said as a matter of fact and with a knowing smile as if nothing could be more obvious or self-evident. The visitor, disorientated by the reply, searches for something familiar and reassuring; the notice board with its fixture lists for the football, quiz or pool team perhaps, the juke-box in the corner opposite the trophy shelf in the other. But this place is something quite different, testimony to what can be achieved when people with enough nous and determination coupled with a commitment to DIY politics and self-organisation get together. The 1 in 12 Club is based in a converted inner city warehouse, with its two bars, gig room, cafe, snooker room, its membership of 600, thriving publications and record collectives, is alive and kicking, thirteen years of anarchist organisation in Bradford!
Formed form the nucleus of an essentially anarchist orientated Claimants Union in 1981, the 1 in 12 represented a creative and grass-roots response to the problems of unemployment and the city's continued industrial decline. the tradition of working class resistance and direct action has a long and proud history in Bradford and the 1 in 12 has striven to be part of it. A hundred years or participative, active and locally controlled direct action in the City, from the Manningham Mills strike in the early 1880's, to the anti-fascist "Battle of Bradford" in the mid 1970's finds only its most recent expression in the 1 in 12 Club. During the early 1980's, in a series of rented rooms around the City, a gradually growing membership of mainly working class young people, met each Sunday to discuss, socialise and plan. Organised on participative, anarchist principles. The meetings were lively. diverse and fun, in sharp contrast to the usual monotony, drabness and suffocating misery of the left and the irrelevance of most political meetings.
Nevertheless this could bring its own problems! At no stage in the Club's history has the relationship between "ideal" and "reality" everbeen straightforward. Indeed conflict over whose ideals and which reality has often thrown the Club into deep internal conflict. The diversity of interests, priorities and expectations of the membership, empowered by the open and active process of decision making, has often come with a price. Sometimes members have left, disillusioned and perhaps occasionally bitter, but this is the uncomfortable reality of taking responsibility and control. Nevertheless, new members have replaced old, and a new constant regeneration and influx of new ideas and energy continued, likewise new sources of disagreement and conflict emerged too! The twice weekly gigs held in several City centre pubs provided the embodiment of the 1 in l2 "way", providing gigs that were cheap. free from sexist, racist and statist hassles, the usual promoters and rip-offs, dress restrictions and bouncer intimidation The objective was to create a lively and participative social scene, to stimulate a culture of resistance, a space under the control and direction of the membership for entertainment, debate and solidarity. The results were emphatic, the gigs were often packed out and the membership swelled to a thousand. The Sunday meetings produced spin-off collectives for those interested in developing various ideas further. The 1 in 12 Record Collective began production of a series of compilation tapes and records - "Worst of the 1 in 12 Club" - of the bands that had played there. For better or worse (depending on your musical taste) the albums provided early exposure for New Model Army, Jools and The Cult, a platform for local talent, controlled at a local level by local people.
The Club spawned a magazine - "Knee deep in Shit" - which quickly gained local notoriety for its irreverent and risque approach to local affairs. Investigations into the activities of the local Freemasonry sparked widespread controversy for example, eventually provoking the local council into action against the influence of the Lodge. Later the investigative skills of those involved and the quality of their work received national recognition and generous media coverage. Further exposes of local politicians and influential persons continued, and the consistent ability of the magazine to generate controversy maintained the Club's profile as a tireless thorn in the side of the local establishment.
During the 1984-5 Miners strike, the 1 in l2 established a close and supportive relationship with strikers at the nearby Kellingley colliery. The Club organised meetings at which miners came to speak to Club members, the gigs were turned into benefits, and regular collections of food and basic essentials were established. When Bradford Trades Council ran a double decker bus to a picket at Emley Moor, the entire top half was occupied by the 1 in 12 Club. When Bradford Council refused to allow miners to collect money in the City centre, the 1 in 12 invited them to collect at its outdoor festival at which hundreds of people had attended. After the strike, a book of poetry by Jean Gittens (mother of two striking miners at Ledston luck) - "Striking StufF was published by the Club to raise money for the NUM Solidarity Fund. A plaque, presented by the Kellingley miners now sits behind the bar, a proud reminder of the solidarity members showed during that great fight. Bv early 1985 the ambitions and self-confidence of the Club was underlined by the decision to apply for a Department of Environment grant to purchase a building for itself. Again the nous and determination of the membership proved effective, and a grant of £90,000 was secured for the purchase and renovation of the building. The membership had been adamant that under no circumstances was this to compromise or weaken the principles of the Club's organisation and activities. Under the Licensing laws the Club was required to establish a variety of official positions within its structure and elect a "Management Committee" to "run" it. True to both its anarchist principles, and legal obligations required of it, a management committee was indeed elected, but remained subsidiary to the traditional Sunday meetings. It was instantly recallable and subject, where appropriate, to immediate deselection. And so there is no "executive" in the Club. The weekly member meetings remain the sole decision making body.
The prospect of the 1 in 12 receiving such a large sum of money, together with its scurrilous reputation quickly had the alarm bells ringing amongst police, politicians and local media. "How Public Money is Funding Anarchy" screamed the front page of one newspaper, quickly followed by police raids on several member's homes. When questioned as to the evidence of the allegations contained in the paper's report, the local journalist admitted that the only "proof" had come from information supplied by Bradford CID!
A later Department of Environment investigation of the 1 in 12, provoked by a track from a Records Collective release attacking the then leader of Bradford Council, Eric Pickles ("Eric Pickles is a Fat Tory Bastard"), revealed the quantity of information compiled by the State on the Club's activities. Inevitably most of the allegations were misinformed and inaccurate, nonetheless the Club was questioned as to its "bomb-making activities", its anti-police profile and the damaging investigations of "Knee Deep in Shit"!
Nevertheless the money was secured and work began on the new premises, a derelict warehouse, down a cobbled street in the heart of Bradford. With those more skilled in plumbing, electrics, painting etc, sharing their expertise with those less knowledgeable, a building with all the recognised fixtures and fittings of a social club took shape. Three years of dedicated hard work, almost all carried out voluntarily by the Club membership were rewarded when in May 1988 21-23 Albion Street was opened for business.
"I walked down to the Club on opening night... I was stunned. It was actually working. All of a sudden it hit me - fuckin' hell we did it. And if the Club closes down tomorrow, we still did it.""
The achievement was monumental; after years of moving from venue to venue, meeting room to meeting room, the Club actually had its own premises. Yet the building, with its attendant regulations and controls, its colossal expense and responsibilities created a new set of problems for the membership. It became imperative that the 1 in 12 paid its way. It was a depressing brush with the real world of tax, bills and rates, of final demands, solicitors letters and bailiffs.
The never-ending struggle to meet the financial obligations of running a building the size of 21-23 Albion street has often imposed a dreary obsession with creating enough revenue to survive. Whilst the Club has never made a profit - most work is done voluntarily and those staff paid work for ridiculously low wages - the pressure to succumb to capitalistic and exploitative methods has never been far away. It is the classic paradox familiar to those who attempt change whilst everything else around them remains the same. Yet while compromise affects every area of the 1 in 12 Club as a building, the 1 in 12 Club as its members has had no such restrictions or obligations. If 21-23 Albion street closed tomorrow, the 1 in 12 Club would still survive and flourish, still aggravating the authorities and keeping politics accessible and fun.
Matt (for "Black Flag", 1994)