The Anarchist Workers Association (AWA), previously called the Organisation of Revolutionary Anarchists (ORA) in 1973-1974, was a worker-oriented anarchist group. It was infiltrated by HN300 ‘Jim Pickford’ between 1975 and 1977.
The group produced a regular monthly paper, originally called Libertarian Struggle, that had a circulation of 1,500-2,000 copies, mostly through street sales. It positioned itself as ‘a libertarian version of Socialist Worker’ although its coverage was wider, covering the struggles of claimants and squatters and provocatively questioning the work ethic.
In May 1976, the paper changed its name to Anarchist Worker.
Of the group’s four London branches, Pickford mainly targeted South London AWA. The branch held meetings at the Peoples Aid and Action Centre, Battersea Park Road in Wandsworth.
Other groups that Pickford targeted, such as Pavement, also met there. Members of this group and others regularly gathered in The Spread Eagle pub on Wandsworth High Street.
Another AWA branch was in Kingston, which the Inquiry inaccurately referred to as ‘Kingston Anarchist Association’.
In October 1975, the fascist National Front held its AGM at Chelsea Town Hall. Members of the AWA and Wandsworth Anti-Fascist Anti-Racist Committee (WAFARC) joined the counter-demonstration and one person with an AWA banner was arrested. However, Pickford is not recalled to have been present.
By 1976 the AWA had 50 members, most active, four groups in London and groups in Scotland, Yorkshire, Oxford, and Leicester.
In February 1976, the AWA hosted a Claimants Day School in north London that drew around 120 people. Around this time, a proposed new trespass law was high on the agenda and a group formed called the Campaign Against the Criminal Trespass Law (CACTL) that is thought to have included AWA members.
Matters discussed in the Anarchist Worker paper included gay rights, women’s liberation and housing struggles that included the Charteris Road squat eviction in London.
In September 1976, political pamphlets including AWA leaflets were seized by Dyfed-Powys Special Branch at Fishguard from Cardiff solicitor Chris Short. Police then quizzed Short about his political affiliations.
Although he stood on the left of the political spectrum, Short had no direct affiliation with the AWA. The leaflets were sent to the Metropolitan Police before being returned to Short a month later.
In October 1976, AWA held a day school on Marxism and Anarchism in Leeds. Meanwhile East London AWA hosted several meetings at The Gay Centre, Redmans Rd, E1 across October and November.
The November 1976 issue was the final edition of Anarchist Worker published during Pickford’s deployment, which ended in January 1977. It featured reports on an abortion-rights conference, on a meeting on women’s health and a preview of a CACTL conference taking place at the end of November.
The group split into two groups in 1978; the Anarchist Communist Association and the Libertarian Communist Group.
Sources:
Chris Brian: Interviews and email exchanges with Nick Heath, Julian Turner, 'Bob' and 'Annie P'.
Anarchist Workers Association. Libertarian Struggle. Sparrows Nest Archive.