Zero Collective

The Zero Collective was an anarcho-feminist publishing collective. It was based in the East End of London and produced seven issues of Zero magazine between 1977 and 1978. 

It was spied on by HN304 ‘Graham Coates’  HN304 'Graham Coates' 'Graham Coates' is the cover name of a former Special Demonstration Squad undercover officer who, between 1977 and 1979, infiltrated the International Socialists/Socialist Workers Party and spied on several anarchist group including the Zero Collective, Persons Unknown, and the Anarchy Collective. He gave evidence to the Inquiry on several undercovers’ sexual relationships with activists and said that it was common knowledge in the SDS that such relationships took place. His real name has been restricted. Full page: HN304 'Graham Coates'  throughout this time. 

The Zero Collective is one of several publishing collectives that the SDS spied on, notably including the group that produces the oldest anarchist newspaper, Freedom News. Freedom Collective The Freedom Collective is the editorial team that runs Freedom Press, the UK’s oldest anarchist newspaper and printing press and its associated bookshop. Established by Peter Kropotkin and Charlotte Wilson in 1886, the bookshop and publisher still exist. The Freedom Collective was infiltrated in 1974-1983 by HN300 'Jim Pickford' and HN85 Roger Pearce 'Roger Thorley', and was also reported on by HN304 'Graham Coates'. Full page: Freedom Collective

Image

The Zero Collective started in June 1977, and its seventh and final issue was dated August/September 1978. Fossie, Zero Magazine - Archive, Libcom, 16 Aug 2018.  Peter Brawne, one of the founder members of Zero, commented that those involved with the publication came from other anarchist groups, such as East London Libertarians. He added:

...It seemed like it took longer to set up Zero (innumerable meetings, thinking about it, talking about it, deciding what it was about, indecision about a name, holding benefit concerts to raise money for it, finding a base …) than it actually ran for! Chris Brian, Interiew and Correspondence with Peter Brawne, Undercover Research Group, 2020.

At one stage, the magazine was printed at Grosvenor Road at the Little A printers. Chris Broad, a resident of Grosvenor Road and member of the Anarchy Collective, is credited in the magazine with being responsible for part of its production. Anarchy Collective The Anarchy Collective was a group of anarchists that organised political support campaigns and published the magazine Anarchy. The editorial team at the time that HN304 'Graham Coates' infiltrated in 1977-1979 included Charlotte Baggins and Chris Broad. Inquiry Core Participant Dave Morris was a regular contributor to the magazine. Full page: Anarchy Collective

Image

There was some tension between the Zero and Freedom editorial collectives, and this, along with the groups’ financial difficulties, is noted in Coates’ reporting. Report on financial trouble of the Zero Collective due to expense of aertwork preparations, 31 May 1978, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, UCPI0000021713.View Document Report on the Anarchist Centre - at 109 Back Church Lane E1 - the premises of the Anarchy Collective, and description of AC's financial dispute with the Zero Collective, 31 May 1978, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, UCPI0000021714.View Document

Coates also targeted the Anarchy Collective and spied on the family living at 29 Grosvenor Avenue. The collective’s postal address was the Rising Free Centre in Islington, north London. This community-run radical bookshop was also named as a target in the 1977 SDS Annual Report. Special Branch Annual Report 1977, 31 Dec 1977, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, MPS_0747790.View Document

In its first issue, Zero magazine described its aims:

Zero is produced collectively by a group of anarchist and anarchist Feminists who want to realise the links between [them]. We don’t just want the overthrow of capital but full sexual-social revolution, the simultaneous overthrow of capital, patriarchy and state. Chris Brian, Interiew and Correspondence with Peter Brawne, Undercover Research Group, 2020.

This statement provides a good indication of the contents of Zero: it focuses on prominent issues for anarchists and the broader left, and emphasises feminist issues.

For instance, Issue Four, published in December 1977, includes a lengthy article on the captivity and death of Red Army Faction members. This article is authored by the Black Aid Group, which was also subject to surveillance by the SDS via Coates. Hans Schmidt, West Germany: A Model of Repression, Zero Magazine, 16 Dec 1978.

Zero magazine was mainly distributed within east London, but had distributors in the US, Australia and Canada.

The last issue of Zero, published in May 1978, featured a story about the Persons Unknown trial. Persons Unknown (PUNK) The Persons Unknown support group was created to provide solidarity and legal assistance to a high-profile trial of seven people associated with anarchist groups, who had been arrested in 1977.  Six people who had initially been charged with ‘conspiracy to cause explosions’ were charged with conspiracy to rob, based on a found cache of firearms and explosives. Four were brought to trial in 1980 and found not guilty. Full page: Persons Unknown (PUNK)  Coates also reported on the Persons Unknown legal support group. 

Four months after the last issue of Zero magazine was published, in September 1978, Coates filed a report noting that two of the collective members were cohabiting. Report personal details of two co-habiting members of the Zero Collective, 28 Sep 1978, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, UCPI0000012857.View Document  If accurate, this indicates that while no further magazine issues were published, the collective came to a gradual end rather than an abrupt one.

Source:

LibCom. Zero Magazine.  Fossie, Zero Magazine - Archive, Libcom, 16 Aug 2018.