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Bash The Rich: True-life Confessions of an Anarchist in the UK
In 1984, "The People" branded Ian Bone 'the most dangerous man in Britain'. They were only too close to the truth. From the inner city riots of 1981 to the miners' strike and beyond, the butler's son and founder of "Class War" was indeed a greater thorn in Margaret Thatcher's side than the useless blatherings of the Official Opposition. "Class War" was the real opposition It was Ian Bone who linked the inner city rioters of Brixton and Handsworth with the striking miners. It was Bone who "The People" spotted rioting with miners in Mansfield, attacking laboratories with the Animal Liberation Front, and who was fingered by the "Guardian" as the man behind the 1985 Brixton Riot. But that was only the half of it... from 1965 to 1985, from Swansea to Cardiff and London the mayhem spread countrywide. In "Bash The Rich" Ian Bone tells it like it was. From The Angry Brigade to The Free Wales Army, from the 1967 Summer of Love to 1977 anarcho-punk, from Grosvenor Square to the Battle of the Beanfield, from the Stop the City riots to Bashing the Rich at the Henley Regatta, Ian Bone breaks his silence. In the 1980s, Ian Bone was 'The Anarchist In The UK' with a half brick in one hand and an incendiary pen in the other. Better yet though, this is more than just a litany of riots and rucks, however exciting. Its a thoughtful examination of class, struggle, and social change. And a wonderful, vital piece of social and political history.
281 pages, Paperback
First published April 9, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 28, 2024
What fun this was! Both a good laugh, a bit of a history lesson and the opportunity to reminisce and also reflect upon my youth. 'Bash the Rich' is the autobiography of Ian Bone, once dubbed Britain's Most Dangerous man. However, the book only covers Ian's life up to 1985. Originally published in 2006 I think it has recently been republished so I definitely wanted to pick up a copy (albeit for some personal reasons too). The book is as much the early history of Class War, the paper Ian founded, which then became a loose organisation of working class anarchists, and unlike other anarchist groups, certainly in the 80s and 90s were a household name (to a degree anyway).
For full disclosure, in the mid-late 90s I was involved with Class War, indeed there was a branch in my home town with a contact address in the paper (please note reader, at virtually every moment this branch was me). I met some amazing people, had a great laugh and Class War was an important part of my politics, particularly it's focus on working class activism, and speaking in the language of people like me.
Like many on the left I had fallen in with Marxist- Leninist organisations in my teens but I always felt they didn't speak to people like me. I bought a Class War paper at a youth Marxist conference, and rather than keeping the red flag flying, instead they advocated the hospitalisation of coppers! It was marketed as 'Britain's Most Unruly Tabloid' and though it got shit from the serious left / anarchos it was true that it cut through in ways other papers differed.
The people I met in Class War were almost all working class, they were the kids of the pit villages, they were the kids whose parents never had jobs, they were the radicalised by Thatcher generation - not a teacher or social worker anywhere!
I met Ian a few times, mostly when he was rabble rousing with Movement Against the Monarchy and I never did pay him £10 for copies of his novellette 'Anarchist'. He is a brilliant orator, a good laugh and spiky as fuck. He could get you up for it, and was great with the media. I remember him doing an interview with Sky News but he wouldn't say shit until the media had bought a couple of drinks for everyone in the little demo on their expenses. In many ways a precursor to how people today are suss with the media, but hopefully getting the drinks paid for too!
The book covers Ian's early life, his politics, his loves and his family. What I like about it is that he is not afraid to share the inconsistencies or contradictions in his politics. That doesn't mean he is apologetic but it is refreshing to see. It covers his activism but then moves onto the early history of Class War. I was still at primary school when a lot of the events were happening but I knew the folklore of them. What surprised me reading the book were sections where I thought, 'I've read this' and of course I hadn't- I'd just remembered the story, perhaps told in a boozy reminiscence, maybe by the raconteur Ian himself!
Seeing as most of the people mentioned, many I assume under nom de plume to protect the, well, maybe innocent, there were still a few people about who I knew in the 90s. This made me reflect upon my own activism, how at times when life got hard I was flaky or couldn't meet the expectations of others but I guess burnout is a problem most activists face.
I also had a laugh at characters who dismiss everything they don't like as 'middle class'. There were definitely some of them about, including some right knobheads who both at the time and now I think did stuff which was against ordinary people rather than against the state.
The book is full of riots, rucking with the cops and laughing at the anarchist / left milleu, although at times it needs a good editor!
What is interesting looking back is that Class War did break into the public consciousness. It did cut through (albeit a little) to working class people who wouldn't normally engage with anarchism. It was an alternative to the 'march from a to b and call on Labour to do something'. It may have been futile smashing a window, but it felt like 'something' was happening. However, at no point was Class War ever remotely close to starting a revolution. It was a release, an expression of anger at best and the opportunity to form bonds. It's the only anarchist paper that you could leave in a working class pub and may be read.
And yet it burnt out for me. I remember being at a Class War conference in a squatted library and someone Ian found from Oxford was arguing about how best to fight tanks in Hungary 1956. I mean, for me, a lad who lived on a council estate, on the dole what the fuck did that mean to me? Having enough food to eat was more important than bombing a tank. Mentally I checked out that day thinking Lord Snooty as we called him is dominating Class War meetings with this bollocks. I think he stood as a prospective MP once for Class War. It was also around the time of a split in Class War between Real Class War and Provisional Class War which definitely mimicked the language of things going on with Irish Republicanism - farcical really.
So looking back, some of the accusations were valid. It was a 'boys punch up club' and whilst no one wanted to get nicked, most activism centred on going to demos and kicking off. There was an absence of community activism at times (not exclusively, particularly in South Yorkshire they were switched on). At times it was exciting, daring, and a glamourisation of avoiding being lifted / winding up cops. Yet as Ian mentions throughout the book this appeal to working class demagogue activism wouldn't survive an intersectional analysis today. In some respects this is the books most interesting observation - elements of Class War were never politically correct, though that is not to say race, gender and sexuality were not discussed. At times positions advocated seem ridiculous now but the book is a product of its time.
Ian Bone last made the headlines protesting outside the right wing Christian MP Jacob Rees-Mogg's house and targeting his kids, when Mogg brought his kids out. Bone was criticised heavily for this in the press but I smiled. It's classic Ian Bone - the advocate of the spectacle, saying things that aren't said on TV. His Situationist influence loud and proud
If I met Ian again I'd buy him a few pints, laugh at his stories and be grateful that Class War landed for me at a time when the left spoke to everyone except the council estate kid I was.
Behold Your Future Executioners!
For full disclosure, in the mid-late 90s I was involved with Class War, indeed there was a branch in my home town with a contact address in the paper (please note reader, at virtually every moment this branch was me). I met some amazing people, had a great laugh and Class War was an important part of my politics, particularly it's focus on working class activism, and speaking in the language of people like me.
Like many on the left I had fallen in with Marxist- Leninist organisations in my teens but I always felt they didn't speak to people like me. I bought a Class War paper at a youth Marxist conference, and rather than keeping the red flag flying, instead they advocated the hospitalisation of coppers! It was marketed as 'Britain's Most Unruly Tabloid' and though it got shit from the serious left / anarchos it was true that it cut through in ways other papers differed.
The people I met in Class War were almost all working class, they were the kids of the pit villages, they were the kids whose parents never had jobs, they were the radicalised by Thatcher generation - not a teacher or social worker anywhere!
I met Ian a few times, mostly when he was rabble rousing with Movement Against the Monarchy and I never did pay him £10 for copies of his novellette 'Anarchist'. He is a brilliant orator, a good laugh and spiky as fuck. He could get you up for it, and was great with the media. I remember him doing an interview with Sky News but he wouldn't say shit until the media had bought a couple of drinks for everyone in the little demo on their expenses. In many ways a precursor to how people today are suss with the media, but hopefully getting the drinks paid for too!
The book covers Ian's early life, his politics, his loves and his family. What I like about it is that he is not afraid to share the inconsistencies or contradictions in his politics. That doesn't mean he is apologetic but it is refreshing to see. It covers his activism but then moves onto the early history of Class War. I was still at primary school when a lot of the events were happening but I knew the folklore of them. What surprised me reading the book were sections where I thought, 'I've read this' and of course I hadn't- I'd just remembered the story, perhaps told in a boozy reminiscence, maybe by the raconteur Ian himself!
Seeing as most of the people mentioned, many I assume under nom de plume to protect the, well, maybe innocent, there were still a few people about who I knew in the 90s. This made me reflect upon my own activism, how at times when life got hard I was flaky or couldn't meet the expectations of others but I guess burnout is a problem most activists face.
I also had a laugh at characters who dismiss everything they don't like as 'middle class'. There were definitely some of them about, including some right knobheads who both at the time and now I think did stuff which was against ordinary people rather than against the state.
The book is full of riots, rucking with the cops and laughing at the anarchist / left milleu, although at times it needs a good editor!
What is interesting looking back is that Class War did break into the public consciousness. It did cut through (albeit a little) to working class people who wouldn't normally engage with anarchism. It was an alternative to the 'march from a to b and call on Labour to do something'. It may have been futile smashing a window, but it felt like 'something' was happening. However, at no point was Class War ever remotely close to starting a revolution. It was a release, an expression of anger at best and the opportunity to form bonds. It's the only anarchist paper that you could leave in a working class pub and may be read.
And yet it burnt out for me. I remember being at a Class War conference in a squatted library and someone Ian found from Oxford was arguing about how best to fight tanks in Hungary 1956. I mean, for me, a lad who lived on a council estate, on the dole what the fuck did that mean to me? Having enough food to eat was more important than bombing a tank. Mentally I checked out that day thinking Lord Snooty as we called him is dominating Class War meetings with this bollocks. I think he stood as a prospective MP once for Class War. It was also around the time of a split in Class War between Real Class War and Provisional Class War which definitely mimicked the language of things going on with Irish Republicanism - farcical really.
So looking back, some of the accusations were valid. It was a 'boys punch up club' and whilst no one wanted to get nicked, most activism centred on going to demos and kicking off. There was an absence of community activism at times (not exclusively, particularly in South Yorkshire they were switched on). At times it was exciting, daring, and a glamourisation of avoiding being lifted / winding up cops. Yet as Ian mentions throughout the book this appeal to working class demagogue activism wouldn't survive an intersectional analysis today. In some respects this is the books most interesting observation - elements of Class War were never politically correct, though that is not to say race, gender and sexuality were not discussed. At times positions advocated seem ridiculous now but the book is a product of its time.
Ian Bone last made the headlines protesting outside the right wing Christian MP Jacob Rees-Mogg's house and targeting his kids, when Mogg brought his kids out. Bone was criticised heavily for this in the press but I smiled. It's classic Ian Bone - the advocate of the spectacle, saying things that aren't said on TV. His Situationist influence loud and proud
If I met Ian again I'd buy him a few pints, laugh at his stories and be grateful that Class War landed for me at a time when the left spoke to everyone except the council estate kid I was.
Behold Your Future Executioners!
January 20, 2026
Absolutely bloody brilliant!
Ian Bone sticks it to the toffs, with a rumble of anarchist sex workers… Welsh nationalists, miners… Anarcho punks…
Sticking it to the toffs at the Henley regatta…
Pissing off Harry Secombe… Live on air!
Proving that the labour party aren't worth shit!
And care about the workers as much as the Tories!
Class war by any means necessary!
After reading this wonderful book!
I say Bring it on let them shake in their mansions because the rabble are severely fucked off!
Tariq Ali stick that in your fucking pipe and smoke it!
You self-righteous irrelevant Trotskyist wanker!
Ian Bone sticks it to the toffs, with a rumble of anarchist sex workers… Welsh nationalists, miners… Anarcho punks…
Sticking it to the toffs at the Henley regatta…
Pissing off Harry Secombe… Live on air!
Proving that the labour party aren't worth shit!
And care about the workers as much as the Tories!
Class war by any means necessary!
After reading this wonderful book!
I say Bring it on let them shake in their mansions because the rabble are severely fucked off!
Tariq Ali stick that in your fucking pipe and smoke it!
You self-righteous irrelevant Trotskyist wanker!
May 17, 2014
Love him or hate him, Ian Bone has led quite the colourful life and has always been committed to trying to change things from the outset to the present day. Whilst I perhaps don't agree with all of his tactics and thoughts, I was interested to read an 'eyewitness' account of several events which are depicted (Battle of the Beanfield, the Miners Strike, March on the Rich etc) . Bash The Rich is his collection of memoirs and sees his involvement in many of the political campaigns that occurred during the 60s-80s, as well as the birth of Class War.
The overall tone of the book is very ranty and filled with expletives, but still manages to come across as gutsy and humorous. I do wish it was a bit more detail heavy though because some of the chapters can feel a little sparse in places. An entertaining and interesting book nonetheless.
The overall tone of the book is very ranty and filled with expletives, but still manages to come across as gutsy and humorous. I do wish it was a bit more detail heavy though because some of the chapters can feel a little sparse in places. An entertaining and interesting book nonetheless.
July 1, 2020
What this book has:
1) A vivid description of how Class War broke out of the self-imposed ghetto of British Anarchism and left the stilted, theory-laden pamphlets of the left in the dust with its tabloid wit, aggressive imagery and confrontational rhetoric.
2) Some great passages about getting drunk and smashing windows.
3) A frustratingly realistic depiction of the factionalism and infighting that plagues all leftist movements.
4) A lot of swearing.
What this book doesn't have:
1) Much description of Bone's actual politics (although there are some great sections with further reading which hint at the shape of his ethos).
2) A satisfying ending- the book gets to Class War's height in 1985 and then abruptly stops with no further explanation of what happened to any of the key figures.
1) A vivid description of how Class War broke out of the self-imposed ghetto of British Anarchism and left the stilted, theory-laden pamphlets of the left in the dust with its tabloid wit, aggressive imagery and confrontational rhetoric.
2) Some great passages about getting drunk and smashing windows.
3) A frustratingly realistic depiction of the factionalism and infighting that plagues all leftist movements.
4) A lot of swearing.
What this book doesn't have:
1) Much description of Bone's actual politics (although there are some great sections with further reading which hint at the shape of his ethos).
2) A satisfying ending- the book gets to Class War's height in 1985 and then abruptly stops with no further explanation of what happened to any of the key figures.
May 11, 2022
Before buying this I didn't know who Ian Bone or Class War was, I was hooked by the enticing cover art and title (who wouldn 't be?). But reading this I have discovered a remarkable person, clearly side-straddled by "traditional history" due to the message and politics he spoke of. So going from knowing nothing to embracing this rich, humourous and powerful portrait of emerging anarchists in Britain was a fantastic read. While I would have liked more content, instead of it petering out around 1985, with some idea of what Bone has been doing since then, it's still got enough story about various marches, anarchist papers and collectives to make an interesting book.
September 5, 2023
Brilliant book written by a top bloke. The kind of action and resistance written about here is missing from the UK political scene massively. Rich people swan about living lives of luxury whilst the majority of people struggle to make ends meet. Class War always hammered that point home and made rich people as uncomfortable as possible in the process. Toffs and aristocrats no longer fear the working class and that needs to change.
September 17, 2018
I'm in it
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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March 7, 2023Review from the March 2007 issue of the Socialist Standard:
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blog...
https://socialiststandardmyspace.blog...
December 22, 2012
While I actually enjoyed reading this book, I couldn't help being left with the distinct impression that Bash The Rich was basically a platform for the author to promote himself. There's not a huge amount of actual detail (I was hoping for lots of insider details about rioting and the battle of the beanfield etc, but the book focusses more on meetings and AGMs than actual rioting!)
Worth a read, but don't expect too many exciting details of rioting and disorder.
Worth a read, but don't expect too many exciting details of rioting and disorder.
November 18, 2018
Cor blimey Guv its a right tasty read & no mistake
I was expecting Bash Street Kids Class War but got so much more
Loved reading back to his days with friends of mine in Swansea
Living Legends was a sarcastic name - but if the hat fits
I give you Mr Ian Bone - never sold out
Still causing shit today
Still talking sense after all these years
I was expecting Bash Street Kids Class War but got so much more
Loved reading back to his days with friends of mine in Swansea
Living Legends was a sarcastic name - but if the hat fits
I give you Mr Ian Bone - never sold out
Still causing shit today
Still talking sense after all these years
August 25, 2016
A brutally honest account of one man's journey from student radical to 'the most dangerous man in Britain', and the myriad of fellow travellers who joined the ride. Unswerving in its analysis, unapologetic in its deliverance, it is a sometimes uncomfortable but always entertaining look inside street-fighting anarchism in its rawest form.
February 14, 2010
I'm ready to smash the state!
November 5, 2013
Interesting read but I'd hoped for more details of his life, his actual politics and Class War activities.
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November 5, 2014laughable crap...
September 16, 2015
I read an abridged version in e-book form, which had a lot of obvious cuts. What remained was more entertaining rather than informative, but was an enjoyable read nonetheless.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews