Difference between revisions of "John Graham (alias)"

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{{Undercover_Police_Officer_sidebar|Name=John ? / HN329|Alias=John Graham|Series=undercover police officers|Image=Male_silhouette.png |Unit=Special Demonstration Squad|DatesDeployed=1968-1969|Targets=Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, Revolutionary Socialist Students Federation, north London Trotskyist milieu}}
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{{Undercover_Police_Officer_sidebar|Name=John ? / HN329|Alias=John Graham|Series=undercover police officers|Image=Male_silhouette.png |Unit=Special Demonstration Squad|DatesDeployed=1968-1969|Targets=Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, Revolutionary Socialist Students Federation}}
  
'''John Graham''' is the alias of a [[Special Demonstration Squad]] (SDS) undercover police officer. He was active for one year over the period 1968 to 1969, when he infiltrated a north London branch of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign (VSC) and he also reported on the Revolutionary Socialists Students Federation (RSSF). Little else is known of him. His cover identity and groups he reported on were revealed by the [[Undercover Policing Inquiry]] in August 2017.<ref name="ucpi.pr.3Aug17"/> He is also referred to as '''HN329''', the [[N_officers|cypher]] given to him by the Inquiry and [[Operation Herne]].
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'''John Graham''' is the alias of a [[Special Demonstration Squad]] (SDS) undercover police officer. He was active for one year over the period 1968 to 1969, when he infiltrated a north London branch of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign (VSC) and he also reported on the Revolutionary Socialists Students Federation (RSSF). Little else is known of him. His cover identity and groups he reported on were revealed by the [[Undercover Policing Inquiry]] in August 2017.<ref name="ucpi.pr.3Aug17"/>
  
The clashes with police at Grosvenor Square during the anti-Vietnam war protest of 17th March 1968 resulted in the establishment of the SDS. Activities against the war - such as the preparations for the large demonstration of October 1968 - were monitored by undercover officers such as HN329 amongst others.
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He is also referred to as '''HN329''', the [[N_officers|cypher]] given to him by the Inquiry and [[Operation Herne]]. The [[Undercover Policing Inquiry]] has ruled that the officer's real name will be restricted.<ref name="wilkinson.ucpi.cti.update.13Sept2018">Kate Wilkinson, [https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/20180912-update-counsels-explanatory-note-SDS-Minded-to-13.pdf Counsel to the Inquiry's Explanatory Note to accompany the Chairman's 'Minded-To' Note 12 in respect of applications for restrictions over the real and cover names of officers of the Special Operations Squad and the Special Demonstration Squad], ''Undercover Public Inquiry'', 13 September 2018.</ref>
  
''Note from Undercover Research Group: if anyone recalls 'John Graham' from his time in the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign [mailto:contact@undercoverresearch.net please get in touch]. We appreciate that these events took place 50 years ago, so welcome corrections on how we have portrayed the history of the organisations mentioned.''
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Update (May 2018): ''This profile updates an earlier version where it was believed that John Graham had focused on the north London Trotskyist milieu; that understanding has evolved and we now believe his focus was prominent but unaligned activists based in Camden who had formed a local branch of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign there. If anyone recalls 'John Graham' from his time in the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign [mailto:contact@undercoverresearch.net please get in touch]. We appreciate that these events took place 50 years ago, so welcome corrections on how we have portrayed the history of the organisations mentioned.''
  
 
==Undercover as 'John Graham'==
 
==Undercover as 'John Graham'==
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Graham does not mention to have had a home visit from the SDS, to check if his family situation was upto him going undercover - that routine may have been developed a bit later.
 
Graham does not mention to have had a home visit from the SDS, to check if his family situation was upto him going undercover - that routine may have been developed a bit later.
  
Nothing further is public about his police career other than that having been reassigned from his undercover deployment (see below), he remained a Special Branch officer for the rest of his career. (4.17) He has long retired from the police, and while in his 70s now, Graham is still working. In his personal statement he says that he thinks his current colleagues know he is a former undercover, and that it would not matter to them.<ref name="HN329.RA"/>
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Nothing further of his police career is known, other than after serving undercover he remained a Special Branch officer for the rest of his career. (4.17) He has long retired from the police, and while in his 70s now, Graham is still working. In his personal statement he says that he thinks his current colleagues know he is a former undercover, and that it would not matter to them.<ref name="HN329.RA"/>
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Since retiring from the police he has made a number of television appearances under his real identity.<ref name="john.graham.statement.30March2017"/>  
  
 
==Targets==
 
==Targets==
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The Risk Assessment is clear in that the VSC was his main target, and he 'occasionally reported' on the RSSF (4.2, 4.3).<ref name="HN329.RA"/>
 
The Risk Assessment is clear in that the VSC was his main target, and he 'occasionally reported' on the RSSF (4.2, 4.3).<ref name="HN329.RA"/>
  
Though both organisations were broad-church alliances across the left, they were firmly embedded in a Trotskyist milieu, having strong links through leading personalities to the New Left Review, the International Marxist Group and the then International Socialists. 'John Graham' appears most associated with the north London local branches with were in the main controlled by the International Socialists.<ref name="dixon.sb.3Oct68"/> As such the broad focus of HN329's focus could as much be considered north London Trotskyists who at the time played a significant role in the VSC and RSSF.
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===The Vietnam Solidarity Campaign===
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In 1968, left wing political protest was dominated by the war in Vietnam. Many on the left supported the National Liberation Front (NLF - 'Viet Cong') in a war against Western presence in the country. The struggle of the NLF and the communist North Vietnam government, supported by China, then under the rule of Mao Zedong,  was a proxy struggle in the Cold War.
  
==The Vietnam Solidarity Campaign (VSC)==
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In Britain, there were a number of anti-war groups, but by 1968 the leading one was the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign. Controlled by the International Marxist Group (IMG) and strongly based in the Trotskyist milieu,  it was supported by the International Socialists (IS / later Socialist Workers Party), New Left Review and the Revolutionary Socialist Students' Federation (RSSF). Through the use of 'ad hoc committees' to organise different demonstrations, it was able to reach out across the left to build broad but temporary coalitions.
  
===Background to the VSC===
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These ad hoc committees, generally dominated by the IMG and IS, were behind the large demonstrations of 1967 to 1969. In particular, they had been the driving force behind the 17 March 1968 protest which had seen large scale disturbances and an attack on the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square. A second large scale protest was planned for 27 October that year which caused the establishment considerable anxiety at the time.
  
<table>
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In September 1968, Conrad Dixon of the Metropolitan Police Special Branch successfully proposed the formation of the Special Operations Squad (later the Special Demonstration Squad - SDS), in which 12 Special Branch officers would be deployed undercover into protest groups planning to participate in the October protest. From the dates, it appears that John Graham / HN329 was among those first twelve officers.
<tr>
 
<td>
 
{{#ev:youtube|https://youtu.be/YXFII8x2BXs|300|center|Pathe News report of March 1968 Grosvenor Square protests.}}
 
</td>
 
<td>
 
{{#ev:youtube|https://youtu.be/hgbAsiW9Q3Y|300|center|World In Action report of March 1968 Grosvenor Square protests.}}
 
</td>
 
</tr>
 
</table>
 
  
The Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, opposing the United States role in the Vietnam War, was founded in 1966 by Trotskyists associated with the International Group in conjunction with the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation. The International Group, a split from the Trotskyist Revolutionary Socialist League, later became better known as the International Marxists Group. They were subsequently joined by activists from the International Socialists, another Trotskyist faction which later became the Socialist Workers Party (subsequently targeted by other undercover police in its own right).<ref>Ian H. Birchall, [http://www.marxists.de/intsoctend/birchall/revparty.htm History of the International Socialists Part 2: Towards a Revolutionary Party], ''International Socialism''77 (1st series), April 1975 (accessed via Marxists.de, 8 August 2017).</ref>
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* ''This section is extracted from a much larger piece. For more detail, see Dónal O’Driscoll, [http://specialbranchfiles.uk/1968-protest-and-special-branch-0/ 1968 Protest and Special Branch] at SpecialBranchFiles.uk''
  
Though created and led by Trotskyists, the VSC attracted a broad following from across the left wing of politics, and was particularly successful in linking up with the prominent radical student movement of 1967 to 1969 as well as peace / anti-nuclear campaigners.<ref>Ernest Tate &amp; Phil Hearse, [http://www.marxsite.org/2016/02/the-building-of-vietnam-solidarity.html The Building of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign and its Consequences for the British Left], paper presented at the Left Before 1968 conference, University of East Anglia, February 2016 (accessed via Marxsite.org, 8 August 2017).</ref><ref>Theresa van Geldern, [https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/vsc/viet-solidarity_soc-outlook-may-jun-1988.pdf Vietnam Solidarity: The determination to resist and the confidence to win], ''Socialist Outlook'', May/June 1988.</ref> As an organisation, it was loosely structure as a whole, often working through 'ad hoc committees' which co-ordinated local branches and their activities in given areas. It did however have a national committee which set national strategy. The campaign declined rapidly in 1969, and in October that year the coalition effectively disintegrated over political differences in relation to the Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh.<ref>Bruce Robinson, [http://www.workersliberty.org/story/2008/03/20/1968-vietnam-solidarity-and-british-left 1968: Vietnam solidarity and the British left], ''WorkersLiberty.org'' (Alliance for Workers Liberty), 20 March 2008 (accessed 8 August 2017).</ref>
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===Revolutionary Socialists Students' Federation===
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[[Image:Student-international-no1-february-1969_cover.jpg|thumb|200px|Cover of ''Student International'', Issue 1, February 1969.]]
  
In terms of its activities, the VSC is most notable for organising several mass demonstrations against the war, particularly in 1967 and 1968 which attracted up to 100,000 protestors at a time.<ref>Anthony O. Edmonds, [http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/sixties/HTML_docs/Texts/Scholarly/Edmonds_Brit_Left.html The Viet Nam War and the British Student Left: A Study in Political Symbolism], ''Vietnam Generation: A Journal of Recent History and Contemporary Issues'', Issue 5 (14), 1994 (accessed 8 August 2017).</ref> One such demonstration was the protest of 17th March 1968, which saw the now infamous 'Grosvenor Square riots' take place, when a segment of the marchers sought to occupy the US embassy leading to clashes with police.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/17/newsid_2818000/2818967.stm 1968: Anti-Vietnam demo turns violent], BBC News Online ('On This Day'), 2008 (accessed 6 August 2017).</ref> This caused huge political embarrassment to the UK Labour Government of the day, under Harold Wilson, and as a consequence lead to the creation of the Special Demonstration Squad with the Metropolitan Police Special Branch (see below).  
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Not much has been revealed yet about Graham's reporting on the RSSF or how he came to have access to information of their activities. Other than the one line in his Risk Assessment, the group is not mentioned in documents released by the Undercover Policing Inquiry. He does not seem to have actively participated in it. The following material is provides some general context on the group.
  
However, prior to the founding of the SDS, [http://specialbranchfiles.uk/vietnam-war-story/ police files from the time] show the campaign was actively monitored, including the Metropolitan Police Special Branch requesting information from other forces and compiling reports on its plans and protests. In particular, a number of documents indicate their considerable interest in the VSC's "Autumn Offensive" - the name for the large scale demonstration of 27th October 1968.<ref name="SBF.uk.vietnam.overview">[http://specialbranchfiles.uk/vietnam-war-all-files/ Anti Vietnam war – files overview], ''SpecialBranchFiles.uk'', undated (accessed 10 August 2017).</ref> Much of this work was overseen by Det. Ch. Insp. [[Conrad Dixon]] who had responsibility for monitoring Trotskyists and anarchists on behalf of Special Branch at the time.<ref name="dixon.obit"/> It was also Dixon who in September 1968 founded the undercover unit, later known as the Special Demonstration Squad which deployed HN329 as 'John Graham' into the Trotskyst part of the VSC. See below for further details of the MPSB's activities.
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Founded in late 1960s, the RSSF was a coalition of student groups which lasted only a couple of years. Closely associated with Trotskyist and Maoist parties, it had a broad church of left wing activists and branches in universities and colleges across the country. The heart of the organisation was focused on the London School of Economics, which over the period 1967 to 1969 experienced considerable student radicalism. As such, the RSSF was born out of and a key player in the radical student movements of the late 1960s and the anti-Vietnam war protests of the time.<ref name="gowan.1">Peter Gowan, [https://redmolearchive.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/student-international-no1-february-1969.pdf L.S.E. and R.S.S.F.], ''Student International'', Issue 1, February 1969 (accessed via Red Mole Archives).</ref>  
  
==='John Graham' in the VSC===
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At the London School of Economics one of the group's leading lights was Richard Kuper - who was also active with the International Socialists (elected a member of the National Committee in 1968) and the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign.<ref>[http://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/KUP Papers of Richard Kuper (International Socialism Group / Socialist Workers Party)], Modern Records Centre, Warwick University, catalogue entry (accessed 6 August 2017).</ref> In October 1968, some 3000 students occupied the LSE following an attempt by management to close the university ahead of the 27 October anti-Vietnam War demonstration. During this occupation, the LSE was used as a base for the protests, including a medical centre established by the Socialist Medical Association.
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==Undercover as 'John Graham'==
  
 
[[Image:N19-1968-vsc-bulletin cover.jpg|200px|thumb|Cover of Issue 19 of the ''Vietnam Solidarity Campaign Bulletin, November 1968''.]]
 
[[Image:N19-1968-vsc-bulletin cover.jpg|200px|thumb|Cover of Issue 19 of the ''Vietnam Solidarity Campaign Bulletin, November 1968''.]]
  
 
According to the Risk Assessment, 'John Graham' grew a beard and simply turned up to the VSC branch meetings.<ref name="HN329.RA"/>
 
According to the Risk Assessment, 'John Graham' grew a beard and simply turned up to the VSC branch meetings.<ref name="HN329.RA"/>
:: 4.4 [...] HN329 attended meetings, demonstrations, handing out leaflets and occasionally travelled some distance for conferences, etc.
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:: 4.4 [...] HN329 attended meetings, demonstrations, handing out leaflets and occasionally traveled some distance for conferences, etc.
 
:: 4.5 Tasking<br/>There were regular meetings at a flat where he could feed back information about the likely size of demonstrations, whether those demonstrations were likely to be violent etc.
 
:: 4.5 Tasking<br/>There were regular meetings at a flat where he could feed back information about the likely size of demonstrations, whether those demonstrations were likely to be violent etc.
  
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:: 5. I regarded the people I was with as intellectuals, they were well-educated people, one of whom was a doctor or something similar. They were just people that believed the Americans shouldn't have been in Vietnam but had no idea of how to get them out. I would include myself in that.
 
:: 5. I regarded the people I was with as intellectuals, they were well-educated people, one of whom was a doctor or something similar. They were just people that believed the Americans shouldn't have been in Vietnam but had no idea of how to get them out. I would include myself in that.
 
:: 6. For my cover name [John Graham]. I can't remember on how many occasions I gave out my full name but I don't think it was many. Maybe at the beginning when I was introducing myself. The VSC didn't keep any written records of members or anything like that. It was a very loose-knit organisation. It's been so long that if you spoke to anybody, I believe they wouldn't even remember my cover name. I doubt if anyone would even remember me.
 
:: 6. For my cover name [John Graham]. I can't remember on how many occasions I gave out my full name but I don't think it was many. Maybe at the beginning when I was introducing myself. The VSC didn't keep any written records of members or anything like that. It was a very loose-knit organisation. It's been so long that if you spoke to anybody, I believe they wouldn't even remember my cover name. I doubt if anyone would even remember me.
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It also noted that while undercover he handed out leaflets on the day of the 'big VSC march, which is presumed to be the march of October 1986.<ref name="john.graham.statement.30March2017"/>
  
 
HN329 ceased his spying the VSC at an unknown point in 1969. According to the Risk Assessment:<ref name="HN329.RA"/>
 
HN329 ceased his spying the VSC at an unknown point in 1969. According to the Risk Assessment:<ref name="HN329.RA"/>
 
:: 4.16 Withdrawal / exit strategy<br>He was asked by a Chief Inspector to attend a particular meeting, but he felt that to do so would operationally compromise himself, so he declined. The senior officer immediately assigned him to other duties within Special Branch.<br/>He did not use any excuse for his exit. He simply stopped attending meetings.
 
:: 4.16 Withdrawal / exit strategy<br>He was asked by a Chief Inspector to attend a particular meeting, but he felt that to do so would operationally compromise himself, so he declined. The senior officer immediately assigned him to other duties within Special Branch.<br/>He did not use any excuse for his exit. He simply stopped attending meetings.
  
===Kilburn and Camden VSC branches===
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==Kilburn VSC==
  
The Risk Assessment, presumably relying on contemporary notes, states that John Graham infiltrated the Kilburn and Willesden branch of the VSC - the NW6 & NW10 postcodes in north London. Several specific references to the Kilburn group can be found in contemporary material archived at Marxists.org. The VSC Bulletin noted its recent formation in its February 1968 issue,<ref name="VSC.bulletin.11">[https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/vsc/n11-feb-1968-vsc-bulletin.pdf Local V.S.C. Actvities], Bulletin of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, No. 11, February 1968 (accessed via Marxists.org, 8 August 2017).</ref> while in July 1968, a member of the Kilburn VSC co-authored a pamphlet entitled ''Background to the Vietnam War''.<ref>''Background to the Vietnam War'', July 1968, Papers of Marie and Geoff Richman, ''Bishopsgate Institute'', (''vide infra'').</ref> Kilburn VSC also appears in a Special Branch report of late August 1968 when it is listed as one of the active VSC branches in London (others including Earls Court, Hampstead, Notting Hill Gate, Fulham, Lambeth, Walthamstow, Hornsey and Highgate & Holloway).<ref name="dixon.sb.30Aug68"/>
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The Risk Assessment, presumably relying on contemporary notes, states that John Graham infiltrated the Kilburn and Willesden branch of the VSC - the NW6 & NW10 postcodes in north London. Several specific references to the Kilburn group can be found in contemporary material archived at Marxists.org. The VSC Bulletin noted its recent formation in its February 1968 issue,<ref name="VSC.bulletin.11">[https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/vsc/n11-feb-1968-vsc-bulletin.pdf Local V.S.C. Activities], Bulletin of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, No. 11, February 1968 (accessed via Marxists.org, 8 August 2017).</ref> while in July 1968, a member of the Kilburn VSC co-authored a pamphlet entitled ''Background to the Vietnam War''.<ref>''Background to the Vietnam War'', July 1968, Papers of Marie and Geoff Richman, ''Bishopsgate Institute'', (''vide infra'').</ref> Kilburn VSC also appears in a Special Branch report of late August 1968, listed as one of the active VSC branches in London (others including Earls Court, Hampstead, Notting Hill Gate, Fulham, Lambeth, Walthamstow, Hornsey and Highgate & Holloway).<ref name="dixon.sb.30Aug68">Conrad Dixon, [http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2487406-30th-august-1968-sb-report-on-vietnam-solidarity.html Report on Vietnam Solidarity Campaign], ''Metropolitan Police Special Branch'', 30 August 1968 (accessed via SpecialBranchFiles.UK).</ref>
  
 
[[Image:Issue18-1968-vsc-bulletin cover.jpg|200px|thumb|Cover of Issue 18 of the ''Vietnam Solidarity Campaign Bulletin, October 1968''.]]
 
[[Image:Issue18-1968-vsc-bulletin cover.jpg|200px|thumb|Cover of Issue 18 of the ''Vietnam Solidarity Campaign Bulletin, October 1968''.]]
  
Conrad Dixon's Special Branch report of 10th September makes note of several London 'ad hoc committees' forming to co-ordinate local activity, including ones for North London and North West London (via the North-West London Action Group).<ref>Conrad Dixon, [http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2487404-10th-sep-1968-sb-report-on-vietnam-solidarity.html Vietnam Solidarity Campaign "Autumn Offensive"], ''Metropolitan Police Special Branch'', 10 September 1968 (accessed via SpecialBranchFiles.UK).</ref> While a VSC Bulletin from October 1968 in London listed contacts of ad hoc committees for NW6 / Northwest London and NW8 / Kentish Town.<ref>[https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/vsc/n18-1968-vsc-bulletin.pdf List of Local Ad Hoc Committees In/Around London], Bulletin of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, No. 18, (October) 1968 (accessed via Marxists.org, 8 August 2017).</ref>
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Conrad Dixon's Special Branch report of 10th September makes note of several London 'ad hoc committees' forming to co-ordinate local activity, including ones for North London and North West London (via the North-West London Action Group),<ref>Conrad Dixon, [http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2487404-10th-sep-1968-sb-report-on-vietnam-solidarity.html Vietnam Solidarity Campaign "Autumn Offensive"], ''Metropolitan Police Special Branch'', 10 September 1968 (accessed via SpecialBranchFiles.UK).</ref> while a VSC Bulletin from October 1968 in London listed contacts of ad hoc committees for NW6 / Northwest London and NW8 / Kentish Town.<ref>[https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/vsc/n18-1968-vsc-bulletin.pdf List of Local Ad Hoc Committees In/Around London], Bulletin of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, No. 18, (October) 1968 (accessed via Marxists.org, 8 August 2017).</ref>
  
The Kilburn group appears to have declined after October 1968 as no further mentions of the group have been identified. In December 1968, the Hampstead group renamed itself the Camden group, the first mention identified to date of a specific Camden VSC branch.<ref name="cvsc.founding.letter">Letter announcing formation of Camden Vietnam Solidarity Campaign branch, circa December 1968, Papers of Marie and Geoff Richman, ''Bishopsgate Institute'', (''vide infra'').</ref> 'John Graham' in his personal statement recalled that he thought it was the Camden branch meetings he attended.<ref name="john.graham.statement.30March2017"/>
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Dixon's intelligence reports in the run up to the 27 October protest of 1968 contain details on the activities and plans of the North West Ad Hoc Committee which the Kilburn branch would have no doubt played a part in. For example, the 23 September report says that the North West London ad hoc committee planned to follow the decisions of the VSC national committee,<ref name="dixon.sb.23Sept68">Conrad Dixon, [http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2487403-23rd-sep-1968-weekly-report-on-preparations-for.html VSC "Autumn Offensive" (weekly report)], ''Metropolitan Police Special Branch'', 23 September 1968 (accessed via SpecialBranchFiles.UK).</ref> while his report of 16 October notes:<ref>Conrad Dixon, [http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2494420-16th-oct-1968-weekly-report-on-preparations-for.html V.S.C. "Autumn Offensive", weekly summary], ''Metropolitan Police Special Branch'', 16 October 1968 (accessed via SpecialBranchFiles.uk).</ref>
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::The North west London ad-hoc Committee of the VSC intend to assemble at Henrietta Street in Covent Garden at 1.30pm on the 27th. They are expected to be about 150 strong.
  
The links with Camden are noteworthy as the group contained key London VSC activists who sat on the VSC's national committee throughout 1968, as well as people who were listed as contacts for the various ad hoc committees in north west London. There were also established connections with key figures in the London School of Economics branch of the Revolutionary Socialist Students Federation.<ref>Celia Hughes, [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wroSDQAAQBAJ Young Lives on the Left: Sixties Activism and the Liberation of the Self], Oxford University Press, 2015.</ref><ref>[http://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/Library/Library-and-Archive-Collections/Labour-and-Socialist-History/Richman-Geoff-and-Marie Richman, Geoff and Marie Richman archive collection], ''Bishopsgate Institute'', undated (accessed 8 August 2017).</ref><ref>[https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/vsc/n20-jan-1969-vsc-bulletin.pdf Extract from the Working Committee Minutes], Bulletin of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, No. 20, January 1969 (accessed via Marxists.org, 8 August 2017).</ref><ref name="hughes.phd">Celia Hughes, [http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/49428/7/WRAP_THESIS_Hughes_2011.pdf The Socio-Cultural Milieux of the Left in Post-War Britain (PhD Thesis)], Warwick University, 2011 (accessed 8 August 2017).</ref> Though it is not clear the extent to which N329 monitored, it does place him close to the heart of the VSC organising in north London and leading national campaigners.
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It is likely that some of this material will have come from John Graham.
  
In summary, it appears that in 1968 the structure of groups in North London was quite fluid, with a particular heartland in the borough of Camden. The Kilburn branch appears to have existed for that year, and what active membership it had is likely to have merged into Camden VSC at the start of 1969, including probably 'John Graham'. The strong connections between these local groups, the national VSC structure and also the RSSF would have been a potentially significant source of information on the organisation of the time, and it is highly likely that intelligence gathered by HN329 fed into the reports produced by Conrad Dixon in the run up to the 27th October protest and likely subsequent Special Branch reports on the groups' activities into 1969.
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The Kilburn group appears to have declined after October 1968. Only one further mention of the group has been identified to date in contemporary publications, a ''Red Camden'' publication noting that Willesden / Kilburn VSC would be meeting on 16 January 1969 at The Common Room, Tollgate Gardens, Kilburn High Road, NW6.<ref name="redblood">''Red Blood vs Blue Blood'', a leaflet published by Red Camden, probably in January 1969, as it related to a meeting of Brent Council that month in relation to blood donation programme in support of the people of Vietnam.</ref>
  
===Contemporary Special Branch material===
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==Camden Vietnam Solidarity Campaign==
  
Metropolitan Police Special Branch (MPSB) material released through FOIA requests and now archived at [http://specialbranchfiles.uk/ SpecialBranchFiles.uk] gives some insight into the monitoring of both the VSC and in places the RSSF. However, some of this material has been challenged by prominent VSC activist Ernest Tate.<ref name="tate.1">Ernest Tate, [http://www.marxsite.com/Oct68.html On the Secret Internal Police Reports about the 1968 mobilizations against the Vietnam war in in London, England (Letter from Ernest Tate to Solomon Hughes of 27 May 2008], Marxsite.com (accessed 22 August 2017).</ref>
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===Background to Camden VSC===
  
====Monitoring of the VSC coalition====
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The Vietnam Solidarity Campaign encouraged the setting up of local branches, which would send delegates to VSC conferences. These conferences established the national executive and working committees that oversaw the actual work of the campaign. Among those who played a significant role in these committees and in establishing groups in north London were a group of mostly unaligned activists based in and around Camden. Their general background was Communist with strong leanings to Maoism rather than Trotskyism, albeit there were cross-overs with the International Socialists as well.
  
Many of the available Special Branch reports on the VSC are authored by Conrad Dixon himself and indicate a substantive knowledge of the internal politics of the coalition.
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By mid-1968, this group of campaigners were very active, organising locally and submitting important proposals to the national VSC meetings.<ref>See 'Kilburn and Camden VSC Branches' in Donal O'Driscoll, [http://specialbranchfiles.uk/1968-protest-and-special-branch-4/#Kilburn_and_Camden_VSC_branches 1968: Protest and Special Branch], SpecialBranchFiles.uk, 14 April 2018.</ref> Its members were listed as contacts for the various ad hoc committees in north west London. They also had connections with key figures in the London School of Economics branch of the Revolutionary Socialist Students Federation.<ref name="hughes2">Celia Hughes, [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=wroSDQAAQBAJ Young Lives on the Left: Sixties Activism and the Liberation of the Self], Oxford University Press, 2015.</ref><ref>[http://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/Library/Library-and-Archive-Collections/Labour-and-Socialist-History/Richman-Geoff-and-Marie Richman, Geoff and Marie Richman archive collection], ''Bishopsgate Institute'', undated (accessed 8 August 2017).</ref><ref>[https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/vsc/n20-jan-1969-vsc-bulletin.pdf Extract from the Working Committee Minutes], Bulletin of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, No. 20, January 1969 (accessed via Marxists.org, 8 August 2017).</ref><ref name="hughes.phd">Celia Hughes, [http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/49428/7/WRAP_THESIS_Hughes_2011.pdf The Socio-Cultural Milieux of the Left in Post-War Britain (PhD Thesis)], Warwick University, 2011 (accessed 8 August 2017).</ref> Another set of contacts was with Australians and New Zealanders Against the Vietnam War, which spearheaded protests against the Australian government's involvement in the war.
  
However, it is likely there were other informers / infiltrators within the associated groups and not all intelligence should necessarily be placed at the door of N326. Rather, it is probable the SDS infiltrated a number of the disparate groups active ahead of the 27th October 1968 demonstration including other London branches of the VSC, particularly in the south of the city. Various publications have noted that much of the militancy of the 1968 protests came from the anarchist / Maoist sections of the anti-Vietnam War movement, and it is people from these political milieu who were at the forefront of the Grosvenor Square protests which saw clashes with police. Dixon in one of his weekly reports, notes that several VSC branches were 'captured' by Maoists and anarchists, leading to them being disowned by the national VSC. Given this, it is highly likely that the anarchists and Maoists were key targets of the SDS on its foundation, and - as with the VSC - Dixon appears to have had inside intelligence on them. However, of itself, this is not confirmation that they were successfully infiltrated by undercovers at the time.
+
===Emergence of Camden VSC: local activities===
  
Dixon's report of 3rd October 1968 sets out the leading groups organising for the protest of the 27th October, which can be treated as an indication of other likely targets of the embryonic SDS. As well as the VSC generally and the RSSF, these included the Anarchist Communist Federation (and several smaller anarchist groups), the Communist Party / Young Communist League, Maoist groups such as the Britain Vietnam Solidarity Front (spearheaded by the Revolutionary Marxist-Leninist League) and the communist-led Radical Students Alliance. Other groups active at the time were the Australian and New Zealanders Against the Vietnam War, and the American expatriate campaign "Stop-it" Committee - where one leading campaigner had a particularly strong link to Camden / Hampstead VSC.<ref name="dixon.sb.3Oct68"/> Longer standing peace groups were also monitored, though they had a lesser role in organising for the day or declined to back the protest.<ref>Conrad Dixon, [http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2494421-9th-oct-1968-reports-cnd-not-backing-27th-oct-demo.html VSC "Autumn Offensive" (weekly report)], ''Metropolitan Police Special Branch'', 9 October 1968 (accessed via SpecialBranchFiles.uk).</ref> The presence of foreign protesters was also a matter of great interest, covered several times in the Special Branch reports in the run up to the 27th October protest.<ref name="SBF.uk.vietnam.overview"/>
+
The first mention identified to date of a specific Camden VSC branch comes in December 1968, when a letter was circulated stating the Hampstead group renamed itself as Camden VSC.<ref name="cvsc.founding.letter">Letter announcing formation of Camden Vietnam Solidarity Campaign branch, circa December 1968, Papers of Marie and Geoff Richman, ''Bishopsgate Institute'', (''vide infra'').</ref> 'John Graham' in his personal statement recalled that he thought it was the Camden branch meetings he attended.<ref name="john.graham.statement.30March2017"/>
  
====Monitoring of the VSC in Summer 1968====
+
The January 1969 issue of the ''Vietnam Solidarity Bulletin'' reported that London VSC committees had taken over a pro-Vietnam War meeting at Kensington Town Hall on 3 December 1968. Singled out for special mention is Geoff Richman, a central figure in the Camden group<ref>Geoffrey Crossick, [https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/vsc/n20-jan-1969-vsc-bulletin.pdf London V.S.C. captures Saigon propaganda meeting], ''Vietnam Solidarity Bulletin'', No. 20, January 1969 (accessed via Marxists.org).</ref>and who is likely to be the doctor referred to by ‘John Graham’ as one of those he got close to.<ref name="hughes.phd"/><ref name="HN329.RA"/>
  
On 14th August 1968, the then Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, [[John Waldron]], asked regional Special Branches for intelligence they had on VSC's planned October 1968 demonstration:<ref>Peter E Brodie, [https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2487409-1968-letter-from-sb-requesting-info-on-extremists.html Letter to regional police forces requesting information on extremists planning to attend the anti-Vietnam War protest of October 1968], ''Metropolitan Police Special Branch'', 14 August 1958, (accessed via SpecialBranchFiles.uk).</ref>
+
Much more of the group is known for the year 1969. In January 1969 Camden VSC begins to publish its own newsletter, ''Red Camden'' which gives considerable insight into its activities.<ref>The following material is based on a reading of multiple copies of ''Red Camden'' to be found among the Geoff and Maria Richman archives, housed in the Bishopsgate Institute.</ref> The official address for this publication was Flat 3, 12 Rosslyn Hill, NW3, though later it moved to 8 Bramshill Gardens, NW5.
:: I am to ask if you would kindly forward to [Metropolitan Police Special] Branch any information your officers may be able to obtain concerning extremists or others who will attend from your area, in particular details of the coaches or other forms of transport they may use, numbers participating and times of departure for London.
 
  
A report by Conrad Dixon of 21st August indicates detailed knowledge of the internal workings of the VSC:<ref name="dixon.sp.rpt.21Aug1968"/>
+
The Camden VSC centred on a couple, Marie and Geoff Richman, the latter a socialist doctor. Both played prominent roles in the VSC nationally, being executive committee members, and Marie being its Treasurer. They had been previously involved with a Maoist grouping within the Communist Party but were expelled in 1966. In 1967, they developed the 'Friday Group', a small group of political activists who developed their own thinking among the new left milieu in a different route than had been taken by the more traditional Trotskyists. Before it evolved into becoming Camden VSC, the group had been a key driving force behind 1968's North West London Ad Hoc Committee. Into this circle were pulled others who active in Vietnam War campaigning, including those involved in groups such as Stop-It and Medical Aid for Vietnam. Through their work protesting the Vietnam war they were also inspired by some of the on the ground activities of the NLF.<ref name="hughes.phd"/>
:: This report summarises the progress made to date by the organisers of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign's "Autumn Offensive".
 
:: This activity will take place during the week commencing on the 20th October 1968, and the climax will be reached at a large demonstration on Saturday, 26th October. Trafalgar Square is expected to be the initial venue of this demonstration; the booking is yet to be confirmed.
 
:: The Vietnam Solidarity Campaign acts as an "umbrella" organisation embracing left-wingers of various groups, and these factions are sharply divided as to the employment of violence for political ends. The pro-Chinese Mao-ist adherents are active at present and attending every meeting in London to attempt to persuade all participants to accept the inevitability of violence on a large scale. They are opposed by the International Socialism Group of Trotskyists and the Communist Party who are seeking a demonstration on orthodox lines, and wish to co-operate with Police. The International Marxist Group of Trotskyists is tending to side with the Mao-ists.
 
  
His report of 30th August notes:<ref name="dixon.sb.30Aug68">Conrad Dixon, [http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2487406-30th-august-1968-sb-report-on-vietnam-solidarity.html Report on Vietnam Solidarity Campaign], ''Metropolitan Police Special Branch'', 30 August 1968 (accessed via SpecialBranchFiles.UK).</ref>
+
Among its early activities is participation in a demonstration of 8 January 1969 at Brent Town Hall, where the local council were having a meeting. This was protest of Brent Council having banned a session where the public could donate blood to aid the people of Vietnam due to be held on 8 December in Kilburn Square.<ref name="redblood"/><ref>Brent Town Hall Demo, ''Red Camden'', Vol. 1, No.2, 17 February 1969.</ref>
:: A slight change of emphasis has taken place [since 21 August]. The International Marxist Group is retreating from its former support of the Mao-ist line condoning violence and is tending to side with the International Socialist group which favours a disciplined demonstration. The Mao-ists continue to intrigue among the various groups, but are making less progress as news of their machinations becomes more widely disseminated.
 
:: Particulars of most of the current members of the V.S.C. Liaison Committee responsible for coordinating activity have been obtained: three belong to the International Marxist Group and four to the International Socialism faction. There is one representative for the Revolutionary Socialist Students Federation, one for the Socialist Medical Association and four for the Communist Party.
 
  
====Foundation of the Special Demonstration Squad====
+
[[File:Dublin_Castle,_Camden_Town,_NW1_(via_WikiCommons).jpg|200px|thumb|Dublin Castle Pub, Camden]]
  
The book, Special Branch A History 1883-2006, written by two former Special Branch officers, one of whom appears to have served with the SDS, wrote:<ref name="wilson.adams">Ray Wilson &amp; Ian Adams, [https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/books/the-special-branch Special Branch A History: 1883-2006], ''Biteback Publishing'', 2015.</ref>
+
The group initially met at Dublin Castle pub, The Parkway, NW1,<ref name="cvsc.founding.letter"/> including on Wednesday 15 January 1969 <ref name="redblood"/> though by mid-February it had switched to meeting at The Laurel Tree, Bayhem Street, NW1 - were it continued to meet every Wednesday for the rest of the year.
:: After the lawlessness accompanying the demonstration in March, the Home Office, in consultation with the Commissioner [John Waldron], decided that better prior intelligence as to the likely course of events on that chaotic afternoon would probably have prevented many of the worst incidents.[...] The Commissioner directed that a special section within MPSB should be created with the specific role of assimilating themselves with potential protesters and gathering intelligence on their likely tactics, the numbers expected on demonstration and the identities of core militants. This initiative was supported by the Home Office, who provided direct and dedicated funding.
 
  
Twelve Special Branch officers, from constable to chief inspector level are taken by the Head of MPSB, Commander [[Ferguson 'Fergie' Smith]] to see the Assistant Commissioner for Crime, [[Peter Brodie]].<ref name="wilson.adams"/>
+
The group was a very active one.  On Fridays, they would leaflet the queue to The Everyman Cinema in Hampstead, NW3 and on Saturdays, it held a stall at Queen Crescent Market raising funds for the group and the national VSC by selling pamphlets and posters - including of Ho Chi Minh. While on Sunday's it had a social session playing volleyball and other sports on Parliament Hill Field. Both events were apparently to be found by looking out for the NLF flags they used. Later in the year, it added a regular Sunday night newcomers meeting, held at 11 The Grange, Maitland Park Road, NW3.
:: His message was simple: 'Find out what these people are planning for 27 October'. Back in his office, Fergie was unable to elaborate, except to warn his officers against acting as ''agent provocateurs'' and to take care not to become elected to office in any of the organisations they succeeded in joining.
 
  
This was the founding of the Special Demonstration Squad (known in its first four years as the Special Operations Squad), placed under the control of DCI [[Conrad Dixon]] who had suggested its creation. According to the book ''Undercover'', it was September 1968 when Dixon proposed the idea of the SDS.<ref name="evans.lewis">Rob Evans & Paul Lewis, [https://www.faber.co.uk/9780571302178-undercover.html Undercover: The True Story of Britain's Secret Police], Faber & Faber, 2013.</ref>
+
===''Red Camden''===
  
====Intelligence gathering ahead of 27th October demonstration====
+
It also produced the regular ''Red Camden'' newsletter, whose second issue carried the title 'By Any Means Necessary', a probable reference to the use of the phrase as popularised by Malcolm X,<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By_any_means_necessary By Any Means Necessary], ''Wikipedia'', undated (accessed 6 May 2018)</ref> but ironically later adopted as an informal motto by the Special Demonstration Squad.<ref>Carole Cadwalladr, [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jun/29/undercover-secret-police-lewis-evans-review Undercover: The True Story of Britain's Secret Police Paul Lewis and Rob Evans – review], ''The Guardian'', 9 June 2013 (accessed 7 May 2018).</ref>
  
From September 1968, Conrad Dixon provided weekly Special Branch reports on the VSC's Autumn Offensive, a number of which are now available.<ref name="SBF.uk.vietnam.overview"/> They continue to show detailed knowledge of the political differences within the coalition, and in the weeks in the immediate run up to the demonstration of the 27th October provided details of the plans of individual groups. The one of 16th October notes in particular:<ref>Conrad Dixon, [http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2494420-16th-oct-1968-weekly-report-on-preparations-for.html V.S.C. "Autumn Offensive", weekly summary], ''Metropolitan Police Special Branch'', 16 October 1968 (accessed via SpecialBranchFiles.uk).</ref>
+
Early issues of ''Red Camden'' advertised the Agit-Prop workshops and play, and also a regular VSC Poster making workshop which took place at 61 Camden Road, NW1. It would appear that the latter is what is better known as the Camden Poster Workshop, which during the October 1968 protest had moved the studio briefly into the London School of Economics<ref>[http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-britain/display/spotlights/london-1968 London: 1968], Tate Britain - web page for exhibition of 7 May - 31 October 2018 (accessed 6 May 2017).</ref>). Founded in early 1968, it had become a source of radical posters for the era.<ref>[http://www.posterworkshop.co.uk/aboutus.html The Poster Workshop: About Us], PosterWorkshop.co.uk, undated (accessed 6 May 2018).</ref>
:: The North west London ad-hoc Committee of the VSC intend to assemble at Henrietta Street in Covent Garden at 1.30pm on the 27th. They are expected to be about 150 strong.
 
  
This is the group which 'John Graham' would have participated on, and an earlier Special Branch report notes that this group planned to follow the decisions of the VSC national committee (see also below).<ref name="dixon.sb.23Sept68"/>
+
Agit-Prop was 'a radical information service which also did street theatre as the Agit-Prop Street Players'.<ref>[http://darh.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2018/04/23/agitate-propagate-68/ Agitate Propagate - 68], Design Activism Research Hub (webpage for exhibition of 1-31st May, London College of Communications, 2018 (accessed 5 May 2018).</ref>
  
The authors of the history of Special Branch concluded: <ref name="wilson.adams"/>
+
The Agit-Prop work was later replaced in diary listings by activities of the Angry Art Society, a film collective which was very closely associated with Camden VSC.<ref name="hughes2"/> Later, and through this art related world, the group would connect into the important Women's Liberation group based in Tufnell Park.
:: The efficiency with which, in 1968, the newly formed unit fulfilled their role in the comparatively short time at their disposal went some way towards ensuring that, on 27th October, the frontline troops had a better appreciation of the probable tactics that the 'opposition' might apply and could react accordingly. After the protest, it was decided that the SDS should remain in existence for the time being, and with the threat of violent mass demonstrations temporarily abated, Conrad Dixon had the opportunity to consolidate what had already been achieved.
 
:: By now, some members of the team had successfully infiltrated some of the more militant groups on the left, while other members were obviously not suited to this type of work and transferred to other duties.
 
  
===Some Special Branch reports by Chief Inspector Conrad Dixon on the VSC Autumn Offensive ===
+
===Political campaigning===
  
<gallery>
+
As well as the local work, the group continued to be politically active:
File:Dixon_Vietnam.JPG|''[http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2487407-1968-sb-report-on-vietnam-solidarity-campaign.html 21 Aug 1968, SB report] by Chief Inspector Conrad Dixon.''
 
File:Dixon_Vietnam_2.JPG|''[http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2487406-30th-august-1968-sb-report-on-vietnam-solidarity.html 30 Aug 1968, SB report] by Dixon, intelligence on the RSSF, possibly collected by 'Graham' (see below).''
 
File:Dixon_Vietnam_3.JPG|''[http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2487404-10th-sep-1968-sb-report-on-vietnam-solidarity.html 10 Sep 1968, SB report] by Chief Inspector Conrad Dixon, quoted by Ernest Tate below.''
 
</gallery>
 
===Commentary of Ernest Tate===
 
  
On reviewing the Special Branch material, Ernest Tate, a VSC organiser and member of International Socialists, wrote (taken from a much longer letter):<ref name="tate.1"/>
+
*1 March 1969, a Saturday: 23 people from Camden VSC attend an anti-Vietnam War protest in Sheffield, which was followed on the Sunday by a conference.
 +
* 20 March 1969, Camden VSC and the International Socialists host a joint meeting at the Enterprise pub, 2 Haverstock Hill, Chalk Farm, NW3 - another address which appears time to time in issues of ''Red Camden. There they heard author Roy Battersby talk about ecological destruction and capitalism.<ref>Notice in ''Red Camden'', Vol. 1, No.3, 5 March 1969. This is believed to be Roy Battersby, the TV director and Trotskyist activist, later active with the Workers Revolutionary Party.</ref>
  
<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" bgcolor="#E8F8F5">
+
* 26/27 April: members of the group attend the anti-racism demonstration of 26/27 April in Wolverhampton.
<tr>
 
<td>
 
Every little tidbit of information, the gossip, the stupid speculations by un-named people, who could even be other plain clothes cops, the talk about cutting GPO lines setting vehicles on fire, etc., is just silly, and meant to put the wind up their superiors, I’m sure. Take the issue of violence, for example. In the report, “Vietnam Solidarity Campaign ‘Autumn Offensive’”, Sept. 10, 68, p3, it states: “The more cautious representatives of the International Socialism and International Marxist groups paid lip service to the vision of a peaceful demonstration.” This is written by someone who must have been asleep and had not been following what was going on, and it suggests that whoever they had planted inside, if it came from there, was somewhat inept, and collecting money under false pretenses. Let me explain. It’s just not logical what the report says about this.
 
</td>
 
</tr>
 
<tr><td>The International Marxist Group, of which I was one of the leaders, was very clear about what our objectives were: very simply, we wanted the Labour Government to break from the Americans on Vietnam. This would be the best way, we thought, to put pressure on the U.S. to withdraw their troops and the best tactic for accomplishing this was having tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people on the streets of London protesting. This is what we meant by solidarity with the Vietnamese and why we, along with the Bertrand Russell Foundation, set up the VSC. Some of VSC posters even carried the slogan calling for victory for the NLF.
 
</tr>
 
<tr>
 
<td>To achieve this, we had to make it possible for ordinary people to come out onto the streets and protest peacefully. A deliberate policy of seeking out confrontation and fighting the police stood in the way of this. At a special VSC conference in early 1968, after a very brief stay, most of the Maoist groups – especially Albert Machanda – broke from the VSC, strange as it may seem, because we had refused to adopt their proposal to endorse the programme of the Vietnamese National Liberation Front. It was their way of trying to tie us into the politics of the NLF, and the Maoism of the Communist Party of China. It was in the Ad Hoc Committee where we had the strongest debates about violence and confrontation, especially around the question of a possible route for the October 1968, action. It seems whoever was writing the reports, was totally unaware of this.
 
</td>
 
</tr>
 
</table>
 
  
===Analysis of VSC material===
+
A particularly noteworthy event was the annual C.N.D. Easter Monday march, which arrived in London on 7 April 1969, having come from Cardiff. It was joined on the outskirts of London by Nguyễn Thị Bình "Madame Binh", a leading figure in the NLF and negotiator in the Paris Peace talks.<ref>Roy Baker, [https://flashbak.com/100-years-of-protesting-at-trafalgar-square-part-2-19449/ 100 years of Protesting at Trafalgar Square (Part 2)], Flashbak.com, 1 September 2014 (accessed 6 May 2018).</ref> Madame Binh's presence in the UK was notable, having previously been prevented by the Government and raised as a campaigning issue by the VSC who said she should be allowed to come. As part of the publicity around the march, Camden VSC renamed the section of the route from Haverstock Hill to Rosslyn Hill as the 'Ho Chi Minh Trail'. ''Red Camden'' in its account, noted that Madame Binh stood on the steps of Haverstock Hill town hall (Hampstead Old Town Hall, NW3), to watch the march pass.<ref>''Red Camden'', Vol. 1, No.6, 21 April 1969.</ref><ref>''Red Camden'', Vol. 1, No.6, 1 May 1969. Note from URG: chronology listed on the front of the publication appears to be in error.</ref>
  
By putting the material released on 'John Graham' in context with other documents and histories of the time, a number of things can be inferred.
+
Camden VSC joined the demonstrators assembling in Hyde Park with a model tank they had constructed and marched with it to Trafalgar Square, where they set up a stall.<ref>''Red Camden'', Vol. 1, No.6, 21 April 1969.</ref>
  
1. Given the SDS was not proposed until September 1968, and it was aware that the VSC had a large march coming up in October that year, and it was the VSC's March 1968 which had cause the SDS to be founded, it is very likely that 'John Graham' was among the very first of the SDS undercover and been deployed before the October March.
+
{{#ev:youtube|https://youtu.be/b8naHviSkF4|500|left|Pathe News: Madame Binh Of The Vietnamese NLF Addresses CND rally in Trafalgar Square 7 Apr 1969.<ref>[https://www.britishpathe.com/video/VLVA2I5XBZXNEGRKJ9YKOJKCKLN45-UK-MADAME-BINH-OF-THE-VIETNAMESE-NLF-ADDRESSES-CND-RALLY-IN/query/CND UK: Madame Binh Of The Vietnamese NLF Addresses CND rally in Trafalgar Square], ''British Pathe'', 7 Apr 1969 (accessed 7 May 1969).</ref>}}
  
2. At the time, contemporaneous documents indicate that Conrad Dixon held the rank of Chief Inspector within Special Branch and was directly involved in authoring reports of the activities of the Vietnam Solidarity Group.<ref name="dixon.sp.rpt.21Aug1968">Ch. Insp. Conrad Dixon, [https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2487407-1968-sb-report-on-vietnam-solidarity-campaign.html Special Branch report on Vietnam Solidarity Campaign's "Autumn Offensive"], ''Metropolitan Police Special Branch'', 21 August 1968 (accessed via SpecialBranchFiles.uk).</ref><ref>Ch. Insp. Conrad Dixon, [https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2494419-22nd-oct-1968-assessment-on-upcoming-demo-of.html V.S.C. "Autumn Offensive", weekly summary], ''Metropolitan Police Special Branch'', 22 October 1968 (accessed via SpecialBranchFiles.uk).</ref> It is quite likely Dixon is the Chief Inspector referred to by 'John Graham' as asking him to attend a particular meeting and transferring him out of undercover work when he refused.
+
During the visit, members of Camden VSC had a meeting with Madame Binh, during which she referred to them as the 'Viet Cong in London'.<ref>Geoff Crossick, 'Camden VSC in Black Pyjamas', ''Red Camden'', Vol. 1, No. 6, 1 May 1969.</ref> Unlike the Trotskyists who had political differences over the NLF, Camden VSC along with Maoists had embraced the NLF and adopted the slogan 'Victory to the NLF'.<ref>[https://woodsmokeblog.wordpress.com/2017/08/18/1968-grosvenor-square-thats-where-the-protest-should-be-made/ 1968, Grosvenor Square – that’s where the protest should be made], ''WoodsmokeBlog'', 18 August 2017 (accessed 10 February 2018).</ref> Indeed, Camden VSC produced its own NLF supporting literature - posters, pamphlets, etc. - which it sold on it's Saturday stall.
  
3. There is an inconsistency in the Risk Assessment which states the VSC meetings were held at the Durham Arms, Kennington (4.8).<ref name="HN329.RA"/> This pub was at 41 Harleyford Road, SE11, and is now closed.<ref>[http://www.closedpubs.co.uk/london/se11_kennington_durhamarms.html Durham Arms, Kennington], ''ClosedPubs.co.uk'', undated (accessed 8 August 2017)</ref> The Durham Arms is an unlikely venue as it was a considerable distance away from Kilburn, and in an area with its own local VSC branch. As such, it is likely this is either mistake of some kind and may indicate either that another undercover was targeting the south London Lambeth VSC group (leading to a confusion by compiler of the Risk Assessment), or that it was meant to be a reference to The Dublin Castle pub in Parkway, Camden, NW1 where the Hampstead / Camden group held its meetings.<ref name="cvsc.founding.letter"/>
+
Tensions between Camden VSC and the national campaign emerged throughout the first half of 1969. The Camden group is referred to as the 'Richman faction', and led calls at the national conference of February 1969 that the VSC should re-orient around individual membership rooted in local branches.<ref name="hughes.phd"/>
  
[[Image:DublinCastle.jpg|thumb|200px|Dublin Castle pub, Parkway, NW1 (via [http://pubshistory.com/LondonPubs/StPancras/DublinCastle.shtml PubsHistory.com])]]
+
Associated with Camden VSC is Ellen Adams Hammerschlag (of Angry Arts) who made the film 'End of a Tactic', a documentary on the 27 October 1968 march questioning the role of A to B marches such as that protest. Camden VSC showed the film on 18 April 1968 at the Camden Studio, Camden Street (presumably the same as the Camden Poster Workshop studio) followed by a discussion.<ref name="RC.1.6.1May1969">''Red Camden'', Vol. 1, No. 6, 1 May 1969.</ref>
  
4. The reference to a conference in Sheffield has not yet been identified. There was a conference at Sheffield called by the Sheffield University Vietnam Action Committee in January 1968, and a subsequent National Committee meeting in the city (exact date to be ascertained), but these are thought to have taken place too early in that year for 'John Graham' to have participated.<ref name="VSC.bulletin.11"/> Another reference to Sheffield appears in the 23 September 1968 Special Branch report on the October 1968 mobilisation, in which is stated: "The North West London ad hoc Committee has agreed to follow the official route as laid down at Sheffield..."<ref name="dixon.sb.23Sept68">Conrad Dixon, [http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2487403-23rd-sep-1968-weekly-report-on-preparations-for.html VSC "Autumn Offensive" (weekly report)], ''Metropolitan Police Special Branch'', 23 September 1968 (accessed via SpecialBranchFiles.UK).</ref> Details of this meeting have yet to be ascertained, but if N326 or another undercover did attend it, the dates of the report it would indicate a rapid deployment and involvement in the VSC not long after the SDS was established. However, the Sheffield reference could also connect to the RSSF who had a national conference there in 1968.<ref>[https://rs21.org.uk/2015/08/06/is-in-the-60s-may-68-and-after/ IS in the 60s: May 68 and after - interview with Colin Wilson], ''RS21.org.uk'', 6 August 2015 (accessed 8 August 2017).</ref>
+
Political differences came to a head in April, when Marie Richman was sacked as treasurer of the VSC.<ref name="RC.1.6.1May1969"/> The group continued to make its own way politically, when in May, two members of the group, Steve and Alicia Merrett, meet in Paris with Mr. Sau, a delegate of the NLF to the Peace Talks there. He recommended they remain in contact with Mr. Sao and Mrs. Linh Qui - NLF representatives based in Hampstead.<ref>Steve Merrett, 'Paris Weekend', ''Red Camden'', Vol. 1, No. 7, 12 May 1969.</ref>
  
5. Presuming that HN329 had begun his deployment by the time of the October 1968 demonstration and continued to attend protests and meetings until into 1969, this means it is likely he attended:<ref>[https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/vsc/n19-1968-vsc-bulletin.pdf V.S.C. Future Activities], ''Vietnam Solidarity Campaign Bulletin'', Issue 19, November 1968 (accessed via Marxists.org).</ref>
+
On 14 June, members of the group were among a party of people who had an audience with Mr. Dinh Ba Thi, the deputy leader at the Paris Peace Talks on behalf of the communist South Vietnam Provisional Government. He was passing through London on the way to talk at a protest in Manchester. Others groups represented are CND, Morning Star and the Communist Party. That evening, Camden VSC held a party at The Three Horse Shoes at 26 Heath Street, NW3.<ref>'Welcome to the P.R.G.', ''Red Camden'', Vol. 1, No. 9, 23 June 1969. The pub is now the Horseshoe, 28 Heath Street, NW3 6TE.</ref> The same month, the group started to conducts local 'liberation tours', aimed at exposing local businesses and company directors involved in serving the pro-American government in South Vietnam.<ref>'Liberation Tour', ''Red Camden'', Vol. 1, No. 10, 14 July 1969.</ref> Mr. Sao and Mrs. Qui were noted again as representatives of North Vietnam, when following the death of Ho Chi Minh in September 1969, members Camden VSC visit them in at Eton Avenue, Hampstead to sign a book of condolences.<ref>'Mourning in Eton Avenue', ''Red Camden'', Vol. 1, No.12, 19 September 1969.</ref>
:: a) a protest of 3rd December 1968 against a pro-war group 'Friends of Vietnam' who were holding a meeting in Kensington Town Hall. The meeting itself was occupied and as a consequence canceled. Around 80 police escorted the protesters from the hall. The anti-War campaigners then sought to march on South Vietnam embassy but were prevented from reaching it by police without confrontation. Those protesting included people from North West London VSC and a contemporary report notes a significant police presence there.<ref>Geoffrey Crossick, [https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/vsc/n20-jan-1969-vsc-bulletin.pdf London V.S.C. Captures Saigon Propaganda Meeting], ''Vietnam Solidarity Campaign Bulletin'', Issue 20, January 1969 (accessed via Marxists.org).</ref>
 
:: b) a VSC public meeting held in Conway Hall on 20th December 1968 to mark the anniversary of the foundation of the National Liberation Front of Vietnam.
 
  
6. Mention is made in HN329's statement of an incident in which he was assaulted by a security guard at the Australian High Commission.<ref name="john.graham.statement.30March2017"/> At the time, this was based at Australia House, Aldwych. A group, the London based Australian and New Zealanders Against The Vietnam War were active in encouraging protests against the Australian government over its support for the Vietnam War. It appears a number of protests were held at the Australian High Commission in 1968 / 1969, and the press statement from the VSC notes that the march of 27 October 1968 was due to march past the building.<ref>Press statement on protests of 27 October 1968, ''Vietnam Solidarity Campaign'', 2 October 1968 (accessed via the Richman archives).</ref> It has not been possible to further isolate the incident HN329 was involved with, or were there arrests on the day. However, Conrad Dixon's report of 3 October 1968 notes:
+
However, in late July, sixteen people from the group had a weekend holiday in Donhead St. Andrews, Dorset to discuss the future of Camden VSC. It recognised the declining interest in the weekly stall and leafleting sessions.<ref>'Weekend Commune', ''Red Camden'', Vol. 1, No. 11, 19 August 1969.</ref>
:: The Revolutionary Socialist Students Federation continues to emphasise the importance of Australia House as a symbol of Commonwealth complicity in the Vietnam War and is calling for militant action there. Members of the group Australians and New Zealanders Against the Vietnam war attempted to disrupt a social event at Australia House on 27.9.68: Police had advance warning of their intentions, and about a dozen people who tried to create a disturbance were escorted from the premises. All the indications are that a further attempt will be made at this building.<ref name="dixon.sb.3Oct68">Conrad Dixon, [http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2494422-3rd-oct-1968-weekly-report-on-preparations-for.html VSC "Autumn Offensive" (weekly report)], ''Metropolitan Police Special Branch'', 3 October 1968 (accessed via SpecialBranchFiles.UK).</ref>
 
  
7. Helpfully, a research project into Camden VSC at the time has been conducted by Celia Hughes of Warwick University, and allows for the tentative identification of the doctor mentioned by N326 as being Geoff Richman (now deceased),<ref name="hughes.phd"/> a leading light in the VSC (both in Camden and as member of the national committee) and the Socialist Medical Association,<ref>[https://redmolerising.wordpress.com/2016/06/09/socialist-medical-association-report-october-1968/ Socialist Medical Association report, October 1968], RedMoleRising (blog), 9 June 2016 (accessed 8 August 2017).</ref> and an occasional contributor to the New Left Review.<ref>Geoff Richman, [https://newleftreview.org/I/38/geoff-richman-on-martin-rossdale-s-socialist-health-service On Martin Rossdale's 'Socialist Health Service'], ''New Left Review'', Issue 38, July / August 1966 (accessed 8 August 2017).</ref>
+
The weekend away seems to have crystallised the changing nature of their political activism, the group becomes more involved in local issues, such as housing, local community events and women's liberation, as shown in articles published in ''Red Camden'' throughout the rest of the year. So, though they maintain a focus on activities around the Vietnam War, by the end of the year they are ready to transform into the Camden Movement for People Power, finally ceasing to be Camden VSC.
  
8. Depending on how long John Graham was deployed into 1969, it suggests that Camden VSC and its successor body the Camden Movement for People Power / Red Camden should be included in the list of groups he targeted.
+
==John Graham in Camden VSC==
  
===Resources===
+
===Australia House protest===
* An incomplete set of back issues of the Bulletin of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, many from 1968, can be found at [https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/vsc/index.htm Marxists.Org].
 
* [http://SpecialBranchFiles.UK Special Branch Files Project]
 
* Ernest Tate's take on the Special Branch reports can be found at [http://www.marxsite.com/Oct68.html MarxSite.com]
 
  
==Revolutionary Socialists Students' Federation==
+
In the risk assessment for Graham, mention is made of an incident in which he was assaulted by a security guard at the Australian High Commission.<ref name="john.graham.statement.30March2017"/> It is likely this refers to an incident reported by Conrad Dixon on 3 October 1968:<ref name="dixon.sb.3Oct68">Conrad Dixon, [http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2494422-3rd-oct-1968-weekly-report-on-preparations-for.html VSC "Autumn Offensive" (weekly report)], ''Metropolitan Police Special Branch'', 3 October 1968 (accessed via SpecialBranchFiles.UK).</ref>
[[Image:Student-international-no1-february-1969_cover.jpg|thumb|200px|Cover of ''Student International'', Issue 1, February 1969.]]
+
:: The Revolutionary Socialist Students Federation continues to emphasise the importance of Australia House as a symbol of Commonwealth complicity in the Vietnam War and is calling for militant action there. Members of the group Australians and New Zealanders Against the Vietnam War attempted to disrupt a social event at Australia House on 27.9.68: Police had advance warning of their intentions, and about a dozen people who tried to create a disturbance were escorted from the premises. All the indications are that a further attempt will be made at this building.
  
Not much has been revealed yet about HN329's reporting on the RSSF or how he came to have access to information of their activities. Other than the one line in his Risk Assessment, the group is not otherwise mentioned in documents released by the Undercover Policing Inquiry. He does not seem to have actively participated in it. The following material is presented as general interest providing context on the group.
+
It is worth nothing that there were personal connections between the Camden and ANZAVW groups as well. However, other protests at Australia House took place, so the incident recalled by Graham may be a later one such as the 11 January 1969 protest against a visit by Australian Premier, John Gorton.<ref>On 11 January 1969, 200 people demonstrated at Australia House and at the Savoy Hotel - where Premier John Gorton was staying.See: [https://www.nytimes.com/1969/01/12/archives/australians-new-zealanders-in-london-protest-war.html Australians, New Zealanders in London Protest War], ''New York Times'', 12 January 1969 (accessed 8 May 2018). A leaflet entitled 'Get Gorton', calling for these protests is one of the few actual leaflets found among the archives of the Richmans.</ref>
  
Founded in late 1960s, the RSSF was a left organisation focused on organising students. Closely associated with Trotskyist left wing groups of the time, it had during its brief existence a broad church of left wing activists and branches in universities and colleges across the country. However, it is most notably aligned with the International Socialists & New Left Review. The heart of the organisation was focused on the London School of Economics, which over the period 1967 to 1969 experienced considerable student radicalism. As such, the RSSF was born out of and a key player in the radical student movements of the late 1960s and the anti-Vietnam war protests of the time. As such it sought to be a counter-weight to the National Union of Students.<ref name="gowan.1">Peter Gowan, [https://redmolearchive.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/student-international-no1-february-1969.pdf L.S.E. and R.S.S.F.], ''Student International'', Issue 1, February 1969 (accessed via Red Mole Archives).</ref> Reports of its activities were captured in the three issues of the short-lived journal ''Student International''.<ref>The three issue of 'Student International – the Bulletin for Student Power!' have been archived by [https://redmolerising.wordpress.com/2016/06/11/student-international-the-bulletin-for-student-power/ ''The Red Mole'' website] at [https://redmolearchive.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/student-international-no1-february-1969.pdf Issue 1 (Feb 1969)], [https://redmolearchive.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/student-international-no2-march-1969.pdf Issue 2 (March 1969)], [https://redmolearchive.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/student-international-no3-may-june-1969.pdf Issue 3 (June 1969)].</ref>
+
===Article for ''Red Camden''===
  
It's founding conference took place at the London School of Economics over 14-15 June 1968 and attracted prominent socialist activists of the day including leading VSC activists. A contemporary report noted of a press conference announcing the launch of the organisation that: 'It would not be committed to violence, though it might be necessary on occasion... that RSSF was more concerned with revolution in capitalist society as a whole than in mere student power.'<ref>Richard Bourne, [https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2013/jun/15/student-politics-lse-revolution-1968 From the archive, 15 June 1968: British students talk about a revolution], ''The Guardian'', 15 June 1968, republished 15 June 2013 (accessed 6 July 2017).</ref>
+
The 8 June 1969 issue ''Red Camden'' had two very important sections. One is titled "John's Titbits", and is a short bit of miscellaneous information which if not written by John Graham, appears to be derived from his comments. It includes mention a protest phone-line in New York, where one could ring to get information of demonstrations happening in the city that day. More significantly, it also notes he was part of a loud political discussion in the Mail Coach pub in Sheffield with others from the group. This matches with his recollection of having gone to Sheffield for a conference - the newsletter having previously reported that Camden VSC had sent 23 people to to a large anti-Vietnam war protest in the city in March that year.
  
Though it had groups in Universities and colleges across the UK, the RSSF was particularly organised around the London School of Economics where one of the group's leading lights was Richard Kuper - who was also active with the International Socialists (elected a member of the National Committee in 1968) and the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign.<ref>[http://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/KUP Papers of Richard Kuper (International Socialism Group / Socialist Workers Party)], Modern Records Centre, Warwick University, catalogue entry (accessed 6 August 2017).</ref> In October 1968, some 3000 students occupied the LSE following an attempt by management to close the university ahead of the 27 October anti-Vietnam War demonstration. During this occupation, the LSE was used as a base for the protests, including a medical centre established by the Socialist Medical Association.  
+
[[File:John Grahame in Red Camden (Bishopsgate Inst).jpg|thumb|300px|Article by undercover officer 'John Graham' (HN 329) in the 8 June 1969 issue of ''Red Camden'' newsletter, regarding a meeting of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign. Accessed via the [http://www.bishopsgate.org.uk/content.aspx?CategoryID=1850 Marie and Geoff Richman archives] (grateful acknowledgment to the Bishopsgate Institute).]]
  
The obituary of Conrad Dixon, founder of the SDS, notes:<ref name="dixon.obit">[https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2646319-1999-04-28-Conrad-Dixon-Obituary-the-Times-p-23.html Conrad Dixon (obituary)], ''The Times'', 28 April 1994 (accessed via SpecialBranchFiles.UK).</ref>
+
A couple of pages along from this, is an account of a meeting held at the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign offices at 120 Commercial Road on 15 May 1969. Its author is given as 'John Grahame', and it is clear he is one of the two people who attended a VSC Working Committee on behalf of the Camden group. He writes about anticipated hostility from the core VSC group staffed by members of the International Marxist Group (IMG).  
:: Dixon lead from the front, and when the London School of Economics was occupied by revolting students, he was first up the steps - and in text-book style - promptly took charge of the telephone exchange so as to control communication with the press.
 
  
This would appear to imply that Dixon took the role of an undercover officer himself focusing on the RSSF group at the LSE.
+
The others named in the piece as being present besides the pair from Camden can be identified as IMG activists. Despite the wrong spelling of the name, it is highly likely the person behind both articles was the undercover officer using the name John Graham, which places him at the heart of the group's involvement in the Vietnam campaign.
  
The RSSF briefly issued its own journal, called "Escalate".<ref>Some sources also call it 'Revolution' or 'The London Journal of the Revolutionary Socialist Students Federation'.</ref> It was also closely linked with the New Left Review, particularly Robin Blackburn who at the time was at LSE and was subsequently dismissed over his support of the student occupations. Another individual closely associated with the New Left Review was Tariq Ali, was a key organiser with the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign.<ref>Gregory Elliot, [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TmeeV9POhgsC Perry Anderson: The Merciless Laboratory of History], 1998, University of Minnesota Press.</ref><ref name="TC">Tendance Coatesy, [https://tendancecoatesy.wordpress.com/2010/02/19/new-left-review-at-fifty/ New Left Review at Fifty: Is There Life in Their Politics?], TendanceCoatesy.Wordpress.com (Blog), 19 February 2010 (accessed 6 August 2017).</ref><ref name="KS">Martin Klimke &amp; Joachim Scharloth, [https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=herHAAAAQBAJ 1968 in Europe: A History of Protest and Activism, 1956–1977], 2008, Springer.</ref>
+
There is one final possible mention. When the Merrett's meet Mr. Sau at the Paris Peace Talks in May 1969 (see above), their report talks of how Mr. Sau asked what persecution the group had as a result of their work on Vietnam. He was told two members of the group had been fined, while another, John, was imprisoned. While this could be John Graham, another possibility is John Hoyland, the Black Dwarf journalist and one of the founders of the Agit-Prop collective.
 
 
Circa August 1968, the RSSF moved its address to 120 Commercial Road, E1,<ref name="dixon.sb.30Aug68"/> where the VSC had moved its office to the previous month.<ref>[https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/vsc/n16-july-1968-vsc-bulletin.pdf Contents], ''Vietnam Solidarity Campaign Bulletin'', Issue 16, July 1968 (accessed via Marxists.org).</ref>
 
 
 
The RSSF appears to have been a relatively short-lived organisation holding three national conferences<ref>The RSSF held its second conference in London on 10 November 1968, when it adopted its manifesto, including calls for the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism and imperialism. See: [http://www.socialismtoday.org/118/manifesto.html Revolutionary Socialist Students’ Federation: RSSF Manifesto], first published in the ''New Left Review'', Issue 53, Jan/Feb 1969; re-published by ''SocialismToday'', Issue 118, May 2008.</ref> before suffering splits. However, it proved influential in subsequent left-wing student / campus organisations. Likewise, though linked strongly linked within the Trotskyist left, the RSSF contained in a variety of people from across the far left, including Maoists<ref name="parkin">Di Parkin, [https://radicalhistorynetwork.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/a-revolutionary-schoolgirl-of-1960s.html A Revolutionary Schoolgirl of the 1960s: Meeting report], ''Bristol Radical History Group'', notes of talk of 9 March 2016 (accessed 6 August 2017).</ref> connected to the Communist Party of Great Britain.<ref>Geoff Andrews, [https://www.lwbooks.co.uk/sites/default/files/free-chapter/Andrews_Feminists.pdf History of the Communist Party, Vol 6], Lawrence & Wishart, 2004.</ref> The London branch of the RSSF in particular was a source of future activists for the likes of Manchanda's Revolutionary Marxist-Leninist League, and the Alliance of Communist Workers.<ref>[https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/uk.secondwave/index.htm The Second Wave: the Radical Youth Wants a Party: The Late 1960s – Index Page], ''Marxists.org'', undated (accessed 6 August 2017).</ref>
 
  
 
==Undercover Policing Public Inquiry==
 
==Undercover Policing Public Inquiry==
  
'John Graham' is referenced by the nominal/cypher HN329 for the purposes of [[Operation Herne]] and the UCPI. On 3rd August 2017, his cover name was one of three released by the Inquiry, along with details of dates and targets of his deployment.<ref name="ucpi.pr.3Aug17">[https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20170803-press-notice-SDS-Minded-to.pdf Press Release: ‘Minded to’ note, ruling and directions in respect of anonymity applications relating to former officers of the Special Demonstration Squad], Undercover Policing Public Inquiry (UCPI.org.uk), 3 August 2017 (accessed 3 August 2017).</ref> As such he is also one of the first SDS / NPOIU undercover officers to be formally confirmed by the Inquiry who had not been previously exposed by activists. The Metropolitan Police have applied to have his real name restricted by the Inquiry,<ref>[https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HN329-Open-application-from-the-MPS.pdf Application for a restriction Order (Anonymity) re: HN329], ''Metropolitan Police Service'' (via UCPI.org.uk), 30 March 2017 (accessed 5 August 2017).</ref> which the Chair, John Mitting, has indicated he is minded to grant.<ref name="ucpi.pr.3Aug17"/> In support of this application a personal / impact statement<ref name="john.graham.statement.30March2017">'John Graham' (alias), [https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HN329-Open-personal-statement-from-the-MPS.pdf Impact / Personal Statement by HN329 (open version)], ''Metropolitan Police Service'' (via UCPI.org.uk), 29 March 2017 (accessed 5 August 2017).</ref> and a risk assessment<ref name="HN329.RA"/> have been issued, both in redacted form.
+
'John Graham' is referenced by the nominal/cypher HN329 for the purposes of [[Operation Herne]] and the UCPI. On 3rd August 2017, his cover name was one of three released by the Inquiry, along with details of dates and targets of his deployment.<ref name="ucpi.pr.3Aug17">[https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20170803-press-notice-SDS-Minded-to.pdf Press Release: ‘Minded to’ note, ruling and directions in respect of anonymity applications relating to former officers of the Special Demonstration Squad], Undercover Policing Public Inquiry (UCPI.org.uk), 3 August 2017 (accessed 3 August 2017).</ref> As such he is also one of the first SDS / NPOIU undercover officers to be formally confirmed by the Inquiry who had not been previously exposed by activists. The Metropolitan Police have applied to have his real name restricted by the Inquiry,<ref>[https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HN329-Open-application-from-the-MPS.pdf Application for a restriction Order (Anonymity) re: HN329], ''Metropolitan Police Service'' (via UCPI.org.uk), 30 March 2017 (accessed 5 August 2017).</ref> which the Chair, John Mitting, has indicated he is minded to grant.<ref>John Mitting, [https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20170803-Minded-to.pdf Applications for restriction orders in respect of the real and cover names of officers of the Special Operations Squad and the Special Demonstrations Squad ‘Minded to’ note], UCPI, 3 August 2017 (accessed 5 Oct 2017)</ref> In support of this application a personal / impact statement<ref name="john.graham.statement.30March2017">'John Graham' (alias), [https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HN329-Open-personal-statement-from-the-MPS.pdf Impact / Personal Statement by HN329 (open version)], ''Metropolitan Police Service'' (via UCPI.org.uk), 29 March 2017 (accessed 5 August 2017).</ref> and a risk assessment<ref name="HN329.RA"/> have been issued, both in redacted form.
  
 
In giving his reason for not wanting to have his real name released, he said:<ref name="john.graham.statement.30March2017"/>
 
In giving his reason for not wanting to have his real name released, he said:<ref name="john.graham.statement.30March2017"/>
 
:: I don't want to be associated with the idiot<ref>This is presumably a reference to Mark Kennedy, whose exposure kicked off the spycops scandal in 2011.</ref> that caused all this because it's a question of being tarred with the same brush. And of course, there is also the issue of people subsequently coming forward and claiming things because they have just picked on a name or something. I'm not worried about that because I never did anything except not tell the people in the organisation I was a police officer.
 
:: I don't want to be associated with the idiot<ref>This is presumably a reference to Mark Kennedy, whose exposure kicked off the spycops scandal in 2011.</ref> that caused all this because it's a question of being tarred with the same brush. And of course, there is also the issue of people subsequently coming forward and claiming things because they have just picked on a name or something. I'm not worried about that because I never did anything except not tell the people in the organisation I was a police officer.
  
He is not a core participant at the Inquiry (4.20).<ref name="HN329.RA"/>
+
Graham is not a core participant at the Inquiry (4.20).<ref name="HN329.RA"/>
 +
 
 +
===Anonymity application===
 +
 
 +
No application over his cover name was made<ref name="ucpi.mitting.mindedto.3Aug17">John Mitting, [https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20170803-Minded-to.pdf In the matter of section 19(3) of the Inquiries Act 2005 Applications for restriction orders in respect of the real and cover names of officers of the Special Operations Squad and the Special Demonstrations Squad ‘Minded to’ note], ''Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI.org.uk)'', 3 August 2017.</ref> though the Metropolitan Police Service did apply for an order to [https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HN329-Open-application-from-the-MPS.pdf restrict his real name], and provided [https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HN329-Open-personal-statement-from-the-MPS.pdf open personal / impact statement] from him alongside a [https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/HN329-Open-risk-assessment-from-the-MPS.pdf open risk assessment (David Reid)].<ref name="counsel.note.3Aug17">David Barr &amp; Kate Wilkinson, [https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/20170803-counsels-explanatory-note-SDS-Minded-to.pdf Counsel to the Inquiry's explanatory note to accompany the 'Minded to' note in respect of applications for restrictions over the real and cover names of officers of the Special Operations Squad and the Special Demonstration Squad], ''Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI.org.uk)'', 3 August 2017.</ref> See also the [https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/20171004-NPNSCPs-submissions-re-SDS-Minded-to.pdf NPSCP submissions of 5 October 2017].
 +
 
 +
Their application was heard at hearing of 21 November 2017,<ref name="ucpi.hearing.transcript.21Nov17">[https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/20171121-Anonymity-application-hearing-day-2-Draft-Transcript.pdf Transcript of hearing of 21 November 2017], Undercover Policing Inquiry, 21 November 2017.</ref> and Mitting ruled in its favour on 5 December 2017, saying:<ref name="ucpi.ruling.5Dec17">Sir John Mitting, [https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/20171205-anonymity-ruling-SD-Dec-2017.pdf Applications for restriction orders in respect of the real and cover names of officers of the Special Operations Squad and the Special Demonstration Squad: Ruling], Undercover Policing Inquiry, 5 December 2017.</ref>
 +
:: He does not wish his real name to be published, to avoid interference in his private life and damage to his reputation, by association with other undercover officers against who allegations of misconduct have been made... I acknowledge that the interference in the right to respect for private life described above is not great. I am satisfied that is not necessary to permit the terms of reference of the Inquiry to be fulfilled. Accordingly, despite the fact it would not be great, it would not be proportionate or fair to disclose his real name; and the public interest does not require it.
 +
 
 +
The [https://www.ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/20171208-restriction-order-HN329.pdf Restriction Order] was published on 8 December 2017.
  
 
==Police line of command==
 
==Police line of command==
Line 230: Line 202:
 
:* '''[[Peter_Brodie|Peter Ewan Brodie]], Assistant Commissioner "C" ''' (Crime), head of CID between April 1966 and 1972.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Brodie_(police_officer) Peter Brodie (police officer)], ''Wikipedia'', 2017 (accessed 10 August 2017).</ref>
 
:* '''[[Peter_Brodie|Peter Ewan Brodie]], Assistant Commissioner "C" ''' (Crime), head of CID between April 1966 and 1972.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Brodie_(police_officer) Peter Brodie (police officer)], ''Wikipedia'', 2017 (accessed 10 August 2017).</ref>
 
::* '''[[Ferguson Smith|Ferguson 'Fergie' Smith]], Commander of Special Branch''' 1966 to 1972, with rank of Deputy Assistant Commissioner.<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10324224/Ferguson-Smith.html Obituary: Ferguson Smith], ''The Telegraph'', 2013 (accessed 10 August 2017).</ref>
 
::* '''[[Ferguson Smith|Ferguson 'Fergie' Smith]], Commander of Special Branch''' 1966 to 1972, with rank of Deputy Assistant Commissioner.<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10324224/Ferguson-Smith.html Obituary: Ferguson Smith], ''The Telegraph'', 2013 (accessed 10 August 2017).</ref>
:::* '''Ch. Supt. A[rthur]<ref>Tentative identification of first name only based on material from the Wilson & Adams history of Special Branch (see page 240).</ref> Cunningham'''. Name appears as signing a number of Special Branch reports submitted by Conrad Dixon in 1968,<ref name="SBF.uk.vietnam.overview"/> though he is seemingly replaced by 3rd October by an Acting Chief Superintendent.<ref name="dixon.sb.3Oct68"/>  
+
:::* '''Ch. Supt. A[rthur]<ref>Tentative identification of first name only based on material from the Wilson & Adams history of Special Branch (see page 240).</ref> Cunningham'''. Name appears as signing a number of Special Branch reports submitted by Conrad Dixon in 1968,<ref name="SBF.uk.vietnam.overview">[http://specialbranchfiles.uk/vietnam-war-all-files/ Anti Vietnam war – files overview], ''SpecialBranchFiles.uk'', undated (accessed 10 August 2017).</ref> though he is seemingly replaced by 3rd October by an Acting Chief Superintendent.<ref name="dixon.sb.3Oct68">Conrad Dixon, [http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2494422-3rd-oct-1968-weekly-report-on-preparations-for.html VSC "Autumn Offensive" (weekly report)], ''Metropolitan Police Special Branch'', 3 October 1968 (accessed via SpecialBranchFiles.UK).</ref>
 
::::* '''Det. Ch. Insp. [[Conrad Dixon]], founding head of the Special Demonstration Squad''', 1968 onward.  
 
::::* '''Det. Ch. Insp. [[Conrad Dixon]], founding head of the Special Demonstration Squad''', 1968 onward.  
  

Latest revision as of 15:21, 9 January 2019


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This article is part of the Undercover Research Portal at Powerbase - investigating corporate and police spying on activists



Part of a series on
undercover police officers
John ? / HN329
Male silhouette.png
Alias: John Graham
Deployment: 1968-1969
Unit:
Targets:
Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, Revolutionary Socialist Students Federation

John Graham is the alias of a Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) undercover police officer. He was active for one year over the period 1968 to 1969, when he infiltrated a north London branch of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign (VSC) and he also reported on the Revolutionary Socialists Students Federation (RSSF). Little else is known of him. His cover identity and groups he reported on were revealed by the Undercover Policing Inquiry in August 2017.[1]

He is also referred to as HN329, the cypher given to him by the Inquiry and Operation Herne. The Undercover Policing Inquiry has ruled that the officer's real name will be restricted.[2]

Update (May 2018): This profile updates an earlier version where it was believed that John Graham had focused on the north London Trotskyist milieu; that understanding has evolved and we now believe his focus was prominent but unaligned activists based in Camden who had formed a local branch of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign there. If anyone recalls 'John Graham' from his time in the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign please get in touch. We appreciate that these events took place 50 years ago, so welcome corrections on how we have portrayed the history of the organisations mentioned.

Undercover as 'John Graham'

First page of HN326's personal statement in support of his restriction order application. UCPInquiry.org.uk, August 2017

'John Graham' was among the very first of the SDS undercovers. His 2017 Risk Assessment says he became a Special Branch officer early on in his police career, then states:[3]

3.3 Recruitment to UCO Role
He cannot recall how he was recruited to SDS, but he would not have been a volunteer. There was no psychometric testing at the time. There were a number of UC's at the start of the SDS. He had no training. He thinks his deployment must have been around 1968 because it was at the time of the Vietnam crisis, but he cannot recall precisely. He was politically aware, and his back story was sufficient in that he was pretending to deliver cars from one garage to another. He had less of a formal legend than later operatives.

The job was 'simply a story, and he had no actual cover occupation'(4.9).[3] From known tradecraft techniques, it is likely he will have maintained his own first name as part of his cover. The Risk Assessment explicitly states he did not use the identity of a dead child.[3]

In his personal statement he wrote:[4]

3. I can't remember exactly but I believe I was deployed into the Special Operations Squad between 1968 and 1969. I don't know exactly though as it was just life. If you're posted somewhere you just went. It wasn't something I had always wanted to do.

At the time of his deployment, 'Graham' was recently married with young kids.

'My undercover role wasn't someting that I discussed with my wife. I think she probably knew the object of the exercise but not anything more. She wasn't that interested.'

Graham does not mention to have had a home visit from the SDS, to check if his family situation was upto him going undercover - that routine may have been developed a bit later.

Nothing further of his police career is known, other than after serving undercover he remained a Special Branch officer for the rest of his career. (4.17) He has long retired from the police, and while in his 70s now, Graham is still working. In his personal statement he says that he thinks his current colleagues know he is a former undercover, and that it would not matter to them.[3]

Since retiring from the police he has made a number of television appearances under his real identity.[4]

Targets

The 'Open Risk Assessment' prepared by the Metropolitan Police for the Undercover Policing Public Inquiry stated that 'John Graham' was:[3]

4.2 ...deploy[ed] into the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign (Kilburn & Willesden Branch); and he also reported on the Revolutionary Socialist Students Federation.

The Risk Assessment is clear in that the VSC was his main target, and he 'occasionally reported' on the RSSF (4.2, 4.3).[3]

The Vietnam Solidarity Campaign

In 1968, left wing political protest was dominated by the war in Vietnam. Many on the left supported the National Liberation Front (NLF - 'Viet Cong') in a war against Western presence in the country. The struggle of the NLF and the communist North Vietnam government, supported by China, then under the rule of Mao Zedong, was a proxy struggle in the Cold War.

In Britain, there were a number of anti-war groups, but by 1968 the leading one was the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign. Controlled by the International Marxist Group (IMG) and strongly based in the Trotskyist milieu, it was supported by the International Socialists (IS / later Socialist Workers Party), New Left Review and the Revolutionary Socialist Students' Federation (RSSF). Through the use of 'ad hoc committees' to organise different demonstrations, it was able to reach out across the left to build broad but temporary coalitions.

These ad hoc committees, generally dominated by the IMG and IS, were behind the large demonstrations of 1967 to 1969. In particular, they had been the driving force behind the 17 March 1968 protest which had seen large scale disturbances and an attack on the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square. A second large scale protest was planned for 27 October that year which caused the establishment considerable anxiety at the time.

In September 1968, Conrad Dixon of the Metropolitan Police Special Branch successfully proposed the formation of the Special Operations Squad (later the Special Demonstration Squad - SDS), in which 12 Special Branch officers would be deployed undercover into protest groups planning to participate in the October protest. From the dates, it appears that John Graham / HN329 was among those first twelve officers.

Revolutionary Socialists Students' Federation

Cover of Student International, Issue 1, February 1969.

Not much has been revealed yet about Graham's reporting on the RSSF or how he came to have access to information of their activities. Other than the one line in his Risk Assessment, the group is not mentioned in documents released by the Undercover Policing Inquiry. He does not seem to have actively participated in it. The following material is provides some general context on the group.

Founded in late 1960s, the RSSF was a coalition of student groups which lasted only a couple of years. Closely associated with Trotskyist and Maoist parties, it had a broad church of left wing activists and branches in universities and colleges across the country. The heart of the organisation was focused on the London School of Economics, which over the period 1967 to 1969 experienced considerable student radicalism. As such, the RSSF was born out of and a key player in the radical student movements of the late 1960s and the anti-Vietnam war protests of the time.[5]

At the London School of Economics one of the group's leading lights was Richard Kuper - who was also active with the International Socialists (elected a member of the National Committee in 1968) and the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign.[6] In October 1968, some 3000 students occupied the LSE following an attempt by management to close the university ahead of the 27 October anti-Vietnam War demonstration. During this occupation, the LSE was used as a base for the protests, including a medical centre established by the Socialist Medical Association.

Undercover as 'John Graham'

Cover of Issue 19 of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign Bulletin, November 1968.

According to the Risk Assessment, 'John Graham' grew a beard and simply turned up to the VSC branch meetings.[3]

4.4 [...] HN329 attended meetings, demonstrations, handing out leaflets and occasionally traveled some distance for conferences, etc.
4.5 Tasking
There were regular meetings at a flat where he could feed back information about the likely size of demonstrations, whether those demonstrations were likely to be violent etc.

The Risk Assessment stated the group size at the time was 15-30 and used to meet at the Durham Arms in Kennington. However, 'John Graham' would often go to meetings elsewhere in London, including Camden, and recalled going to a conference in Sheffield (4.8).[3] (See below for analysis and queries over some of this material.)

The Risk Assessment noted that he did not take an active role in the group other than attending demonstrations and meetings, and did not become close to any individuals (8.2).[3] According to HN329, his group was generally non-violent, the worst they ever suggested being to jump on the back of a policeman (11). Indeed, the only time he was subject to violence was when he was hit by a security guard at the Australian High Commission (12.1).[3]

N329 gives a slightly different account in his personal statement:[4]

4. I reported on the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, and I think it was the Camden branch. The reason for being in the group was for me to find out what the strategy was for a big VSC march. I attended meetings and took part in demonstrations. I wasn't involved in any confrontations. The only two things I can remember are a big VSC march which we all went on and protesting at the Australian High Commission but I don't remember what it was for.
5. I regarded the people I was with as intellectuals, they were well-educated people, one of whom was a doctor or something similar. They were just people that believed the Americans shouldn't have been in Vietnam but had no idea of how to get them out. I would include myself in that.
6. For my cover name [John Graham]. I can't remember on how many occasions I gave out my full name but I don't think it was many. Maybe at the beginning when I was introducing myself. The VSC didn't keep any written records of members or anything like that. It was a very loose-knit organisation. It's been so long that if you spoke to anybody, I believe they wouldn't even remember my cover name. I doubt if anyone would even remember me.

It also noted that while undercover he handed out leaflets on the day of the 'big VSC march, which is presumed to be the march of October 1986.[4]

HN329 ceased his spying the VSC at an unknown point in 1969. According to the Risk Assessment:[3]

4.16 Withdrawal / exit strategy
He was asked by a Chief Inspector to attend a particular meeting, but he felt that to do so would operationally compromise himself, so he declined. The senior officer immediately assigned him to other duties within Special Branch.
He did not use any excuse for his exit. He simply stopped attending meetings.

Kilburn VSC

The Risk Assessment, presumably relying on contemporary notes, states that John Graham infiltrated the Kilburn and Willesden branch of the VSC - the NW6 & NW10 postcodes in north London. Several specific references to the Kilburn group can be found in contemporary material archived at Marxists.org. The VSC Bulletin noted its recent formation in its February 1968 issue,[7] while in July 1968, a member of the Kilburn VSC co-authored a pamphlet entitled Background to the Vietnam War.[8] Kilburn VSC also appears in a Special Branch report of late August 1968, listed as one of the active VSC branches in London (others including Earls Court, Hampstead, Notting Hill Gate, Fulham, Lambeth, Walthamstow, Hornsey and Highgate & Holloway).[9]

Cover of Issue 18 of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign Bulletin, October 1968.

Conrad Dixon's Special Branch report of 10th September makes note of several London 'ad hoc committees' forming to co-ordinate local activity, including ones for North London and North West London (via the North-West London Action Group),[10] while a VSC Bulletin from October 1968 in London listed contacts of ad hoc committees for NW6 / Northwest London and NW8 / Kentish Town.[11]

Dixon's intelligence reports in the run up to the 27 October protest of 1968 contain details on the activities and plans of the North West Ad Hoc Committee which the Kilburn branch would have no doubt played a part in. For example, the 23 September report says that the North West London ad hoc committee planned to follow the decisions of the VSC national committee,[12] while his report of 16 October notes:[13]

The North west London ad-hoc Committee of the VSC intend to assemble at Henrietta Street in Covent Garden at 1.30pm on the 27th. They are expected to be about 150 strong.

It is likely that some of this material will have come from John Graham.

The Kilburn group appears to have declined after October 1968. Only one further mention of the group has been identified to date in contemporary publications, a Red Camden publication noting that Willesden / Kilburn VSC would be meeting on 16 January 1969 at The Common Room, Tollgate Gardens, Kilburn High Road, NW6.[14]

Camden Vietnam Solidarity Campaign

Background to Camden VSC

The Vietnam Solidarity Campaign encouraged the setting up of local branches, which would send delegates to VSC conferences. These conferences established the national executive and working committees that oversaw the actual work of the campaign. Among those who played a significant role in these committees and in establishing groups in north London were a group of mostly unaligned activists based in and around Camden. Their general background was Communist with strong leanings to Maoism rather than Trotskyism, albeit there were cross-overs with the International Socialists as well.

By mid-1968, this group of campaigners were very active, organising locally and submitting important proposals to the national VSC meetings.[15] Its members were listed as contacts for the various ad hoc committees in north west London. They also had connections with key figures in the London School of Economics branch of the Revolutionary Socialist Students Federation.[16][17][18][19] Another set of contacts was with Australians and New Zealanders Against the Vietnam War, which spearheaded protests against the Australian government's involvement in the war.

Emergence of Camden VSC: local activities

The first mention identified to date of a specific Camden VSC branch comes in December 1968, when a letter was circulated stating the Hampstead group renamed itself as Camden VSC.[20] 'John Graham' in his personal statement recalled that he thought it was the Camden branch meetings he attended.[4]

The January 1969 issue of the Vietnam Solidarity Bulletin reported that London VSC committees had taken over a pro-Vietnam War meeting at Kensington Town Hall on 3 December 1968. Singled out for special mention is Geoff Richman, a central figure in the Camden group[21]and who is likely to be the doctor referred to by ‘John Graham’ as one of those he got close to.[19][3]

Much more of the group is known for the year 1969. In January 1969 Camden VSC begins to publish its own newsletter, Red Camden which gives considerable insight into its activities.[22] The official address for this publication was Flat 3, 12 Rosslyn Hill, NW3, though later it moved to 8 Bramshill Gardens, NW5.

The Camden VSC centred on a couple, Marie and Geoff Richman, the latter a socialist doctor. Both played prominent roles in the VSC nationally, being executive committee members, and Marie being its Treasurer. They had been previously involved with a Maoist grouping within the Communist Party but were expelled in 1966. In 1967, they developed the 'Friday Group', a small group of political activists who developed their own thinking among the new left milieu in a different route than had been taken by the more traditional Trotskyists. Before it evolved into becoming Camden VSC, the group had been a key driving force behind 1968's North West London Ad Hoc Committee. Into this circle were pulled others who active in Vietnam War campaigning, including those involved in groups such as Stop-It and Medical Aid for Vietnam. Through their work protesting the Vietnam war they were also inspired by some of the on the ground activities of the NLF.[19]

Among its early activities is participation in a demonstration of 8 January 1969 at Brent Town Hall, where the local council were having a meeting. This was protest of Brent Council having banned a session where the public could donate blood to aid the people of Vietnam due to be held on 8 December in Kilburn Square.[14][23]

Dublin Castle Pub, Camden

The group initially met at Dublin Castle pub, The Parkway, NW1,[20] including on Wednesday 15 January 1969 [14] though by mid-February it had switched to meeting at The Laurel Tree, Bayhem Street, NW1 - were it continued to meet every Wednesday for the rest of the year.

The group was a very active one. On Fridays, they would leaflet the queue to The Everyman Cinema in Hampstead, NW3 and on Saturdays, it held a stall at Queen Crescent Market raising funds for the group and the national VSC by selling pamphlets and posters - including of Ho Chi Minh. While on Sunday's it had a social session playing volleyball and other sports on Parliament Hill Field. Both events were apparently to be found by looking out for the NLF flags they used. Later in the year, it added a regular Sunday night newcomers meeting, held at 11 The Grange, Maitland Park Road, NW3.

Red Camden

It also produced the regular Red Camden newsletter, whose second issue carried the title 'By Any Means Necessary', a probable reference to the use of the phrase as popularised by Malcolm X,[24] but ironically later adopted as an informal motto by the Special Demonstration Squad.[25]

Early issues of Red Camden advertised the Agit-Prop workshops and play, and also a regular VSC Poster making workshop which took place at 61 Camden Road, NW1. It would appear that the latter is what is better known as the Camden Poster Workshop, which during the October 1968 protest had moved the studio briefly into the London School of Economics[26]). Founded in early 1968, it had become a source of radical posters for the era.[27]

Agit-Prop was 'a radical information service which also did street theatre as the Agit-Prop Street Players'.[28]

The Agit-Prop work was later replaced in diary listings by activities of the Angry Art Society, a film collective which was very closely associated with Camden VSC.[16] Later, and through this art related world, the group would connect into the important Women's Liberation group based in Tufnell Park.

Political campaigning

As well as the local work, the group continued to be politically active:

  • 1 March 1969, a Saturday: 23 people from Camden VSC attend an anti-Vietnam War protest in Sheffield, which was followed on the Sunday by a conference.
  • 20 March 1969, Camden VSC and the International Socialists host a joint meeting at the Enterprise pub, 2 Haverstock Hill, Chalk Farm, NW3 - another address which appears time to time in issues of Red Camden. There they heard author Roy Battersby talk about ecological destruction and capitalism.[29]
  • 26/27 April: members of the group attend the anti-racism demonstration of 26/27 April in Wolverhampton.

A particularly noteworthy event was the annual C.N.D. Easter Monday march, which arrived in London on 7 April 1969, having come from Cardiff. It was joined on the outskirts of London by Nguyễn Thị Bình "Madame Binh", a leading figure in the NLF and negotiator in the Paris Peace talks.[30] Madame Binh's presence in the UK was notable, having previously been prevented by the Government and raised as a campaigning issue by the VSC who said she should be allowed to come. As part of the publicity around the march, Camden VSC renamed the section of the route from Haverstock Hill to Rosslyn Hill as the 'Ho Chi Minh Trail'. Red Camden in its account, noted that Madame Binh stood on the steps of Haverstock Hill town hall (Hampstead Old Town Hall, NW3), to watch the march pass.[31][32]

Camden VSC joined the demonstrators assembling in Hyde Park with a model tank they had constructed and marched with it to Trafalgar Square, where they set up a stall.[33]

{{#ev:youtube|https://youtu.be/b8naHviSkF4%7C500%7Cleft%7CPathe News: Madame Binh Of The Vietnamese NLF Addresses CND rally in Trafalgar Square 7 Apr 1969.[34]}}

During the visit, members of Camden VSC had a meeting with Madame Binh, during which she referred to them as the 'Viet Cong in London'.[35] Unlike the Trotskyists who had political differences over the NLF, Camden VSC along with Maoists had embraced the NLF and adopted the slogan 'Victory to the NLF'.[36] Indeed, Camden VSC produced its own NLF supporting literature - posters, pamphlets, etc. - which it sold on it's Saturday stall.

Tensions between Camden VSC and the national campaign emerged throughout the first half of 1969. The Camden group is referred to as the 'Richman faction', and led calls at the national conference of February 1969 that the VSC should re-orient around individual membership rooted in local branches.[19]

Associated with Camden VSC is Ellen Adams Hammerschlag (of Angry Arts) who made the film 'End of a Tactic', a documentary on the 27 October 1968 march questioning the role of A to B marches such as that protest. Camden VSC showed the film on 18 April 1968 at the Camden Studio, Camden Street (presumably the same as the Camden Poster Workshop studio) followed by a discussion.[37]

Political differences came to a head in April, when Marie Richman was sacked as treasurer of the VSC.[37] The group continued to make its own way politically, when in May, two members of the group, Steve and Alicia Merrett, meet in Paris with Mr. Sau, a delegate of the NLF to the Peace Talks there. He recommended they remain in contact with Mr. Sao and Mrs. Linh Qui - NLF representatives based in Hampstead.[38]

On 14 June, members of the group were among a party of people who had an audience with Mr. Dinh Ba Thi, the deputy leader at the Paris Peace Talks on behalf of the communist South Vietnam Provisional Government. He was passing through London on the way to talk at a protest in Manchester. Others groups represented are CND, Morning Star and the Communist Party. That evening, Camden VSC held a party at The Three Horse Shoes at 26 Heath Street, NW3.[39] The same month, the group started to conducts local 'liberation tours', aimed at exposing local businesses and company directors involved in serving the pro-American government in South Vietnam.[40] Mr. Sao and Mrs. Qui were noted again as representatives of North Vietnam, when following the death of Ho Chi Minh in September 1969, members Camden VSC visit them in at Eton Avenue, Hampstead to sign a book of condolences.[41]

However, in late July, sixteen people from the group had a weekend holiday in Donhead St. Andrews, Dorset to discuss the future of Camden VSC. It recognised the declining interest in the weekly stall and leafleting sessions.[42]

The weekend away seems to have crystallised the changing nature of their political activism, the group becomes more involved in local issues, such as housing, local community events and women's liberation, as shown in articles published in Red Camden throughout the rest of the year. So, though they maintain a focus on activities around the Vietnam War, by the end of the year they are ready to transform into the Camden Movement for People Power, finally ceasing to be Camden VSC.

John Graham in Camden VSC

Australia House protest

In the risk assessment for Graham, mention is made of an incident in which he was assaulted by a security guard at the Australian High Commission.[4] It is likely this refers to an incident reported by Conrad Dixon on 3 October 1968:[43]

The Revolutionary Socialist Students Federation continues to emphasise the importance of Australia House as a symbol of Commonwealth complicity in the Vietnam War and is calling for militant action there. Members of the group Australians and New Zealanders Against the Vietnam War attempted to disrupt a social event at Australia House on 27.9.68: Police had advance warning of their intentions, and about a dozen people who tried to create a disturbance were escorted from the premises. All the indications are that a further attempt will be made at this building.

It is worth nothing that there were personal connections between the Camden and ANZAVW groups as well. However, other protests at Australia House took place, so the incident recalled by Graham may be a later one such as the 11 January 1969 protest against a visit by Australian Premier, John Gorton.[44]

Article for Red Camden

The 8 June 1969 issue Red Camden had two very important sections. One is titled "John's Titbits", and is a short bit of miscellaneous information which if not written by John Graham, appears to be derived from his comments. It includes mention a protest phone-line in New York, where one could ring to get information of demonstrations happening in the city that day. More significantly, it also notes he was part of a loud political discussion in the Mail Coach pub in Sheffield with others from the group. This matches with his recollection of having gone to Sheffield for a conference - the newsletter having previously reported that Camden VSC had sent 23 people to to a large anti-Vietnam war protest in the city in March that year.

Article by undercover officer 'John Graham' (HN 329) in the 8 June 1969 issue of Red Camden newsletter, regarding a meeting of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign. Accessed via the Marie and Geoff Richman archives (grateful acknowledgment to the Bishopsgate Institute).

A couple of pages along from this, is an account of a meeting held at the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign offices at 120 Commercial Road on 15 May 1969. Its author is given as 'John Grahame', and it is clear he is one of the two people who attended a VSC Working Committee on behalf of the Camden group. He writes about anticipated hostility from the core VSC group staffed by members of the International Marxist Group (IMG).

The others named in the piece as being present besides the pair from Camden can be identified as IMG activists. Despite the wrong spelling of the name, it is highly likely the person behind both articles was the undercover officer using the name John Graham, which places him at the heart of the group's involvement in the Vietnam campaign.

There is one final possible mention. When the Merrett's meet Mr. Sau at the Paris Peace Talks in May 1969 (see above), their report talks of how Mr. Sau asked what persecution the group had as a result of their work on Vietnam. He was told two members of the group had been fined, while another, John, was imprisoned. While this could be John Graham, another possibility is John Hoyland, the Black Dwarf journalist and one of the founders of the Agit-Prop collective.

Undercover Policing Public Inquiry

'John Graham' is referenced by the nominal/cypher HN329 for the purposes of Operation Herne and the UCPI. On 3rd August 2017, his cover name was one of three released by the Inquiry, along with details of dates and targets of his deployment.[1] As such he is also one of the first SDS / NPOIU undercover officers to be formally confirmed by the Inquiry who had not been previously exposed by activists. The Metropolitan Police have applied to have his real name restricted by the Inquiry,[45] which the Chair, John Mitting, has indicated he is minded to grant.[46] In support of this application a personal / impact statement[4] and a risk assessment[3] have been issued, both in redacted form.

In giving his reason for not wanting to have his real name released, he said:[4]

I don't want to be associated with the idiot[47] that caused all this because it's a question of being tarred with the same brush. And of course, there is also the issue of people subsequently coming forward and claiming things because they have just picked on a name or something. I'm not worried about that because I never did anything except not tell the people in the organisation I was a police officer.

Graham is not a core participant at the Inquiry (4.20).[3]

Anonymity application

No application over his cover name was made[48] though the Metropolitan Police Service did apply for an order to restrict his real name, and provided open personal / impact statement from him alongside a open risk assessment (David Reid).[49] See also the NPSCP submissions of 5 October 2017.

Their application was heard at hearing of 21 November 2017,[50] and Mitting ruled in its favour on 5 December 2017, saying:[51]

He does not wish his real name to be published, to avoid interference in his private life and damage to his reputation, by association with other undercover officers against who allegations of misconduct have been made... I acknowledge that the interference in the right to respect for private life described above is not great. I am satisfied that is not necessary to permit the terms of reference of the Inquiry to be fulfilled. Accordingly, despite the fact it would not be great, it would not be proportionate or fair to disclose his real name; and the public interest does not require it.

The Restriction Order was published on 8 December 2017.

Police line of command

John Waldron, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. Deputy Commissioner, her succeeded on the sudden death of his predecessor Joseph Simpson on 20 March 1968.[52]

  • Ch. Supt. A[rthur][55] Cunningham. Name appears as signing a number of Special Branch reports submitted by Conrad Dixon in 1968,[56] though he is seemingly replaced by 3rd October by an Acting Chief Superintendent.[43]
  • Det. Ch. Insp. Conrad Dixon, founding head of the Special Demonstration Squad, 1968 onward.


Special Branch reports from 1968 authored by Conrad Dixon and under the authority of Ch. Supt. A. Cunningham were regularly submitted to one J. M. Clift of F.4 Division in the Home Office.[56] In later years, F.4 is listed as having responsibility for overseeing counter-terrorism and related matters.

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Press Release: ‘Minded to’ note, ruling and directions in respect of anonymity applications relating to former officers of the Special Demonstration Squad, Undercover Policing Public Inquiry (UCPI.org.uk), 3 August 2017 (accessed 3 August 2017).
  2. Kate Wilkinson, Counsel to the Inquiry's Explanatory Note to accompany the Chairman's 'Minded-To' Note 12 in respect of applications for restrictions over the real and cover names of officers of the Special Operations Squad and the Special Demonstration Squad, Undercover Public Inquiry, 13 September 2018.
  3. 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 David Reid, HN329 Open Risk Assessment, Metropolitan Police Service (via UCPI.org.uk), 31 May 2017 (accessed 3 August 2017).
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 'John Graham' (alias), Impact / Personal Statement by HN329 (open version), Metropolitan Police Service (via UCPI.org.uk), 29 March 2017 (accessed 5 August 2017).
  5. Peter Gowan, L.S.E. and R.S.S.F., Student International, Issue 1, February 1969 (accessed via Red Mole Archives).
  6. Papers of Richard Kuper (International Socialism Group / Socialist Workers Party), Modern Records Centre, Warwick University, catalogue entry (accessed 6 August 2017).
  7. Local V.S.C. Activities, Bulletin of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, No. 11, February 1968 (accessed via Marxists.org, 8 August 2017).
  8. Background to the Vietnam War, July 1968, Papers of Marie and Geoff Richman, Bishopsgate Institute, (vide infra).
  9. Conrad Dixon, Report on Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, 30 August 1968 (accessed via SpecialBranchFiles.UK).
  10. Conrad Dixon, Vietnam Solidarity Campaign "Autumn Offensive", Metropolitan Police Special Branch, 10 September 1968 (accessed via SpecialBranchFiles.UK).
  11. List of Local Ad Hoc Committees In/Around London, Bulletin of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, No. 18, (October) 1968 (accessed via Marxists.org, 8 August 2017).
  12. Conrad Dixon, VSC "Autumn Offensive" (weekly report), Metropolitan Police Special Branch, 23 September 1968 (accessed via SpecialBranchFiles.UK).
  13. Conrad Dixon, V.S.C. "Autumn Offensive", weekly summary, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, 16 October 1968 (accessed via SpecialBranchFiles.uk).
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 Red Blood vs Blue Blood, a leaflet published by Red Camden, probably in January 1969, as it related to a meeting of Brent Council that month in relation to blood donation programme in support of the people of Vietnam.
  15. See 'Kilburn and Camden VSC Branches' in Donal O'Driscoll, 1968: Protest and Special Branch, SpecialBranchFiles.uk, 14 April 2018.
  16. 16.0 16.1 Celia Hughes, Young Lives on the Left: Sixties Activism and the Liberation of the Self, Oxford University Press, 2015.
  17. Richman, Geoff and Marie Richman archive collection, Bishopsgate Institute, undated (accessed 8 August 2017).
  18. Extract from the Working Committee Minutes, Bulletin of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, No. 20, January 1969 (accessed via Marxists.org, 8 August 2017).
  19. 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 Celia Hughes, The Socio-Cultural Milieux of the Left in Post-War Britain (PhD Thesis), Warwick University, 2011 (accessed 8 August 2017).
  20. 20.0 20.1 Letter announcing formation of Camden Vietnam Solidarity Campaign branch, circa December 1968, Papers of Marie and Geoff Richman, Bishopsgate Institute, (vide infra).
  21. Geoffrey Crossick, London V.S.C. captures Saigon propaganda meeting, Vietnam Solidarity Bulletin, No. 20, January 1969 (accessed via Marxists.org).
  22. The following material is based on a reading of multiple copies of Red Camden to be found among the Geoff and Maria Richman archives, housed in the Bishopsgate Institute.
  23. Brent Town Hall Demo, Red Camden, Vol. 1, No.2, 17 February 1969.
  24. By Any Means Necessary, Wikipedia, undated (accessed 6 May 2018)
  25. Carole Cadwalladr, Undercover: The True Story of Britain's Secret Police Paul Lewis and Rob Evans – review, The Guardian, 9 June 2013 (accessed 7 May 2018).
  26. London: 1968, Tate Britain - web page for exhibition of 7 May - 31 October 2018 (accessed 6 May 2017).
  27. The Poster Workshop: About Us, PosterWorkshop.co.uk, undated (accessed 6 May 2018).
  28. Agitate Propagate - 68, Design Activism Research Hub (webpage for exhibition of 1-31st May, London College of Communications, 2018 (accessed 5 May 2018).
  29. Notice in Red Camden, Vol. 1, No.3, 5 March 1969. This is believed to be Roy Battersby, the TV director and Trotskyist activist, later active with the Workers Revolutionary Party.
  30. Roy Baker, 100 years of Protesting at Trafalgar Square (Part 2), Flashbak.com, 1 September 2014 (accessed 6 May 2018).
  31. Red Camden, Vol. 1, No.6, 21 April 1969.
  32. Red Camden, Vol. 1, No.6, 1 May 1969. Note from URG: chronology listed on the front of the publication appears to be in error.
  33. Red Camden, Vol. 1, No.6, 21 April 1969.
  34. UK: Madame Binh Of The Vietnamese NLF Addresses CND rally in Trafalgar Square, British Pathe, 7 Apr 1969 (accessed 7 May 1969).
  35. Geoff Crossick, 'Camden VSC in Black Pyjamas', Red Camden, Vol. 1, No. 6, 1 May 1969.
  36. 1968, Grosvenor Square – that’s where the protest should be made, WoodsmokeBlog, 18 August 2017 (accessed 10 February 2018).
  37. 37.0 37.1 Red Camden, Vol. 1, No. 6, 1 May 1969.
  38. Steve Merrett, 'Paris Weekend', Red Camden, Vol. 1, No. 7, 12 May 1969.
  39. 'Welcome to the P.R.G.', Red Camden, Vol. 1, No. 9, 23 June 1969. The pub is now the Horseshoe, 28 Heath Street, NW3 6TE.
  40. 'Liberation Tour', Red Camden, Vol. 1, No. 10, 14 July 1969.
  41. 'Mourning in Eton Avenue', Red Camden, Vol. 1, No.12, 19 September 1969.
  42. 'Weekend Commune', Red Camden, Vol. 1, No. 11, 19 August 1969.
  43. 43.0 43.1 Conrad Dixon, VSC "Autumn Offensive" (weekly report), Metropolitan Police Special Branch, 3 October 1968 (accessed via SpecialBranchFiles.UK).
  44. On 11 January 1969, 200 people demonstrated at Australia House and at the Savoy Hotel - where Premier John Gorton was staying.See: Australians, New Zealanders in London Protest War, New York Times, 12 January 1969 (accessed 8 May 2018). A leaflet entitled 'Get Gorton', calling for these protests is one of the few actual leaflets found among the archives of the Richmans.
  45. Application for a restriction Order (Anonymity) re: HN329, Metropolitan Police Service (via UCPI.org.uk), 30 March 2017 (accessed 5 August 2017).
  46. John Mitting, Applications for restriction orders in respect of the real and cover names of officers of the Special Operations Squad and the Special Demonstrations Squad ‘Minded to’ note, UCPI, 3 August 2017 (accessed 5 Oct 2017)
  47. This is presumably a reference to Mark Kennedy, whose exposure kicked off the spycops scandal in 2011.
  48. John Mitting, In the matter of section 19(3) of the Inquiries Act 2005 Applications for restriction orders in respect of the real and cover names of officers of the Special Operations Squad and the Special Demonstrations Squad ‘Minded to’ note, Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI.org.uk), 3 August 2017.
  49. David Barr & Kate Wilkinson, Counsel to the Inquiry's explanatory note to accompany the 'Minded to' note in respect of applications for restrictions over the real and cover names of officers of the Special Operations Squad and the Special Demonstration Squad, Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI.org.uk), 3 August 2017.
  50. Transcript of hearing of 21 November 2017, Undercover Policing Inquiry, 21 November 2017.
  51. Sir John Mitting, Applications for restriction orders in respect of the real and cover names of officers of the Special Operations Squad and the Special Demonstration Squad: Ruling, Undercover Policing Inquiry, 5 December 2017.
  52. See Wikipedia articles: Joseph Simpson & John Waldon (police officer) for further details & sources. Accessed 10 August 2017.
  53. Peter Brodie (police officer), Wikipedia, 2017 (accessed 10 August 2017).
  54. Obituary: Ferguson Smith, The Telegraph, 2013 (accessed 10 August 2017).
  55. Tentative identification of first name only based on material from the Wilson & Adams history of Special Branch (see page 240).
  56. 56.0 56.1 Anti Vietnam war – files overview, SpecialBranchFiles.uk, undated (accessed 10 August 2017).