The Abolitionist 1979 - 1987

A cover of an edition of The Abolitionist

In 1970 Radical Alternatives to Prison (RAP) was established to introduce an abolitionist perspective to Britain. In 1979, RAP started publishing its own journal The Abolitionist. Between 1979 and RAP’s folding in 1987, twenty-two editions were published. For us at Abolitionist Futures these represented a valuable archive detailing British abolitionist organising 40 years ago. They showed that abolitionist organising was not a recent import from the United States, but represented a long-standing British commitment to abolition, particularly of the prison. We decided to build and host an archive of all twenty-two editions. These are now all available, each with a short introduction, on our website here.

1979: A (not so) different Britain

In 1979 when the first edition was published Britain had a Labour government which was already preparing the way for election later in 1979 of Margaret Thatcher by both a punitive turn in penal policy and the introduction of neoliberal austerity. Thatcher was to be in office from the second edition until the final edition (and for three further years). Jerry Westall, the RAP coordinator greeted her election by observing:

‘Everyone is feeling uneasy about the Thatcherite Government although a fair proportion of us don’t give a damn which party is in power as the State remains its oppressive self whatever the political complexity of the Government.’

Sadly, the last half century has proved the wisdom of his words. Labour, in power since 1974 had over the previous five years increased the England & Wales prison population by 15% (from 36,705 to 42,311), including a massive 44% increase in women imprisoned (from 1,003 to 1,452). Today the England and Wales prison population stands at 86,802, more than double the 1979 numbers, with the increase in women prisoners rising even more dramatically by over 240%.  The same period has seen an increased number of police officers - up from 109,607 to 147,746 and a far more dramatic increase in the private security industry which had increased from a few thousand to around a quarter of a million people today. In 1979 you could still legally squat, didn’t have to inform the police of demonstrations, had the absolute right to silence if arrested and a whole range of rights that have been eroded by subsequent governments. Probation Officers worked with clients rather than “offenders”. 

The period between 1979, when The Abolitionist was first published, and today has seen significant social change. While public attitudes have generally become more progressive and tolerant, on economic issues people have become increasingly conservative. Although the overall UK workforce increased during this period by over a third, there was a massive decline in the numbers working in mining (-88%) and manufacturing (-62%), whilst other sectors more than doubled their workforce with employment in real estate activities (+309%), accommodation & food services (+130%), health & social work (+162%), arts & entertainment (+124%); all dramatically increased. Jobs declined in working class areas and increased in London and the South-East. Jobs became less secure and the difference between the high and low paid increased dramatically. This transition was resisted and in particular during The Abolitionist’s life Britain experienced the miners strike. Issue 20 focuses on imprisoned strikers and calls for a political campaign for their release. In 1979 14% of children lived in poverty compared to 31% in 2019. In 1980 nearly a third of households lived in social housing (nearly all as Council tenants, paying on average a rent of £6.40 per week - equivalent to £35 today) and under 12% lived in private rented accommodation. By 2022, nearly 19% of tenures were private rented and social renters had declined to 16% (the majority in Registered Social Landlord property rather than council and paying, on average £105 per week, an inflation adjusted tripling). 

Radical Alternatives to Prison (RAP)

By the time RAP started publishing The Abolitionist it had been organising for nine years. Issue No 6 celebrated RAP’s tenth anniversary and provides a good insight into its earlier history. From the beginning RAP sought to support prisoners and develop alliances with them. Throughout its history RAP worked closely with PROP, the prisoners’ rights group, and was involved in the establishment of a number of other radical groups that emerged in the 1980s including INQUEST, Women in Secure Hospitals (WISH) and Women in Prison, (WIP), groups that continue to operate today. This commitment to collaborative working is reflected in the content of The Abolitionist which provides insights in a range of the contributions of the various groups established during the 1980s.

RAP was committed to both the abolition of prison and to the development of alternatives. RAP’s initial vision was that prison was to be abolished along with the wider coercive and punitive system which it underpinned and in its place a series of community-based, non-coercive services were to be developed. Prior to the publication of The Abolitionist, RAP published a regular Newsletter. We are hoping to digitalise the copies of these we have in the coming year alongside a number of other RAP publications.

UK Abolition in the 1980s

In the 1980s RAP’s understanding of abolition was firmly centered on prisons. The Abolitionist includes many really excellent critiques of the prison both from RAP members and in the regular supplements provided by PROP - the Prisoners movement, Women in Prison and Inquest. There is a lot of good content supporting prisoners’ protests and their repression (see for example PROP’s Geoff Coggan’s article in issue 11.) The division between reform and abolition is not always clear and on occasions the articles in The Abolitionist advocate what we would now describe as reformist reforms - reforms likely to strengthen the prison. The focus was much more on the internal operations of prisons - and ways of changing them - and less on developing a critique of the wider social systems that generate the need for cages. There was little in the twenty-two editions on the police. 

Throughout the various editions The Abolitionist consistently gave a voice to prisoners. This was both through the supplements produced by PROP and Women in Prison (who regularly included updates from serving or recently released prisons) and the RAP content (see for example peace activist, Karen Robinson, in Issue 18, whose contribution feels particularly relevant at a time when environmentalist and anti-police protesters are being incarcerated).  

RAP clearly saw value in engaging with both official consultations and the media. RAP, often in tandem with other organisations, particularly PROP, made quite detailed responses to government consultations and provided detailed critiques of government White Papers (see for example the editorial in Issue 21) and other policy initiatives (see RAP’s submission to The Committee on Prison Discipline in Issue 17). The prison medical service regularly featured regularly (see for example Frank Kelley’s article ‘The Home Office and The Liquid Cosh’ in Issue 1 and Tim Owen’s analysis of official figures of drugs administered in Issue 7). There were also regular attempts to engage with the media. There were also a number of critical engagements with mainstream reform organisations that, whilst not winning them to the cause of abolition, do seem to have shaken their complacency and forced them at times to develop a more critical attitude to government.

Throughout its history RAP attempted to develop alternatives, most significantly through the Newman Alternatives Project (NAP) set up in 1974 in east London as an action/research project providing support and activities for women and men who, on conviction, had their sentencing deferred. The idea was that when they returned to court their participation in NAP would provide sufficient evidence for magistrates to restrain themselves from sentencing them to prison. A similar scheme was set up by RAP activists in Brighton. RAP’s Bristol Group was active and regularly produced a League Table identifying how rates of imprisonment ranged across the country, with people in some areas four times more likely to be imprisoned than those appearing before magistrates in a different part of the country.

Reading the archive it becomes clear that there were some tensions within RAP around what abolition meant to different members. This is clear in RAP’s attempt to development policy around sexual violence with a significant faction, early advocates of carceral feminism, arguing for a fundamentally punitive approach.  RAP also attempted to engage with the “what about the murders and rapists” question - see in particular editions 9, 10 and 11. These were clearly difficult discussions and often led to partial endorsement of the penal system and the use of (shorter) prison sentences. However, as these readings from the Abolitionist Futures’ reading group show, abolitionist thinking has developed considerably over the last forty years. These issues had a significant impact with contributors increasingly seeing an inherent conflict between the interests of “victims” and “offenders” (see issue 12) These tensions continued and the drift from abolitionism is summed up by Tony Ward asking ‘are there some kinds of crime against which socialists or libertarians should accept, or even encourage, the use of the repressive machinery of the state?’.

Although RAP was established in the 1970s, the 1980s saw a number of organisations emerge that continue today. These include Inquest and Women in Prison, with RAP activists being involved in the foundation of both. The Abolitionist Archive includes, from issue No 15, regular inserted bulletins from both. The prisoners union, PROP, also included their Prison Briefing, providing a voice for prisoners. Their contributions enrich the archive. 

 The Abolitionist and Abolition Today

The 23 editions of The Abolitionist available on our website are a valuable resource for organisers today. Abolition activism has a long history and we owe it to those who went before to both acknowledge their contributions and learn from them. Abolition is an ongoing struggle.

Demonstrating the creative potential of The Abolitionist archive ally, Dalton and Phoenix in collaboration with us, created a project fusing creative workshops and art, with abolition. As part of the project a call out was made for five poster commissions, inspired by themes explored in The Abolitionist. Some truly amazing submissions were received and the final commissioned artworks are displayed below.

The posters below are from artists that have shared their work under creative commons licence. Creative commons licence: CC BY-NC-ND This license enables reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.

Kyle @tryingtoslwwp We are each other's business

“We are each other’s harvest: we are each other’s business: we are each other’s magnitude and bond”. I love this line because I think it makes visible the beauty of collective care for abolitionist futures.'

Leela @leela.keshav Sowing Resistance

'Seeds — as migratory beings that hold the promise of future life — teach us about emergence and transformation. In this poster, people emerge from soil like sprouting seeds, helping each other grow toward liberatory, abolitionist futures.'

Rosa @the_rosa_artist The Radical Abolitionist Compost Heap

‘What if compost could be a fertile common ground for growing abolitionist futures? Building on Ruth Wilson Gilmore’s work of ‘abolition as presence’ rather than absence and wriggling through our radical imaginations, you are invited to add to the collaborative abolitionist compost heap, sow radical seeds, grow liberated futures.'

Dudley @chekhovs_gunge Write letters to people in prison

'A digital image about envelopes flying over the fences, because letters stop the soul from a slow death in prison, and connection is vital.'

Pear @pearpiesyrup Strong roots, tight knit

'Too often "healing" is co-opted into something individual and apolitical when community care is necessary, as we already have everything we need to create an abolitionist future.'

The Artist bios can be read here

The posters are all looking forward, they may have been inspired by the 1980s magazine but they reflect 2020s abolitionist organising. Whereas in the 1980s the focus was almost exclusively on prison abolition (or at least reduction) the 2020s posters demonstrate the commitment to what Aviah Sarah Day and Shanice Octavia McBean describe as Abolition Revolution, a recognition that abolition requires social transformation as well as the closure of institutions. Dudley’s solidarity with prisoners is complimented by Pear’s rejection of policing and Kyle, Pear, Rosa and Leela’s belief that through community organising and mutual help we can build abolitionist futures.

We would welcome any engagements others have with this archive and in particular we would love to publish short articles responding to issues the material contained in The Abolitionist archive raises for contemporary organising and struggles.