Granny Made Me an Anarchist: General Franco, the Angry Brigade and Me

Stuart Christie’s anarchist activities and brushes with the law make the Sex Pistols look like choir boys. –Sunday Express

A fascinating personal account … a remarkable picture of the late twentieth century, seen through sensitive eyes and interpreted by a compassionate, searching soul. –Noam Chomsky

In 1964, a fresh-faced, eighteen-year-old Glaswegian named Stuart Christie became the most famous anarchist in Britain. He was arrested delivering dynamite to Madrid to be used in the assassination of Spanish dictator General Franco. After serving three of his twenty-year sentence, he was released, due to international pressure from supporters like Bertrand Russell and Jean Paul Sartre. Eight years later, he was arrested again in England on suspicion of membership in the Angry Brigade–an armed group hell-bent on overthrowing the government–but was this time acquitted. Christie’s warm and witty memoir, from the tough streets of post-World War II Glasgow to the heady ideals of the Generation of ‘68, reads like a cloak-and-dagger political thriller.

Granny Made Me an Anarchist chronicles clandestine political maneuverings, life behind bars, and flirtations with radical youth who were convinced the government could be toppled and their country made anew. Avoiding the self-centered trappings of many 1960s memoirs, Christie’s lamentations shine light into the darkness and illuminate the human soul.

Stuart Christie was a founder of the Anarchist Black Cross, Black Flag magazine, and Cienfuegos Press. He has written numerous books on Left and anarchist history.