Material

Britain is currently entering a new cycle of rearmament, expanding the reach of its nuclear capability, increasing military spending for NATO, and continuing to support Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Those opposing this escalation have been met with increasing repression, through the use of counter-terror legislation, draconian sentencing of protesters and the proscription of groups engaged in direct action.

In this context, For Peace! revisit the peace movement’s material history, to try and better understand the diversity of tactics and intersecting movements which have shaped it. We hope that this publication acts as a resource and inspiration for those struggling for a demilitarised world today.

We orient the history of the peace movement away from a few well-known campaigns to highlight less-known histories that are nonetheless integral to the struggles for a demilitarised world. For Peace! interweaves historical strands from the workers’ movement, Women’s Liberation, anti-colonial, socialist, and anarchist movements to address questions of non-violence, class, international solidarity, and the role of liberation struggles.

For Peace! is structured around two gestures of the peace movement. Looking Inwards we feature efforts to disarm the British state and remove US bases. Looking Outwards we showcase international networks of solidarity and highlight the colonial legacy of global weapons infrastructure. This publication is based on physical exhibitions at Glasgow Women’s Library and Four Corners Gallery (London) mounted in the Spring/Summer of 2025.

The material links to the For Peace! Digital Archive hosted at MayDay Rooms Archive, where you can explore the full digitised documents. The materials presented draw from archives in the MayDay Rooms, Glasgow Women’s Library, the Spirit of Revolt archive, Statewatch and Four Corners, as well personal collections of some of the movements and groups represented.

Join us to celebrate the launch of the new book Abolishing Capitalist Totality: What Is To be Done under Real Subsumption? published by Minor Compositions. The book brings together texts and interventions from a wide range of theorists, artists and poets critically intervening on questions of subsumption and totality in capitalism. We will be joined by editors Anthony Iles and Mattin alongside contributors Neil Gray and Sacha Kahir for a discussion on the process of making the book and the ideas it engages chaired by Shona Macnaughton. The book will be available for purchase for the special launch price of £15.

The concept of subsumption informs an account of how capital seizes hold of social forms and shapes them to its ends. Subsumption can also help us describe what is shaped by capital and what is used as found, therefore how we might meaningfully begin to distinguish between thought processes and social processes, between capital as a seemingly self-perfecting system and the contradictory realities and inequalities of capitalist society. This anthology combines new translations of seminal communist theory from the archives, poetic interventions and recent critical exchanges which each contribute to a radical reconstruction of the concepts of subsumption and totality.

Contributions by: Sean Bonney, Nadia Bou Ali, Anne Boyer, Ray Brassier, Federico Corriente, Andrei Chitu, Loss Choi, Luisa Lorenza Corna, Bolívar Echeverría, Endnotes, Neil Gray, Danny Hayward, Em Hedditch, Anthony Iles, Lisa Jeschke, Sacha Kahir, Jessika Khazrik, Dimitra Kotouza, Rob Lucas, Mattin, Négation, Andrés Saenz de Sicilia, Roland Simon, Théorie Communiste, Marina Vishmidt.