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20 years ago, in April 1987, 15 local unemployed people, and a couple of students, set up the Mutual Aid Centre as an alternative space.

Mutual Aid Centre - The Untold Story

By Dave Green

'I was angry about the way we were being treated - I had seen friends I had grown up with getting into drugs, destroyed by unemployment. I had seen members of my family talked down to, told they weren't needed. I knew I was someone, I knew my life was important, but in the dole office, they spoke and looked at me like I was a piece of shit. People who worked told me I was lazy and didn't want to work. At the time 'dole scroungers' was all over the papers and Liverpool was suffering the brunt of government policy. Unemployment was politicising me and I understood more about the capitalist system. Getting involved in the Mutual Aid Centre was great; I felt I'd finally found myself; there was a great feeling of togetherness and comradeship'.

People were questioning the very meaning of life, work and everything else.

It began with 15 local unemployed people and a couple of students, occupying what is now 'Millennium House' (the Old Daily Post and Echo building) on Whitechapel/Victoria Street. We set up an advice centre, veggie/vegan café, a film and lecture space and a general social centre. It was our aim to be free from hierarchical values or groups.
The MAC (as it became known) presented an alternative way of organising political and social activity, and of living, and in the process it became a pain in the arse to the local bureaucracy of the city. It fought the council in the courts, the bailiffs on the streets and challenged the local council to prove its socialist credentials by demanding they support something that was offering a real alternative. When the left wing council broke all their promises, and evicted the first MAC, in July 87, 40 activists occupied the council building, blockaded the deputy leader's office, spoke to the press on the deputy leaders phone and refused to leave until the council understood what they were dealing with, a growing movement of largely young but determined revolutionaries. Revolutionaries serious about their intentions, unprepared to accept the weak claims by so-called socialist councillors and their supporters, all working towards playing their part in maintaining the status quo.

Those involved in the MAC did not respect authority, they had no time for false socialists, they believed in living their politics. They did not respect laws that were there solely to protect the interests of those in power and the maintenance of the status quo. They were not prepared to let fear get in the way of them breaking those laws. They believed in representing themselves and did not respect nor have faith in anyone who claimed to represent them, and they did not care if they had the sympathy of local nor national government.

Within weeks of the eviction the MAC group had established the second Mutual Aid Centre at 45 Seel Street, a 4-story building, much easier to secure and manage than the first one. This time the council left them alone. They stayed for more than eight years, organising claimants' unions, anti poll tax campaigns, anti deportation campaigns, a café, food co-ops, films, meeting spaces, national and international conferences and so much more. Whilst there they campaigned against forced labour schemes and deportations by taking the fight directly to those administering the attacks. They occupied employment scheme offices and immigration offices, arriving before most of the staff did, forcing the offices to close for the day. Many of those involved ended up in police cells, some in prison for their beliefs.

Then there was the famous all night parties with loads of poets, comedians, acoustics and bands - with the likes of David Gray, early 'Cast' and Liverpool's best unsigned 'the Zeb'. Those who attended got a taste of a world without bouncers, without aggression, an atmosphere that would change the hearts and minds of all those who entered. They had women's groups, lesbian and gay groups, and even space for others to hire rooms.

Along the way they chased the National Front and BNP off the streets of Liverpool. The MAC was living proof that people can police their own affairs, without calling on the state to do it.

The MAC became the political base for a generation of radicals; it challenged bailiffs, police, drug dealers and bouncers; not by appealing to their conscience, but by confronting them.

As well as being an incredible educational and learning experience for all those involved, it also educated the hundreds of other people who passed through its doors. Furthermore it never compromised its radical stance in order to appeal to others.

Was the MAC a thing of its time, part of the last gasps of resistance? Could it happen again?
Although part of Liverpool, the Mac was also a response to the growing encroachment of a western power that cared very little about ordinary people, and was attacking the very organisations that had been established to defend it. A world that was putting handcuffs on all those who still had humanity in their hearts. Many of those involved are still continuing their struggles, be it working in schools, youth centres, colleges, social and advice services, social enterprises, their communities, factories, libraries, playing in bands, sleeping on the streets, or doing time at Her Majesty's pleasure. They are still there trying to make a difference, trying to influence those around them. Many, although hardened by the authority that was thrown at them, still kept their humanity, their concern for the world.

If you ask many of those who gave important years of their life to trying to make the world a better place, most will not only say 'they never regretted a minute', but they will also say that being part of it 'was the happiest time of their life'.

Coming soon: The Mutual Aid Centre, the full story.
If you would like to reserve your copy email: mutualaidcentre@yahoo.co.uk

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Comment left by Joe Owens on 9th May, 2008 at 22:28
Hi You never totally had your way with the NF and BNP. I remember cracking a few commies coming out of the MAC. Joe Owens

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