An investigation by Tony Aspler into the literary and artistic underground movement in London; including the voices of William Burroughs, Jim Haynes, Charles Marowitz, Miles, John Hopkins, Tom McGrath and others

Anarchy in the City
A revolution is happening in our midst - a revolution without leaders, without a manifesto, without confrontations. Activists throw flowers, not grenades: their philosophy is love and permissiveness. They are the Underground. The movement in London is a loose-knit army of like-minded young people whose grass roots are CND with a throw-back to Dadaism. They embrace the novels of William Burroughs and the pop songs of The Beatles. American beat poets such as Allen Ginsberg are their heroes and the Provos in Amsterdam their comrades-in-arms. They are the impatient generation who want freedom to take drugs, to stay up all night, to enjoy themselves now. The Underground is deliberately constructing its own society, trying to draw together all avant-garde activity and social anarchism in the city. The centre is Holborn where the movement's newspaper is published.
The Angry Young Men - a decade before - became emasculated as they grew fat from Establishment presses. The Underground, mindful of this, is setting up its own institutions - publishers, theatres, clubs. Its sympathisers are legion - young people who find points of contact with the movement without accepting its total canvas. Psychedelic light-shows, wild clothes fashions, LSD, underground films, 'acid-rock' songs, street happenings - these are all manifestations of Underground activity. How important is this new movement artistically and sociologically? Is London really becoming the 'hipster capital of the world?' And just how powerful a pressure group can the movement become to bring about the changes it demands in society?
(Tony Aspler)