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49.
Carbon copy of a typed letter co-authored by Michael Abdul Malik and Tod Lloyd, signed by both.
Single sheet, approx. 173 words + envelope.
Although undated, the letter seems likely to date from the period July 3-6, 1967. It calls for a meeting to be held at Jim Haynes’s house on the following Saturday, probably July 8, although it’s not known if this took place. The letter is headed with the names of several prominent countercultural figures - Jim Haynes, Jack Moore, Peter Jenner, Sue Miles, Bill Levy (to whom this copy was sent), Steve Abrams, Joe Boyd, Tod Lloyd (an American folksinger and co-founder with Joe Boyd of Witchseason Productions), and Michael Abdul Malik.
It begins: “Last night, Tod, Peter, and Michael met at some flat in the wilderness of Hampstead [probably Malik's]... Peter Jenner expressed a longing to sit in one room with the above mentioned people. He spoke with longing and fond memories of the days when most of us sat together with Hoppy. Michael spoke of fears and his private (but not now so private) suspicions of the lack of co-ordination and his wish for better communication. One thing decided was that we should get together at least once and say these things to each other. This could happen if we met at three sharp at Jim Haynes house on Saturday”, concluding: “we believe there would be many things agreed upon.”
The meetings referred to formed part of an ongoing conversation between the underground’s movers and shakers following the establishment’s campaign against the alternative society, in particular Hoppy’s bust and eventual imprisonment (June 1) and Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Robert Fraser’s jail sentences for drugs offences (June 29). Subsequent meetings led to the formation of Release (July 12), funded in part by a donation of £500 from Tod Lloyd.
The febrile atmosphere continued through the summer to the Dialectics of Liberation conference where Michael X shared the platform with Stokely Carmichael, and the RAAS meeting in Reading where he told the crowd: “In 1958 I saw white savages kicking black women in the streets [during the Notting Hill riots] and black brothers running away. If you ever see a white laying hands on a black woman, kill him immediately”, the ensuing outcry from which led to him becoming the first person to be imprisoned under the Race Relations Act.
Paper age-toned; folded in three; o/w Near Fine. Together with the original envelope addressed to Bill Levy, c/o International Times.
Price:
£225.00
