Commitment

Commitment was an anarchist group based in south London in the early 1970s. It shared members with the Young Liberals (YL). Young Liberals (YL) The youth wing of the Liberal Party, this radical and active youth movement attracted about 25,000 members during its heyday in the late 1960s. Dubbed the ‘Red Guard’ by the media, former Young Liberals include Inquiry core participants Lord Peter Hain and Tony Bunyan.  Prominent YL member and chair of anti-apartheid group Stop The Seventy Tour (STST) Stop The Seventy Tour (STST) Stop the Seventy Tour (STST) was an anti-apartheid group active from 1969 to late 1970, specifically aimed at preventing or disrupting a South African cricketers’ tour of England. It was started by members of other anti-apartheid campaigns, including Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM), South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (SANROC) and the Reading Joint Anti-Apartheid Committee. STST was spied on by HN135 Michael Ferguson, HN298 'Michael Scott', HN336 'Dick Epps', and HN346 Jill Mosdell. Full page: Stop The Seventy Tour (STST)  Peter Hain mentions Commitment in his witness statement to the inquiry. First Witness Statement of Lord Peter Hain (non state core participant), given in the UCPI, Tranche 1, Phase 2, 3 Mar 2020.View Document He recalls, for example, that Commitment activists attended the 1972 YL national conference, calling on people to burn their census forms to disrupt the National Census. Report on the Young Liberal Movement annual conference 1972, held at the Winter Gardens, Morecombe 31 March – 3 April 1972 , 4 May 1972, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, UCPI0000008255.View Document

Hain’s recollection is corroborated by an SDS report discussing Commitment’s intervention in the 1972 conference and noting that the group viewed electoral politics with suspicion. This report also stated that the group had aligned itself with the Claimants Union. Claimants Union (CU) The Claimants’ Union (CU) movement was a collection of benefit claimants’ unions, at its most active in the 1970s. Organised without hierarchy, they campaigned for basic income without means-testing or cohabitation rules and were explicitly anti-capitalist and anti-fascist in ethos. London CUs were spied on by HN299/HN342 'David Hughes' between 1970 and 1974 and were of interest to the broader surveillance state. Full page: Claimants Union (CU) Report on the Young Liberal Movement annual conference 1972, held at the Winter Gardens, Morecombe 31 March – 3 April 1972 , 4 May 1972, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, UCPI0000008255.View Document

Undercover officer HN298 ‘Michael Scott’ HN298 'Michael Scott' ‘Michael Scott’ is the assumed name of a former SDS undercover officer who infiltrated the Putney branch of the Young Liberals, Croydon anarchist group Commitment, the Little Ilford branch of the Workers Revolutionary Party and the central London branch of the Anti-Internment League between 1972 and 1976. In 1972, he did not reveal his true identity to the court when convicted alongside three anti-apartheid activists, leading to their convictions being overturned in 2023. The reliability of his testimony about the Young Liberals was challenged in the Inquiry by core participant Peter Hain.  spied on the Young Liberals and Croydon Libertarians. He claimed that both of these groups shared members and aims with Commitment. Former Croydon Libertarian, Kevin Eady, denied this in correspondence with the Undercover Research Group, however, writing that the group was specifically anarchist in outlook. Kevin Eady, Correspondence with URG (Commitment/Croydon Libertarians), Undercover Research Group, 2021.

The SDS reported that Commitment advocated 'industrial sabotage'. Minute sheet of reports of arrests and charges of demonstrators against English Rugby Team's departure for South Africa, May-June 1972, 17 May 1972, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, MPS-0526782.View Document  Beyond this, Commitment’s aims and structure remain unknown. 

According to the SDS, most Commitment members were also members of Putney Young Liberals, which was Hain's branch. Hain mentioned in his witness statement that Commitment was a disruptive influence on YL meetings. First Witness Statement of Lord Peter Hain (non state core participant), given in the UCPI, Tranche 1, Phase 2, 3 Mar 2020.View Document

The only other mention of Commitment is a Special Branch report on members holding a joint meeting with Croydon Libertarians in August 1972 attended by seven people. Report on a meeting of South London Commitment and the Croydon Libertarians, held at redacted address on 22 Aug 1972, 25 Aug 1972, Metropolitan Police Special Branch, UCPI0000008780.View Document

Sources

First witness statement of Peter Hain. First Witness Statement of Lord Peter Hain (non state core participant), given in the UCPI, Tranche 1, Phase 2, 3 Mar 2020.View Document