Entertaining underground classic, but I miss Snowy

I was surprised to learn that this book has been reprinted, and is available on Amazon. It has even been reviewed by some Tintin aficionados. In my younger days, "Breaking Free" was something of an underground classic. At least according to urban legend, British prime minister Margaret Thatcher actually commented on this book, and said she was "utterly revolted". I'm not sure if I believe that story, but it sure makes for good promotion!

"Breaking Free" was first published in 1989. It's supposedly written by one Jack Daniels, a member of an otherwise almost unknown anarchist group in Britain, Attack International. If this group even exists except in name only, it must be very small. "Breaking Free" mimics and parodies a respectable Belgian cartoon, The Adventures of Tintin. In Jack Daniels' version, Tintin and Captain Haddock are anarchist revolutionaries, and one of the Thompson Twins is Black! Some of the other characters are also pilfered from the original cartoon. The union boss Jones looks like Frank Wolff from "Destination Moon". Some other characters are peculiar to "Breaking Free", including the lesbian Nicky. As several other reviewers have pointed out, Tintin's dog Snowy isn't included (except on the cover).

Of course, the plot of "Breaking Free" has absolutely nothing in common with the original Tintin. The Tintin rip-off is a commercial trick to make the book more interesting. Otherwise, it's a fairly straightforward anarchist story. And yes, the political message is supposed to be taken seriously. It's very naïve, but then, anarchist politics *are* naïve.

"Breaking Free" is about an anarchist revolution in Britain which starts as a protest against corrupt management and inefficient labor unions on one single worksite. The workers go out on strike, scabs and cops show up, and the whole thing escalates through a series of riots and protest marches until the entire country goes out on a general strike. No revolutionary leadership seems to exist, and the whole thing is run democratically by "regional strike co-ordinations". In some strange way, the influence of the TUC and the Labour Party (and the Trotskyists) just melts away. Even in my younger and more radical days, I could see that there was *something* wrong with this easy scenario, LOL.

But then, wouldn't it be fun to own a copy of a book that made Margaret Thatcher mad? Besides, Attack International were sure better at making anarchist propaganda than the punks at "Class War"!