What we’re about
The Left Culture Club hosts social events, skill-sharing workshops, cultural activities, film screenings, reading groups and games nights for London's progressives, dissidents, and radicals. Everyone is welcome, whatever your politics or your level of political committment.
The Club was created to solve a problem: how do we bring together all people trying to face the political, economic and social challenges of our times and give them a space to understand each other better, without making political parties or activist organisations the starting point? There's nothing worse than trying to get to know people and explore progressive politics when the price of admission to these spaces is making all the right political committments, reading all the right literature, or having the right backstory. The LCC wants to make the political left a welcoming place again, and that means providing a space for progressives and radicals to move together without having to sign up to each others' newsletters from day one.
If you ever wanted to learn more about emancipatory politics, or if you've ever felt like your activist group or political org wasn't providing the social space that every broad movement needs in order to hold itself together, then the Left Culture Club is for you.
We're committed to making every one of our events welcoming and safe for everybody. Our spaces are non-partisan, but not apolitical. Racism, sexism, antisemitism, classism, forms of discrimination based on sexual preference or gender identity: all these are obviously way out of line. If you are a victim of bigotry or harrasment at any of our events, please raise this with an organiser who will act appropriately. We broadly follow this code of conduct https://wiki.dbzer0.com/the-anarchist-code-of-conduct/.
Upcoming events (3)
See all- LCC Nature Walks: EPPING FOREST, Earl's Path & Wake Valley Pond [EAST LONDON]Chingford Station, E4 6AL
Hello walkers! For our next one, we're off to Epping for a roughly 9km hike along the ancient Earl's Path, via Wake Valley Pond. Epping Forest is London's largest forest, inclusive of 2,400 hectares of ancient woodland stretching from Epping, Essex in the north down to Chingford in North London. Once known as "Cockney Paradise", its long, eventful ecological, economic and political biography gives it a central place in the natural history of London's working-class East End.
Our route for this hike will follow Earl's Path around the south and central areas of Epping Forest, starting and finishing at the southern entry-paths to the Forest a few minute's walk from Chingford Station. The walk will begin at noon - we should be back at Chingford within around 3 or 4 hours. There's a pub in the forest which can provide restrooms or even a possible lunch/pint depending on how we feel. This path gets muddy, so bring good boots or walking shoes and as ever, prepare for whatever weather comes our way.
The forest lies on a ridge between the valleys of the rivers Lea and Roding and contains contains areas of woodland, grassland, heath, streams, bogs and ponds. Its elevation and thin gravelly soil (the result of glaciation) historically made it less suitable for agriculture. Historically managed as a common, the land has been held by a number of local landowners who exercised economic rights over aspects such as timber, while local commoners had grazing and other rights. In the medieval period, it was designated a royal forest meaning that only the monarch had the right to hunt deer.
In July 1871, around 30,000 East Londoners gathered on Wanstead Flats to protest about fences which had been erected there by Earl Cowley to enclose forest land. Clashing with police and even overcoming a mounted squad, the crowd were able to break down and smash the enclosing fences. The action attracted nationwide attention, much of it critical of the government. After years of subsequent legal wrangling, two acts of Parliament in 1871 and '72 allowed the government of London to compulsorily purchase the land, creating the public forest we know today. The consequence of this victory was that only 10% of Epping Forest has been lost to enclosure (mainly in the south), compared to 92% of nearby Hainault Forest.
Our route begins a bit further south at Chingford, but for a general idea of the route, check out: https://www.alltrails.com/en-gb/trail/england/essex/earl-s-path-to-wake-valley-pond
- LCC History: 3 Acres and A CowCecil Sharp House,, London
We will be going to Three Acres And A Cow, a show about the history of land rights and protest in folk song and story on 1st May. Please get your own tickets here https://www.efdss.org/whats-on/26-gigs/14342-three-acres-and-a-cow-2025
The show connects the Norman Conquest and Peasants’ Revolt with current issues like the housing crisis, reparations, climate breakdown and food sovereignty via the Enclosures, English Civil War, Irish Land League and Industrial Revolution, drawing a compelling narrative through the radical people’s history of England in folk song, stories and poems.
Part TED talk, part history lecture, part folk club sing-a-long, part storytelling session… Come and share in these tales as they have been shared for generations
"Three acres and a cow" was a slogan used in the 1880s by campaigners for land reform in the struggle against rural poverty. It refers to an ideal land holding for every citizen.
Please note, we are committed to making every one of our events welcoming and safe for everybody. Our spaces are non-partisan, but not apolitical. Racism, sexism, antisemitism, classism, forms of discrimination based on sexual preference or gender identity are not tolerated. If you are a victim of bigotry or harassment at any of our events, please raise this with an organiser, who will act appropriately. We broadly follow this code of conduct https://wiki.dbzer0.com/the-anarchist-code-of-conduct
![LCC Nature Walks: EPPING FOREST, Earl's Path & Wake Valley Pond [EAST LONDON] cover photo](https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/d/5/0/5/event_526734533.webp "LCC Nature Walks: EPPING FOREST, Earl's Path & Wake Valley Pond [EAST LONDON]")
