Chris Tame, who has died aged 56 of bone cancer,
devoted his life to radical individualist politics, principally as
founder of the Libertarian Alliance, manager of the Alternative
Bookshop and later director of Forest (Freedom Organisation for the
Right to Enjoy Tobacco). A prolific publisher and writer, in the
mid-1980s he was a producer on Channel 4's Diverse Reports
series, which alternated between libertarian and socialist
perspectives on topical issues.
His political beliefs were initially, as he explained in a 1985
essay,
The New Enlightenment, culturally driven. A childhood love of
science fiction and popular culture provided escapism from drab postwar Britain and stimulated admiration for heroic individuals,
such as pioneering scientists, space explorers or defenders of
justice. His other early enthusiasms were for surf music and
rock'n'roll (he was a devoted Elvis Presley fan), which cemented his
predilection for free-spirited individuality. High culture, he
argued, was supportive of social hierarchy or of collectivist
values.
It was the Russian emigre writer Ayn Rand who provided the bridge
from Tame's individualism to full-blown anti-statist politics. Rand
articulated a radical individualism based upon self-ownership and
"objectivist reason". Her aggressive style appealed to Tame's
uncompromising personality. He came to believe that the social
democratic consensus entrenched the status quo rather than bringing
about economic and spiritual transformation in the lives of people
from his own background.
He had been born into a working-class family in Enfield, London, his
father a process engraver and shop steward, his mother a nurse. The
family then moved to Godalming, Surrey, where he was educated at a
Church of England primary school, the local secondary modern and
finally a grammar school.
It was while reading American studies at Hull University that Tame
became active in the Conservative students' organisation (then led
by future journalist Andrew Neil). Since it was dominated by
Heathites and authoritarians, he found this an ideologically arid
environment. True to his propensity for controversy, he announced
his departure from the rostrum at an annual Tory student conference
in the early 1970s. He never went back. The Conservative party was
in his opinion too dominated by a "corporate elite" wedded to
lobbying for state handouts and restrictions on the rights of trade
unions - in his words "corrupt state capitalism".
Having left the party, he focused on building and formalising the
Libertarian Alliance (LA) that he had created in 1967 as a
discussion forum. In 1979 Tame became its director and instigated a
regular journal,
Free Life,
together with public meetings and campaigns. During the Thatcher
era, the alliance exposed the contradictions of Conservatives who
claimed to support free market economics yet demanded that "obscene"
publications be censored and other civil liberties compromised.
At the 1990 Tory conference, Tame masterminded an invasion by
scantily clad models claiming to be "Conservatives against sex
censorship" at a rally organised by Mary Whitehouse. Another
campaign was aimed at equalising the age of consent for homosexuals.
The alliance's influence was greatly assisted by Tame's setting up
of the Alternative Bookshop in 1979 in Covent Garden, London. A
magnet for those seeking libertarian, classical liberal and
anarchist literature, it provided a salon atmosphere in which Tame
could often be found in debate with socialists and other opponents.
Some on the left took things a little further; members of the
Socialist Workers party would periodically knock over display stands
and throw books from the shelves. Once, the shop had a Molotov
cocktail thrown through its windows. It was shut in 1985 by market
forces driving up rent rather than by Marxist direct action.
Tame found a series of short-term jobs until his appointment as
director of Forest in 1988. His credentials to fight anti-tobacco prohibitionism were impeccable: he was a devout non-smoker. He
believed smokers' rights should be based on respect for private
property rights. In 1995, the tobacco industry, which funded Forest,
removed Tame as director, believing his approach to be too
confrontational and abstract.
He succeeded in one of his last ambitions: to give a presentation
with his friend Sean Gabb
on "cultural revolution" at the Libertarian Alliance International
conference, held last November at the
National Liberal Club. He was
married and divorced twice, and is survived by his mother.
Christopher Tame, campaigner, born December 20 1949; died March 20
2006