Chris Tchaikovsky on Radio 4 - a great radio drama

[nauticant]

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000m09w

The story of self-confessed outlaw and villain, activist, fraudster, lesbian club owner and visionary, Chris Tchaikovsky - a woman who defied definition and found homes in multiple worlds.

An extraordinarily non-compliant woman and how she reacted to the criminal justice system. The word "queer" makes one appearance but the rest of the time it's lesbians this and lesbians that.

That sounds good OP, thanks for sharing, will listen.

Thanks for posting the link.

I meant to share in time for the broadcast this afternoon and forgot

I was disappointed that the play didn't concentrate more on the politics but as it was a compilation from friends it was more likely to feature their personal memories.

There was a brief mention of how she wasn't always accepted by the WLM "establishment" (if there was such a thing) but certainly true that working class women did not get the respect they were due, often for the very grassroots work that middle class socialist feminists said was the model for organising, but didn't themselves do it! (There were similar problems in the early days of Women's Aid when many refuges were set up and maintained by local working class women.)

Along with the other projects she initiated worth pointing out that Women in Prison still exists. But whether delivery of service is by ex offenders rather than "trained professionals" I dont know.

But her work was hugely important in recognising that women often finished up in prison, as much because the life imposed on them because they were women, was difficult to survive.

www.womeninprison.org.uk/

I hadn't realised what happened towards the end of her own life and am sad she couldn't have had a happier ending.

And yes! queer is a contemporary view point being imposed on an earlier politics.

You've got to pay attention at the start to tune in to who is who when they're speaking but once that's done it tells of a life that's worth remembering.

It's also a very clear example of women not getting things done by being nice.

I listened to this while driving yesterday. It's great. Thanks for posting it up.

The writer of this radio play is going to be on Woman's Hour shortly.