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The Women’s Liberation Movement and the gendering of undercover police surveillance in 1970s Britain: the public inquiry as (un)ethical archive

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History Workshop Journal

Swansea University Author: Sarah Crook Orcid Logo

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Abstract

In the 1970s an undercover police officer was planted in the feminist movement in Britain. Across two years, this female officer shared activist plans, notes from large and small meetings, and feminist print material with officers in Special Branch. Nothing of interest was uncovered during this exte...

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Published in: History Workshop Journal
ISSN: 1363-3554 1477-4569
Published: OUP 2026
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa70107
first_indexed 2025-08-04T12:42:33Z
last_indexed 2025-11-18T09:55:45Z
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spelling 2025-11-17T13:45:11.4077323 v2 70107 2025-08-04 The Women’s Liberation Movement and the gendering of undercover police surveillance in 1970s Britain: the public inquiry as (un)ethical archive b35484cf604604b6d6bc6873677417d1 0000-0002-1288-1488 Sarah Crook Sarah Crook true false 2025-08-04 CACS In the 1970s an undercover police officer was planted in the feminist movement in Britain. Across two years, this female officer shared activist plans, notes from large and small meetings, and feminist print material with officers in Special Branch. Nothing of interest was uncovered during this extended spell in the movement, and no plans that threatened state security were thwarted. But her time in the movement is important to historians, nonetheless; not only does it reveals the patriarchal investments of the secret state, but she inadvertently created an archive of feminist activist documents. The use of this archive, made openly available online by the Undercover Policing Inquiry (2015-ongoing), opens up knotty questions about consent and complicity for historians. This article uses evidence given to the Undercover Policing Inquiry to explore the Women’s Liberation Movement’s perceived threat to social order, arguing that the testimony shows that the movement – in significant part because of activists’ links with other movements on the Left – was taken more seriously by the British state than has previously been acknowledged. Through a focus on a female police officer, I explore women’s position as both perpetrators and victims of state surveillance in this period. The article also examines the ethics of using materials that have been made available by a public inquiry into state surveillance for historical research. It does not seek to resolve the tensions between privacy, openness, justice, and feminist research methods that this public inquiry exposes, but rather formulates some of the questions, and suggests some tentative responses to the issues it invokes. It suggests that the testimony of spied-upon activists can be seen as a reclamation of control and a retrieval of power, and that their contributions to the Inquiry are entwined with a broader tradition ‘talking back’ and reclaiming power from the state. Journal Article History Workshop Journal OUP 1363-3554 1477-4569 1 3 2026 2026-03-01 COLLEGE NANME Culture and Communications School COLLEGE CODE CACS Swansea University 2025-11-17T13:45:11.4077323 2025-08-04T13:36:40.3193276 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - History Sarah Crook 0000-0002-1288-1488 1 70107__35103__21de8a66a51e42e5a412200bff7f30ba.pdf 70107.AAM.pdf 2025-09-17T13:41:14.8755776 Output 345647 application/pdf Accepted Manuscript true 2025-10-17T00:00:00.0000000 Author accepted manuscript document released under the terms of a Creative Commons CC-BY licence using the Swansea University Research Publications Policy (rights retention). true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en
title The Women’s Liberation Movement and the gendering of undercover police surveillance in 1970s Britain: the public inquiry as (un)ethical archive
spellingShingle The Women’s Liberation Movement and the gendering of undercover police surveillance in 1970s Britain: the public inquiry as (un)ethical archive
Sarah Crook
title_short The Women’s Liberation Movement and the gendering of undercover police surveillance in 1970s Britain: the public inquiry as (un)ethical archive
title_full The Women’s Liberation Movement and the gendering of undercover police surveillance in 1970s Britain: the public inquiry as (un)ethical archive
title_fullStr The Women’s Liberation Movement and the gendering of undercover police surveillance in 1970s Britain: the public inquiry as (un)ethical archive
title_full_unstemmed The Women’s Liberation Movement and the gendering of undercover police surveillance in 1970s Britain: the public inquiry as (un)ethical archive
title_sort The Women’s Liberation Movement and the gendering of undercover police surveillance in 1970s Britain: the public inquiry as (un)ethical archive
author_id_str_mv b35484cf604604b6d6bc6873677417d1
author_id_fullname_str_mv b35484cf604604b6d6bc6873677417d1_***_Sarah Crook
author Sarah Crook
author2 Sarah Crook
format Journal article
container_title History Workshop Journal
publishDate 2026
institution Swansea University
issn 1363-3554
1477-4569
publisher OUP
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - History{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - History
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description In the 1970s an undercover police officer was planted in the feminist movement in Britain. Across two years, this female officer shared activist plans, notes from large and small meetings, and feminist print material with officers in Special Branch. Nothing of interest was uncovered during this extended spell in the movement, and no plans that threatened state security were thwarted. But her time in the movement is important to historians, nonetheless; not only does it reveals the patriarchal investments of the secret state, but she inadvertently created an archive of feminist activist documents. The use of this archive, made openly available online by the Undercover Policing Inquiry (2015-ongoing), opens up knotty questions about consent and complicity for historians. This article uses evidence given to the Undercover Policing Inquiry to explore the Women’s Liberation Movement’s perceived threat to social order, arguing that the testimony shows that the movement – in significant part because of activists’ links with other movements on the Left – was taken more seriously by the British state than has previously been acknowledged. Through a focus on a female police officer, I explore women’s position as both perpetrators and victims of state surveillance in this period. The article also examines the ethics of using materials that have been made available by a public inquiry into state surveillance for historical research. It does not seek to resolve the tensions between privacy, openness, justice, and feminist research methods that this public inquiry exposes, but rather formulates some of the questions, and suggests some tentative responses to the issues it invokes. It suggests that the testimony of spied-upon activists can be seen as a reclamation of control and a retrieval of power, and that their contributions to the Inquiry are entwined with a broader tradition ‘talking back’ and reclaiming power from the state.
published_date 2026-03-01T18:03:22Z
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