The Thomas Paine Society

Thomas Paine, the great radical, democrat and secularist, died in Greenwich Village, New York, on June 8th, 1809, and each year, on the nearest Saturday to June 8th, members of the Thomas Paine Society (TPS) gather at noon at the statue of Paine in his birthplace (in 1737) at Thetford, Norfolk, for a short ceremony, followed either by a conducted tour of the town or by a public meeting. In 2002, for the year of the Royal Jubilee, this took the form of a debate between a republican and a monarchist. Thomas Paine was an outspoken republican and his arguments in support of republicanism are often still heard.

Every November the Society holds its AGM in London at Conway Hall, itself named after Paine’s most celebrated biographer, Dr Moncure D. Conway. This is followed by a meeting: in 2002, Bruce Kent of the No War Movement spoke on Paine and war.