This chapter investigates the role of radical print culture in challenging the authenticity of key symbols, forms and modes in political discourse in the 1790s. I will examine the work of Thomas Spence and in particular his radical periodical Pig’s Meat which was published from 1793 to 1795, and argue that through a complex strategy of excerption, adaption, appropriation, imitation and satire, Spence sought to contest not only the authenticity of the most potent tropes in political discourse, but also the way in which authenticity was assigned in the political sphere. However, I will begin by offering a brief theoretical appraisal of the notion of authenticity in relation to political discourse and radical print culture. I use the word ‘authenticity’ with close attention to its etymological links to ‘authority’. The first OED entry under ‘authentic’ reads, ‘Of authority, authoritative (properly as possessing original or inherent authority, but also as duly authorized); entitled to obedience or respect.’ My consideration of authenticity is concerned less with questions of originality or genuineness than with contests over the way in which certain symbols, forms and modes came to be possessed with authority in political discourse. In other words, authenticity can be defined as a status whereby meaning is determined by the exertion of political authority.
