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Autonomy, Solidarity, Possibility: The Colin Ward Reader
"Britain's leading anarchist philosopher." —Anne Power, London School of Economics Drawing inspiration from the everyday creativity of ordinary people, Colin Ward long championed a unique social and environmental politics that is premised on the possibilities of democratic self-organization and self-management from below. This collection provides a wide-ranging overview of Ward's earliest journalism, with seminal essays, extracts from his most important books, and examples of his most recent work. Damian F. White is assistant professor of sociology at the Rhode Island School of Design . Chris Wilbert is a lecturer in geography and tourism at Anglia Ruskin University.
375 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
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410 people want to read
About the author
Colin Ward
59 books90 followersColin Ward was born in Wanstead, Essex. He became an anarchist while in the British Army during World War II. As a subscriber to War Commentary, the war-time equivalent of Freedom, he was called in 1945 from Orkney, where he was serving, to give evidence at the London trial of the editors for publishing an article allegedly intended to seduce soldiers from their duty or allegiance. Ward robustly repudiated any seduction, but the three editors (Philip Sansom, Vernon Richards and John Hewetson) were convicted and sentenced to nine months imprisonment.
He was an editor of the British anarchist newspaper Freedom from 1947 to 1960, and the founder and editor of the monthly libertarian journal Anarchy from 1961 to 1970.
From 1952 to 1961, Ward worked as an architect. In 1971, he became the Education Officer for the Town and Country Planning Association. He published widely on education, architecture and town planning. His most influential book was The Child In The City (1978), about children's street culture.
In 2001, Colin Ward was made an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy at Anglia Ruskin University.
Most of Ward's works deal with the issue of rural housing and the problems of overpopulation and planning regulations in Britain to which he proposes anarchistic solutions. He is a keen admirer of architect Walter Segal who set up a ‘build it yourself’ system in Lewisham meaning that land that was too small or difficult to build on conventionally was given to people who with Segal’s help would build their own homes. Ward is very keen on the idea of ‘build it yourself’ having said in response to the proposition of removing all planning laws, ‘I don't believe in just letting it rip, the rich get away with murder when that happens. But I do want the planning system to be flexible enough to give homeless people a chance’. In his book Cotters and Squatters, Ward describes the historical development of informal customs to appropriate land for housing which frequently grew up in opposition to legally constituted systems of land ownership. Ward describes folkways in many cultures which parallel the Welsh tradition of the Tŷ unnos or 'one night house' erected on common land.
Ward includes a passage from one of his anarchist forebears, Peter Kropotkin, who said of the empty and overgrown landscape of Surrey and Sussex at the end of the 19th century, ‘in every direction I see abandoned cottages and orchards going to ruin, a whole population has disappeared.’ Ward himself goes on to observe: ‘Precisely a century after this account was written, the fields were empty again. Fifty years of subsidies had made the owners of arable land millionaires through mechanised cultivation and, with a crisis of over-production; the European Community was rewarding them for growing no crops on part of their land. However, opportunities for the homeless poor were fewer than ever in history. The grown-up children of local families can’t get on the housing ladder’. Wards solution is that ‘there should be some place in every parish where it's possible for people to build their own homes, and they should be allowed to do it a bit at a time, starting in a simple way and improving the structure as they go along. The idea that a house should be completed in one go before you can get planning permission and a mortgage is ridiculous. Look at the houses in this village. Many of them have developed their character over centuries - a bit of medieval at the back, with Tudor and Georgian add-ons.’
Ward’s anarchist philosophy is the idea of removing authoritarian forms of social organisation and replacing them with self-managed, non-hierarchical forms of organisation. This form of federalism was put forward in part by Kropotkin and Proudhon and is based upon the principle that as Ward puts it- ‘in small face-to-face groups, the bureaucratising and hierarchical tendencies inherent in organisations have least opportunity to develop’
He was an editor of the British anarchist newspaper Freedom from 1947 to 1960, and the founder and editor of the monthly libertarian journal Anarchy from 1961 to 1970.
From 1952 to 1961, Ward worked as an architect. In 1971, he became the Education Officer for the Town and Country Planning Association. He published widely on education, architecture and town planning. His most influential book was The Child In The City (1978), about children's street culture.
In 2001, Colin Ward was made an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy at Anglia Ruskin University.
Most of Ward's works deal with the issue of rural housing and the problems of overpopulation and planning regulations in Britain to which he proposes anarchistic solutions. He is a keen admirer of architect Walter Segal who set up a ‘build it yourself’ system in Lewisham meaning that land that was too small or difficult to build on conventionally was given to people who with Segal’s help would build their own homes. Ward is very keen on the idea of ‘build it yourself’ having said in response to the proposition of removing all planning laws, ‘I don't believe in just letting it rip, the rich get away with murder when that happens. But I do want the planning system to be flexible enough to give homeless people a chance’. In his book Cotters and Squatters, Ward describes the historical development of informal customs to appropriate land for housing which frequently grew up in opposition to legally constituted systems of land ownership. Ward describes folkways in many cultures which parallel the Welsh tradition of the Tŷ unnos or 'one night house' erected on common land.
Ward includes a passage from one of his anarchist forebears, Peter Kropotkin, who said of the empty and overgrown landscape of Surrey and Sussex at the end of the 19th century, ‘in every direction I see abandoned cottages and orchards going to ruin, a whole population has disappeared.’ Ward himself goes on to observe: ‘Precisely a century after this account was written, the fields were empty again. Fifty years of subsidies had made the owners of arable land millionaires through mechanised cultivation and, with a crisis of over-production; the European Community was rewarding them for growing no crops on part of their land. However, opportunities for the homeless poor were fewer than ever in history. The grown-up children of local families can’t get on the housing ladder’. Wards solution is that ‘there should be some place in every parish where it's possible for people to build their own homes, and they should be allowed to do it a bit at a time, starting in a simple way and improving the structure as they go along. The idea that a house should be completed in one go before you can get planning permission and a mortgage is ridiculous. Look at the houses in this village. Many of them have developed their character over centuries - a bit of medieval at the back, with Tudor and Georgian add-ons.’
Ward’s anarchist philosophy is the idea of removing authoritarian forms of social organisation and replacing them with self-managed, non-hierarchical forms of organisation. This form of federalism was put forward in part by Kropotkin and Proudhon and is based upon the principle that as Ward puts it- ‘in small face-to-face groups, the bureaucratising and hierarchical tendencies inherent in organisations have least opportunity to develop’
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 21, 2017
The book is a little repetitive at times. And it will very much help if you are interested in housing and urban planning - as much of what he writes is centered on that. But it has been so long since I read a straight up anarchist text and Ward's approach to anarchism (and life) resonates with me more than most. Anarchy isn't some magical end goal. It is just us doing our thing with laser-like focus on the centrality of community, cooperation, and the individual agency and creativity of everyday people. The more we can push for that, the better our lives will be every day.
January 2, 2013
Colin ward review
It's difficult reflecting on an anthology of some bodies work without drawing some kind of overarching conclusion on their life's work. To that point I put together some thoughts here.
Colin Ward joined the Freedom Collective (the oldest continuous anarchist publication in the English language) after being demobbed following WWII. From then until his death in 2010 he had a prolific output spanning numerous publications as a freelance journalist, but also including 30 odd books.
Wards' political ideas are naturally going to be a little more nuanced than a number radical leftist and anarchist writers. He wrote extensively, covered a plethora of topics (including, but not limited to - social history, education, housing, architecture) but the thing that distinctly marks him out is the practicality of his views. It's for this reason that his book Anarchy in Action is often cited as a very good introduction to anarchism above a number of others.
The collected works listed in this anthology cover a lot of bases, making it not necessarily easy reading for those wanting to make their way through the book cover to cover. On the other hand where else, one wonders, would you get such expertise on such rare aspects of social history, housing, education and architecture? No less from a radical perspective.
The thing that shines through much of Wards' work is the influence of Kropotkin. I feel there as to be some level of ambivalence towards trying to shoehorn Ward into being 'liberal' or a 'reformist'. His work seems to push the practical side of things at the expense of some libertarian orthodoxies, but it contains more than its fair share of truths and insights.
It's difficult reflecting on an anthology of some bodies work without drawing some kind of overarching conclusion on their life's work. To that point I put together some thoughts here.
Colin Ward joined the Freedom Collective (the oldest continuous anarchist publication in the English language) after being demobbed following WWII. From then until his death in 2010 he had a prolific output spanning numerous publications as a freelance journalist, but also including 30 odd books.
Wards' political ideas are naturally going to be a little more nuanced than a number radical leftist and anarchist writers. He wrote extensively, covered a plethora of topics (including, but not limited to - social history, education, housing, architecture) but the thing that distinctly marks him out is the practicality of his views. It's for this reason that his book Anarchy in Action is often cited as a very good introduction to anarchism above a number of others.
The collected works listed in this anthology cover a lot of bases, making it not necessarily easy reading for those wanting to make their way through the book cover to cover. On the other hand where else, one wonders, would you get such expertise on such rare aspects of social history, housing, education and architecture? No less from a radical perspective.
The thing that shines through much of Wards' work is the influence of Kropotkin. I feel there as to be some level of ambivalence towards trying to shoehorn Ward into being 'liberal' or a 'reformist'. His work seems to push the practical side of things at the expense of some libertarian orthodoxies, but it contains more than its fair share of truths and insights.
July 30, 2013
From 1999 to 2001, anarchists appeared at international summits with their black flags, attacking the symbols of the powerful. The result was a lot of broken glass, and some sneered that what was needed instead was local community organizing. The call was heeded and there appeared community gardens, sandwich shops were organized, vegan potlucks were had, etc.
Here we are five years into a deep economic depression with unprecedented inequality, even longer fighting wars in the outlands of Empire, universal surveillance and anyone who doesn't like it is a terrorist . . . yet Occupy aside, there is still no massive rush to radical ideas. It would seem that there is no magical formula.
But there can be no doubt that meeting needs and connecting with people are important, and for those who like to emphasize voluntary co-operation and the anarchism of the everyday, Colin Ward is a pretty good read. When it comes to housing, architecture, landscape and environment, education and leisure, he has plenty of good stories to tell, even though this collection of articles is a bit repetitive and has too many obscure references to British locales and personalities for my taste. The fire and apocalypticism one associates with anarchism are absent, as on the level of big ideas Ward doesn't hold with revolution and believes in an eternal "conflict between the authoritarian tradition and the libertarian tradition." It's always a matter of carving out more autonomy, bringing decisions back to the local level and making things more bottom-up. It gives one hope to see all these small, or sometimes not so small, squats and co-operatives, self-organized schools and playgrounds, etc. Sometimes Ward seems to indulge a little too much in quaint Britishness. But one would have to be a total cynic not to find some inspiration here.
Here we are five years into a deep economic depression with unprecedented inequality, even longer fighting wars in the outlands of Empire, universal surveillance and anyone who doesn't like it is a terrorist . . . yet Occupy aside, there is still no massive rush to radical ideas. It would seem that there is no magical formula.
But there can be no doubt that meeting needs and connecting with people are important, and for those who like to emphasize voluntary co-operation and the anarchism of the everyday, Colin Ward is a pretty good read. When it comes to housing, architecture, landscape and environment, education and leisure, he has plenty of good stories to tell, even though this collection of articles is a bit repetitive and has too many obscure references to British locales and personalities for my taste. The fire and apocalypticism one associates with anarchism are absent, as on the level of big ideas Ward doesn't hold with revolution and believes in an eternal "conflict between the authoritarian tradition and the libertarian tradition." It's always a matter of carving out more autonomy, bringing decisions back to the local level and making things more bottom-up. It gives one hope to see all these small, or sometimes not so small, squats and co-operatives, self-organized schools and playgrounds, etc. Sometimes Ward seems to indulge a little too much in quaint Britishness. But one would have to be a total cynic not to find some inspiration here.
November 28, 2016
That’s funny: I remember having reviewed this book and I’m quite surprised to see it missing from my archive. That hurts a lot because this book was a pain to read and I try to put some time into my reviews. The very idea of having to look through it again to review my notes is giving me a headache. So lets’ just get to the point…
This book was terrible. I love reading about anarchist theories and history and knowing about Ward’s reputation I was excited to read his essays and ideas. Especially after reading his quaint interview with David Goodway in “Talking Anarchy.”
The problem is that most of the time you don’t know what Ward is talking about. He reveals the topic, then rambles on about it and doesn’t provide any solutions or real analysis about it. Sometimes there is no backstory either. His writing is so difficult to follow at times that you might even forget the topic and will just wish you could get to the next chapter. Then, you’ll wish you could get to the end of the book.
I considered this an introduction and my first book of many of Ward’s. Very very disappointing.
This book was terrible. I love reading about anarchist theories and history and knowing about Ward’s reputation I was excited to read his essays and ideas. Especially after reading his quaint interview with David Goodway in “Talking Anarchy.”
The problem is that most of the time you don’t know what Ward is talking about. He reveals the topic, then rambles on about it and doesn’t provide any solutions or real analysis about it. Sometimes there is no backstory either. His writing is so difficult to follow at times that you might even forget the topic and will just wish you could get to the next chapter. Then, you’ll wish you could get to the end of the book.
I considered this an introduction and my first book of many of Ward’s. Very very disappointing.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews