Editing Colin Ward

{{Short description|British anarchist writer (1924–2010)}}
{{other people}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Colin Ward
| image              = Colin Ward.jpg
| caption            = Ward in his workroom, 2003
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1924|08|14|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Wanstead]], [[Essex]], England
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|2010|02|11|1924|08|14|df=y}}
| education          = {{Plainlist|
* [[Ilford County High School]]
* [[Garnett College]]
}}
| occupation         = {{Flatlist|
* Writer
* Editor
}}
| notable_works      = ''[[Anarchy in Action]]'' (1973)
| movement           = [[Anarchism]]
| spouse             = {{Marriage|Harriet Unwin|1966}}
| partner            = Vera Balfour (died 1963)
}}

'''Colin Ward''' (14 August 1924 – 11 February 2010)<ref name="gdn obit">[https://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/feb/22/colin-ward-obituary Ken Worpole, "Colin Ward", ''The Guardian'', 22 February 2010]. Retrieved 20 February 2022</ref> was a British [[anarchist]] writer and editor. He has been called "one of the greatest anarchist thinkers of the past half century, and a pioneering [[Social history|social historian]]."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://outrospection.org/2010/02/27/382|title=Colin Ward – an obituary and appreciation of the chuckling anarchist|first=Roman|last=Krznaric|date=27 February 2010|website=outrospection.org|access-date=27 February 2010|archive-date=21 September 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110921065556/http://outrospection.org/2010/02/27/382|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Life==

Ward was born in [[Wanstead]], [[Essex]], to Arnold and Ruby Ward ({{Nee|West}}). Arnold was a teacher and Ruby a clerical worker.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Scott-Brown |first=Sophie |url= |title=Colin Ward and the Art of Everyday Anarchy |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2023 |isbn=978-0-367-56753-8 |location=Abingdon, Oxon |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781003100409|s2cid=248956242 }}</ref>{{Rp|page=19}} His parents were active [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] supporters. Ward attended [[Ilford County High School]], leaving school aged 15. After leaving school he worked as an assistant to a builder, then for West Ham Council, before working as a [[Drafter|draughtsman]] at [[Sidney Caulfield|Sidney Caulfield's]] architectural practice.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=|pages=22-23}}

In 1942, aged 18, Ward was conscripted into the army as a [[sapper]], going on to work as a draughtsman in the [[Royal Engineers]].<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=30}} Based in Glasgow during the war, Ward began attending Glasgow Anarchist Group events. As a soldier he subscribed to the [[Antimilitarism|anti-militarist]] anarchist newspaper ''[[War Commentary]]'', and in 1945 Ward was called as a witness for the prosecution in the trial of the paper's editors, [[John Hewetson]], [[Vernon Richards]] and [[Philip Sansom]].<ref name="gdn obit" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Honeywell |first=Carissa |date=2015 |title=Anarchism and the British Warfare State: The Prosecution of the War Commentary Anarchists, 1945 |journal=[[International Review of Social History]] |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=257–284 |doi=10.1017/S0020859015000188 |jstor=26394787 |s2cid=151669269 |issn=0020-8590|doi-access=free }}</ref> Shortly after the trial he was transferred to Orkney.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=40}}

After being demobbed in 1946 he returned to working for Sidney Caulfield and began contributing to [[Freedom Press]].<ref name="gdn obit" /><ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=72}} In 1947 he began editing the anarchist newspaper ''[[Freedom (British newspaper)|Freedom]] –'' successor to ''War Commentary''. He remained an editor of ''Freedom'' until 1960. He was the founder and editor of the monthly [[anarchist]] journal ''[[Anarchy Magazine|Anarchy]]'' from 1961 to 1970.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/home/microsites/honorary/ward.html|title=Anglia Ruskin University|website=anglia.ac.uk|access-date=13 July 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080728055001/http://www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/home/microsites/honorary/ward.html|archive-date=28 July 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Until 1961, Ward worked as an architect's assistant. In 1964 undertook teacher training at [[Garnett College]] where he met his future wife, Harriet Unwin, and he subsequently began teaching at [[South Thames Colleges Group|Wandsworth Technical College]].<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=166}}

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]]. From 1995 to 1996, Ward was Centennial Professor of Housing and Social Policy at the [[London School of Economics]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/|title=The Times & The Sunday Times|website=[[The Times]]}}</ref> In 2001, Ward was made an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy at [[Anglia Ruskin University]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/home/microsites/honorary/ward.html|title=Anglia Ruskin University, profile|website=anglia.ac.uk|access-date=13 July 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080728055001/http://www.anglia.ac.uk/ruskin/en/home/microsites/honorary/ward.html|archive-date=28 July 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>

== Thought ==

=== Anarchism ===
{{Anarchism sidebar}}
Ward's philosophy aimed at removing [[authoritarian]] forms of [[social organisation]] and replacing them with [[Workers' self-management|self-managed]], non-hierarchical forms. This is based upon the principle that, as Ward put it, "in small face-to-face groups, the [[bureaucracy|bureaucratising]] and [[social hierarchy|hierarchical]] tendencies inherent in organisations have least opportunity to develop".<ref>« in small face-to-face groups, the bureaucratising and hierarchical tendencies inherent in organisations have least opportunity to develop », 
Colin Ward, ''Anarchism as a Theory of Organization'', 1966.</ref>

Anarchism for Ward is "a description of a mode of human organization, rooted in the experience of everyday life, which operates side by side with, and in spite of, the dominant authoritarian trends of our society".<ref>Colin Ward, ''Anarchism as a Theory of Organization'', Freedom Press, London, 1988, p. 14</ref> In contrast to many anarchist philosophers and practitioners, Ward holds that "anarchism in all its guises is an assertion of human dignity and responsibility. It is not a programme for political change but an act of social self-determination".<ref>Colin Ward, ''Anarchism as a Theory of Organization'', Freedom Press, London, 1988, p. 143</ref>

=== Education ===
Colin Ward in his main theoretical publication ''[[Anarchy in Action]]'' (1973) in a chapter called "Schools No Longer" "discusses the genealogy of education and schooling, in particular examining the writings of [[Everett Reimer]] and [[Ivan Illich]], and the beliefs of anarchist educator [[Paul Goodman]]. Many of Colin’s writings in the 1970s, in particular ''Streetwork: The Exploding School'' (1973, with Anthony Fyson), focused on learning practices and spaces outside of the school building. In introducing ''Streetwork'', Ward writes, "[this] is a book about ideas: ideas of the environment as the educational resource, ideas of the enquiring school, the school without walls...”. In the same year, Ward contributed to ''Education Without Schools'' (edited by Peter Buckman) discussing 'the role of the state'. He argued that "one significant role of the state in the national education systems of the world is to perpetuate social and economic injustice"".<ref name="infed.org">[http://www.infed.org/thinkers/colin_ward.htm Mills, S. (2010) 'Colin Ward: The ‘Gentle’ Anarchist and Informal Education’ at ''the encyclopaedia of informal education.'']</ref>

In ''The Child in the City'' (1978), and later ''The Child in the Country'' (1988), Ward "examined the everyday spaces of young people’s lives and how they can negotiate and re-articulate the various environments they inhabit. In his earlier text, the more famous of the two, Colin Ward explores the creativity and uniqueness of children and how they cultivate 'the art of making the city work'. He argued that through play, appropriation and imagination, children can counter adult-based intentions and interpretations of the built environment. His later text, The Child in the Country, inspired a number of social scientists, notably geographer [[Chris Philo]] (1992), to call for more attention to be paid to young people as a 'hidden' and marginalised group in society."<ref name="infed.org"/>

== Bibliography ==
* ''[[iarchive:sparrowsnest-7741|Violence]]'' (1970)
* ''Work'' (1972)
* ''[[Anarchy in Action]]'' (1973)
* ''[[iarchive:streetworkexplod0000ward|Streetwork: The Exploding School]]'' (with Anthony Fyson) (1973)
* ''[[iarchive:vandalism0000ward_x4x2|Vandalism]]'' (ed.) (1973)
* ''Utopia'' (1974)
* ''Tenants Take Over'' (1974)
* ''British School Buildings: Designs and Appraisals 1964–74'' (1976)
* ''[[iarchive:housinganarchist0000ward|Housing: An Anarchist Approach]]'' (1976)
* ''[[iarchive:childincity00wardrich|The Child in the City]]'' (1978)
* ''Art and the Built Environment'' (with Eileen Adams) (1982)
* ''[[iarchive:arcadiaforallleg0000hard|Arcadia for All: The Legacy of a Makeshift Landscape]] ''(with Dennis Hardy) (1984)
* ''Housing is Theft, Housing is Freedom'' (1984)
* ''The Plotlanders'' (with Dennis Hardy) (1985)
* ''When We Build Again: Let's Have Housing that Works!'' (1985)
* ''[[iarchive:goodnightcampers0000ward|Goodnight Campers! The History of the British Holiday Camp]]'' (with [[Dennis Hardy]]) (1986)
* ''Chartres: the Making of a Miracle'' (1986)
* ''A Decade of Anarchy (1961–1970'') (ed.) (1987)
* ''The Child in the Country'' (1988)
* ''The Allotment: Its Landscape and Culture'' (with David Crouch) (1988)
* ''[[iarchive:welcomethinnerci0000ward|Welcome, Thinner City: Urban Survival in the 1990s]]'' (1989)
* ''Undermining the Central Line'' (with [[Ruth Rendell]]) (1989)
* ''Talking Houses: 10 Lectures'' (1990)
* ''[[iarchive:imagesofchildhoo0000ward|Images of Childhood In Old Postcards]]'' (with Tim Ward) (1991)
* ''[[iarchive:influencesvoices0000ward|Influences: Voices of Creative Dissent]] ''(1991)
* ''[[iarchive:freedomtogoafter0000ward|Freedom to Go: After the Motor Age]]'' (1991)
* ''New Town, Home Town'' (1993)
* ''[https://libcom.org/article/talking-schools-colin-ward Talking Schools]'' (1995)
* ''Social Policy: An Anarchist Response'' (1996)
* ''[https://libcom.org/article/talking-architects-colin-ward Talking to Architects]'' (1996)
* ''Stamps: Designs For Anarchist Postage Stamps'' (illustrated by Clifford Harper) (1997)
* ''Havens and Springboards: The Foyer Movement in Context'' (1997)
* ''Reflected in Water: A Crisis of Social Responsibility'' (1997)
* ''Sociable Cities: The Legacy of Ebenezer Howard'' (with [[Peter Hall (urbanist)|Peter Hall]]) (1998)
* [https://libcom.org/article/cotters-and-squatters-housings-hidden-history Cotters and Squatters: Housing's Hidden History] (2002)
* ''[[iarchive:Talking_Anarchy_9781604869057|Talking Anarchy]]'' (with [[David Goodway]]) (2003)
* ''Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction'' (2004)
* ''[https://libcom.org/article/autonomy-solidarity-possibility-colin-ward-reader Autonomy, Solidarity, Possibility: The Colin Ward Reader]'' (edited by Damian F. White and Chris Wilbert) (2011)
* ''Talking Green'' (2012)

== See also ==
*[[Anarchism in England]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite book |last= |first= |url= |title=Remembering Colin Ward: 1924-2010 |publisher=Five Leaves Publications |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-907869-28-0 |editor-last=Bradshaw |editor-first=Ross |location=Nottingham |oclc=707825526 |editor-last2=Ward |editor-first2=Ben |editor-last3=Ward |editor-first3=Harriet |editor-last4=Worpole |editor-first4=Ken}}
* {{Cite book |last=Crouch |first=David |chapter=Lived Spaces of Anarchy: Colin Ward's Social Anarchy in Action |pages=153–164 |editor-last1=Ferretti |editor-first1=Federico |editor-last2=Torre |editor-first2=Gerónimo Barrera de la |editor-last3=Ince |editor-first3=Anthony |editor-last4=Toro |editor-first4=Francisco |title=Historical Geographies of Anarchism: Early Critical Geographers and Present-Day Scientific Challenges |date=2017 |language=en |isbn=978-1-315-30753-4 |publisher=Routledge}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Goodway |first=David |author-link=David Goodway |date=2011 |title=Colin Ward and the New Left |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A287386084/GPS?u=ed_itw&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=f555677e |journal=[[Anarchist Studies]] |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=42–56 |issn=0967-3393 |via=[[Gale (publisher)|Gale]]}}
* {{Cite book |last=Goodway |first=David |url= |title=[[Anarchist Seeds Beneath the Snow]] |publisher=[[PM Press]] |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-60486-221-8 |location= |oclc=721881856 |author-link=David Goodway}}
* {{Cite book |editor-last1=Worpole |editor-first1=Ken |last1=Goodway |first1=David |chapter=The Anarchism of Colin Ward |title=Richer Futures: Fashioning a New Politics |pages=3–20 |date=2013 |isbn=978-1-134-06078-8 |publisher=Routledge|author-link=David Goodway|url=https://archive.org/details/richerfuturesfas0000unse|others=[[Internet Archive]]}}
* {{Cite book |last=Honeywell |first=Carissa |url= |title=A British Anarchist Tradition: Herbert Read, Alex Comfort and Colin Ward |publisher=[[Continuum International Publishing Group|Continuum]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-4411-9883-9 |location=New York, NY |language=en |oclc=728680871}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Jacobs |first1=Keith |title=The writings of Colin ward and the legacy of anarchism for housing studies |journal=Housing Studies |pages=1–18 |date=2024 |doi=10.1080/02673037.2024.2359411 |issn=0267-3037 |doi-access=free }}
* {{Cite book |title=Mutual Aid, Everyday Anarchy: Essays on Colin Ward |publisher=Five Leaves Publications |year=2024 |isbn=978-1-91-543422-7 |editor-last=Kelly |editor-first=Andrew |location=Nottingham}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Levy |first=Carl |author-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |date=2011 |title=Introduction: Colin Ward (1924-2010) |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A287386081/GPS?u=ed_itw&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=1a099c71 |journal=[[Anarchist Studies]] |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=7–16 |issn=0967-3393 |via=[[Gale (publisher)|Gale]]}}
* {{Cite book |url= |title=Colin Ward: Life, Times and Thought |publisher=[[Lawrence & Wishart]] |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-909831-68-1 |editor-last=Levy |editor-first=Carl |editor-link=Carl Levy (political scientist) |location=London |language=en |oclc=899261368}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Paola |first1=Pietro Di |title='The man who knows his village' Colin Ward and Freedom Press |journal=[[Anarchist Studies]] |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=22–41 |year=2011 |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A287386083/GPS?u=ed_itw&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=efce8c4a |language=en |issn=0967-3393 |via=[[Gale (publisher)|Gale]]}}
* {{cite journal |last=Price |first=Wayne |year=2015 |title=Colin Ward's Anarchism |journal=Anarcho-Syndicalist Review |volume=63 |url=https://syndicalist.us/archives/anarcho-syndicalist-review-61-75/}}
* {{Cite book |last=Scott-Brown |first=Sophie |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781003100409/colin-ward-art-everyday-anarchy-sophie-scott-brown |title=Colin Ward and the Art of Everyday Anarchy |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2023 |isbn=978-0-367-56753-8 |location=Abingdon, Oxon |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781003100409 |s2cid=248956242}}
* {{Cite book |last=Ward |first=Colin |url=https://libcom.org/article/autonomy-solidarity-possibility-colin-ward-reader |title=Autonomy, Solidarity, Possibility: The Colin Ward Reader |publisher=[[AK Press]] |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-84935-020-4 |editor-last=Wilbert |editor-first=Chris |location=Oakland, CA |oclc=601121195 |editor-last2=White |editor-first2=Damian F.}}
* {{Cite journal |last=White |first=Stuart |date=2007 |title=Making anarchism respectable? The social philosophy of Colin Ward |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13569310601095580 |journal=[[Journal of Political Ideologies]] |language=en |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=11–28 |doi=10.1080/13569310601095580 |s2cid=145331077 |issn=1356-9317|url-access=subscription }}
* {{Cite journal |last=White |first=Stuart |date=2011 |title=Social anarchism, lifestyle anarchism, and the anarchism of Colin Ward |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A287386088/GPS?u=ed_itw&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=4f80391d |journal=[[Anarchist Studies]] |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=92–104 |issn=0967-3393 |via=[[Gale (publisher)|Gale]]}}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Whitehead |first1=Andrew |title=An Anarchist for the Outside World |journal=History Workshop Journal |volume=95 |issue=1 |pages=222–224 |date=2023 |doi=10.1093/hwj/dbad001 |issn=1477-4569 |via=[[Project MUSE]] |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/8/article/902480 |url-access=subscription }}
* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/richerfuturesfas0000unse |title=Richer Futures: Fashioning a New Politics |publisher=Earthscan |others=[[Internet Archive]] |year=1999 |isbn=1-85383-539-0 |editor-last=Worpole |editor-first=Ken |location=London |language=en |oclc=42858331}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
*[http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=80 Colin Ward archive at RevoltLib]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100325081119/http://www.panarchy.org/ward/organization.1966.html Colin Ward, Anarchism as a Theory of Organization] (1966)
*[http://www.panarchy.org/ward/harmony.html Colin Ward, Harmony through Complexity] (1973)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20121113221949/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/7535946/Colin-Ward.html ''Daily Telegraph'' obituary, 29 March 2010]
*[https://www.theguardian.com/society/2010/feb/22/colin-ward-obituary ''Guardian'' obituary, 22 February 2010]
*[https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/boyd-tonkin-the-good-life-of-a-gentle-anarchist-1903818.html ''The Good Life of a Gentle Anarchist'', Boyd Tonkin, ''The Independent'', 19 February 2010]
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20100218141351/http://www.nextleft.org/2010/02/colin-ward-pioneer-of-mutualism.html  ''Colin Ward, Pioneer of Mutualism'']}}
*[http://outrospection.org/2010/02/27/382  Obituary at Outrospection.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110921065556/http://outrospection.org/2010/02/27/382 |date=21 September 2011 }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20111122002024/http://akpress.org/2010/items/autonomysolidaritypossibility Autonomy, Solidarity, Possibility: The Colin Ward Reader]
*[http://c4ss.org/content/1900 Center for a Stateless Society on Ward]
*[http://fiveleavespublications.blogspot.com/2010/02/anarchist-writer-colin-ward-who-died-on.html Ward and Five Leaves publishers]
*[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/mar/07/plotlanders-east-end-essex-country Ward and the Essex plotlanders, ''The Guardian'', 7 March 2010]
*[https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4457770,00.html  ''Inveterate anarchist with a plan to put roofs over the rural poor'', ''The Guardian'', 10 July 2002]
*[https://libcom.org/blog/colin-ward-13022010 Colin Ward interview by David Goodway]
*[http://reason.com/blog/2010/02/17/colin-ward-rip A friendly market-anarchist view of Colin Ward, by an editor of ''Reason'', 'the magazine of free minds and free markets']
*[https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/anarchy-in-the-uk-it-could-be-the-best-government-weve-had-10154861.html ''Anarchy in the UK? It could be the best government we’ve had'', Boyd Tonkin, ''The Independent'', 03 April 2015]
*[https://vimeo.com/496810535 Personally Speaking: Colin Ward in Conversation with Roger Deakin (video interview)]

{{Freedom Press}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Colin}}
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:2010 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century anarchists]]
[[Category:21st-century anarchists]]
[[Category:People from Wanstead]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:English anarchists]]
[[Category:English newspaper editors]]
[[Category:English male journalists]]
[[Category:Anarchist theorists]]
[[Category:Anarcho-communists]]
[[Category:DIY culture]]
[[Category:20th-century English non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:21st-century English non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:20th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century English male writers]]
[[Category:English political writers]]