 Front cover of Anarchy in Action by Colin Ward (1973 Allen & Unwin edition) | |
| Author | Colin Ward |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | Anarchism |
| Genre | Political Science |
| Publisher | George Allen & Unwin and Freedom Press (UK), Harper & Row (US) |
Publication date | 1973 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Pages | 157 pp (first edition) |
| ISBN | 0043210163 |
| OCLC | 714957 |
| 335.83 | |
| LC Class | 73169626 |
Anarchy in Action by Colin Ward explores anarchist thought and practice. It was initially published by Allen & Unwin in 1973, and was subsequently published in America and, in translation, in Dutch, Italian, Spanish and Japanese[1] A second edition was published by Freedom Press in 2008.[2] He explained, in its Introduction, that his book 'is simply an extended, updating footnote to Kropotkin's Mutual Aid.'[3]
The book is a seminal introduction to anarchism but differs considerably from other introductions by concentrating on the possibility of an anarchism rooted in everyday experience that is not necessarily linked to industrial and political struggles.
Ward based his book on evidence from sociology, anthropology, cybernetics, industrial psychology, and from the experience of housing, town planning, education, work, play and social welfare. Ward argued for anarchist alternatives to the universal governmental and hierarchical systems of social organisation, including the welfare state.[4]