Synopses & Reviews
A hefty collection of noted anarchist Nicolas Walters writings, this history recounts the anarchist and peace movements in the United Kingdom alongside the authors adventures through activism. Inspired by the Suez and Hungarian Revolutions and his participation in the New Left, Walter became an anarchist and proponent of the freethought movement. Recounting his personal history in two autobiographical pieces, the author reflects on his militant involvement in the British nuclear disarmament movement, his experience as one of the Spies of Peace, and his connection to the Solidarity group.
As an activist, Walter concurrently analyzed history, political theory, and activist practices, which he combined to form the backbone upon which he built his beliefs. Also included are musings on various intellectual and political figures such as George Orwell, Herbert Read, C. W. Daniel, and Guy A. Aldred, in addition to ruminations on the atheism and rationalism and the limitations of academia.
Review
“[Nicolas Walter was] one of the most interesting left intellectuals of the second half of the twentieth century in Britain.” Professor Richard Taylor, University of Cambridge
Review
“David Goodway has done his usual excellent job of selecting an interesting and varied collection [and] contributed a most useful and informative introduction…” Richard Alexander, Freedom on The Anarchist Past
Review
"Lots of anarchist writing is pretty thin going. The constant reiteration of the same mantra-like assertions, the same insights, and the same proposed solutions, all confined to a given community, a holding tank of acceptable ideas, with the whole dedicated to knocking down straw men of the polemicist's construction. Unceasingly. It gets old fast.
Imagine, then, how excited I was to find a book of essays that addresses subjects outside the narrow confines of accepted anarchist orthodoxy, a book that further investigates the work of major writers from a distinctly libertarian perspective and holds forth from an unfailingly utopian point of view on broad issues germane to the past 40 years, such as nuclear disarmament and the role of freedom of thought in a free society. Such a book is Nicolas Walter's Damned Fools in Utopia: And Other Writings on Anarchism and War Resistance." Chris Faatz, Powells.com (Read the entire Powells.com review)
Synopsis
Nicolas Walter was the son of the neurologist, W. Grey Walter, and both his grandfathers had known Peter Kropotkin and Edward Carpenter. However, it was the twin jolts of Suez and the Hungarian Revolution while still a student, followed by participation in the resulting New Left and nuclear disarmament movement, that led him to anarchism himself. His personal history is recounted in two autobiographical pieces in this collection as well as the editor's introduction.
During the 1960s he was a militant in the British nuclear disarmament movement--especially its direct-action wing, the Committee of 100--he was one of the Spies for Peace (who revealed the State's preparations for the governance of Britain after a nuclear war), he was close to the innovative Solidarity Group and was a participant in the homelessness agitation. Concurrently with his impressive activism he was analyzing acutely and lucidly the history, practice and theory of these intertwined movements; and it is such writings--including Non-violent Resistance and The Spies for Peace and After--that form the core of this book. But there are also memorable pieces on various libertarians, including the writers George Orwell, Herbert Read and Alan Sillitoe, the publisher C.W. Daniel and the maverick Guy A. Aldred. The Right to be Wrong is a notable polemic against laws limiting the freedom of expression. Other than anarchism, the passion of Walter's intellectual life was the dual cause of atheism and rationalism; and the selection concludes appropriately with a fine essay on Anarchism and Religion and his moving reflections, Facing Death.
Nicolas Walter scorned the pomp and frequent ignorance of the powerful and detested the obfuscatory prose and intellectual limitations of academia. He himself wrote straightforwardly and always accessibly, almost exclusively for the anarchist and freethought movements. The items collected in this volume display him at his considerable best.
About the Author
Nicolas Walter was one of the best-known and mostly widely read anarchist writers of the last half century. He is the author of
About Anarchism.
David Goodway is a British social and cultural historian who has written principally on anarchism and libertarian socialism for 20 years. He is the editor of various collections and the author of For Workers Powers.