Building culture from the bottom up: The educational origins of the Federation of Worker Writers and Community Publishers

History of Education

Volumn 34, Issue 4, 2005, Pages 345-363

  Woodin, Tom ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LONDON   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 27944446014     PISSN: 0046760X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09614520500129537     Document Type: Review

References (126)

1. For further information, see http://www.thefwwcp.org.uk (Tel: 01782 822327).
2. See T. Woodin, '"More writing than welding": learning in worker writer groups', History of Education, forthcoming, 2005.
3. Various, Writing (Newcastle Upon Tyne: FWWCP, 1979).
4. D. Morley and K. Worpole (eds), The Republic of Letters (London: Comedia, 1982)
5. See also G. Gregory, 'Workers' writing in the 1970s', MA dissertation, London, Institute of Education, 1979.
6. For instance, for adult literacy see S. Shrapnel Gardener, 'Thoughts on to paper: publications from adult literacy centres, 1974-78', Adult Education, 52/2, July (1979), 92-7.
7. For later writing on some Fed groups see J. Mace, Language, Literacy and Community Publishing (Clevedon: Multi-Lingual Matters, 1996).
8. See for instance, S. Westwood, 'When class became community: radicalism in adult education', in Rethinking Radical Education, edited by A. Rattansi and D. Reeder (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1992), 222-48.
9. N. Wright, Assessing Radical Education: A Critical View of the Radical Movement in English Schooling, 1960-1980 (Milton Keynes: Oxford University Press, 1989).
10. R. Samuel, Theatres of Memory (London: Verso, 1994).
11. D. Vincent, Bread, Knowledge and Freedom. A Study of Nineteenth Century Working Class Autobiography (London: Europa, 1981).
12. J. Rose, The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001).
13. G. McCulloch, '"Teachers and missionaries": the Left Book Club as an educational agency', History of Education, 14/2 (1985), 137-53.
14. S. Rowbotham, 'Travellers in a strange country: responses of working class students to the University Extension Movement 1873-1910', in Threads Through Time (London: Penguin, 1999), 260-301.
15. L. Goldman, Dons and Workers. Oxford and Adult Education Since 1850 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995).
16. Also 'Intellectuals and the English working class, 1870-1945: the case of adult education', History of Education, 29/4 (2000), 281-300.
17. Rose, Intellectual Life..., 11.
18. Also Goldman, Dons and Workers..., ch. 11.
19. See, for example, K. Worpole, 'A ghostly pavement: the political implications of local working class history', in People's History and Socialist Theory, ed. R. Samuel (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981), 22-32.
20. The Mass Observation Unit at Sussex University now holds a collection of books donated by Ken Worpole.
21. R. Hoggart, The Uses of Literacy (London: Penguin, 1992, originally published 1957).
22. R. Williams, The Long Revolution (London: Chatto & Windus, 1961).
23. T. Woodin, 'Muddying the waters: class and identity in a working class cultural organisation', Sociology, forthcoming, 39(5), 2005.
24. I make reference to 'activist' and 'radical' throughout, and the terms often overlap. Activist refers to someone active in Fed groups. By radical I mean the stance of those who were striving to break the mould of existing political and organizational formations by focusing on new needs and constituencies, in this case the cultural needs of working-class people. They were all broadly on the left although there were many shades of opinion.
25. W. Benjamin, 'The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction', in H. Arendt, Illuminations (London: Fontana, 1992), 211-44.
26. Also 'The author as producer', in Understanding Brecht (London: Verso, 1973), 85-103.
27. See G. Gregory, 'Working class writing. Breaking the long silence', English Magazine, 4, Summer (1985), 15-17.
28. Another influential book was R. Williams, Communications (Harmondsworth: Penguin 1976, originally published 1962).
29. Morley and Worpole, Republic..., 2-3.
30. See also S. Rowbotham et al., Beyond the Fragments: Feminism and the Making of Socialism, 2nd edn (London: Merlin, 1981, originally published 1979).
31. For background see C. Searle, None But Our Words (Buckingham: Open University Press, 1998).
32. Chris Searle interviewed by Tom Woodin, 16 September 2000.
33. Ibid.
34. Ibid.
35. Alan Dean, programme on the school strike, Radio Four, c. 1998.
36. Quoted in Centerprise Annual Report (London: Centerprise, 1978), 4.
37. K. Worpole,'Beyond the classroom walls ... making available the means of production', Teaching London Kids, 1 (1973).
38. Estimated by Ken Worpole when talking to the Fed, April 1996.
39. D. Shayer, The Teaching of English in Schools, 1900-1970 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972), 159.
40. Central Advisory Committee for Education, Children and Their Primary Schools, vol. 1 (London: HMSO, 1967), 218-23.
41. See also M. Simmons and M. Raleigh, 'Where we've been: a brief history of English teaching, part 1 1920-1970', English Magazine, 8/Autumn (1981), 23-8.
42. C. Steedman, 'Writing the self: the end of the scholarship girl', in Cultural Methodologies, ed. J. McGuigan (London: Sage, 1997), 106-25.
43. It is, of course, also possible to identify nascent criticisms from what would later be called the 'New Right'.
44. K. Worpole, 'Village school or blackboard jungle', in Patriotism. The Making and Unmaking of British National Identity, VoI III: National Fictions, ed. R. Samuel (London: Routledge, 1989), 125-40.
45. M. Rosen, Out there or where the masons went', in The Politics of Literacy, ed. M. Hoyles (London: Writers and Readers Co-operative, 1977), 208.
46. See also M. Rosen, Language and Class. A Critical Look at the Theories of Basil Bernstein (Bristol: Falling Wall Press, 1972).
47. See for instance, N. Keddie, Tinker, Tailor... The Myth of Cultural Deprivation (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1973).
48. S. Braden, Artists and People (London: Routledge, 1978).
49. B. Jackson and D. Marsden, Education and the Working Class (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1962).
50. Centerprise archive materials. K. Worpole, some questions 15 March 1979, Centerprise, London.
51. Chris Searle interview...
52. See for instance, R. Williams, Culture and Society: Coleridge to Orwell (London: Hogarth, 1987, originally published 1958),
53. and C. Snee, 'Working class literature or proletarian writing?', in Culture and Crisis in Britain in the 30s, eds J. Clark et al. (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1979).
54. Morley and Worpole, Republic..., 95-7.
55. Roger Mills interviewed by Tom Woodin, 21 November 2000.
56. T. Blackwell and J. Seabrook, A World Still to Win (London: Faber, 1985), 47. Worpole did in fact reject simplistic ideas of an unbroken tradition.
57. See K. Worpole, Dockers and Detectives (London: Verso, 1983), 124.
58. Keith Birch interviewed by Tom Woodin, 29 August 2000.
59. For background to the Wednesday Play see T. Garnett, 'Working in the field', in Looking at Class. Film Television and the Working Class, eds S. Rowbotham and H. Beynon (London: Rivers Oram, 2001), 70-82.
60. Jimmy McGovern interviewed (email) by Tom Woodin, November-December 2001.
61. Stephen Yeo interviewed by Tom Woodin, 23 March 2001.
62. See S. Yeo, 'The politics of community publications' in Samuel, People's History..., 42-8
63. and QueenSpark entry in FWWCP, Writing..., 149-67.
64. Quoted in G. Wilkinson, 'Understanding lifetimes', Oral History Journal, 4/2 (1976), 91.
65. Ibid.
66. Anon, Review of Lifetimes, Oral History Journal, 4/1 (1976), 107-8.
67. R. Williams, The Long Revolution (London: Chatto & Windus, 1961) 64-88.
68. Also Politics and Letters (London: New Left Books, 1979), 155-74.
69. H. Beynon, interviewed by Tom Woodin, 15 July 1999. Strong Words chose not to join the FWWCP although they were involved in broadly similar work.
70. Centerprise, 'Notes concerning the bookshop for the Redcliffe-Maud Enquiry on Arts Patronage', in Centerprise: Bookshop/Coffee-bar/Community Centre. Report (London: Centerprise, 1975).
71. Ibid.
72. Ibid.
73. R. Samuel, History Workshop: A Collectanea 1967-1991 (Oxford: History Workshop, 1991).
74. K. Worpole, Local Publishing and Local Culture. An Account of the Centerprise Publishing Project 1972-1977 (London: Centerprise, 1977), 9.
75. Worpole, Dockers..., 122.
76. K. Worpole, interviewed by G. Gregory, in 'Workers'..., 161.
77. For instance, Rick Gwilt interviewed by Tom Woodin, 14 September 2000.
78. B. Ainley, 'Introductory', Voices, 1 (1972).
79. Ibid.
80. A. Sinfield, Literature, Politics and Culture in Postwar Britain (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989), 265.
81. Rick Gwilt interview...
82. Ibid.
83. Discussion with Gill Oxford, 1996.
84. For instance, K. Worpole, 'Afterword' in FWWCP, Writing...
85. David Evans interviewed by Tom Woodin, 13 August 2000.
86. Ibid.
87. Keith Birch, interviewed by Tom Woodin, 28 August 2000.
88. K. Jackson and B. Ashcroft, 'Adult education and social action', in Community Works. One, edited by D. Jones and M. Mayo (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974), 55.
89. T. Lovett, Adult Education, Community Development and the Working Class (London: Ward Lock, 1975), 83-4.
90. Eddie Barrett interviewed by Tom Woodin, 24 August 2000.
91. J. Edwards, Working Class Adult Education in Liverpool. An Evaluation of Second Chance to Learn (Manchester: University of Manchester Centre for Adult and Higher Education, 1986).
92. Liverpool 8 Writers Group, 'To our readers', in 19 From 8 (Liverpool: Liverpool 8 Writers Group, nd, c. 1979).
93. Bristol Broadsides in FWWCP, Writing..., 23.
94. C. Aubrey and C. Landry, 'Breaking cover', Guardian, 6 September 1980.
95. See A. Withnall, 'Literacy on the agenda: the origins of the Adult Literacy Campaign in the UK', Studies in the Education of Adults, 26/1 (1984), 67-85.
96. H.M.F. Jones and S. Marriott, 'Adult literacy in England, 1945-75: why did it take so long to get "On the Move"?', History of Education, 24/4 (1995) 337-52.
97. B. Street, Adult Literacy in the UK: a History of Research and Practice (Lancaster: RaPAL, 1997).
98. Maureen Cooper interviewed by Tom Woodin, 10 November 2000.
99. Reported on in New Society, 6 March 1975, p. 571.
100. Ruskin College, WFT Archive. S. Shrapnel Gardener, Can we produce a teaching news-sheet for literacy work, n.d. (1974?).
101. Ruskin College, WFT Archive. Write First Time, Application to Adult Literacy Resource Agency, n.d. (1974/ 75?).
102. S. Shrapnell Gardener, 'Thoughts on paper', in Adult Education, edited by A. Stock (London: National Institute for Adult Education, 1979), 93.
103. J. Mace, Working With Words (London: Writers and Readers Co-operative in association with chameleon, 1979).
104. Also 'William', in Opening Time (Manchester: Gatehouse, 1985).
105. Ibid, p. 93.
106. See P. Clyne, The Disadvantage Adult (London: Longman, 1972), which drew on this research.
107. S. Shrapnel Gardener, 'They look normal but...', in Aspects of Adult Illiteracy, edited by M. Ben-Tovim and R. Kedney (Macclesfield: Merseyside and District Institute of Adult Education-Cheshire County Council, 1974), 11-12.
108. See also M. Hamilton, 'Literacy and adult basic education', in A History of Modern British Adult Education, edited by R. Fieldhouse (Leicester: NIACE, 1996), 142-65.
109. P. Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Harmondworth: Penguin, 1990, originally published 1970);
110. and Education for Critical Consciousness, Education as the Practice of Freedom, Extension or Communication (London: Sheed & Ward, 1973).
111. For instance, Ken Worpole interviewed by Roger Drury, 1995.
112. Sue Gardener interviewed by Tom Woodin, 21 March 2001.
113. C. Parker, Radio Ballads (London: BBC, 1958-1964, available from Topic Records). The Republic of Letters also mentions these innovative programmes.
114. Jane Mace interviewed by Tom Woodin, 11 November 2001.
115. Ken Worpole interview....
116. Lydia Meryll interviewed by Tom Woodin, 29 November 2001.
117. Roger Kitchen interviewed by Tom Woodin, 22 February 2002.
118. Alan Gilbey interviewed by Tom Woodin, 9 November 2000.
119. See also S. Braden, Artists..., ch. 2.
120. Lydia Meryll interview....
121. Ken Worpole interview ... and Keith Birch interviewed by Tom Woodin, 28 August 2000.
122. FWWCP Archive, Introduction, FWWCP Report, 1979.
123. FWWCP Archive. Postcard from Ken Worpole to Stephen and Eileen Yeo, 1980.
124. Ken Worpole interview....
125. Alan Gilbey interview....
126. FWWCP Archive. K. Worpole, letter to FWWCP groups, 18 November 1980.