University of London Archives | Details | Records relating to the Study of Systematic Ideology

Sidebar content	Main content
Actions Help FAQs Can't find what you're looking for? Browse Collections A-Z University of London Student Records	Records relating to the Study of Systematic Ideology Remove from selection Add to selection Request this item TitleRecords relating to the Study of Systematic Ideology Held atSenate House Library, University of London Reference codeMS1307 Date1913, 1938-2022 Creator Walford, George (1919-1994) bookseller, political theorist, activistMore Info on CreatorLess Info on Creator Walford was born 28 May 1919 in Hoxton, London. He was a member of Socialist Party of Great Britain in the early 1940s and, as a conscientious objector during the Second World War he used false identification to avoid non-combatant work, for which he was imprisoned. He left the Party in c.1942 and, along with Harold Walsby, organised to found and build the group 'Social Science Association', of which he was an active member until it was disbanded in 1956. He ran his own antiquarian bookshop in Upper Street in London from 1948 until 1976, and then in nearby Calabria Road until the 1980s, when he retired from the business in order to concentrate on research into systematic ideology. He was an active member of the Harold Walsby Society and established the short-lived Project for Systematic Ideology in 1979 before setting up a journal, 'Ideological Commentary', which he edited and produced from 1979 to 1994. He wrote numerous research papers, articles, pamphlets, including 'The Intellectual and the People' (1945), which attracted the interest of George Orwell, and two books, both published by Calabria Press, London: 'Beyond Politics: an Outline of Systematic Ideology' (1990) and 'Angles on Anarchism' (1991). Social Science Association, UKMore Info on CreatorLess Info on Creator Founded 1944 by Harold Walsby, George Walford, Richard Tatham and others in order to present, promulgate and develop the ideas of Harold Walsby on ideology. Members were mainly ex-members of the Communist Party, the ILP, the SPG, the Anarchist movement, Common Wealth as well as politically unattached persons and activists and included Peter James Rollings (later Shepherd), John Rowan and Ike Benjamin. The Association's constitution was formalised in October 1945. Over the following years the Association underwent several shifts of form and at times offshoots of the main body were formed to focus on particular aspects of the SSA’s objectives, such as the Democratic Union (founded in c.1948) and a 'Coordinating Committee' set up in 1953 to help the cumulative building of group theory and practice. The Association was dissolved in January 1956. Harold Walsby Society, UKMore Info on CreatorLess Info on Creator The Harold Walsby Society came into being in the late summer of 1973 following an initiative at a commemorative meeting for Harold Walsby (1911-1973) in May 1973. Walsby was not widely known and most of his intellectual work took place outside academia or other formal research or study organisation, though he taught one year at Reading University teaching in the sociology department in 1970-1971. He spent the last two decades of his life researching and theorising on ideology, though his best-known publication was a book, ‘The Domain of Ideologies’ published in 1947. The formation of the Harold Walsby Society was envisaged as a way of promoting the study, discussion and development of Walsby’s writing and research. The Society developed as lively discussion group interested in a wide range of matters related in various was to Walsby’s intellectual concerns. Speakers from several academic and professional backgrounds presented to the Society on topics such as nationalism and fascism, Black Power in the Caribbean, television journalism, the student movement of the 1960s, and Jack London. For the sustained pursuit and development of these theories and to promote wider awareness of them, the Project for Systematic Ideology was formed in the course of 1978, designed to complement rather than compete with the work of the Society. According to an unattributed source in the records (MS1307/2/30), the Society had no constitution, rules, officials or business meetings (although the records also contain a copy of a ‘Draft constitution’ for the Society). The same account stated that the Society was ‘formed and maintained by its activities and the participation they elicit[ed]. Those activities [were] initiated and organised by individuals, with the support of other individuals, and agreement is reached by informal consensus’. The Society did not meet after 1979 and there do not appear to have been any communications in its name after 1981. Scope and ContentRecords created and accumulated by George Walford and his associates relating to the study, development and promulgation of ‘systematic ideology’. Walford used the term 'systematic ideology' from at least 1961 to describe the system of ideas that he, Harold Walsby and others researched and developed from the late 1930s, on the origin and development of ideologies, how ideologies and ideological groups work together, and the possibility of guiding the development of ideologies on a global scale. Systematic ideology was also referred to as ‘the theory’ or ‘Walsby’s theory’ by some of their associates, and as ‘psychopolitics’ by Walsby himself. The archive contains records of the two main post-war groups, both UK-based, which pursued and promoted study in this field: the Social Science Association (S.S.A., 1944 to 1956) and the Harold Walsby Society (1973 to c.1980). This material includes: -reports, reviews and critical assessments of the S.S.A.'s activities and progress written by S.S.A. members; minute book and memoranda of the S.S.A Political Groups (1949); newsletters, circulars and other records relating to the internal workings of the Harold Walsby Society; -correspondence mainly between group members, especially Walford, Richard Tatham, John Rowan, Peter Rollings, as well as correspondence with officials of the Socialist Party of Great Britain (S.P.G.B.) and letters to Walford from George Orwell; -pamphlets and booklets (and draft typescripts thereof) produced by individuals and groups associated with the study of systematic ideology, including the journals ‘Social Science Bulletin’ (1945-1949); -research papers on subjects of interest to systematic ideology supporters for sharing and discussion, such as the ‘mass rationality assumption’ in socialist literature and other aspects of S.P.G.B. ideology of which the systematic ideology adherents were critical; -records of research projects developed principally by Walsby, Rowan and Walford in the mid-1950s to 1970s, as well as material relating to Braziers Park, a community residential college set up as an educational trust in 1950, where Walsby lived and taught in the 1950s and 1960s; -publicity material, newspaper articles and other records relating to various small, short-lived groups and projects associated with systematic ideology including the wartime group, the Absolutists Group / Absolute Union of Democracy, led by Tatham and Walsby in 1942; the Democratic Union, established by the SSA in 1948 to promote and publicise the research of the S.S.A.; and the Project for Systematic Ideology in 1947-1948; and -pamphlets, booklets, leaflets, circulars and other records of organisations of interest to Walford such as Common Wealth; Friends of the Future; and an (incomplete) run of the South Place Ethical Society’s journal, ‘The Ethical Record’ (1979-1994). There are also meeting reports of the Executive Committee of the S.P.G.B. (1948) and several editions of the S.P.G.B. journal, the ‘Socialist Standard’, in which S.S.A. members published articles and letters critical of the S.P.G.B. hoping to engage with its membership (1947-1951 and 1976-1977). The archive also documents how, in 1979, the principle focus of activity shifted away from these in-person groups to the publication and distribution of Walford’s magazine ‘Ideological Commentary’, of which there is a complete run from the first issue in 1979 to the last issue shortly before Walford's death in 1994. The post-1994 material records how, after Walford's death, Trevor Blake in the US worked together with Walford’s family first to publish a memorial volume on Walford and then to create a website (gwiep.net) dedicated to promoting the study of systematic ideology, principally through the establishment of a writing competition. Records of these activities include correspondence, lists and notes relating to the process of creating a memorial publication for Walford, gathering material and creating the website in the late 1990s. Records from the later period (post-2000) include material relating to the George Walford International Essay Prize (GWIEP) and correspondence and proofs of new editions of previously published works. In addition to the above there are several photographs of Walford and Walsby and a number of audio recordings of Walford speaking and reading aloud, including an interview in 1997. Conditions governing accessOpen for research although at least 24 hours advance notice should be given. 1 week's notice is required for access to the digital material in MS1307/5. Extent14 boxes and and 21 digital files (.mp3 and .jpg) 96.08 MB Physical descriptionIncludes digital content on CDs, audio cassettes and artwork System of ArrangementThe original filing system was dismantled prior to deposit in order that individual items could be ordered chronologically and in accordance with listings on the website gwiep.net. The website listings categorise the items according to one of the four main groups or projects associated with systematic ideology: the Social Science Association (c.1940-1953), the Harold Walsby Society (1953-1979), Ideological Commentary (Walford's journal) (1979-1994) and gwiep.net (1994-2023). As the material had already been rearranged chronologically, it was decided that, for the most part this same arrangement should also be used for the catalogue (with some slight variation in the dates). Note that MS1307/3/23 was missed out during the cataloguing process (i.e. there is no file with this reference). Finding aidsCatalogued online (click on the "contains" icon below). A pdf copy is attached to this description. Related files MS1307 catalogue on PDF George Walford papers held at the International Institute of Social History Harold Walsby papers held at the International Institute of Social History George Walford International Essay Prize website (gwiep.net) Around 1.6m of George Walford's papers were deposited with the International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam) in 1998. The papers of Harold Walsby are also held there, the majority of them donated in 1988. Level of descriptionfonds Hierarchy browser contains 5 parts Records relating to the Study of Systematic Ideology MS1307 \| 1913, 1938-2022 fonds

TitleRecords relating to the Study of Systematic Ideology

Held atSenate House Library, University of London

Reference codeMS1307

Date1913, 1938-2022

Creator
- Walford, George (1919-1994) bookseller, political theorist, activistMore Info on CreatorLess Info on Creator
  Walford was born 28 May 1919 in Hoxton, London. He was a member of Socialist Party of Great Britain in the early 1940s and, as a conscientious objector during the Second World War he used false identification to avoid non-combatant work, for which he was imprisoned. He left the Party in c.1942 and, along with Harold Walsby, organised to found and build the group 'Social Science Association', of which he was an active member until it was disbanded in 1956. He ran his own antiquarian bookshop in Upper Street in London from 1948 until 1976, and then in nearby Calabria Road until the 1980s, when he retired from the business in order to concentrate on research into systematic ideology. He was an active member of the Harold Walsby Society and established the short-lived Project for Systematic Ideology in 1979 before setting up a journal, 'Ideological Commentary', which he edited and produced from 1979 to 1994. He wrote numerous research papers, articles, pamphlets, including 'The Intellectual and the People' (1945), which attracted the interest of George Orwell, and two books, both published by Calabria Press, London: 'Beyond Politics: an Outline of Systematic Ideology' (1990) and 'Angles on Anarchism' (1991).
- Social Science Association, UKMore Info on CreatorLess Info on Creator
  Founded 1944 by Harold Walsby, George Walford, Richard Tatham and others in order to present, promulgate and develop the ideas of Harold Walsby on ideology. Members were mainly ex-members of the Communist Party, the ILP, the SPG, the Anarchist movement, Common Wealth as well as politically unattached persons and activists and included Peter James Rollings (later Shepherd), John Rowan and Ike Benjamin. The Association's constitution was formalised in October 1945. Over the following years the Association underwent several shifts of form and at times offshoots of the main body were formed to focus on particular aspects of the SSA’s objectives, such as the Democratic Union (founded in c.1948) and a 'Coordinating Committee' set up in 1953 to help the cumulative building of group theory and practice. The Association was dissolved in January 1956.
- Harold Walsby Society, UKMore Info on CreatorLess Info on Creator
  The Harold Walsby Society came into being in the late summer of 1973 following an initiative at a commemorative meeting for Harold Walsby (1911-1973) in May 1973. Walsby was not widely known and most of his intellectual work took place outside academia or other formal research or study organisation, though he taught one year at Reading University teaching in the sociology department in 1970-1971. He spent the last two decades of his life researching and theorising on ideology, though his best-known publication was a book, ‘The Domain of Ideologies’ published in 1947. The formation of the Harold Walsby Society was envisaged as a way of promoting the study, discussion and development of Walsby’s writing and research. The Society developed as lively discussion group interested in a wide range of matters related in various was to Walsby’s intellectual concerns. Speakers from several academic and professional backgrounds presented to the Society on topics such as nationalism and fascism, Black Power in the Caribbean, television journalism, the student movement of the 1960s, and Jack London. For the sustained pursuit and development of these theories and to promote wider awareness of them, the Project for Systematic Ideology was formed in the course of 1978, designed to complement rather than compete with the work of the Society. According to an unattributed source in the records (MS1307/2/30), the Society had no constitution, rules, officials or business meetings (although the records also contain a copy of a ‘Draft constitution’ for the Society). The same account stated that the Society was ‘formed and maintained by its activities and the participation they elicit[ed]. Those activities [were] initiated and organised by individuals, with the support of other individuals, and agreement is reached by informal consensus’. The Society did not meet after 1979 and there do not appear to have been any communications in its name after 1981.

Scope and ContentRecords created and accumulated by George Walford and his associates relating to the study, development and promulgation of ‘systematic ideology’. Walford used the term 'systematic ideology' from at least 1961 to describe the system of ideas that he, Harold Walsby and others researched and developed from the late 1930s, on the origin and development of ideologies, how ideologies and ideological groups work together, and the possibility of guiding the development of ideologies on a global scale. Systematic ideology was also referred to as ‘the theory’ or ‘Walsby’s theory’ by some of their associates, and as ‘psychopolitics’ by Walsby himself.

The archive contains records of the two main post-war groups, both UK-based, which pursued and promoted study in this field: the Social Science Association (S.S.A., 1944 to 1956) and the Harold Walsby Society (1973 to c.1980). This material includes:
-reports, reviews and critical assessments of the S.S.A.'s activities and progress written by S.S.A. members; minute book and memoranda of the S.S.A Political Groups (1949); newsletters, circulars and other records relating to the internal workings of the Harold Walsby Society;
-correspondence mainly between group members, especially Walford, Richard Tatham, John Rowan, Peter Rollings, as well as correspondence with officials of the Socialist Party of Great Britain (S.P.G.B.) and letters to Walford from George Orwell;
-pamphlets and booklets (and draft typescripts thereof) produced by individuals and groups associated with the study of systematic ideology, including the journals ‘Social Science Bulletin’ (1945-1949);
-research papers on subjects of interest to systematic ideology supporters for sharing and discussion, such as the ‘mass rationality assumption’ in socialist literature and other aspects of S.P.G.B. ideology of which the systematic ideology adherents were critical;
-records of research projects developed principally by Walsby, Rowan and Walford in the mid-1950s to 1970s, as well as material relating to Braziers Park, a community residential college set up as an educational trust in 1950, where Walsby lived and taught in the 1950s and 1960s;
-publicity material, newspaper articles and other records relating to various small, short-lived groups and projects associated with systematic ideology including the wartime group, the Absolutists Group / Absolute Union of Democracy, led by Tatham and Walsby in 1942; the Democratic Union, established by the SSA in 1948 to promote and publicise the research of the S.S.A.; and the Project for Systematic Ideology in 1947-1948; and
-pamphlets, booklets, leaflets, circulars and other records of organisations of interest to Walford such as Common Wealth; Friends of the Future; and an (incomplete) run of the South Place Ethical Society’s journal, ‘The Ethical Record’ (1979-1994). There are also meeting reports of the Executive Committee of the S.P.G.B. (1948) and several editions of the S.P.G.B. journal, the ‘Socialist Standard’, in which S.S.A. members published articles and letters critical of the S.P.G.B. hoping to engage with its membership (1947-1951 and 1976-1977).

The archive also documents how, in 1979, the principle focus of activity shifted away from these in-person groups to the publication and distribution of Walford’s magazine ‘Ideological Commentary’, of which there is a complete run from the first issue in 1979 to the last issue shortly before Walford's death in 1994. The post-1994 material records how, after Walford's death, Trevor Blake in the US worked together with Walford’s family first to publish a memorial volume on Walford and then to create a website (gwiep.net) dedicated to promoting the study of systematic ideology, principally through the establishment of a writing competition. Records of these activities include correspondence, lists and notes relating to the process of creating a memorial publication for Walford, gathering material and creating the website in the late 1990s. Records from the later period (post-2000) include material relating to the George Walford International Essay Prize (GWIEP) and correspondence and proofs of new editions of previously published works.

In addition to the above there are several photographs of Walford and Walsby and a number of audio recordings of Walford speaking and reading aloud, including an interview in 1997.

Conditions governing accessOpen for research although at least 24 hours advance notice should be given. 1 week's notice is required for access to the digital material in MS1307/5.

Extent14 boxes and and 21 digital files (.mp3 and .jpg) 96.08 MB

Physical descriptionIncludes digital content on CDs, audio cassettes and artwork

System of ArrangementThe original filing system was dismantled prior to deposit in order that individual items could be ordered chronologically and in accordance with listings on the website gwiep.net. The website listings categorise the items according to one of the four main groups or projects associated with systematic ideology: the Social Science Association (c.1940-1953), the Harold Walsby Society (1953-1979), Ideological Commentary (Walford's journal) (1979-1994) and gwiep.net (1994-2023). As the material had already been rearranged chronologically, it was decided that, for the most part this same arrangement should also be used for the catalogue (with some slight variation in the dates). Note that MS1307/3/23 was missed out during the cataloguing process (i.e. there is no file with this reference).

Finding aidsCatalogued online (click on the "contains" icon below). A pdf copy is attached to this description.

Related files

Around 1.6m of George Walford's papers were deposited with the International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam) in 1998. The papers of Harold Walsby are also held there, the majority of them donated in 1988.

Level of descriptionfonds

Item request date
Expected return date
Destination