Colin Barker
{{Short description|British historian and sociologist (1939–2019)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Colin Barker
| image =
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1939|06|30|df=y}}
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| death_date = {{Death date and age|2019|02|04|1939|df=yes}}
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| nationality = British
| other_names =
| occupation = Sociologist, historian, writer
| website = {{URL|web.archive.org/web/20220121221824/https://sites.google.com/site/ColinBarkerSite/}}
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Colin Barker (30 June 1939 – 4 February 2019) was a British sociologist as well as a Marxist historian and writer.{{cite web|accessdate=2024-04-15|title=Colin Barker (1939-2019)|url=https://www.rs21.org.uk/2019/02/04/colin-barker-1939-2019/}}{{cite web|accessdate=2020-01-06|title=Remembering Colin Barker|url=http://socialistworker.org/2019/02/15/remembering-colin-barker|website=SocialistWorker.org}}{{cite web|accessdate=2020-01-06|title=A teacher and student of revolution|url=http://socialistworker.org/2019/02/08/a-teacher-and-student-of-revolution|website=SocialistWorker.org}}{{cite web|accessdate=2020-01-06|first1=Bill|last1=Roberts|title=Marxism and state theory|url=https://marxistleftreview.org/articles/marxism-and-state-theory/|website=Marxist Left Review}} A former long-standing member of the Socialist Workers Party in Manchester, he was the author of numerous articles and works on Marxism, including a history of the Polish trade union Solidarity, Festival of the Oppressed.{{cite news|first1=Gareth|last1=Dale|accessdate=2020-01-06|title=Colin Barker obituary|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/feb/14/colin-barker-obituary|newspaper=The Guardian|date=14 February 2019|issn=0261-3077|via=www.theguardian.com}}
Biography
A Trotskyist, Barker was a member of the International Socialism Group in Oxford and Manchester from 1962. He was a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University from 1967 to 2002 and an organiser of the periodic International Conference on Alternative Futures and Popular Protest there.
Barker regularly spoke at the Socialist Workers Party's annual Marxism event. In 2013, he joined opposition to the SWP Central Committee's handling of the allegations of rape made against 'Comrade Delta'.{{cite web |url=http://www.cpgb.org.uk/home/weekly-worker/951/swp-crisis-silence-of-the-lambs |title=SWP crisis: Silence of the lambs - Communist Party of Great Britain |accessdate=2014-02-16 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131206155210/http://cpgb.org.uk/home/weekly-worker/951/swp-crisis-silence-of-the-lambs |archivedate=2013-12-06 }} He left the organisation in 2014 and joined the newly formed Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century (rs21) group.{{cite news|first1=Gareth|last1=Dale|accessdate=2020-01-06|title=Colin Barker obituary|url=https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/feb/14/colin-barker-obituary|newspaper=The Guardian|date=14 February 2019|issn=0261-3077|via=www.theguardian.com}}
Books
- The Power Game. London: Pluto, 1972. {{ISBN|978-0-902818-17-0}}.
- Festival of the Oppressed: solidarity, reform and revolution in Poland, 1980-81. London: Bookmarks, 1986. {{ISBN|978-0-906224-27-4}}.
- Revolutionary Rehearsals (editor) (1987).
- Marxism and Social Movements (co-editor). Leiden: Brill, 2013. {{ISBN|978-9-004211-75-9}}.Its website is [http://www.brill.com/marxism-and-social-movements].
- Revolutionary Rehearsals in the Neoliberal Age (co-editor). Chicago: Haymarket, 2021. {{ISBN|978-1-642594-68-3}}
Selected articles/works
- Incomes policy, legislation and shop stewards (with Tony Cliff) (1966)Its web page is [http://www.marxists.org/archive/cliff/works/1966/incomespol/].
- Involvement in strikes: some recent case-studies, etc (1966)
- A Note On The Theory of Capitalist States (1978)Its web page is [https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/barker-c/1978/xx/capstates.htm].
- A ‘New’ Reformism?—A Critique of the Political Theory of Nicos Poulantzas (1979)Its web page is [http://www.isj.org.uk/?id=294].
- Origins and Significance of the Meiji Restoration (1982)Its web page is [http://www.marxists.de/fareast/barker/index.htm].
- Solidarnosc: from Gdansk to military repression (with Kara Weber) (1982)Its web page is [http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/barker-c/1982/solidarnosc/].
- Festival of the Oppressed: Solidarity, Reform and Revolution in Poland, 1980-81 (1986)
- Revolutionary Rehearsals (editor) (1987)
- The development of British capitalist society: a Marxist debate (edited with David Nicholls) (1988)
- To make another world: studies in protest and collective action (edited with Paul Kennedy) (1996)
- Leadership and social movements (edited with Michael Lavalette and Alan Johnson) (2001)
- In the middle way (review of Geoff Eley Forging Democracy) (2004)Its web page is [http://www.isj.org.uk/?id=31].
- The rise of Solidarnosc (2005)Its web page is [http://www.isj.org.uk/index.php4?id=136&issue=108].
- Strike 4 Freedom, Socialist Worker (2006)Its web page is [http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art/7932/Strike+for+freedom].
- Southend Trolleybuses (2012)
- False Perspective: Murder in the Art Department (2013)
Notes
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://sites.google.com/site/colinbarkersite/ Barker's website]
- [http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/genesis/search/$-search-results.cfm?CCODE=539 Short bio] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930060931/http://www.londonmet.ac.uk/genesis/search/$-search-results.cfm?CCODE=539 |date=30 September 2007 }} at The Women's Library, London Metropolitan University
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20061006210608/http://www.sociology.mmu.ac.uk/news18p.php#cb Short bio in MMU sociology newsletter]
- [http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/barker-c/ Colin Barker Archive] at Marxists Internet Archive
- [https://mrc.epexio.com/records/BAK Catalogue of Barker's papers], held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick
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Category:Academics of Manchester Metropolitan University
Category:British Marxist writers