John Papworth (12 December 1921 – 4 July 2020)
was an English clergyman, writer and activist against big public and private organizations and for small communities and enterprises.
Life and work
Born in London in December 1921, Papworth was reared in an orphanage in
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...
. After leaving it, he worked as a baker's boy and then a school chef until he joined the
Home Guard
Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or reserve force raised for local defense.
The term "home guard" was first officially used in the American Civil War, starting w ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
; he served seven years as a military cook.
Case Study: 85, and still campaigning for local democracy
' Paul Kingsnorth
Paul Kingsnorth (born 1972) is an English writer who lives in the west of Ireland. He is a former deputy-editor of ''The Ecologist'' and a co-founder of the Dark Mountain Project.
Kingsnorth's nonfiction writing tends to address macro themes l ...
, ''The Ecologist'', 1 September 2006. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
After the war, Papworth trained to be a vicar and became an ordained minister of the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
, serving in a number of parishes. In 1997 his comments about the morality of stealing from giant retail corporations resulted in international media attention and he was debarred from preaching.
[Cleric contorts theft amendment]
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - 17 Mar 1997. Then Home Secretary
Michael Howard called the comments "shameful." Papworth said he was not encouraging theft, only saying he could comprehend it.
[
During the war he had joined the ]Communist Party
A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...
, but objected to its authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic voti ...
and was ejected. He later joined the Labour Party and was its unsuccessful candidate for Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of ...
at the 1955 general election. He also found that party too authoritarian, and developed an opposition to large state and mass organizations and a preference for the small community.[Cyril Dunn]
In this world of Bigness a Move to Remain Small
St. Petersburg Times
The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single ...
- 18 Apr 1968 .
In 1966 he joined like-minded thinkers E. F. Schumacher, Leopold Kohr
Leopold Kohr (1909–1994) was an economist, jurist and political scientist known both for his opposition to the "cult of bigness" in social organization and as one of those who inspired the ''Small Is Beautiful'' movement. For almost twenty years, ...
and Sir Herbert Read and founded and edited '' Resurgence'' magazine.[ Papworth also stood for Parliament as a "Fourth World" candidate.][Fighting for the Fourth World]
New Internationalist
''New Internationalist'' (''NI'') is an international publisher and left-wing magazine based in Oxford, England, owned and run by a worker-run co-operative with a non-hierarchical structure. Known for its strict editorial and environmental pol ...
, Issue 97, March 1981.
In the 1960s, he was imprisoned along with Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, ...
for anti-nuclear protests and was also imprisoned in the US during a black rights protest.
Papworth was active as a peace campaigner and believed small societies were less likely to sacrifice their citizens in nuclear war or afford to pay for such weapons.[ In the 1970s and early 1980s, Papworth wrote regularly for the pacifist newspaper '']Peace News
''Peace News'' (''PN'') is a pacifist magazine first published on 6 June 1936 to serve the peace movement in the United Kingdom. From later in 1936 to April 1961 it was the official paper of the Peace Pledge Union (PPU), and from 1990 to 2004 w ...
''.
At age 75 in 1997, Papworth was quoted in the news media as advocating shoplifting by the "poor and hungry" from supermarkets ... "because Jesus said 'Love your neighbour' – he said nothing about loving Marks & Spencer". The Church subsequently barred him from preaching.
Also in 1997, Papworth admitted that he had helped to hide convicted spy and double-agent George Blake
George Blake ( Behar; 11 November 1922 – 26 December 2020) was a spy with Britain's Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and worked as a double agent for the Soviet Union. He became a communist and decided to work for the MGB while a pri ...
at his home in Earl's Court
Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...
, London after his escape from prison in October 1966. Blake had been aided in his escape by " Ban the Bomb" campaigners, including Sean Bourke
Sean Aloysius Bourke (1934–1982), from Limerick, aided in the prison escape of the British spy George Blake in October 1966. Blake had been convicted in 1961 of spying for the Soviet Union. After the escape, Blake eventually made his way to Mosc ...
. He was not charged as a result of the incident.
Papworth was the subject of two BBC documentaries entitled "No Man is an Island" and "Turbulent Priest".
In 2001, Papworth refused to return his census form, stating the government had no right to such information. He was fined £120.[Vicar fined for census protest]
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, Wiltshire.