John Hands is one of the founders of Sanford and several other housing co-operatives in London. He is the author of Housing Co-operatives, a seminal work about housing co-ops in Britain and abroad, and was Director of the Government's Co-operative Housing Agency and a member of the Working Group on Co-operatives, appointed by the Secretary of State for Industry.
The
event took place in House 0, the portacabin in Sanford's south
garden, at around 3pm in the afternoon on the 7th
September 2013 during the Sanford Open Day. The room was packed with
Sanfordians and non-Sanfordians alike, who came to hear the enigmatic
John Hands tell the story of the founding of Sanford in the 1970’s,
and his current thinking on human evolution. The following is a brief
transcript of John’s speech, which can also be heard in full below.
The
year was 1968, and John and a handful of housing/ student activists
were seeking ways in which they could take back control over their
own lives and avoid the isolation of the big city. Having examined
the terrain, they founded Student Co-operative Dwellings (SCD), whose
vision was to work together to create housing co-ops, designed and
operated on a basis of mutual aid, not economic exploitation. At the
time co-ops meant anything to anybody, and John wanted to know what
worked and didn't with regards housing co-ops; he found that co-ops
that worked were those that followed the seven co-op principles set
out by the 19th Century Rochdale Society of Equitable
Pioneers: 1) Voluntary and Open Membership, 2) Democratic Member
Control, 3) Member Economic Participation, 4) Autonomy and
Independence, 5) Education, Training and Information, 6) Co-operation
Among Co-operatives, 7) Concern for Community.
So
with a practical idealism, John and his colleagues set out to set up
more housing co-ops against a background of a non-existent
co-operative culture, no legislative framework, a housing market
dominated by fuedal landlord-tenant relationships and individual
ownership, no money (since they were students), and no support
organisations; SCD campaigned hard for 5 years, lobbying parliament
and looking for land. Finally in 1973, the government agreed to a
pilot project and a piece of derelict land on Sanford Street, between
the two railway lines, was identified as a potential site; Lewisham
Council agreed to hand over the land on condition that no families
were housed on the ex-industrial land. SCD leapt into action: it
registered Sanford Co-operative Dwellings as its own entity, got
building plans drawn up, and even though the council was
dilly-dallying with the lease, instructed the builders to start
building. SCD put out a press release, that they were building the
first purpose-designed co-op scheme for the young and mobile, and
within days Lewisham gave them the lease; the Housing Corporation and
another provided the finance.
It
was during this phase that the BBC made a documentary film about the
project called “More Than a Place to Live”. Sanford opened in
October 1974 (which John suggests should be our 40th Anniversary), and in 1975 SCD transferred collective ownership of the
buildings to the members. Sanford Housing Co-op held its first
general meeting at Lewisham town hall, and it was packed. Sanford had
made a surplus, because its members had carried many of the
services/management functions over the year, thus saving the co-op
money; there was a huge discussion about what to do with the surplus,
whether it should be divided between the members, or be donated to
other groups; in the end the general meeting voted for half the
surplus to go to further co-op education, and half to a local
homeless charity. It was at this moment that John saw the fruition of
SCD’s hard work: members who understood the value of democratic
decision-making and self-organisation. That spirit has continued and
grown over the last 40 years, with John coming back to visit every 10
years or so; the transformation has been thrilling, from the retrofit
of eco-efficient housing to the vegetable gardens, walking through
the gates and feeling the sense of community. He was seen his vision
become a reality.
Since
2006, John has been writing a book, about what we are, looking at the
science of evolution from the start of the cosmos. Current orthodoxy
in biology argues that the Darwinian struggle is the key to
evolution, with the most successful species passing on their
advantageous competitive genes to their progeny. However, evidence
proves this wrong, and rapid changes cause extinction, rather than
evolution, of species; it is collaboration that has created the
evolution of more complex systems. 19th Century anarchist
and biologist, Kropotkin, found that Darwin's ideas were invalid by
examining the eco-systems in Russia under harsh environment
conditions. A rise in consciousness, and humans with their reflective
consciousness - we know that we know - have given humans a
psychosocial advantage, allowing us to decide how we should behave
towards one another, and not to follow competitive instincts. The
level of aggression in early human societies was higher than it is
now, and it has gradually reduced even though it has a long way to
go. Those who co-operate in providing for their social and economic
needs (in worker and housing co-ops, in credit unions, farming
co-ops, etc), are at the leading edge of human evolution.
After
the main speech, John took questions from the audience. What
transpired (but not captured in the audio) was the story of how the
British government attempted to buy John off with the trappings of
money and power; John was adamant about the benefits that well-run,
independent co-operatives could bring, did not succumb to the
pay-offs and was thus marginalised from the sector by the government.
As John put it: “There’s one thing government hates, and that is
losing its hold and control over any project.”
Some
useful links:
“More
Than a Place to Live” (BBC Documentary, 1974)
