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Barrett was born George Powell Ballard on 6 December 1888 to a middle-class family in [[Ledbury]], Herefordshire. He attended [[Hereford Cathedral School]] before becoming an engineering [[Drafter|draughtsman]]. He also worked as a journalist.{{Sfn|Parker|1990|p=336}}
Barrett joined the [[Bristol Socialist Society]], later giving a controversial lecture titled 'Anarchy and Socialism', before leaving the society on account of his opposition to parliamentary tactics.{{Sfnm|Parker|1990|1p=336|Becker|1987|2p=19}} In 1910 he married Edith Oxley.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1910-07-20 |title=Ballard—Oxley |work=[[Western Daily Press]] |pages=12}}</ref>{{Sfn|Parker|1990|p=336}} Barrett then moved to London and joined the Walthamstow Anarchist Group and began regular public speaking on an anarchist platform.{{Sfn|Parker|1990|p=336}} In 1910 he also began contributing to the anarchist paper ''[[Freedom (British newspaper)|Freedom]]''.{{Sfn|McKay|2019|p=4}}
In 1911, he was offered editorship of ''Freedom'', but on reflection declined the position.{{Sfn|Becker|1987|p=19}} Barrett moved to Glasgow where he joined and spoke for the Glasgow Anarchist Group.{{Sfn|Parker|1990|p=336}} During the crackdown on anarchists following the [[Siege of Sidney Street]] in 1911 police visited Barrett's workplace, resulting in him losing his job. He was [[blacklisted]], so turned to freelance technical journalism for the engineering press.{{Sfn|Parker|1990|p=337}}
In 1912, he began editing a new weekly paper, ''The Anarchist'', with financial support from [[George Davison (photographer)|George Davison]].{{Sfnm|Parker|1990|1p=337|Becker|1987|2p=19}} Barrett struggled to keep the paper going, and ceased publication after 34 issues. Barrett also carried out several speaking tours of England and Scotland to promote the paper.{{Sfnm|Parker|1990|1p=337|McKay|2019}} In May 1913 he contracted [[tuberculosis]], an illness he struggled with for the rest of his life. He launched a new [[Anarcho-syndicalism|anarcho-syndicalist]] paper, ''The Voice of Labour'', which lasted from 1914 to 1916.{{Sfn|McKay|2019|p=6}}
In 1915, Barrett was a signatory of the "International Anarchist Manifesto on the War" issued in response to the [[Manifesto of the Sixteen]], a document signed by [[Peter Kropotkin]] and others calling for an allied victory in the [[First World War]].{{Sfnm|Parker|1990|p=338|McKay|2019}}
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== Works ==
In 1915, the Workers' Freedom Group in Bristol published the pamphlet ''The Last War'', in which Barrett argued that the only war the working class should wage is [[class war]].{{Sfnm|Pateman|2020|1p=13|McKay|2019}} After selling some 10,000 copies, the pamphlet was suppressed by the government.{{Sfn|Parker|1990|p=338}} The same year [[Freedom Press]] published the pamphlet ''The Anarchist Revolution''.{{Sfn|Pateman|2020|p=13}} In 1921, Freedom Press posthumously serialised and then published the pamphlet ''Objections to Anarchism''. The pamphlet was a response to 24 common objections given to anarchists.{{Sfn|McKay|2019|p=6}}
In 1963, a collection of Barrett's writings was published by Freedom Press, titled ''The First Person'', and edited by Sidney E. Parker.{{Sfn|Parker|1990|p=335}} In 1990, Pirate Press published Barrett's three pamphlets under the title ''The Last War.''{{Sfn|McKay|2019|p=8}} In 2019, Freedom Press published a larger collection, titled ''Our Masters Are Helpless'', edited by Iain McKay.{{Sfnm|Balaji|2021|1pp=36|Flaherty|2023|2pp=118–120|Pateman|2020|3pp=100–101}}
== References ==
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