Marx, Engels And Modern British Socialism: The Social And Political Thought Of H. M. Hyndman, E. B. Bax And William Morris

Description

This book is a reception study of Karl Marx’s and Friedrich Engels’ ideas in Britain during the late nineteenth century and a revisionist account of the emergence of modern British socialism. It reconstructs how H. M. Hyndman, E. B. Bax, and William Morris interacted with Marx and ‘Marxism’. It shows how Hyndman was a socialist of liberal and republican provenance, rather than the Tory radical he is typically held to be; how Bax was a sophisticated thinker and highly influential figure in European socialist circles, rather than a negligible pedant; and it shows how Morris’s debt to Bax and liberalism has not been given its due. It demonstrates how John Stuart Mill, in particular, was combined with Marx in Britain; it illuminates other liberal influences which help to explain the sectarian attitude adopted by the Social Democratic Federation towards organised labour; and it establishes an alternative genealogy for Fabian socialism. Acknowledgements......Page 5 Contents......Page 7 Abbreviations......Page 9 Socialism ‘Since the Dying-out of Owenism’......Page 10 The Materialist Conception of History......Page 11 Engels and British Socialists......Page 13 The ‘Socialist Revival’......Page 16 Historiography......Page 18 ‘Marxists’ and ‘Marxism’......Page 19 Remaking Socialism......Page 21 Outline......Page 23 Part I: Origins......Page 25 The Letter to Sorge......Page 26 Marx Before ‘Marxism’......Page 28 Liberal Radical......Page 33 Public Moralist......Page 38 Marx and Mill......Page 43 The ‘Germ Theory’ of Socialism......Page 49 Socialism: Neither ‘Philosophic’ Nor ‘Revolutionary’......Page 54 ‘The Dawn of a Revolutionary Epoch’......Page 58 Founding the Democratic Federation......Page 63 New Liberalism......Page 66 Innovating Ideologist......Page 70 Hyndman and Mill: Another Chapter on Socialism......Page 74 Considerations on Representative Government......Page 78 Bax and Marx......Page 86 Modern Socialism......Page 90 Socialism in the Periodical Press (II)......Page 93 The Ideal of the Future......Page 97 Part II: Hyndman......Page 106 The Social Democratic Federation......Page 107 Scientific Socialism?......Page 112 Hyndman and Engels......Page 115 On Compromise......Page 120 Hyndman and Morris......Page 123 The Labour Theory of Value......Page 127 The Fallacies of Socialism Exposed?......Page 131 Hyndman, Toynbee, and Malthus......Page 135 Progress and Poverty......Page 138 Part III: Bax......Page 143 Still Somewhat Green......Page 144 From Socialism to Socialism......Page 150 A Mere Appendix of Ecclesiastical History?......Page 157 The Religion of Socialism......Page 159 Revisionism Before Bernstein......Page 165 The Practical Significance of Philosophy......Page 172 Chance and Law......Page 177 Liberal Socialism......Page 183 Human Individualism......Page 187 Bax on Liberty......Page 193 Socialism and Democracy......Page 198 Part IV: Morris......Page 204 Utopian Socialism?......Page 205 The ‘Germ Theory’ of Socialism Revisited......Page 212 How the Change Came......Page 215 Morris and Mill......Page 218 Chapter 12: Conclusion......Page 230 Newspapers and Journals......Page 237 Books and Pamphlets......Page 238 Books......Page 244 Articles......Page 254 Index......Page 263