2) The political commitment of William Morris

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William Morris is perhaps unique in being claimed by almost everyone on the left as an inspiration. From Tony Blair to the old Communist Party of Great Britain, from Fabians to anarchists, Morris is held to have been an historic precursor.

However Morris was quite simply, as Edward Thompson put it, “an outstanding member of the first generation of European Communist intellectuals”, on a par with Plekhanov or Labriola. (William Morris: Romantic to Revolutionary, 1976 p.x) Not for nothing did Tom Mann recall nearly forty years after Morris’ death that he “was to me the outstanding man among the intellectuals of time” (Daily Worker, 24 March 1934).

Morris was probably the most active propagandist for socialism in Britain during the 1880s. He spoke at over one thousand meetings between 1883 and 1890 and may have been heard by as many as 250,000 people. In 1884 alone he wrote 34 for articles for Justice and some 450 pieces for Commonweal newspaper, ranging from short news pieces to serials such as Socialism from the Root Up and News from Nowhere that eventually ran to book length. He also wrote for the socialist journal Today, published several socialist books and pamphlets, and wrote for the Hammersmith Socialist Record (1891-93). He edited over 400 copies of Commonweal, which published (largely funded by his fortune) as a monthly from February 1885 until April 1886 and then as a weekly until he was deposed as editor in May 1890. (Nicholas Salmon, William Morris: Political Writings, 1994 p.xlvi, pp.625-668)

In one of his first lectures after becoming a revolutionary socialist, Morris warned his audience what to expect from such a commitment. In Art and Socialism (23 January 1884) he argued: “You will at least be mocked and laughed at by those whose mockery is a token of honour to an honest man… You will run the risk of losing position, reputation, money, friends even: losses which are certainly pin pricks to the serious martyrdom I have spoken of... Nor can I assure you that you will forever escape scot-free from the attacks of open tyranny… So on all sides I can offer you a position which involves sacrifice…”

Nevertheless he urged “those of you who are convinced of the justice of our cause, not to hang back from active participation in a struggle”. Morris saw himself primarily as a propagandist for socialism, with the intention of “making Socialists” – convincing and educating a layer of socialists through open air meetings, lectures, socialist newspapers and books.

He summed up his attitude in Commonweal, 10 November 1888: “‘Agitate! Educate! Organise!’ Agitate, that the workers may be stirred and awakened to a sense of their position. Educate, that they may know the reason of the evils that they suffer. Organise, that we and they may overthrow the system that bears us down and makes us what we are; that there may be no futile waste of individual effort, but that the army of the revolution may move forward united, steadfast and irresistible, ‘the the Freedom of the Peoples and the Brotherhood of Man’.” (Salmon, William Morris: Journalism, 1996 pp.476-77)

In a number of significant respects, in his understanding of capitalism and class struggle, on the working class as the agent of its own emancipation, on the state and revolution, and on what socialism and communism would look like, Morris was a pretty orthodox follower of Marx and Engels.

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Back to 1) William Morris – a Marxist for our time

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