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

by Seamus Flaherty

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030423384
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	05/20/2020
Edition description:	1st ed. 2020
Pages:	271
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Seamus Flaherty is an independent scholar. He has taught widely across modern history and the history of ideas, and he has published his research in the History of European Ideas, Modern Intellectual History and The English Historical Review.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction: The Remaking of British Socialism

Part 1: Origins
Chapter 2: ‘A Certain Hyndman’: ‘Tory Radical’ or ‘Freethinking Gentleman-Republican’?
Chapter 3: Socialism in the Periodical Press: The Origins of Modern British Socialism
Chapter 4: The Democratic Federation and England for All
Chapter 5: ‘A Real Enthusiasm for the New Ideas’: Bax, Marx, Comte, and Spencer

Part 2: Hyndman
Chapter 6: Scientific Socialism: Hyndman, Engels, Morley, and Morris
Chapter 7: Wealth and Ability: Hyndman, Mallock, Toynbee, and George

Part 3: Bax
Chapter 8: The Synthetic Conception of History and The Religion of Socialism
Chapter 9: ‘Historical Agnosticism’: Bax, Engels, and Classical German Philosophy
Chapter 10: Liberalism Versus Socialism: Republicanism, Rights, and Representative Democracy

Part 4: Morris
Chapter 11: ‘Sentimental Socialism’? Morris, Marx, Engels, and Mill
Chapter 12: Conclusion