William Morris and the Problem of Englishness

Abstract

This article examines William Morris’s idea of Englishness, considered through a critique of his concept of fellowship or community. It looks at the charge that Morris wrongly neglected the importance of nationality as a focus for organization in socialism, preferring instead an internationalist ideal, based on an unworkable model of small-scale community. I defend Morris against these claims by arguing that Morris’s socialism was consistent with expressions of nationality and that his communitarianism was grounded on a concept of enjoyable labour, not friendship as is often supposed.

Reimagining Englishness: ‘Race’, Class, Progressive English Identities and Disrupted English Communities

“…Thompson’s The Making of the English Working Class documents the appeals made to ‘Saxon precedent’ for the rights of ‘freeborn Englishmen’ during 19th-century campaigns aimed at extending male suffrage and improving workers’ rights (1963: 84). Prominent 19th-century left-wing thinkers ‘argued that the “Anglo-Saxon race” had a particular genius for socialism’ (Kinna, 2006: 86), with William Morris suggesting that the pre-capitalist, pre-modern Englishness of his imagination provided proof that ‘socialism resonated with the national character’ (Kinna, 2006: 94). During the Second World War George Orwell famously portrayed ‘the native genius of the English people’ (2004: 57) which, he hoped, would reveal itself through a specifically English form of socialism following victory over Nazi Germany.…”

From anti-colonialism to anti-imperialism: the evolution of H. M. Hyndman's critique of empire,c.1875-1905

“… Ruth Kinna has demonstrated that William Morris built his socialist ideal on a form of nationalism that centred on the notion of fellowship. David Howell, meanwhile, has noted the patriotic motive behind the naming of the Independent Labour Party (I.L.P. ), the largest party of the ‘socialist revival’.…”