The Socialist League was an early

revolutionary socialist Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revoluti ...

organisation in the United Kingdom. The organisation began as a

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...

offshoot of the

Social Democratic Federation The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury, James Con ...

Henry Hyndman Henry Mayers Hyndman (; 7 March 1842 – 20 November 1921) was an English writer, politician and socialist. Originally a conservative, he was converted to socialism by Karl Marx's ''Communist Manifesto'' and launched Britain's first left-wing p ...

at the end of 1884. Never an ideologically harmonious group, by the 1890s the group had turned from socialism to

anarchism Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessa ...

, and disbanded in 1901.

Organizational history

Origins

Until March 1884, the members of the Democratic Federation, forerunner of the

(SDF), worked together in harmony. The new organisation had expected to make rapid headway with existing radical workingmen's organisations but few chose to join the SDF. Early enthusiasm gave way to disappointment and introspection. Personal relationships began to loom large among the small group's leading members. The personal vanity and domineering attitude of the organisation's founder,

, along with his nationalism and fixation on parliamentary politics, were the leading causes of the internal acrimony. By the end of 1884, a group of SDF members sought to remove Hyndman from his position as party leader in December Executive Council meetings. A resolution to censure Hyndman passed by a vote of 10 to 8. The anti-Hyndman dissidents handed in their prepared letter of resignation, believing the federation's lack of fraternal cooperation to be irreconcilable. The 10 seceding members of the old SDF Executive Council issued a statement ''To Socialists'' in January 1885 explaining their perspective. Early in 1885, the secessionists established themselves in a new organisation called the Socialist League. Several SDF branches, such as those in East London,

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

, and

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, joined the new group. In

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

the Scottish Land and Labour League severed its connection with the SDF to join the new organisation. Several important individuals in the movement such as author

Edward Carpenter Edward Carpenter (29 August 1844 – 28 June 1929) was an English utopian socialist, poet, philosopher, anthologist, an early activist for gay rightsWarren Allen Smith: ''Who's Who in Hell, A Handbook and International Directory for Human ...

and artist

Walter Crane Walter Crane (15 August 184514 March 1915) was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most influential, and among the most prolific, children's book creators of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Ka ...

also chose to cast their lot with the fledgling Socialist League.

In February 1885 the new party established its official journal, a newspaper called ''

Commonweal Commonweal or common weal may refer to: * Common good, what is shared and beneficial for members of a given community * Common Weal, a Scottish think tank and advocacy group * Commonweal (magazine), ''Commonweal'' (magazine), an American lay-Cath ...

''. This publication was initially published monthly but was soon converted into a weekly. Editor of the publication was William Morris, who paid the paper's operating deficit out of pocket.

Development

The Socialist League was a heterogeneous organisation, including

Fabians The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. The Fab ...

, Christian Socialists,

anarchists Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not necessari ...

, and Marxist revolutionary socialists. While the Marxists tolerated the earnest ethical socialists, the anarchists concerned them, with memories of the role of the anarchist schism in the

First International The International Workingmen's Association (IWA), often called the First International (1864–1876), was an international organisation which aimed at uniting a variety of different left-wing socialist, communist and anarchist groups and trad ...

still fresh in their memory.

Eleanor Marx Jenny Julia Eleanor Marx (16 January 1855 – 31 March 1898), sometimes called Eleanor Aveling and known to her family as Tussy, was the English-born youngest daughter of Karl Marx. She was herself a socialist activist who sometimes worked as a ...

was one of the Socialist League leaders who was particularly concerned about the place of the largely non-English anarchists in the new party. The Socialist League was involved in the fight for the right of

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recog ...

in London during 1885 and 1886. Whereas religious organisations such as the

Salvation Army Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

were allowed to preach in the streets, the

London Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

banned the Socialists from similar activities. Members of the Socialist League and their rivals the SDF simply continued to speak and to incur fines, attracting public attention, until the authorities made the decision that their prosecution was counterproductive and stopped their interference. Thereafter, public interest in the street meetings rapidly evaporated. While the political contributions of the tiny Socialist League were not measurable, it did have a lasting literary impact. The newspaper of the Socialist League, ''The Commonweal,'' provided the venue for first publication of a number of original writings, including the serialized novels of William Morris, ''Dream of John Ball'' and ''

News from Nowhere ''News from Nowhere'' (1890) is a classic work combining utopian socialism and soft science fiction written by the artist, designer and socialist pioneer William Morris. It was first published in serial form in the ''Commonweal'' journal begin ...

''. In 1887, the League's membership split ideologically into three factions: anarchists, parliamentary-oriented socialists, and anti-parliamentary socialists.

Anarchist control

Around the middle of this same year, 1887, anarchists began to outnumber socialists in the Socialist League. The 3rd Annual Conference, held in London on 29 May 1887 marked the change, with a majority of the 24 delegates voting in favor of an anarchist-sponsored resolution declaring that "This conference endorses the policy of abstention from parliamentary action, hitherto pursued by the League, and sees no sufficient reason for altering it."

Frederick Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' Bloomsbury Socialist Society The Bloomsbury Socialist Society (BSS) was a socialist organisation which broke away from the Socialist League in 1888. At the third annual conference of the Socialist League held on 20 May 1888, the Anarchist wing of the league prevailed over th ...

. By the end of 1888 many other parliamentary-oriented individuals had exited the Socialist League to return to the SDF, with others who remained hostile to the SDF's parliamentary emphasis choosing to involve themselves in the burgeoning movement for so-called "New Unionism." As the socialist factions left, the anarchist faction solidified its hold on the organisation. By 1889, the anarchist wing had completely captured the organisation. William Morris was stripped of the editorship of ''Commonweal'' in favor of

Frank Kitz Frank Kitz (1849 – 8 January 1923) was an English anarchist. Life Born in the Kentish Town area of London as Francis Platt, he was illegitimate and grew up in poverty.E. P. Thompson and Peter Linebaugh, ''William Morris: Romantic to Revo ...

, an anarchist workman. Morris was left to foot the ongoing operating deficit of the publication, some £4 per week — this at a time when £150 per year was the average annual family income in the kingdom. By the autumn of 1890, Morris had had enough and he, too, withdrew from the Socialist League.

Disestablishment

The anarchist movement had newspapers of its own, including the journals ''Liberty'' and ''Freedom.'' The William Morris Society "reformed" the Hammersmith branch for one day on the TUC March for the Alternative on 26 March 2011. The banner was paraded again on 20 October 2012.

Notable members

Secretaries

:1885:

John Lincoln Mahon John Lincoln Mahon (8 June 1865 – 19 November 1933) was a Scottish trade unionist and politician, best known as a prominent socialist activist. Mahon was born in Edinburgh, to Irish parents, with the surname "McMahon". He followed in his fath ...

:1885:

Henry Halliday Sparling Henry Halliday Sparling (1860 – 9 September 1924) was a British journalist and socialist activist. Sparling became a socialist in 1878, and soon began lecturing on the topic. He began writing for ''Progress'' in 1884, and joined the Sociali ...

:1886:

Henry Alfred Barker Henry Alfred Barker (25 February 1858 – 12 January 1940) was a British socialist activist. Early life Born in Shoreditch in the East End of London, Barker was educated at St John's School in Hoxton before following his father in becoming ...

:1888: Fred Charles :1888:

:1890: ?

Other members

Edward Aveling Edward Bibbins Aveling (29 November 1849 – 2 August 1898) was an English comparative anatomist and popular spokesman for Darwinian evolution, atheism and socialism. He was also a playwright and actor. Aveling was the author of numer ...

Eleanor Marx Aveling Jenny Julia Eleanor Marx (16 January 1855 – 31 March 1898), sometimes called Eleanor Aveling and known to her family as Tussy, was the English-born youngest daughter of Karl Marx. She was herself a Socialism, socialist activist who sometimes w ...

Ernest Belfort Bax Ernest Belfort Bax (; 23 July 1854 – 26 November 1926) was an English barrister, journalist, philosopher, men's rights advocate, socialist, and historian. Biography Ernest Belfort Bax was born on 23 July 1854, in Leamington Spa, son of Danie ...

* Bruce Glasier * Bill Holmes *

Tom Maguire Tom Maguire (28 March 1892 – 5 July 1993) was an Irish republican who held the rank of commandant-general in the Western Command of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and led the South Mayo flying column. Early life Tom Maguire was born 28 Ma ...

Sam Mainwaring Samuel Mainwaring (15 December 1841 – 29 September 1907) was a Welsh machinist and socialist political activist who was a founding member and key leader of the Socialist League, one of the first socialist political parties in Britain. In his ...

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...

* Andreas Scheu *

Raymond Unwin Sir Raymond Unwin (2 November 1863 – 29 June 1940) was a prominent and influential English engineer, architect and town planner, with an emphasis on improvements in working class housing. Early years Raymond Unwin was born in Rotherham, York ...

Conferences of the Socialist League

:: Data from International Institute of Social History, "Finding Aid for the Socialist League Archive," supplemented by Kapp, ''Eleanor Marx: Volume 2, passim'' and ''Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 48, passim.''

Footnotes

Bibliography

* * *

External links

Manifesto of the Socialist League
''Commonweal,'' February 1885. William Morris Internet Archive,

Marxists Internet Archive Marxists Internet Archive (also known as MIA or Marxists.org) is a non-profit online encyclopedia that hosts a multilingual library (created in 1990) of the works of communist, anarchist, and socialist writers, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels ...

. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
Socialist League (UK) Archives
at the

International Institute of Social History The International Institute of Social History (IISH/IISG) is one of the largest archives of labor and social history in the world. Located in Amsterdam, its one million volumes and 2,300 archival collections include the papers of major figu ...

. Retrieved 19 May 2018. {{DEFAULTSORT:Socialist League (Uk, 1885) 1885 establishments in the United Kingdom 1901 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Political parties established in 1885 Political parties disestablished in 1901 Anarchist organisations in the United Kingdom Second International