Ernest Belfort Bax (; 23 July 1854 – 26 November 1926) was an English

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, men's rights advocate,

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

, and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

Biography

Ernest Belfort Bax was born on 23 July 1854, in

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply LeamingtonEven more colloquially, also referred to as Lem or Leam (). (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Pri ...

, son of Daniel Bax, a wealthy

Mackintosh The Mackintosh raincoat (abbreviated as mac) is a form of waterproof raincoat, first sold in 1824, made of rubberised textile, fabric. The Mackintosh is named after its Scotland, Scottish inventor Charles Macintosh, although many writers adde ...

raincoat manufacturer and traditionalist nonconformist. Bax's elder brother, barrister Alfred Ridley Bax, was father of the composer and writer

Arnold Bax Sir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax (8 November 1883 – 3 October 1953) was an English composer, poet, and author. His prolific output includes songs, choral music, chamber pieces, and solo piano works, but he is best known for his orchestral music ...

and the playwright and essayist Clifford Bax. In his ''Reminiscences and Reflexions of a Mid and Late Victorian'' (1918), he describes the narrow Evangelicanism and Sabbatarianism in which he was brought up which he describes as having left "an enduringly unpleasant reminiscence behind it". He was privately educated by tutors between the years 1864–1875, and influenced by George Lewes, William Lecky, Alexander Bain,

Herbert Spencer Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December 1903) was an English polymath active as a philosopher, psychologist, biologist, sociologist, and anthropologist. Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest", which he coined in '' ...

and

John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, politician and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism and social liberalism, he contributed widely to s ...

, which contributed to his dedication to rationalism. At the age of sixteen his interest in public affairs was awakened by the

Franco-German War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Jan ...

, and by its sequel, the Commune. His political ideas during this period amounted to a commonplace radicalism combined with aspirations to economic equality. In his youth Bax had an interest in music and could play the piano, and at the age of 21 (1875) he went to Germany to study music. He visited there again in 1880 as Berlin correspondent of ''The Standard''. It was then that he met with Eduard von Hartmann and came into contact with

German philosophy German philosophy, meaning philosophy in the German language or philosophy by German people, in its diversity, is fundamental for both the analytic and continental traditions. It covers figures such as Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Immanuel Kant, ...

in general. After studying for a period, his interest in Mill, Spencer and Bain yielded to the German greats

Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, et ...

and

Hegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (27 August 1770 – 14 November 1831) was a 19th-century German idealism, German idealist. His influence extends across a wide range of topics from metaphysical issues in epistemology and ontology, to political phi ...

, and his philosophical interests remained with him for life.

Studies in philosophy

In 1880 at the age of 26, Bax began studying philosophy in Germany, beginning with Kant and Hegel. In 1883 he produced an English translation of Kant's '' Prolegomena, and Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science'', and in 1884 he wrote his ''Handbook to the History of Philosophy'', which was published in 1885 for Bohn's Philosophical Library. Later philosophical works by Bax include ''The Problem of Reality'' (1892), ''The Roots of Reality: Being Suggestions for a Philosophical Reconstruction'' (1907), ''Problems of Men, Mind and Morals'' (1912), and ''The Real, The Rational, and The Alogical'' (1920).

Men's rights advocacy

Bax was a passionate advocate for the social and legal rights of men, which he saw as lacking in comparison to the legal rights of women. His first major article on the subject was "Some Bourgeois Idols; Or Ideals, Reals, and Shams" (1886), in which he proposed that women were privileged under law at the expense of men. He was to continue writing articles on this topic for most of his life, published notably in ''Social Democrat'', and ''Justice'', and later in ''

The New Age ''The New Age'' was a British weekly magazine (1894–1938),credited as a major influence on literature and the arts during its heyday from 1907 to 1922, when it was edited by Alfred Richard Orage. It published work by many of the chief politi ...

''. In 1896, he wrote ''The Legal Subjection of Men'' * Reprinted as whose title is a play on

's 1869 essay "

The Subjection of Women ''The Subjection of Women'' is an essay by English philosopher, political economist and civil servant John Stuart Mill published in 1869, with ideas he developed jointly with his wife Harriet Taylor Mill. J.S. Mill submitted the finished manus ...

." In the volume, Bax draws on his extensive experience as a barrister to demonstrate the numerous ways in which the legal code favoured women to the detriment of men and boys. Chapters in the book include 'Matrimonial Privileges of Women', 'Non-Matrimonial Privileges of Women', 'The Actual Exercise of Women's Sex Privileges', and 'A Sex Noblesse'.

"The most elaborate cruelty in the way of insolence and insult is unpunishable by the law when committed by the wife. The husband remains bound to support his torturer, who may publicly waylay and insult him, harass him at his work, procure his dismissal, libel him by postcards sent to his workshop, or to his club. If he be a rich man, he can get some tardy redress in the way of palliation; but he remains liable to divorce and expropriation at his wife's behest. Now the feminine noblesse can torture their slaves with impunity. If the husband retaliates, the magistrate's order promptly consigns him to gaol and the prisoners' lash."

Bax was an active

antifeminist Antifeminism or anti-feminism is opposition to feminism. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, antifeminists opposed particular policy proposals for women's rights, such as women's suffrage, the right to vote, Female education, educat ...

since, according to him, feminism was failing to address inequities for both sexes evenly. According to Bax, the "anti-man crusades" of his day were responsible for anti-man laws being both preserved from the old legal canon, and for new laws being passed that were also anti-male and sexist. Bax wrote many articles in ''The New Age'' and elsewhere about English laws partial to women against men, and women's privileged position before the law, and expressed his view that

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

would unfairly tip the balance of power to women. In 1913 he published a book, ''The Fraud of Feminism'', critiquing feminism. In it, he described chivalry as "the deprivation, the robbery from men of the most elementary personal rights in order to endow women with privileges at the expense of men." Bax's concern for men's equality fuelled his interest in socialism, to which he turned for a potential solution to what he viewed as the exploitation of males by the capitalist system:

"The highest development of modern capitalism, as exemplified in the English-speaking countries, has placed man to all intents and purposes, legally under the heel of woman. So far as the relations of the sexes are concerned, it would be the task of Socialism to emancipate man from this position, if sex-equality be the goal aimed at. The first step on the road towards such equality would necessarily consist in the abolition of modern female privilege."

Socialism

Bax was first introduced to socialism while studying

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

in Germany in 1879. He combined

ideas with those of

Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...

Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( ; ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the Phenomenon, phenomenal world as ...

and Eduard von Hartmann. Keen to explore possible

metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of h ...

and

ethical Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied e ...

implications of socialism, he came to describe a "''religion of socialism''" as a means to overcome the

dichotomy A dichotomy () is a partition of a set, partition of a whole (or a set) into two parts (subsets). In other words, this couple of parts must be * jointly exhaustive: everything must belong to one part or the other, and * mutually exclusive: nothi ...

between the personal and the social, and also that between the

cognitive Cognition is the "mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...

and the

emotional Emotions are physical and mental states brought on by neurophysiology, neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavior, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or suffering, displeasure. There is ...

. He saw this as a replacement for organised religion, and was a fervent

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, keen to free workers from what he saw as the

moralism Moralism is a philosophy that arose in the 19th century that concerns itself with imbuing society with a certain set of morals, usually traditional behaviour, but also "justice, freedom, and equality". It has strongly affected North American and ...

of the

middle-class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Commo ...

. Bax moved to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and worked as a journalist on the ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

''. On his return to England in 1882, he joined 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 ...

, but grew disillusioned and in 1885 left to form the Socialist League with

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...

. After

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

s gained control of the League, he rejoined the SDF, and became the chief theoretician, and editor of the party paper ''

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

''. He opposed the party's participation in the Labour Representation Committee, and eventually persuaded them to leave. Almost throughout his life, he saw economic conditions as ripe for socialism, but felt this progress was delayed by a lack of education of the

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

. Bax supported

Karl Kautsky Karl Johann Kautsky (; ; 16 October 1854 – 17 October 1938) was a Czech-Austrian Marxism, Marxist theorist. A leading theorist of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Second International, Kautsky advocated orthodox Marxism, a ...

over

Eduard Bernstein Eduard Bernstein (; 6 January 1850 – 18 December 1932) was a German Marxist theorist and politician. A prominent member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), he has been both condemned and praised as a "Revisionism (Marxism), revisi ...

, but Kautsky had little time for what he saw as Bax's

utopianism A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', which describes a fictiona ...

, and supported Theodore Rothstein's efforts to spread a more

orthodox Marxism Orthodox Marxism is the body of Marxist thought which emerged after the deaths of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the late 19th century, expressed in its primary form by Karl Kautsky. Kautsky's views of Marxism dominated the European Marxis ...

in the SDF. Bax also opposed the reform minded policies of the

Fabian Society The Fabian Society () is a History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom, British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in ...

. Initially very anti-

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

, Bax came to support the British in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, but by this point he was concentrating on his career as a

and did little political work.

Historian

As well as his contributions to philosophy, men's rights, and socialism, Bax published several in depth historical studies of individuals, and cultures. He records in his Reminiscences that he always felt, from childhood on, the need of an intelligible doctrine of history. Among his historical works are: ''

Jean-Paul Marat Jean-Paul Marat (, , ; born Jean-Paul Mara; 24 May 1743 – 13 July 1793) was a French political theorist, physician, and scientist. A journalist and politician during the French Revolution, he was a vigorous defender of the ''sans-culottes ...

: The People's Friend'' (1879), ''German Society at the Close of the Middle Ages'' (1894), ''The Social Side of the Reformation in Germany'' (1894), ''The Peasants' War in Germany'' (1899), ''The Rise and Fall of the Anabaptists'' (1903), ''The Last Episode of the French Revolution'' (1911), and ''German Culture Past and Present'' (1913).

Works

He wrote the following books on various subjects:
''Jean-Paul Marat: A Historico-Biographical Sketch''
(1882)
''A Handbook of the History of Philosophy''
(1886)
''A Short Account of the Commune of Paris of 1871''
with Victor Dave &

(1886)
''Religion of Socialism''
(1886)
''The Story of The French Revolution''
(1890)
''Outlooks From a New Standpoint''
(1891)
''The Problem of Reality''
(1893)
''The Ethics of Socialism''
(1893)
''German Society at the Close of The Middle Ages''
(1894)
''A Short History of The Paris Commune''
(1894)
''Socialism; Its Growth and Outcome''
with William Morris (1894)
''The Legal Subjection of Men'' (1896 with Twentieth Century Press) with an unnamed Irish barrister, (republished in 1908 with New Age Press)

''The Peasants War in Germany''
(1899)
''Jean-Paul Marat: The People's Friend''
(1901)
''The Rise and Fall of the Anabaptists''
(1900)
''A New Catechism of Socialism''
with

Harry Quelch Henry Quelch (30 January, 1858 – 17 September, 1913) was one of the first Marxists and founders of the Social democracy, social democratic movement in Great Britain. He was a socialist activist, journalist and trade unionist. His brother, Lor ...

(1903)
''Essays in Socialism, New and Old''
(1906)
''The Roots of Reality''
(1908)
''The Last Episode of the French Revolution: Being a History of Gracchus Babeuf and the Conspiracy of the Equals''
(1911)
''Problems of Men, Mind, and Morals''
(1912)
''The Fraud of Feminism''
(1913)
''Reminiscences and Reflexions of a mid and late Victorian''
(1918)
''German Culture Past and Present''
(1915)

References

External links

*
Archive of Bax's work
on Marxists.org * * * * ''The Legal Subjection of Men'', 1908 antithesis of

's 1869 ''

''. * ''Fraud of Feminism'', full 1913 text online
Article on Bax
at

Spartacus Educational Spartacus Educational is a free online encyclopedia with essays and other educational material on a wide variety of historical subjects, principally the struggle for equality and democracy as part of British history from 1700 and the history of ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bax, Ernest Belfort 1854 births 1926 deaths British Socialist Party members English atheists 19th-century English historians English male journalists 19th-century English philosophers 20th-century English philosophers English socialists Freethought writers Male critics of feminism People from Leamington Spa Social Democratic Federation members Socialist League (UK, 1885) members 20th-century English historians Translators of Immanuel Kant Men's rights activists