This article examines News from Nowhere, William Morris's late nineteenth-century utopian romance. It seeks, first, to establish John Stuart Mill as a crucial influence on the text. It argues that, in News from Nowhere, Morris engaged extensively with Mill's mid-century essay On Liberty. It shows how Morris dramatized Mill's “harm principle”; how he challenged the notion that custom must necessarily be antithetical to the “spirit of liberty”; and how he enacted Mill's stricture that “if opponents of all important truths do not exist,” then they must be invented. The article seeks, second, to contest the view that Morris was writing in indignant response to Edward Bellamy's portrait of utopia, Looking Backward. The article argues, instead, that it was rather the Fabians who incurred Morris's indignation. It attempts to demonstrate that if News from Nowhere was indeed an answer to another book, it was an answer to Fabian Essays.
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
In recent years, the historiography of late nineteenth-century British Socialism has reached a new level of sophistication. The determinism and essentialism that typified much of the work on the subject prior to the so-called linguistic turn in social history has been decisively dropped. This article, however, argues that the influence of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels still persists in two crucial respects. Firstly, it suggests that historians continue to take their lead from Marx in pinpointing the start of the Socialist movement; and second, it posits that historians also continue to follow Engels by describing the political beliefs of H.M. Hyndman as belonging to an intellectual tradition of Tory Radicalism. This article argues that, partly as a consequence of that first error, historians have overlooked the small but crucial burst of articles on the topic of Socialism published in the periodical press between 1878 and 1880. It also claims that, contrary to the historiographical consensus, Hyndman was not an ‘ex-Conservative’ or Radical of Tory inclination. It demonstrates, rather, that Hyndman’s ideological heritage was overwhelmingly Liberal. It situates Hyndman’s first article on Socialism against the anterior discussion in the periodical press. The article reveals how Hyndman’s intervention was indebted to the arguments previously advanced by J.S. Mill, Henry Fawcett, and William Cunningham. It posits, furthermore, that once it is recognised that the writings of Mill, Fawcett and other Liberals occupied a central place in Hyndman’s political imagination a number of other features of Hyndman’s political thought also fall into place.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.