Defining Progressive Politics: Municipal Socialism and Anti-Socialism in Contestation, 1889–1939

Abstract

“Progressive” is usually seen to emerge as a political term in the late 1880s, signifying new liberalism and its alliance with social democracy. This is also the period in which Koselleck noted that “progress” became an empty “catchword,” used across the political spectrum. This paper explores this semantic shift. It focuses on two periods of “Progressive” municipal politics in Britain: the London Progressive Party elected in 1889, and the anti-socialist Progressive Parties of the inter-war years. It asks how the champions and opponents of municipal socialism could both call themselves “progressive” and what this reveals about the fracturing of liberalism.

The liberal playground

“…This was not only a pedagogical observation, but also her way of describing an acute crisis in liberal ideology. Even though ‘liberalism had always been seen as the naturally progressive creed’, by the interwar years it became so splintered that ‘it was no longer clear which faction was the truly progressive force’ (Robinson, 2015: 630). Isaacs realized that the outcome of this ideological confusion was an educator or a parent who had a ‘progressive sentiment’, rather than a ‘conservative’, ‘socialist’, or indeed ‘liberal’ political programme.…”

“…As Robinson has shown, since the late 19th century, ‘the seemingly natural and eternal division between the “progressive and conservative elements” of human society was no longer reflected in the political system. Both factions vigorously contested their right to inherit the mantle of the “Party of Progress”’ (Robinson, 2015: 618). Thus, between the 1890s and the late 1930s, the ‘progressive’ cause was part of a wider belief in the modernization and democratization of the public sphere, which many political forces, from the socialist left to the conservative right, attempted to shape according to their own moral and social priorities.…”

Lancashire and the New Liberalism : A Half-century Retrospective

“…For example, in a 2015 article aiming to both define and explore the significance of 'progressivism', Emily Robinson highlights the significance of the Clarke's book in linking the purchase of progressivism synonymous with that of New Liberalism. 33 Together with Clarke's later work, his first attempts to extrapolate a new way of considering moderate British politics. As reviewers of EHH Green and Duncan Tanner's 2007 festschrift for Clarke noted, his work greatly influenced the 'new political history' , particularly its focus on the significance of ' ideas, culture, institutions, identity, and context…to fully illuminate any political moment'.…”

“A Fascinating Show for John Citizen and his Wife”: Advertising Exhibitions in Early Twentieth-Century London

“…Business in the early twentieth century was keen to portray itself as a "uniquely progressive" force, and the exhibitions were a good example of this. 94 1912 featured a stand staffed entirely by female advertising agents displaying examples of their handiwork, and also hosted a meeting for women in advertising. 95 In reports of subsequent exhibitions, the large numbers of women involved in the industry was frequently noted.…”