The Socialist League was an early revolutionary socialist 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 C ...

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-wi ...

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 neces ...

, 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 Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics * Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe an ...

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 East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the ...

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 popul ...

, 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

Scottish Land and Labour League Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: * Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland * Scottish English * Scottish national identity, the Scottish ...

severed its connection with the SDF to join the new organisation. Several important individuals in the movement such as author Edward Carpenter 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), an American lay-Catholic-oriented magazin ...

''. 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,

Christian Socialists Christian socialism is a religious and political philosophy that blends Christianity and socialism, endorsing left-wing politics and socialist economics on the basis of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Many Christian socialists believe capi ...

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 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 ...

were allowed to preach in the streets, the London Metropolitan Police 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. 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, 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 :1885: Henry Halliday Sparling :1886: Henry Alfred Barker :1888: Fred Charles :1888: Frank Kitz :1890: ?

Other members

* Edward Aveling * Eleanor Marx Aveling * Ernest Belfort Bax * Edward Carpenter *

* 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 *

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 w ...

* 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 En ...

. 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