I am not quite sure that I should wish to see Tewkesbury Minster `replaced in its
former state,' or one of its many `former states'; but, as it is clearly
impossible, when one comes to think of it, for ourselves or our buildings to live
again either in the fifteenth century or the twelfth, it is hardly worth while to
say much on this merely hypothetical matter of taste. On the other hand, I am sure
that I do not wish the Minster to look like a modern building, and I think Sir
Edmund Lechmere also would disclaim any such wish, though doubtless many others
would not; and I assert that the more money is spent in altering its `present
state' in the year 1877 and onwards, the more modern it... (From: Marxists.org.) The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings ventures to ask you to publish
the accompanying correspondence between it and the Dean of Westminster relative to
the proposed restoration of Westminster Abbey. The society considers it the duty of
all cultured Englishmen to watch carefully any such proposals, both because it is a
difficult and delicate task to put modern work into an ancient and traditional work
of art, and because the consequences of a mistake in dealing with this peerless
national monument would be so disastrous and so irreparable. The society thought
itself bound to seek information in the most direct way from those who are
responsible to the nation for the treatm... (From: Marxists.org.) Ten year ago with the publication of his beautiful and scholarly volume of
translations from the early Italian poets, Mr Rossetti announced the preparation of
a volume of original poems. This book, so eagerly looked for by those who knew the
author by his great works in painting, has now been given to the public; nor is it
easy to exaggerate the value and importance of that gift, for the book is complete
and satisfactory from end to end. And in spite of the intimate connection between
one art and another, it is certainly to be wondered at, that a master in the
supremely difficult art of painting should have qualities which enable him to deal
with the other supremely difficult one of po... (From: Marxists.org.) Among cultivated people at present there is a good deal of interest felt or
affected in the ornamental arts and their prospects. Since all these arts are
dependent on the master-art of architecture almost for their existence, and cannot
be in a healthy condition if it is sick, it may be worth while to consider what is
the condition of architecture in this country; whether or no we have a living style
which can lay claim to a dignity or beauty of its own, or whether our real style is
merely a habit of giving certain forms not worth noticing to an all-pervading
ugliness and meanness.
In the first place, then, it must be admitted on all sides that there has been in
this... (From: Marxists.org.) For some time past there has been a good deal of interest shown in what is called
in our modern slang Art Workmanship, and quite recently there has been a growing
feeling that this art workmanship to be of any value must have some of the
workman's individuality imparted to it beside whatever of art it may have got from
the design of the artist who has planned, but not executed the work. This feeling
has gone so far that there is growing up a fashion for demanding handmade goods
even when they are not ornamented in any way, as, for instance, woolen and linen
cloth spun by hand and woven without power, hand-knitted hosiery, and the like.
Nay, it is not uncommon to hear regrets for the ha... (From: Marxists.org.) Title:
“The Revolt of Ghent”,
Part 1 Author:
William Morris Source:
Commonweal,
Volume 4,
Number 130,
pp. 210
7 July 1888
(The first of seven parts.) Transcribed by:
Ted Crawford Proofing and HTML:Graham Seaman
The events of which an account is here given took place towards the close of the fourteenth century among a people of kindred blood to ourselves, dwelling not many hours journey (as we travel now) from the place where we dwell; and yet to us are wonderful enough, if we think of them.
Few epochs of history, indeed, are more interesting than this defeated
struggle to be free of the craftsmen of Flanders whether we look upon th... (From: Marxists.org.) Title:
“The Revolt of Ghent”,
Part 2 Author:
William Morris Source:
Commonweal,
Volume 4,
Number 131,
pp. 217-218
14 July 1888
(The second of seven parts.) Transcribed by:
Ted Crawford Proofing and HTML:Graham Seaman
Having thus very briefly told you as to the political and social condition of the great Flemish towns, I must now get to my story, as given us by Froissart.
I have mentioned the English alliance with James van Artevelde, which took place at the very beginning of the war with France ; this went on till at the siege of Tourney by Edward III., James van Artevelde sent sixty thousand men to help that king ; and in the year ... (From: Marxists.org.) The Revolt of Ghent (Part 3)William Morris. Commonweal 1888
The Revolt of Ghent (Part 3)
Title:
“The Revolt of Ghent”,
Part 3 Author:
William Morris Source:
Commonweal,
Volume 4,
Number 132,
pp. 226-227
21 July 1888
(The third of seven parts.) Transcribed by:
Ted Crawford Proofing and HTML:Graham Seaman
Peace being made, the Earl is rather shy of Ghent, and takes up his quarters at Bruges, no doubt playing his old game of setting the towns against one another. The citizens of Ghent (one may suppose the respectables chiefly) are anxious for their Feudal Lord to come among them, so that they may be sure that the peace is really ke... (From: Marxists.org.) Title:
“The Revolt of Ghent”,
Part 4 Author:
William Morris Source:
Commonweal,
Volume 4,
Number 133,
pp. 234
28 July 1888
(The fourth of seven parts.) Transcribed by:
Ted Crawford Proofing and HTML:Graham Seaman
Under the sore discouragement caused by these defeats, the rich men began to murmur and look towards submission as the only end. Peter du Bois was their only leader left, and I suppose, judging from Froissart’s story, that he was not a man of much initiative as we say now-a-days ; anyhow, he looked round for support in the present straits, and says Froissart: “He remembered him of a man the which was not greatly no... (From: Marxists.org.) Title:
“The Revolt of Ghent”,
Part 5 Author:
William Morris Source:
Commonweal,
Volume 4,
Number 134,
pp. 242-243
4 August 1888
(The fifth of seven parts.) Transcribed by:
Ted Crawford Proofing and HTML:Graham Seaman
Says the old chronicler:—
“When Philip van Artevelde and his company entered again into Ghent, a great number of the common people desiring nothing but peace, were right joyful of their coming, trusting to hear some good tidings ; they came against him, and could not restrain, but demanded tidings, saying, ‘Ah, dear sir, Philip van Artevelde, rejoice us with some good word, let us know how ye have sped&... (From: Marxists.org.) Title:
“The Revolt of Ghent”,
Part 6 Author:
William Morris Source:
Commonweal,
Volume 4,
Number 135,
pp. 250
11 August 1888
(The sixth of seven parts.) Transcribed by:
Ted Crawford Proofing and HTML:Graham Seaman
Froissart goes on to say:—
“This Saturday in the morning Philip van Artevelde ordained and commanded that every man should make him ready to God, and caused masses to be sung in divers places by certain friars that were with him ; and so every man confessed him, and prayed to God for grace and mercy. And there were certain sermons made, enduring an hour and a half ; there it was shewed to people by these friars... (From: Marxists.org.) Title:
“The Revolt of Ghent”,
Part 7 Author:
William Morris Source:
Commonweal,
Volume 4,
Number 136,
pp. 258-259
18 August 1888
(The last of seven parts.) Transcribed by:
Ted Crawford Proofing and HTML:Graham Seaman
Froissart goes on:—
“In the mean time that the Earl was at his lodging, and sent forth the clerks of every ward from street to street, to have every man to draw to the market place, to recover the town. The Ghentois pursued so fiercely their enemies, that they entered into the town with them of Bruges ; and as soon as they were within the town, the first thing they did, they went straight to the market plac... (From: Marxists.org.) The Revolt of Ghent
By William Morris
Morris's history of the revolt of Ghent is mainly a retelling of the story as originally recounted by the mediæval historian Froissart; Morris even repeated large
sections from Froissart verbatim. But the framework and the episodes selected are chosen to emphasize one of Morris's particular interests: the development of the conflict between the craft guilds on the one hand and the merchant guilds and aristocracy on the other. The story is the urban, contintental counterpart to the English Peasant's Revolt and the Dream of John Ball.
Morris presented the story as a talk to the Hammersmith Branch of the Socialist League on 29 January 1888 and to the Clerkenwell... (From: Marxists.org.) Source:
“Revolutionary Calendar: Wat Tyler” Commonweal, Vol 4, No. 126, 9 June 1888,
p.182; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. Wat Tyler, i.e., Walter, the tiler or thatcher, was an artisan of Dartford,
in Kent, and became a leader in the great peasant rebellion which took place
in England in the early years of Richard II (1381), and which was much more
dangerous to the tyranny of the day than is usually supposed; it spread from
the north of East Anglia, all through Essex and Kent, and along the south
coast to Exeter. The immediate occasion of Wat Tyler's own rebellion as
related by the chroniclers, was his resistance to a bailiff, who, calling for
the poll-tax then being levied by the very unpopular Government, treated his
... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: “The Reward of Labor — A Dialogue” Commonweal, Vol 3, No. 71, 21 May 1887, p. 165; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. Persons: An Earnest Enquirer, an East-end Weaver, a West-end Landowner
Scene: Outside a philanthropical meeting on Social Science.
Earnest Enquirer. Excuse me, gentle — h'm, gentlemen! neither of you seem quite comfortable after the noble sentiments showing the harmony that should exist between the rich and the poor, and the inculcation of altruism, and self-sacrifice on both sides, which we have heard in there. You, sir (to the Weaver), whom I take to be a soldier in the noble army of industry, seem discontented; a little sour — sulky even, if I may say so. And you, sir (to the Landowner),... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: “The Reward of Labor — A Dialogue 2” Commonweal, Vol 3, No. 72, 28 May 1887, p. 170-171; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. Persons: An Earnest Enquirer, an East-end Weaver, a West-end Landowner
SCENE: Outside a philanthropical meeting on Social Science.
E.E. (continuing to W.) But I am a stranger in London, and will you believe it, don’t know what the East-end of London is like; but I have heard of so much being done for the benefit of the East-end, People’s Palaces, Mosaic pictures, and the like, that I suppose by now it is quite a pleasant place; that small and squalid as your house is, you can get out of it at once into fresh air, pleasant gardens, roomy squares; and that it is well supplied with libra... (From: Marxists.org.) So now being out of the wood, they went peaceably and safely along the Portway, the Runaways mingling with the Dalesmen. Strange showed amid the health and wealth of the Dale the rags and misery and nakedness of the thralls, like a dream amid the trim gaiety of spring; and whomsoever they met, or came up with on the road, whatso his business might be, could not refrain himself from following them, but mingled with the men-at-arms, and asked them of the tidings; and when they heard who these poor people were, even delivered thralls of the Foemen, they were glad at heart and cried out for joy; and many of the women, nay, of the men also, when they first came across that misery from out the heart of their own pleasant life, wept for pity and ... (From: Marxists.org.) For some time past there have been rumors afloat that it was intended to `restore'
the Royal tombs in Westminster Abbey. These seem traceable to the fact that the
President of the Society of Antiquaries had had his attention called to the alleged
bad condition of the monuments. The result of this has been that Mr J. T.
Micklethwaite, whose knowledge both of the past and the present of the Abbey
probably surpasses that of any other person now living, was commissioned to report
on the state of the Royal monuments to the executive committee of the Society of
Antiquaries. His report disposes of the alarmist view that there is any serious
deterioration going on in these monuments. They have... (From: Marxists.org.) SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF ANCIENT BUILDINGS.
The thirteenth annual meeting of the Society for the Protection of Ancient
Buildings was held last evening in the old hall of Barnard's Inn, Holborn. Mr.
Walter Crane presided, and in opening the proceedings said that they had there
that evening two very excellent photographs which might serve as illustrations
of what modern restoration meant. They illustrated the restoration of the south
transept of St. Albans Abbey - a very noble building, of which England was
justly proud. It might be said, "Look here upon this picture, and on this," for
they represented the state of the building before and after it had been
"Grimthorped," as a friend of his expressively put it. The one photogra... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: “The Sequel of the Scotch Letter” Commonweal, Vol 2, No. 26, 10 July 1886, p.114; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. On Sunday 27th June I lectured on the ‘Political Outlook’ at the Waterloo Rooms, Glasgow, the same place where my Thursday’s lecture was given; this was under the auspices of the Branch, and our comrade Muirhead took the chair. There was a larger attendance than on the Thursday; howbeit several got up and went out almost as soon as I began: it seems there was some mistake as to my subject, as there was a religious meeting elsewhere on the premises, and some of the proper audience thereof had wandered into our hall. Moreover I suspect that some found themselves ‘caught’ by my title,... (From: Marxists.org.) The above title may strike some of my readers as strange. It is assumed by most people nowadays that all work is useful, and by most well-to-to people that all work is desirable. Most people, well-to- do or not, believe that, even when a man is doing work which appears to be useless, he is earning his livelihood by it--he is "employed," as the phrase goes; and most of those who are well-to-do cheer on the happy worker with congratulations and praises, if he is only "industrious" enough and deprives himself of all pleasure and holidays in the sacred cause of labor. In short, it has become an article of the creed of modern morality that all labor is good in itself--a convenient belief to those who live on the labor of others. But as to th... (From: Marxists.org.) The Labor Leader
A Single Socialist Party
Wm. Morris, speaking at Kelmscott House on Sunday last, said he thought the
time had arrived when an attempt might be made to form a single Socialist
party, which should exist as a party, not destroying the existing Socialist
organizations, the biggest of which, he said, could not claim to be more than a
propagandist society. The party must include the whole of the genuine Labor
movement, by which he meant all those who accepted the principle of equality of
condition, also all the definitely Socialistic among the middle classes. It
should have a simple test of membership, the following statement of principle:
"The realization of a new society founded on equality of condition for all, a... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: “The Skeleton at the Feast” Commonweal, Vol 4, No. 127, 16 June 1888, p.188; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. The consolation dinner to Mr Jesse Collings was rather a comical business in so far as it was a party coddling-up of the poor well-intentioned feeble gentleman who got practically turned out of the society which he himself had planted and watered so carefully; and the speeches delivered at this queer celebration would afford amusement enough to a cynical man with a good memory for things nor worth remembering — to wit, the politics of the last three years. In days which people who have serious work on hand are forgetting speedily, Mr Collings manufactured a sort of stage landscape of a happy village, over whic... (From: Marxists.org.) In answer to our comrade Blackwell's suggestion and in
default of someone else beginning that free discussion he speaks of, I wish to note
down a few thoughts suggested by reading the clauses of the Anarchist Congress at
Valentia, as stated by our comrade; premising that I do so in no polemical spirit,
but simply giving my own thoughts and hopes for the future for what they may be
worth.
I will begin by saying that I call myself a Communist, and have no wish to qualify
that word by joining any other to it. The aim of Communism seems to me to be the
complete equality of condition for all people; and anything in a Socialist
direction which stops short of this is merely... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: “Socialism and Politics (An Answer to ‘Another View’)” Commonweal, Vol I, No. 6, July 1885, pp. 61; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. A friend, R.F.E. Willis, whose letter we publish, seems inclined to answer the question, ‘Shall Socialists enter the Parliamentary struggle?’ in the affirmative. The question is such a serious one that I make no excuse for answering our friend at some length.
I must admit that as a matter of policy it might be prudent to affect a belief in the Parliamentary method of revolution, even if we did not really believe in them, and this all the more in the face of the coming election, which has aroused such hopes in the minds of Democrats — hopes likely to be disappoint... (From: Marxists.org.) Marx now goes on to trace the development of the
capitalist in the present epoch, indicating the latest phase of the class-struggle;
he points out the strife of the workman with the machine, the intensification of
labor due to the constant improvement of machinery, etc. He then gives what may be
called a history and analysis of the Factory Acts, the legislation to which the
employing class found themselves compelled, in order to make it possible for the
'free' workman to live under his new conditions of competition; in order, in short,
to keep the industrial society founded by the machine revolution from falling to
pieces almost as soon as it was established.
The poi... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: “Socialism in Dublin and Yorkshire” Commonweal, Vol 2, No. 17, 8 May 1886, p.43; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. I have to say a few words of another lecture tour, which I hope may be of some interest to our readers. I started on the night of Thursday 8th April, made memorable by the introduction of the Home Rule Bill and Mr Gladstone’s speech, which more by token I found awaiting us on our landing next morning at Kingstown. The next day I addressed an audience mostly of ‘ladies and gentlemen’ at the Molesworth Hall, on the ‘Aims of Art’. There were a few workmen scattered among the audience, and our comrades of the Dublin Branch put in an appearance, and two, I think, spoke in the discussion ... (From: Marxists.org.) Some three years ago anyone who had predicted the new birth of Socialism in England would have been looked upon as a dreamer, if not crazy; whatever hopes democracy had were centered on the more advanced wing of the Liberal party, which had just carried that queer composite body to victory almost in spite of itself: many words need not be wasted in the columns of "JUSTICE" in talking of the speedy disappointment of any hopes for the party of the people which had been founded on that Liberal victory, and to those of us who had most faith in progress as an idea, the outlook seemed to be nothing better than a dreary waste of perpetual Whig-Liberal rule, feeble and pedantic, except where coercion was dealt out with a liberal hand to the Irish, ... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: “Socialism in the Provinces” Commonweal, Vol 2, No. 14, April 1886, p.30; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. I am asked by some comrades to give a brief report of my lecturing tour to Sheffield, Liverpool, and Norwich. I do so, therefore, believing it of some use to give the impressions of a Londoner as to our prospects in other parts of the country.
I gave two lectures at Sheffield on Sunday February 28th, in the Secularist Hall: both were well attended, although I was told that the religious rancor which runs high in Sheffield would keep many people away from the Secularist Hall. Both lectures were well received, the evening one, the more plain-spoken and less historical of the two, particularly so: indeed I have never sto... (From: Marxists.org.) It is good, however much we may plume ourselves on our practicality, that is, I
suppose, on our setting out towards an end which we are likely to attain, to set
before us the actual end at which we aim. It is true that it is the custom of
very practical people to taunt those whose end is or seems to be a long
way off with being idealists: nevertheless I venture to think that without these
idealists practical people would be in a much worse plight than they now are; they
would have but a dull history of the past, a poor life in the present, and no hope
for the future; on the other hand the idealists in their turn would make a great
mistake if they were, in their vision of better things,... (From: Marxists.org.)