Source: “Socialism Militant in Scotland” Commonweal, Vol 4, No. 117, 7 April 1888, p.106-7; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. Since a year may make a good deal of difference in the position of a party, even when it is being carried on by quiet propaganda, I give a brief account of my lecturing tour in Scotland and my impressions of the position of Socialism there. On the 21st March I lectured at Kilmarnock, a not very important town on the edge of the mining district. The chief industry in the town itself is that of the railway works — a tolerably good indication, by the way, of labor being cheap in the neighborhood; accordingly I was informed that the iron-miners in the neighborhood are earning about nine shillings a-week wor... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: “Socialism Militant in Scotland” Commonweal, Vol 4, No. 117, 7 April 1888, p.106-7; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. Since a year may make a good deal of difference in the position of a party, even when it is being carried on by quiet propaganda, I give a brief account of my lecturing tour in Scotland and my impressions of the position of Socialism there. On the 21st March I lectured at Kilmarnock, a not very important town on the edge of the mining district. The chief industry in the town itself is that of the railway works — a tolerably good indication, by the way, of labor being cheap in the neighborhood; accordingly I was informed that the iron-miners in the neighborhood are earning about nine shillings a-week wor... (From: Marxists.org.) ... the blessings of irresponsible poverty which have been sung and said in verse
and prose for many a year by rich men and their dependents, who, if the said
blessings had been showered on their own heads, would have thought them little
better than a violent death.
... as you well know, while I speak, "the amelioration of the lot of the working
classes" is or seems to be, if we are to trust words, the main object of our
statesmen, clergy and employers of labor. If it were only the main object of the
working-classes themselves there would be nothing lacking to the equipment
of modern Society for building its own funeral pyre which shall transform it into a
society of... (From: Marxists.org.) Some people will perhaps not be prepared to hear that Socialism has any ideal of
art, for in the first place it is so obviously founded on the necessity for dealing
with the bare economy of life that many, and even some Socialists, can see nothing
save that economic basis; and moreover, many who might be disposed to admit the
necessity of economic change in the direction of Socialism believe quite sincerely
that art is fostered by the inequalities of condition which it is the first
business of Socialism to do away with, and indeed that it cannot exist without
them. Nevertheless, in the teeth of these opinions I assert first that Socialism is
an all-embracing theory of life, and that as... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: “Socialist Work at Norwich” Commonweal, Vol 4, No. 137, 25 August 1888, p.268; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. I am sure our comrades generally will be glad to hear a little of the course of Socialist propaganda in Norwich and its neighborhood, which for some reason or other has become a stronghold of the cause.
Our comrades had determined on a rally in Norwich, and invited several of us Leaguers, together with Mrs Besant and Herbert Burrows, to help them. Faulkner, Mrs Schack, Mainwaring, and Morris got down to the old city on Saturday evening, and were most cordially received by the Branch at the Gordon Hall, where there was singing and recitation, and agreeable converse generally.
On the Sunday morning Mainwaring went... (From: Marxists.org.) By the word pattern-design, of which I have undertaken to speak to you to-night, I
mean the ornamentation of a surface by work that is not imitative or historical, at
any rate not principally or essentially so. Such work is often not literally flat,
for it may be carving or molded work in plaster or pottery; but whatever material
relief it may have is given to it for the sake of beauty and richness, and not for
the sake of imitation, or to tell a fact directly; so that people have called this
art ornamental art, though indeed all real art is ornamental.
Now, before we go further, we may as well ask ourselves what reason or right this
so-called ornamental art has to existenc... (From: Marxists.org.) The Middle Ages may be called the epoch of writing par excellence. Stone,
bronze, wooden rune-staves, waxed tablets, papyrus, could be written upon with one
instrument or another; but all these - even the last, tender and brittle as it was
- were but makeshift materials for writing on; and it was not until parchment and
vellum, and at last rag-paper, became common, that the true material for writing
on, and the quill pen, the true instrument for writing with, were
used. From that time till the period of the general use of printing must be
considered the age of written books. As in other handicrafts, so also in this, the
great period of genuine creation (once called the Dark Ages by tho... (From: Marxists.org.) On behalf of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, a Society whose
objects are explained by the circular enclosed herewith, I beg most respectfully to
address you with regard to the works proposed to be done to the Collegiate Church
of Southwell Minster.
The Society recognizes with satisfaction that since the building has been under the
control of the Commissioners thesecurity of the fabric has been considered and its
condition as regards stability improved, but at the same time many alterations have
been made which in the view of the Society have been destructive of its artistic
and historical character.
The removal of the modern fittings ... (From: Marxists.org.) The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings has had under consideration
your architect's observations in reply to the letter addressed you in April last.
The Society is glad to find that the building is in charge of an architect so
careful and conservative as Mr. Christian, though it disagrees with the opinions
expressed in his letter. Bearing in mind the objects of the Society, this letter is
neither satisfactory nor reassuring. Believing that your architect concurs in its
estimation of the responsibility which attaches to the custodians of a national
record such as Southwell Minster, and of their obligation to preserve it from
change, the Society brings the follow... (From: Marxists.org.) Let me in the first place say that I think the Society have done absolutely right
in pressing the point of the advertisements which disfigure rural scenery rather
than making too much of the point of the disfigurement in towns. As soon as you get
anything like public opinion to desire some reasonable regulation of advertisements
in the towns, there are the municipalities - and some of them, like our own London
County Council, would be very anxious, I believe, to do all they possibly could to
force public opinion. We owe a debt of thanks to that member of the County Council
who succeeded in getting passed the other day a resolution to the effect that the
London County Council should tak... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: “A Speech from the Dock” Commonweal, Vol 4, No. 115, 24 March 1888, p.93; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. Our comrade John Burn’s speech before Mr Justice Charles has been printed in full. It is one of those documents which will one day be eagerly sought after as illustrating a remarkable period in the Social Revolution in which we are now all of us taking a part. It is called a speech in defense of the defendant but in point of fact, considering the nature of the evidence brought forward in support of the ridiculous charges made against our friends Burns and Graham, no defense was needed, except against the legal quibble by which the defendants were found guilty of illegal assembly and sent to jail for having commit... (From: Marxists.org.) Ladies and gentlemen, - In this, the eighth anniversary - the eighth birthday of
the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, I do not intend to take up
your time for very long, especially as our friend Mr. Norwood is prepared to give
us a very interesting address; and what I do say will be mostly with regard to what
may be called the business of the occasion. We are now past that stage in our
history when we were troubling ourselves with too many hopes and fears about this
matter. It is possible that some of us - though not myself - may have begun to
agitate on the subject of the preservation of ancient buildings in rather a
sanguine spirit. It is probable that that over-sangu... (From: Marxists.org.) WILLIAM MORRIS: Two things are to be noticed. First, that the children of the poor
are always the victims. Second, the terrible and miserable unhappiness of the whole
affair. There is much talk of immorality. Whatever is unhappy is immoral. It is
unhappiness that must be got rid of. We have nothing to do with the mere
immorality. We have to do with the causes that have compelled this unhappy
way of living; the causes that drive girls and women into the streets, to sell
their love, not to give it. These causes are the same that make a man degrade
himself by over-hours and competition. There is the closest of relations between
the prostitution of the body in the streets and of the body i... (From: Marxists.org.) Ladies and Gentlemen, - The first thing we have to do is to put before you the
Annual Report. I think you have all got a copy of that Report, and as it is rather
long you would scarcely be inclined to hear the Secretary read it. With your
permission, therefore, we will take the Report as read, and it is now my duty,
according to custom, to move its adoption. I shall, perhaps, have a word or two to
say about the action of the Society later on, but I may say now that this time, at
all events, we have got the privilege of meeting in one of those old buildings
which it is our duty and privilege to protect, and that I think is a very
considerable gain. I need not call much attention to it, ... (From: Marxists.org.) Everywhere I fancy it will be admitted that the study of history is a most
important part of the cultivation of the present day; nor will many be found to
deny that the architectural monuments of the past are a great help to that study;
but perhaps not everybody understands how great a help they are, or how differently
it would fare with the study of history, as it is now followed, if we lacked those
monuments; for you must remember how different that modern historical research is
to the chronicling, the story-telling of times past. The ancient chroniclers were
laborious and conscientious men who loved their subject, and often dealt with it
most dramatically and forcibly; all honor to ... (From: Marxists.org.) Ladies and Gentlemen, - I was rather surprised to find my name put down as the
seconder of this motion, because, to tell you the truth, for the last six or eight
months I have been rather remiss in my duties in attending the committee-meetings
of the Society. However, I have been conscious of a good deal of what has been
going on, and it seems to me we have been going on in very much the usual way. We
have, however, scored one great success - I mean, in connection with the
Charterhouse. It does seem to me, and to most of us, that the original scheme of
the people who wanted to destroy it was one of the most audacious attempts at
robbery of the public that has ever been attempted, and t... (From: Marxists.org.) I think we all owe our hearty thanks to the Chairman for the extremely sympathetic
and most eloquent speech which he made, as well as for his kindness in presiding
here to-day. It encourages us much to know that a man of his education and culture,
and general sympathy with all human progress, is so entirely with us in our work. I
am also glad to see him here as a representative of the University of Oxford, which
we have just been quarreling with in our Report, and not without reason. I know
very well there are many who, like him, are sorely grieved at the destruction which
has gone on there, though they have not been able to prevent it in the teeth of the
general Philistinism of the pl... (From: Marxists.org.) This speech was reported in both Justice (paper of the SDF)
and The Labor Leader (paper of the ILP). The report in Justice gives more
context, while the report in the Labor Leader, under the title 'William Morris's Confession', is more complete. Both
are given below.
JUSTICE
George Lansbury moved:- "That this meeting of Social-Democrats,
assembled at the beginning of the New Year, send fraternal greetings to their
fellow-workers in the cause of humanity in all lands; enter their earnest
protest against the efforts of filibusters and financiers to stir up strife
among the people of the different countries; and pledge themselves to work
steadfastly forward for the overthrow of the infamous capitalist system, and
the realizatio... (From: Marxists.org.) As honorary secretary of the "Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings," I
cannot help expressing my satisfaction, which I have no doubt will be shared by all
my colleagues, at the letter which appears in The Times of to-day from
Lord Carnarvon, as chairman of the Society of Antiquaries of London, with reference
to the contemplated alteration of the roof of St. Albans Abbey.
I have no doubt that the opinion expressed by Lord Carnarvon represents the feeling
of antiquaries and men of taste throughout the country very generally.
Our society has already written to the "Restoration Committee" of St. Albans
deprecating the contemplated alterations.
... (From: Marxists.org.) Though the Committee for the restoration of St Albans Cathedral have determined to
alter that church by putting a high-pitched roof on the nave in the place of the
present flat one, the Committee of our Society cannot give up all hope that the
public in general may yet interest itself in the matter, and refuse to support a
scheme regarded by so many archaeologists as rash and destructive: in this hope we
beg the favor of space in your columns to enable us to protest once more against
what at the least we must call a dangerous alteration of an ancient and famous
building.
Into the artistic matter of the relative advantage of ahigh or a low roof in the
abstract, and th... (From: Marxists.org.) By Socialism, the Hammersmith Socialist Society understands the realization of a
condition of true society all-embracing and all-sufficing.
It believes that this great change must be effected by the conscious exertions of
those who have learned to know what Socialism is.
This change, it believes, must be an essential change in the basis of society: the
present basis is privilege for the few and consequent servitude for the many; the
further basis will be equality of condition for all, which we firmly believe to be
the essence of true society.
As soon as any community begins to make differences in the condition and livelihood
of its members, ac... (From: Marxists.org.) The information of an official character given yesterday in your columns confirms
remarkably that which we received a month ago from our correspondent at Venice. The
fact that the works had been taken out of the hands of the local authorities and
that a Commission was to be called to consider in what way they were to be carried
further, while it made us anxious lest those works should be of a yet more sweeping
character than what had hitherto been done, yet seemed to afford an opportunity of
urging the opinion that the exercise of the utmost conservatism was needed if St.
Marks's was not to be practically destroyed by well-meant efforts to restore it.
That opinion we still ... (From: Marxists.org.) I note with great pleasure the remarks your Italian Correspondent quotes as
expressing the opinions of the Ministry of Public Instruction in Italy, but the
answer to their retort on our newly-acquired tenderness for their gloriousmonument
is as simple as that retort is natural and reasonable. It is that 15 years ago we
had but little tenderness for our own buildings, nor do I think in the long run
they will feel aggrieved at our eagerness to save them from some of the same loss
that we ourselves have suffered: perhaps they scarcely know with what pleasure some
of us would hail their interference with our affairs of a like kind here. Meantime,
Sir, I beg to appeal, through your columns,... (From: Marxists.org.) I have just received information, on the accuracy of which I can rely, that the
restoration of the west front of St. Mark's at Venice, which has long been vaguely
threatened, is to be taken in hand at once. A commission is called for next month,
to examine its state and to determine whether it is to be pulled down immediately
or to be allowed to stand till next year. The fate of such a building seems to me a
subject important enough to warrant me in asking you to grant me space to make an
appeal to your readers to consider what a disaster is threatened hereby to art and
culture in general. Though this marvel of art and treasure of history has suffered
some disgraces, chiefly in the bas... (From: Marxists.org.) As in the hall, so in the ship, Hallblithe noted that the folk were merry and of many words one with another, while to him no man cast a word save the Grandfather. As to Hallblithe, though he wondered much what all this betokened, and what the land was whereto he was wending, he was no man to fear an unboded peril; and he said to himself that whatever else betid, he should meet the Hostage on the Glittering Plain; so his heart rose and he was of good cheer, and as the Grandfather had foretold, he was a merry faring-fellow to him. Many a gibe the old man cast at him, and whiles Hallblithe gave him back as good as he took, and whiles he laughed as the stroke went home and silenced him; and whiles he understood naught of what the elder said. ... (From: Marxists.org.) Introduction
The Eddas and the Volsunga Saga first became known outside Iceland in the
19th century. As knowledge of them spread there was an excited realization
that many of the personalities and events they referred to did not come
from Icelandic or Norse history, but from the Europe of the dark ages. The
death of Attila the Hun ('Atli' in the saga), the 5th century defeat of
the Burgundians and their king Gundahar ('Gunnar'), the death
of Eormenric ('Jormunrek') king of the Goths - all were real, documented events, miraculously preserved in the saga through oral transmission. Scholars - including all the early marxists - pored over both the Volsunga saga and the Eddas searching for clues to germanic pre-history. The combination ... (From: Marxists.org.) My attention has been called to a letter from the vicar of Stratford-on-Avon
appearing in your issue of July 28, and appealing for funds generally towards the
completion of the restoration. In this letter occurs the following sentence:-
`Under the stalls sufficient of the ancient reredos has been found to make Mr.
Garner think he can give us a drawing of what it was when the church was built. We
shall hope, then, that somebody will provide the funds to erect a copy of it in the
old place.'
I am glad that the vicar talks about a `copy' of the reredos, and not a
`restoration' of it; but may I ask why a copy of it should be `erected in the old
place'? Will not every fre... (From: Marxists.org.) SOCIALISM, as a social and political system, depends
altogether upon the history of mankind for a record
of its growth in the past, and bases its future upon a
knowledge of that history in so far as it can be accurately
traced up to the present time. The groundwork
of the whole theory is, that from the earliest period of
their existence human beings have been guided by the
power they possessed over the forces of nature to
supply the wants arising as individual members of any
society.
Thus Socialism rests upon political economy in its
widest sense - that is, upon the manner in which wealth
is produced and distributed by those who form part of
society at a given time. Slavery, for instance, arose
when men had rea... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: “Sweaters and Sweaters” Commonweal, Vol 4, No. 132, 21 July 1888, p.225-226; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. No. 1.- MATCHES BY THE FACTORY DRILL
The London Trades’ Council having taken up the strike of the match girls, it did at any rate go on long enough to force the attention of even the stupidest of the capitalist class, and the girls have at least gained something out of the struggle; and surely nobody but the cruelest as well as the stupidest of bourgeois will grudge them that small gain. For the rest, like other strikes, it is a necessary incident in the war of capital and labor; whatever may be the fate of any particular strike, the whole mass of strikes forms one side of this great war: if there were no str... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: “Talk and Art” Commonweal, Vol 4, No. 154, 22 December 1888, p.404; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. The Art Congress (or whatever is the proper name for it) at which I assisted last week, may easily be made a mark at which to shoot shafts of ridicule. The crowds of lion-worshiping ladies, the many worthy artists set up to speak about an art which is above all things a matter of the instructed eye and deft hand; and many of them into the bargain but poor speakers, in all senses of the word (small blame to them for that same, since above all things their craft is of doing). The bands of idle busy-bodies; the stock phrases bandied about by people who, if questioned about them, would have been able to give but a sorry account ... (From: Marxists.org.)