3. the Socialist Organisations

3. The Socialist Organisations 3.1 Introduction When the TUC Parliamentary Committee voted to establish a new independent labour organisation it included in the organising committee not just the trade unions but three socialist organisations. In order of seniority of establishment these were: the Social Democratic Federation (founded 1881); the Fabian Society (founded 1884); and the Independent Labour Party or ILP (founded 1893). Each of these bodies will be considered in turn. But first it may help to set a slightly broader perspective by tracing the socialist movement as it emerged during the industrial revolution. 3.2 The socialist response to Industrial Capitalism The rise of industrial capitalist society produced a considerable wealth of writing and literature offering critiques or commentary on the new system and some putting forward ideas for its reform or replacement. This is not the place to go into the ideas of Spence, Ogilvie or Paine, nor the romantic poets such as Wordsworth and Coleridge, or the prose writers such as Carlisle and Ruskin. But, they all had their place in framing a response to the new society. They each also played a part in influencing public opinion, especially among advanced workers. It is also important to note that the American struggle for independence between 1873-83 and the French Revolution of 1789 and its aftermath and the philosophical currents associated with Rationalist philosophy all contributed to the development of socialist thought and action. The British working class initially relied on their own resources of resistance through strikes, machine breaking and attempts to form their own local organisations. However, when this largely failed they moved on to the political stage to try to achieve universal suffrage. This switching in emphasis from what may be termed the economic field to the political one, and vice versa, in an attempt to seek solutions to their dreadful conditions, has been a continuing feature of working class reaction to the capitalist system ever since. One of the first socialists to have a significant impact on workers in Britain was Robert Owen. His views could be described, as utopian socialist in that he thought capitalism would be surmounted by eXample rather than revolution or gradual reform. He achieved early prominence in his eXperiments in, what we may term, welfare capitalism at the massive mills at New Lanark and from that eXperience went on to outline his wider ideas about a better society. In 1813/14 Owen wrote an influential tract called, A New View of Society, in which he Page 1 of 12 outlined his proposals for a new social and economic system based on co- operation rather than competition. Robert Owen The Mills at New Lanark In the 1820s Owen tried to establish ideal, model settlements in Britain and later in the USA, based on his co-operative ideas. But none were a lasting success and so he returned home from America in 1829 to develop new ways to struggle. In his last major initiative he tried to form one all-embracing Trade Union, The Grand National Consolidated Trade Union, which was discussed in the last section on Trade Unions. Despite a lack of practical success Owen’s ideas inspired a significant number of advanced workers and several Owenite societies and Owenite Halls of Science were formed in the industrial areas and these ideas later merged with those of the Chartists and other socialists who came later. But it was the idea of universal suffrage that took the main hold on the imagination of the working class in the first half of the 19th century. Massive demonstrations took place seeking basic democratic demands from the 1830s through to the 1840s. These were organised by the Chartists. The work and ideas of the Chartists and its leaders deserve separate consideration elsewhere. Suffice it to say here that the People’s Charter was a list of 6 key democratic demands. Massive petitions with millions of signatures supporting these demands were organised and presented to parliament. Most Chartists were also socialists and believed that if the vote was achieved then socialism could be achieved via Parliament. The early success of the 1832 Reform Act gave momentum to further agitation by Chartists for additional reform was fiercely resisted by the ruling bourgeois elite, and Chartism subsided along with the socialist movement generally. Page 2 of 12 A Chartist Demonstration The Six demands of the Chartists The neXt revival of socialism occurs after the Great Depression of the 1870s and early 1880s and it is in this phase that the new socialist organisations were born. 3.3 The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) The oldest of the socialist organisations to help establish the Labour Party was Marxist in its broad orientation. The origins of the SDF lie in its forerunner, the Democratic Federation (DF). The key figure was Henry M. Hyndman, a radical Tory by upbringing. H. M. Hyndman The banner of the Democratic Federation Hyndman had turned to socialism, after reading Karl Marx’s Das Kapital, in a French translation in 1880. He became convinced by the basic ideas of Marxism and sought out Karl Marx in London, where they held a number of meetings. Karl Marx German edition of Capital Book setting out Marxist ideas Page 3 of 12 In1881 Hyndman had discussions with several prominent radical figures including old Chartists and members of the International Working Men’s Association (IWMA), also called the First International. Additional discussions were held with London’s Radical Working Men’s Clubs and Irish Associations. From this it was agreed to form the Democratic Federation and Hyndman wrote an initial book or manifesto, England for All (1881). In this he sought to embody the essential doctrines of Marx without acknowledging their source. Marx and Engels, already suspicious of this upper class convert, thereafter, would have nothing more to do with him. Many prominent socialists and radicals joined the DF notably William Morris and Eleanor Marx (Marx’s daughter) and some workers such as James MacDonald and Harry Quelch. In 1883 the DF published a pamphlet, Socialism Made Plain which sold 100,000 copies which urged a number of practical reforms concerning housing, education, the 8 hour day, national banks and the gradual abolition of private banks, nationalisation of railways and land, organisation of unemployed under state control on co-operative lines and rapid redemption of the National Debt. At the end of 1883 members resolved to publish a weekly paper and in January 1884 Justice began publication. Edward Carpenter and William Morris provided the necessary financial backing. Hyndman was the undisputed leader and although a good speaker (even in his top hat!) and energetic organiser was dogmatic and authoritarian. His grasp of Marxism was rigid and mechanistic and he understood none of the fluidity of Marxism embodied in dialectics. William Morris proved to be a tireless socialist and revolutionary, who wrote much for the paper, Justice and spoke up and down the country. An early copy of Justice In August 1884 the DF held its 4th Annual Conference and adopted the name Social Democratic Federation (SDF). Shortly afterwards there was a significant split when William Morris led a breakaway group called the Socialist League. Page 4 of 12 Newspaper of the Socialist League Hammersmith Branch of the Socialist League William Morris One of the reasons the split occurred was the question of whether the SDF should stand candidates in elections. William Morris, Belfort BaX and others refused to accept a Parliamentary road to socialism at this time. They had also fallen out with the difficult Hyndman. The SDF found it problematic to embrace both reform and revolution and tended to swing from one eXtreme to the other. At the point of the defection of William Morris and his group the SDF opted to try to get Parliamentary representation. In this they were singularly unsuccessful and so in the late 1880s they put their emphasis into organising large demonstrations against unemployment. The Riot of 1887 Trial of SDF Leaders, including Hyndman and John Burns The agitations against unemployment certainly gave considerable publicity to the SDF, especially after the trial of their leaders in 1887 and they were able to expand and develop a number of branches up and down the country on the Page 5 of 12 strength of it. The demonstrations became more and more violent and the actions of the police and authorities more aggressive. The energy of this phase of street agitation began to fade towards the end of the 1880s. The SDF began, once more, to favour a more reformist and less insurrectionist approach. Although the SDF did not eXperience great membership growth in this period it did eXert a lot of influence up and down the country, especially among the new, militant trade unionists. Many future union leaders, such as Tom Mann, Will Thorne and Ben Tillett were members and owed much to the SDF. The SDF was widely recognised as the first socialist organisation in the period after 1880 and widely credited with spreading socialist ideas to a whole new layer of workers. 3.4 The Fabian Society The Fabian Society was established a few years after the SDF. It’s early inspiration was drawn largely from a socialist perspective but it was reluctant to get involved with either other socialist groups or trade unions and veered, in its early years, towards seeking to influence the Liberal party, intellectuals and state administrators. Its character was essentially middle-class, London-centric and academic with a tendency to elitism as this quote from Beatrice Webb indicates, “Do we want to organize the unthinking persons into Socialistic Societies, or to make the thinking persons socialistic? We believe in the latter process.

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