IMPERIALISM and SOCIAL REFORM English Social-Imperial Thought 1895-1914
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
IMPERIALISM AND SOCIAL REFORM English Social-Imperial Thought 1895-1914 BY BERNARD SEMMEL ANCHOR BOOKS DOUBLEDAY & COMPANY, INC. GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK -iii- To My Mother Imperialism and Social Reform was originally published by George Allen & Unwin Ltd., in 1960, as part of the series "Studies in Society" under the editorship of Ruth and David Glass. The Anchor Books edition is published by arrangement with George Allen & Unwin Ltd. Anchor Books edition: 1968 Copyright © 1960 by Bernard Semmel All Rights Reserved Printed in the United States of America -iv- PREFACE Curiously, very little scholarly attention has been given to so important a field of study as modern 'social-imperialism,' and that has gone, almost exclusively, to its German, Italian, and French variants. Both the subject of British social-imperialism and that of the development of social-imperial thought, generally, have been badly neglected, a circumstance which may be regarded as justifying a special study. This book grew out of a dissertation submitted in 1955 for the doctorate in history at Columbia University. My interest in the subject stemmed from an earlier study of the strange union of socialism and imperialism in the thought of leading Fabians in the period between the wars. The ideas owe much to discussions with the late J. Bartlet Brebner, under whom it was prepared, and whose loss is keenly felt by students of modern English history. The present work is an expansion and considerable revision of the unpublished dissertation. The original dissertation was read by, and profited from the comments of H. L. Beales, of the London School of Economics and Political Science, who was Visiting Professor at Columbia University, in 1954-55; Professors Herman Ausubel, R. K. Webb, and David Landes of Columbia University; and a friend, Martin Albaum. Of course, none of these persons ought to be held responsible for the boors deficiencies. I was enabled to prolong a stay in England to consult materials not elsewhere available and to complete the preparation of the book because of a most timely grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, for which I am greatly appreciative. For equally timely help and encouragement, I should like to thank Professor D. V. Glass of the London School of Economics and Political Science. I should like to make special mention of the advice and -v- assistance, at every stage, of my wife, Maxine Guse Semmel. It was in the course of talks with her that the ideas took shape, and her painstaking help on editorial matters was of the utmost value. She also typed several drafts of the manuscript. Sections of the book have appeared in Economica, the British Journal of Sociology, and the Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science, and I wish to thank the editors for permission to reprint material which first appeared in those journals. Bernard Semmel London, November, 1959 -vi- CONTENTS Preface v I. Social-Imperialism 1 II. Social-Darwinism: Benjamin Kidd and Karl Pearson 18 III. A Party of National Efficiency: The Liberal- Imperialists and the Fabians 43 IV. Joseph Chamberlain's 'Squalid Argument' 74 V. The Social-Imperialism of the Tariff Reform League 89 VI. Fabianism and Liberal-Imperialism, 1903-14 118 VII. The Two Imperialisms 131 VIII. Sir Halford Mackinder: Theorist of Imperialism 157 IX. Viscount Milner: Social-Imperial Idealist 169 X. William Cunningham: National Economist 180 XI. Sir William Ashley as 'Socialist of the Chair' 194 XII. Lord Roberts and Robert Blatchford 208 XIII. Conclusion 226 Selected Bibliography 255 Index 268 [This page intentionally left blank.] I SOCIAL-IMPERIALISM When the extra-group struggle with inferior races abroad has run to its end; then, if not sooner, the population question will force on a severer struggle for existence be tween civilized communities at home. Whether this strug gle takes the form of actual warfare, or of still keener competition for trade and food-supply, that group in which unchecked internal competition has produced a vast proletariat with no limit of endurance, or with -- to use a cant phrase-no 'stake in the State,' will be the first to collapse. It is extra-group competition which will more and more force the nations of Europe in the direction of socialism. KARL PEARSON in Socialism and Natural Selection, 1894 'Social-Imperialism' is a term used by a number of scholars during recent years. One of them, Franz Neumann, described it as an attempt on the part of the governing classes to provide a mass base for imperialism, an attempt 'to incorporate the working classes into an imperialistic system.' 'Concessions to the masses,' such as 'the extension of the franchise or material benefits,' Neumann explained, 'were employed to secure popu lar support for aggressive expansion.'1 The economist J. A. Schumpeter, in a famous essay written in 1919, defined social- imperialism as an imperialism in which 'entrepreneurs and other elements woo the workers by means of social welfare concessions which appear to depend on the success of export monopolism.' Social-imperialism, Schumpeter continued, was an attempt to revive the people's imperialisms of ancient times, to create a warrior nation modelled after the ancient ____________________ 1 Franz Neumann, Behemoth: The Structures and Practice of National Socialism ( London: Gollancz, 1944), pp. 153-5. -1- Assyrians or the Arabs of the early middle ages.2 Both Schumpeter and Neumann asserted that such a 'people's im perialism' was an impossibility in the modern world; they in sisted that it would be resisted by the industrial working class. Both, however, admitted that a temporary mood of imperialism could be fostered among the workers.3 During the past three quarters of a century, there have been several efforts, some more, some less successful, to revive such a people's imperial ism, to demonstrate to the masses of the more industrially advanced nations of western Europe that their interests would be furthered by the advantages their nation-state gained over other nation-states. This work is an investigation of the ideological background of one such effort. Imperialism and social-imperialism have been the subject of several inquiries in the past half-century-though they have not received all the attention they merit. The Marxists have probably written the most about imperialism and its relation to capitalist production. Some Marxist writers-Hilferding, Lenin, Renner, for example-have made pregnant suggestions concerning the phenomenon of social-imperialism which have proved stimulating for more recent writers, and it was prob ably the Austrian socialist Karl Renner who first employed, in 1917, the term 'Sozialimperialismus.'4 But the Marxists have taken their cue from the writings of the English Liberal econo mist, John A. Hobson. For Hobson, writing after the Boer War, imperialism was promoted by certain business interests which profited enormously thereby, to the great loss of the rest of the nation. Manufacturers of war materials, industrialists ____________________ 2 Joseph A. Schumpeter, Imperialism and Social Classes ( Oxford: Blackwell, 1951), fn. pp. 114-115, and passim. 3 Neumann, op. cit., p. 155; Schumpeter, op. cit., pp. 34, 115. 4 See Rudolf Hilferding, Das Finanzkapital, Eine Studie über die jüngste Entwicklung des Kapitalismus ( Vienna, 1910), passim, especially pp. 468- 477; also Karl Renner, Marxismus, Krieg und Internationale ( Stuttgart, 1917), pp. 323-350, where Renner discussed the 'error' of 'Sozialimperialismus' and the 'positive interest of the working class' in international socialism. See also Joseph Schumpeter, Business Cycles ( New York, 1939), 11, fn. p. 696, Schumpeter cryptically noted that 'a glimpse of a view that now seems to the writer to be nearer the truth than either the Marxist or his own theory is embodied in Karl Renner's concept of Social Imperialism.' It is difficult to understand Schumpeter's meaning from this solitary remark especially since Renner simply of fered the conventional socialist objections to social-imperialism. -2- who required export markets, capitalists with idle funds-all these, and only these, gained by imperialism. 'The economic root of Imperialism,' Hobson wrote, 'is the desire of strong organized industrial and financial interests to secure and de velop at the public expense and by the public force private markets for their surplus goods and their surplus capital.' Hobson put the chief onus for modern imperialism upon the owners of capital who wished more profitable investments than were available at home. For Hobson, imperialism was the result of the maldistribution of the national product which left huge surpluses in the hands of the possessing classes. A more just distribution, he urged, would remove this surplus income and at the same time broaden the home market suffi ciently to enable it to absorb the goods and the capital which had heretofore been destined for shipment abroad. 'Trade Unionism and Socialism are thus the natural enemies of Im perialism,' wrote Hobson, 'for they take away from the "im perialist" classes the surplus incomes which form the economic stimulus of Imperialism.' Hobson hinted at social-imperialism when he suggested that the 'tendency of Imperialism is to crush Trade Unionism and to "nibble" at or parasitically ex ploit State Socialism.'5 Basing themselves largely upon Hobson's Radical anti- imperialism, the so- called 'Neo-Marxists'-Rosa Luxemburg and Rudolf Hilferding, in particular- subjected imperialism to the closest scrutiny in the years which preceded the war of 1914. For them, imperialism was the latest, and probably the last, stage of capitalist development. In this stage, free com petition no longer existed-trusts, cartels, monopolies were the rule. New technological advances, they argued, had resulted in a fall in the rate of profits (as a result of the increasing pro portion of capital invested in machinery rather than in la bour). Capital therefore had been compelled to turn to unde veloped areas in order to realize more satisfactory returns.