Source: “The Abolition of Freedom of Speech in the Streets” Commonweal, Vol 2, No. 32, 21 August 1886, p.161; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. The trial of the Socialists which ended on Friday 13th was not so well reported by most of the newspapers as some ordinary petty larceny case would have been; the Pall Mall Gazette, for instance, which was so hot about the Dod Street affair last year, not even noticing it till the last of the three days. Nevertheless, it is a matter of importance to the public generally, and not to Socialists only; for both the counsel for the prosecution and the judge laid it down as a matter beyond doubt that no persons can meet in any part of the public highway, however little the traffic over the meeting... (From: Marxists.org.) The annual presentation of prizes to the successful pupils of the School of Art took place in the small room at the Guildhall on Thursday evening, in the presence of a large number of ladies and gentlemen. [....]
Mr. W. Morris addressed the meeting as follows:─
In these days, when even those of us who love art most are apt sometimes to be
discouraged by the carelessness for art that surrounds us, it is not wonderful
that people should ask, some in triumph and some in sorrow, is the desire for
beauty, and even fullness of form that produces art, an essential part of
man's nature? or is it only one of the fleeting outcomes of the necessary
energy of life, like many another fashion that has now passed away for ever?
T... (From: Marxists.org.) It seems to me that my address falls naturally into two parts: that I have first to
speak to the general public about the Art which your School represents, and next I
have to speak to the students of the School about their position and aims. As to
the first part, I fear some of you may think I am telling an old story once more; a
story of which you are tired of hearing, if I am not tired of telling it. For, to
say the truth, we are not yet quite on the right road towards a satisfactory
condition of Art. When I say "we," I do not mean this country in especial; for,
indeed, at home here we are somewhat better off than in other civilized countries,
though at first sight it may not seem so... (From: Marxists.org.) Mr Kenrick has said that I am going to address you on the subject of Art, but it is
clear that that subject is a very wide one and that I must limit myself very
considerably. Not only so, even if I were to speak about all the pictures exhibited
here, the subject would be again such a very wide one, that there would be no end
of it. So I must limit myself still further. Therefore I propose to speak to you
almost entirely, according to the light I have, of that school of painters once
called the pre-Raphaelites, and who perhaps should still be called pre-Raphaelites.
There is all the more reason for my doing so because, as a matter of fact, their
doctrines have been successful; they have... (From: Marxists.org.) In speaking to you as English Liberals I shall
scarcely perhaps need to excuse myself if I confess that
I have from the first looked upon this Eastern Question
chiefly from the point of view of its bearings upon English
interests. I do not mean to say that I looked coldly upon
peoples, who as I thought were struggling for their liberties
against foreigners, tyrants and barbarians, or that I thought
it unimportant for the world at large that the wrongs of
poor people, of oppressed people, should be righted after
many years: on the contrary I thought this all important
both to England and to the world at large, and indeed for
this very reason I could not help for ever asking myself
how shall we deal with the matter; what will Engl... (From: Marxists.org.) IN considering the Aims of Art, that is, why men toilsomely cherish and
practice it, I find myself compelled to generalize from the only specimen of
humanity of which I know anything; to wit, myself. Now when I think of what it
is that I desire, I find that I can give it no other name than happiness. I
want to be happy while I live; for as for death, I find that, never having
experienced it, I have no conception of what it means, and so cannot even
bring my mind to bear upon it. I know what it is to live, I cannot even guess
what it is to be dead. Well, then, I want to be happy, and even sometimes, say
generally, to be merry; and I find it difficult to believe that that is not
the universal desire: so that, whatever tends toward t... (From: Marxists.org.) As there seems to be an impression growing up in the mind of the public that the
above Society is actuated by feelings of disregard for the structural preservation
of ancient buildings, and as such an impression is likely to seriously interfere
with the important objects which they have in view, I have been requested by the
committee of the Society to ask you to insert their most emphatic denial of any
such sentiment on their part. The urging on the public of the necessity of doing
structural repairs to ancient buildings in time to prevent decay and keep out wind
and weather is one of the primary objects of the Society; and they have on several
occasions had to deplore, in the case of ... (From: Marxists.org.) The work of the past year has differed little from that of the previous one, except
in two notable instances, which will be referred to presently. The Committee have,
as before, received information, written letters of inquiry, protest, and advice,
sometimes with obvious and encouraging results, sometimes with nothing apparent to
show for the trouble. The Society is, doubtless, becoming well known, and the
Committee believe its principles are taking root, and especially, they think, are
influencing the great body of our Architects; a course of events which is both very
encouraging and what might have been expected.
The Society has by no means lacked the support of the Press... (From: Marxists.org.) The Committee has had a very busy year since it presented the last Annual Report to
the Members. It must be acknowledged that it has had to protest against several
schemes for the mere unnecessary or wanton destruction of ancient buildings. But it
is not to be supposed that the fact of these being more in number than usual has
any significance, as showing backsliding in public opinion; on the contrary, there
are hopeful signs of the impression which the Society has made in this matter,
which will be mentioned in the Report. On the other hand, the Committee feels
itself compelled to repeat the warning it gave last year to those who care about
our ancient monuments, and to beg Members, a... (From: Marxists.org.) It will be seen from the following Report that the cases are very numerous in
which, during the past year, the Society has taken action, either to induce the
guardians of our ancient buildings to perform some necessary repairs, or in
protesting against the falsification of old work which is often called
"restoration."
The Society has engaged the services of a skilled professional Secretary, a great
deal of whose time is taken up with the careful inspection of the old buildings
which from time to time are considered by the Committee. They are thus able to
offer to those under whose charge ancient buildings may happen to be, a careful
report of their state, and advice ... (From: Marxists.org.) Mr. MORRIS stated, in answer to this gentleman, that the Committee were fully aware
of the importance of Blytheborough Church; that members had visited it, and that
their report was all but ready to be presented to the Restoration Committee of
Blytheborough, which report he believed would indicate a satisfactory way of
dealing with this noble building so as to prevent it from becoming a ruin.
Bibliographical Note
Title
Answer to Query About Blytheborough Church (1882).
Deliveries
1. 9 June 1882: Before the Annual Meeting of SBAB held at the Society of
Arts, John Street, Adelphi, London. The Hon. F. Bryce, M.P., ... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: “Anti-Parliamentary” Commonweal, Vol 6, No. 230, 7 June 1890, p.180-181; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. Most of those into whose hands this paper will fall know that as the organ of the Socialist League the Commonweal advocates abstention from Parliamentary action; that the Socialist League neither puts forward candidates, nor advises its members to vote for this that or the other candidate; that the readers of these columns will indeed find Parliament mentioned in them, but never with respect, and most commonly only to point the moral of the corruption of these latter days of capitalism. Our policy is, in short, abstention from all attempts at using the constitutional machinery of government, whereas to some Socialists t... (From: Marxists.org.) There are doubtless many sincere Radicals outside the party phalanx whose war-cry is "Our Leaders, Right or Wrong!" It behooves these sincere men to look round and consider their position, which they will and to be a sufficiently curious one; for as far as they have any power to carry out those reforms, the expectation of which gives the party its claim to existence, they are allied, whether they like it or not, first of all to the Whigs, that is to say to a kind of Liberals, who by virtue of their position among the privileged class are necessarily fossils, and next to the moderate Liberals, or Liberals simply, which ever you please to call them; that is to say, men possessed of property, but not of principles, whose consciences are just s... (From: Marxists.org.) There are doubtless many worthy people who shudder at the word Socialism, who, nevertheless wish sincerely to see the condition of the people bettered, and who generally console themselves when they hear of any of the horrors of our capitalist civilization by thinking, "well, at any rate, things are getting better steadily." Ask them how they are getting better, and they will answer you with, "the general spreading of education," "the growth of liberal ideas among the working-classes," and such-like vague stuff. Ask them how soon they think this gradual amelioration is likely, to abolish poverty for all but the vicious and idle and they will answer with vague commonplaces again; for the truth is their hope is a languid one. Amid whatever an... (From: Marxists.org.) We of this Society at least know the beauty of the weathered and time-worn surface
of an ancient building, and have all of us felt the grief of seeing this surface
disappear under the hands of a "restorer;" but though we all feel this deeply
enough, some of us perhaps may be puzzled to explain to the outside world the full
value of this ancient surface. It is not merely that it is in itself picturesque
and beautiful, though that is a great deal; neither is it only that there is a
sentiment attaching to the very face which the original builders gave their work,
but dimly conscious all the while of the many generations which should gaze on it;
it is only a part of its value that the ston... (From: Marxists.org.) In England, at least, if not on the Continent of Europe, there are some
towns and cities which have indeed a name that recalls associations with the
past, but have no other trace left them of the course of that history which
has made them what they are. Besides these, there are many more which have but
a trace or two left; sometimes, indeed, this link with the past is so
beautiful and majestic in itself that it compels us when we come across it to
forget for a few moments the life of to-day with which we are so familiar that
we do not mark its wonders or its meannesses, its follies or its tragedies. It
compels us to turn away from our life of habit which is all about us on our
right hand and our left, and which therefore we cannot ... (From: Marxists.org.) I fear what I have to tell you will be looked upon by you as an often-told tale;
but it seems to me that at the inception of an enterprise for the popularizing and
furtherance of the arts of life, the subject-matter of my paper is very necessary
to be considered. I will begin by putting before you a kind of text, from which I
will speak, so that you may understand from the first the drift of my paper; a plan
which, I hope, will save both your time and mine.
Whereas the incentive to labor is usually assumed to be the necessity of earning a
livelihood, and whereas in our modern society this is really the only incentive
among those of the working-class who produces wares of wh... (From: Marxists.org.) I must first tell you what I mean by the words Art and Labor; and first, by art I
mean something wider than is usually meant by the word, something which I fear it
is not very easy to explain to some of you born and bred in this great
manufacturing city, and living under conditions which I will say would have made
art impossible to be if men had always lived so.
Well you must understand that by art, I do not mean only pictures and
sculpture, nor only these and architecture, that is beautiful building properly
ornamented; these are only a portion of art, which comprises, as I understand the
word a great deal more; beauty produced by the labor of man both mental and
bo... (From: Marxists.org.) Mr. William Morris lectured before the members of the Guild of
Lithographic Artists, at their Technical Schools, 35, Clerkenwell Road, London,
on "Art and Labor."
He said that it was right and necessary that all men
should have work to do. That work must be useful to others, pleasant to those
who have the doing of it, and of a nature that shall be neither overburdensome
nor wearisome. Let this fact be once acknowledged, and the whole face of
society as at present constituted would be changed. Let them consider for a moment
what a revolution such a change would mean. Let them take a walk down any of
their principal streets and look at the things exposed for sale in the shop
windows; the articles there displayed were for the most ... (From: Marxists.org.) The well-known poet and art critic, Mr. Wm. Morris, of London,
delivered a lecture, under the auspices of the Preston Eclectic Society at
their meeting place, Percy Street, on Wednesday evening, on "A Socialist’s view
of Art and Labor.” There was a numerous and representative audience, and the
chair was occupied by the Rev. W. Sharman.
The CHAIRMAN, in introducing Mr. Morris, said
the democratic cause, from time time, had had melancholy reason to repeat
Browning’s poem of "The Lost Leader,” but that night a gentleman came before
them who took the place of the "lost leader"—who devoted his genius to the cause
of the improvement of the people, and that gentleman was Mr. Wm. Morris, whom
he now intr... (From: Marxists.org.) My friends, I want you to look into the relations of Art
to Commerce, using the latter word to express what is generally meant by it;
namely, that system of competition in the market which is indeed the only form
which most people now-a-days suppose that Commerce can take.
Now whereas there have been times in the world's history when Art held the
supremacy over Commerce; when Art was a good deal, and Commerce, as we understand
the word, was a very little; so now on the contrary it will be admitted by all, I
fancy, that Commerce has become of very great importance and Art of very little.
I say this will be generally admitted, but different persons will hold very
... (From: Marxists.org.) We are here in the midst of a population busied about a craft which may be called
the most ancient in the world, a craft which I look upon with the greatest
interest, as I well may, since, except perhaps the noble craft of house-building,
it is second to none other. And in the midst of this industrious population,
engaged in making goods of such importance to our households, I am speaking to a
School of Art, one of the bodies that were founded all over the country at a time
when it was felt there was something wrong as between the two elements that go to
make anything which can be correctly described as a work of industrial art, namely
the utilitarian and the artistic elements. I hope ... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: “Artist and Artisan as an Artist Sees It” Commonweal, Vol 3, No. 87, 10 September 1887, p. 291; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. I have nothing to object to in our comrade’s remarks, but a word or two may be pardoned in explanation of the fact that an artist is looked upon as a gentleman (a sort of one), and sometimes receives a certain portion of the respect accorded to that class, which, however, is dealt out so much more liberally to the mere moneymaker in other trades; to the landowner, manufacturer, contractor, stockjobber, or what not; in short, it is dealt out to members of the proprietary class exactly in proportion to the obviousness of their living by owning wealth and not creating it. In other words the les... (From: Marxists.org.) Dyeing is a very ancient art; from the earliest times of the ancient civilizations
till within about forty years ago there had been no essential change in it, and not
much change of any kind. Up to the time of the discovery of the process of
Prussian-blue dyeing in about 1810 (it was known as a pigment thirty or forty years
earlier), the only changes in the art were the result of the introduction of the
American insect dye (cochineal), which gradually superseded the European one
(kermes), and the American wood-dyes now known as logwood and Brazil-wood: the
latter differs little from the Asiatic and African Red Saunders, and other red
dye-woods; the former has cheapened and worsened bla... (From: Marxists.org.) The workman of the present day may well think that art is not a matter which concerns him much. To speak bluntly, he is not wealthy enough to share in such art (there is little enough of it told) as is going in civilized countries. His earnings are precarious, and his lodging precarious also, and, to boot, stowed away almost always in the dirtiest corners of our dirty cities; so that, at the risk of offending worthy people who are feebly trying to bestow some scraps of art on their "poorer brethren," it must be said that the workman's home must be bare of art. Indeed, the attempt to bring beauty into such homes would be a task to break the heart of the most patient artist in Europe. That shabby gift of the crumbs that fall from the children... (From: Marxists.org.) "Applied Art" is the title which the Society has chosen for that portion of the
arts which I have to speak to you about. What are we to understand by that title? I
should answer that what the Society means by applied art is the ornamental quality
which men choose to add to articles of utility. Theoretically this ornament can be
done without, and art would then cease to be "applied" - would exist as a kind of
abstraction, I suppose. But though this ornament to articles of utility may be done
without, man up to the present time has never done without it, and perhaps never
will; at any rate he does not propose to do so at present, although, as we shall
see presently, he has got himself in... (From: Marxists.org.) You may well think I am not here to criticize any special school of art or artists,
or to plead for any special style, or to give you any instructions, however
general, as to the practice of the arts. Rather I want to take counsel with you as
to what hindrances may lie in the way towards making art what it should be, a help
and solace to the daily life of all men. Some of you here may think that the
hindrances in the way are none, or few, and easy to be swept aside. You will say
that there is on many sides much knowledge of the history of art, and plenty of
taste for it, at least among the cultivated classes; that many men of talent, and
some few of genius, practice it with no mean suc... (From: Marxists.org.) Your correspondent of this morning, who states that `the chief part of what was
remarkable in the interior (of this house) wasdestroyed by a former Dean and
Chapter' must surely have seen the interior from the exterior. Last summer I had
the pleasure of seeing it in the way that most mortals see an interior, and I must
assert as a fact, that the interior of the hall and staircase (with the quite
remarkable `lantern'), together with the reception rooms, was still `remarkable'
for something unusual in London, which I took to be architectural beauty, and which
the architects and archaeologists, including the late Dean Stanley, who had been
kind enough to ask me to accompany them, thought ... (From: Marxists.org.) An Objections to Socialism founded on the
difficulty of getting necessary work done when people will be free to choose
their own work are common in the mouths of antisocialists; and also it has
been and still is not uncommon to hear persons saying that no great works of
art or no productions of a high intellect will be
possible under a condition of things in which a reward is not given for such
work out of all proportion to the average of work, the hewing of wood and
drawing of water. Even Socialists themselves are sometimes hazy on these
subjects; and sometimes they seem ready to accept the view that when people
are free they will no longer care for anything more than what are now called
the necessities of life. Let us look into ... (From: Marxists.org.) Now it is clear to me from reading the catalog of this exhibition that the
promoters of it think that the working men, as we call them, of these parts do most
seriously need some education in the fine arts, that they need to be told something
about them which they do not know, in order that, when they look at pictures or
other things professing to be works of art in future, they may be impressed by them
in a different way from what they have been used to do: in other words, they want
to educate people to look at pictures so that the pictures themselves may educate
them afterwards. I agree with the promoters of this exhibition that the working men
hereabouts do sorely need this double e... (From: Marxists.org.)