“Development of Modern Society”,
Part 1 Author:
William Morris Source:
Commonweal,
Volume 6, Number 236, pp.225-6
19 July 1890
(the first of five parts.) Transcribed by:
Ted Crawford Proofing and HTML:Graham Seaman
ALL the progressive races of man have gone through a stage of development
during which society has been very different to what it is now. At present
there is a very definite line of distinction drawn between the personal life
of a man and his life as a member of society. As a rule, the only direction in
which this social life is felt is in that of his nearest kindred—his wife,
children, parents, brothers and sisters. This is so much the case th... (From: Marxists.org.) Source:
“Development of Modern Society” Commonweal, Volume 6, Number 237, 26 July, p. 237; the second of five parts. Transcribed: by Ted Crawford.
Proofing and HTML: Graham Seaman
BUT further, you must not fail to remember that the aspirations and
nobility of sacrifice of the ancient city life were for [a] limited class
only. In the old tribal life the slaves were not an important class, and also
had easements, and even a kind of position which we do not associate with
slave life, scarcely even with serfdom; as one may see in Homer, who, writing
at a time when the tribal society was rapidly merging into city-life, gives
us, for example, such a picture of a slave as Eumœus[A], who had at any rate
plenty of pi... (From: Marxists.org.) Source:
“Development of Modern Society” Commonweal, Volume 6, Number 238, 2 August, p. 244; the third of five parts. Transcribed: by Ted Crawford.
Proofing and HTML: Graham Seaman
IN these country districts, both in England and elsewhere, they held for a long time to many of their old tribal customs; the jury of neighbors; frank-pledge, or the responsibility of the district for the conduct of its dwellers; the oath of compurgation; the courts in the open-air; the folk-motes of all the freemen meeting directly (not by delegates) and armed in token of their freedom. Over all this, which still existed in the beginning of feudalism, and never quite disappeared until its wane, the regular feudal system was super-imposed. Serf... (From: Marxists.org.) Source:
“Development of Modern Society” Commonweal, Volume 6, Number 239, 9 August, p. 253; the fourth of five parts. Transcribed: by Ted Crawford.
Proofing and HTML: Graham Seaman
To these about the eleventh century were superadded another set of guilds, whose main object was the protection of trade, and which soon became powerful, and establishing themselves in the towns, drew together with the corporations, the freemen of the towns, and were fuzed with them. They shared in the degeneration of the municipal aristocracies, which reached its height in the beginning of the thirteenth century, and with them were attacked by the third and last set of guilds, whose office was the organization and protection of the handicraft... (From: Marxists.org.) Source:
“Development of Modern Society” Commonweal, Volume 6, Number 240, 16 August, pp. 260-261; the last of five parts. Transcribed: by Ted Crawford.
Proofing and HTML: Graham Seaman
THUS fell the Society of the Middle Ages, by Capitalism establishing itself on the ruins of Feudality, and the rise of a middle-class who were either parasites of the nobility, themselves become commercial, trading on the grossest monopolies, and exacting rack-rent, and practically doing the state no service—partly parasites of the nobility, or partly employers living on the profit wrung out of workmen employed at a very low rate of wages. I have been giving the story of the change as it happened in England. On the Continent the divo... (From: Marxists.org.) Source:
“Development of Modern Society” Commonweal, Volume 6, Number 237, 26 July, p. 237; the second of five parts. Transcribed: by Ted Crawford.
Proofing and HTML: Graham Seaman
BUT further, you must not fail to remember that the aspirations and
nobility of sacrifice of the ancient city life were for [a] limited class
only. In the old tribal life the slaves were not an important class, and also
had easements, and even a kind of position which we do not associate with
slave life, scarcely even with serfdom; as one may see in Homer, who, writing
at a time when the tribal society was rapidly merging into city-life, gives
us, for example, such a picture of a slave as Eumœus[A], who had at any rate
plenty of pi... (From: Marxists.org.) Converted to XHTML by Graham Seaman, 18th May 2003, from the text file produced by Project Gutenberg (original print version date unknown). (From: Marxists.org.) Source: “Ducks and Fools” Commonweal, Vol 5, No. 169, 6 April 1889, p.107; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. When I was in Iceland, I was told about the habits of the eider ducks, which breed in great quantities in the little islets scattered about the firths there, and also of their treatment. They, of course, get their own living; they are pretty good to eat, but not very good; so they are not allowed to be shot, because they produce valuable down, which can be got at by the following process: They make their nests on the ground in the above-mentioned islets; the duck half strips her breast of the down to line her nest; this down is at once collared from the nest by those who are privileged to do so according to law. Then the duck... (From: Marxists.org.) One of the chief terrors, real or affected, which afflicts the middle-class man in thinking of the chances of that "Coming Slavery," which Mr. Herbert Spencer so bewails, is a fear of the suppression of individuality. Our Socialist lecturers are all familiar with this objection which seldom fails to be raised at question time in meetings where those are present who have any claim to be considered educated. To us Socialists looking round on the present state of society the anxiety when genuine seem not a little ridiculous, considering the manner in which individualism founded on the gospel of commerce has guarded this precious jewel of individuality. Truly the mill-hand who is as much a part of the machinery of the factory where he works as ... (From: Marxists.org.) If you look at the map of Europe, you will see in its north-western corner lying
just under the Arctic circle a large island considerably bigger than Ireland. If
you were to take ship and go there you would find it a country very remarkable in
aspect, little more than a desert, yet the most romantic of all deserts even to
look at: a huge volcanic mass still liable to eruptions of mud, ashes, and lava,
and which in the middle of the 18th century was the scene of the most tremendous
outpour of lava that history records. Anyone traveling there I think would be apt
to hope, if he knew nothing of its history, that its terrific and melancholy beauty
might have once been illumined by a histor... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: “Editorial” Commonweal, Vol 3, No. 51, 1 January 1887, p. 4; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. With this number there is begun a new volume of the Commonweal. For two years it has managed to appear regularly and keep before the public a consistent, unflinching exponent of international Revolutionary Socialism. Difficulties of many kinds have had to be surmounted, and in the future we may confidently look for a hardly less arduous endeavor as the price of a continued and useful existence.
During the two years that have elapsed since the Commonweal was founded the cause of Socialism has made great strides. In every country of the civilized world there is a definite, strong, and increasing Socialist party; while the influence... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: “Editorial” Commonweal, Vol 2, No. 16, 1 May 1886, p.33; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. In laying before the Socialist public the first number of our new departure, we feel that a few special words are likely to be looked for from the editors.
Now, as we understand the policy of the Socialist League it aims at education and organization towards action when the fitting moment arrives.
When that action is set on foot it will have nothing less for its aim than the taking over by the workers of all the means of producing wealth, to be used for the benefit of the community, that is to say, for the benefit of each and all of those who compose it; in other words, the realization of a new society with equality of condition for ... (From: Marxists.org.) Sir,
I cannot help noting that a rumor is about in the air
that England is going to war; and from the depths of my
astonishment I ask, On behalf of whom? Against whom?
And for what end? Some three weeks ago, if such a rumor
had arisen, my questions would, I imagine, have been answered
in this way: “The English nation has been roused
to a sense of justice (for at heart they are a generous people)
by a story of horrors that no man has been able to gainsay;
so they are going to war against the Turkish Government
on behalf of certain subject peoples, whom the Turks conquered
long ago but have never assimilated, and whom
now, in their decrepitude, insolvency and terror, they have
been torturing and oppressing in the vilest m... (From: Marxists.org.) It is usual when a Socialist is addressing an audience of those who wish to know
what his Socialism means, to touch lightly on the aim that Socialism has in view
and to dwell chiefly on the means by which that aim is to be reached. The speaker
assumes (usually I am glad to think with reason) that his audience are sufficiently
with him to sympathize with his wish to better the present condition of affairs,
and are eager to know what process he purposes to them as the means for the
bettering of the life of the great mass of the population; it is natural for people
to say to an earnest reformer, Tell us what it is that you wish to have done at
once, and then we will look at the matter; an... (From: Marxists.org.) Mr. William Morris, who so dearly loves to be described in newspapers and
double-crown bills as "the poet and Socialist,” delivered a characteristic lecture
on Monday evening, before the Hornsey Young Men’s Society, at the Park Chapel
Lecture-hall, Crouch-End. A year ago he promised the society a lecture, but at the
time could not personally deliver it, and sent the manuscript to be read by a
friend, who was a member of the society and a good elocutionist. But on Monday
evening, the eccentric teacher of ethics presented himself, and lectured on
"Eyes and No Eyes.”
The Rev. ALFRED ROWLAND, LL.B., B.A., in introducing Mr. Morris, dwelt at some
length upon the influence of poets and great thinkers upon the natio... (From: Marxists.org.) William Morris. Commonweal. 1890
Fabian Essays in Socialism
Source: “Fabian Essays in Socialism [1]” (review) Commonweal, Vol 6, No. 211, 25 January 1890, p.28-29; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. This book is of importance as embodying the views of a society which has been so active in lecturing on behoof of the Socialist movement. Indeed, some time ago many of us thought and said that the Fabians should publish a volume of their lectures; and, without wishing to carp at the present expression of opinions from which we of the Socialist League dissent in some measure, I cannot help wishing that such a volume had appeared about three years ago: for such a book published at that date would have dealt almost wholly with the econ... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: “Facing the Worst of It” Commonweal, Vol 3, No. 58, 19 February 1887, p. 60-61; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. Though we Socialists have full faith in the certainty of the great change coming about, it would be idle for any one of us to attempt to prophesy as to the date of the realization of our hopes; and it is well for us not to be too sanguine, since overweening hope is apt to give birth to despair if it meets with check or disappointment. Although the oppression and robbery of the past and the present is preparing a certain revenge in the future, yet history has shown us over and over again that retribution is halt-foot; or perhaps, to put it with as little metaphor as language will allow of, great revolutions have ... (From: Marxists.org.) We Socialists are often reproached with giving no details of the state of things which would follow on the destruction of that system of waste and war which is sometimes dignified by the lying title of the harmonious combination of capital and labor: many worthy people say, "We admit that the present system has produced unsatisfactory results, but at least it is a system; you ought to be able to give us some definite idea of the results of that reconstruction which you call Socialism."
To this Socialists answer, and rightly, that we have not set ourselves to build up a system to please our tastes; nor are we seeking to impose it on the world in a mechanical manner, but that we are assisting in bringing about a development of history whic... (From: Marxists.org.) In a recent article we tried to look through the present into the future and see a factory as it might be, and got as far as the surroundings outside of it; but those externals of a true palace of industry can be only realized, naturally and without affectation by the work which is to be done in them being in all ways reasonable and fit for human beings; I mean no mere whim of some one rich and philanthropic manufacturer will make even one factory permanently pleasant and agreeable for the workers in it; he will die or be sold up, his heir will be poorer or more single-hearted in his devotion to profit, and all the beauty and order will vanish from the short-lived dream: even the external beauty in industrial concerns must be the work of so... (From: Marxists.org.) I have tried to show in former articles that in a duly ordered society, in which people would work for a livelihood and not for the profit of another, a factory might not only be pleasant as to its surroundings, and beautiful in its architecture, but that even the rough and necessary work done in it might be so arranged as to be neither burdensome in itself or of long duration for each worker; but furthermore the organization of such a factory, that is to say of a group of people working in harmonious cooperation towards a useful end, would of itself afford opportunities for increasing the pleasure of life.
To begin with such a factory will surely be a center of education: any children who seem likely to develop gifts towards its special... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Feudal England; Commonweal, Vol 3, No. 84, 20 August 1887, p. 266-7; Transcribed: by Graham Seaman. THE Norman Conquest found a certain kind of feudality in existence
in England; a feudality which was developed from the customs of the
tribes with little or no admixture of Roman law; and also even before
the Conquest this country was slowly beginning to be mixed up with
the affairs of the Continent of Europe, and that not only with the
kindred nations of Scandinavia, but with the Romanized countries
also. But the Conquest of Duke William did introduce the complete
or Romanized Feudal system into the country; and it also connected
it by strong bonds to the Romanized countries, but thereby laid the
first foundations of nation... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Feudal England; Commonweal, Vol 3, No. 85, 27 August 1887, p. 274; Transcribed: by Graham Seaman. The order and progress of Henry I.'s reign, which marks the transition
from the mere military camp of the Conqueror to the Medieval England
I have to dwell upon, was followed by the period of mere confusion
and misery which accompanied the accession of the princes of Anjou
to the throne of England. In this period the barons widely became
mere violent and illegal robbers; and the castles with which the land
was dotted, and which were begun under the auspices of the Conqueror
as military posts, became mere dens of strong thieves. No doubt this
made the business of the next able king, Henry II., the easier. He
was a staunch man o... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Feudal England; Commonweal, Vol 3, No. 86, 3 September 1887, p. 282; Transcribed: by Graham Seaman. The Great Council of the Realm was purely feudal; it was composed
of the feudatories of the king, theoretically of all of them,
practically of the great ones only. It was, in fact, the council of the
conquering tribe with their chief at their head; the matters of the
due feudal tribute, aids, reliefs, fines, scutage, and the like — in short,
the king's revenue due from his men — were settled in this council at
once and in the lump. But the inferior tribe, though not represented
there, existed, and, as aforesaid, was growing rich, and the king had
to get their money out of their purses directly; which as they were
... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: Feudal England; Commonweal, Vol 3, No. 87, 10 September 1887, p. 290-1; Transcribed: by Graham Seaman. The complete feudalism of the fourteenth century fell, as systems
always fall, by its own corruption, by development of the seeds of
change, some which indeed had lain asleep during centuries, to wake
up into activity long after the events which had created them were
forgotten.
The feudal system was naturally one of open war; and the alliances,
marriages, and other dealings family with family, made by the
kings and potentates, were always leading them into war by giving
them legal claims, or at least claims that could be legally pleaded,
to the domains of other lords, who took advantage of their being on
the spot, of t... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: “Fighting for Peace” Commonweal, Vol 3, No. 59, 26 February 1887, p. 68; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. Our contemporary, the Cotton Factory Times, has an article on the Lanarkshire riots and the position of the men there which is worth noting, as showing the kind of prejudices and superstitions which will have to be removed from the minds of the workers before they can attain to that complete union and perception of the interests of labor by which alone they can meet the organization of capital on equal terms: and this is the more worth noting, as the Cotton Factory Times is an excellent paper, and really devoted, according to its lights, to the interests of labor.
Our contemporary does not seem to have understood the ... (From: Marxists.org.) Ralph Robinson's translation of More's Utopia would not need any foreword if it
were to be looked upon merely as a beautiful book embodying the curious fancies of
a great writer and thinker of the period of the Renaissance. No doubt till within
the last few years it has been considered by the moderns as nothing more serious
than a charming literary exercise, spiced with the interest given to it by the
allusions to the history of the time, and by our knowledge of the career of its
author.
But the change of ideas concerning `the best state of a publique weale,' which, I
will venture to say, is the great event of the end of this century, has thrown a
fresh light upon th... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: “Free Speech at Stratford,” Commonweal, Vol 2, No. 22, 12 June 1886, p.87; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. A meeting was held at Stratford last Saturday on the same ground as on the former week. Comrades Aveling and Morris spoke for the League, and Messrs. Ellis (of the Peckham and Dulwich Radical Club) and Rose (Whitechapel Liberal Club) also spoke. A solid and attentive audience at once came together as soon as the first speaker began; about 300, I should think, was the number of the actual meeting. Our two Radical friends spoke well and strongly on the right of free speech, and the audience was obviously in complete sympathy. At the close of the meeting, which lasted an hour, comrade Aveling called for a show of hands i... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: “Free Speech in America” Commonweal, Vol 3, No. 91, 8 October 1887, p. 324; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. Our readers will see that meetings to protest against the cold-blooded judicial murder of the seven Chicago prisoners are to be held within the next fortnight. Since this number of the Commonweal may come into the hands of persons who have not read other numbers and who have but a vague idea of the bearings of the whole case, or as is most likely, have been prejudiced by the misrepresentations of the press — the stark lies of the American capitalistic press, the careless lies of the English — it may be well to state briefly what the real crime of these men is in order that it may be determined whether the... (From: Marxists.org.) Source: “Free Speech in the Streets” Commonweal, Vol 2, No. 29, 31 July 1886, p.137; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. The police-war against the open-air speaking of the Socialists is being carried on with much vigor this year, and cannot fail even at this stage of it to be noticed by the general public. As this number of the Commonweal may, like other numbers, come into the hands of many who are not Socialists, it is not untimely to say a few words on this subject; especially since it is one of great importance to us and not unimportant to people generally, even in these days of Dilke-Crawford trials and the coming Tory Government.
For the information of those who have not followed the course of the attacks made on us, I should p... (From: Marxists.org.) (a) William Morris's Tribute (The Clarion)
I think I may say that I am one of those who
speak for, at all events I am here to represent the feelings of English
Socialists on the death of our lost comrade. My mission is simply to
express our deep sorrow at the loss of our comrade, and an appreciation
of his noble qualities, which our friend Krapotkin, with so much
feeling—and feeling is better than eloquence—has laid before us.
Stepniak impelled us to express the feeling which animates all
our party, the feeling of love, the feeling of brotherhood which
we have for the great Russian people. I am quite certain there
is not a single ... (From: Marxists.org.)