Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 edition. Excerpt: ... viii the labour question from the socialist standpoint By William Morris This lecture was one of a series delivered in Scotland in the summer of 1886, in which the Secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, the London Manager of the Co-operative Wholesale Society, Professor Foxwell, Professor Patrick Geddes, and Dr. Alfred Russell Wallace, also took part. William Morris's definite accession to Socialism may be dated from the beginning of 1883. He then joined the Social Democratic Federation; but in December, 1885, founded the Socialist League, whose organ, the " Commonweal," he edited till 1889. In 1890 he left the League, which soon afterwards collapsed. His work represents the first revival of Socialism in England through the importation of the Marxist doctrine. It also derives a large element from his personal genius, which, while missing the mass of workers at which it was aimed, has left its mark upon nearly all the leaders. I Have been asked to give you the Socialist view on the Labour Question. Now, in some ways that is a difficult matter to deal with--far beyond my individual capacities--and would also be a long business; yet in another way, as a matter of principle, it is not difficult to understand or long to tell of, and it does not need previous study or acquaintance with the works of specialists or philosophers. Indeed, if it did, it would not be a political subject, and I hope to show you that it is preeminently political in the sense in which I should use the word; that is to say, that it is a matter which concerns every one, and has to do with the practical everyday relations of his life, and that not only as an individual, but as a member of a body corporate, nay, as a member of that great corporation--humanity....
