Introduction
In ‘Road to Wigan Pier’, which was published in 1937, George Orwell claimed that: ‘The real Socialist writers…have always been dull, empty windbags…’ listing as examples Bernard Shaw, Henri Barbusse, Upton Sinclair, Waldo Frank…and William Morris.
Who were these ‘socialist writers?’ Bernard Shaw, the playwright, was a member of the Fabians a group of intellectuals who repudiated Marx’s theory of value in favour of Jevons’s theory of utility. Henri Barbusse was a cheerleader for Stalin. Upton Sinclair supported the First World War, And Waldo Frank was a Communist Party fellow traveller. Socialists they were not. Was Orwell right to include Morris in this disreputable group of non-socialists. Was Morris a ‘dull and empty wind bag’. We think not. Morris was long dead when Orwell made these remarks and so could not have attended his lectures to know whether he was worth reading.
In October 1886 Morris gave a lecture on ‘Socialism: Its Aims and Methods’ which was reported in the ‘Norfolk News’. The lecture was given to a large and appreciative audience and praised by the ‘Norfolk News’ correspondent. Orwell gave no such lectures.
Unlike Morris, Orwell did not set out to ‘make socialists’. Instead, he supported British capitalism during the Second World War and after the war gave names of notable writers he considered unsuitable candidates for the anti-communist propaganda activities of the Information Research Department, a secret propaganda organisation of the British State under the Foreign Office. A copy of the list was published by the ‘Guardian’ in 2003.
Two questions arise: What did Morris mean by ‘making socialists’ and what, if any, was Orwell’s contribution to socialism?
Making Socialists
From the beginning Morris stressed the importance of educating the working class about the necessity of establishing socialism. And for socialism to be established required the democratic and political action of a socialists’ majority understanding what needed to be done and how. His propaganda was two-fold: to educate workers about socialism and to make socialists. Morris did this through lectures and pamphlets right up to his death.
Morris was aware that there were few socialists on the ground. One or two socialists would be an object or derision written off as utopians, dreamers perhaps even mad. However, as the numbers increased, so a socialist revolution comes into sight. With a world-wide socialist majority socialism would be seen as a practical goal. This is what Morris said.
One man with an idea in his head is in danger to be considered a mad man; two men with the same idea in common may be foolish, but can hardly be mad; ten men sharing an idea begin to act; a hundred draw attention as fanatics, a thousand and society begins to tremble, a hundred thousand and there is war abroad, and the cause has victories tangible and real; and why a hundred thousand? Why not a hundred million and peace upon earth? You and I who agree together, it is we who have to answer the question.’ – William Morris (1834-1896), ‘Art Under Plutocracy’ 1883 in Political Writings of William Morris’ Edited and with an Introduction by A. L. Morton, London1979 p57).
‘Making socialists’ appears to have the missionary undertones of a Dr Livingstone. Livingstone set out to convert Africans to Christianity. This is not the case for socialists. We do not preach a religious belief. Socialists set out to reason with workers, members of our own class, using facts and sound and valid arguments and to show that capitalism, as a social system, cannot work in the interest of workers and their families. We do not like using jargon but political ideas such as class, class exploitation, class consciousness class interest and class struggle define a reality in which the working class live out our lives.
Socialists show, by historical example, the futility of reforms. We point out the inherent failure of Labour and similar governments who fallaciously believe you can have ‘socialist’ distribution while retaining the private ownership of the means of production; that is capitalists and the profit motive. It cannot be done you cannot pursue ‘social justice’ while letting capitalists exploit the working class and despoil the planet. With a capitalist social system, it is the interest of the capitalist class that is foremost; their interests and their profit motive will come first.
For all his many faults’ Morris understood this fact about capitalism while Orwell did not. Instead, Orwell described himself as a “democratic socialist’ supported the ILP then the Labour Party. His political trajectory was towards conservatism when, at the end of his novel ‘Animal Farm’, he repudiated the success of any form of revolution including a socialist revolution on the unsupported basis that revolutions would always be corrupted by leaders. Socialists disagree. A socialist revolution by a socialist majority using the vote to capture the machinery of government can establish socialism without violence. They would not need leaders to tell them what to do.
Socialists are not pessimists. We do not know where we are within capitalism’s anarchic history. Of class exploitation Morris, in a lecture ‘Where are We Now’ reflected on the seven years socialism had come to life as a political movement. Capitalism had been around two centuries prior to Morris and the Socialist League and we have come on another 125 years since his lecture. Socialists are still small in number but the world is more interconnected, the internet has made us known in a way that it was not the case in 1904. At the end of his lecture Morris concluded:
“Our business, I repeat, is the making of Socialists, i.e. convincing people that Socialism is good for them and is possible” (‘Political Writings of William Morris’ Edited and with an Introduction by A. L. Morton, London1979 p225).
Socialists still try to convince workers to become socialists and that socialism is a practical alternative to the profit system.
