William Morris and the problem of Englishness

In The Lion and the Unicorn George Orwell suggested that English socialists had underestimated the unifying role of patriotism in the struggle for socialist change. Marxists in particular, seduced by ideas of class struggle, had mistakenly associated socialism with soulless internationalism. Considering how eager late nineteenth century socialists – and Marxists - were to wrap their ideas in patriotic garb, Orwell’s view appears dubious. Yet the idea that English socialists have neglected the importance of patriotism has proved to be persuasive: in recent years early socialists, including William Morris, the subject of this paper, have again been accused of wrongly overlooking the importance of national tradition to socialism. Whilst historians have acknowledged the force of his ‘oppositional Englishness’, political theorists - notably David Miller - have argued that Morris opted for a sub-national form of community, based on fellowship, as the preferred unit of socialist organisation....