Socialist League (UK, 1885)
사회주의 동맹 (영국)
An early British revolutionary socialist organisation, founded early in 1885 by dissidents who broke away from Hyndman’s Social Democratic Federation at the end of 1884. William Morris edited its paper Commonweal, and Edward Carpenter was among its members. It turned towards anarchism in the 1890s and disbanded in 1901.
In depth
The Socialist League arose when ten members of the Social Democratic Federation executive, after censuring Hyndman by 10 votes to 8 in December 1884, resigned and in January 1885 issued the statement To Socialists. Branches in East London, Hammersmith and Leeds and the Scottish Land and Labour League joined it, as did Edward Carpenter and the artist Walter Crane. Its paper Commonweal, founded in February 1885, was edited by William Morris, who paid its deficit out of his own pocket.
The League mixed Fabians, Christian Socialists, anarchists and Marxist revolutionaries, and Eleanor Marx was particularly concerned about the place of the largely non-English anarchists. In 1885–1886, when the London police let religious bodies such as the Salvation Army preach in the streets but banned socialist speakers, League and SDF members simply kept speaking and paying fines until the authorities gave up. Having turned from socialism to anarchism in the 1890s, the League disbanded in 1901.