/kloc-The second half of the 0/9th century is the period of Britain's transition from capitalism to imperialism. Abroad, it carried out crazy expansion and plunder of colonies; At home, it cruelly exploited the working people.
By the 1980s, a serious economic crisis had occurred in Britain, and the working people's lives were even poorer, and class contradictions tended to intensify. In order to demand higher wages and better working conditions, the workers held several general strikes against the capitalists. Although the British ruling group tried to suppress the working people crazily by force, it could not stop the rising tide of the workers' movement. At the same time, the socialist trend of thought resurfaced among the British proletariat and intellectuals with democratic ideas. Some groups promoting socialism, such as the socialist alliance, also came into being. These groups gave a certain impetus to the struggle of the working class at that time.
1834 On March 24th, Morris was born into a wealthy family in Walthamstow, Essex, England. His father is a stockbroker and owns a lot of real estate. Morris loved literature and art since childhood, especially medieval art and architecture. He was immersed in the works of British romantic poets Byron (1788-1824) and Shelley (P. Shelley, 1792- 1822), and the romantics were dissatisfied with the status quo, rebelled against oppression and praised freedom. For young Morris, the world of art and fantasy is not only a pleasant place to escape from vulgar capitalist society, but also a base to resist it.
While studying at Oxford University (1853- 1855), Morris worked with some like-minded young people (including the famous poet and painter dante gabriel rossetti Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828- 1882 and the later famous painter Bourne-Jones Bourne-Jones,/kloc-0).
Morris began to write poems when he was studying in college. 1856, he and his literary friends started a monthly magazine called TheOXfOrdandCanbridgeMagazine. Most of his early works are published in this magazine. After leaving Oxford University, Morris worked in an architectural firm on the one hand, and devoted himself to the research of art with Rossetti on the other. He started painting and soon turned to poetry. 1858, he published his first book of poetry, Defending Guenevereandotherpoems. 186 1 year, Morris and his literary friends set up an art decoration company to undertake art design, interior decoration and other businesses, and at the same time make colored glass, carved furniture, embroidery, carpets, curtains and other household items. The purpose announced by this company is to change the interest of British society through art, so that the British public can also enjoy some truly beautiful and practical works of art in their lives. Morris believes that practical decoration originated from the people, so he strongly advocates returning pure and healthy taste to the people. His activities in practical decorative arts and art history played an important role in the formation of his progressive world outlook and literary creation. Through the study of practical art, Morris established his own aesthetic point of view, and on this basis, he realized the vulgarity and poverty of capitalist culture, began to understand the decadent nature of capitalist system, and made up his mind to fight against unreasonable social system with literary and artistic works as weapons.
1867, he published the poem Jason's Life and Death; 1868- 1870, he wrote the poem Paradise on Earth.
In these two works, Morris takes the myths and legends of ancient Greece and Rome and Scandinavian myths as the themes, which shows his hatred of the unreasonable capitalist system and capitalist culture in Britain at that time, and his lofty ideal of pursuing a beautiful and happy society for mankind. These two works, especially Paradise on Earth, made him famous in English poetry.
Morris took an active part in the political activities of 1877. He joined the Oriental Association jointly organized by the left wing of the Liberal Party and social figures, and opposed the aggressive war against Russia by the Conservative government and the Turkish Union. He wrote a famous political paper entitled "Unfair War", which exposed the reactionary nature of the ruling clique's aggressive policy, pointed out that the military adventure planned by the Conservative government would endanger the interests of the British working people, and called on British workers to stand up for peace. This important political commentary proves the maturity of Morris's political thought, and also marks that his creative career and social activities are entering a new era.
At this time, Morris and his friends also organized a social group called the Association for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, with the purpose of protecting some buildings with national style, historical significance and artistic value and fighting against the mercenary philistines in capitalist society. Morris is the honorary secretary of the association and often publicizes the work of the association. In his speech, he pointed out the close relationship between art and social life, emphasizing that art, like freedom, is not the private property of a few people, but belongs to the people.
Morris gradually realized the aggressive nature of imperialism after participating in the political activities in the eastern society. He was shocked by the expansion and plunder of British imperialism in Ireland, Egypt, India, Myanmar and South Africa. At home, he found that many trade unions originally organized to safeguard the interests of the working class have been acquired by capitalists and become tame tools for politicians and political parties. In order to oppose imperialism, he established contact with the progressives in the British workers' movement in the late 1970s, and served as treasurer of the National Freedom League, a progressive workers' group, at 1879. During the period of 188 1- 1882, he tried to organize all political groups of the working class in London into a "radical alliance" to create conditions for the establishment of a strong workers' party, but his efforts failed. In this way, through more than 20 years of life experience, literary and artistic activities, political struggle, especially through direct contact with the workers' movement, Morris finally joined the democratic alliance at 1883 and became a socialist. He began to systematically study Marx's Das Kapital and the works of British economist Adam Smith (1723- 1790) and david ricardo (1772- 1823).
Marx's Das Kapital made him realize the significance of class struggle. Morris pointed out in his earliest speech on socialism entitled "Commercial War" that there is class struggle in class society: "There are two opposing classes ... in society, it is impossible to remain neutral and stand by; You must join this camp or that camp; You can either be a reactionary and be crushed by the pawn wheel of national progress, so as to play a role; Either join the progressive team and destroy all hostile forces in order to play a role. " ①
① Quoted from WilliamMorris of E.P. Thompson: From Romanticism to Revolution (William Morris, 1955), p.310-311p.
The Democratic Alliance (renamed Social Democratic Alliance shortly after its establishment) split at the end of 1884. Morris and some other members of the Executive Committee disagreed with the opportunistic policy line of the alliance leader Henry Mayer Sindermann (1842- 192 1), so they and Elena Marx (1855- 1898, Marx's daughter) and her. In previous issues, Gong * * Welfare Weekly published a series of papers centering on Marx's works. During his six years as editor-in-chief of Public Welfare, Morris wrote a lot of poems and essays promoting socialism for this publication, including his important poem Pilgrim of Hope (1885). In this autobiographical poem, Morris takes the Paris Commune Revolution of 187 1 as the center, expressing the firm belief that the working class will win the final victory as long as they take up arms to fight.
The novels Dream (1886— 1880) and News from Nowhere (1890) were first published in Gong * * * Welfare Weekly.
The Socialist Union published the declaration written by Morris in 1885. According to Marxist theory, it puts forward the idea of "revolutionary international socialism", whose basic content is to change the social foundation and eliminate the boundary between class and country. The declaration pointed out that there are two classes in modern civilized society-one class owns wealth and means of production, and the other class creates wealth for the class with wealth. The two opposing classes fought endlessly in different ways. In order to eliminate exploitation, enable the broad masses of people to distribute according to work and live a happy life, all means of production must be made public. This can not be achieved through the reformist method of "national socialism", but only through revolutionary international socialism. The socialist alliance will devote itself to educating the people, enabling them to master the theory of socialist revolution and accomplish this great cause.
On his fifty-fourth birthday, he said in a speech: "I call myself a revolutionary socialist because my goal is to achieve a complete revolution in society." My goal is not to reform the existing social system, but to abolish it. ..... However, I once again remind you that my goal is socialism or productism, not anarchism. As a socialist, Morris not only engaged in theoretical research and propaganda work, but also actively participated in practical struggles. In Britain in the 1980s, the class struggle was very sharp and the workers' movement was surging. Strikes, demonstrations and mass gatherings caused confrontation between working people and the police. Morris devoted himself to these mass movements and resolutely supported the workers' struggle against capitalists. 1887, 165438+ 13 10, a "bloody Sunday" tragedy happened in London. On that day, London's socialist groups and their progressive organizations jointly held a mass meeting in Trafalgar Square, demanding the protection of the right to freedom of speech. The government dispatched police to suppress it, causing many deaths and injuries. Morris and george bernard shaw (1856- 1950), a great British dramatist, also attended the meeting and witnessed the murder of the ruling clique. Morris was so indignant at the government's atrocities that he wrote a poem called "Song of Death" to mourn the victims.
1890, because the socialist alliance and the weekly magazine with welfare were controlled by anarchists, Morris quit automatically. 189 1 year, he organized the hammersmith Socialist Association, published publications and supported the workers' movement.
(1) from Rubinstein (A..t .Rubinstein) wrote the great tradition of English literature-from Shakespeare to Bernard Shaw.
(Excerpted from Shakespeare's English Literature .. 1953) on page 855.
In 1980s and 1990s, Morris often publicized socialist theory among workers and intellectuals through speeches. Morris delivered a speech at the mass meeting, defending the freedom of speech and assembly. The police intervened, broke up the rally and arrested Morris. But no setback can shake Morris's determination to publicize socialist thought. He kept in touch with the workers' movement until his later years, and continued to engage in propaganda work through writing and speeches. The political movement in this period prompted him to establish a positive romantic aesthetic, and created a series of excellent works to promote socialism, which added luster to the progressive culture of Britain in the19th century.
Morris died in London on 189613 October at the age of 62. After his death, his daughter may? May Morris compiled his life's works, including poems, novels, plays, prose romantic stories, political essays, essays, speeches, letters, translations, etc., into 24 volumes and published them (1910-15).