Commonweal (newspaper)

The Commonweal
Cover of The Commonweal, January 1886
Founded1885
Political alignmentSocialism
Ceased publication1894

Commonweal was a British socialist newspaper founded in 1885 by the newborn Socialist League. Its aims were to spread socialist views and to win over new recruits.

William Morris, founder of the League, was its chief writer, money finder and "responsible head". Edward Aveling was the sub-editor.[1] Before the last meeting of the Social Democratic Federation Morris and Aveling visited Frederick Engels to discuss their proposed paper. The first number appeared at the beginning of February 1885.John Turner, Ernest Belfort Bax and Eleanor Marx also regularly contributed articles. Its publishing office was at Great Queen Street, London. At first it appeared as a monthly (with supplements) from February, 1885 to May 1, 1886. It then commenced as a weekly. Aveling was unable to devote the necessary time on a weekly basis and Bax replaced him as sub-editor. As E. P. Thompson writes: "Almost every issue included at least one major contribution from Morris. During 1885 "The Pilgrims of Hope" appeared in monthly instalments: during 1886 and 1887 his series of articles with Bax, "Socialism from the Root Up", appeared side by side with "A Dream of John Ball"."[2] Aveling's "Lessons in Socialism", a series of lessons on Marx's "Das Kapital", that had not yet appeared in English translation, were published in nine instalments from April 1885 until March 1886.[3]

In 1890, Morris resigned as editor and was replaced by the anarchist David Nicoll (Morris went on to publish the Hammersmith Socialist Record, the paper of the Hammersmith Socialist Society). With the dissolution of the Socialist League, the paper continued as the independent publication of the Commonweal Group. Nicoll published an article on the Walsall Anarchists, for which he was sentenced to eighteen months' hard labour in May 1892; H. B. Samuels then became acting editor.

Soon after Nicoll's release, the paper was closed and replaced by his own periodical The Anarchist.[4] Nicoll later resurrected the name The Commonweal for this publication, under which name it continued sporadically from 1898 to 1907.[5]

Historian Alex Butterworth believes that the staff of Commonweal "may have consisted entirely of informants, unbeknownst to each other", although "[e]ven today, with unprecedented access to police files, Butterworth is often unsure who was reporting back to the cops."[6]

  1. ^ E.P. Thompson, William Morris. Romantic to Revolutionary (London: Merlin Presas, 1977), p. 383.
  2. ^ E.P. Thompson, William Morris. Ibid., p.391.
  3. ^ There is an online transcription, edited and with notes by Graham Seaman at the Edward Aveling Archive https://www.marxists.org/archive/aveling/1885/lessons.htm
  4. ^ Labour Annual (1896), pp. 214, 219
  5. ^ Quail, John. The Slow Burning Fuse: The Lost History of the British Anarchists. Paladin, 1978. ISBN 0586082255
  6. ^ Doherty, Brian (2010-12-17) The First War on Terror, Reason