The last quarter of the nineteenth century was characterized by the expansion of the socialist movement. In many countries, political parties of the working class emerged, guided by the theory of scientific socialism. In England, the first organization to proclaim the ideas of scientific socialism as its program appeared in August 1884. Among its creators was William Morris. The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPV) appreciates the work done by the first English socialists to promote Marxism. At the XXIV Congress of the CPV in 1956, its general secretary, G. Pollit, said that "the party is the true heir of the pioneers of the labor movement in England"; among them "people like Tom Mann, William Morris and Harry Quelch" 1 . In 1983, the XXXVIII Congress of the CPV called on progressives to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of W. Morris2 .

William Morris (1834-1896) - artist, writer, art theorist and public figure-was born in the family of a merchant 3 . He "left a serious mark on the history of English social thought, literature, painting, art criticism, architecture, and applied art."-

1 Pollit G. Marxism and the Labor movement in Great Britain, Moscow, 1960, pp. 55-56.

2 Morning Star, 14.XI.1983.

3 Morris W. Art and Life (Selected articles, lectures, speeches, letters), Moscow, 1973, p. 470.

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art, aesthetics, and publishing " 4 . Morris was educated at Oxford, where he showed a special passion for the study of medieval history. While studying at the university, he became acquainted with the works of the art critic, critic and publicist J. R. R. Tolkien. Ruskin, who had a great influence on him. Morris ' philosophical and aesthetic views were also influenced by the teachings of T. Carlyle and the idealistic trend of pre-Raphaelite artists. From 1856, Morris worked in an architectural workshop, then gave preference to painting and in 1861, together with his partners, he organized art and industrial handicraft workshops for the manufacture of furniture, carpets, wallpaper, decorative fabrics, metal products, stained glass windows, colored tiles, paintings and embroidery. Soon he proved himself as a sketch designer and decorator and personally produced about 600 models of various products. In his letters to his family, William described how he worked in the dye shops, "wearing a blouse and wooden shoes." 5 There are still some examples of his creations in London that are now attracting the attention of tourists: the house on Drake Street, formerly owned by Morris, and the "Green Dining Room" near the South Kensington metro station, which he once decorated .6
Claiming that the goal of art is to beautify human life, he advocated the achievement of beauty in everything around him, naively opposed the impersonal capitalist production of "individual creativity" and dreamed of surrounding the people of labor with art objects. With these romantic-utopian ideas, he came out in the 1860s, believing in the primary role of aesthetic education of the broad masses. At the workshops of his company, a school of arts and crafts was created, where children of workers were specially accepted.

His poems and poems "The Defense of Guinevere", "The Life and Death of Jason", "Earthly Paradise"are imbued with such thoughts. Around the same time, he translated Virgil's Aeneid from Latin and, somewhat later, Homer's Odyssey from ancient Greek. In 1877, Morris founded the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Monuments, to which he had an attachment; in 1890, the Kelmscott Publishing House, which published books on the model of the first printed ones. Among them, Morris ' book "News from Nowhere", "Library of Icelandic Sagas" (in his translation)were published, "Utopia" by T. Mohr, works by J. R. R. Tolkien. Chaucer. Bourgeois authors still value Morris as a propagandist of antiques and an aesthete.

It was only in the 1880s that a peculiar turning point in his worldview was outlined, although the Paris Commune already forced him to think about the problems of the working-class movement .7 From 1883, Morris played a prominent role in the English socialist and labor movement. At that time, socialist teaching in England was still the worldview of a few individuals who were isolated from the masses either by their sectarianism or by their petty-bourgeois living conditions. 8 This continued until the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) and the Socialist League gradually began to fill the gap with the publication of socialist pamphlets .9 Morris first joined the Democratic Federation, founded by a group of intellectuals in 1881. In a lecture given at Oxford University on November 14, 1883, he stated:: "I am one of those who are called socialists." 10 In August 1884, this organization was renamed the Social Democratic Federation, and its program was prepared by the executive committee, which included Morris ." Most of the members of the SDF belonged to the bourgeois intelligentsia, but there were also prominent representatives of the democratic-minded intelligentsia: Ed. Eveling, Karl Marx's daughter Eleonora, E. B. Bax, as well as the workers of J. R. R. Tolkien. Berne, J. MacDonald, G. Quelch, T. Mann 12 . While serving as a member of the SDF leadership, Morris also provided financial assistance to the SDF . 13
4. Tupoleva L. F. Sotsialisticheskoe dvizhenie v Anglii v 80-e gody XIX veka [The Socialist Movement in England in the 1980s of the 19th century]. Moscow, 1973, p. 47.

5 Morris W. Uk. op., pp. 453-454.

6 Banks F. R. London. Lnd. 1978, pp. 236, 448. On its influence on bourgeois Art Nouveau and on the development of modern architecture in Moscow. Goldsamt E. William Morris and the social origins of Modern Architecture, Moscow, 1973.

7 Marxism Today, August 1966, pp. 243 - 248.

8 Rotshtein E. V. I. Lenin and the Socialist Movement in Great Britain, Moscow, 1970, p. 6.

9 Marxism Today, May 1973, p. 149.

10 Morris W. Uk. op., p. 177.

11 Morton A. L., Tate J. History of the English Labor Movement (1870-1920), Moscow, 1959, p.229.

12 Tupoleva L. F. Uk. soch., p. 52.

13 Kol G. J. Istoriya rabochego dvizheniya v Anglii [History of the working-class movement in England]. l. 1927, p. 134.

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at the head of the SDF was G. M. Hyndman, who tried to fight his way to socialism, "never completely getting rid of bourgeois traditions, bourgeois views and prejudices." 14 Later, Hyndman generally slipped into positions of social reformism, chauvinism and adventurism. He and his supporters were openly hostile to the trade unions. In contrast, Morris wanted to work with 15 workers ' unions .

Already at the beginning of the SDF's existence, Morris showed himself an enthusiast in promoting the ideas of socialism among the workers. He campaigned during the cotton mill workers ' strikes, 16 and distributed the newspaper Justice, which exposed the ulcers of capitalism, told of proletarian slums, sweatshop production, crowds of unemployed people, and "men, women, and children dying of want in the midst of the wealth around them." The author of a number of damning articles was Morris himself. Many of them are still considered examples of revolutionary journalism .17 Morris ' publications later attracted the attention of V. I. Lenin. Vladimir Ilyich cited one of Morris 'statements in his" Notebooks on Imperialism " 18 . As for the SDF, Lenin gave it the following assessment:: "In all of England, only the British Social Democrats have conducted systematic propaganda and agitation in the Marxist spirit for decades." 19
The formation of the socialist movement in England took place in the struggle between revolutionary and opportunist tendencies. At the end of 1884, the majority of the SDF council, which included Morris, Eleanor Marks, Ed Eveling, Bax, J. Magon, and several workers ' leaders, expressed disagreement with Hyndman's position and left the organization. In this regard, F. Engels wrote: "Eveling, Bax and Morris left the Federation - the only sincere people among writers, but all three are so impractical (two poets and a philosopher)that there are no others like them in the daytime with fire. Together with them came the best of the most famous workers. " 20 They set about creating a new organization, the Socialist League (SL), whose soul was Morris, publisher and editor of the SL magazine The Commonweal. It was published in February 1885, largely at the expense of Morris.

Before making this crucial decision, representatives of the SDF's left wing discussed it with Engels, who wrote:: "Eveling and Tussi are coming at five, and Morris wants to have a serious consultation with me at seven"; elsewhere: "I had Morris and Eveling before the meeting, and I managed to give them some advice." 21 In turn, Engels listened to the opinions of these people. In a letter to A. Bebel (March 1886), he said: "As I know from Morris and others, Hyndman is a coward, and this is how he behaved at crucial moments." 22 Until 1886, Morris and Engels maintained a close relationship .23 However, Engels criticized the position of the SL leaders for petty-bourgeois mistakes, taking care to give a Marxist direction to their activities. This is stated in a number of Engels ' letters. "I have had Bax several times lately, and once Morris," he wrote to L. Lafargue on September 13, 1886. " Morris is a real sentimental socialist, and it would be easy to guide him if we met regularly once or twice a week, but who has the right to do that the time? And if you leave it for a month, it will probably get confused again. " 24
Morris 'belief in the historical significance of the workers' cause was reflected in his March of the Workers (1885) and A Dream of John Ball (1888), which focused on the 1381 peasant uprising led by W. H. Morris. By Tyler. Nevertheless, their author remained primarily a utopian socialist, whose dreams of the future are embodied in his novel "News from Nowhere, or the Age of Happiness" (1891).25
14 Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 20, p. 392.

15 Нutt A. British Trade Unionism. A Short History. Lnd. 1975, p. 35.

16 Morton A. L., Tate J. Uk. soch., p. 228.

17 Vinogradov V. N. U istokov leiboristskoy partii [At the origins of the Labor Party]. Moscow, 1965, p. 175.

18 Lenin V. I. PSS. Vol. 28, pp. 434, 740.

19 Ibid., vol. 23, p. 440.

20 K. Marx and F. Engels Soch. Vol. 36, p. 221.

21 Ibid., pp. 200, 221.

22 Ibid., p. 395.

23 Tupoleva L. F. Uk. soch., p. 49; Marxism Today, May 1973, pp. 148-152.

24 K. Marx and F. Engels Soch. Vol. 36, p. 449.

25 Moreton A. L., Tate J. UK. op., p. 232. For more information about Morris ' utopianism, see: Meier P. La pensee utopique de William Morris. P. 1972.

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Morris worked incessantly, writing articles for The Commonweal, lecturing at workers ' clubs, speaking at meetings held by the Socialist League in squares and streets. His listeners were attracted not only by the topical content of his speeches, but also by the temperament of the speaker and the frankness of his statements. Morris ' energy was truly astounding. English Marxist historians note that there are no fewer than 578 meetings and meetings at which W. Morris was a speaker .26 However, Morris was not able to maintain his former positions, and in 1886 he "fell into the trap of revolutionary phrases and became a victim of anarchists." 27 The struggle of the more healthy forces of the SL with anarchist elements ended with the anarchists taking over the leadership of the league. They also removed Morris from editing The Commonwealth in 1890, and the company itself soon broke up. In the article "How I Became a Socialist," Morris later wrote:: "My education in practical socialism, which I was able to acquire, was later completed thanks to some of my anarchist friends, in conversations with whom I realized, quite contrary to their intentions, that anarchism has no hope for the future, just as when reading Mill (English bourgeois economist and philosopher. 3.), I realized, contrary to his intentions, that socialism is necessary. " 28
Interesting pages of Morris ' activities that were anti-war in nature. March 2, 1885 The SL issued a "Manifesto on the Sudan" written by him (against the aggressive war of the British imperialists), which was signed by W. Morris, E. Marx-Eveling, Bax and others. This document marked the beginning of the anti-imperialist tradition of the English socialists, and ended with words addressed to the working class: "We ask you to think about who has to fight in this and similar cases... The sons and brothers of the working people of England have to fight. They are the ones who are forced to participate in these trade wars for a pittance. It is they who win for the propertied classes new lands for exploitation, new peoples for plunder. " 29
Few people knew that Morris had published the appeal " An Unjust War. To the workers of England", signing it "Champion of justice". It was written in connection with England's attempt to declare war on Russia. Here are a few lines from this document: "Friends and compatriots! The threat of war loomed. Look directly into the eyes of this danger... war is knocking on your door... Consider the situation carefully, because war taxes, war-inflated prices, loss of material possessions, loss of jobs, friends, and relatives will weigh heavily on most of us. We will inevitably have to pay dearly, but you, our fellow workers, will have to pay the most... Can the Russian people really be your or my enemy to the same extent as these people (the leadership of the Tory party - V. Z.), who are enemies of justice in any form? " 30 .

In England, then, popular meetings and rallies were often held. An Association for the Eastern Question was formed to guide the mass actions, and Morris joined it. He wrote the song "Wake Up, London Lads!" in this context, which was sung by thousands of anti-war campaigners .31 Morris was convinced that only socialism could offer workers "peace and friendship instead of war." 32 The joint work of Morris and Bax " Socialism. Its development and origin", published in 1887. It was one of the first books in England to present a materialistic view of history .33 Personally, Morris and his co-workers in SL devoted "a lot of time to educating not only in colleges, but also in the open air - at street intersections, in parks, and wherever it was possible to gather workers... His eloquent pen and poetic talent were always at the service of the underprivileged."34 Literate workers liked to read Morris's poems. Among them - "Song of the First of May" and "Song of the dead". The latter was a response to the dastardly murder by a police officer of a member of the SL a week after "Bloody Sunday", during which

26 Morning Star, 24.III. 1984.

27 K. Marx and F. Engels Soch. Vol. 36 p. 433.

28 Morris W. Uk. op., p. 54.

28 Palm Dutt R. Krizis Britannii i Britanskoi imperii [The Crisis of Britain and the British Empire]. Moscow, 1959, pp. 487-488.

30 Morris W. Uk. op., pp. 456-458.

31 Tupoleva L. F. Uk. soch., pp. 22-23

32 Нutt A. William Morris - the True and Complete Socialist. Daily Worker, 24.I.1963.

33 Col. G. J. Uk. soch., pp. 135-136.

34 Mani T. Vospominaniya [Memories], Moscow, 1924, p. 92. .....

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the London demonstration of the unemployed in November 1887. "Bloody Sunday" in England was the day on November 13, 1887, when a demonstration of thousands of people took place in Trafalgar Square, which was dispersed by the police. Among the demonstrators there were many wounded, three of them died. The following Sunday, while dispersing a free speech demonstration, a fellow Morris league member was fatally shot. At the grand funeral procession, Morris delivered a striking speech 35 .

In a number of articles and lectures Morris gave in the last years of his life, the spirit and letter of Marxist teaching are clearly felt. In his work "So-called and real society" (1893), the author demonstrated a Marxist approach to assessing the role of the working class in the capitalist world. 36 Since the late 1980s, Morris has been active in the international socialist movement. On July 14, 1889, the Founding Congress of the Second International was held in Paris. The invitation was signed by representatives of socialist parties and groups from 16 countries; from England, it was signed by Morris, Mann, and J. R. R. Tolkien. Keir Hardy 37 . Morris joined the organizing committee for the preparation of this congress38 and then actively worked on it: he was a member of the commission to check the credentials of delegates, participated in editing draft resolutions, and spoke with E.-M. Vaillant, P. Lafargue, and J. Guedom vs. the French Reformists 39 .

At the May Day festival in London in 1892, in which Engels also participated, Morris spoke. When, in January 1893, a step was taken towards the unity of socialist groups and organizations in England, the initiative was taken by the Hammersmith Socialist Society (one of the London boroughs), consisting of individuals who had previously been members of the SL. Morris headed the new society. As a result of a meeting of representatives from the Hammersmith Society, the SDF and the Fabian Society, an agreement was reached on programmatic issues, after which a joint document written by Morris, known as the United Manifesto of the English Socialists, was issued in 1893 .40 This attempt to create a unified socialist party was not successful, but it had a positive impact on the future of the English socialist movement.

William Morris lived a bright, eventful life. In the memory of his contemporaries, he remained a man with the face of a scientist and the hands of an artisan. He is best known to his descendants as one of the pioneers of the socialist movement in England.

35 Morton A. L., Tate J. Uk. soch. pp. 239-240; Marxism Today, August 1966, p. 242.

36 Morris W. The so-called and actual society. In: Socialism in England. St. Petersburg, 1907.

37 Palm Dutt R. International (Essay on the History of the Communist Movement). 1848-1963. Moscow, 1966, p. 87.

38 Ibid., pp. 86, 87.

39 Tupoleva L. F. Uk. soch., pp. 221-224.

40 Morris W. Art and Life, p. 491.

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