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Ernest Belfort Bax: 1854-1926 The Encounter of Marxism and Late Victorian Culture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2014

Stanley Pierson
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Extract

The career of Ernest Belfort Bax provides a special perspective on the early development of British Socialism when, as someone observed, “generals without soldiers” were using Marxist ideas to scout a new path into the future. For Bax, as the only philosophical thinker among the early British Marxists, set out to develop the broader meaning of the new theory for his countrymen. This article will examine Bax's interpretation of Marxism with particular attention to his view of history, his approach to ethics, and his metaphysical position. It will also consider Bax's role in the movement and his relations with the three central figures in the early development of British Marxism — Henry Mayers Hyndman, William Morris and Friedrich Engels. Finally the article will attempt to explain the reasons for Bax's departure from a strict Marxism and suggest its implications for the development of Marxism and for late Victorian society

Bax, like so many of those figures who assumed the leading roles in the early development of European Socialism, grew up in a prosperous middle class family. His social background combined the economic affluence and evangelical piety which gave such a distinctive stamp to mid-Victorian life. For the young Bax, as for numerous other spirited sons of the English bourgeoisie, family wealth provided access to a wider world of culture and ideas. He soon discarded the simple piety and religious dogmatism of his upbringing. Indeed, he developed a deep hatred of middle class beliefs and conventions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of British Studies , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , November 1972 , pp. 39 - 60
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference of British Studies 1972

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References

1. For biographical details see Belfort Bax, Ernest, Reminiscences and Reflections of a Mid and Late Victorian (London, 1918)Google Scholar.

2. Bax, E. B., “Modern Socialism,” Modern Thought, I, No. 8 (Aug., 1879), 150–53Google Scholar.

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6. See Richter, Melvin, The Politics of Conscience (London, 1964)Google Scholar, for an excellent study of the leading British idealist, T. H. Green.

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10. Ibid., pp. 274-276.

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14. Ibid., pp. 340-341.

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