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HOme > Chapter 4 > Section 4.3
In this section, I will focus on the influence socialism, and in particular Marxism, had on the British Idealists. I will first describe the development from Hegel to Marx and then discuss how the British Idealist philosophy relates to Marxism and socialism in general.
Marx is often being seen as the successor of Hegel in practical life. His views are often called “dialectical materialism”, because he transforms Hegel’s dialectic into his materialist views on economics. However, this also marks a clear difference between Hegel and Marx: Hegel can be seen as an Idealist, making thought something independent that sort of creates reality, while Marx views the idea to be nothing more than the material world as reflected in the human mind. Hannah Arendt, nonetheless, calls Marx an Idealist in some way, because "nothing ever comes from matter by itself without the consuming activity that lies in the nature of man, which is labor." (3)
Marx, however, still got many views from Hegel, such as the position history takes. Ted Tripp writes in his article on dialectical materialism:
Modern dialectical materialism had made clear to itself the truth that people make history unconsciously: from its standpoint the course of history is determined in the final analysis not by man's will, but by the development of the productive forces. So long as the motive forces of historical development worked behind the backs of mankind, people had to make their history unconsciously. The service rendered by Marx consisted in having discovered these laws and through a rigorous study of their scientific workings make it possible for people to take them in their own hands and submit them to their own reason.(66) Marx and Hegel also differ of opinion on the working class: while Hegel sees working class people as a mob, Marx argues that workers are like majestic people who hold the future.
In the 1840s, socialism in Britain had mostly been what we call utopian socialism now. However, this declined over the decades that followed, and a number of different socialisms got to emerge. Vincent and Boucher write:
Thus, the grounds for the intellectual justification of socialism also varied considerably during this period, moving through Christianity, utilitarianism, evolutionary theory, natural rights theory, neo-classical economics, Comtism, Kantianism and Hegelianism.(70) Marxism was not liked by many people in Britain, for it was so radical. A movement known as Fabianism, named after the Fabian Society, was more popular. Its ideals were socialist democracy through legislation protest and social action, not through a revolution.
Marx criticized utopian socialism, which was upheld by such figures as Robert Owen, because it aimed at a unity of the classes in its socialism in a perfect society. Marx found it wouldn't be possible to reconcile classes in the utopian design.
However, in a way, Marx can be seen as a utopian, in that the war of the proletariat against the exploiters would be the last war to be fought and would open the way to an ideal society, but after the proletariat had established its regime.
The British Idealists were aware of Marx’s views, although they did not view these opinions as too significant for British politics. For so far as the Idealists reacted to Marx, it was negatively. As I said before, there were many different kinds of socialism in Britain. Henry Jones divided them in two categories: one was instrumental and mechanic, roughly wanting the state to do everything for the people. This form included some Fabians and Marxism (although Jones doesn’t deal with Marxism specifically). The second form is a sort of “ethical”, more liberal, socialism. Jones calls the former “false” socialism and the latter “true” socialism. It must be noted here, that Jones was a lifelong member of the Liberal Party but felt attracted to the Labour Party as well, so that it is understandable that his socialism was closely related to liberalism. Edward Caird also makes this distinction, and he views the “new” and “ethical” socialism to be “truer” than the “dogmatic” socialism he sees in for example early 19th-century Robert Owen and Charles Fourier. J.S. Mackenzie draws a similar distinction, differentiating between “ethical” and “scientific” socialism. By “scientific” socialism he means Marxism. Bosanquet also makes a distinction between two forms of socialism: he calls them “economic” and “ethical” socialism.
Marxism isn’t dealt with a lot among the British Idealists and in Britain in general. They, however, did discuss socialism extensively. From this discussion, it can be noted that most Idealists were more favoured towards social democracy or what is now known as social liberalism than to the radical forms of socialism held by for example Marx.