Owen's utopian ideas.
English utopian socialism has some peculiarities in comparison with French, because in England capitalism and the class struggle of the proletariat were more developed. R. Owen opposed all large private owners. He believed that the new social system could exist without capitalists, because "private property was and is the cause of countless crimes and disasters experienced by man", it causes "innumerable harm to the lower, middle and upper classes."
Owen imagined the future "rational" society as a loose federation of small socialist self-governing communities, including no more than 3 thousand people. The main occupation in the community is agriculture; but Owen was against the separation of industrial labor from agricultural (the community also organizes industrial production). With common ownership and common labor, there can be neither exploitation nor classes. Work is distributed among citizens according to needs. Considering, following the French materialists of the 18th century, that human character is a product of the social environment, human environment, Owen was convinced that a new man would be born in his new society. Proper upbringing and a healthy environment will teach him to feel and think rationally, and will eradicate selfish habits in him. Courts, prisons, punishments will become unnecessary.
Owen was convinced that it was enough to found one community, and its advantages would inevitably cause a desire to organize others. In an effort to demonstrate the practical feasibility and advantages of labor communes, Owen went to the USA in 1824 to organize an experimental colony there on the basis of community ownership. However, all of Owen's experiments in the United States served only as proof of the utopian nature of his plans. After a series of failures, Owen returned to England, where he took an active part in the cooperative and professional movement.
BARETER (English barretter), an electrovacuum device in the form of a glass cylinder filled with hydrogen, inside of which there is a thin wire. The barter current in a certain range of voltage values is practically constant. Used to stabilize the current.
CHLORATOR, an apparatus used for chlorination of organic and inorganic compounds, for dosing chlorine and preparing its aqueous solution.
NAPALM (English napalm), incendiary viscous mixtures. Napalm is prepared from liquid fuel (gasoline, kerosene, etc.) and a special thickener powder (aluminum salts of organic acids - naphthenic, palmitic, etc.). Flame temperature up to 1600 °C. Appeared in the USA in 1942 and was used in the 2nd World War and later.
At the dawn of capitalist development, bold thinkers appeared who went much further than the ideas of bourgeois democracy, criticized the negative aspects of the emerging socio-economic relations and outlined the main features of communist society.
Teachings of T. Mora. England was the birthplace of socialist utopias, and Thomas More was the author of the first socialist utopia. Thomas More(1478-1535) came from a family that belonged to the upper strata of the London bourgeoisie. Having received a humanistic education and special legal training at Oxford, T. More became an outstanding lawyer. He was a member of parliament, deputy sheriff of London, from 1523 - chairman of the House of Commons, and from 1529 - Lord Chancellor of the Kingdom of England (under Henry VIII).
Being a religious man, More during the Reformation actively defended Catholicism from Lutheranism, and then from Henry VIII, when the king embarked on the path of liberating the English Church from the subjugation of the Roman Catholic Curia and the power of the Pope. For refusing to swear allegiance to the king as the head of the Church of England, More was imprisoned in the Tower - the main prison of Britain - and sentenced to the most painful execution that the sophisticated fanaticism of the Middle Ages could devise.
literary heritage T. Mora is extensive and varied. However, his most famous and influential work was "The golden book, as useful as it is funny, about the best organization of the state and about the new organization of Utopia", first published (in Latin) with the direct assistance of Erasmus of Rotterdam in the Belgian city of Louvain in 1516. Since then, the word "utopia" has become a household word.
The first book of "Utopia" is devoted to the criticism of the social orders contemporary to More, the second - gives a system of an ideal social order.
Topical issues for England at the beginning of the XVI century. there was fencing and vagrancy. One was inseparable from the other. Landlessness of the peasants led to their mass impoverishment. More gives a startling picture of the misery of the dispossessed masses: “Your sheep... used to be so meek, content with very little, now, they say, have become so gluttonous and indomitable that they even eat people, ruin and devastate fields, houses and cities. It is in all those parts of the kingdom where finer and therefore more precious wool is obtained, noble aristocrats and even some abbots, saints, are not content with those annual incomes and interest that usually increased from the estates of their ancestors; they are not satisfied that their idle and luxurious life does not bring any benefit to society, and perhaps even harms it. So, in their estates, they do not leave anything for arable land, they allocate everything to pastures, demolish houses, destroy cities, leaving temples only for sheep stalls.
From the particular, T. Mor is able to move on to the general, to reveal the essence in the phenomenon. People engaged in necessary labor, without which "no society can exist ... even a year," live in such conditions, in comparison with which "the situation of cattle seems to be more preferable." However, the life of parasites often "flows among splendor and luxury." All blessings fall into the hands of a few cunning and dishonest people, and a hopeless need remains for the share of a modest and industrious mass. What is the root of evil? Privately owned, Mor answers. This answer immortalized the great English humanist.
“... Wherever there is private property, where everything is measured by money, there is hardly ever a correct and successful course of state affairs ... Therefore, I am firmly convinced that the distribution of funds in a uniform and fair way and prosperity in the course of human affairs is possible only with the complete destruction of private property; but if it remains, then the greatest and best part of humanity will always have a bitter and inevitable burden of sorrows.
In the second part of the "Golden Book" T. More shows what a healthy social organism should be like. In it Hythlodeus talks about a blissful life on the island of Utopia, a life without private property, where everyone works, where there are neither poor nor rich. Thomas More for the first time gives a systematically developed project of a communist productive organization. The islanders - farmers and artisans managed to turn their island into the best place on Earth thanks to their work.
Collective property is established on the island, order and discipline reign, all benefits belong to everyone. There is no rich or poor, no one is jealous of anyone. Science and art are encouraged.
The author described the ideal state, having thought through the smallest details of the organization of the life of its citizens, but he did not know how to translate his fantasies into reality, which is why he placed his heroes on an island called "Utopia".
The title of this novel has become a household word. Utopias began to be called works that described the ideal social structure of the future. In Utopia, the brilliant foresight of the features of the socio-economic structure of the new society is intricately intertwined with elements of the old, medieval views. The author of Utopia was not a supporter of the class struggle and revolutionary upheaval. In answer to the question about the ways of constructing the ideal system of Utopians, More has only a short reference to the ancient legislator Utop.
Although the ideas of the utopians did not become a mass mentality in England, the very idea of socialism, a just social order, proved to be stable in the subsequent period.
The teachings of R. Owen. Robert Owen(1771 - 1858) - the son of a village saddler and ironmonger, a boy in a textile shop, at 18 co-owner of a small workshop, and at 20 - director of a spinning mill in Manchester. Robert Owen, as early as 1800, having become the head of the factory, began an experiment in New Lanark (Scotland), carried away by the ideas of Helvetius, Rousseau, Morelli, Locke and Hobbes. Under the influence of the enlighteners, he comes to the conclusion that one cannot reproach a person for his ignorance and other vices, since a person is a product of the environment and his shortcomings are a consequence of the vices of the existing society. R. Owen calls his formula "environment - character" the only discovery that will save humanity.
He considers the upbringing of children as one of the most important conditions for the reorganization of society, preparing "a new moral (i.e., socialist) world."
Repeatedly participating in commissions to survey the situation of children in factories, R. Owen described blatant pictures of the use of child labor in England and Scotland. He was the founder of factory legislation. According to the law prepared by him, English factories began to accept children only from 10 years old.
Carrying out the experiment, first in Manchester, then in New Lanark, Owen was engaged in philanthropic activities: he reduced working hours, raised wages, changed living conditions, organized a system of educational and educational institutions not only for children, but also for adults. Under the influence of his activities, the working settlement in New Lanark, numbering 2.5 thousand people, the focus of all vices, turned into a friendly society. All coercive measures were eliminated, including the police. Robert Owen became the idol of the "Valley of Wonders".
The economic crisis of 1815-1817 engendered in him a critical attitude towards the entire capitalist mode of production. In a memorandum to the parliamentary committee to combat unemployment, R. Owen put forward a plan for organizing labor communes, settlements - communities without private property, clergy and authorities. With the justification of the projects of utopian communism, he speaks on the pages of the Times newspaper and at rallies. After 30 years, assessing the transition in his activities from charity to social transformation, R. Owen said: "It was the greatest day of my life, I did my duty!"
He advocated the creation of a communist society without revolutionary upheavals, tried to convince of the usefulness of his projects English Parliament, Queen Victoria. In 1825, he managed to organize a communist colony in the USA (New Harmony), in which he sought to create cooperation of all its members on the basis of moral peace. The colony lasted from 1825 to 1829. In England, he created colonies (“Orbiston” and “Mitherwell”), which fell apart, unable to withstand the onslaught of the capitalist system.
R. Owen organized exchange markets in London, where money was replaced by labor bonds - labor money, taking into account the amount of labor spent by the owners of goods on their production. But the capitalist market has also swept away the barter markets. The principle of wages with the help of "work money" was a step towards equalization in Owen's social system.
The views of R. Owen, his works and the ideas expressed in them about the structure of the community, about the new man, about uniting people for creation, about the destruction of private property sounded topical then. His activities in this field did not bring him profit, he went bankrupt, which allowed some English historians to ironically: "He got rich thanks to capitalism and common sense and squandered all his fortune thanks to communism and madness." In the early 30s of the XIX century. Owen participated in the trade union and cooperative movement, founded the "Great National Union of Industries". Later this was developed in the cooperative movement in England and to some extent anticipated syndicalism.
The ideas of Robert Owen were developed in the works of the followers of the utopian socialists and in other countries.
French and English socialist (communist) teachings served as the basis for the formation in Marxism socio-political knowledge. That is, knowledge about how a new, just system should be in its integral form and what exactly needs to be done to create it.
The idea of socialism (communism) has its roots in ancient times. It was the workers' reaction to the exploitation and oppression that had become established in society with the emergence of private property and antagonistic classes. The working people did not put up with unfair practices, they wanted to change them. And they dreamed of a life free of private property, antagonistic classes, exploitation and oppression. The successive thread of such dreams permeates the history of mankind for thousands of years. The very concepts of "socialism" and "communism" were formed at the end of the 18th century. in Western Europe in connection with the events of the Great French bourgeois revolution. They come from Latin words: the first from the word "socialis" - public, the second from the word "communis" - general. Both concepts came into wide use in the 1930s and 1940s. nineteenth century They began to designate a just system, opposed to capitalism. According to the concepts, it should be based not on private, but on public ownership of the means of production; as a result, not individualistic, but collectivist relations must exist in it; exploitation, oppression, inequality must be eliminated and conditions must be created for a decent life for all people.
Since the aspirations for a fair system originated in ancient times, they first existed in the form of various myths and legends. The most common was the legend of the “golden age” allegedly lost by mankind, when everyone lived in happiness and prosperity. Subsequently, with the development of social relations, the spiritual progress of mankind, these fantasies began to take the form of more or less integral theories, which eventually received common name utopian socialism (communism). concept utopian socialism (communism) goes back to the word "Utopia". This is how the English humanist thinker called his book on a just system Thomas More(1478-1535). "Utopia" in Greek means a place that doesn't exist, i.e. fiction, fairy tale. By this, the author hinted that the orders he depicted do not exist anywhere. Moreover, in characterizing orders, he, of course, did not proceed from scientific conclusions about social development(they did not exist then), but from their naive, erroneous views. All other representatives of this direction of social thought differed in the same way. . Hence, sub-utopian socialism (communism) is understood as such ideas about a new society and the ways of its creation, which are not based on the conclusions of science, knowledge of objective laws and driving forces of historical development, and therefore cannot be successfully implemented in real life.
Utopian socialism (communism) reached its highest stage in the first half of the 19th century. This period was characterized by the fact that capitalism, as a result of bourgeois revolutions, finally broke the fetters of feudalism, moving from the manufacturing stage to machine production. This sharpened its contradictions and strengthened the aspirations of the working people to improve their lives. A reflection of the aspirations was the emergence of new utopian socialist theories. The most prominent thinkers here are: the French Henri Saint-Simon (1760-1825), Charles Fourier(1772-1837) and an Englishman Robert Owen(1771-1858). They gave a merciless, many-sided critique of bourgeois society, exposed its ulcers and vices, as a result of which their teachings were called critical-utopian socialism. They pointed to the transient nature of capitalism, put forward the proposition that it must inevitably be replaced by another, just system (“the golden age,” they argued, lies not behind, but ahead of humanity), and outlined a number of its features in the form of conjectures. All this made critical-utopian socialism another direct theoretical source of Marxism. Marxist socialism, wrote Engels, will never forget that it stands on the shoulders of Saint-Simon, Fourier and Owen, thinkers who belonged to the greatest minds of mankind and anticipated many truths that were essential for the formation of a new society. Utopian socialism, Marx noted, carried scientific views of socialism in the bud.
However, the free growth of this embryo was prevented by the characteristic of utopian socialism. historical limitations . It is understood as the fallacy of views noted above, generated not by the personal qualities of the thinkers, but by the underdevelopment of the period in which they lived, the immaturity of the social relations that existed at that time. Utopian socialism took shape when capitalism was still far from revealing its nature and characteristics. The conflicts arising from his practices were just beginning to emerge, and the means to resolve them were unclear. This determined the views of the creators of utopian systems. The immature state of social relations inevitably corresponded to immature theories. The correct answers to the topical questions of the era were still hidden in social relations, so they had to be invented from the head, which led to mistakes, the construction of fantastic pictures and unrealistic plans for social reorganization. In order to free ideas about the new society from the historical limitations of utopian systems, the views on socialism had to be put on real ground, turned from utopia into science. That is, it was required to develop a scientific theory of the emergence, formation and development of an alternative system to capitalism.
- Specialty HAC RF07.00.09
- Number of pages 170
Chapter I. The development of historical science in Great Britain and the formation of the historiography of the socialist and labor movement. II -
Chapter P. Bourgeois historiography of English socialism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (Liberal and conservative directions). 26
Chapter III. Labor historiography of the history of English socialism at the end of the 19th-beginning
Chapter 1U. Marxist historiography of English socialism. 122
Introduction to the thesis (part of the abstract) on the topic "English socialism of the late 19th - early 20th century in the historiography of Great Britain"
The modern epoch is characterized by fundamental social changes, an unprecedented intensification of the "struggle between the two world social systems."* Along with the political struggle, "there is a tense, truly global struggle between two ideologies." This struggle is waged at all levels of public consciousness and to a large extent characterizes the relationship between Marxist and bourgeois-reformist historiography. Bourgeois and allied reformist historiography use historical arguments to substantiate more subtly the inviolability of the capitalist system. In the conditions of the growing crisis of capitalism, bourgeois historical science intensifies its social activity, turning to the study of the most pressing topics, resorting to methodological re-equipment and the rejection of extreme forms of relativism and irrationalism. Bourgeois conceptions of historical development are now not rudely imposed on the reader, but carried out by more subtle methods under the guise of pseudo-objectivism. Under these conditions, as academician S. L. Tikhvinsky noted, the role of historiographic research is growing, designed to reveal "the relationship of false interpretations of specific facts of history with the social order of modern imperialism, with the worldview of bourgeois and revisionist historians." Of particular relevance
2 Ibid., p.29
3 Tikhvinsky S.L. On the tasks of historical science in implementing the decisions of the June (1983) Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU. - Questions of History, 1984, No. I, p. science. Today the history of the labor and socialist movement is part of the struggle for ideological influence in the working class going on in all capitalist countries.
In the English-language historiography of the labor and socialist movement, the history of socialism in Great Britain in the last quarter of the 19th and early 20th centuries attracts close attention of scholars. long time a fierce ideological controversy is being waged around his assessment between Marxist and bourgeois historiography. This problem is the subject of close study not only by British historians, but also by scientists from the USA, Holland, Austria) and even Japan. In Western bourgeois historiography, England is seen not only as a country of classical capitalism, but also as a country where Marxism had no influence on the labor movement. The English socialist and labor movement at the turn of the century is portrayed as absolutely devoid of any revolutionary spirit, developing solely under the influence of reformist ideology. All these theories are aimed, in the final analysis, at shaping an appropriate world outlook among the working class, at directing the working-class movement onto the path of reformism. Therefore, the study of various aspects of the history of the English socialist and labor movement is of not only scientific but also political interest. The modern British working-class movement "is connected by a thousand invisible threads with the epoch of the organizational and ideological formation of Laborism, with the activities of a number of other organizations that then expressed the interests of the advanced detachments of the proletarian movement." patterns of its development at the present stage.
The dissertation is devoted to the study of the English historiography of socialism in Great Britain. For English historians, this topic is especially relevant and therefore interest in it is steadily increasing. At present, this is one of the central topics in English historical science, despite the fact that at the beginning of the century the historiography of the labor and socialist movement didn't exist at all. In all aspects of the history of socialism and the labor movement in England there is a sharp struggle going on between Marxist and bourgeois-reformist historiography. However, in Soviet historical science, the problem of interest to us has been studied insignificantly, only its individual aspects have been covered. So some questions of the historiography of English socialism in Britain are studied in the book by K.B. Vinogradov, "Essays on the History of English Historiography of Modern and Contemporary Times", the work of L.A. Galkina "Fabian Socialism: History and Interpretation", the collection "The Labor Movement of Great Britain Х1Х7ХХ in .v.", articles by I. Zvavich, L.E. To
Kertman, L.V. Mochalov, L.S. Malinsky and others. However, in these
4 Kelner V.E. Tom Mann is a man and a revolutionary^. , 1983, p.5
5 Vinogradov K.B. Essays on English historiography of modern and contemporary times. L., 1975
Galkina L.A. Fabian socialism: history and interpretation. M., 1981; Labor movement in Great Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries. Zvavic I. The history of the labor movement in the writings of Webb and their schools. - Issues of History, 1947 No. II works mainly analyzes Labor historiography and almost does not consider the latest English literature on this issue. The worldview attitudes of representatives of the various directions English is- | toric science, the relationship of history is not always traced! I ical trends with modern socio-political and fi | philosophical theories. This is partly due to the fact that all the available works are of a review nature and do not aim at a deep analysis of the problem.
All of the above about the significance of the problem and the degree of its development in Soviet historical literature determined the choice of the topic for the dissertation research and its direction.
The author of the work aims to trace the main stages in the formation of the historiography of the English socialist movement against the backdrop of the development of modern historical science in Britain, to explore how this problem is being developed by the main historical trends and schools, to analyze the process
Kertman L.E. From the history of the struggle for the unity of socialist organizations in England at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. - Labor movement in modern times. M., 1964
Mochalov L.V. Labor movement in modern England in the works of Labor historians of the first post-war decade. -Problems of British history. M., 1978
Malinsky L.S. Historical Views of the Modern Labor Left. - Questions of the history of the international labor movement. Perm, 1965, Issue 4, No. 134 of the formation of two basic concepts of the history of the working and socialist movement. There is some difficulty in classifying the numerous works on the history of socialism into separate areas and schools. Determining which direction to attribute this or that historian to, the author was primarily guided by an assessment of his views and concepts, as well as those assessments that are given to this scientist directly in English historiography. The paper provides an analysis of the historical, socio-political, and philosophical and ideological views of representatives of various trends in English historical science. The dissertation attempts to trace the links between the English historiography of the socialist movement and the general directions of development of the bourgeois and reformist ideology. The author saw his task in showing the change in the versions of the development of the socialist and labor movement in accordance with the change in the political situation in England. The paper shows how the old concepts of the labor and socialist movement in Great Britain are adapted to the new requirements in English historical science and provides a detailed critique of bourgeois reformist historiography. At the same time, the author seeks to show the growing influence of Marxist methodology in English historical science and the success of the Marxist trend.
Methodological basis studies are the works of K. Marx, F. Engels and V. I. Lenin, especially those that deal with the problems of the working and socialist movement in Great Britain, contain its assessments and characteristics. For historiographical research, the conclusions of the classics of Marxism-Leninism about the patterns of development of historical science as one of the forms of social consciousness, which therefore bears class, party consciousness, are also of great importance! character. About the position of historical science in bourgeois society, F. Engels wrote: “The bourgeoisie turns everything into a commodity, and, consequently, also history. By virtue of its very nature, by virtue of the conditions of its existence, it tends to falsify history as well. a work in which the falsification of history is most in line with the interests of the bourgeoisie." A truly scientific theory of social development has been created by Marxist science, which expresses the interests of the working class. The possibility of this is due, firstly, to the coincidence of the fundamental class interests of the proletariat with the needs of universal progress, and secondly, to the conscious and consistent use in the practical activities of the communist and workers' parties of the scientific conclusions that the Marxist-Leninist science of society provides. However, one should not completely deny the importance of bourgeois historical science. According to the classics of Marxism, Marxist historical science, while fighting the distortions of historical truth by bourgeois authors, must at the same time pay tribute to their achievements.
As theoretical basis In this work, articles by A.M. Neiman, V.G. Mogilnitsky, M.A. Zaborov were used, considering methodological aspects modern English historical science.^
6 Archive of Marx and Engels. v.X, p.104
7 Neumann A.M. The Crisis of the Liberal Historical Conception and Some Problems of Methodology in Modern English Historical Science. - Current Issues of History and Historiography world history. Gorky, 1973
The source base for the study was the works of English historians on the history of the English socialist and labor movement, both of a general nature and dedicated to its individual problems. The work used not only monographic studies, but also materials of discussions and the most interesting articles on the problem, published in leading English and American historical journals. The author focuses on the latest research and works that have not been covered in Soviet historical literature.
A separate group of sources were the works of English scholars on the philosophy and methodology of history, historiographical articles and reviews. These works help to reveal the main trends in the development of both English historical science in general and the historiography of socialism in Britain. Historiographical reviews of works on the problem of interest to us and reviews help to understand what place the historiography of socialism and the labor movement occupies in modern English historical science and find out how works on the history of socialism are perceived and evaluated in English scientific literature, reveal the struggle that is being waged around this topic. between Marxist and bourgeois-reformist directions.
When evaluating the views of representatives of such directions, the
7 Mogilnitsky B,G. The concept of the crisis of modern brujois historiography. - Issues of methodology of history, historiography and source studies. Tomsk, 1980
Zaborov M.A. The labor movement of the new time: to the criticism of modern bourgeois and social reformist historiography. - New and recent history., 1982, No. 4
Yu (toric science as Marxist and Laborist) used the program documents of the CPV, the Fabian Society, as well as the journalistic works of the leaders of these parties, affecting certain issues of English socialism and the labor movement. Important information about such leading experts in the field 1 the history of English socialism such as J.P. Taylor, J. Cole, J. I Savell, A. Morton give collections published in their honor by their students and colleagues.
The scientific novelty of the work lies in an attempt to create a general picture of the historiography of the socialist movement in England, to trace the main stages of its development, to clarify its main trends and prospects. The development of this problem contributes to the understanding of the processes taking place in the entire historical science of Great Britain. In addition, the close connection between the study of the history of the English labor and socialist movement and the ideological struggle helps to reveal the ways and means of influencing the masses by bourgeois and reformist ideology.
The conducted research makes a certain contribution to the development of English and foreign historiography. The materials of the dissertation can be used in educational lectures of the course of historiography of modern and contemporary times.
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Dissertation conclusion on the topic "Historiography, source studies and methods of historical research", Shnyrova, Olga Vadimovna
CONCLUSION^
We see that the history of the English socialist and labor movement of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, which was practically not developed at the beginning of the century, is currently one of the central topics in the historiography of Great Britain. The number of works on this problem is steadily increasing. It attracts the attention of historians of all directions and is the object of a fierce ideological struggle.
Bourgeois and reformist historiography aims to undermine the Marxist conception of the revolutionary role of the proletariat. It seeks to prove that the English working-class movement developed according to its own special laws, different from the laws of development of the proletarian movement in other countries. Bourgeois and right-wing Labor scholars argue that reformism is the most acceptable ideology for the working class in England, deny the influence of Marxism on the socialist and labor movement. Their concept of the development of the socialist and labor movement in Britain at the turn of the century proceeds from this setting and is greatly simplified: from an alliance with the Liberals in elections to the struggle for independent labor representation in Parliament, culminating in the formation of the Labor Party. The adoption of the first BLP program in 1918, Labor and the New Social Order, was the highest achievement of the British socialist and labor movement. The last and final point of this process are the modern trade unions and the Labor Party. As we can see, this concept presents the history of the labor movement in England during this difficult period as a straightforward development, devoid of any contradictions. Since the history of the revolutionary wing in English socialism does not fit into this concept, it is either hushed up or distorted. On the contrary, the history of the reformist organizations, especially the Labor Party, is presented in an extremely apologetic way. Thus, bourgeois and right-wing Labor authors are trying to back up doctrines with historical arguments that ultimately serve to contain the class struggle and strengthen reformist sentiments in the modern working class of England.
Speaking about the Labor direction, it should be emphasized that there are noticeable differences between right-wing and left-Labor historiography. While the right-wing Laborist trend in methodology and research methods is increasingly approaching bourgeois historical science, the left wing of Labor historiography is noticeably influenced by Marxist methodology and, in its historical views, is closer to the Marxist trend than to representatives of the right wing. In recent years, British historical science has been divided into right and left: on the one hand, bourgeois and right-wing reformist historiography, and on the other, Marxist and progressive historians.
The Marxist conception of the history of the English socialist and working-class movement is fundamentally different from the bourgeois-reformist one. It comes from the desire to "revive the old martial traditions English labor movement"^, to prove that Marxism has strong historical roots in England. Kriti
I Hobsbawm E. The Historians Group of the Communist Party.-In: Rebels and Their Causes. L., 1978 p. 28 Forging bourgeois and Labor historiography, they prove that the path traversed by the British socialist movement was not easy and smooth. Throughout its existence, there was a continuous struggle within it between the reformist and revolutionary currents. This struggle went on not only between the revolutionary and reformist socialist organizations, but also within each of these organizations. The formation of the Communist Party and all its activities were a logical continuation of the revolutionary struggle of the left wing of the socialist organizations.
Thus, in the historiography of English socialism, the end of the 19th - early 20th centuries. there are two different concepts. They largely reflect the bitter ideological struggle for influence among the working class that is now going on in Britain. From the beginning of the 30s to the middle of the 60s. in English historical science, the concept of socialism, developed by Labor historians, prevailed. This was facilitated by the high professional level works of leading Labor authors. However, in the future, Labor historians experienced a well-known creative crisis, being content with the development of old ideas and themes, albeit using new methodology research. What is new in the development of the history of the English socialist and working-class movement is being introduced at the present time mainly by Marxist and progressive leftist historiography, whose authority is constantly growing. It can be said that at present the initiative in the study of the history of socialism in England has passed to these trends in English historical science. It is thanks to the work of Marxist and progressive historians that the history of the revolutionary wing in English socialism! The logical movement of the last quarter of the 19th - early 20th centuries, which had been ignored by bourgeois and reformist authors for a long time, was introduced into the circle of scientific research. The disadvantage of leftist historiography is the lack of a clear theoretical and methodological basis, which is manifested in the inability of leftist authors to put forward a generalized concept of the English labor and socialist movement, which could be opposed to the official Labor concept. Most strong point leftist historiography is a criticism of bourgeois-reformist historiography and its theory of the history of socialism in Britain. Only Marxist historical science, based on a materialist understanding of history, is capable of recreating a complete and adequate picture of the development of socialism and the working-class movement in England. Despite the difficulties, Marxist historical science is currently developing this problem most fruitfully. In connection with the shift to the left in the public consciousness in England, which has been noted again since the beginning of the 1980s, and the strengthening of the ideas of Marxism among the English intelligentsia, one can expect a further increase in the authority of Marxist and leftist historiography closely collaborating with it, which, no doubt, is positive. will affect the study of the labor and socialist movement in Great Britain.
List of references for dissertation research Candidate of Historical Sciences Shnyrova, Olga Vadimovna, 1984
1. Engels F. The position of the working class in England.- Marx K., Engels F. Soch. 2nd ed., vol. 2, pp. 231-517.
2. Marx K., Engels F. German ideology. Marx K., Engels F. Soch.2nd ed., v.3, p.7-544.
3. Marx K., Engels F. Manifesto of the Communist Party, Marx K., Engels F. Soch.2nd ed., v.4, p.419-459.
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Political outlook Robert Owen took shape in England, where industrial development and the sharpness of the social contradictions of capitalism reached in the first half of the XIX century. higher level than in France. In England, on the basis of the industrial revolution of the late XVIII century. During this period there is a powerful development of capitalist production.
Robert Owen(1771-1858) was born in Newtown (Montgomeryshire, Wales) in the family of an artisan. He studied at a local school, at the age of ten he joined the trade in manufactory in Stamford (Northamptonshire). After four years at Stamford, he got a job in Manchester, where he was so successful that by 1790 he was appointed manager of a cotton mill that employed five hundred workers. In 1794, he became co-owner and manager of the Chorlton Twist Company in Manchester, and in 1799, together with his partners, he acquired a spinning mill from David Dale in New Lenark, near Glasgow.
Owen improved working and living conditions for workers, installed new machines, opened a store for workers, where he sold goods at reduced prices, a school and kindergarten for their children. In 1814, having bought out the shares of the partners, Owen founded a new company, which included, among others, the Quaker William Allen and the philosopher Jeremiah Bentham as shareholders. The economic crisis after 1815 prompted Owen to propose a plan for the settlement of the unemployed in "villages of community and cooperation." True, Owen's anti-religious views alienated many supporters of his teachings. It was only by 1825 that he managed to create an experimental community, and after it other communes in Great Britain. The year before, Owen went to America and founded a labor commune in Wabash, Indiana, calling it New Harmony. Owen envisioned the future society as a loose federation of small socialist self-governing communities based on common ownership of property and labor. Difficulties soon arose in the colony, and in 1828 it fell apart.
Owen spent the rest of his life in England. In 1829 he left the management of the factory in New Lanark and began to popularize his teachings.
His activism helped consolidate the cooperative movement in the UK and contributed to the introduction of more humane labor laws.
Major works: pamphlet A New Look on Society, or Experiments on the Formation of Human Character (1813), The Book of the New Moral World (1836-1844).
State and law. Like A. de Saint-Simon and C. Fourier, R. Owen denies the revolutionary way of liquidating the existing social system and transition to socialism. He believes that "it is necessary to prevent the violent destruction of public life, which can arise from daily increasing poverty and extreme demoralization" . He calls on the propertied classes to prevent the revolution of the toiling and propertyless masses by carrying out decisive social reforms aimed at seriously improving the material situation of these masses.
The thinker is entirely on the standpoint of cooperation of all classes of society, equally, in his opinion, equally interested in the victory of reason and “common sense”, which allegedly suggests the need for a peaceful transformation of the existing social system based on ignorance and delusions of the human mind.
R. Owen's plans for practical methods and means of a gradual transition to a new social order, in particular by planting and developing workers' cooperation, creating "exchange banks" and "exchange bazaars", do not at all imply a radical breakdown of the old society, but only a peaceful introduction into the existing a system of experiments and examples of practical construction of the elements of a new, "reasonable" system.
The most important features of R. Owen's system of utopian socialism are: tolerance for the bourgeoisie, propaganda of humility and peacefulness, abstractness of principles and misunderstanding of historical development, denial of the class struggle, preaching of philanthropy and universal love.
