Guild Socialism Revisited

Bibliographic Data

ID10076863
AuthorsAnthony Wright (0000-0002-0289-6141, corresponding author), Anthony W Wright
Year1974
Volume9
Issue1
Pages165-180
Publication date1974-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Contemporary History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-0094 • E-ISSN: 1461-7250
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/002200947400900110
OpenAlexW2020448965
LanguageEN
Citations received6

On s'engage et puis on voit.' Lenin's fondness for this particular Napoleonic maxim was not widely shared by one group of socialists who appeared in Britain during the second decade of this century. For them the struggle did not, except in a very limited way, determine its outcome. The proper revolutionary method did not consist primarily in engaging the enemy, with the course of the war determining the nature of the victory. For the Guild Socialists (as this group was called) the problem was rather that of devising and pursuing the sort of struggle which seemed most likely to issue in the victory whose essential details they had already established. Merely to overthrow capitalism and to smash the state was not difficult, but neither was it enough. Capitalism had not only to be displaced but replaced, and it was just this which Guild Socialism claimed competence to do. Not only was it necessary to achieve socialism; it was also vital to be clear about the essential nature of that socialism. Unless this were

Adversary · Ancient history · Battle · Capitalism · Communism · Economic history · Guild · Maxim · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Socialism · Sociology · State socialism · Victory · History · Law · Political and Economic history of UK and US

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