Guild socialism
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Guild socialism is a political movement advocating workers' control of industry through the medium of trade-related guilds "in an implied contractual relationship with the public".[1] It originated in the United Kingdom and was at its most influential in the first quarter of the 20th century. It was strongly associated with G. D. H. Cole and influenced by the ideas of William Morris.
History and development
Guild socialism was partly inspired by the guilds of craftsmen and other skilled workers which had existed in England in the Middle Ages. In 1906, Arthur Penty published Restoration of the Gild System in which he opposed factory production and advocated a return to an earlier period of artisanal production organised through guilds.[2]: 102 The following year, the journal The New Age became an advocate of guild socialism, although in the context of modern industry rather than the medieval setting favoured by Penty.[3]
In 1914,
The guild socialists "stood for state ownership of industry, combined with ‘workers’ control’ through delegation of authority to national guilds organized internally on democratic lines. About the state itself they differed, some believing it would remain more or less in its existing form and others that it would be transformed into a federal body representing the workers’ guilds, consumers’ organizations, local government bodies, and other social structures."[1]
The theory of guild socialism was developed and popularised by G. D. H. Cole who formed the
The science fiction work of Olaf Stapledon suggested that a more "individualistic" form of guild socialism would be a natural outcome for a united humanity hundreds of years in the future.[citation needed]
Cole's ideas were also promoted by prominent anti-authoritarian intellectuals
For scholar Charles Masquelier, "[i]t is by meeting such a twofold requirement that the libertarian socialism of G.D.H. Cole could be said to offer timely and sustainable avenues for the institutionalization of the liberal value of autonomy...By setting out to 'destroy this predominance of economic factors' (Cole 1980, 180) through the re-organization of key spheres of life into forms of associative action and coordination capable of giving the 'fullest development of functional organisation'...Cole effectively sought to turn political representation into a system actually capable of giving direct recognition to the multiplicity of interests making up highly complex and differentiated societies".[10]
See also
Footnotes
- ^ a b "Guild Socialism | movement | Britannica". www.britannica.com.
- ^ ISBN 9780745609522.
- ^ Martin, Wallace (1967). "The New Age" under Orage. Manchester University Press. p. 206.
- ^ “Origins of the Congress for Cultural Freedom, 1949–50.” Central Intelligence Agency, 27 June 2008,
- OCLC 6278816.
- OCLC 948488083.
- ISBN 9781551645162.
- ^ Foote, G. (1997) p. 72
- ^ Ryan, Alan. John Dewey and the High Tide of American Liberalism. Norton, 1997. p. 116
- ^ Charles Masquelier. Critical theory and libertarian socialism: Realizing the political potential of critical social theory. New York and London: Bloomsbury, 2014. p. 190 [ISBN missing]
- Stapledon, Olaf (1930). "4. An Americanized Planet". The Last and First Men. Metheun. ISBN 978-1-85798-806-2.
External links
- Cole, George Douglas Howard (1922). Encyclopædia Britannica(12th ed.). London & New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company. . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.).