114-567: The National Labour Press (NLP) was founded in 1909 to undertake printing for the Independent Labour Party (ILP). It published the Labour Leader as well as other ILP material. It was originally located at 30 Blackfriars Street . In July 1915 Herbert Nield , Conservative MP for Ealing , raised in parliament his concerns about the activities of the Union of Democratic Control (UDC) and
228-705: A neo-Thomistic sociologist and Catholic social theorist, when distinguishing between the conservative and Christian democratic views on labour issues, used Christian Socialists for the latter; most Christian democrats avoid using socialism , which is occasionally mainly used by conservatives who attempt to discredit their Christian democratic opponents by using a word with Marxist connotations. Christian democratic parties under various names were formed in Europe and Latin America after World War II. Some, such as in Germany and Italy, became
342-544: A Labour government took office it should hold an enquiry into the banking system that would prepare a detailed scheme for transferring the Bank of England to public control, revise the operation of the Bank Acts and ensure that "control of credit is exercised in the national interest and not in the interest of powerful financial groups" by making creditors shift entirely to cheques and possibly getting rid of gold reserves , thus ending
456-726: A close, working-class representation in political office became a great concern for many Britons. Many who sought the election of working men and their advocates to the Parliament of the United Kingdom saw the Liberal Party as the main vehicle for achieving this aim. As early as 1869, a Labour Representation League had been established to register and mobilise working-class voters on behalf of favoured Liberal candidates. Many trade unions themselves became concerned with gaining parliamentary representation to advance their legislative aims. From
570-633: A four-page broadsheet published in Glasgow, and sent greetings to the conference which established a Communist Party of Great Britain , although they did not attend. In addition to cutting its ties with the Second International, the 1920 Annual Conference of the ILP directed its executive to contact the Swiss Socialist Party with a view to establishing an all-inclusive international which would join
684-683: A major political force. Liberation theology is a synthesis of Christian theology and socio-economic analyses that emphasizes "social concern for the poor and political liberation for oppressed peoples", as well as "the oppressed and maimed and blind and lame", and bring the "good news to the poor". Beginning in the 1960s after the Second Vatican Council , it became the political praxis of Latin American liberation theologians , such as Gustavo Gutiérrez , Leonardo Boff , and Jesuits like Juan Luis Segundo and Jon Sobrino , who popularized
798-661: A meeting of advocates of an independent labour organisation. An arrangements committee was established and a conference called for the following January. This conference was chaired by William Henry Drew and was held in Bradford during 14–16 January 1893 at the Bradford Labour Institute, operated by the Labour Church . It proved to be the foundation conference of the Independent Labour Party, and MP Keir Hardie
912-409: A new society." While this inspirational presentation of socialism as a humanitarian necessity made the party accessible as a sort of secular religion or a means for the practical implementation of Christian principles in daily life, it bore with it the great weakness of being non-analytical and thus comparatively shallow. It also offered a political home for some of the women's franchise movement in
1026-528: A number of other European socialist groups into the " Second and a Half International " between 1921 and 1923. The party was a member of the Labour and Socialist International between 1923 and 1933. At the 1922 general election several ILP members became MPs (including future ILP leader James Maxton ) and the party grew in stature. The ILP provided many of the new Labour MPs, including John Wheatley , Emanuel Shinwell , Tom Johnston and David Kirkwood . However,
1140-549: A restructuring of society, also saw the Liberals as the most obvious means for obtaining working-class representation. Within two years of its foundation in 1884, the gradualist Fabian Society officially committed itself to a policy of permeation of the Liberal Party. A number of so-called " Lib-Lab " candidates were subsequently elected Members of Parliament by this alliance of trade unions and radical intellectuals working within
1254-619: A schism prior to the events described in the New Testament. This schism led to interethnic and interreligious conflict between the two groups. Luke 6:20–21 shows Jesus narrating the Sermon on the Plain . It reads: "Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied." Christian socialists cite James the Just , the brother of Jesus, who criticizes
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#17328452918751368-458: A small group of like-minded radical pacifists, maintained an unflinching opposition to the government and its pro-war Labour allies. The 1917 Russian Revolution Conference in Leeds called for "the complete independence of Ireland , India and Egypt ". During the war the ILP's criticism of militarism was somewhat muted by public condemnation and periodic episodes of physical violence, which included
1482-464: A straight fight with the Conservatives. The electoral debacle of 1895 marked an end to the unbridled optimism which had attended the party's foundation. From its beginning, the ILP was never a homogeneous unit, but rather attempted to act as a " big tent " party of the working class, advocating a rather vague and amorphous socialist agenda. Historian Robert E. Dowse has observed: "From the beginning
1596-418: A thief. And one who might clothe the naked and does not—should not he be given the same name? The bread in your hoard belongs to the hungry; the cloak in your wardrobe belongs to the naked; the shoes you let rot belong to the barefoot; the money in your vaults belongs to the destitute. All you might help and do not—to all these you are doing wrong." John Chrysostom declared his reasons for his attitude towards
1710-412: A trade unionist was likely to demand. Fervent and emotional, the socialism of the ILP could accommodate, with only a little strain, temperance reform, Scottish nationalism , Methodism , Marxism , Fabian gradualism , and even a variety of Burkean conservatism . Although the mixture was a curious one, it did have the one overwhelming virtue of excluding nobody on dogmatic grounds, a circumstance, on
1824-455: A wild scene on 6 July 1918, during which an agitated group of discharged soldiers rushed an ILP meeting being addressed by Ramsay MacDonald in the Abbey Wood section of London. Stewards at the door of the ILP meeting were overpowered by the mob, who in what was described as a "riotous scene" broke chairs and wielded their parts as weapons, seizing the auditorium and dispersing the socialists into
1938-445: Is exalted in honour. Amos emphasizes the need for justice and righteousness that is described as conduct that emphasizes love for those who are poor and to oppose oppression and injustice towards the poor. The prophet Isaiah , to whom is attributed the first thirty-nine chapters of the Book of Isaiah known as Proto-Isaiah, followed upon Amos' themes of justice and righteousness involving
2052-623: Is no universal agreement on the exact date when Christian communism was founded, Christian communists say that evidence from the Bible suggests that the first Christians, including the Apostles in the New Testament as described in the Acts, established their own communist society in the years following Jesus' death and resurrection. Advocates of Christian communism, including other communists, such as Karl Marx , Friedrich Engels , and Karl Kautsky , argue that it
2166-526: Is opposed to religion ... when the organised Socialist working class tramples upon the Capitalist Class it will not be trampling on a pillar of God's Church but upon a blasphemous defiler of the Sanctuary, it will be rescuing the faith from the impious vermin who make it noisome to the really religious men and women." In France, Philippe Buchez began to characterize his philosophy as Christian socialism in
2280-875: The Oxford English Dictionary ), and Francis Bellamy (a Baptist minister and the author of the Pledge of Allegiance in the United States). Elements that would form the basis of Christian socialism are found in the Old Testament , as well as the New Testaments . They include Deuteronomy 15:1–5 , Ezekiel 18:7 , Isaiah 58:2–7 , James 2:14 , James 5:1–6 , Job 31:16–25, 28 , John 11:10–11 , Leviticus 25: 35–38 , Luke 4:18 , Matthew 6:24 , Matthew 19:23–24 , Matthew 25:40–46 , Proverbs 28:3–28 , and Proverbs 31:9 . The Old Testament had divided perspectives on
2394-446: The 1895 general election . With the NAC taking a lead in organising the party's contests , and with finance tight just 28 candidates ran under the ILP banner. A special conference decided that support could be given to either ILP or SDF candidates, which brought a further four contests into the picture. None was elected, however, with even the popular party leader Keir Hardie going to defeat in
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#17328452918752508-723: The Bloomsbury Group and were important in the early history of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom . Founded by Vida Dutton Scudder in 1911, herself influenced by the Fabian Society, the Episcopal Church Socialist League and its successor, the Church League for Industrial Democracy, sought to ally Christian doctrine with the plight of the working class as a part of the larger social gospel movement that
2622-806: The British Socialist Party , the Socialist Labour Party , and radical groups in Wales and Scotland . "The emancipation of the British working class and of the working class of the whole world depends upon the Communist elements of England forming a single Communist Party", the ECCI declared. The agitation for affiliation to the Third International of Moscow came to a head in 1921 at the annual conference of
2736-767: The English Civil War and the period of the Commonwealth of England (1642–1660), the Diggers espoused a political and economic theory rooted in Christianity that bears a strong resemblance to modern socialism, particularly its anarchist and communist strains. Some scholars believe the Munster Rebellion may have formed an early socialist state. In "Religion and the Rise of Socialism", historian Eric Hobsbawn argued that
2850-498: The Hutterites are found in the book of the Acts . All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they shared everything they had. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought
2964-474: The Labour Party was formed in 1906, the ILP immediately affiliated to it. This affiliation allowed the ILP to continue to hold its own conferences and devise its own policies, which ILP members were expected to argue for within the Labour Party. In return, the ILP provided a good part of Labour's activist base during its early years. The emergence and growth of the Labour Party, a federation of trade unions with
3078-525: The Psalms include many references to social justice for the poor. Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments! ... He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever; his horn
3192-659: The Sermon on the Mount . Tolstoy takes the Christian pacifist viewpoint that all governments who wage war, and churches who in turn support those governments, are an affront to the Christian principles of nonviolence and nonresistance . Although Tolstoy never used Christian anarchism in The Kingdom of God Is Within You , reviews of this book following its publication in 1894 appear to have coined
3306-503: The Social Democratic Federation (SDF), in 1881. Other socialist intellectuals, despite not sharing the concept of class struggle were nonetheless frustrated with the ideology and institutions of the Liberal Party and the secondary priority which it appeared to give to its working-class candidates. Out of these ideas and activities came a new generation of activists, including Keir Hardie , a Scot who had become convinced of
3420-493: The Social Democratic Federation , and individual representatives of a number of other socialist and labour groups. German Socialist leader Edward Bernstein was briefly permitted to address the gathering to pass along the best wishes for success from the Social Democratic Party of Germany . A proposal was made by a Scottish delegate, George Carson , to name the new organisation the "Socialist Labour Party", but this
3534-677: The dictatorship of the proletariat and the Soviet system to Great Britain, and its view on the necessity of armed force as a universal principle. In July 1920 the fledgling Comintern gave an unequivocal reply: while the presence of communists inside the organisation was acknowledged, and their membership in a new Communist Party welcomed, there would be no joint organisation with those like "the Fabians, Ramsay MacDonald , and Snowden " who had previously made use of "the musty atmosphere of parliamentary work" and "petty concessions and compromises" on behalf of
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3648-478: The early church in Jerusalem "[n]o one claimed that any of their possessions was their own"; this pattern, which helped Christians survive after the siege of Jerusalem , was taken seriously for several centuries, and was an important factor in the rise of feudalism . While it would later disappear from church history except within monasticism , it experienced a revival since the 19th century. Christian socialism
3762-455: The first Labour government , returned to office in 1924, proved to be hugely disappointing to the ILP. This came despite 30% of the cabinet holding ILP membership; of the most prominent of these figures, Ramsay MacDonald was removed as editor of the ILP's Socialist Review in 1925, and Philip Snowden resigned from the ILP in 1927. The ILP's response to the first Labour government was to devise its own programme for government. Throughout 1928,
3876-580: The internationalist left-wing socialist parties with their revolutionary socialist brethren of the new Moscow international. In a letter dated 21 May 1920, ILP chairman Richard Wallhead and National Council member Clifford Allen asked a further set of questions of the Comintern. The Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI) was asked for its positions on such matters as demands for rigid adherence to its programme, applicability of
3990-451: The "modern working-class socialist movement has developed an overwhelmingly secular, indeed often militantly anti-religious ideology." At the same time, he and other historians cited examples where this was not the case, particularly Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries, where E. P. Thompson and Stephen Yo said a form of ethical socialism dominated the labour movement . A prominent example of Christian socialism, or socialist Christianity,
4104-419: The 1820s and 1830s. A variety of socialist perspectives emerged in 19th-century Britain, beginning with John Ruskin . Edward R. Norman identifies what he describes as the three "immediate intellectual sources" for mid-century Christian socialism: Samuel Taylor Coleridge , Thomas Carlyle , and Thomas Arnold . The United States also has a Christian socialist tradition. In Utah, it developed and flourished in
4218-482: The 1870s a series of working-class candidates financially supported by trade unions were accepted and supported by the Liberal Party. The federation of British unions, the Trades Union Congress (TUC), formed its own electoral committee in 1886 to further advance its electoral goals. Many socialist intellectuals, particularly those influenced by Christian socialism and similar notions of the ethical need for
4332-927: The 1970s, emphasizing evangelism and social responsibility . Theologies of liberation have developed in other parts of the world, such as black theology in the United States and South Africa, Palestinian liberation theology , Dalit theology in India, and Minjung theology in South Korea. Communism and socialism have been condemned by Pope Pius IX , Pope Leo XIII , Pope Pius X , Pope Benedict XV , Pope Pius XI , Pope Pius XII , Pope John XXIII , Pope Paul VI , and Pope John Paul II . Many of these popes, Leo XIII and Pius XI in particular, have also condemned unregulated capitalism. Pope Benedict XVI condemned both ideologies, while distinguishing them from democratic socialism , which he praised. The views of Pope Francis on
4446-464: The 19th-century writers F. D. Maurice ( The Kingdom of Christ , 1838), John Malcolm Forbes Ludlow ( The Christian Socialist , 1850), Adin Ballou ( Practical Christian Socialism , 1854), Thomas Hughes ( Tom Brown's School Days , 1857), John Ruskin ( Unto This Last , 1862), Charles Kingsley ( The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby , 1863), Frederick James Furnivall (co-creator of
4560-572: The 40 Labour MPs in Parliament lent their support to the recruiting campaign for the Great War . Only one section held aloof—the Independent Labour Party. The ILP's insistence on standing by its long-held ethically based objections to militarism and war proved costly both in terms of its standing in the eyes of the general public as well as its ability to hold sway over the politicians who ran under its banner. A stream of its old Members of Parliament left
4674-628: The American West, were fierce advocates for the miners laboring in the Mountain states . The influential Victorian era art critic John Ruskin expounded theories about social justice in Unto This Last (1860). In it, he stated four goals that might be called socialist even though Ruskin did not use the term. Although Norman says Ruskin was not "an authentic Socialist in any of its various nineteenth-century meanings", as his only real contact with
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4788-603: The British textile industry. There followed a strike in Bradford , the Manningham Mills strike, which produced as a by-product the Bradford Labour Union , an organisation which sought to function politically independently of either major political party. This initiative was replicated by others in Colne Valley , Halifax , Huddersfield and Salford. Such developments showed that working-class support for separation from
4902-693: The Christian socialists came through the Working Men's College , he influenced later socialist thinking, especially the artist William Morris . The painters of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood were influenced and sponsored by Ruskin. Morris was a leader of the Socialist League founded in December 1884. The Fabian Society was founded in 1884, with Beatrice Webb and Sydney Webb being among its leading members. The Fabians influenced members of
5016-510: The Church must destroy a system of society which inevitably creates and perpetuates unequal and unfair conditions of life. These unequal and unfair conditions have been created by competition. Therefore competition must cease and cooperation take its place." Although anarchists have traditionally been skeptical of or vehemently opposed to organized religion , some anarchists have provided religious interpretations and approaches to anarchism, including
5130-628: The Hutterites "established in their communities a rigorous system of Ordnungen, which were codes of rules and regulations that governed all aspects of life and ensured a unified perspective. As an economic system, Christian communism was attractive to many of the peasants who supported social revolution in sixteenth century central Europe", such as the German Peasants' War , and Friedrich Engels came to view Anabaptists as proto-communists . Other earlier figures viewed as Christian socialists include
5244-410: The ILP attempted to influence the trade unions to back a working-class political party: they sought, as Henry Pelling states: 'collaboration with trade unionists with the ultimate object of tapping trade union funds for the attainment of Parliamentary power.' The socialism of the ILP was ideal for achieving this end; lacking as it did any real theoretical basis it could accommodate practically anything
5358-450: The ILP developed a "Socialism in Our Time" platform, largely formulated by H. N. Brailsford , John A. Hobson and Frank Wise . The programme consisted of eight policies: Of these eight policies, the living wage, the unemployment allowance, nationalisation of banking and the bulk purchase of raw materials and foodstuffs were the chief concern of the ILP. The centerpiece of the ILP program
5472-550: The ILP formally disaffiliated from the International in the spring of 1920. In January 1919, Moscow issued a call for the formation of a new Third International , a formation which held great appeal to a small section of the ILP's most radical members, including economist Emile Burns , journalist R. Palme Dutt , and the future Member of Parliament Shapurji Saklatvala , along with Charles Barber, Ernest H. Brown, Helen Crawfurd , C. H. Norman, and J. Wilson. They called themselves
5586-519: The ILP had been secured in the wake of his disillusionment with the Liberal Party over its rejection of a trade unionist candidate in the 1894 Sheffield Attercliffe by-election . While there were substantial personal tensions between the four, they shared a fundamental view that the party should seek alliance with the unions and rather than an ideology-based socialist unity with the Marxist Social Democratic Federation . Following
5700-447: The ILP were holding "over 200 meetings weekly" and distributing literature. Following police raids, censorship was imposed on the Labour Leader , but the police in Manchester were cautious in seizing only sample copies of UDC literature. As it happened the Salford magistrates did not deem the material to be illegal. From March 1916 the NLP printed The Tribunal , a weekly newspaper, for the No Conscription Fellowship . The police raided
5814-447: The ILP's leadership meant many converts to the Labour Party continued to join through the ILP, a process which continued until about 1925. On 11 April 1914 the party celebrated its 21st anniversary with a congress in Bradford. The party had grown well in the previous decade, standing with a membership of approximately 30,000. The rank and file membership of the party as well as its leadership were pacifist, now as ever, having held from
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#17328452918755928-399: The ILP. There an overwhelming vote of the party's branches voted not to affiliate with the Third International. This decision was followed by the exit of the defeated radical faction, which immediately joined the CPGB. The " centrism " of the ILP, caught between the reformist politics of the Second International and the revolutionary politics of the Third International, led it to leading
6042-433: The Labour Party as being too timid and moderate in their attempts at social reform, detached as it was from the socialist objective during its first years. Consequently, in 1912 came a split in which many ILP branches and a few leading figures, including Leonard Hall and Russell Smart , chose to amalgamate with the SDF of H. M. Hyndman in 1912 to found the British Socialist Party . Until 1918, individuals could only join
6156-421: The Labour Party through an affiliated body, the most significant of which were the Fabian Society and the ILP. As a result, particularly from 1914, many individuals – particularly ones formerly active in the Liberal Party – joined the ILP, in order to become active in the Labour Party. While affiliated body membership was not required after 1918, the presence of MacDonald and other leading Labour Party figures in
6270-433: The Labour Party was "not an organisation but rather 'the expression of a great principle,' since it 'had neither programme nor constitution". Hardie emphasised the fundamental demand of the new organisation as being the achievement of economic freedom and called for a party structure which gave full autonomy to every locality, and only seeking to bind these groups "to such central and general principles as were indispensable to
6384-447: The Left Wing Group of the ILP. The conservative leadership of the ILP, notably Ramsay MacDonald and Philip Snowden , strongly opposed affiliation to the new Comintern. In opposition to them the radical wing of the ILP organised itself as a formal faction called the Left Wing Group of the ILP in an effort to move the ILP into the Communist International. The faction began to produce its own bi-weekly newspaper called The International ,
6498-477: The Liberal Party was growing in strength. Further arguments for the formation of a new party were to be found in Robert Blatchford 's newspaper The Clarion , founded in 1891, and in Workman's Times , edited by Joseph Burgess . The latter collected some 3,500 names of those in favour of creating a party of labour independent from the existing political organisations. At the 1892 general election , held in July, three working men were elected without support from
6612-496: The Liberal Party. The idea of working with the middle-class Liberal Party to achieve working-class representation in parliament was not universally accepted, however. Marxist socialists, believing in the inevitability of class struggle between the working class and the capitalist class, rejected the idea of workers making common cause with the petty bourgeois Liberals in exchange for minor, palliative reform legislation. The British orthodox Marxists established their own party,
6726-412: The Liberals: Keir Hardie in West Ham South , John Burns in Battersea , and Havelock Wilson in Middlesbrough , the last of whom actually faced Liberal opposition. Hardie owed nothing to the Liberal Party for his election, and his critical and confrontational style in Parliament caused him to emerge as a national voice of the labour movement. At a TUC meeting in September 1892, a call was issued for
6840-404: The Lord. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. When you reap in your harvest in
6954-399: The NLP and dismantled the press, but The Tribunal continued to be published via a secret press which the police had not found. The Blackfriars Press Limited was formed as a subsidiary in Manchester in 1914 to undertake work. It moved to Leicester in 1922. Annie Maxton (the sister of James Maxton ) and Emrys Hughes were both one time members of the management committee. The company
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#17328452918757068-452: The New Testament that is an important component of Christian socialism is Luke 10:25–37 that follows the statement "You shall love your neighbour as yourself" with the question "And who is my neighbour?" In the Parable of the Good Samaritan . Jesus gives the response that the neighbour includes anyone in need, even people we might be expected to shun. The Samaritans and Jews claim descension from different Tribes of Israel , which had faced
7182-465: The UK, the Liverpool branch appointing Alice Morrissey as the branch secretary (1907–08) and first female delegate to a regional Labour Representative Committee. As the movement for women's suffrage grew, the ILP had engaged with the non-militant suffragists, for example, Mary H. J. Henderson , Parliamentary Secretary for the Scottish Women's Suffrage Societies, chaired a joint meeting with ILP, with Ethel Snowden as key speaker in Dundee in 1914. As
7296-420: The abolition of the position of party "President" in 1896 testified to the power of such arguments. Nonetheless, the NAC came to possess considerable power over the party's activities, including hegemonistic control over crucial matters such as electoral decisions and relations with other parties. The electoral defeat of 1895 hastened the establishment of centralising and anti-democratic practices of this kind. In
7410-443: The beginning that war was "sinful". The guns of August 1914 shook every left organisation in Britain. As one observer later put it: "Hyndman and Cunningham Graham , Thorne and Clynes had sought peace while it endured, but now that war had come, well, Socialists and Trade Unionists, like other people had got to see it through." With respect to the Labour Party, most of the members of the organisation's executive as well as most of
7524-536: The cause of social inequality to be the greed that they associate with capitalism. Christian socialism became a major movement in the United Kingdom beginning in the 19th century. The Christian Socialist Movement, known as Christians on the Left since 2013, is one formal group, as well as a faction of the Labour Party . According to the Encyclopædia Britannica , socialism is a "social and economic doctrine that calls for public rather than private ownership or control of property and natural resources. According to
7638-553: The company to close in 1984. This article about a company of the UK is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party ( ILP ) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford , after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals ' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates. A sitting independent MP and prominent union organiser, Keir Hardie , became its first chairman. The party remained positioned to
7752-411: The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. During the New Testament period and beyond, there is evidence that many Christian communities practised forms of sharing, redistribution, and communism. Some of the Bible verses that inspired the communal economic arrangements of
7866-406: The establishment of public measures to reduce unemployment and provide aid to the unemployed, a minimum-wage law, welfare programmes for orphans, widows, the elderly, the disabled, and the sick, the abolition of child labour , the abolition of overtime and piecework , and an eight-hour workday . The keynote address of the foundation conference was delivered by Keir Hardie, who observed that
7980-403: The failure of 1895, this leadership became reluctant to overextend the party by running in too many electoral races. By 1898 the decision was formally made to restrict electoral contests to those where a reasonable performance could be expected rather than putting forward as many candidates as possible to maximise exposure for the party and to accumulate a maximum total vote. The relationship with
8094-413: The field, and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. ... When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again. ... When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless and the widow. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this. Some of
8208-511: The first part of the 20th century, playing an important part in the development and expression of radicalism. Part of a larger, nationwide movement in many American Protestant churches, Christian socialism in Utah was particularly strong, and dedicated Christian socialist ministers, such as Episcopal Church bishop Franklin Spencer Spalding of Utah and Congregational minister Myron W. Reed in
8322-442: The form of economic justice and social welfare . It opposes an individualist worldview and approves state intervention in the economy in defence of human dignity. Because of its close association with Catholicism, Christian democracy differs from Christian socialism by its emphasis on traditional church and family values , its defence of private property, and by its opposition to excessive state intervention. Salvatore Talamo,
8436-483: The historian John Callaghan has noted, in the hands of Hardie, Glasier, Snowden and MacDonald socialism was little more than "a vague protest against injustice." However, in 1909 the ILP laid the basis for the production of agitational material with the establishment of the National Labour Press . Still, the relationship between the ILP and the Labour Party was characterised by conflict. Many ILP members viewed
8550-578: The idea that glorification of the state is a form of sinful idolatry . Christian anarchists say anarchism is inherent in Christianity and the Gospels , that it is grounded in the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately answerable—the authority of God as embodied in the teachings of Jesus. It therefore rejects the idea that human governments have ultimate authority over human societies. Christian anarchists denounce
8664-503: The indifferent rich. Basil wrote a sermon on the Parable of the Rich Fool in which he states: "Who is the covetous man? One for whom plenty is not enough. Who is the defrauder? One who takes away what belongs to everyone. And are not you covetous, are you not a defrauder, when you keep for private use what you were given for distribution? When some one strips a man of his clothes we call him
8778-664: The issue of poverty. One part of the Biblical tradition held that poverty was judgment of God upon the wicked while viewing prosperity as a reward for the good, stating in the Proverbs 13:25 that "[t]he righteous have enough to satisfy their appetite, but the belly of the wicked is empty." There are other sections that instruct generosity to the have-nots of society. Mosaic Law instructs followers to treat neighbours equally and to be generous to have-nots. You shall not oppress your neighbour ... but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am
8892-473: The labour movement: [T]hese leaders have lost touch with the wide unskilled masses, with the toiling poor, they have become oblivious of the growth of capitalist exploitation and of the revolutionary aims of the proletariat. It seemed to them that because the capitalists treated them as equals, as partners in their transactions, the working class had secured equal rights with capital. Their own social standing secure and material position improved, they looked upon
9006-528: The last years of the 19th century, four figures emerged on the NAC who remained at the centre of the party shaping its direction for the next 20 years. In addition to the beloved party leader Keir Hardie came the Scot Bruce Glasier , elected to the NAC in 1897 and succeeding Hardie as Chairman in 1900; Philip Snowden , an evangelical socialist from the West Riding , and Ramsay MacDonald , whose adhesion to
9120-415: The left and at the time, which cannot be lightly dismissed." Of course in a party of loose and diverse opinions, the essential nature of the organisation and its programme would always remain a matter of debate. Initial decisions about party organisation were rooted in an idea of strict democracy. These arguments did have some impact, as the conference held to set policy prior to the 1895 general election and
9234-405: The left of Ramsay MacDonald 's Labour Representation Committee , which Hardie founded in 1900 and was soon renamed the Labour Party , and to which the ILP was affiliated from 1906 to 1932. In 1947, the organisation's three parliamentary representatives defected to the Labour Party, and the organisation rejoined Labour as Independent Labour Publications in 1975. As the nineteenth century came to
9348-477: The living wage differed from Labour practices. The ILP criticised the "Continental" method of paying wage allowances from employers' pools, which had been implemented in 1924 by Rhys Davies . The ILP proposed to redistribute the national income, meeting the cost of the allowances by taxing high income earners. The nationalisation of banking involved more significant changes to economic policy, and had nothing in common with Labour practices. The ILP proposed that once
9462-510: The money from their sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. Basil of Caesarea , the Church Father of the Eastern monks who became Bishop of Caesarea , established a complex around the church and monastery that included hostels, almshouses, and hospitals for infectious diseases. During the great famine of 368, Basil denounced against profiteers and
9576-515: The need for independent labour politics while working as a Gladstonian Liberal and trade union organiser in the Lanarkshire coalfield. Working with SDF members such as Henry Hyde Champion and Tom Mann he was instrumental in the foundation of the Scottish Labour Party in 1888. In 1890, the United States imposed a tariff on foreign cloth; this led to a general cut in wages throughout
9690-583: The night. Following the termination of World War I in November 1918, the Second International was effectively relaunched and the question of whether the ILP should affiliate with this renewed Second International or with some other international grouping loomed large. The majority of ILP members saw the old Second International as hopelessly compromised by its support for the European bloodbath of 1914, and
9804-450: The organisation, the inaugural conference overwhelmingly accepted that the object of the party should be "to secure the collective and communal ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange ". The party's programme called for a range of progressive social reforms, including free "unsectarian" education "right up to the universities", the provision of medical treatment and school feeding programmes for children, housing reform,
9918-467: The party over the ILP's refusal to support the British war effort. Among those breaking ranks were George Nicoll Barnes , J. R. Clynes , James Parker , George Wardle and G. H. Roberts . Others held true to the party and its principles. Ramsay MacDonald, a committed pacifist, immediately resigned the chairmanship of the Labour Party in the House of Commons. Keir Hardie, Philip Snowden, W. C. Anderson , and
10032-709: The phrase " preferential option for the poor ". This expression was used first by Jesuit Father General Pedro Arrupe in 1968, and the World Synod of Catholic Bishops in 1971 chose as its theme " Justice in the World " for the Second Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops . The Latin American context produced evangelical advocates of liberation theology, such as Rubem Alves , José Míguez Bonino , and C. René Padilla , who called for integral mission in
10146-541: The policy of deflation practised by the Treasury and the Bank of England. Christian socialism Christian socialism is a religious and political philosophy that blends Christianity and socialism , endorsing socialist economics on the basis of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus . Many Christian socialists believe capitalism to be idolatrous and rooted in the sin of greed . Christian socialists identify
10260-467: The poor as necessary for followers of God, denouncing those who do not do these things. Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. ... [C]ease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow. The Book of Sirach , one of the deuterocanonical or biblical apocrypha books of the Old Testament, denounces
10374-491: The progress of the movement". The conference also established the basic organisational structure of the new party. Annual Conferences, composed of delegates from each local unit of the organisation, were declared the "supreme and governing authority of the party". A Secretary was to be elected, to serve under the direct control of a central body known as the National Administrative Committee (NAC). This NAC
10488-463: The pursuit of wealth. He who loves gold will not be justified, and he who pursues money will be led astray by it. Many have come to ruin because of gold, and their destruction has met them face to face. It is a stumbling block to those who are devoted to it, and every fool will be taken captive by it. The teachings of Jesus are frequently described as socialist, especially by Christian socialists, such as Terry Eagleton . Acts 4:32 records that in
10602-414: The rich and position of attitude towards wealth. He said: "I am often reproached for continually attacking the rich. Yes, because the rich are continually attacking the poor. But those I attack are not the rich as such, only those who misuse their wealth. I point out constantly that those I accuse are not the rich, but the rapacious; wealth is one thing, covetousness another. Learn to distinguish." During
10716-457: The rich and powerful against the poor. According to this view, socialism was not anti-religion but was opposed to those who would use it to support capitalism and the status quo . James Connolly is credited with setting the groundwork for Christian socialism in Ireland. Connolly, who wrote a story for the Christian socialist journal Labour Prophet , said: "It is not Socialism but Capitalism that
10830-523: The rich intensely and in strong language in the Epistle of James . Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up for treasure for the last days. Behold, the wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out; and
10944-434: The sharing of goods and labour, a simple form of socialism subsequently followed in certain forms of monasticism . Several monastic orders continue these practices today." The Hutterites believe in strict adherence to biblical principles and church discipline, and practices common ownership of nearly all property, resembling a form of communism to secular observers. In the words of historians Max Stanton and Rod Janzen,
11058-434: The slogan " no gods, no masters ". Christian anarchists often believe Romans 13 is taken out of context, emphasizing that Revelation 13 and Isaiah 13 , among other passages, are needed to fully understand Romans 13 text. Christian communism is a form of religious communism based on Christianity and the view that the teachings of Jesus compel Christians to support communism as the ideal social system . While there
11172-587: The socialist intellectuals of the ILP, helped its constituent parts develop and grow. In contrast to the Orthodox Marxism of the SDF and its even more orthodox offshoots like the Socialist Labour Party and the Socialist Party of Great Britain , the ILP had a loose and inspirational flavour that made it relatively more easy to attract newcomers. Victor Grayson recalled a 1906 campaign in the Colne Valley which he
11286-423: The socialist view, individuals do not live or work isolated, but live in cooperation with one another. Furthermore, everything that people produce is in some sense a social product, and everyone who contributes to the production of a good is entitled to a share in it. Society as a whole, therefore, should own or at least control property for the benefit of all its members. ... Early Christian communities also practised
11400-466: The state, believing it is violent, deceitful, and idolatrous when glorified. The foundation of Christian anarchism is a rejection of violence, with Leo Tolstoy 's The Kingdom of God Is Within You regarded as a key text. Tolstoy sought to separate Russian Orthodox Christianity —which was merged with the state—from what he believed was the true message of Jesus as contained in the Gospels, specifically in
11514-484: The term. Christian anarchists hold that the Reign of God is the proper expression of the relationship between God and humanity. Under the Reign of God, human relationships would be characterized by divided authority, servant leadership , and universal compassion—not by the hierarchical, authoritarian structures that are normally attributed to religious social order. Most Christian anarchists are pacifists who reject war and
11628-500: The trade unions was also problematic. In the 1890s the ILP was lacking in alliances with the trade union organisations. Individual rank and file trade unionists could be persuaded to join the party out of a political commitment shaped by their industrial experiences, but connection with top leaderships was lacking. The ILP played a central role in the formation of the Labour Representation Committee in 1900, and when
11742-471: The use of violence. More than any other Bible source, the Sermon on the Mount is used as the basis for Christian anarchism. Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God Is Within You is often regarded as a key text for modern Christian anarchism. Critics of Christian anarchism include both Christians and anarchists. Christians often cite Romans 13 as evidence that the state should be obeyed, while secular anarchists do not believe in any authority including God as per
11856-498: The world through the rose-coloured spectacles of a peaceful middle-class life. Disturbed in their peaceful trading with the representatives of the bourgeoisie by the revolutionary strivings of the proletariat they were the convinced enemies of the revolutionary aims of the proletariat. The ECCI instead made its appeal directly to "the communists of the Independent Labour Party", noting that "the revolutionary forces of England are split up" and urging them to unite with communist members of
11970-462: Was Keir Hardie , a founder of the Labour Party in Britain, who said he learnt his "Socialism in the New Testament", where he said he found what he described as his "chief inspiration". Those socialists argued that socialism was the embodiment of the teachings of Jesus , and that it would also rescue the church from Mammon , which they said caused it to have lost its way and become corrupt by siding with
12084-420: Was defeated by a large margin by a counterproposal reaffirming the name "Independent Labour Party", moved by the logic that there were large numbers of workers not yet prepared to formally accept the doctrine of socialism who would nonetheless be willing to join and work for an organisation "established for the purpose of obtaining the independent representation of labour". Despite the apparent timidity in naming
12198-454: Was elected as its first chairman. About 130 delegates were in attendance at the conference, including, in addition to Hardie, such socialist and labour worthies as Alderman Ben Tillett , author George Bernard Shaw , and Edward Aveling , partner of Karl Marx 's daughter Eleanor and translator of his Das Kapital . Some 91 local branches of the Independent Labour Party were represented, joined by 11 local Fabian Societies , four branches of
12312-497: Was in turn to be made up of regionally appointed delegates who were in theory confined to act according to the instructions given them by branch conferences. The new party was founded in a social environment of great hope and expectation. However, the first few years were difficult. The direction of the party, its leadership and organisation were heavily contested and the expected electoral progress did not emerge. The party did not fare well in its first major test of national support,
12426-415: Was one of the founding threads of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom and is said to begin with the uprising of Wat Tyler and John Ball in the 14th century. In the New Testament, Jesus identifies himself with the hungry, the poor, the sick, and the prisoners. Matthew 25:31–46 is a major component of Christianity and is considered the cornerstone of Christian socialism. Another key statement in
12540-584: Was proud to have conducted "like a religious revival," without reference to specific political problems. Future party chairman Fenner Brockway later recounted the revivalist mood of the gatherings of his local ILP branch gathering in 1907: "On Sunday nights a meeting was conducted rather on the lines of the Labour Church Movement —we had a small voluntary orchestra, sang Labour songs and the speeches were mostly Socialist evangelism , emotion in denunciation of injustice, visionary in their anticipation of
12654-485: Was taking hold of many urban churches across the United States in the early 20th century. In the November 1914 issue of The Christian Socialist , Spalding stated: "The Christian Church exists for the sole purpose of saving the human race. So far she has failed, but I think that Socialism shows her how she may succeed. It insists that men cannot be made right until the material conditions be made right. Although man cannot live by bread alone, he must have bread. Therefore,
12768-476: Was taught by Jesus and practised by the apostles themselves. This is generally agreed by historians. The link was highlighted in one of Marx's early writings, which stated that "[a]s Christ is the intermediary unto whom man unburdens all his divinity, all his religious bonds, so the state is the mediator unto which he transfers all his Godlessness, all his human liberty." The political movement of Christian democracy espouses some values of Christian socialism in
12882-417: Was the "Living Wage" policy, which sought to impose high minimum wages across all industries and nationalize all private enterprises which could not afford to pay them in order to resolve interwar unemployment and poverty , which it held to be caused by underconsumption . Increasing the unemployment allowance and switching to bulk purchasing were to be done in the conventional way, but the method of paying
12996-589: Was the first in the UK to print Nescafé labels. The contract was arranged following a chance meeting of the then managing director, W. M. Stafford. He met with a member of the Nestlé family whilst on a mountaineering holiday in Switzerland in the 1940s. The business was registered as a friendly society and in the early 1980s the ILP gave the business to its employees to trade as a co-operative. Lack of finance and bad debts caused
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