Economic Democracy as Political Theology: The British Anglican Socialist Tradition

Abstract

The richest tradition of Christian socialism is the British Anglican one. In the beginning it was cooperative and ecumenical in the fashion of its founders, F. D. Maurice and John Ludlow. Later it became predominantly Anglo-Catholic, politically activist, and ideologically diffuse, but always with a strong social-ethical basis. Many Anglican socialists stuck to the cooperative tradition, some joined the Fabian movement after it arose in 1884, some joined the Social Union reformers who came out of Oxford, some gave highest priority to socializing land, many joined the workers party movement after it arose in 1893, and some became leaders of the guild socialist movement that took off in 1912. But British Anglican socialism had an ethical well-spring that qualified its commitment to all these ideologies, and at its best it was powerfully anti-imperialist. Anglican socialists denied that a Fabian, Syndical, Social Unionist, or Marxist ideology should be more binding than their commitment to an ethic of equality, freedom, and cooperative community. This conviction helped them play a distinct role in British politics, especially as exemplified by William Temple and R. H. Tawney. Temple's model of social-funded guild socialism was far ahead of its time and remains the most promising model of big-scale economic democracy.