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". 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 .
21-594: Samuel George Hobson , often known as S. G. Hobson (4 February 1870 – 4 January 1940), was a writer and socialist, perhaps most well known as a theorist of guild socialism . Born in Bessbrook , County Armagh , Hobson was given a Quaker education in Saffron Walden and then Sidcot , Somerset . Moving to Cardiff , he became an active socialist , joining first the Fabian Society and then becoming
42-582: A builders' guild, but this was not a success. Hobson wrote a memoir entitled "Pilgrim to the Left - Memoirs of a Modern Revolutionist" which was published by Longmans, Green & Co. in 1938. Guild socialism 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
63-737: A founder member of the Independent Labour Party (ILP). He began writing for the ILP newspaper, Labour Leader , and in 1900 was elected to the Fabian Society's executive. Hobson stood for the ILP in the 1895 general election at Bristol East , becoming a member of the Bristol Socialist Society for some years. In the 1906 , he stood as an "independent Labour" candidate in Rochdale . By this point, he
84-536: A future socialist society. 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." Ernst Wigforss —a leading theorist of
105-590: A natural outcome for a united humanity hundreds of years in the future. Cole's ideas were also promoted by prominent anti-authoritarian intellectuals such as the British logician Bertrand Russell , first through his 1918 essay Roads to Freedom. Other thinkers who incorporated Cole's writings on guild socialism include the economist Karl Polanyi , R. H. Tawney , A. R. Orage , and the American liberal reformer John Dewey . For scholar Charles Masquelier, "[i]t
126-737: A prominent member of the Social Democratic Workers' Party and Swedish Minister of Finance. Wigforss became one of the main theoreticians in the development of the Swedish Social Democratic movement's revision of Marxism , from a revolutionary to a reformist organization. He was inspired and stood ideologically close to the ideas of the Fabian Society and guild socialism and inspired by people like R. H. Tawney , L.T. Hobhouse and J. A. Hobson . He made contributions in his early writings about industrial democracy and workers' self-management . Born in
147-406: 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
168-537: The National Guilds League in 1915 and published several books on guild socialism, including Self-Government in Industry (1917) and Guild Socialism Restated (1920). A National Building Guild was established after World War I but collapsed after funding was withdrawn in 1921. The science fiction work of Olaf Stapledon suggested that a more "individualistic" form of guild socialism would be
189-491: The Social Democratic Party of Sweden —was also inspired by and stood ideologically close to the ideas of Fabian Society and the guild socialism inspired by people like R. H. Tawney , L.T. Hobhouse and J. A. Hobson . He made contributions in his early writings about industrial democracy and workers' self-management. The theory of guild socialism was developed and popularised by G. D. H. Cole who formed
210-479: The Stockholm school , who worked in the same direction as Keynes at the same time. John Kenneth Galbraith writes that it "would be more fair to say 'The Swedish Economic Revolution' than the 'Keynesian revolution' in economics, and that Wigforss was first in this transformation of thinking and practice about economy". In his pamphlet Har vi råd att arbeta? (Can we afford to work?) , widely believed to have won
231-428: 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". Ernst Wigforss Ernst Johannes Wigforss (24 January 1881–2 January 1977) was a Swedish politician and linguist (dialectologist), mostly known as
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#1732787629494252-598: The 1932 elections for the Social Democrats, he made fun of the Liberal theory that budget cuts are the proper remedy for economic downturns. Although he is considered the creator of the Swedish social democratic economy, controversies with Minister for Social Affairs Gustav Möller (who would have preferred graduated taxation to have been higher) prevented both from being elected party chairman and Prime Minister at
273-505: The Gild System in which he opposed factory production and advocated a return to an earlier period of artisanal production organised through guilds. 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. In 1914, S. G. Hobson , a leading contributor to The New Age , published National Guilds: An Inquiry into
294-702: The Latin gymnasium in Gothenburg from 1914. In 1919 Wigforss was elected as a Social Democratic member of the First Chamber of the Swedish Parliament, representing Gothenburg, and he became a member of various committees. He was appointed a member of the third cabinet of Hjalmar Branting in 1924, and after Branting's resignation in January 1925, became a member of Rickard Sandler 's cabinet. He
315-565: The Wage System and the Way Out . In this work, guilds were presented as an alternative to state control of industry or conventional trade union activity. Guilds, unlike the existing trade unions, would not confine their demands to matters of wages and conditions but would seek to obtain control of industry for the workers whom they represented. Ultimately, industrial guilds would serve as the organs through which industry would be organised in
336-456: The death of Hansson. After his resignation, Wigforss continued until his death to write and speak on political issues and was considered one of the most innovative and daring Social Democratic politicians. He supported the anti-nuclear movement of the 1950s and contributed to the discontinuation of the Swedish nuclear arms programme in 1962. In the Swedish television movie, Four Days that shook Sweden - The Midsummer Crisis 1941 , from 1988, he
357-522: The historian Orjan Appelqvist argue that it is Wigforss and Axel Gjöres who hold primary responsibility for this political fiasco. Some say that Wigforss' economic policies were strongly influenced by John Maynard Keynes , but he may have anticipated Keynes, because he proposed counter-cyclical economic policy before becoming minister of finance in 1932. But it is perhaps most accurate to claim that his main economic influences came from Knut Wicksell . He inspired younger economists like Gunnar Myrdal and
378-479: The publication was compiled as National Guilds: an Inquiry into the Wage System and a Way Out . He helped found the National Guilds League , but following disagreements with G. D. H. Cole over strategy, and The New Age' s move to supporting social credit , he ceased theoretical work. Throughout this period, Hobson had been involved in various profitable activities, managing a banana plantation and editing an investment journal. Eventually, he attempted to organise
399-622: The town of Halmstad in Halland in southwestern Sweden, Wigforss studied at Lund University from 1899, and published writings on political issues in this period. He completed a doctorate in 1913 with a dissertation on the dialect of south Halland, becoming docent in Scandinavian languages at the university the same year. He taught at the gymnasium in Lund ( Lunds högre allmänna läroverk ) 1911-1914 and as lecturer of German and Swedish at
420-549: Was keen to go beyond the Labour Party 's Parliamentary activity and create an actual socialist society. From 1906, Hobson developed a theory of a socialism based on guilds , a form of workers' self-management inspired by Mediaeval forms of organisation. He left the Fabians in 1910 and soon began writing for Alfred Richard Orage 's magazine, The New Age . He coined the term "guild socialism," and in 1914, his writing for
441-617: Was made temporary Minister of Finance on 24 January 1925 when Fredrik Thorsson fell ill, and succeeded him on 8 May of the same year, following his death. The Sandler cabinet resigned on 7 June 1926. He was again Minister of Finance in the cabinets of Per Albin Hansson and Tage Erlander from 1932 to 1949. Wigforss became Gunnar Myrdal 's main political opponent with respect to the currency crisis of 1947. Swedish historians tend to interpret this crisis as Myrdal's political failure, while
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