Skip to main content

British Socialist Theories of Imperialism in the Interwar Period

  • Living reference work entry
  • Latest version View entry history
  • First Online:
The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism
  • 300 Accesses

Synonyms

British socialism; Harold Laski; Henry Brailsford; Imperialism; Interwar period; Leonard Woolf

Definitions

There are key concepts used in this chapter. Socialism is understood as a broad intellectual tradition that includes other theoretical approaches such as Fabianism and Marxism. However, while the first two are generally prodemocratic and nonviolent, the latter supports revolution and it may compromise democratic values in order to achieve or maintain socialism. While the beginnings of socialism can be traced back to the 1820s with the writings of Robert Owen, Saint-Simon, and Charles Fourier, Marxism emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century with the contributions of Karl Marx and Engels. Fabianism, which favored a gradual achievement of socialism through democratic means, started in the late nineteenth century with the writings of Bernard Shaw, Herbert Wells, Sidney Webb, among others (Fabian Society 2019).

New imperialism is a period in history during the...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Annan, N. (1990). The best of Bloomsbury. In F. Spotts (Ed.), Review of letters of Leonard Woolf. The New York Review of Books. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. March 29, 1990. Available at: http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1990/mar/29/the-best-of-bloomsbury/

  • Ashworth, L. (2007). International relations and the labour party: Intellectuals and policy making from 1918–1945. London: Tauris Academic Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baran, P. (1957). Political Economy of Growth. New York: Monthly Review Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blaazer, D. (1992). The popular front and the progressive tradition: Socialist, liberals, and the quest for Unity, 1884–1839. London: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Boehmer, E. (2000). Empire, the national and the postcolonial 1890–1920: Resistance in interaction. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brailsford, H. (1917). A league of nations. London: Headley Bros publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brailsford, H. (1918). The war of steel and gold: A study of the armed peace. London: G Bell & Sons, Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brailsford, H. (1921). The Russian workers’ republic. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brailsford, H. (1925). Socialism for today. London: New Leader.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brailsford, H. (1936). Property or peace? London: Victor Gollancz ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brailsford, H. (1938). Why capitalism means war (Vol. 14). London: Victor Gollancz Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brailsford, H. (1940). Recollections of Trotsky. The New Statesman and Nation, August 31, 1940, 206.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brailsford, H. (1944). Socialists and the empire. In H. N. Brailsford et al. (Eds.), Fabian colonial essays. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brailsford, H. (1952). The life-work of J A Hobson. In Hobhouse memorial lectures 1941–1950. London: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brewer, A. (1990). Marxist theories of imperialism: A critical survey. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buber, M. (1949). Paths in Utopia. Boston: Beacon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bukharin, N. (2003 [1917]). Imperialism and world economy. London: Bookmarks.

    Google Scholar 

  • Callinicos, A. (2009). Imperialism and global political economy. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cole, G. (1961). The story of Fabian socialism. London: Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeWolfe, M. (1953). Holmes-Laski letters: The correspondence of Mr. Justice Homes and Harold J. Laski 1916–1935 (Vol. 1–2). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Etherington, N. (1984). Theories of imperialism: War, conquest and capital. London: Croom Helm.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fabian Story. (2019). In Fabian Society. Available at: https://fabians.org.uk/about-us/our-history/

  • Hilferding, R. (1981 [1910]). Finance capital: A study of the latest phase of capitalist development. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoover, K. (2003). Economics as ideology: Keynes, Laski, Hayek and the creation of contemporary politics. Oxford, UK: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kautsky, K. (1914). Ultra-imperialism. Marxists Internet Archive. Available at: http://www.marxists.org/archive/kautsky/1914/09/ultra-imp.htm

  • Kautsky, K. (1918). The Dictatorship of the Proletariat. London: The National Labour Press Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lamb, P. (2004). Harold Laski: Problems of Democracy, the Sovereign State and International Society. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laski, H. (1923). Lenin and Mussolini, 2(1), 43–54.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laski, H. (1931). Introduction to politics. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laski, H. (1932). The position and prospects of communism. Foreign Affairs, 11(1), 93–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laski, H. (1933). Economic foundations of peace. In L. Woolf (Ed.), The intelligent man’s way to prevent war (pp. 499–548). London: Victor Gollancz Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laski, H. (1935a). Democracy in crisis. London: The University of North Carolina Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laski, H. (1935b). The state in theory and practice. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laski, H. (1937). Foreword. In R. A. Brady (Ed.), The Spirit and structure of German fascism. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laski, H. (1938). Grammar of politics. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laski, H. (1939). Why I am a Marxist. The Nation, January 14, 1939, 76–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laski, H. (1944). Harold J. Laski. In W. H. Auden et al. (Eds.), I Believe (pp. 163–178). London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laski, H. (1946). The secret battalion: An examination to the communist attitude to the labour party. London: Labour Party Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laski, H. (1949). Socialism as internationalism. London: Fabian Publications Ltd and Victor Gollancz Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lenin, V. (1975 [1917]). Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism: A popular outline. Moscow: Progress Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leventhal, F. (1973). H N Brailsford and Russia: The problem of objectivity. Albion: A Quarterly Journal Concerned with British Studies, 5(2), 81–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leventhal, F. (1974). H N Brailsford and the new leader. Journal of Contemporary History, 9(91), 91–113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leventhal, F. (1985). The last dissenter: H N Brailsford and his world. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luxemburg, R. (1913 [1951]). The accumulation of capital. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, A. (2014). Lenin’s Imperialism nearly 100 years on: An outdated paradigm? A Journal of Socialist Theory, 42(3), 317–333.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marx, K. (1867). Preface to the German edition. In K. Marx, Capital, vol. 1, Marxist Internet Archive. Available at: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/p1.htm

  • Marx, K., & Engels, F. (1848). The communist manifesto, PBworks version, Available at: http://harrisocac.pbworks.com/f/Marx+Communist+Manifesto.pdf

  • Mathur, A. (1988). Harold Josephus Laski: The man and his thought. The Indian Journal of Political Science, 49(4), 453–488.

    Google Scholar 

  • Milios, J., & Sotiropoulos, D. (2009). Rethinking imperialism: A study of capitalist rule. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Noonan, M. (2010). Marxist theories of imperialism: Evolution of a concept. PhD thesis, Victoria University. Available at: http://vuir.vu.edu.au/16067/1/Murray_Noonan_PhD.pdf

  • Parkinson, F. (1977). The philosophy of international relations: A study in the history of thought. London: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pedersen, S. (2015). The guardians: The league of nations and the crisis of empire. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Sylvest, C. (2004). Interwar internationalism, the British Labour Party, and the historiography of international relations. International Studies Quarterly, 48, 409–432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, P. (2003). The international theory of Leonard Woolf: A study in twentieth-century idealism. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Woolf, L. (1916). International government. London: The Fabian Bookshop and George Allen and Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woolf, L. (1920a). Economic imperialism. London: The Swarthmore Press Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woolf, L. (1920b). Empire and commerce in Africa: A study in economic imperialism. London: Labour Research Department and George Allen and Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woolf, L. (1920c). Mandates and empire. London: The League of Nations Union.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woolf, L. (1921). Socialism and Co-operation. London: L. Parsons.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woolf, L. (1928). Imperialism and civilization. London: Hogarth Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woolf, L. (1939). Barbarians at the gate. London: Hesperides Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woolf, L. (1940). The war for peace. London: George Routledge & Sons, Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woolf, L. (1941). Lenin turns the key. The New Statesman and Nation, September 6, 1941, 234.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woolf, L. (1949). The Utopians. The New Statesman and Nation, November 26, 1949, 624.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ricardo Villanueva .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Villanueva, R. (2019). British Socialist Theories of Imperialism in the Interwar Period. In: Ness, I., Cope, Z. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91206-6_86-2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91206-6_86-2

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-91206-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-91206-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference HistoryReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Chapter history

  1. Latest

    British Socialist Theories of Imperialism in the Interwar Period
    Published:
    20 July 2019

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91206-6_86-2

  2. Original

    British Socialist Theories of Imperialism in the Interwar Period
    Published:
    20 May 2019

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91206-6_86-1