Madoc Cairns is a freelance writer and graduate student based in Oxford, England.
At the turn of the 20th century, Walter Crane’s groundbreaking designs captured the spirit of a rising socialist movement. More than a romantic dreamer, he saw how the triumph of labor could allow humanity’s artistic talents to flourish.
One of Britain’s most influential twentieth-century socialists, R. H. Tawney, is often presented as a moralist opposed to Marxist notions of social change. In fact, his Christian socialism was deeply committed to political transformation — marrying a critique of “devilish” capitalism with the burning desire to create a new Jerusalem.