TY - JOUR
T1 - Nonconformity and socialism
T2 - the case of J. G. Greenhough, 1880–1914
AU - Ryan, Liam
N1 - The acceptance date for this record is provisional and based upon the month of publication for the article.
PY - 2019/11/1
Y1 - 2019/11/1
N2 - This article examines the life, thought and activism of the prominent Baptist minister John Gershom Greenhough. Existing scholarly and popular narratives generally focus on the key role played by Nonconformity in nurturing the labour movement in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain. Using Greenhough as a case study this article posits an alternative interpretation of this relationship, contending that the individualistic religious culture of Nonconformity was often deeply hostile to socialism. This hostility motivated Greenhough, and others like him, to abandon their historical allegiance to the Liberal party in the early twentieth century in favour of the Conservatives. More broadly, this article investigates the process of political and ideological conversion and challenges dominant historical readings that characterize anti-socialism as being synonymous with middle-class economic self-interest.
AB - This article examines the life, thought and activism of the prominent Baptist minister John Gershom Greenhough. Existing scholarly and popular narratives generally focus on the key role played by Nonconformity in nurturing the labour movement in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain. Using Greenhough as a case study this article posits an alternative interpretation of this relationship, contending that the individualistic religious culture of Nonconformity was often deeply hostile to socialism. This hostility motivated Greenhough, and others like him, to abandon their historical allegiance to the Liberal party in the early twentieth century in favour of the Conservatives. More broadly, this article investigates the process of political and ideological conversion and challenges dominant historical readings that characterize anti-socialism as being synonymous with middle-class economic self-interest.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074190505&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1468-2281.12285
U2 - 10.1111/1468-2281.12285
DO - 10.1111/1468-2281.12285
M3 - Article (Academic Journal)
AN - SCOPUS:85074190505
SN - 0950-3471
VL - 92
SP - 771
EP - 789
JO - Historical Research
JF - Historical Research
IS - 258
ER -