By R.W. Morrell
The Republic Must Come, The English Republicans Of The 1870s. Unpaginated (12pp). Wrappers. South London Republican Forum, 83 Sowerby Close, Eltham, London, SE9 6EZ., 1999.
YET against the SLRP have produced a fascinating study of an aspect of English political history which remains largely unknown, yet with the rise of interest in, and support for, England becoming a republic must, one would imagine, start to filter down to the general public, particularly those among it who are politically active.
The value of this short work rests with the light it sheds upon the extent to which republicanism influenced both political and secularist activities in the second part of the 19th century, although before the onset of the campaign to promote the concept of English imperialism which saw Mrs. Victoria Saxe Coburg created empress of India, not that the population of the sub-continent were consulted about the matter, they just helped to foot the bill.
The pamphlet brings out the strength of republicanism, which was built upon the views of Paine and others adapted, as they should be, to new social and economic conditions, as well as political developments, not least the rise of socialism. It was this latter development which was to create considerable stress within English republicanism, particularly when the socialists challenged Liberal republicanism as led by Charles Bradlaugh, who was sensitive to what he saw as a challenge to his leadership, as indeed it was. At the same time the divisions which the conflict between liberalism and socialism weakened the republican cause as did the divisions within secularism, about which this work has little to say.
Working-class republicanism became very influential in the early period of the second half of the 19th century, particularly in the large industrial towns, though only in Ireland can it be said to have evolved into a mass movement, despite the hostility there of the Roman Catholic sect. In England it seemed to be developing into one, but the divisions mentioned above coupled with what was essentially a royalist re-launch orchestrated initially around the war with Russia in 1876, which saw jingoism whipped up on an unprecedented scale and later the transformation of Mrs. Victoria Saxe-Coburg Gotha into what was called the empress of India, not that the inhabitants of the sub- continent were consulted about the matter, though they were expected to foot the bill for the royal circus, weakened the potential appeal of republicanism to the unconverted.
In addition to the above, which was largely a play on emotionalism, many ‘advanced workers’, the author writes, ‘were now looking beyond negative republicanism and Freethought to the constructive ideas’ embodied in the Communist Manifesto, the hundredth anniversary of the publication of which fell in 1998. He concludes his pamphlet by asserting that the only really successful conclusion of current republican agitation must be the demolition of the present social pyramid atop of which sits the present monarch and the establishment of a workers’ republic. His readers must draw their own conclusions.