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On Anarchism and the Real World: William Godwin and Radical England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

Isaac Kramnick
Isaac Kramnick*
Affiliation:
Yale University
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Abstract

Much that is characteristic of contemporary anarchist thought can be found in the writings of the founder of that tradition, William Godwin. He is ambivalent on the value of technology and modernity, nostalgic at one moment and progressive another. He extols individual autonomy while preaching community solidarity. Above all he shares with modern anarchism an elitist disdain for ordinary men and women, which in the case of Godwin leads to an unresolved tension between theoretical radicalism and practical conservatism. His anarchist doctrine repudiates all forms of coercion, law, and government. It eschews cooperation of all kind as deleterious to individual development. At the same time it posits an ideal order characterized by a high degree of informal coercion practiced by zealous neighborly inspection. But Godwin was a less than eager friend of reform and agitation during the years of Pitt's repression of radical movements in England. This was clear even in the pages of Political Justice, but all the more obvious in his feud in 1795–96 with John Thelwall and the London Corresponding Society, the leading radical activists. This paper outlines Godwin's anarchism and points out the implications of his dispute with Thelwall. In addition it shows the extent to which Godwin has given anarchism certain of its enduring qualities.

Type
Articles
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 66 , Issue 1 , March 1972 , pp. 114 - 128
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1972

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References

1 Wolff, Robert Paul, In Defense of Anarchism (New York: Harper & Row, 1970 Google Scholar) and Rubin, Jerry, Do It! (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1970)Google ScholarPubMed.

2 The history of anarchism both as movement and set of ideas has been ably presented by Joll, James, The Anarchists (New York: Grosset and Dunlop, 1964)Google Scholar and Woodcock, George, Anarchism: A History of Libertarian Ideas and Movements (New York: Meridien, World Publishers, 1962)Google Scholar. Particulary useful as a contemporary indictment of anarchism as both elitist and counterproductive to the potential for change and reform in the real world is Barber's, Benjamin R. excellent Superman and Common Men: Freedom, Anarchy and the Revolution (New York: Praeger, 1971)Google Scholar, a position which this paper shares and hopefully corroborates.

3 Hoffmann, Abbie, Woodstock Nation (New York: Random House, 1969)Google Scholar and Revolution for the Hell of it. (New York: Dial Press, 1968)Google Scholar.

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6 Godwin, William, Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and Its Influence on Morals and Happiness (Toronto, Univ. of Toronto Press, 1946) 11, 212 Google Scholar. All future references to this work will appear with volume and page numbers in the text of this paper.

7 Compare, for example the sentiments expressed in this passage with those of Berns, Walter in his Freedom, Virtue and the First Amendment (Baton Rouge: Louisianna State Univ. Press, 1957.)Google Scholar

8 See for example Rousseau's praise of law “the celestial voice,” in his Discourse on Political Economy (New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1955), p. 294 Google ScholarPubMed.

9 Godwin's concern with sincerity is also important in understanding his link to Romanticism. Here and in his discussion of openness, spontaneity, and values of the heart (II, 280; I, 335–340) one sees a Godwin far different from the stern rationalist he has usually been depicted as, and much closer to the romantic so evident in his novels.

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13 See Kramnick, Isaac, Bolingbroke and His Circle, the Politics of Nostalgia in the Age of Walpole (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1968)Google Scholar and Bailyn, Bernard, The Ideological Origins of The American Revolution (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press, 1968)Google Scholar.

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17 Add. Mss. 35, 143 f/90. (Place Papers)

18 Add. Mss. f/93. E. P. Thompson suggests, it should be noted, that Place may be glossing over its real radical thrust to fit his own later, more moderate position (p. 153).

19 The full name of Reeves's group was “The Association for the Protection of Property Against Republicans and Levellers.”

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22 For Thelwall, see Cestre, C., John Thelwall, A Pioneer of Democracy in England (London, 1906)Google Scholar; Allen, B. S., “William Godwin's Influence upon John Thelwall” in P.M.L.A. 37 (1932)Google Scholar; and Thompson, , Making of the English Working Class, esp. pp. 157–161 Google Scholar.

23 Thompson, p. 160.

24 Thompson, p. 141ff.

25 The Tribune, No IX, Saturday, 9 May 1795. Thelwall's weekly newspaper was reprinted in collected volumes in 1796. (Vol. I, 214).

26 Add. Mss. 27, 815 f/165–6; f/184. (Letters of L.C.S. 1795–6). Add. Mss. 35, 143 f/15.

27 (Anon.) Truth and Treason! or a Narrative of the Royal Procession (London, 1795)Google Scholar; See also Rose, J. H., William Pitt and the Great War (London, G. Bell and Sons, 1911) pp. 282–88Google Scholar; and Thompson, pp. 141–143.

28 Godwin, Considerations … (London, 1796) p. 4 Google Scholar; 2–3.

29 Considerations … the reader will have noted in this paper the incredible number of parallels found in these events with those in contemporary America, including, as we shall see, the tension between radical intellectuals and radical street (movement) politicians.

30 Considerations … p. 22.

31 The Tribune, Vol. II, vii–xiv Google Scholar; Vol. III, 101–103.

32 Considerations … pp. 17, 19, 20.

33 For Paine's views see Rights of Man, Part II. (London, Penguin Books, 1970)Google Scholar. For Wollstonecraft's views see The Vindication of the Rights of Woman (London, 1792), p. 185 Google Scholar. See also the useful book Education and Enlightenment in the Works of William Godwin by Polin, B. R. (New York, 1962)Google Scholar, especially Ch. IV.

34 The Enquirer, pp. 10–11.

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