Socialist Imaginations: Utopias, Myths, and the Masses [Paperback]

This volume offers new perspectives on the appeal and profound cultural meaning of socialism over the past two centuries. It brings together scholarship from various disciplines addressing diverse national contexts, including Britain, China, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and the USA. Taken together, the contributions highlight the aesthetic, narrative, and religious dimensions of socialism as it has developed through three broad phases in the modern era: early nineteenth-century beginnings, mass-based political organizations, and the attainment of state power in the twentieth century and beyond. Socialism did not attract millions of people primarily because of logical argument and empirical evidence, important though those were. Rather, it told the most compelling story about the past, present, and future. Refocusing attention on socialism's imaginative dimensions, this volume aims to revive scholarly interest in one of the modern world?s most important political orientations.

List of figures. List of Contributors. Acknowledgements. Introduction: Socialist Imaginations, Stefan Arvidsson, Jakub Benea, Anja Kirsch. Part I: The Nineteenth-Century Socialist Future. Chapter 1. Contested Christianities: Communism and Religion in July Monarchy France, Julian Strube. Chapter 2. Religious Dreams of a Socialist Future: The Case of Owenism, Edward Lucas. Chapter 3. Beyond the Grand Designs: Owenism, Architecture, and Utopia, David Leopold. Part II: Ideals for the Working-Class Movement. Chapter 4. If that is Socialism, we wont help its advent : The impact of Edward Bellamys utopian novel Looking Backward on socialist thought in late-nineteenth-century Western Europe, Philipp Reick. Chapter 5: Christian philanthropy, or politicall¾