Invoking the Muse of British Socialism

Morton, in line with the concerns of the CPGBCommunist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) History Group of the 1960s, continued to show interest in international struggles as analogous to and overlapping with British and English ones, and he now had close and established contacts on the continent. Certainly, his work focused primarily on England and Britain. Morton looked further at the role of utopianism and what was important about historical failures. In this respect, he edited a collection on Robert OwenOwen, Robert and provided a substantial introduction to his life and work. This new emphasis on successes and failures of figures like OwenOwen, Robert contrasts with Morton’s earlier dismissive assessment. Morton also published a short book on the history of socialism in Britain, crystallising his understanding of an evolving radical tradition from medieval England to the Communist Party, incorporating and transforming the role of millenarianism along the way. But now this tradition was being read alongside emerging colonial and postcolonial struggles.