How I Became A Socialist

The definitive collection of political writings from William Morris

William Morris is famous as a designer, poet and artist, but his work as a political thinker and activist is little known. This collection, the first of his political writings published for nearly 50 years, shows Morris as one of the most original and inspiring socialist intellectuals of his generation.

Covering essays and lectures ranging through the relation between art and politics, to his visions for a socialist society and his strident anti-imperialism, this is an essential volume which shows Morris at his engaged and dazzling best.

William Morris (1834–1896) was a British textile designer, poet, novelist, translator, and socialist activist. Associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement, he was a major contributor to the revival of traditional British textile arts and methods of production. His literary contributions helped to establish the modern fantasy genre, while he played a significant role in propagating the early socialist movement in Britain.

Owen Holland is a Teaching Fellow at UCL in Nineteenth-century Literature. He is the author of William Morris’s Utopianism.