David M. Young, "Socialism and suburbia: a topography of activism before the First World War".
Paper presented at the New Socialist Approaches to History seminar, Institute of Historical Research, March 12th 2005
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This paper is based on an idea which suggested itself to me while working on the Social Democratic Federation in London. As a part of that research I have built up a database of the membership in London and have been able to come to some conclusions about age, gender, occupation, branch size and turnover. However, what was lacking was a spatial and temporal dimension.
Gareth Stedman Jones’ essay ‘Working Class Culture and Working Class Politics in London, 1870-1900’ (1974) is still much cited and manages to combine an economic, cultural and political analysis of London in this period. However, at one point he states that ‘with the exception of some isolated communities’ London had essentially ‘pre-industrial characteristics’. As a result the culture and political reflected these characteristics – ‘dense and inward-looking’, ‘enclosed and defensive’.
This paper will look at the demographic change in London (using data collected from the 1901 census and from School admissions books from Edmonton) to illustrate the origins of the suburbanites the Londoners. I will then use evidence from SDF (and ILP) records to show the change in the distribution of socialist branches across the region. In addition I will use evidence from SDF branch and other records to describe the content of socialist culture in this period. In this way I will try to show that the internal migration within the metropolis produced a growth in working class suburbia and that this was also a growth area for socialist politics. Working class suburbia established its own forms of culture while the socialist branches in turn developed cultural activities in tune with these new communities. This is not about a ‘red belt’ or ‘Little Moscows’ but a change in focus.