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Was William Morris a Marxist?
Despite being called a utopian and even an anarchist, Morris’s writings and his participation in Britain’s first Marxist groups make it clear whose politics he followed, argues the MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY
William Morris (right) with the Socialist League manifesto (right)

A CENTURY and a half ago, William Morris published an epic which established his reputation as one of the foremost poets of his day.

The Earthly Paradise is essentially a collection of ancient myths and legends drawn from classical mythology or medieval and Icelandic sagas, retold by a group of Norsemen who have fled a plague, setting sail in search of a land of everlasting life “where none grow old.”

They don’t find it but, returning “shrivelled, bent and grey,” they are welcomed into a “nameless city in a distant sea” where they spend the rest of their lives, swapping tales with their hosts.

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