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Workers' Tales: Socialist Fairy Tales, Fables, and Allegories from Great Britain
A collection of political tales—first published in British workers’ magazines—selected and introduced by acclaimed critic and author Michael RosenIn the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, unique tales inspired by traditional literary forms appeared frequently in socialist-leaning British periodicals, such as the Clarion, Labour Leader, and Social Democrat. Based on familiar genres—the fairy tale, fable, allegory, parable, and moral tale—and penned by a range of lesser-known and celebrated authors, including Schalom Asch, Charles Allen Clarke, Frederick James Gould, and William Morris, these stories were meant to entertain readers of all ages—and some challenged the conventional values promoted in children’s literature for the middle class. In Workers’ Tales, acclaimed critic and author Michael Rosen brings together more than forty of the best and most enduring examples of these stories in one beautiful volume.Throughout, the tales in this collection exemplify themes and ideas related to work and the class system, sometimes in wish-fulfilling ways. In “Tom Hickathrift,” a little, poor person gets the better of a gigantic, wealthy one. In “The Man Without a Heart,” a man learns about the value of basic labor after testing out more privileged lives. And in “The Political Economist and the Flowers,” two contrasting gardeners highlight the cold heart of Darwinian competition. Rosen’s informative introduction describes how such tales advocated for contemporary progressive causes and countered the dominant celebration of Britain’s imperial values. The book includes archival illustrations, biographical notes about the writers, and details about the periodicals where the tales first appeared.Provocative and enlightening, Workers’ Tales presents voices of resistance that are more relevant than ever before.
328 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 16, 2018
24 people are currently reading
482 people want to read
About the author
Michael Rosen
590 books533 followersMichael Rosen, a recent British Children’s Laureate, has written many acclaimed books for children, including WE'RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, and I’M NUMBER ONE and THIS IS OUR HOUSE, both illustrated by Bob Graham. Michael Rosen lives in London.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 13, 2019
As the title suggests, these are fairy & morality tales with a leftist slant from the 19th and early 20th centuries, mostly for a British audience. The best ones (IMO) leave that bias as subtext; the worst whack you over the head with a coal-miner's pick ax, i.e., "Jack Clearhead." A variant of "Jack and the Bean Stalk," where the giants are named Mon-o-Poly and Com-pe-Tition, a thug's name is Ig-no-Ramus, and the hero fights for the incomparably beautiful maiden Social-Ism.
The best tales are C. Allen Clarke's version of "Little Red Riding Hood," and a primer on Socialism vs. Capitalism that Fox News as well as the Democratic Party's leadership could learn from, "Mr. Prowser-Wowser" (Edward Hartley).
The authors are preaching to the choir but I could only recommend this to someone interested in the history of Socialist/Leftist literature, not someone interested in reading well written, interesting versions of traditional folk tales that question the status quo.
The best tales are C. Allen Clarke's version of "Little Red Riding Hood," and a primer on Socialism vs. Capitalism that Fox News as well as the Democratic Party's leadership could learn from, "Mr. Prowser-Wowser" (Edward Hartley).
The authors are preaching to the choir but I could only recommend this to someone interested in the history of Socialist/Leftist literature, not someone interested in reading well written, interesting versions of traditional folk tales that question the status quo.
April 8, 2020
My son bought me this book for Christmas - he is a thoughtful buyer of books as gifts and this is just one of many wonderful surprises he’s given me over the years.
An excellent read - I was both entertained and educated. I can only agree with Philip Pullman’s review: “This is a wonderful and wonder-filled collection, which testifies not only to the breadth of the human imagination but also to the enduring importance of my favourite virtue, hope. There couldn’t be a better time to bring these stories back into print. We need them more than ever.”
Hopes have been dashed in our home with the chance of having a lifelong socialist Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister, and, today, the sad news that Bernie Saunders has withdrawn from the campaign to be next POTUS, but onwards and upwards.
Lastly, we are hoping and praying for the full recovery of Professor Michael Rosen, loved by so many readers and children for his own writing, broadcasting and political integrity, who is currently very ill in hospital with Coronavirus.
An excellent read - I was both entertained and educated. I can only agree with Philip Pullman’s review: “This is a wonderful and wonder-filled collection, which testifies not only to the breadth of the human imagination but also to the enduring importance of my favourite virtue, hope. There couldn’t be a better time to bring these stories back into print. We need them more than ever.”
Hopes have been dashed in our home with the chance of having a lifelong socialist Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister, and, today, the sad news that Bernie Saunders has withdrawn from the campaign to be next POTUS, but onwards and upwards.
Lastly, we are hoping and praying for the full recovery of Professor Michael Rosen, loved by so many readers and children for his own writing, broadcasting and political integrity, who is currently very ill in hospital with Coronavirus.
February 24, 2019
Det hender eg les populærlitteratur frå tida rundt det førre hundreårsskiftet. Nesten kvar jævla gong kjem det fram ein klar fascistisk tendens, anten i form av antisemittisme eller annan rasisme eller som tydeleg antisosialisme. Iallfall eg får hug til å lese det dåtidas jødar og arbeidarar ville likt og kjent seg att i, og her er endeleg ei slik samling. Eventyra, fablane og forteljingane er oftast vittige. Michael Rosen har heilt sikkert valt ut dei stykka med høgast litterær kvalitet, og her er stykke for både vaksne og born. Lydbokproduksjonen er eksemplarisk, Rosen les opp ei innleiing før kvart av stykka, og sjølve tekstane er lesne av eit halvt dusin svært kompetente opplesarar. Innleiingane inneheld opplysningar om kor og når det aktuelle stykket først var på prent, litt om forfattaren og noter som forklarar og gjev kontekst til det vi straks får høyre. Suverent!
March 3, 2022
I really wanted to like this more, because of the topic, liking the author, and the presentation of the actual book being very very nice. But unfortunately a lot of the stories in it were just a bit dull.
March 18, 2019
AudioBook Review:
Stars: Overall: 5 Narration: 5 Stories: 5
Spanning forty years with short stories from the last two decades of the 19th century and the first two of the 20th century, Michael Rosen has collected these tales, many allegorical and geared to entertain children providing a specific ‘twist’ that reflected the changes in society and a particular political bent I have listened to these forty-five tales over several days.
Workers’ Tales: Socialist Fairy Tales, Fables, and Allegories from Great Britain
It is often said that the ones who make history are the ‘winning sides’ and that all other ‘noise’ surrounding any conflict is doomed to silence. It’s actually not far off, as achievements of countries, people and civilizations have often been relegated to footnotes or ignored completely by those who have brought the story of their own accomplishments into the history books. But, here is a chance to hear the other part of the story – the ones often suppressed or ignored, rising through great societal and cultural change, and in some circles, tagged as ideas to be feared or reviled.
Most interesting for the way in which the authors have presented the story – subtle (and not so subtle) undermining of the social norm and expectations, the dissembling of the ‘imperialistic’ outlook of the history texts and general knowledge. These stories are intriguing and entertaining as well, keeping me interested as I limited myself to 4 or 5 at a stretch – allowing time to digest what I had heard, and occasionally try to see why something was penned, researching historic context, upheavals and changes around the time of authoring. This was all kinds of intriguing and did exactly what I hope to find from a title – provided me with new perspective: tilting a view of a situation and stepping into another’s explanation and view of the scene laid out before me. While I’m not a huge fan of allegorical tales of the modern day, finding them pretentious and often over-burdened with the “look how smart I am” attitude, the clarity of such tales and easy accessibility of the “it’s this signifying or pointing to that” was easy to see, bringing a sort of subtle and occasionally sly humor apparent as the listen continued.
Testing messages that hit themes of hard work, less versus more, Darwin and even enforcing the value of a being, these were entertaining and eye opening, and quite a bit different from what I expected going in. Narrated by a cast of voices that included John Telfer, Lisa Coleman, Michael Rosen, Miriam Margolyes, Peter Kenny, Ric Jerrom, and Samuel West, each voice was clear and precise, providing a flow through the listen that varied tone and approach and kept auditory interest, there wasn’t time to feel ‘overburdened’ by to much information or tiring of any singular voice.
I received an AudioBook copy of this title from Princeton University Press. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.
Review first appeared at I am, Indeed
Stars: Overall: 5 Narration: 5 Stories: 5
Spanning forty years with short stories from the last two decades of the 19th century and the first two of the 20th century, Michael Rosen has collected these tales, many allegorical and geared to entertain children providing a specific ‘twist’ that reflected the changes in society and a particular political bent I have listened to these forty-five tales over several days.
Workers’ Tales: Socialist Fairy Tales, Fables, and Allegories from Great Britain
It is often said that the ones who make history are the ‘winning sides’ and that all other ‘noise’ surrounding any conflict is doomed to silence. It’s actually not far off, as achievements of countries, people and civilizations have often been relegated to footnotes or ignored completely by those who have brought the story of their own accomplishments into the history books. But, here is a chance to hear the other part of the story – the ones often suppressed or ignored, rising through great societal and cultural change, and in some circles, tagged as ideas to be feared or reviled.
Most interesting for the way in which the authors have presented the story – subtle (and not so subtle) undermining of the social norm and expectations, the dissembling of the ‘imperialistic’ outlook of the history texts and general knowledge. These stories are intriguing and entertaining as well, keeping me interested as I limited myself to 4 or 5 at a stretch – allowing time to digest what I had heard, and occasionally try to see why something was penned, researching historic context, upheavals and changes around the time of authoring. This was all kinds of intriguing and did exactly what I hope to find from a title – provided me with new perspective: tilting a view of a situation and stepping into another’s explanation and view of the scene laid out before me. While I’m not a huge fan of allegorical tales of the modern day, finding them pretentious and often over-burdened with the “look how smart I am” attitude, the clarity of such tales and easy accessibility of the “it’s this signifying or pointing to that” was easy to see, bringing a sort of subtle and occasionally sly humor apparent as the listen continued.
Testing messages that hit themes of hard work, less versus more, Darwin and even enforcing the value of a being, these were entertaining and eye opening, and quite a bit different from what I expected going in. Narrated by a cast of voices that included John Telfer, Lisa Coleman, Michael Rosen, Miriam Margolyes, Peter Kenny, Ric Jerrom, and Samuel West, each voice was clear and precise, providing a flow through the listen that varied tone and approach and kept auditory interest, there wasn’t time to feel ‘overburdened’ by to much information or tiring of any singular voice.
I received an AudioBook copy of this title from Princeton University Press. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.
Review first appeared at I am, Indeed
Read
March 31, 2019The book does what the title says: It presented me with a largish number of socialist fairy tales (late 19th/early 20th century), a genre I didn't know existed - looking back, it makes perfect sense, though. - I can't say how comprehensive this overview is. The stories were all a bit similar and mostly not very good. I don't want to hold this against the book, so I'm unsure how to rate the book.
I know little about socialism and I actually learned some theory from the book; still, I would have preferred fewer stories and more about the authors, the audience, how these works were received and what influence they had. There is a foreword addressing just these points, true, and I guess I could always go to a history of socialism in the UK to find out more.
I know little about socialism and I actually learned some theory from the book; still, I would have preferred fewer stories and more about the authors, the audience, how these works were received and what influence they had. There is a foreword addressing just these points, true, and I guess I could always go to a history of socialism in the UK to find out more.
October 30, 2022
I wanted to enjoy this more than I did to be honest. I've more than a passing interest in fairy tales and mythology and it's intersection with socialism seemed an appealing concept to be honest. The folk tale is often a warning or a lesson to it's readers or a moral tale so its usage in educating working class readers about socialism and capitalism is a natural one for me. For instance, what is 'Three Little Pigs' but a tale about solidarity against the big bad wolf of capitalism. In this book, 'Jack and the Beanstalk' gets a retelling, and rather than a thief who robs and murders a giant, it emphasises the redistribution of wealth from the lofty giants and the defeat of Capitalism, Monopoly and Ignorance!
Some of the stories in the book are genuinely heartwarming or engaging and interesting, but sadly an awful lot of them mould into the next. I intentionally only read a couple of day whilst reading the book to allow them to sink in but I was finding myself glaze over them quite a bit, as many were just sermons about the value of socialism rather than an interesting story in it's own right. I also expected more of a connection to folklore and mythology than was present here. Indeed, when writers looked to the past, and especially the future they were the most interesting stories
Most of the stories were written in the late 19th century and early 20th century and were published in socialist journals and papers of the time. Whilst it may be interesting to those not exposed to the ideas of socialism, I kind of felt like I was being preached at. I guess some of this content was aimed at children and also was aimed at a 'Sunday School for Socialists' audience. So it definitely works as an interesting historical document but I am not sure that I enjoyed much of this as a reading experience.
Looking at this through a political perspective it is rather sad that the problems identified by the writers are still the problems impacting much of the world. I've read a little writing from the period and there was so much hope that the future would be different. The nature of work may have changed but the fundamental relationships have not.
It's also very interesting reading this from an anarchist point of view. Most of the writing is written from the perspective of socialists around the time of the formation of the Independent Labour Party, which became the ghastly 'not quite as fascist as the Tory' Labour Party we have in Britain today. I appreciated the opportunity to learn more of the hopes and aspirations of the early Labour Party. Indeed, there is a piece by Kier Hardie in here. If he could see what his namesake a century later was doing he would be absolutely turning in his grave. It's rather sad, that the 'cranks, antisemites and Trots' (or as I call them, 'ordinary people who wanted a fairer society) who formed the bulk of Labour membership under Corbyn are so close to the party's original aims and that the fact they are so denigrated tells me much of the media, establishment and current Labour Party piss on the graves of these early socialists.
In particular, Hardie correctly identifies what the challenges will be for Labour if close to power (it's startling how this story can be read in the context of the rise and fall of Corbyn), and yet Hardie's solutions are also socialism's failings which have played out time and time again. The notion of solidarity and trade unions realised through a vanguard party fails as soon as the vanguard party sets the direction and leads, rather than acts as a vehicle for all. Part of me wanted to cry because Hardie was both so right and so wrong!
I am glad I read the collection, and may dip into them again for a bit of information, but it's not touched my heart the way I hoped it would
Some of the stories in the book are genuinely heartwarming or engaging and interesting, but sadly an awful lot of them mould into the next. I intentionally only read a couple of day whilst reading the book to allow them to sink in but I was finding myself glaze over them quite a bit, as many were just sermons about the value of socialism rather than an interesting story in it's own right. I also expected more of a connection to folklore and mythology than was present here. Indeed, when writers looked to the past, and especially the future they were the most interesting stories
Most of the stories were written in the late 19th century and early 20th century and were published in socialist journals and papers of the time. Whilst it may be interesting to those not exposed to the ideas of socialism, I kind of felt like I was being preached at. I guess some of this content was aimed at children and also was aimed at a 'Sunday School for Socialists' audience. So it definitely works as an interesting historical document but I am not sure that I enjoyed much of this as a reading experience.
Looking at this through a political perspective it is rather sad that the problems identified by the writers are still the problems impacting much of the world. I've read a little writing from the period and there was so much hope that the future would be different. The nature of work may have changed but the fundamental relationships have not.
It's also very interesting reading this from an anarchist point of view. Most of the writing is written from the perspective of socialists around the time of the formation of the Independent Labour Party, which became the ghastly 'not quite as fascist as the Tory' Labour Party we have in Britain today. I appreciated the opportunity to learn more of the hopes and aspirations of the early Labour Party. Indeed, there is a piece by Kier Hardie in here. If he could see what his namesake a century later was doing he would be absolutely turning in his grave. It's rather sad, that the 'cranks, antisemites and Trots' (or as I call them, 'ordinary people who wanted a fairer society) who formed the bulk of Labour membership under Corbyn are so close to the party's original aims and that the fact they are so denigrated tells me much of the media, establishment and current Labour Party piss on the graves of these early socialists.
In particular, Hardie correctly identifies what the challenges will be for Labour if close to power (it's startling how this story can be read in the context of the rise and fall of Corbyn), and yet Hardie's solutions are also socialism's failings which have played out time and time again. The notion of solidarity and trade unions realised through a vanguard party fails as soon as the vanguard party sets the direction and leads, rather than acts as a vehicle for all. Part of me wanted to cry because Hardie was both so right and so wrong!
I am glad I read the collection, and may dip into them again for a bit of information, but it's not touched my heart the way I hoped it would
July 31, 2024
Loved these tales of hope and resurgence. They aren't all great writing by any means (in fact, that's not really the point of this collection) but they range from basic didactic children's stories to surreal flights of fancy, all around the same themes of socialism, the power of labour and the imagined future (I was particularly touched by the vision of Vienna in the 1970s). Rosen's intro is also very informative.
It has a bit of a specialist appeal but if you're a leftie or anyone with an interest in children's literature, I think you would enjoy it. As well as wonder what could have been in the world of kid lit...
It has a bit of a specialist appeal but if you're a leftie or anyone with an interest in children's literature, I think you would enjoy it. As well as wonder what could have been in the world of kid lit...
July 3, 2025
I had no thought of listening to this audiobook except to hear something read by Miriam Margolyes, and she is as excellent as advertised. It's an interesting compilation of writings from "socialism at its most hopeful, perhaps at its most innocent, untouched by world war, Stalinism, or the Holocaust". The most chilling to me was the story of Mary Davis' descent into hell (but remaining proudly steadfast), and the last story, Edward Meyer's It Can't Be Done. I also loved the notes, wherein the origin of phrases like "pleased as Punch" are explicated.
March 18, 2021
Fascinating concept stymied by poor execution. To be fair this form of collection is always difficult to produce, even masterful examples like Italian Folktales find themselves becoming repetitive slogs. A good read if you are specifically interested in the area but avoid if looking for something casual/to share with the nippers.
April 10, 2024
Well. I suppose I ought to have expected that the Socialist Fairy Tales, etc, from the late 19th/early 20th centuries would be just as preachy, condescending and dull as the ones from more mainstream children's literature of the time. Zzzzzzzzz.
I'll admit I may have missed a gem or two from the latter part of the book, only made it about 2/3 of the way through.
I'll admit I may have missed a gem or two from the latter part of the book, only made it about 2/3 of the way through.
March 10, 2019
Didn't particularly find many of the stories memorable. The illustrations, whilst beautiful, I found misplaced and random in areas. Would've been nice to have had a short history/explanation of socialism at the beginning for some context.
August 9, 2023
These stories provide such a unique perspective into the era in which they were written. I greatly appreciated the intro/synopsis at the beginning of each story that gives them more meaning and depth. Will reread in the future.
Read
July 31, 2024This book was fine, but not what I expected - I was hoping for some strange, surprising stories like Grimm's with a socialist angle, but instead this was more heavy-handed allegory and propaganda from newspapers at the time. Still an interesting read, not something I would go back to.
Read
August 30, 2019Fiction W92629 2018
February 17, 2023
My favourite non fiction of the year so far. A wonderful compendium of tales across decades of English socialists that will cause dismay in a cynic and inspiration in an working class hero.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews