Signs of Change: Seven Lectures

by William Morris

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Genres: Nonfiction

80 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 28, 2002

About the author

William Morris was an English architect, furniture and textile designer, artist, writer, socialist and Marxist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement. Morris wrote and published poetry, fiction, and translations of ancient and medieval texts throughout his life. His best-known works include The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems (1858), The Earthly Paradise (1868–1870), A Dream of John Ball and the utopian News from Nowhere. He was an important figure in the emergence of socialism in Britain, founding the Socialist League in 1884, but breaking with the movement over goals and methods by the end of that decade. He devoted much of the rest of his life to the Kelmscott Press, which he founded in 1891. The 1896 Kelmscott edition of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer is considered a masterpiece of book design.

Reviews

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Observe, in the early days of the history of man he was the slave of his most immediate necessities; Nature was mighty and he was feeble, and he had to wage constant war with her for his daily food and such shelter as he could get. His life was bound down and limited by this constant struggle; all his morals, laws, religion, are in fact the outcome and the reflection of this ceaseless toil of earning his livelihood. Time passed, and little by little, step by step, he grew stronger, till now after all these ages he has almost completely conquered Nature, and one would think should now have leisure to turn his thoughts towards higher things than procuring to-morrow's dinner. But, alas! his progress has been broken and halting; and though he has indeed conquered Nature and has her forces under his control to do what he will with, he still has himself to conquer, he still has to think how he will best use those forces which he has mastered. At present he uses them blindly, foolishly, as one driven by mere fate. It would almost seem as if some phantom of the ceaseless pursuit of food which was once the master of the savage was still hunting the civilized man; who toils in a dream, as it were, haunted by mere dim unreal hopes, borne of vague recollections of the days gone by. Out of that dream he must wake, and face things as they really are. The conquest of Nature is complete, may we not say? and now our business is, and has for long been, the organization of man, who wields the forces of Nature. Nor till this is attempted at least shall we ever be free of that terrible phantom of fear of starvation which, with its brother devil, desire of domination, drives us into injustice, cruelty, and dastardliness of all kinds: to cease to fear our fellows and learn to depend on them, to do away with competition and build up co-operation, is our one necessity."

[Fred Is Red · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a series of discrete lectures addressed to general audiences and later compiled, so there is necessarily a lot of overlap in the themes and messages presented throughout the lectures, which can be tiring.

Each lecture is skewed toward one subject or another, so in that regard each lecture can be thought of as a sort of "how to explain socialism in X context". I especially connected with Morris's mincing of the British parliamentary system and it feels very relevant today.

Morris is a rather poetic and inspirational writer than a theorist or economist. This makes this a decent introductory book on socialism. Morris is also a solid Marxist with an uncompromising principled outlook, although his lack of depth of consideration of economic matters sometimes makes him seem idealistic.

If you read only two lectures from this book, I recommend the first lecture and then the one on Tories and Whigs.

[Edwin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A selection of writing filled to the brim with idealism, but not a whole lot of practicality - but you have to know where you're going to get there. Weird section on feudal Britain and a stark admiration for Chaucer. Some really interesting discussion on the place of art in socialism

[Donald · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The secret of the treasure, the defeat of a great criminal, the smashing of a Communist spy ring, and the destruction of a tentacle of SMERSH, the cruel machine that was his own private target.” The criminal being Mr. Big, crime boss of Harlem, practitioner of voodoo, and alleged zombie!

Bond's got his hands full, as he goes from NYC, to Florida, and down to Jamacia! In Jamaica, two characters from “Dr. No” - Quarrel and Strangways - help him tackle Mr. Big and company. And 007 and Solitaire go through a torture that shows up onscreen in the movie "For Your Eyes Only". It's a good tale, and a bit rough for poor ol' Felix Leiter. Yeeouch!