Morris, Wilde, and Marx on the Social Preconditions of Individual Development

According to some socialist thinkers, an anti-modern, Romantic form of Communism represents the most credible alternative to bureaucratic socialism. My aim in this paper is to test the merits of this claim by considering the critique of capitalism articulated by the first Marxian-influenced Romantic Communist, William Morris. My argument is that Morris' hostility to modernity severely diminishes the force of his otherwise radical criticisms of art and labour under advanced capitalism. I contend further that a corrective to Morris' blanket anti-modernism may be found in the works of Wilde and Marx, both of whom, albeit from different perspectives and with distinct (but not irreconcilable) aims, offer accounts of the relations between art, work, and morality which take a far more incisive view of the nature and challenges of modernity.