Making socialists Mary Bridges Adams and the fight for knowledge and power, 1855-1939

by Martin, Jane

• ISBN13: 9780719089947
• ISBN10: 0719089948
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2013-08-31
• Publisher: Manchester University Press

Summary

Making Socialists sheds light on several major themes in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century political and educational history. Mary Bridges Adams engaged in a wide range of political activities, and sought to transform government policy through socialist initiatives, with the ultimate aim of creating a social nation. By 1900, she was well known as a campaigner for improvements in working-class education.

The author has assembled a thorough range of sources, including new materials that will bring fresh insights to Labour Party and socialist historiography. Through an appreciation of Mary's vision, this book provides an examination of areas of experience lost in grander narratives, and offers a fresh set of perspectives on the place of education in the study of British socialism.

Making Socialists will interest a wide academic readership, across the fields of political, social and educational history, particularly students and scholars of women's history and the history of socialism.

Author Biography

Jane Martin is Professor of Social History of Education at the University of Birmingham.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations
Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Introduction – biography and history
1. Being Mary
2. Rebel communities
3. Labour politics in London
4. Rethinking Socialism and education
5. Education and class struggle
6. The Disinherited Child and the Politics of Voice
7. Bebel House and the Political Education of Working Women
8. Revolutionary politics and World War One
9. Reflections, connections and utopian visions
Bibliography
Appendix 1 - The Daltry family tree
Appendix 2 - The Adams family tree
Appendix 3 – Mary Bridges Adams, time-line
Appendix 4 – Biographical notes
Index