Ernest Belfort Bax

Ernest Belfort Bax ( born July 23, 1854 in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England; † November 26, 1926 in London) was a British socialist journalist.

Life

He grew up in a non-conformist religious family. The first time he met the Marxism in his philosophy studies in Germany. He joined Marx's ideas with those of Immanuel Kant, Arthur Schopenhauer and Eduard von Hartmann. Since it particularly interested to explore the possible metaphysical and ethical implications of socialism, he described a "religion of socialism " as a means to overcome the dichotomy between the personal and the social, but also the cognitive and the emotional. As a convinced atheist who wanted to free the workers from what he saw as the moralism of the petty bourgeoisie, he saw this as a way to overcome the organized religion.

Bax moved to Berlin and worked as a journalist for the British newspaper Evening Standard. After his return to England in 1882 he became a member of the Social Democratic Federation (SDF ), which he, however, in 1885 disillusioned left to start with William Morris the Socialist League. After anarchists gained control over them, Bax but went back to the SDF and was the most important theorist and editor of the party newspaper "Justice". He was against the participation of the party in the Labour Representation Committee, the forerunner of the Labour Party, the SDF relied on his advice even after a short membership. Bax also joined by his time as editor of Justice nor as frequent letter writer, and criticized frequently the line between party and newspaper.

Socialism

Bax was almost his entire life on the opinion that although the economic condition for socialism are ripe, this progress would be much delayed by the lack of education of the working class. He assisted Karl Kautsky against Eduard Bernstein. However, Kautsky had little interest in what he ' saw as Bax utopias and supported Theodore Rothstein's efforts to spread an orthodox Marxism in the SDF.

At first he was very set anti-nationalist, but supported the British in the First World War. At this time, however, he focused less on his political work than on his career as a lawyer.

Feminism

Bax was declared antifeminist. John Shepherd indicates that the attributed by him Bax and other members of the Social Democratic Federation misogynistic attitude seemed to dominate the organization despite feminist efforts within the SDF.

Of his comrades, his views were regarded as increasingly eccentric. A well-meaning critics him of his main work, TE Hulme, sneered: "He never arrived in the Promised Land, in which his philosophy had, because he in the lovely valleys saw a woman there somewhere. "