The bugle of justice: the romantic socialism of William Morris and George Orwell

This essay considers three possible applications of the concept of justice to the work of William Morris and George Orwell. It begins with a brief look at the treatment of criminals in Morris's utopian writing: a specific issue which anticipates some of the points of the modern restorative justice model. The bulk of the essay is devoted to the elaboration of four interconnected elements of the utopia of romantic socialism in Morris and Orwell: elements that provide the positive building blocks of the just society of human well‐being. The roles of the past, of nationality, of the natural environment, and of the demechanization of labor in the creation of the community of the future are considered. The final section, by drawing on several other specimens of socialist utopianism, examines the insufficiency of emotional ethical responses to injustice in producing a convincing version of ideal arrangements, and thereby highlights the value of the romantic visions of Morris and Orwell.