no place for women? anti-utopianism and the utopian politics of the 1890s

8/10/2019 No Place for Women? Anti-utopianism and the Utopian Politics of the 1890s

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No Place for Women? Anti-utopianism and the Utopian

Politics of the 1890s 1

Judy Green ay

!ntroduction

' Be Realistic, Demand the Impossible', and 'Take Your Desires for Reality'

went the 19 ! "ituationist slo#ans$ This article e%amines some of the

ways in which the polarisation between the realistic and the impossible

#ets set up& the mo e from utopia as a place that does not e%ist, to one

which cannot e%ist$ It also raises the (uestions& )hose desires* )hose

reality* +%amples of women's writin#s about utopian politics in late

nineteenth century +n#land show constructions of the relationship

between utopian and non utopian space which render utopia as always

elsewhere$ -eanwhile utopian space is often represented as masculine or

ase%ual, su##estin# that it is no place for women$

.topias, whether fictional or real life instances, are amon#st other thin#se%periments / with ima#ination as a method, hope as a moti ation, and

social chan#e as a #oal$ 0s incent 2eo#ehan ar#ues& '0n impractical,

unrealistic utopianism cannot be counterposed to a practical non utopian

realism, for utopianism can issue forth in both practical and impractical

forms$' 3

4ow, then, has the common sense belief that utopia is self e idently

impossible been produced* 0lthou#h many theorists of utopia point out

the ambi#uity of the word itself 5'utopia' in its deri ation meanin# both

#ood place and no place6, this kind of terminolo#ical point does not

e%plain why the ambi#uity e%ists$ 7 The appeal to realism and reality

similarly be#s the (uestion / after all, much of what seemed impossible

in the past has become the taken for #ranted reality of the present$


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I ar#ue that the e eryday notion of utopia as inherently impossible is

produced and reproduced throu#h the repetition of narrati es and ima#ery

which construct a time that is not now, but once upon a time8 a place

which is not here, but somewhere o er the rainbow$

:or e%ample, in utopian fiction, the story usually starts off in a non

utopian here and now assumed to be shared by the readers$ )e then

accompany a narrator, both e%plorer and anthropolo#ist, to a utopian

world characterised by its otherness, its spatial and temporal distance

from our own$ The detailed descriptions and e%planations make the

utopian world appear realistic but at the same time emphasise its

difference 5and distance6$ The story usually ends with the tra eller'sreturn home, perhaps brin#in# back some utopian ideas for chan#e, but in

any case lea in# utopia behind$ )hate er the author's intentions, the

narrati e structure has a distancin# effect on the reader, and to that

e%tent feeds into e%istin# anti utopian ideas$

0 similar kind of effect can be seen in autobio#raphies, where former

en#a#ement with utopian ideas and practices is distanced by tellin# thestory in such a way that past hopes become almost ine%plicable / at best

the product of i#norance and nai ety$ ;haracteristically, a now older and

wiser narrator recounts the past as the space of youth, dream and

fantasy, a place and time somehow outside the real world of political

maturity and adult #ender relations$

0nti utopianism is ideolo#ical& in 2eo#ehan's words, 'a conflict between

dreams mas(ueradin# as an attack on dreamin#'$ < 0nti utopianism uses

fatalism as a method, pessimism as 5de6moti ation, with disen#a#ement,

passi ity or resistance to chan#e as the #oal$ Instruction in anti

utopianism is not =ust by means of repeated reminders of seemin#ly

intractable dystopias such as war, terror, oppression, and en ironmental

de#radation, but by the endless reiteration of narrati es of the ine itable

failure of utopias$


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This can be seen in histories of utopian e%periments, which are often told

in such a way that lack of success seems predetermined$ +ndin# is

conflated with failure, and e%planations of failure become not a challen#e

to think how to do thin#s better, but a demonstration that utopias will

ine itably fail$ >ften there is a double standard, so that the failure of a

non utopian pro=ect is seen as particular8 that of a utopian pro=ect,

typical$

In these ways the narrati e con entions of utopian fiction, autobio#raphy

and history ser e to locate actual as well as fictional utopian e%periments

in a world not =ust ima#inary but always elsewhere, unreal and unrealistic,

implicitly or e%plicitly impossible$ In this conte%t e en sympatheticrepresentations lend themsel es to ne#ati e interpretation$

"uch processes can be seen in contemporary accounts of utopian politics

in 1!9?s +n#land$ The term 'utopian' was used at the time as a pe=orati e

description of attempts to chan#e society by transformin# personal

relationships, especially those between men and women$ ;ritics from the

ri#ht used the word in its e eryday sense of hopelessly unrealistic8 thosefrom the left drew also on +n#els' contrast between 'utopian' and

'scientific' 5i$e$ -ar%ist6 socialism$ @ Aeople described as utopians mi#ht

accept the term and seek to redefine it positi ely& more often they would

ar#ue that they were not utopians, but that their beliefs were scientifically

based and or practically attainable$ I use 'utopian politics' and related

terms here to refer to ideas, mo ements and practices which sou#ht to try

out new kinds of social relations$ "uch e%periments were part of what

Ruth Ce itas calls 'the education of desire $$$ for a better way of bein#

and li in#'$ ! In this sense, utopian politics is about creatin# spaces that

can be rehearsal rooms for chan#e$ "uch spaces may be te%tual, spaces

for the ima#ination8 or physical, a makin# of literal spaces where social

relations can be reconfi#ured$

0s the twentieth century approached, the #rowin# anarchist and socialist

mo ements shared a widespread optimism about the future, reflected inthe abundance of rhetoric about the comin# ew 0#e or ew )orld, to be


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inhabited by ew )omen / and e en perhaps ew -en 5thou#h the

latter term was less common6$ )hile the bur#eonin# of ' ew )oman'

fiction #enerated new literary spaces, this period also saw the flourishin#

of numerous attempts to create both rural and urban utopian

communities, places where new ideas could be tried out in practice$ 9 0mid

fierce debates about the transformation of society, about the boundaries

between public and pri ate, personal and political, male and female

worlds, some #roups of men and women determined to li e out their

politics$

The four books which I will discuss here were all written by women who

were directly in ol ed in this milieu$ I ha e chosen them not because theyor their authors are particularly well known or influential, but as si#ns of

the times, historical clues to the aried ways in which a particular kind of

politics was li ed throu#h and represented$ Thus althou#h the main focus

of my analysis is on the processes of representation within the te%ts

themsel es, I also discuss aspects of the li ed e%periences of the authors$

I look first at three no els which fictionalise the authors' e%periences inorder to comment on the possibilities of personal and social chan#e$ 1? A

Girl Among the Anarchists , by Isabel -eredith 5pseudonym of sisters

4elen and >li ia Rossetti6, deals with the makin# of spaces for the

practice of politics, the relationship between domestic and political space,

and the ways in the latter denies or e%cludes issues of #ender and

se%uality$ Attainment , by +dith Cees 5writin# under her married name of

-rs$ 4a elock +llis6, is about an unsuccessful attempt to mer#e the

domestic and the political by settin# up a co operati e household of men

and women$ In both these no els, the heroines are unable to de elop

themsel es freely, and abandon the e%periments$ The Image Breakers , by

2ertrude Di%, criti(ues con entional domesticity as well as arious forms

of utopianism, while dealin# more centrally and e%plicitly with #ender and

se%ual politics$ Te%tually, at least, a new space is created for female

desire$ But as in the other no els, neither 'real' 5that is, socially

con entional6 life nor utopia can pro ide this$ The fourth book discussed isWhiteway , by ellie "haw, a non fiction account by a member of a


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successful utopian community in which #ender politics has played a

central part$

A "irl amon" the anarchists

A Girl Among the Anarchists , published in 19?7, is based on the Rossetti

sisters' in ol ement in the anarchist mo ement, in particular their

e%periences from 1!91 as editors and publishers of a =ournal called the

Torch $ 0lthou#h they were not directly in ol ed in settin# up a utopian

community as such, the Torch and its offices pro ided te%tual and physical

space for the de elopment of a political community, out of which such

e%periments could de elop$

)hen they be#an the paper, assisted by their fourteen year old brother

0rthur, 4elen was twel e, and >li ia si%teen$ They were part of an acti ely

political and artistic household, and their bohemian parents reluctantly

tolerated their anarchist acti ities as somethin# they would #row out of$

>thers took them more seriously / contributors included writers 2eor#e

Bernard "haw and :ord -ado% :ord, anarchist feminist +mma 2oldman,and the artist Cucien Aissarro$ Initially, the Torch was hand produced in

the study of the Rossetti home near Re#ent's Aark in Condon$ The paper

was sold at outdoor political meetin#s, at railway stations, and in the

street8 as its circulation #rew, necessitatin# the purchase of a printin#

press, -rs$ Rossetti insisted that production be mo ed to the basement,

which became an anarchist meetin# place as well as an office$ 0s historian

Barry Eohnson comments, ';onsi#ned to a re#ion of the house normally

fre(uented only by ser ants, the youn# comrades were able to disport

themsel es in a way which would ha e been impossible upstairs$' 11

0fter their mother died, their father insisted that the whole enterprise be

cleared out of the house, and it was mo ed to rented premises8 there

ceased to be any si#nificant o erlap between the spaces of political and

domestic life$ 0lthou#h they continued their in ol ement for another two

years, they no lon#er wrote for it, and by the time the paper e entuallycollapsed in 1!9@, both sisters had already mo ed on to other thin#s$ 13


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In their early twenties when they wrote A Girl among the Anarchists , they

represent their acti ities of less than a decade before as immature

idealism$ The book parallels the structure of many utopian no els, written

in autobio#raphical style with a first person narrator, the plot takin#

second place to detailed e%positions of the physical characteristics and

belief systems of an unfamiliar world$ The reader is thus positioned as

someone from the 'real' or non utopian world$

0s the no el opens, the narrator, ei#hteen year old Isabel, is con eniently

orphaned$ "he be#ins to attend political meetin#s and is swept up in the

pleasurable e%citement of challen#in# con ention$ Becomin# morally andintellectually committed to social chan#e, she decides to abandon class

pre=udice and 'throw myself into the life and the work of the masses'$ 17

4er way of doin# this is to learn typesettin# and printin# so that she can

=oin a #roup of anarchists in startin# a =ournal, the Tocsin $

The space of anarchist practice is e%oticised, described in lan#ua#e more

reminiscent of tra el writin# or ethno#raphy&To the ordinary citiFen whose walk in life lies alon# the beaten track

there is a su##estion of Bohemianism about the office of any

literary or propa#andist or#an8 but I doubt whether the most

ima#inati e amon# them in their wildest moments ha e e er

concei ed any re#ion so far remo ed from the con entions of

ci ilised society, so arbitrary in its hours and customs, so

cosmopolitan and so utterly irrational as the office of the Tocsin $

Its inhabitants include, as well as '#enuine 0narchists', a 'stran#e medley

of $$$ tramps, dGsoeu rGs cranks, ar#umentati e people with time on their

hands, and $$$ downri#ht lunatics$ :orei#ners of all ton#ues $$$ ' 1 The

office, as well as bein# a place for printin# and publishin# the paper,

'rapidly became a factory, a debatin# club, a school, a hospital, a

madhouse, a soup kitchen and a sort of Rowton 4ouse, all in one'$ 1ne man tells her, 'You are not a woman& you are a ;omrade', and

this de #endered persona allows her, for e%ample, to sleep on the office

floor beside the men after workin# late, without this ha in# any se%ual

connotations$ 1 The most politically dedicated of the men re=ect any kind

of domesticity, seein# se%ual or emotional relationships as a distraction

from the ;ause$ )hen Isabel declares her lo e to one of them, he

responds by tellin# her that '0n 0narchist's life is not his own$ :riendship,

comradeship may be helpful, but family ties are fatal $$$ I thou#ht of you

as a comrade and lo ed you as such'$ 1@ This ri#idity of approach is

presented as masculine adherence to abstract principle, and e entually

Isabel can no lon#er accept it$

In her introduction to the 1993 reprint, Eennifer "haddock says that at the

end, Isabel 'is en#ulfed by the ubi(uitous bour#eois metaphor of 4ome'$ 1!

But the conclusion is more ambi#uous than that$ In the final chapter,

echoin# the complaints a#ainst domesticity made by other rebellious

middle class women of the period, Isabel says,

I had allowed myself to be stran#ely preoccupied and flustered bytrifles$ )hat were these important duties which had so absorbed

me as to lea e me no time for thou#ht, for study, no time to li e

my own life* 19

But for her it is not domestic duties, but political commitment that

distracts her from the real business of li in# her own life$ 4er comrades

ha e been shown to be either noble but deluded men who suppress all

human instinct or all too human #rotes(ues$ 0lready sufferin# from a

sense of political futility and depressed by tensions within the #roup,

Isabel #oes to the Tocsin office, only to find it occupied by the police$ The

forces of order ha e thrown it into a state of 'wild disorder', and the

landlord #i es them notice to (uit$ 3? Disillusioned with the possibilities for

social chan#e or personal happiness, she decides to lea e the anarchist

world she has helped create$ Its physical and mental spaces ha e become

uninhabitable$ But Isabel does not #o home$ "he says #oodbye to her

comrades and walks out into the Condon streets$ If anarchist space isimpossible space, so too is 'home'$


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Attainment

The attempt to politically reconfi#ure 'home' is a central issue in

Attainment , by +dith Cees, which is closely based on her in ol ement at

the be#innin# of the 1!9?s in the utopian socialist :ellowship of the ew

Cife$ ;allin# in its constitution for personal as well as social

transformation, the :ellowship's main aim was 'the culti ation of a perfect

character'8 its methods included simplicity of li in# and 'the introduction

as far as possible of manual labour in con=unction with intellectual

pursuits'$ 31 The constitution was written in the early 1!!?s8 by the end of

that decade #ender was playin# a more important part in ideas aboutwhat personal and social transformation mi#ht in ol e$

0lthou#h characterised by their critics as idealists who set themsel es the

hopeless task of achie in# personal perfection before social chan#e could

come about, :ellowship members and others in ol ed in settin# up

e%periments in community li in# saw themsel es as the practical ones,

in ol ed in workin# out at a personal le el what a new life could be like$:or women in particular, such enterprises in ol ed a rethinkin# of the

relationship between domestic and political space, and the ways in which

such spaces were #endered$

These issues were addressed directly in +dith Cees' life and writin#$ Cees

became secretary of the :ellowship in 1!9?, and the followin# year she

=oined a few of its members in settin# up :ellowship 4ouse, a co operati e

boardin# house in Condon's Bloomsbury, then a relati ely cheap bohemian

area$ Its hetero#eneous inhabitants included& +llen Taylor, who was Cees'

companion ser ant8 0#nes 4enry, who irritated e eryone by discussin#

anarchism o er breakfast 5I will say more about her later68 "ydney >li ier,

then workin# at the colonial office8 and future Cabour Arime -inister

Ramsay -acDonald$ It was an e%periment in collecti e li in# that ran into

familiar problems o er money, housework, and personal

incompatibilities$ 33


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Years later, in a parody of )illiam -orris's slo#an, ':ellowship is Cife', +dith

Cees would comment that ':ellowship is 4ell'$ 37 0fter ei#hteen months, she

left to embark on an uncon entional marria#e with 4a elock +llis, a

founder member of the :ellowship of the ew Cife who had ne er been

tempted by community li in#$ 0lthou#h she had re=ected that particular

e%periment, +dith Cees was one of a small number of women at the time

ad ocatin# 'semi detached marria#e', where the wife was economically

independent and had separate li in# space if not a separate household$ 3

Cees had passionate se%ual relationships with women before and after her

marria#e, and althou#h she and +llis belie ed in se%ual freedom, li in# up

to their principles was to pro e difficult for both partners, emotionally and

financially$ 3n the hilltops, she

tells them, si% miles from the nearest railway and town,

)hiteway is reached by a most pictures(ue road, ascendin# with

many twists and cur es between deli#htful alleys and well wooded

hills $$$

"he #oes on to refer to 'lo ely' iews, 'charmin#' illa#es, and 'cosy'

cotta#es, with a recurrence of the 'pictures(ue'$


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The cookin#, washin# and cleanin# $$$ are done by Eeannie, Cucy

and ellie$ -ost of the meals are taken out of doors, under a tree

by the roadside$ The washin#, too, is done out of doors, for these

three belie e in bein# indoors as little as possible $$$ Time not

occupied in this way is spent on the land $$$ The women do e%actly

the same kind of work as the men, and do not find it too tirin#$

This romantic picture is tempered with a caution$

>f course, there is another side to all this$ )et days, especially wet

washin# days, are ery tryin#$ +ndea ourin# to make old trousers

into new knickerbockers, darnin# impossible socks, runnin# out of

some necessary item of food $$$ but worst of all $$$ findin# in

oursel es une%pected weak places, bein# impatient of otherpeople's failin#s, for#ettin# our own $$$ But we must ha e patience

and learn$

no place for women? anti-utopianism and the utopian politics of the 1890s

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