Kirkup

THOMAS KIRKUP (1844 - 1912)

Kirkup was a shepherd boy, born in Northumberland. By way of the pupil-teacher system and Edinburgh University, he eventually became an author and publisher's adviser. He is hardly known at all nowadays, but as an illustration of the saying that a teacher never knows how far his influence may reach, it is worth remembering that Mao Tse Tung reckoned Kirkup's History of Socialism (1892) to be one of the three works which were 'especially deeply carved into my mind' as he moved into Marxist theory and practice in 1919-20. The other two books, incidentally, were the Communist Manifesto, and Class Struggle by Karl Kautsky. Kirkup also wrote An Inquiry into Socialism (1887) and Primer of Socialism (1908) as well as the entry on Socialism in the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

The fifth edition of Kirkup's History of Socialism came out in 1913, edited by Edward R. Pease. Having failed as a cabinet-maker in William Morris's firm, Pease (1857-1955), went to Newcastle where he lived in Claremont Road 1886-89. He was one of the founders of the Fabian Society and was its secretary from 1884 until 1939. H.G. Wells said of him that he did a cabinet minister's work for a clerk's pay. His History of the Fabian Society was published in New York in 1916. In his editing, Pease was not above omitting inconvenient emphases in Kirkup's work. What Kirkup had seen as a problem in Fabianism, Pease wrote up as an opportunity.

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
THOMAS KIRKUP (1844 - 1912) Kirkup was a shepherd boy, born in Northumberland. By way of the pupil-teacher system and Edinburgh University, he eventually became an author and publisher's adviser. He is hardly known at all nowadays, but as an illustration of the saying that a teacher never knows how far his influence may reach, it is worth remembering that Mao Tse Tung reckoned Kirkup's History of Socialism (1892) to be one of the three works which were 'especially deeply carved into my mind' as he moved into Marxist theory and practice in 1919-20. The other two books, incidentally, were the Communist Manifesto, and Class Struggle by Karl Kautsky. Kirkup also wrote An Inquiry into Socialism (1887) and Primer of Socialism (1908) as well as the entry on Socialism in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The fifth edition of Kirkup's History of Socialism came out in 1913, edited by Edward R. Pease. Having failed as a cabinet-maker in William Morris's firm, Pease (1857-1955), went to Newcastle where he lived in Claremont Road 1886-89. He was one of the founders of the Fabian Society and was its secretary from 1884 until 1939. H.G. Wells said of him that he did a cabinet minister's work for a clerk's pay. His History of the Fabian Society was published in New York in 1916. In his editing, Pease was not above omitting inconvenient emphases in Kirkup's work. What Kirkup had seen as a problem in Fabianism, Pease wrote up as an opportunity.
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