The Roots of Reform: Vegetarianism and the British Left, c.1790-1900

For much of the twentieth century, the history of the Left was dominated by a Marxist historiography on the one hand, and accounts of the development of parliamentary socialism on the other. Through this, the great historical diversity of leftist thought and activity was neglected. In particular, ‘ethical’ and libertarian socialist ideas received little serious attention, as did the role of lifestyle politics in shaping leftist tactics and identities. This, however, has begun to change, with an increasing scholarly and public interest in such ideas, particularly regarding the politics of diet. This thesis provides the first study of the role of the vegetarian/vegan diet within radical and leftist belief systems from the French Revolution to the socialist revival of the late nineteenth century. It explores how and why many on the Left incorporated the diet into their larger ideology, and how this developed over the period. It investigates the extent to which vegetarian-leftist ideas formed a distinct intellectual tradition, probing continuity between exponents, and assessing how far individuals were conscious of their beliefs as part of a broader contemporary, or historical, body of thought. This is based upon an analysis of the writings of numerous vegetarian-leftist individuals, both familiar and relatively unknown, situated within the changing social, political, and scientific contexts which served to shape their ideas. Ultimately, this thesis proposes that vegetarianism has been a constant presence in the intellectual and cultural life of the British Left, and has specifically developed as part of ethical and libertarian socialist, as well as left-feminist, thought and practice. It demonstrates how the diet functioned for many leftists as a means to advance a broader set of beliefs, revealing the nature of more holistic forms of progressive thought in this period and illuminating the origins of the diet’s connection to contemporary progressive politics.