ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book seeks to use the historical record as a basis for challenging the dominance of neo-liberal perspectives within contemporary discourse. It provides an understanding of the past, but also to provide inspiration for those working within such a negative and hostile contemporary environment. The book discusses radical and socialist visions of new communities but it is fundamentally about reforms of policy and more broadly the political reforms necessary for the achievement of these visions. It also seeks to provide prehistory and to demonstrate that reformers were perhaps less original in their ideas than is perceived by many historians and in fact derived many of their ideas from earlier reform campaigns. The book focuses on the activities of working class radicals and socialists to provide a counter-narrative to those narratives which focus on a small group of middle class philanthropists and writers.
