ABSTRACT
Political views are deeply affected by interpretations of the past.This is especially true in what is still eurocentrically called “the West,” even though most do not realize it.2 Whether people are optimists or pessimists about the future of socialism, in particular, largely depends on how much they think the past constrains humanity, which in turn is a function of how far back they look, which is of course tightly restricted by the ways history has been periodized (for them). But even though digging back into the past searching for grounds for optimism may seem pathetic, that is just what I counsel in this chapter. I am, however, very particular, not to say fanatically precise, about how far back I think we should go. It may seem fantastic, but I suggest we reconceive the socialist project by first scrolling back to the 1770s, and then taking a fresh look around. For curious technical reasons, sticking with the old socialist habit of first focusing analytic attention on England, the most modern place at the time by any reasonable definition,3 turns out to bring unexpected benefits.
