ABSTRACT
Exactly a century ago Engels consigned the ideas and hopes of the first British socialists, Owenites, to a Utopian pre-history of scientific socialism, a period of crude theories' and grand fantasies' which had to be superseded by historical materialism before the communist struggle could be waged on a sound, scientific basic. The Owenite commitment to feminism was part of the general humanist outlook which Engels later identified as a key feature of all utopian thought: the claim to emancipate all humanity at once' rather than a particular class to begin with'. The goals were spelled out in detail: with the establishment of a worldwide network of Communities of Mutual Association, all institutional and ideological impediments to sexual equality would disappear, including oppressive marriage laws, privatised households, and private ownership of wealth. The flowering of socialist historiography in last fifteen years, of which the History Workshop is of course one important instance, has seen an enormous development in working-class and people's history.
