Alfred Richard Orage - Orage's Politics

Orage's Politics

Orage declared himself to be a socialist, and followed Georges Sorel in arguing that trade unions should pursue an increasingly aggressive policy as regards issues such as wage deals and working conditions. He approved of the increasing militancy of the unions in the pre-war era, and seems to have shared Sorel's belief in the necessity of a Trade Union-led General Strike, leading to a re-evolutionary situation. However, for Orage, economic power precedes political power and political reform is useless without economic reform.

In the early issues of The New Age, Orage supported the women's suffrage movement, but became increasingly hostile as the Women's Social and Political Union became more prominent and more militant. Pro-suffragette articles were not published after 1910, but heated debate on this subject took place in the correspondence column.

During World War I, Orage defended the interests of the working class. On 6 August 1914, Orage wrote in Notes of the Week of The New Age: "... We believe that England is necessary to Socialism, as Socialism is necessary to the world." In 1917, in the published work Political Ideals, Bertrand Russell mentions for the first time Orage Guild Socialism. On 14 November 1918, Orage wrote of the coming Treaty of Versailles: "... The next world-war, if unhappily there should be another, will in all probability be contained within the clauses and conditions attaching to the present peace settlement." By the end of the war, Orage was convinced the hardships of the working class were the result of the monetary policies of banking and government. If Great Britain could remove the pound from the gold standard during the war and reestablish the gold standard after the war, then the gold standard is not as necessary as the oligarchic monetary few would want the proletariat many to believe. On 15 July 1920, Orage wrote: "... We should be the first to admit that the subject of Money is difficult to understand. It is 'intended' to be, by the minute oligarchy that governs the world by means of it."

After the First World War, he was influenced by C. H. Douglas and became a supporter of Social credit. On 2 January 1919, Orage published the first article by C. H. Douglas to appear in The New Age: A Mechanical View of Economics.