Hyndman, Henry M

Hyndman, Henry M(ayers)

(born March 7, 1842, London, Eng.—died Nov. 22, 1921, London) British Marxist political leader. Educated at the University of Cambridge, he worked as a journalist before founding the socialist Democratic Federation, and in England for All (1881), the first English socialist book in almost 50 years, he expounded the ideas of Karl Marx. He steered many British socialists toward Marxism, but Friedrich Engels, who disliked Hyndman, encouraged many to break away and form the Socialist League. During World War I Hyndman took a patriotic and pro-French line, causing his ouster from the Socialist Party, whereupon he formed the National Socialist Party (1916), later renamed the Social Democratic Federation.