Morton, Arthur Leslie

Born July 4, 1903, in Hengrave, Suffolk. English historian, literary critic, and publicist.

Morton was educated at Cambridge University. He has been a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) since 1929 and is a leader of the group of Marxist historians within the party. His History of England (1937; Russian translation, 1950) was the first systematic history of the nation written in Great Britain from a Marxist standpoint; it is noted for the attention it directs toward a wide range of social problems.

Morton has written on the major problems in British history. His most significant works include The English Utopia (1952; Russian translation, 1956), which sets forth the history of Utopian ideas in England from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century; Socialism in Britain (1963), which analyzes the genesis and development of socialist ideas on English soil; and The British Labour Movement, 1770–1920 (1956; Russian translation, 1959). Morton is the author of numerous articles and essays on the history of English political thought and literature; some of these are collected in The Matter of Britain (1966; Russian translation, 1970).