Tell me, is it not true of Merrie England to-day that the idlest are the richest, and the most industrious the poorest amongst the people? Well, I want you to remind your critics of these things when they ask you what Socialists will do with their loafers.

Robert Blatchford (1851 – 1943) was an English socialist and editor of The Clarion, which sprang up a number of socialist cultural organizations including the National Clarion Cycling Club, hiking clubs, and theater groups.

In Merrie England, first published in The Clarion, Blatchford writes to the “practical working man,” John Smith of Oldham, making the case for socialism. The book is written in an accessible and humorous style. It was said that “for every convert made by ‘Das Kapital,’ there were a hundred made by ‘Merrie England.’”