Where does the term ‘champagne socialist’ come from?

Since its conception more than a century ago, champagne socialism has been an enduring, if unofficial, part of politics in Britain and around the world. The pharse champagne socialist first appeared in the 1906 novel by the American author George Cary Eggleston, in which one of the characters contrasts the so-called “beer socialist” – referencing the preferred beverage of the working class – to the “champagne socialist” in the middle class. This, Eggleston elucidates, is someone who “wants everybody to be equal upon the higher plane that suits him, utterly ignoring the fact that there is not enough champagne, green turtle and truffles to go round”.

The novel sought to emphasise the gulf between the comfort of bourgeois life and the everyday hardships faced by the working class. The beer socialist is someone who “wants everybody to come down to his low standards of living”. Egglestone questioned the sincerity of those who, despite their privilege, champion economic and social equality.

It could be expected that any accusations of hypocrisy when it comes to middle-class socialism would be coming chiefly from the political right. Yet some of the most vociferous attacks of champagne socialism have emanated from left-wing voices. A notable example is Ramsay MacDonald, the first Labour of the United Kingdom.

He would be called a traitor to his party’s egalitarian principles throughout his time in office, with critics lambasting his hobnobbing with the British .