 Politically , Morris was a staunch revolutionary socialist and anti @-@ imperialist , and although raised a Christian he came to identify as a non @-@ religious atheist . He came to reject state socialism and large centralized control , instead emphasising localised administration within a socialist society . Later political activist Derek Wall suggested that Morris could be classified as an ecosocialist . Morris was greatly influenced by Romanticism , with Thompson asserting that Romanticism was " bred into his bones , and formed his early consciousness . " Thompson argued that this " Romantic Revolt " was part of a " passionate protest against an intolerable social reality " , that of the industrial capitalism of Britain 's Victorian era . However , he believed that it led to little more than a " yearning nostalgia or a sweet complaint " and that Morris only became " a realist and a revolutionary " when he adopted socialism in 1882 . However , Mackail was of the opinion that Morris had an " innate Socialism " which had " penetrated and dominated all he did " throughout his life . Given the conflict between his personal and professional life and his socio @-@ political views , MacCarthy described Morris as " a conservative radical " . 
