H. G.

WELLS
THE
NEW WORLD
ORDER
Whether it is attainable, how it can be attained, and what sort
of world a world at peace will have to be.
First Published . . January 1940.
1
T! !"# $F %" %&!

'" T'( ()%** +$$, ' want to set down as co-pactly,
clearly and usefully as possible the .ist of what ' have learnt
about war and peace in the course of -y life. ' a- not .oin. to
write peace propa.anda here. ' a- .oin. to strip down certain
.eneral ideas and realities of pri-ary i-portance to their
fra-ewor/, and so prepare a nucleus of useful /nowled.e for
those who have to .o on with this business of -a/in. a world
peace. ' a- not .oin. to persuade people to say 01es, yes0 for a
world peace2 already we have had far too -uch abolition of war
by -a/in. declarations and si.nin. resolutions2 everybody
wants peace or pretends to want peace, and there is no need to
add even a sentence -ore to the vast volu-e of such
ineffective stuff. ' a- si-ply atte-ptin. to state the thin.s we
-ust do and the price we -ust pay for world peace if we really
intend to achieve it.
3ntil the &reat War, the First World War, ' did not bother very
-uch about war and peace. (ince then ' have al-ost
specialised upon this proble-. 't is not very easy to recall
for-er states of -ind out of which, day by day and year by
year, one has .rown, but ' thin/ that in the decades before 1914
not only ' but -ost of -y .eneration 4 in the +ritish !-pire,
%-erica, France and indeed throu.hout -ost of the civilised
world 4 thou.ht that war was dyin. out.
(o it see-ed to us. 't was an a.reeable and therefore a readily
acceptable idea. We i-a.ined the Franco4&er-an War of
1560461 and the 7usso4Tur/ish War of 1566465 were the final
conflicts between &reat Powers, that now there was a +alance
of Power sufficiently stable to -a/e further -a8or warfare
i-practicable. % Triple %lliance faced a #ual %lliance and
neither had -uch reason for attac/in. the other. We believed
war was shrin/in. to -ere e9peditionary affairs on the
outs/irts of our civilisation, a sort of frontier police business.
abits of tolerant intercourse, it see-ed, were bein.
stren.thened every year that the peace of the Powers re-ained
unbro/en.
There was in deed a -ild ar-a-ent race .oin. on2 -ild by our
present standards of e:uip-ent2 the ar-a-ent industry was a
.rowin. and enterprisin. on2 but we did not see the full
i-plication of that2 we preferred to believe that the increasin.
.eneral .ood sense would be stron. enou.h to prevent these
-ultiplyin. .uns fro- actually .oin. off and hittin. anythin..
%nd we s-iled indul.ently at unifor-s and parades and ar-y
-an;uvres. They were the ti-e4honoured toys and re.alia of
/in.s and e-perors. They were part of the display side of life
and would never .et to actual destruction and /illin.. ' do not
thin/ that e9a..erates the easy co-placency of, let us say,
159<, forty4five years a.o. 't was a co-placency that lasted
with -ost of us up to 1914. 'n 1914 hardly anyone in !urope or
%-erica below the a.e of fifty had seen anythin. of war in his
own country.
The world before 1900 see-ed to be driftin. steadily towards a
tacit but practical unification. $ne could travel without a
passport over the lar.er part of !urope2 the Postal 3nion
delivered one=s letters uncensored and safely fro- >hile to
>hina2 -oney, based essentially on .old, fluctuated only very
sli.htly2 and the sprawlin. +ritish !-pire still -aintained a
tradition of free trade, e:ual treat-ent and open4handedness to
all co-ers round and about the planet. 'n the 3nited (tates you
could .o for days and never see a -ilitary unifor-. >o-pared
with to4day that was, upon the surface at any rate, an a.e of
easy4.oin. safety and .ood hu-our. Particularly for the "orth
%-ericans and the !uropeans.
+ut apart fro- that steady, o-inous .rowth of the ar-a-ent
industry there were other and deeper forces at wor/ that were
preparin. trouble. The Forei.n $ffices of the various soverei.n
states had not for.otten the co-petitive traditions of the
ei.hteenth century. The ad-irals and .enerals were
conte-platin. with so-ethin. between hostility and
fascination, the hun.er weapons the steel industry was .ently
pressin. into their hands. &er-any did not share the self4
co-placency of the !n.lish4spea/in. world2 she wanted a
place in the sun2 there was increasin. friction about the
partition of the raw -aterial re.ions of %frica2 the +ritish
suffered fro- chronic 7ussophobia with re.ard to their vast
apportions in the !ast, and set the-selves to nurse Japan into a
-odernised i-perialist power2 and also they 0re-e-bered
)a8uba02 the 3nited (tates were irritated by the disorder of
>uba and felt that the wea/, e9tended (panish possessions
would be all the better for a chan.e of -ana.e-ent. (o the
.a-e of Power Politics went on, but it went on upon the
-ar.ins of the prevailin. peace. There were several wars and
chan.es of boundaries, but they involved no funda-ental
disturbance of the .eneral civilised life2 they did not see- to
threaten its broadenin. tolerations and understandin.s in any
funda-ental fashion. !cono-ic stresses and social trouble
stirred and -uttered beneath the orderly surfaces of political
life, but threatened no convulsion. The idea of alto.ether
eli-inatin. war, of clearin. what was left of it away, was in the
air, but it was free fro- any sense of ur.ency. The a.ue
Tribunal was established and there was a steady disse-ination
of the conceptions of arbitration and international law. 't really
see-ed to -any that the peoples of the earth were settlin.
down in their various territories to a liti.ious rather than a
belli.erent order. 'f there was -uch social in8ustice it was
bein. -iti.ated -ore and -ore by a :uic/enin. sense of social
decency. %c:uisitiveness conducted itself with decoru- and
public4spiritedness was in fashion. (o-e of it was :uite honest
public4spiritedness.
'n those days, and they are hardly -ore than half a lifeti-e
behind us, no one thou.ht of any sort of world ad-inistration.
That patchwor/ of .reat Powers and s-all Powers see-ed the
-ost reasonable and practicable -ethod of runnin. the
business of -an/ind. >o--unications were far too difficult for
any sort of centralised world controls. %round the World in
!i.hty #ays, when it was published seventy years a.o, see-ed
an e9trava.ant fantasy. 't was a world without telephone or
radio, with nothin. swifter than a railway train or -ore
destructive than the earlier types of .!. shell. They were
-arvels. 't was far -ore convenient to ad-inister that world of
the +alance of Power in separate national areas and, since there
were such li-ited facilities for peoples to .et at one another
and do each other -ischiefs, there see-ed no har- in ardent
patriotis- and the co-plete independence of separate
soverei.n states.
!cono-ic life was lar.ely directed by irresponsible private
businesses and private finance which, because of their private
ownership, were able to spread out their unifyin. transactions
in a networ/ that paid little attention to frontiers and national,
racial or reli.ious senti-entality. 0+usiness0 was -uch -ore of
a world co--onwealth than the political or.anisations. There
were -any people, especially in %-erica, who i-a.ined that
0+usiness0 -i.ht ulti-ately unify the world and .overn-ents
sin/ into subordination to its networ/.
"owadays we can be wise after the event and we can see that
below this fair surface of thin.s, disruptive forces were steadily
.atherin. stren.th. +ut these disruptive forces played a
co-paratively s-all r?le in the world spectacle of half a
century a.o, when the ideas of that older .eneration which still
do-inates our political life and the political education of its
successors, were for-ed. 't is fro- the conflict of those
+alance of Power and private enterprise ideas, half a century
old, that one of the -ain stresses of our ti-e arises. These ideas
wor/ed fairly well in their period and it is still with e9tre-e
reluctance that our rulers, teachers, politicians, face the
necessity for a profound -ental adaptation of their views,
-ethods and interpretations to these disruptive forces that once
see-ed so ne.li.ible and which are now shatterin. their old
order co-pletely.
't was because of this belief in a .rowin. .ood4will a-on.
nations, because of the .eneral satisfaction with thin.s as they
were, that the &er-an declarations of war in 1914 aroused such
a stor- of indi.nation throu.hout the entire co-fortable world.
't was felt that the &er-an ,aiser had bro/en the tran:uillity of
the world club, wantonly and needlessly. The war was fou.ht
0a.ainst the ohen@ollerns.0 They were to be e9pelled fro- the
club, certain punitive fines were to be paid and all would be
well. That was the +ritish idea of 1914. This out4of4date war
business was then to be cleared up once for all by a -utual
.uarantee by all the -ore respectable -e-bers of the club
throu.h a *ea.ue of "ations. There was no apprehension of
any deeper operatin. causes in that .reat convulsion on the part
of the worthy elder states-en who -ade the peace. %nd so
Aersailles and its codicils.
For twenty years the disruptive forces have .one on .rowin.
beneath the surface of that .enteel and shallow settle-ent, and
twenty years there has been no resolute attac/ upon the riddles
with which their .rowth confronts us. For all that period of the
*ea.ue of "ations has been the opiate of liberal thou.ht in the
world.
To4day there is war to .et rid of %dolf itler, who has now
ta/en the part of the ohen@ollerns in the dra-a. e too has
outra.ed the >lub 7ules and he too is to be e9pelled. The war,
the >ha-berlain4itler War, is bein. wa.ed so far by the
+ritish !-pire in :uite the old spirit. 't has learnt nothin. and
for.otten nothin.. There is the sa-e resolute disre.ard of any
-ore funda-ental proble-.
(till the -inds of our co-fortable and influential rulin.4class
people refuse to accept the plain inti-ation that their ti-e is
over, that the +alance of Power and uncontrolled business
-ethods cannot continue, and that itler, li/e the
ohen@ollerns, is a -ere offensive pustule on the face of a
deeply ailin. world. To .et rid of hi- and his "a@is will be no
-ore a cure for the world=s ills than scrapin. will heal -easles.
The disease will -anifest itself in so-e new eruption. 't is the
syste- of nationalist individualis- and unco4ordinated
enterprise that is the world=s disease, and it is the whole syste-
that has to .o. 't has to be reconditioned down to its
foundations or replaced. 't cannot hope to 0-uddle throu.h0
a-iably, wastefully and dan.erously, a second ti-e.
World peace -eans all that -uch revolution. )ore and -ore of
us be.in to realise that it cannot -ean less.
The first thin., therefore that has to be done in thin/in. out the
pri-ary proble-s of world peace is to realise this, that we are
livin. in the end of a definite period of history, the period of
the soverei.n states. %s we used to say in the ei.hties with
ever4increasin. truthB 0We are in an a.e of transition0. "ow we
.et so-e -easure of the acuteness of the transition. 't is a
phase of hu-an life which -ay lead, as ' a- tryin. to show,
either to a new way of livin. for our species or else to a lon.er
or briefer dC.rin.olade of violence, -isery, destruction, death
and the e9tinction of -an/ind. These are not rhetorical phrases
' a- usin. here2 ' -ean e9actly what ' say, the disastrous
e9tinction of -an/ind.
That is the issue before us. 't is no s-all affair of parlour
politics we have to consider. %s ' write, in the -o-ent,
thousands of people are bein. /illed, wounded, hunted,
tor-ented, ill4treated, delivered up to the -ost intolerable and
hopeless an9iety and destroyed -orally and -entally, and there
is nothin. in si.ht at present to arrest this spreadin. process
and prevent its reachin. you and yours. 't is co-in. for you and
yours now at a .reat pace. Plainly in so far as we are rational
foreseein. creatures there is nothin. for any of us now but to
-a/e this world peace proble- the rulin. interest and direction
of our lives. 'f we run away fro- it it will pursue and .et us.
We have to face it. We have to solve it or be destroyed by it. 't
is as ur.ent and co-prehensive as that.
D
$P!" >$"F!7!">!

+!F$7! W! !E%)'"! W%T ' have called so far the
0disruptive forces0 in the current social order, let -e underline
one pri-ary necessity for the -ost outspo/en free discussion of
the battlin. or.anisations and the cru-blin. institutions a-idst
which we lead our present unco-fortable and precarious lives.
There -ust be no protection for leaders and or.anisations fro-
the -ost searchin. criticis-, on the plea that out country is or
-ay be at war. $r on any pretence. We -ust tal/ openly,
widely and plainly. The war is incidental2 the need for
revolutionary reconstruction is funda-ental. "one of us are
clear as yet upon so-e of the -ost vital :uestions before us, we
are not lucid enou.h in our own -inds to be a-bi.uous, and a
-u-blin. tactfulness and indirect half4state-ents -ade with
an eye upon so-e censor, will confuse our thou.hts and the
thou.hts of those with who- we desire understandin., to the
co-plete sterilisation and defeat of every reconstructive effort.
We want to tal/ and tell e9actly what our ideas and feelin.s
are, not only to our fellow citi@ens, but to our allies, to neutrals
and, above all, to the people who are -arshalled in ar-s
a.ainst us. We want to .et the sa-e sincerity fro- the-.
+ecause until we have wor/ed out a co--on basis of ideas
with the-, peace will be only an uncertain e:uilibriu- while
fresh anta.onis-s develop.
>oncurrently with this war we need a .reat debate. We want
every possible person in the world to ta/e part in that debate. 't
is so-ethin. -uch -ore i-portant than the actual warfare. 't is
intolerable to thin/ of this stor- of universal distress leadin.
up to nothin. but so-e 0conference0 of diplo-atists out of
touch with the world, with secret sessions, a-bi.uous
0understandin.s.0 . . . "ot twice surely can that occur. %nd yet
what is .oin. to prevent its recurrin.F
't is :uite easy to define the reasonable li-its of censorship in a
belli.erent country. 't is -anifest that the publication of any
infor-ation li/ely to be of the sli.htest use to an ene-y -ust
be drastically anticipated and suppressed2 not only direct
infor-ation, for e9a-ple, but inti-ations and careless betrayals
about the position and -ove-ents of ships, troops, ca-ps,
depots of -unitions, food supplies, and false reports of defeats
and victories and co-in. shorta.es, anythin. that -ay lead to
blind panic and hysteria, and so forth and so on. +ut the -atter
ta/es on a different aspect alto.ether when it co-es to
state-ents and su..estions that -ay affect public opinion in
one=s own country or abroad, and which -ay help us towards
wholeso-e and corrective political action.
$ne of the -ore unpleasant aspects of a state of war under
-odern conditions is the appearance of a swar- of individuals,
too clever by half, in positions of authority. !9cited, conceited,
prepared to lie, distort and .enerally hu-bu. people into states
of ac:uiescence, resistance, indi.nation, vindictiveness, doubt
and -ental confusion, states of -ind supposed to be
conductive to a final -ilitary victory. These people love to
twist and censor facts. 't .ives the- a feelin. of power2 if they
cannot create they can at least prevent and conceal. Particularly
they po/e the-selves in between us and the people with who-
we are at war to distort any possible reconciliation. They sit,
filled with the wine of their transitory powers, aloof fro- the
fati.ues and dan.ers of conflict, pullin. i-a.inary strin.s in
people=s -inds.
'n &er-any popular thou.ht is supposed to be under the
control of err #r &oebbels2 in &reat +ritain we writers have
been invited to place ourselves at the disposal of so-e )inistry
of 'nfor-ation, that is to say at the disposal of hitherto obscure
and unrepresentative individuals, and write under its advice.
$fficials fro- the +ritish >ouncil and the >onservative Party
ead:uarters appear in /ey positions in this )inistry of
'nfor-ation. That curious and little advertised or.anisation '
have 8ust -entioned, the creation ' a- told of *ord *loyd, that
+ritish >ouncil, sends e-issaries abroad, writers, well4dressed
wo-en and other cultural persona.es, to lecture, char- and
win over forei.n appreciation for +ritish characteristics, for
+ritish scenery, +ritish political virtues and so forth. (o-ehow
this is supposed to help so-ethin. or other. Guietly,
unobtrusively, this has .one on. )aybe these sa-ple +ritish
.ive unauthorised assurances but probably they do little
positive har-. +ut they ou.ht not to be e-ployed at all. %ny
.overn-ent propa.anda is contrary to the essential spirit of
de-ocracy. The e9pression of opinion and collective thou.ht
should be outside the ran.e of .overn-ent activities alto.ether.
't should be the wor/ of free individuals whose pro-inence is
dependent upon the response and support of the .eneral -ind.
+ut here ' have to -a/e a-ends to *ord *loyd. ' was led to
believe that the +ritish >ouncil was responsible for )r.
Teelin., the author of >risis for >hristianity, and ' said as -uch
in The Fate of o-o (apiens. ' now unsay it. )r. Teelin., '
.ather, was sent out upon his 8ourneys by a >atholic
newspaper. The +ritish >ouncil was entirely innocent of hi-.
't is not only that the )inistries of 'nfor-ation and Propa.anda
do their level best to divert the li-ited .ifts and ener.ies of
such writers, lecturers and tal/ers as we possess, to the
production of disin.enuous -uc/ that will -uddle the public
-ind and -islead the en:uirin. forei.ner, but that they show a
-ar/ed disposition to stifle any free and independent utterances
that -y see- to traverse their own profound and secret plans
for the salvation of -an/ind.
!verywhere now it is difficult to .et ade:uate, far4reachin.
publicity for outspo/en discussion of the way the world is
.oin., and the political, econo-ic and social forces that carry
us alon.. This is not so -uch due to deliberate suppression as
to the .eneral disorder into which hu-an affairs are dissolvin..
There is indeed in the %tlantic world hardly a si.n as yet of that
direct espiona.e upon opinion that obliterates the -ental life of
the intelli.ent 'talian or &er-an or 7ussian to4day al-ost
co-pletely2 one -ay still thin/ what one li/es, say what one
li/es and write what one li/es, but nevertheless there is already
an increasin. difficulty in .ettin. bold, unorthodo9 views heard
and read. "ewspapers are afraid upon all sorts of -inor counts,
publishers, with such valiant e9ceptions as the publishers of
this -atter, are -orbidly discreet2 they .et "otice # to avoid
this or that particular topic2 there are obscure boycotts and trade
difficulties hinderin. the wide diffusion of .eneral ideas in
countless ways. ' do not -ean there is any sort of or.anised
conspiracy to suppress discussion, but ' do say that the Press,
the publishin. and boo/sellin. or.anisations in our free
countries, provide a very ill4or.anised and inade:uate
-achinery for the ventilation and distribution of thou.ht.
Publishers publish for nothin. but safe profits2 it would
astound a boo/seller to tell hi- he was part of the world=s
educational or.anisation or a publisher=s traveller, that he
e9isted for any other purpose than to boo/ -a9i-u- orders for
best sellers and earn a record co--ission 4 lettin. the other
stuff, the hi.hbrow stuff and all that, .o han.. They do not
understand that they ou.ht to put public service before .ain.
They have no induce-ent to do so and no pride in their
function. Theirs is the -orale of a profiteerin. world.
"ewspapers li/e to insert brave4loo/in. articles of
conventional liberalis-, spea/in. hi.hly of peace and
displayin. a noble va.ueness about its attain-ent2 now we are
at war they will publish the fiercest attac/s upon the ene-y 4
because such attac/s are supposed to /eep up the fi.htin. spirit
of the country2 but any ideas that are really loudly and clearly
revolutionary they dare not circulate at all. 3nder these bafflin.
conditions there is no thorou.h discussion of the world outloo/
whatever, anywhere. The de-ocracies are only a shade better
than the dictatorships in this respect. 't is ridiculous to
represent the- as real-s of li.ht at issue with dar/ness.
This .reat debate upon the reconstruction of the world is a
thin. -ore i-portant and ur.ent than the war, and there e9ist
no ade:uate -edia for the utterance and criticis- and
correction of any broad .eneral convictions. There is a certain
fruitless and unproductive splutterin. of constructive ideas, but
there is little sense of sustained en:uiry, few real interchan.es,
inade:uate pro.ress, nothin. is settled, nothin. is dis-issed as
unsound and nothin. is won per-anently. "o one see-s to
hear what anyone else is sayin.. That is because there is no
sense of an audience for these ideolo.ists. There is no effective
audience sayin. rudely and obstinatelyB 0What %. has said,
see-s i-portant. Will +. and >., instead of bo-binatin. in the
void, tell us e9actly where and why they differ fro- %.F %nd
now we have .ot to the co--on truth of %., +., >., and #.
ere is F. sayin. so-ethin.. Will he be so .ood as to correlate
what he has to say with %., +., >., and #.F0
+ut there is no such bac/.round of an intelli.ently observant
and critical world audience in evidence. There are a few people
here and there readin. and thin/in. in disconnected fra.-ents.
This is all the thin/in. our world is doin. in the face of
planetary disaster. The universities, bless the-H are in unifor-
or silent.
We need to air our own -inds2 we need fran/ e9chan.es, if we
are to achieve any co--on understandin.. We need to wor/
out a clear conception of the world order we would prefer to
this present chaos, we need to dissolve or co-pro-ise upon
our differences so that we -ay set our faces with assurance
towards an attainable world peace. The air is full of the
panaceas of half4wits, none listenin. to the others and -ost of
the- tryin. to silence the others in their i-patience. Thousands
of fools are ready to write us a co-plete prescription for our
world troubles. Will people never realise their own i.norance
and inco-pleteness, fro- which arise this absolute necessity
for the plainest state-ent of the realities of the proble-, for the
-ost e9haustive and unsparin. e9a-ination of differences of
opinion, and for the -ost ruthless canvassin. of every
possibility, however unpalatable it -ay see- at first, of the
situationF
+efore anythin. else, therefore, in this survey of the way to
world peace, ' put free speech and vi.orous publication. 't is
the thin. best worth fi.htin. for. 't is the essence of your
personal honour. 't is your duty as a world citi@en to do what
you can for that. 1ou have not only to resist suppressions, you
have to fi.ht your way out of the fo.. 'f you find your
boo/seller or newsa.ent failin. to distribute any type of
publication whatever 4 even if you are in entire disa.ree-ent
with the views of that publication 4 you should turn the weapon
of the boycott upon the offender and find another boo/seller or
newsa.ent for everythin. you read. The would4be world citi@en
should subscribe also to such or.anisation as the "ational
>ouncil for >ivil *iberties2 he should use any advanta.e his
position -ay .ive hi- to chec/ suppression of free speech2 and
he should accusto- hi-self to challen.e nonsense politely but
fir-ly and say fearlessly and as clearly as possible what is in
his -ind and to listen as fearlessly to whatever is said to hi-.
(o that he -ay /now better either throu.h reassurance or
correction. To .et to.ether with other people to ar.ue and
discuss, to thin/ and or.anise and then i-ple-ent thou.ht is
the first duty of every reasonable -an.
This world of ours is .oin. to pieces. 't has to be reconstructed
and it can only be effectively reconstructed in the li.ht. $nly
the free, clear, open -ind can save us, and these difficulties and
obstructions on our line of thou.ht are as evil as children
puttin. obstacles on a railway line or scatterin. nails on an
auto-obile speed trac/.
This .reat world debate -ust .o on, and it -ust .o on now.
"ow while the .uns are still thuddin., is the ti-e for thou.ht. 't
is incredibly foolish to tal/ as so -any people do of endin. the
war and then havin. a World >onference to inau.urate a new
a.e. (o soon as the fi.htin. stops the real world conference, the
live discussion, will stop, too. The diplo-ats and politicians
will asse-ble with an air of profound co-petence and close the
doors upon the outer world and resu-e 4 Aersailles. While the
silenced world .apes and waits upon their -ysteries.
I
#'(73PT'A! F$7>!(

%"# "$W *!T 3( co-e to the disruptive forces that have
reduced that late4nineteenth4century drea- of a powerful world
patchwor/ of -ore and -ore civilised states lin/ed by an ever4
increasin. financial and econo-ic interdependence, to
co-plete incredibility, and so forced upon every intelli.ent
-ind the need to wor/ out a new conception of the World that
ou.ht to be. 't is supre-ely i-portant that the nature of these
disruptive forces should be clearly understood and /ept in
-ind. To .rasp the- is to hold the clues to the world=s present
troubles. To for.et about the-, even for a -o-ent, is to lose
touch with essential reality and drift away into -inor issues.
The first .roup of these forces is what people are accusto-ed
to spea/ of as 0the abolition of distance0 and 0the chan.e of
scale0 in hu-an operations. This 0abolition of distance0 be.an
rather -ore than a century a.o, and its earlier effects were not
disruptive at all. 't /nit to.ether the spreadin. 3nited (tates of
%-erica over distances that -i.ht otherwise have strained their
solidarity to the brea/in.4point, and it enabled the sprawlin.
+ritish !-pire to sustain contacts round the whole planet.
The disruptive influence of the abolition of distance appeared
only later. *et us be clear upon its essential si.nificance. For
what see-ed li/e endless centuries the swiftest -eans of
loco-otion had been the horse on the hi.h4road, the runnin.
-an, the .alley and the uncertain, weather4ruled sailin. ship.
JThere was the #utch-an on s/ates on s/ates on his canals, but
that was an e9ceptional cul-ination of speed and not for
.eneral application.K The political, social and i-a.inative life
of -an for all those centuries was adapted to these li-itin.
conditions. They deter-ined the distances to which -ar/etable
.oods could conveniently be sent, the li-its to which the ruler
could send his orders and his solders, the bounds set to .ettin.
news, and indeed the whole scale of livin.. There could be very
little real co--unity feelin. beyond the ran.e of fre:uent
intercourse.
u-an life fell naturally therefore into areas deter-ined by the
interplay between these li-itations and such natural obstacles
as seas and -ountains. (uch countries as France, !n.land,
!.ypt, Japan, appeared and reappeared in history li/e natural,
necessary thin.s, and thou.h there were such lar.er political
efforts as the 7o-an !-pire, they never attained an endurin.
unity. The 7o-an !-pire held to.ether li/e wet blottin.4
paper2 it was always fallin. to pieces. The older !-pires,
beyond their national nuclei, were -ere precarious tribute4
levyin. powers. What ' have already called the world
patchwor/ of the .reat and little Powers, was therefore, under
the old horse4and4foot and sailin.4ship conditions, al-ost as
-uch a -atter of natural necessity as the si@es of trees and
ani-als.
Within a century all this has been chan.ed and we have still to
face up to what that chan.e -eans for us.
First ca-e stea-, the stea-4railway, the stea-ship, and then in
a :uic/enin. crescendo ca-e the internal co-bustion en.ine,
electrical traction, the -otor car, the -otor boat, the aeroplane,
the trans-ission of power fro- central power stations, the
telephone, the radio. ' feel apolo.etic in recitin. this well4
/nown story. ' do so in order to enforce the state-ent that all
the areas that were the -ost convenient and efficient for the
old, ti-e4honoured way of livin., beca-e -ore and -ore
inconveniently close and narrow for the new needs. This
applied to every sort of ad-inistrative area, fro- -unicipalities
and urban districts and the ran.e of distributin. businesses, up
to soverei.n states. They were 4 and for the -ost part they still
are 4 too s-all for the new re:uire-ents and far too close
to.ether. %ll over the social layout this ti.htenin.4up and
s:uee@in. to.ether is an inconvenience, but when it co-es to
the areas of soverei.n states it beco-es i-possibly dan.erous.
't beco-es an intolerable thin.2 hu-an life cannot .o on, with
the capitals of -ost of the civilised countries of the world
within an hour=s bo-bin. ran.e of their frontiers, behind which
attac/s can be prepared and secret preparations -ade without
any for- of control. %nd yet we are still tolerant and loyal to
arran.e-ents that see/ to -aintain this state of affairs and treat
it as thou.h nothin. else were possible.
The present war for and a.ainst itler and (talin and )r.
>ha-berlain and so forth, does not even touch upon the
essential proble- of the abolition of distance. 't -ay indeed
destroy everythin. and still settle nothin.. 'f one could wipe
out all the issues of the present conflict, we should still be
confronted with the essential riddle, which is the abolition of
the boundaries of -ost e9istin. soverei.n states and their
-er.er in so-e lar.er Pa9. We have to do that if any
supportable hu-an life is to .o on. Treaties and -utual
.uarantees are not enou.h. We have surely learnt enou.h about
the value of treaties durin. the last half4century to realise that.
We have, because of the abolition of distance alone, to .ather
hu-an affairs to.ether under one co--on war4preventin.
control.
+ut this abolition of distance is only one -ost vivid aspect of
the chan.e in the conditions of hu-an life. 'nterwoven with
that is a .eneral chan.e of scale in hu-an operations. The past
hundred years has been an a.e of invention and discovery
beyond the achieve-ents of the precedin. three -illennia. 'n a
boo/ ' published ei.ht years a.o, The Wor/, Wealth and
appiness of )an/ind, ' tried to su--arise the con:uest of
power and substances that is still .oin. on. There is -ore
power e9pended in a -odern city li/e +ir-in.ha- in a day
than we need to /eep the whole of !li@abethan !n.land .oin.
for a year2 there is -ore destructive ener.y in a sin.le tan/ than
sufficed the ar-y of Willia- ' for the con:uest of !n.land.
)an is able now to produce or destroy on a scale beyond
co-parison .reater than he could before this stor- of invention
be.an. %nd the conse:uence is the continual further dislocation
of the orderly social life of our .reat4.reat4.randfathers. "o
trade, no profession, is e9e-pt. The old social routines and
classifications have been, as people say, 0/noc/ed silly0. There
is no sort of occupation, fisheries, far-in., te9tile wor/, -etal
wor/, -inin. which is not sufferin. fro- constant
read8ust-ent to new -ethods and facilities. $ur traditions of
trade and distribution flounder after these chan.es. (/illed
occupations disappear in the .eneral li:uefaction.
The new power or.anisations are destroyin. the forests of the
world at headlon. speed, plou.hin. .reat .ra@in. areas into
deserts, e9haustin. -ineral resources, /illin. off whales, seals
and a -ultitude of rare and beautiful species, destroyin. the
-orale of every social type and devastatin. the planet. The
institutions of the private appropriation of land and natural
resources .enerally, and of private enterprise for profit, which
did produce a fairly tolerable, stable and 0civilised0 social life
for all but the -ost i-poverished, in !urope, %-erica and
!ast, for so-e centuries, have been e9panded to a -onstrous
destructiveness by the new opportunities. The patient, nibblin.,
enterprisin. profit4see/er of the past, -a.nified and e:uipped
now with the hu.e claws and teeth the chan.e of scale has
provided for hi-, has torn the old econo-ic order to ra.s.
Guite apart fro- war, our planet is bein. wasted and
disor.anised. 1et the process .oes on, without any .eneral
control, -ore -onstrously destructive even than the continually
enhanced terrors of -odern warfare.
"ow it has to be -ade clear that these two thin.s, the -anifest
necessity for so-e collective world control to eli-inate warfare
and the less .enerally ad-itted necessity for a collective
control of the econo-ic and biolo.ical life of -an/ind, are
aspects of one and the sa-e process. $f the two the
disor.anisation of the ordinary life which is .oin. on, war or
no war, is the .raver and least reversible. +oth arise out of the
abolition of distance and the chan.e of scale, they affect and
-odify each other, and unless their parallelis- and
interdependence are reco.nised, any pro8ects for world
federation or anythin. of the sort are doo-ed inevitably to
frustration.
That is where the *ea.ue of nations bro/e down co-pletely. 't
was le.al2 it was political. 't was devised by an e94professor of
the old4fashioned history assisted by a few politicians. 't
i.nored the vast disor.anisation of hu-an life by technical
revolutions, bi. business and -odern finance that was .oin.
on, of which the &reat War itself was scarcely -ore than a by4
product. 't was constituted as thou.h nothin. of that sort was
occurrin..
This war stor- which is brea/in. upon us now, due to the
continued fra.-entation of hu-an .overn-ent a-on. a
patchwor/ of soverei.n states, is only one aspect of the .eneral
need for a rational consolidation of hu-an affairs. The
independent soverei.n state with its perpetual war threat,
ar-ed with the resources of -odern -echanical fri.htfulness,
is only the -ost blatant and terrifyin. aspect of that sa-e want
of a coherent .eneral control that -a/es over.rown,
independent, soverei.n, private business or.anisations and
co-binations, socially destructive. We should still be at the
-ercy of the 0"apoleons0 of co--erce and the 0%ttilas0 of
finance, if there was not a .un or a battleship or a tan/ or a
-ilitary unifor- in the world. We should still be sold up and
dispossessed.
Political federation, we have to realise, without a concurrent
econo-ic collectivisation, is bound to fail. The tas/ of the
peace4-a/er who really desires peace in a new world, involves
not -erely a political but a profound social revolution,
profounder even than the revolution atte-pted by the
>o--unists in 7ussia. The 7ussian 7evolution failed not by
its e9tre-is- but throu.h the i-patience, violence and
intolerance of its onset, throu.h lac/ of foresi.ht and
intellectual insufficiency. The cos-opolitan revolution to a
world collectivis-, which is the only alternative to chaos and
de.eneration before -an/ind, has to .o -uch further than the
7ussian2 it has to be -ore thorou.h and better conceived and
its achieve-ent de-ands a -uch -ore heroic and -ore
steadfast thrust.
't serves no useful purpose to shut our eyes to the -a.nitude
and intricacy of the tas/ of -a/in. the world peace. These are
the basic factors of the case.
4
>*%((4W%7
"$W !7! 'T '( necessary to -a/e a distinction which is far
too fre:uently i.nored. >ollectivisation -eans the handlin. of
the co--on affairs of -an/ind by a co--on control
responsible to the whole co--unity. 't -eans the suppression
of .o4as4you4please in social and econo-ic affairs 8ust as -uch
as in international affairs. 't -eans the fran/ abolition of profit4
see/in. and of every devise by which hu-anLbein.s contrive
to be parasitic on their fellow -an. 't is the practical realisation
of the brotherhood of -an throu.h a co--on control. 't -eans
all that and it -eans no -ore than that.
The necessary nature of that control, the way to attain it and to
-aintain it have still to be discussed.
The early for-s of socialis- were atte-pts to thin/ out and try
out collectivist syste-s. +ut with the advent of )ar9is-, the
lar.er idea of collectivis- beca-e entan.led with a s-aller
one, the perpetual conflict of people in any unre.ulated social
syste- to .et the better of one another. Throu.hout the a.es
this has been .oin. on. The rich, the powerful .enerally, the
-ore intelli.ent and ac:uisitive have .ot away with thin.s, and
sweated, oppressed, enslaved, bou.ht and frustrated the less
intelli.ent, the less ac:uisitive and the unwary. The aves in
every .eneration have always .ot the better of the ave4nots,
and the ave4nots have always resented the privations of their
disadvanta.e.
(o it is and so in the uncollectivised world it has always been.
The bitter cry of the e9propriated -an echoes down the a.es
fro- ancient !.ypt and the ebrew prophets, denouncin. those
who .rind the faces of the poor. %t ti-es the ave4nots have
been so uneducated, so helplessly distributed a-on. their -ore
successful fellows that they have been incapable of social
disturbance, but whenever such develop-ents as plantation of
factory labour, the accu-ulation of -en in seaport towns, the
disbandin. of ar-ies, fa-ine and so forth, brou.ht to.ether
-asses of -en at the sa-e disadvanta.e, their individual
resent-ents flowed to.ether and beca-e a co--on
resent-ent. The -iseries underlyin. hu-an society were
revealed. The aves found the-selves assailed by resentful,
vindictive revolt.
*et us note that these revolts of the ave4nots throu.hout the
a.es have so-eti-es been very destructive, but that invariably
they have failed to -a/e any funda-ental chan.e in this old,
old story of .ettin. and not .ettin. the upper hand. (o-eti-es
the ave4nots have fri.htened or otherwise -oved the aves to
-ore decent behaviour. $ften the ave4nots have found a
>ha-pion who has ridden to power on their wron.s. Then the
ric/s were burnt or the chMteau9. The aristocrats were
.uillotined and their heads carried on e9e-plary pi/es. (uch
stor-s passed and when they passed, there for all practical
purposes was the old order returnin. a.ain2 new people but the
old ine:ualities. 7eturnin. inevitably, with only sli.ht
variations in appearance and phraseolo.y, under the condition
of a non4collective social order.
The point to note is that in the unplanned scra-ble of hu-an
life throu.h the centuries of the horse4and4foot period, these
incessantly recurrin. outbrea/s of the losers a.ainst the
winners have never once produced any per-anent a-elioration
of the co--on lot, or .reatly chan.ed the features of the
hu-an co--unity. "ot once.
The ave4nots have never produced the intelli.ence and the
ability and the aves have never produced the conscience, to
-a/e a per-anent alteration of the rules of the .a-e. (lave
revolts, peasant revolts, revolts of the proletariat have always
been fits of ra.e, acute social fevers which have passed. The
fact re-ains that history produces no reason for supposin. that
the ave4nots, considered as a whole, have available any
reserves of directive and ad-inistrative capacity and
disinterested devotion, superior to that of the -ore successful
classes. )orally, intellectually, there is no reason to suppose
the- better.
)any potentially able people -ay -iss education and
opportunity2 they -ay not be inherently inferior but
nevertheless they are crippled and incapacitated and /ept down.
They are spoilt. )any specially .ifted people -ay fail to 0-a/e
.ood0 in a 8ostlin., co-petitive, ac:uisitive world and so fall
into poverty and into the baffled, li-ited ways of livin. of the
co--onalty, but they too are e9ceptions. The idea of a ri.ht4
-inded Proletariat ready to ta/e thin.s over is a drea-.
%s the collectivist idea has developed out of the ori.inal
propositions of socialis-, the -ore lucid thin/ers have put this
a.e4lon. bitterness of the aves and the ave4nots into its
proper place as part, as the -ost distressin. part, but still only
as part, of the vast wasta.e of hu-an resources that their
disorderly e9ploitation entailed. 'n the li.ht of current events
they have co-e to realise -ore and -ore clearly that the need
and possibility of arrestin. this waste by a world4wide
collectivisation is beco-in. continually -ore possible and at
the sa-e ti-e i-perative. They have had no delusions about
the education and liberation that is necessary to .ain that end.
They have been -oved less by -oral i-pulses and senti-ental
pity and so forth, ad-irable but futile -otives, as by the intense
intellectual irritation of livin. in a foolish and destructive
syste-. They are revolutionaries not because the present way of
livin. is a hard and tyrannous way of livin., but because it is
fro- top to botto- e9asperatin.ly stupid.
+ut thrustin. athwart the socialist -ove-ent towards
collectivisation and its research for so-e co-petent directive
or.anisation of the world=s affairs, ca-e the clu-sy initiative
of )ar9is- with its class4war do.-a, which has done -ore to
-isdirect and sterilise hu-an .ood4will than any other
-isconception of reality that has ever stultified hu-an effort.
)ar9 saw the world fro- a study and throu.h the ha@es of a
vast a-bition. e swa- in the current ideolo.ies of his ti-e
and so he shared the prevalent socialist drive towards
collectivisation. +ut while his sounder4-inded conte-poraries
were studyin. -eans and ends he 8u-ped fro- a very
i-perfect understandin. of the Trades 3nion -ove-ent in
+ritain to the wildest .eneralisations about the social process.
e invented and anta.onised two phanto-s. $ne was the
>apitalist (yste-2 the other the Wor/er.
There never has been anythin. on earth that could be properly
called a >apitalist (yste-. What was the -atter with his world
was -anifestly its entire want of syste-. What the (ocialists
were feelin. their way towards was the discovery and
establish-ent of a world syste-.
The aves of our period were and are a fantastic -iscellany of
people, inheritin. or .ettin. their power and influence by the
-ost various of the interbreedin. social solidarity even of a
feudal aristocracy or an 'ndian caste. +ut )ar9, loo/in. rather
into his inner consciousness than at any concrete reality,
evolved that -onster 0(yste-0 on his 7i.ht. Then over a.ainst
it, still .a@in. into that vacuu-, he discovered on the *eft the
proletarians bein. steadily e9propriated and beco-in. class4
conscious. They were 8ust as endlessly various in reality as the
people at the top of the scra-ble2 in reality but not in the -ind
of the >o--unist seer. There they consolidated rapidly.
(o while other -en toiled at this .i.antic proble- of
collectivisation, )ar9 found his al-ost childlishy si-ple
recipe. %ll you had to do was to tell the wor/ers that they were
bein. robbed and enslaved by this wic/ed 0>apitalist (yste-0
devised by the 0bour.eoisie0. They need only 0unite02 they had
0nothin. to lose but their chains0. The wic/ed >apitalist
(yste- was to be overthrown, with a certain vindictive
li:uidation of 0capitalists0 in .eneral and the 0bour.eoisie0 in
particular, and a -illenniu- would ensue under a purely
wor/ers= control, which *enin later on was to crystallise into a
phrase of supra4theolo.ical -ystery, 0the dictatorship of the
proletariat0. The proletarians need learn nothin., plan nothin.2
they were ri.ht and .ood by nature2 they would 8ust 0ta/e
over0. The infinitely various envies, hatreds and resent-ents of
the ave4nots were to fuse into a -i.hty creative drive. %ll
virtue resided in the-2 all evil in those who had bettered the-.
$ne .ood thin. there was in this new doctrine of the class war,
it inculcated a -uch needed brotherliness a-on. the wor/ers,
but it was balanced by the or.anisation of class hate. (o the
.reat propa.anda of the class war, with these -onstrous
falsifications of -anifest fact, went forth. >ollectivisation
would not so -uch be or.anised as appear -a.ically when the
incubus of >apitalis- and all those irritatin.ly well4to4do
people, were lifted off the .reat Proletarian soul.
)ar9 was a -an incapable in -oney -atters and -uch
bothered by trades-en=s bills. )oreover he cherished absurd
pretensions to aristocracy. The conse:uence was that he
ro-anced about the lovely life of the )iddle %.es as if he were
another +elloc and concentrated his ani-us about the
0bour.eoisie0, who- he -ade responsible for all those .reat
disruptive forces in hu-an society that we have considered.
*ord +acon, the )ar:uis of Worcester, >harles the (econd and
the 7oyal (ociety, people li/e >avendish and Joule and Watt
for e9a-ple, all beca-e 0bour.eoisie0 in his infla-ed
i-a.ination. 0#urin. its rei.n of scarce a century0, he wrote in
the >o--unist )anifesto, 0the bour.eoisie has created -ore
powerful, -ore stupendous forces of production than all
precedin. .enerations rolled into one . . . . What earlier
.enerations had the re-otest in/lin. that such productive
forces slu-bered within the wo-bs of associated labourF0
0The wo-bs of associated labourH0 J&olly, what a phraseHK The
industrial revolution which was a conse:uence of the
-echanical revolution is treated as the cause of it. >ould facts
be -uddled -ore co-pletelyF
%nd a.ainB 0 . . . the bour.eois syste- is no lon.er able to cope
with the abundance of wealth it creates. ow does the
bour.eoisie overco-e these crisesF $n the one hand, by the
co-pulsory annihilation of a :uantity of the productive forces2
on the other, by the con:uest of new -ar/ets and the -ore
thorou.h e9ploitation of old ones. With what resultsF The
results are that the way is paved for -ore widespread and -ore
disastrous crises and that the capacity for avertin. such crises is
lessened.
0The weapons0 JWeaponsH ow that sedentary .entle-an in
his vast beard adored -ilitary i-a.esHK 0with which the
bour.eoisie overthrew feudalis- are now bein. turned a.ainst
the bour.eoisie itself.
0+ut the bour.eoisie has not only for.ed the weapons that will
slay it2 it has also en.endered the -en who will use these
weapons 4 the -odern wor/ers, the proletarians.0
%nd so here they are, ha--er and sic/le in hand, chest stuc/
out, proud, -a.nificent, co--andin., in the )anifesto. +ut .o
and loo/ for the- yourself in the streets. &o and loo/ at the-
in 7ussia.
!ven for 1545 this is not intelli.ent social analysis. 't is the
outpourin. of a -an with a + in his bonnet, the hated
+our.eoisie, a -an with a certain vision, uncritical of his own
sub4conscious pre8udices, but shrewd enou.h to realise how
.reat a drivin. force is hate and the inferiority co-ple9.
(hrewd enou.h to use hate and bitter enou.h to hate. *et
anyone read over that >o--unist )anifesto and consider who
-i.ht have shared the hate or even have .ot it all, if )ar9 had
not been the son of a rabbi. 7ead Jews for +our.eoisie and the
)anifesto is pure "a@i teachin. of the 19II45 vinta.e.
(tripped down to its core in this fashion, the pri-ary falsity of
the )ar9ist assu-ption is evident. +ut it is one of the :ueer
co--on wea/ness of the hu-an -ind to be uncritical of
pri-ary assu-ptions and to s-other up any en:uiry into their
soundness in secondary elaboration, in technicalities and
conventional for-ulN. )ost of our syste-s of belief rest upon
rotten foundations, and .enerally these foundations are -ade
sacred to preserve the- fro- attac/. They beco-e do.-as in a
sort of holy of holies. 't is shoc/in.ly uncivil to say 0+ut that is
nonsense0. The defenders of all the do.-atic reli.ions fly into
ra.e and indi.nation when one touches on the absurdity of their
foundations. !specially if one lau.hs. That is blasphe-y.
This avoidance of funda-ental criticis- is one of the .reatest
dan.ers to any .eneral hu-an understandin.. )ar9is- is no
e9ception to the universal tendency. The >apitalist (yste- has
to be a real syste-, the +our.eoisie an or.anised conspiracy
a.ainst the Wor/ers, and every hu-an conflict everywhere has
to be an aspect of the >lass War, or they cannot tal/ to you.
They will not listen to you. "ever once has there been an
atte-pt to answer the plain thin.s ' have been sayin. about
the- for a third of a century. %nythin. not in their lan.ua.e
flows off their -inds li/e water off a duc/=s bac/. !ven *enin 4
by far the subtlest -ind in the >o--unist story 4 has not
escaped this pitfall, and when ' tal/ed to hi- in )oscow in
19D0 he see-ed :uite unable to realise that the violent conflict
.oin. on in 'reland between the >atholic nationalists and the
Protestant .arrison was not his sacred insurrection of the
Proletariat in full blast.
To4day there is :uite a nu-ber of writers, and a-on. the-
there are -en of science who ou.ht to thin/ better, sole-nly
elaboratin. a pseudo4philosophy of science and society upon
the deeply buried but entirely nonsensical foundations laid by
)ar9. )onth by -onth the industrious *eft boo/ >lub pours a
new volu-e over the -inds of its devotees to sustain their
-ental habits and pic/le the- a.ainst the septic influence of
unorthodo9 literature. % party 'nde9 of Forbidden +oo/s will
no doubt follow. #istin.uished professors with sole-n deli.ht
in their own re-ar/able in.enuity, lecture and discourse and
even produce serious4loo/in. volu-es, upon the superiority of
)ar9ist physics and )ar9ist research, to the unbranded
activities of the hu-an -ind. $ne tries not to be rude to the-,
but it is hard to believe they are not deliberately playin. the
fool with their brains. $r have they a feelin. that revolutionary
co--unis- is ahead, and are they doin. their best to
rationalise it with an eye to those red days to co-eF J(ee
o.ben=s #an.erous Thou.hts.K
ere ' cannot pursue in any detail the story of the 7ise and
>orruption of )ar9is- in 7ussia. 't confir-s in every
particular -y contention that the class4war idea is an
entan.le-ent and perversion of the world drive towards a
world collectivis-, a wastin. disease of cos-opolitan
socialis-. 't has followed in its .eneral outline the co--on
history of every revolt of the ave4nots since history be.an.
7ussia in the shadows displayed an i--ense inefficiency and
san/ slowly to 7ussia in the dar/. 'ts .ala9y of inco-petent
fore-en, -ana.ers, or.anisers and so forth, developed the
-ost co-plicated syste- of self4protection a.ainst criticis-,
they sabota.ed one another, they intri.ued a.ainst one another.
1ou can read the :uintessence of the thin. in *ittlepa.e=s 'n
(earch of (oviet &old. %nd li/e every other ave4not revolt
since the dawn of history, hero worship too/ possession of the
insur.ent -asses. The inevitable >ha-pion appeared. They
escape fro- the >@ar and in twenty years they are worshippin.
(talin, ori.inally a fairly honest, unori.inal, a-bitious
revolutionary, driven to self4defensive cruelty and inflated by
flattery to his present :uasi4divine autocracy. The cycle
co-pletes itself and we see that li/e every other -erely
insurrectionary revolution, nothin. has chan.ed2 a lot of people
have been li:uidated and a lot of other people have replaced
the- and 7ussia see-s returnin. bac/ to the point at which it
started, to a patriotic absolutis- of doubtful efficiency and
va.ue, incalculable ai-s. (talin, ' believe, is honest and
benevolent in intention, he believes in collectivis- si-ply and
plainly, he is still under the i-pression that he is -a/in. a
.ood thin. of 7ussia and of the countries within her sphere of
influence, and he is self4ri.hteously i-patient of criticis- or
opposition. is successor -ay not have the sa-e
disinterestedness.
+ut ' have written enou.h to -a/e it clear why we have to
dissociate collectivisation alto.ether fro- the class war in our
-inds. *et us waste no -ore ti-e on the spectacle of the
)ar9ist puttin. the cart in front of the horse and tyin. hi-self
up with the harness. We have to put all this proletarian
distortion of the case out of our -inds and start afresh upon the
proble- of how to realise the new and unprecedented
possibilities of world collectivisation that have opened out
upon the world in the past hundred years. That is a new story.
%n entirely different story.
We hu-anLbein.s are facin. .i.antic forces that will either
destroy our species alto.ether or lift it to an alto.ether
unprecedented level of power and well4bein.. These forces
have to be controlled or we shall be annihilated. +ut
co-pletely controlled they can abolish slavery 4 by the one sure
-eans of -a/in. these thin.s unnecessary. >lass4war
co--unis- has its opportunity to realise all this, and it has
failed to -a/e .ood. (o far it has only replaced one autocratic
7ussia by another. 7ussia, li/e all the rest of the world, is still
facin. the proble- of the co-petent .overn-ent of a collective
syste-. (he has not solved it.
The dictatorship of the proletariat has failed us. We have to
loo/ for possibilities of control in other directions. %re they to
be foundF

"$T!
% friendly adviser readin. the passa.e on p.46 protests a.ainst
0the wo-bs of associated labour0 as a -istranslation of the
ori.inal &er-an of the )anifesto. ' too/ it fro- the translation
of Professor irendranath )u/her8ee in an 'ndian students=
8ournal, (riharsha, which happened to be at -y des/. +ut -y
adviser produces *ily &. %it/en and Fran/ >. +ud.en in a
&las.ow (ocialist *abour Press publication, who .ave it as
0the lap of social labour0, which is -ore refined but pure
nonsense. The &er-an word is 0schoss0, and in its widest sense
it -eans the whole productive -aternal outfit fro- boso- to
/nees and here :uite definitely the wo-b. The French
translation .ives 0sein0, which at the first .lance see-s to carry
.entility to an even hi.her level. +ut as you can say in French
that an e9pectant -other carries her child in her 0sein0, ' thin/
Professor )u/her8ee has it. Thousands of reverent youn.
>o--unists -ust have read that 0lap0 without observin. its
absurdity. )ar9 is tryin. to -a/e out that the increase of
productive efficiency was due to 0association0 in factories. %
better phrase to e9press his Jwron.4headedK intention would
have been 0the co4ordinated operations of wor/ers -assed in
factories0.

<
3"(%*T!# 1$3T

W! %A! "$W T$ e9a-ine these disruptive forces a little
-ore closely, these disruptive forces which are -anifestly
overstrainin. and destroyin. the social and political syste- in
which -ost of us have been reared. %t what particular points in
our political and social life are these disruptive forces
discoverin. brea/in.4pointsF
>hief a-on. these brea/in.4points, people are be.innin. to
realise -ore and -ore clearly, is the co--on, half4educated
youn. -an.
$ne particular conse:uence of the onrush of power and
invention in our ti-e, is the release of a .reat flood of hu-an
ener.y in the for- of une-ployed youn. people. This is a
pri-ary factor of the .eneral political instability.
We have to reco.nise that hu-anity is not sufferin., as -ost
ani-al species when they suffer to do, fro- hun.er or want in
any -aterial for-. 't is threatened not by deficiency but by
e9cess. 't is plethoric. 't is not lyin. down to die throu.h
physical e9haustion2 it is /noc/in. itself to pieces.
)easured by any standards e9cept hu-an content-ent and
ulti-ate security, -an/ind appears to be -uch wealthier now
than in 1915. The :ualities of power and -aterial i--ediately
available are -uch .reater. What is called productivity in
.eneral is .reater. +ut there is sound reason for supposin. that
a lar.e part of this increased productivity is really a swifter and
-ore thorou.h e9ploitation of irreplaceable capital. 't is a
process that cannot .o on indefinitely. 't rises to a -a9i-u-
and then the feast is over. "atural resources are bein.
e9hausted at a .reat rate, and the increased output .oes into war
-unitions whose purpose is destruction, and into sterile
indul.ences no better than waste. )an, 0heir of the a.es0, is a
de-oralised spendthrift, in a state of .allopin. consu-ption,
livin. on sti-ulants.
When we loo/ into the statistics of population, there is
irrefutable proof that everywhere we are passin. a -a9i-u-
Jsee for this !nid >harles= The Twili.ht of Parenthood, or 7.
7. ,uc@yns/i=s )easure-ent of Population &rowthK and that a
rapid decline is certain not only in Western !urope bur
throu.hout the world. There is sound reason for doubtin. the
alle.ed vast increase of the 7ussian people Jsee (ouvarine=s
(talinK. "evertheless, because of the continually increasin.
efficiency of productive -ethods, the relative pressure of this
new une-ployed class increases. The 0-ob0 of the twentieth
century is :uite different fro- the al-ost ani-al 0-ob0 of the
ei.hteenth century. 't is a restless sea of dissatisfied youn.
people, of youn. -en who can find no outlet for their natural
ur.encies and a-bitions, youn. people :uite ready to 0-a/e
trouble0 as soon as they are shown how.
'n the technically crude past, the illiterate ave4nots were
sweated and overwor/ed. 't was easy to find toil to /eep the-
all busy. (uch surplus -ultitudes are wanted no -ore. Toil is
no lon.er -ar/etable. )achines can toil better and with less
resistance.
These frustrated -ultitudes have been -ade acutely aware of
their own frustration. The .ap of their always partly artificial
disadvanta.e has been .reatly di-inished because now they all
read. !ven for incidental e-ploy-ent it has been necessary to
teach the- that, and the new readin. public thus created has
evo/ed a press and literature of e9cite-ent and su..estion. The
cine-a and the radio da@@le the- with spectacles of lu9ury and
unrestricted livin.. They are not the helpless od.es and
factory fodder of a hundred years a.o. They are educated up to
what -ust have been the -iddle4class level in 1559. They are
indeed lar.ely a s:uee@ed4out -iddle class, restless, i-patient
and as we shall see e9tre-ely dan.erous. They have
assi-ilated al-ost all of the lower strata that were for-erly
illiterate drud.es.
%nd this -odernised e9cess population has no lon.er any
social hu-ility. 't has no belief in the infallible wisdo- of its
rulers. 't sees the- too clearly2 it /nows about the-, their
waste, vices and wea/nesses, with an even e9a..erated
vividness. 't sees no reason for its e9clusion fro- the .ood
thin.s of life by such people. 't has lost enou.h of its inferiority
to realise that -ost of that inferiority is arbitrary and artificial.
1ou -ay say that this is a te-porary state of affairs, that the
fall in population will presently relieve the situation, by .ettin.
rid of this surplus of the 0not wanted0. +ut it will do nothin. of
the sort. %s population falls, consu-ption will fall. 'ndustries
will still be producin. -ore and -ore efficiently for a
shrin/in. -ar/et and they will be e-ployin. fewer and fewer
hands. % state of five -illion people with half a -illion of
useless hands, will be twice as unstable as forty -illion with
two -illion standin. off. (o lon. as the present state of affairs
continues, this stratu- of perple9ed youn. people 0out of it0
will increase relatively to the total co--unity.
't is still not realised as clearly as it should be, how -uch the
troubles of the present ti-e are due to this new aspect of the
social pu@@le. +ut if you will scrutinise the events of the past
half century in the li.ht of this idea, you will see -ore and
-ore convincin.ly that it is -ainly throu.h this .rowin. -ass
of unfulfilled desire that the disruptive forces -anifest
the-selves.
The ea.er and adventurous une-ployed youn. are indeed the
shoc/ troops in the destruction of the old social order
everywhere. They find .uidance in so-e confident Party or
so-e inspired >ha-pion, who or.anises the- for revolutionary
or counter4revolutionary ends. 't scarcely -atters which. They
beco-e >o--unists or they beco-e Fascists, "a@is, the 'rish
7epublican %r-y, ,u ,lu9 ,lans-en and so forth and so on.
The essence is the co-bination of ener.y, frustration and
discontent. What all such -ove-ents have in co--on, is a
.enuine indi.nation at the social institutions that have be.otten
and then cold4shouldered the-, a :uasi4-ilitary or.anisation
and the resolve to sei@e power for the-selves e-bodied in their
leaders. % wise and powerful .overn-ent would at any cost
anticipate and avert these destructive activities by providin.
various and interestin. new e-ploy-ent and the necessary
condition for a satisfyin. successful life for everyone. These
youn. people are life. The rise of the successful leader only
puts off the trouble for a ti-e. e sei@es power in the na-e of
his -ove-ent. %nd thenF When the sei@ure of power has been
effected, he finds hi-self obli.ed to /eep thin.s .oin., to
create 8ustification for his leadership, e9citin. enterprises,
ur.encies.
% leader of vision with ade:uate technical assistance -i.ht
conceivedly direct -uch of the hu-an ener.y he has e-bodied
into creative channels. For e9a-ple he could rebuild the dirty,
inade:uate cities of our a.e, turn the still slovenly country4side
into a .arden and play4.round, re4clothe, liberate and sti-ulate
i-a.inations, until the ideas of creative pro.ress beca-e a
habit of -ind. +ut in doin. this he will find hi-self confronted
by those who are sustained by the pre4e-ptions and
appropriations of the old order. These relatively well4off people
will bar.ain with hi- up to the last -o-ent for their -oney
and i-pede his sei@ure and utilisation of land and -aterial
resources, and will be further ha-pered by the fact that in
or.anisin. his youn. people he has had to turn their -inds and
capacities fro- creative wor/ to syste-atic violence and
-ilitant activities. 't is easy to -a/e an une-ployed youn. -an
into a Fascist or .an.ster, but it is hard to turn hi- bac/ to any
decent social tas/. )oreover the >ha-pion=s own leadership
was lar.ely due to his conspiratorial and adventurous :uality.
e is hi-self unfit for a creative 8ob. e finds hi-self a fi.hter
at the head of a fi.htin. pac/.
%nd further-ore, unless his country is on the scale of 7ussia
and the 3nited (tates, whatever he atte-pts in order to -a/e
.ood his pro-ises of an abundant life, has to be done in face of
that -utual pressure of the soverei.n states due to the abolition
of distance and chan.e of scale which we have already
considered. e has no elbow4roo- in which to operate. The
resultant of these conver.ent difficulties is to turn hi- and his
fi.htin. pac/ releasin. flu9 of predatory war.
!verywhere in the world, under varyin. local circu-stances,
we see .overn-ents pri-arily concerned with this supre-e
proble- of what to do with these youn. adults who are
une-ployable under present conditions. We have to realise that
and bear it constantly in -ind. 't is there in every country. 't is
the -ost dan.erous and wron.4headed view of the world
situation, to treat the totalitarian countries as differin.
funda-entally fro- the rest of the world.
The proble- of reabsorbin. the une-ployable adult is the
essential proble- in all states. 't is the co--on shape to which
all current political dra-as reduce. ow are we to use up or
sla/e this surplus of hu-an ener.yF The youn. are the live core
of our species. The .eneration below si9teen or seventeen has
not yet be.un to .ive trouble, and after forty, the ebb of vitality
disposes -en to accept the lot that has fallen to the-.
Fran/lin 7oosevelt and (talin find the-selves in control of
vast countries under4developed or so -isdeveloped that their
-ain ener.ies .o into internal or.anisation or reor.anisation.
They do not press a.ainst their frontiers therefore and they do
not threaten war. The recent 7ussian anne9ations have been
precautionary4defensive. +ut all the sa-e both 7ussia and
%-erica have to cater for that troubleso-e social stratu- :uite
as -uch as !urope. The "ew #eal is plainly an atte-pt to
achieve a wor/in. socialis- and avert a social collapse in
%-erica2 it is e9traordinarily parallel to the successive
0policies0 and 0Plans0 of the 7ussian e9peri-ent. %-ericans
shir/ the word 0socialis-0, but what else can one call itF
The +ritish oli.archy, de-oralised and slac/ with the
accu-ulated wealth of a century of advanta.e, bou.ht off
social upheaval for a ti-e by the deliberate and socially
de-oralisin. appease-ent of the dole. 't has -ade no ade:uate
effort to e-ploy or educate these surplus people2 it has 8ust
pushed the dole at the-. 't even tries to buy off the leader of
the *abour Party with a salary of OD000 a year. Whatever we
-ay thin/ of the :uality and deeds of the "a@i or Fascist
re.i-es or the follies of their leaders, we -ust at any rate
concede that they atte-pt, however clu-sily, to reconstruct life
in a collectivist direction. They are efforts to ad8ust and
construct and so far they are in advance of the +ritish rulin.
class. The +ritish !-pire has shown itself the least
constructive of all .overnin. networ/s. 't produces no "ew
#eals, no Five 1ear Plans2 it /eeps on tryin. to stave off its
inevitable dissolution and carry on upon the old lines 4 and
apparently it will do that until it has nothin. -ore to .ive away.
0Peace in our ti-e0, that foolishly pre-ature self4
con.ratulation of )r >ha-berlain, is -anifestly the .uidin.
principle of the +ritish elder states-an. 't is that natural desire
we all be.in to feel after si9ty to sit down co-fortably
so-ewhere. 3npro.ressive tran:uillity they want at any price,
even at the price of a preventive war. This astonishin. bunch of
rulers has never revealed any conception whatever of a
co--on future before its sprawlin. !-pire. There was a ti-e
when that !-pire see-ed li/ely to beco-e the ne9us of a
world syste-, but now -anifestly it has no future but
disinte.ration. %pparently its rulers e9pected it to .o on 8ust as
it was for ever. +it by bit its co-ponent parts have dropped
away and beco-e :uasi4independent powers, .enerally after an
unedifyin. stru..le2 (outhern 'reland for e9a-ple is neutral in
the present war, (outh %frica hesitated.
"ow, and that is why this boo/ is bein. written, these people,
by a strin. of al-ost incredible blunders, have entan.led what
is left of their !-pire in a .reat war to 0end itler0, and they
have absolutely no su..estion to offer their anta.onists and the
world at lar.e, of what is to co-e after itler. %pparently they
hope to paralyse &er-any in so-e as yet unspecified fashion
and then to .o bac/ to their .olf lin/s or the fishin. strea- and
do@e by the fire after dinner. That is surely one of the -ost
astoundin. thin.s in history, the possibility of death and
destruction beyond all rec/onin. and our co-batant
.overn-ents have no idea of what is to follow when the
overthrow of itler is acco-plished. They see- to be as void
of any sense of the future, as co-pletely e-pty4headed about
the after-ath of their ca-pai.ns, as one of those %-erican
Tories who are 08ust out a.ainst F.#.7. #a-n hi-H0
(o the +ritish !-pire re-ains, payin. its way down to ulti-ate
ban/ruptcy, buyin. itself a respite fro- the perple9in.
proble-s of the future, with the accu-ulated wealth and power
of its past. 't is rapidly beco-in. the -ost bac/ward political
or.anisation in the world. +ut sooner or later it will have no
-ore -oney for the dole and no -ore allies to abandon nor
do-inions to yield up to their local bosses, and then possibly
its disinte.ration will be co-plete J7.'.P.K, leavin. intelli.ent
!n.lish people to line up at last with %-erica and the rest of
the intelli.ent world and face the universal proble-. Which isB
how are we to adapt ourselves to these -i.hty disruptive forces
that are shatterin. hu-an society as it is at present constitutedF
'n the co-pressed countries which have little internal scope
and lac/ the vast natural resources of the 7ussian and %tlantic
co--unities, the internal tension -a/es -ore directly for
a..ressive warfare, but the funda-ental drivin.4force behind
their a..ressiveness is still the universal trouble, that surplus of
youn. -en.
(een in this broader vision, the present war falls into its true
proportions as a stupid conflict upon secondary issues, which is
delayin. and preventin. an overdue world ad8ust-ent. That is
-ay /ill hundreds of thousands of people does not alter that.
%n idiot with a revolver can -urder a fa-ily. e re-ains an
idiot.
Fro- 1914 to 19I9 has been a :uarter of a century of folly,
-eanness, evasion and resent-ent, and only a very tedious and
copious historian would atte-pt to distribute the bla-e a-on.
those who had played a part in the story. %nd when he had
done it, what he had done would not -atter in the least. %n
al-ost overwhel-in.ly difficult proble- has confronted us all,
and in so-e -easure we have all of us lost our heads in the
face of it, lost our di.nity, been too clever by half, pinned
ourselves to cheap solutions, :uarrelled stupidly a-on.
ourselves. 0We have erred and strayed . . . . We have lest
undone those thin.s that we ou.ht to have done and we have
done those thin.s which we ou.ht not to have done and there is
no health in us.0
' do not see any way to a solution of the proble- of World
Peace unless we be.in with a confession of universal wron.4
thin/in. and wron.4doin.. Then we can sit down to the
:uestion of a solution with so-e reasonable prospect of findin.
an answer.
"ow let us assu-e that 0we0 are a nu-ber of intelli.ent -en,
&er-an, French, !n.lish, %-erican, 'talian, >hinese and so
forth, who have decided in conse:uence of the war and in spite
of the war, while the war is still .oin. on, to wipe out all these
s:uabblin. by.ones fro- our -inds, and discuss plainly and
si-ply the present situation of -an/ind. What is to be done
with the worldF *et us recapitulate the considerations that so
far have been brou.ht in, and what prospects they open, if any,
of so-e hopeful concerted action, action that would so
revolutionise the hu-an outloo/ as to end war and that hectic
recurrent waste of hu-an life and happiness, for ever.
Firstly then it has been -ade apparent that hu-anity is at the
end of an a.e, an a.e of fra.-entation in the -ana.e-ent of its
affairs, fra.-entation politically a-on. separate soverei.n
states and econo-ically a-on. unrestricted business of
or.anisations co-petin. for profit. The abolition of distance,
the enor-ous increase of available power, root causes of all our
troubles, have suddenly -ade what was once a tolerable
wor/in. syste- 4 a syste- that was perhaps with all its
ine:ualities and in8ustices the only practicable wor/in. syste-
in its ti-e 4 enor-ously dan.erous and wasteful, so that it
threatens to e9haust and destroy our world alto.ether. )an is
li/e a fec/less heir who has suddenly been able to .et at his
capital and spend it as thou.h it were inco-e. We are livin. in
a phase of violent and irreparable e9penditure. There is an
intensified scra-ble a-on. nations and a-on. individuals to
ac:uire, -onopolise and spend. The dispossessed youn. find
the-selves hopeless unless they resort to violence. They
i-ple-ent the ever4increasin. instability. $nly a
co-prehensive collectivisation of hu-an affairs can arrest this
disorderly self4destruction of -an/ind. %ll this has been -ade
plain in what has .one before.
This essential proble-, the proble- of collectivisation, can be
viewed fro- two reciprocal points of view and stated in two
different ways. We can as/, 0What is to be done to end the
world chaosF0 and also 0ow can we offer the co--on youn.
-an a reasonable and sti-ulatin. prospect of a full lifeF0
These two :uestions are the obverse and reverse of one
:uestion. What answers one answers the other. The answer to
both is that we have to collectivise the world as one syste-
with practically everyone playin. a reasonably satisfyin. part in
it. For sound practical reasons, over and above any ethical or
senti-ental considerations, we have to devise a collectivisation
that neither de.rades nor enslaves.
$ur i-a.inary world conference then has to turn itself to the
:uestion of how to collectivise the world, so that it will re-ain
collectivised and yet enterprisin., interestin. and happy enou.h
to content that co--on youn. -an who will otherwise
reappear, baffled and sullen, at the street corners and throw it
into confusion a.ain. To that proble- the rest of this boo/ will
address itself.
%s a -atter of fact it is very obvious that at the present ti-e a
sort of collectivisation is bein. i-posed very rapidly upon the
world. !veryone is bein. enrolled, ordered about, put under
control so-ewhere 4 even if it is only in an evacuation or
concentration ca-p or what not. This process of
collectivisation, collectivisation of so-e sort, see-s now to be
in the nature of thin.s and there is no reason to suppose it is
reversible. (o-e people i-a.ine world peace as the end of that
process. >ollectivisation is .oin. to be defeated and a va.uely
conceived rei.n of law will restore and sustain property,
>hristianity, individualis- and everythin. to which the
respectable prosperous are accusto-ed. This is i-plicit even on
the title of such a boo/ as !dward )ousley=s )an or
*eviathanF 't is -uch -ore reasonable to thin/ that world
peace has to be the necessary co-pletion of that process, and
that the alternative is a decadent anarchy. 'f so, the phrase for
the ai-s of liberal thou.ht should be no )an or *eviathan but
)an -asters *eviathan.
$n this point, the inevitability of collectivisation as the sole
alternative to universal bri.anda.e and social collapse, our
world conference -ust -a/e itself perfectly clear.
Then it has to turn itself to the -uch -ore difficult and
co-plicated :uestion of how.

P
($>'%*'() 3"%A$'#%+*!

*!T 3(, !A!" %T the cost of a certain repetition, loo/ a little
-ore closely now into the fashion in which the disruptive
forces are -anifestin. the-selves in the Western and !astern
he-ispheres.
'n the $ld World the hypertrophy of ar-ies is -ost
conspicuous, in %-erica it was the hypertrophy of bi.
business. +ut in both the necessity for an increasin. collective
restraint upon uncoordinated over4powerful business or
political enterprise is -ore and -ore clearly reco.nised.
There is a stron. opposition on the part of .reat interests in
%-erica to the President, who has -ade hi-self the spear4head
of the collectivisin. drive2 they want to put the bra/e now on
his pro.ressive socialisation of the nation, and :uite possibly,
at the cost of increasin. social friction, they -ay slow down the
drift to socialis- very considerably. +ut it is unbelievable that
they dare provo/e the social convulsion that would ensue upon
a deliberate reversal of the en.ines or upon any atte-pt to
return to the .lorious days of bi. business, wild speculation and
-ountin. une-ploy-ent before 19D6. They will -erely slow
down the drive. For in the world now all roads lead to
socialis- or social dissolution.
The te-po of the process is different in the two continents2 that
is the -ain difference between the-. 't is not an opposition.
They travel at different rates but they travel towards an
identical .oal. 'n the $ld World at present the socialisation of
the co--unity is .oin. on far -ore rapidly and thorou.hly
than it is in %-erica because of the perpetual war threat.
'n Western !urope now the dissolution and the drive towards
socialisation pro.ress by leaps and bounds. The +ritish
.overnin. class and +ritish politicians .enerally, overta/en by
a war they had not the intelli.ence to avert, have tried to atone
for their slovenly uni-a.inativeness durin. the past twenty
years in a passion of witless i-provisation. &od /nows what
their actual war preparations a-ount to, but their do-estic
policy see-s to be based on an i-perfect study of +arcelona,
&uernica, )adrid and Warsaw. They i-a.ine si-ilar
catastrophes on a lar.er scale 4 althou.h they are :uite
i-possible, as every steady4headed person who can esti-ate
the available supplies of petrol /nows 4 and they have a terrible
dread of bein. held responsible. They fear a day of rec/onin.
with their lon.4ba-boo@led lower classes. 'n their panic they
are rapidly brea/in. up the e9istin. order alto.ether.
The chan.es that have occurred in &reat +ritain in less than a
year are astoundin.. They recall in -any particulars the social
dislocation of 7ussia in the closin. -onths of 1916. There has
been a shiftin. and -i9in.4up of people that would have
see-ed i-possible to anyone in 19I6. The evacuation of
centres of population under the -ere e9a..erated threat of air
raids has been of frantic rec/lessness. undreds of thousands
of fa-ilies have been bro/en up, children separated fro- their
parents and :uartered in the ho-es of -ore or less reluctant
hosts. Parasites and s/in diseases, vicious habits and insanitary
practices have been spread, as if in a passion of e:ualitarian
propa.anda, the slu-s of such centres as &las.ow, *ondon and
*iverpool, throu.hout the len.th and breadth of the land.
7ailways, road traffic, all the nor-al co--unications have
been dislocated by a universal runnin. about. For a couple of
-onths &reat +ritain has been -ore li/e a disturbed ant4hill
than an or.anised civilised country.
The conta.ion of fun/ has affected everyone. Public
institutions and .reat business concerns have bolted to re-ote
and inconvenient sites2 the ++> or.anisation, for e9a-ple,
scuffled off headlon. fro- *ondon, needlessly and
ridiculously, no -an pursuin. it. There has been a wild
epide-ic of dis-issals, of servants e-ployed in *ondon, for
e9a-ple, and a still wilder shiftin. of unsuitable -en to novel,
unnecessary 8obs. !veryone has been e9horted to serve the
country, children of twelve, to the .reat deli.ht of conservative4
-inded far-ers, have been withdrawn fro- school and put to
wor/ on the land, and yet the nu-ber of those who have lost
their 8obs and cannot find anythin. else to do, has .one up by
over 100,000.
There have been a-ateurish atte-pts to ration food, producin.
waste here and artificial scarcity there. % sort of -assacre of
s-all independent businesses is in pro.ress -ainly to the
advanta.e of the bi. provision4dealin. concerns, who chan.ed
in a ni.ht fro- open profiteers to beco-e the 0e9pert0 advisers
of food supply. %ll the e9pertise they have ever displayed has
been the e9traction of profits fro- food supply. +ut while
profits -ount, ta9ation with an air of .reat resolution sets itself
to prune the-.
The +ritish public has always been phle.-atic in the face of
dan.er, it is too stout4hearted and too stupid to .ive way to
e9cesses of fear, but the authorities have thou.ht it necessary to
plaster the walls with cast, -anifestly e9pensive, posters,
headed with a 7oyal >rown, 01our coura.e, your resolution,
your cheerfulness will brin. us victory.0
0$h yus,0 said the *ondon >oc/ney. 01ou=ll .et the victory all
ri.ht. Trust you. $n -y coura.e, -y resolution, -y
cheerfulness2 you=ll use up QTo--y %t/ins= all ri.ht. *arf at
Qi- in a /indly sort of way and use hi-. %nd then you thin/
you=ll out hi- bac/ a.ain on the dust4heap. %.ainF TwiceF0
That is all too credible. +ut this ti-e our rulers will e-er.e
discredited and frustrated fro- the conflict to face a
disor.anised population in a state of -utinous en:uiry. They
have -ade preposterous pro-ises to restore Poland and they
will certainly have to eat their words about that. $r what is
-ore probable the .overn-ent will have to .ive place to
another ad-inistration which will be able to eat those words
for the- with a sli.htly better .race. There is little prospect of
Than/s.ivin. (ervices or any %r-istice ni.ht or.y this ti-e.
People at ho-e are tastin. the hardships of war even -ore
tediously and irritatin. than the -en on active service.
>ine-as, theatres, have been shut pre-aturely, blac/4outs have
di-inished the safety of the streets and doubled the tale of road
casualties. The +ritish crowd is already a sullen crowd. The
world has not seen it in such a bad te-per for a century and
half, and, let there be no -ista/e about it, it is far less in a
te-per with the &er-ans than it is with its own rulers.
Throu.h all this swirlin. inti-idatin. propa.anda of civil
disorder and a syste-atic suppression of news and criticis- of
the -ost e9asperatin. sort, war preparation has proceeded. The
perple9ed and baffled citi@en can only hope that on the -ilitary
side there has been a little -ore foresi.ht and less hysteria.
The loss of confidence and particularly confidence in the
.overn-ent and social order is already enor-ous. "o one feels
secure, in his 8ob, in his services, in his savin.s, any lon.er.
People lose confidence even in the -oney in their poc/ets. %nd
hu-an society is built on confidence. 't cannot carry on without
it.
Thin.s are li/e this already and it is only the openin. sta.e of
this stran.e war. The position of the rulin. class and the
financial people who have hitherto do-inated +ritish affairs is
a peculiar one. The cast of the war is already enor-ous, and
there is no si.n that it will di-inish. 'nco-e ta9, super ta9,
death duties, ta9es on war profits have been raised to a level
that should practically e9tin.uish the once prosperous -iddle
strata of society alto.ether. The very wealthy will survive in a
shorn and di-inished state, they will han. on to the last, but
the .raded classes that have hitherto intervened between the-
and the i-poverished -asses of the population, who will be
irritated by war sacrifices, e9tensively une-ployed and as/in.
-ore and -ore penetratin. :uestions, will have di-inished
.reatly. $nly by the -ost in.enious -onetary -anipulation, by
dan.erous ta94dod.in. and e9pedients ver.in. on sheer
scoundrelis-, will a clever youn. -an have the .host of a
chance of cli-bin. by the old traditional -oney4-a/in. ladder,
above his fellows. $n the other hand, the career of a public
e-ployee will beco-e continually -ore attractive. There is
-ore interest in it and -ore self4respect. The lon.er the war
continues, the co-pleter and -ore plainly irreparable will be
the dissolution of the old order.
"ow to -any readers who have been incredulous of the
state-ent of the first section of this boo/, that we are livin. in
the !nd of an %.e, to those who have been i-pervious to the
account of the disruptive forces that are brea/in. up the social
order and to the ar.u-ent ' have drawn fro- the-, who -ay
have .ot away fro- all that, so to spea/, by sayin. they are
0scientific0 or 0-aterialistic0 or 0sociolo.ical0 or 0hi.hbrow0,
or that Providence that has hitherto displayed such a -ar/ed
bias in favour of well4off, co-fortable, slu..ish4-inded people
is sure to do so-ethin. nice for the- at the eleventh hour, the
real inconveniences, alar-s, losses and .rowin. disorder of the
life about the- -ay at last brin. a realisation that the situation
in Western !urope is approachin. revolutionary conditions. 't
will be a hard sayin. for -any people in the advanta.e4holdin.
classes, and particularly if they are -iddle4a.ed, that the older
has already .one to pieces can never be put bac/. +ut how can
they doubt itF
% revolution, that is to say a -ore or less convulsive effort at
social and political read8ust-ent, is bound to co-e in all these
overstrained countries, in &er-any, in +ritain and universally.
't is -ore li/ely than not to arise directly out of the
e9asperatin. di-inuendos and crescendos of the present war,
as a cul-inatin. phase of it. 7evolution of so-e sort we -ust
have. We cannot prevent its onset. +ut we can affect the course
of its develop-ent. 't -ay end in utter disaster or it -ay release
a new world, far better than the old. Within these broad li-its it
is possible for us to -a/e up our -inds how it will co-e to us.
%nd since the only practical :uestion before us is the :uestion
of how we will ta/e this world revolution we cannot possibly
evade, let -e recall to your attention the reasons ' have
advanced in the second section of this boo/ for the ut-ost
public discussion of our situation at the present ti-e. %nd also
let -e brin. bac/ to -ind the e9a-ination of )ar9is- in the
fourth section. There it is shown how easily a collectivist
-ove-ent, especially when it is faced by the forcible4feeble
resistances and suppressions of those who have hitherto
en8oyed wealth and power, -ay de.enerate into an old4
fashioned class4war, beco-e conspiratorial, do.-atic and
inadaptable, and sin/ towards leader worship and autocracy.
That apparently is what has happened in 7ussia in its present
phase. We do not /now how -uch of the ori.inal revolutionary
spirit survives there, and a real funda-ental issue in the world
situation is whether we are to follow in the footsteps of 7ussia
or whether we are .oin. to pull ourselves to.ether, face the
stern lo.ic of necessity and produce a Western 7evolution,
which will benefit by the 7ussian e9perience, react upon
7ussia and lead ulti-ately to a world understandin..
What is it that the %tlantic world finds -ost ob8ectionable in
the (oviet world of to4dayF 's it any disapproval of collectivis-
as suchF $nly in the case of a dwindlin. -inority of rich and
successful -en 4 and very rarely of the sons of such people.
Aery few capable -en under fifty nowadays re-ain
individualists in political and social -atters. They are not even
funda-entally anti4>o--unist. $nly it happens that for
various reasons the political life of the co--unity is still in the
hands of unteachable old4fashioned people. What are called
0de-ocracies0 suffer .reatly fro- the rule of old -en who have
not /ept pace with the ti-es. The real and effective
disapproval, distrust and disbelief in the soundness of the
(oviet syste- lies not in the out4of4date individualis- of these
elderly types, but in the conviction that it can never achieve
efficiency or even -aintain its honest ideal of each for all and
all for each, unless it has free speech and an insistence upon
le.ally4defined freedo-s for the individual within the
collectivist fra-ewor/. We do not deplore the 7ussian
7evolution as a 7evolution. We co-plain that it is not a .ood
enou.h 7evolution and we want a better one.
The -ore hi.hly thin.s are collectivised the -ore necessary is
a le.al syste- e-bodyin. the 7i.hts of )an. This has been
for.otten under the (oviets, and so -en .o in fear there of
arbitrary police action. +ut the -ore functions your
.overn-ent controls the -ore need there is for protective law.
The ob8ection to (oviet collectivis- is that, lac/in. the
antiseptic of le.ally assured personal freedo-, it will not /eep.
't professes to be funda-entally a co--on econo-ic syste-
based on class4war ideas2 the industrial director is under the
heel of the Party co--issar2 the political police have .ot
alto.ether out of hand2 and the affairs .ravitate inevitably
towards an oli.archy or an autocracy protectin. its incapacity
by the repression of adverse co--ent.
+ut these valid criticis-s -erely indicate the sort of
collectivisation that has to be avoided. 't does not dispose of
collectivis- as such. 'f we in our turn do not wish to be
sub-er.ed by the wave of +olshevisation that is evidently
advancin. fro- the !ast, we -ust i-ple-ent all these valid
ob8ections and create a collectivisation that will be -ore
efficient, -ore prosperous, tolerant, free and rapidly
pro.ressive than the syste- we conde-n. We, who do not li/e
the (talinised4)ar9ist state, have, as they used to say in +ritish
politics, to 0dish0 it by .oin. one better. We have to confront
!astern4spirited collectivis- with Western4spirited
collectivis-.
Perhaps this -ay be better put. We -ay be .ivin. way to a sub4
conscious conceit here and assu-in. that the West is always
.oin. to be thin/in. -ore freely and clearly and wor/in. -ore
efficiently than the !ast. 't is li/e that now, but it -ay not
always be li/e that. !very country has had its phases of
illu-ination and its phases of blindness. (talin and (talinis-
are neither the be.innin. nor the end of the collectivisation of
7ussia.
We are dealin. with so-ethin. still al-ost i-possible to
esti-ate, the e9tent to which the new 7ussian patriotis- and
the new (talin4worship, have effaced and how far they have
-erely -as/ed, the .enuinely creative international
co--unis- of the revolutionary years. The 7ussian -ind is
not a docile -ind, and -ost of the literature available for a
youn. -an to read in 7ussia, we -ust re-e-ber, is still
revolutionary. There has been no burnin. of the boo/s there.
The )oscow radio tal/s for internal consu-ption since the
itler4(talin understandin. betray a .reat solicitude on the part
of the .overn-ent to -a/e it clear that there has been no
sacrifice of revolutionary principle. That witnesses to the
vitality of public opinion in 7ussia. The clash between the
teachin.s of 19D0 and 1940 -ay have a liberatin. effect on
-any people=s -inds. 7ussians love to tal/ about ideas. 3nder
the >@ar they tal/ed. 't is incredible that they do not tal/ under
(talin.
That :uestion whether collectivisation is to be 0Westernised0 or
0!asternised0, usin. these words under the caveat of the
previous para.raph, is really the first issue before the world to4
day. We need a fully ventilated 7evolution. $ur 7evolution has
to .o on in the li.ht and air. We -ay have to accept
sovietisation R la 7usse :uite soon unless we can produce a
better collectivisation. +ut if we produce a better
collectivisation it is -ore probable than not that the 7ussian
syste- will incorporate our i-prove-ents, for.et its revivin.
nationalis- a.ain, debun/ )ar9 and (talin, so far as they can
be debun/ed, and -er.e into the one world state.
+etween these pri-ary anta.onists, between 7evolution with
its eyes open and 7evolution with a -as/ and a .a., there will
certainly be co-plications of the issue due to patriotis- and
bi.otry and the unteachable wilful blindness of those who do
not want to see. )ost people lie a lot to the-selves before they
lie to other people, and it is hopeless to e9pect that all the
warrin. cults and traditions that confuse the -ind of the race
to4day are .oin. to fuse under a realisation of the i-perative
nature of the hu-an situation as ' have stated it here.
)ultitudes will never realise it. Few hu-anLbein.s are able to
chan.e their pri-ary ideas after the -iddle thirties. They .et
fi9ed in the- and drive before the- no -ore intelli.ently than
ani-als drive before their innate i-pulses. They will die rather
than chan.e their second selves.
$ne of the -ost entan.lin. of these disconcertin. secondary
issues is that created by the stupid and persistent intri.ues of
the 7o-an >atholic >hurch.
*et -e be clear here. ' a- spea/in. of the Aatican and of its
sustained atte-pts to e9ercise a directive r?le in secular life. '
nu-ber a-on. -y friends -any 7o-an >atholics who have
built the -ost char-in. personalities and behaviour syste-s on
the fra-ewor/ provided the- by their faith. $ne of the
loveliest characters ' have ever /nown was &. ,. >hesterton.
+ut ' thin/ he was 8ust as fine before he beca-e a >atholic as
afterwards. (till he found so-ethin. he needed in >atholicis-.
There are saints of all creeds and of none, so .ood are better
possibilities of hu-an nature. 7eli.ious observances provide a
fra-e that -any find indispensable for the see-ly orderin. of
their lives. %nd outside the ran/s of 0strict0 observers -any
.ood people with hardly -ore theolo.y than a 3nitarian, love
to spea/ of .oodness and /indness as >hristianity. (o4and4so is
a 0.ood >hristian0. Aoltaire, says %lfred "oyes, the >atholic
writer, was a 0.ood >hristian0. ' do not use the word
0>hristianity0 in that sense because ' do not believe that
>hristians have any -onopoly of .oodness. When ' write of
>hristianity, ' -ean >hristianity with a definite creed and
-ilitant or.anisation and not these .ood /ind people, .ood and
/ind but not very fastidious about the e9act use of the words.
(uch 0.ood >hristians0 can be al-ost as bitterly critical as ' a-
of the continual pressure upon the faithful by that inner .roup
of 'talians in 7o-e, subsidised by the Fascist .overn-ent, who
pull the strin.s of >hurch policy throu.hout the world, so as to
do this or that tortuous or uncivilised thin., to cripple
education, to persecute unorthodo9 ways of livin..
't is to the influence of the >hurch that we -ust ascribe the
foolish support by the +ritish Forei.n $ffice of Franco, that
-urderous little 0>hristian .entle-an0, in his overthrow of the
sta..erin. liberal renascence of (pain. 't is the 7o-an >atholic
influence the +ritish and French have to than/, for the fantastic
blunderin. that involved the- in the defence of the i-possible
Polish state and its unri.hteous ac:uisitions2 it affected +ritish
policy in respect to %ustria and >@echoslova/ia profoundly,
and now it is doin. its ut-ost to -aintain and develop a
political estran.e-ent between 7ussia and the Western world
by its pre8udiced e9acerbation of the idea that 7ussia is 0anti4
&od0 while we Westerners are little children of the li.ht,
.allantly fi.htin. on the side of the >ross, $-nipotence,
&reater Poland, national soverei.nty, the s-all unecono-ic
prolific far-er and shop/eeper and anythin. else you li/e to
i-a.ine constitutes 0>hristendo-0.
The Aatican strives perpetually to develop the present war into
a reli.ious war. 't is tryin. to steal the war. +y all the
circu-stances of its trainin. it is unteachable. 't /nows no
better. 't will .o on 4 until so-e econo-ic revolution robs it of
its funds. Then as a political influence it -ay evaporate very
rapidly. The %n.lican >hurch and -any other Protestant sects,
the wealthy +aptists, for e9a-ple, follow suit.
't is not only in +ritish affairs that this propa.anda .oes on.
With the onset of war France beco-es -ilitant and >atholic. 't
has suppressed the >o--unist Party, as a .esture of
resent-ent a.ainst 7ussia and a precaution a.ainst post4war
collectivisation. The +el.ian caricaturist 7ae-ae/ers is now
presentin. itler day after day as a pitiful wea/lin. already
disposed of and worthy of our sy-pathy, while (talin is
represented as a fri.htful .iant with horns and a tail. 1et both
France and +ritain are at peace with 7ussia and have every
reason to co-e to a wor/in. understandin. with that country.
The attitude of 7ussia to the war has on the whole been cold,
conte-ptuous and reasonable.
't is not as if these devious sche-es can ta/e us so-ewhere2 it
is not that this restoration of the oly 7o-an !-pire is a
possibility. 1ou confront these >atholic politicians, 8ust as you
confront the politicians of West-inster, with these two cardinal
facts, the abolition of distance and the chan.e of scale. 'n vain.
1ou cannot .et any realisation of the si.nificance of these
thin.s into those idea4proofed s/ulls. They are deaf to it, blind
to it. They cannot see that it -a/es any difference at all to their
lon.4established -ental habits. 'f their -inds waver for a
-o-ent they utter little -a.ic prayers to e9orcise the .lea-.
What, they as/, has 0-ere si@e0 to do with the soul of -an,
0-ere speed, -ere power0F What can the youn. do better than
subdue their natural ur.ency to live and doF What has -ere life
to do with the reli.ious outloo/F The war, these Aatican
propa.andists insist, is a 0crusade0 a.ainst -odernis-, a.ainst
socialis- and free thou.ht, the restoration of priestly authority
is its end2 our sons are fi.htin. to enable the priest to thrust his
pious uncleanliness once a.ain between reader and boo/, child
and /nowled.e, husband and wife, sons and lovers. While
honest -en are fi.htin. now to put an end to -ilitary
a..ression, to resu-e indeed that 0war to end war0 that was
aborted to .ive us the *ea.ue of "ations, these bi.ots are
sedulously pervertin. the issue, tryin. to represent it as a
reli.ious war a.ainst 7ussia in particular and the -odern spirit
in .eneral.
The well4trained )osle-, the %-erican funda-entalists, the
orthodo9 Jew, all the fi9ed cultures, produce si-ilar irrelevant
and wasteful resistances, but the >atholic or.anisation reaches
further and is -ore persistent. 't is fran/ly opposed to hu-an
effort and the idea of pro.ress. 't -a/es no pretence about it.
(uch cross4activities as these co-plicate, delay and -ay even
sabota.e effectively every effort to solve the proble- of a lucid
collectivisation of the world=s affairs, but they do not alter the
essential fact that it is only throu.h a rationalisation and
coalescence of constructive revolutionary -ove-ents
everywhere and a liberal triu-ph over the do.-atis- of the
class war, that we can hope to e-er.e fro- the present
wrec/a.e of our world.
6
F!#!7%T'$"
*!T 3( "$W T%,! up certain va.uely constructive
proposals which see- at present to be very -uch in people=s
-inds. They find their cardinal e9pression in a boo/ called
3nion "ow by )r >larence ,. (treit, which has launched the
-a.ic word 0Federation0 upon the world. The 0de-ocracies0 of
the world are to .et to.ether upon a sort of enlar.e-ent of the
Federal constitution of the 3nited (tates Jwhich produced one
of the bloodiest civil wars in all historyK and then all will be
well with us.
*et us consider whether this word 0Federation0 is of any value
in or.anisin. the Western 7evolution. ' would su..est it is. '
thin/ it -ay be a -eans of -ental release for -any people who
would otherwise have re-ained dully resistant to any sort of
chan.e.
This Federation pro8ect has an air of reasonableness. 't is
attractive to a nu-ber of influential people who wish with the
-ini-u- of adaptation to re-ain influential in a chan.in.
world, and particularly is it attractive to what ' -ay call the
liberal4conservative ele-ents of the prosperous classes in
%-erica and &reat +ritain and the $slo countries, because it
puts the -ost difficult aspect of the proble-, the need for
collective socialisation, so co-pletely in the bac/.round that it
can be i.nored. This enables the- to ta/e :uite a bri.ht and
hopeful view of the future without any serious hindrance to
their present preoccupations.
They thin/ that Federation, reasonably defined, -ay suspend
the possibility of war for a considerable period and so li.hten
the burden of ta9ation that the present crushin. de-ands on
the- will rela9 and they will be able to resu-e, on a sli.htly
-ore econo-ical scale perhaps, their for-er way of livin..
!verythin. that .ives the- hope and self4respect and preserves
their ho-es fro- the worst indi.nities of panic, appease-ent,
treason4huntin. and the rest of it, is to be encoura.ed, and
-eanwhile their sons will have ti-e to thin/ and it -ay be
possible so to search, ransac/ and rationalise the (treit pro8ect
as to -a/e a .enuine and wor/able sche-e for the socialisation
of the world.
'n The Fate of o-o sapiens ' e9a-ined the word 0de-ocracy0
with so-e care, since it already see-ed li/ely that .reat
:uantities of our youn. -en were to be as/ed to cripple and
ris/ their lives for its sa/e. ' showed that it was still a very
inco-pletely realised aspiration, that its co-plete develop-ent
involved socialis- and a level of education and infor-ation
attained as yet by no co--unity in the world. )r (treit .ives a
looser, -ore rhetorical state-ent 4 a -ore idealistic state-ent,
shall we sayF 4 of his conception of de-ocracy, the sort of
state-ent that would be considered wildly e9a..erated even if
it was war propa.anda, and thou.h unhappily it is re-ote fro-
any achieved reality, he proceeds without further en:uiry as if it
were a description of e9istin. realities in what he calls the
0de-ocracies0 of the world. 'n the- he i-a.ines he finds
0.overn-ents of the people, by the people, for the people0.
'n the boo/ ' have already cited ' discuss What is #e-ocracyF
%nd Where is #e-ocracyF ' do -y best there to brin. )r (treit
down to the harsh and difficult facts of the case. ' will .o now a
little -ore into particulars in -y e9a-ination of his pro8ect.
is 0founder de-ocracies0 are to beB 0The %-erican 3nion,
the +ritish >o--onwealth Jspecifically the 3nited ,in.do-,
the Federal #o-inion of >anada, the >o--onwealth of
%ustralia, "ew Sealand, the 3nion of (outh %frica, 'relandK,
the French 7epublic, +el.iu-, the "etherlands, the (wiss
>onfederation, #en-ar/, "orway, (weden and Finland.0
(carcely one of these, as ' have shown in that for-er boo/, is
really a fully wor/in. de-ocracy. %nd the 3nion of (outh
%frica is a particularly bad and dan.erous case of race tyranny.
'reland is an incipient reli.ious war and not one country but
two. Poland, ' note, does not co-e into )r (treit=s list of
de-ocracies at all. is boo/ was written in 19I5 when Poland
was a totalitarian country holdin., in defiance of the *ea.ue of
"ations, Ailna, which it had ta/en fro- *ithuania, lar.e areas
of non4Polish country it had con:uered fro- 7ussia, and
fra.-ents .ained by the dis-e-ber-ent of >@echoslova/ia. 't
only beca-e a de-ocracy, even technically and for a brief
period, before its collapse in (epte-ber 19I9, when )r
>ha-berlain was so foolish as to dra. the +ritish !-pire into a
costly and perilous war, on its behalf. +ut that is by the way.
"one of these fifteen Jor tenK 0founder de-ocracies0 are really
de-ocracies at all. (o we start badly. +ut they -i.ht be -ade
socialist de-ocracies and their federation -i.ht be -ade
so-ethin. very real indeed 4 at a price. The 3.(.(.7. is a
federated socialist syste-, which has shown a fairly successful
political solidarity durin. the past two decades, whatever else it
has done or failed to do.
"ow let us help )r (treit to convert his 0federation0 fro- a
noble but e9tre-ely rhetorical aspiration into a livin. reality.
e is aware that this -ust be done at a price, but ' want to
su..est that that price is, fro- what ' 8ud.e to be his point of
view, far .reater, and the chan.e -uch si-pler, -ore .eneral
and possibly even closer at hand, than he supposes. e is
disposed to appeal to e9istin. ad-inistrative or.anisations, and
it is :uestionable whether they are the ri.ht people to e9ecute
his desi.ns. $ne of the difficulties he .losses over is the
possible reluctance of the 'ndia $ffice to hand over the control
of 'ndia J>eylon and +ur-a he does not -entionK to the new
Federation &overn-ent, which would also, ' presu-e, ta/e
char.e of the fairly well .overned and happy fifty4odd -illion
people of the #utch !ast 'ndies, the French colonial e-pire, the
West 'ndies and so on. This, unless he proposes -erely to re4
christen the 'ndia $ffice, etc., is as/in. for an i--ense
outbrea/ of honesty and co-petence on the part of the new
Federal officialdo-. 't is also treatin. the possible contribution
of these five or si9 hundred -illion of dus/y peoples to the
new order with a levity inconsistent with de-ocratic ideals.
Guite a lot of these people have brains which are as .ood or
better than nor-al !uropean brains. 1ou could educate the
whole world to the not very e9alted level of a >a-brid.e
.raduate in a sin.le lifeti-e, if you had schools, colle.es,
apparatus and teachers enou.h. The radio, the cine-a, the
.ra-ophone, the i-prove-ents in both production and
distribution, have -ade it possible to increase the ran.e and
effectiveness of a .ifted teacher a thousandfold. We have seen
intensive war preparations .alore, but no one has drea-t yet of
an intensive educational effort. "one of us really li/e to see
other people bein. educated. They -ay be .ettin. an advanta.e
over our privile.ed selves. (uppose we overco-e that pri-itive
8ealousy. (uppose we speed up 4 as we are now physically able
to do 4 the education and enfranchise-ent of these hu.e
undeveloped reservoirs of hu-an capacity. (uppose we tac/
that on the 3nion "ow idea. (uppose we stipulate that
Federation, wherever it e9tends, -eans a "ew and Powerful
!ducation. 'n +en.al, in Java, in the >on.o Free (tate, :uite as
-uch as in Tennessee or &eor.ia or (cotland or 'reland.
(uppose we thin/ a little less about 0.radual enfranchise-ent0
by votes and e9peri-ents in local autono-y and all these old
ideas, and a little -ore about the enfranchise-ent of the -ind.
(uppose we drop that old cant about politically i--ature
peoples.
There is one direction in which )r (treit=s proposals are open
to i-prove-ent. *et us turn to another in which he does not
see- to have realised all the i-plications of his proposal. This
.reat 3nion is to have a union -oney and a union custo-s4free
econo-y. What follows upon thatF )ore ' thin/ than he
realises.
There is one aspect of -oney to which the -a8ority of those
that discuss it see- to be incurably blind. 1ou cannot have a
theory of -oney or any plan about -oney by itself in the air.
)oney is not a thin. in itself2 it is a wor/in. part of an
econo-ic syste-. )oney varies in its nature with the laws and
ideas of property in a co--unity. %s a co--unity -oves
towards collectivis- and co--unis-, for e9a-ple, -oney
si-plifies out. )oney is a necessary in a co--unis- as it is in
any other syste-, but its function therein is at its si-plest.
Pay-ent in /ind to the wor/er .ives hi- no freedo- of choice
a-on. the .oods the co--unity produces. )oney does.
)oney beco-es the incentive that 0wor/s the wor/er0 and
nothin. -ore.
+ut directly you allow individuals not only to obtain .oods for
consu-ption, but also to obtain credit to produce -aterial for
types of production outside the staple productions of the state,
the :uestion of credit and debt arises and -oney beco-es -ore
co-plicated. With every liberation of this or that product or
service fro- collective control to business or e9peri-ental
e9ploitation, the play of the -oney syste- enlar.es and the
laws re.ulatin. what you -ay ta/e for it, the co-pany laws,
ban/ruptcy laws and so forth increase. 'n any hi.hly developed
collective syste- the ad-inistration will certainly have to .ive
credits for hopeful e9peri-ental enterprises. When the syste-
is not collectivis-, -onetary operations for .ain are bound to
creep in and beco-e -ore and -ore co-plicated. Where -ost
of the substantial side of life is entrusted to uncoordinated
private enterprise, the intricacy of the -oney apparatus
increases enor-ously. )onetary -anipulation beco-es a
.reater and .reater factor in the co-petitive stru..le, not only
between individuals and fir-s, but between states. %s )r (treit
hi-self shows, in an e9cellent discussion of the abandon-ent
of the .old standard, inflation and deflation beco-e devices in
international co-petition. )oney beco-es strate.ic, 8ust as
pipe lines and railways can beco-e strate.ic.
This bein. so it is plain that for the Federal 3nion a co--on
-oney -eans an identical econo-ic life throu.hout the 3nion.
%nd this too is i-plied also in )r (treit=s 0custo-s4free0
econo-y. 't is i-possible to have a co--on -oney when a
dollar or a pound, or whatever it is, can buy this, that or the
other advanta.e in one state and is debarred fro- anythin. but
bare purchases for consu-ption in another. (o that this Federal
3nion is bound to be a unifor- econo-ic syste-. There can be
only very sli.ht variations in the control of econo-ic life.
'n the precedin. sections the i-placable forces that -a/e for
the collectivisation of the world or disaster, have been e9posed.
't follows that 0Federation0 -eans practically unifor-
socialis- within the Federal li-its, leadin., as state after state
is incorporated, to world socialis-. There -anifestly we carry
)r (treit farther than he realises he .oes 4 as yet. For it is fairly
evident that he is under the i-pression that a lar.e -easure of
independent private business is to .o on throu.hout the 3nion.
' doubt if he i-a.ines it is necessary to .o beyond the partial
socialisation already achieved by the "ew #eal. +ut we have
asse-bled evidence to show that the profit scra-ble, the wild
days of uncorrelated 0business0 are over for ever.
%nd a.ain thou.h he realises and states very clearly that
.overn-ents are -ade for -an and not -an for .overn-ents,
thou.h he applauds the .reat declarations of the >onvention
that created the %-erican >onstitution, wherein 0we the people
of the 3nited (tates0 overrode the ha..lin. of the separate
states and established the %-erican Federal >onstitution,
nevertheless he is curiously chary of supersedin. any e9istin.
le.al .overn-ents in the present world. e is chary of tal/in.
of 0We the people of the world0. +ut -any of us are co-in. to
realise that all e9istin. .overn-ents have to .o into the -eltin.
pot, we believe that it is a world revolution which is upon us,
and that in the .reat stru..le to evo/e a Westernised World
(ocialis-, conte-porary .overn-ents -ay vanish li/e straw
hats in the rapids of "ia.ara. )r (treit, however, beco-es
e9traordinarily le.al4-inded at this sta.e. ' do not thin/ that he
realises the forces of destruction that are .atherin. and so '
thin/ he hesitates to plan a reconstruction upon anythin. li/e
the scale that -ay beco-e possible.
e evades even the obvious necessity that under a Federal
&overn-ent the -onarchies of &reat +ritain, +el.iu-,
"orway, (weden, olland, if they survive at all, -ust beco-es
li/e the -ediatised soverei.ns of the co-ponent states of the
for-er &er-an !-pire, -ere cere-onial vesti.es. Perhaps he
thin/s that, but he does not say it outri.ht. ' do not /now if he
has pondered the "ew 1or/ World Fair of 19I9 nor the
si.nificance of the 7oyal Aisit to %-erica in that year, and
thou.ht how -uch there is in the +ritish syste- that would
have to be abandoned if his Federation is to beco-e a reality.
'n -ost of the i-plications of the word, it -ust cease to be
0+ritish0. is 'llustrative >onstitution is achieved with an
alto.ether forensic disre.ard of the funda-ental chan.es in
hu-an conditions to which we have to adapt ourselves or
perish. e thin/s of war by itself and not as an eruption due to
deeper -aladaptations. +ut if we push his earlier stipulations to
their necessary co-pletion, we need not trouble very -uch
about that sa-ple constitution of his, which is to ad8ust the
balance so fairly a-on. the constituent states. The abolition of
distance -ust inevitably substitute functional associations and
loyalties for local attributions, if hu-an society does not brea/
up alto.ether. The local divisions will -elt into a world
collectivity and the -ain conflicts in a pro.ressively unifyin.
Federation are -uch -ore li/ely to be these between different
world4wide types and associations of wor/ers.
(o far with 3nion "ow. $ne of )r (treit=s outstandin. -erits
is that he has had the coura.e to -a/e definite proposals on
which we can bite. ' doubt if a !uropean could have produced
any such boo/. 'ts naTve political le.alis-, its idea of salvation
by constitution, and its -anifest faith in the -a.ic beneficence
of private enterprise, are distinctly in the vein of an %-erican,
al-ost a pre4"ew #eal %-erican, who has beco-e, if
anythin., -ore %-erican, throu.h his e9periences of the
deepenin. disorder of !urope. (o -any %-ericans still loo/ on
at world affairs li/e spectators at a ball .a-e who are capable
of vociferous participation but still have no real sense of
participation2 they do not realise that the .round is -ovin.
under their seats also, and that the social revolution is brea/in.
surface to en.ulf the- in their turn. To -ost of us 4 to -ost of
us over forty at any rate 4 the idea of a funda-ental chan.e in
our way of life is so unpalatable that we resist it to the last
-o-ent.
)r (treit betrays at ti-es as vivid a sense of advancin. social
collapse as ' have, but it has still to occur to hi- that that
collapse -ay be conclusive. There -ay be dar/ a.es, a relapse
into barbaris-, but so-ewhen and so-ehow he thin/s -an
-ust recover. &eor.e +ernard (haw has recently been sayin.
the sa-e thin..
't -ay be worse that that.
' have .iven )r (treit scarcely a word of praise, because that
would be beside the -ar/ here. e wrote his boo/ sincerely as
a .enuine contribution to the unsyste-atic world conference
that is now .oin. on, ad-ittin. the possibility of error,
de-andin. criticis-, and ' have dealt with it in that spirit.
3nfortunately his word has .one -uch further than his boo/.
is boo/ says definite thin.s and even when one disa.rees with
it, it is .ood as a point of departure. +ut a nu-ber of people
have cau.ht up this word 0Federation0, and our -inds are
distracted by a -ultitude of appeals to support Federal pro8ects
with the -ost various content or with no content at all.
%ll the scores and hundreds of thousands of nice people who
are si.nin. peace pled.es and so forth a few years a.o, without
the sli.htest atte-pt in the world to understand what they
-eant by peace, are now echoin. this new -a.ic word with as
little conception of any content for it. They did not realise that
peace -eans so co-plicated and difficult an orderin. and
balancin. of hu-an society that it has never been sustained
since -an beca-e -an, and that we have wars and preparatory
interludes between wars because that is a -uch si-pler and
easier se:uence for our wilful, -uddle4headed, suspicious and
a..ressive species. These people still thin/ we can .et this new
and wonderful state of affairs 8ust by cla-ourin. for it.
%nd havin. failed to .et peace by sayin. 0Peace0 over and over
a.ain, they are now with an i--ense sense of discovery sayin.
0Federation0. What -ust happen to -en in conspicuous public
positions ' do not /now, but even an irresponsible literary -an
li/e -yself finds hi-self inundated with innu-erable len.thy
private letters, hysterical post4cards, pa-phlets fro- buddin.
or.anisations, 0declarations0 to si.n, de-ands for
subscriptions, all in the na-e of the new panacea, all as vain
and unproductive as the bleatin. of lost sheep. %nd ' cannot
open a newspaper without findin. so-e e-inent conte-porary
writin. a letter to it, sayin. .ently, fir-ly and bravely, the sa-e
word, so-eti-es with bits of 3nion "ow tac/ed on to it, and
so-eti-es with -inor i-prove-ents, but often with nothin.
-ore than the bare idea.
%ll sorts of idealistic -ove-ents for world peace which have
been tal/in. :uietly to the-selves for years and years have
been stirred up to follow the new banner. *on. before the &reat
War there was a boo/ by (ir )a9 Waechter, a friend of ,in.
!dward the (eventh, advocatin. the 3nited (tates of !urope,
and that ine9act but flatterin. parallelis- to the 3nited (tates
of %-erica has recurred fre:uently2 as a phase thrown out by
)onsieur +riand for e9a-ple, and as a pro8ect put forward by
an %ustrian4Japanese writer, >ount >oudenhove4,aler.i, who
even devised a fla. for the 3nion. The -ain ob8ection to the
idea is that there are hardly any states co-pletely in !urope,
e9cept (wit@erland, (an )arino, %ndorra and a few of the
Aersailles creations. %l-ost all the other !uropean states
e9tend far beyond the !uropean li-its both politically and in
their sy-pathies and cultural relations. They trail with the-
-ore than half -an/ind. %bout a tenth of the +ritish !-pire is
in !urope and still less of the #utch !-pire2 7ussia, Tur/ey,
France, are less !uropean than not2 (pain and Portu.al have
their closest lin/s with (outh %-erica.
Few !uropeans thin/ of the-selves as 0!uropeans0. ', for
e9a-ple, a- !n.lish, and a lar.e part of -y interests,
intellectual and -aterial, are Transatlantic. ' disli/e callin.
-yself 0+ritish0 and ' li/e to thin/ of -yself as a -e-ber of a
.reat !n.lish4spea/in. co--unity, which spreads irrespective
of race and colour round and about the world. ' a- annoyed
when an %-erican calls -e a 0forei.ner0 4 war with %-erica
would see- to -e 8ust as insane as war with >ornwall 4 and '
find the idea of cuttin. -yself off fro- the !n.lish4spea/in.
peoples of %-erica and %sia to follow the fla. of -y %ustrian4
Japanese friend into a federally bunched4up !uropean
e9tre-ely unattractive.
't would, ' su..est, be far easier to create the 3nited (tates of
the World, which is )r (treit=s ulti-ate ob8ective, than to .et
to.ether the so4called continent of !urope into any sort of
unity.
' find -ost of these 3nited (tates of !urope -ove-ents are
now 8u-pin. on to the Federation band4wa.on.
)y old friend and anta.onist, *ord #avid #avies, for instance,
has recently succu-bed to the infection. e was concerned
about the proble- of a World Pa9 in the days when the *ea.ue
of "ations (ociety and other associated bodies were
a-al.a-ated in the *ea.ue of "ations 3nion. e was struc/
then by an idea, an analo.y, and the e9perience was uni:ue for
hi-. e as/ed why individuals went about in -odern
co--unities in nearly perfect security fro- assault and
robbery, without any need to bear ar-s. is answer was the
police-an. %nd fro- that he went on to the :uestion of what
was needed for states and nations to .o their ways with the
sa-e blissful i--unity fro- violence and plunder, and it
see-ed to hi- a co-plete and reasonable answer to say 0an
international police-an0. %nd there you wereH e did not see,
he is probably :uite incapable of seein., that a state is
so-ethin. :uite different in its nature and behaviour fro- an
individual hu-anLbein.. When he was as/ed to e9plain how
that international police-an was to be created and sustained, he
8ust went on sayin. 0international police-an0. e has been
sayin. it for years. (o-eti-es it see-s it is to be the *ea.ue of
"ations, so-eti-es the +ritish !-pire, so-eti-es an
international %ir Force, which is to underta/e this .rave
responsibility. The bench before which the police-an is to hale
the offender and this position of the loc/4up are not indicated.
Findin. our criticis-s uncon.enial, his lordship went off with
his .reat idea, li/e a pen.uin which has found an e.., to
incubate it alone. ' hope he will be spared to say 0international
police-an0 for -any years to co-e, but ' do not believe he has
ever perceived or ever will perceive that, brilliant as his
inspiration was, it still left vast areas of the proble- in
dar/ness. +ein. a -an of considerable -eans, he has been able
to sustain a 0"ew >o--onwealth0 -ove-ent and publish
boo/s and a periodical in which his one .reat idea is elaborated
rather than developed.
+ut ' will not deal further with the very incoherent -ultitude
that now echoes this word 0Federation0. )any a-on. the-
will cease to cerebrate further and fall by the wayside, but
-any will .o on thin/in., and if they .o on thin/in. they will
co-e to perceive -ore and -ore clearly the realities of the
case. Federation, they will feel, is not enou.h.
(o -uch for the present 0Federalist0 front. %s a funda-ental
basis of action, as a declared end, it see-s hopelessly va.ue
and confused and, if one -ay coin a phrase, hopelessly
opti-istic. +ut since the concept see-s to be the way to release
a nu-ber of -inds fro- belief in the sufficiency of a *ea.ue of
"ations, associated or not associated with +ritish '-perialis-,
it has been worth while to consider how it can be a-plified and
turned in the direction of that full and open4eyed world4wide
collectivisation which a study of e9istin. conditions obli.es us
to believe is the only alternative to the co-plete de.eneration
of our species.

5
T! "!W T1P! $F 7!A$*3T'$"
*!T 3( 7!T37" T$ our -ain purpose, which is to e9a-ine
the way in which we are to face up to this i-pendin. World
7evolution.
To -any -inds this idea of 7evolution is al-ost inseparable
fro- visions of street barricades -ade of pavin.4stones and
overturned vehicles, ra..ed -obs ar-ed with i-pro-ptu
weapons and inspired by defiant son.s, prisons bro/en and a
.eneral 8ail delivery, palaces stor-ed, a .reat huntin. of ladies
and .entle-en, decapitated but still beautiful heads on pi/es,
re.icides of the -ost sinister :uality, the busy .uillotine, a
crescendo of disorder endin. in a whiff of .rapeshot. . . .
That was one type of 7evolution. 't is what one -i.ht call the
>atholic type of 7evolution, that it is to say it is the ulti-ate
phase of a lon. period of >atholic livin. and teachin.. People
do not realise this and so-e will be indi.nant at its bein. stated
so barely. 1et the facts stare us in the face, co--on
/nowled.e, not to be denied. That furious, hun.ry, desperate,
brutal -ob was the outco-e of .enerations of >atholic rule,
>atholic -orality and >atholic education. The ,in. of France
was the 0)ost >hristian ,in., the eldest son of the >hurch0, he
was -aster of the econo-ic and financial life of the
co--unity, and the >atholic >hurch controlled the intellectual
life of the co--unity and the education of the people
absolutely. That -ob was the outco-e. 't is absurd to parrot
that >hristianity has never been tried. >hristianity in its -ost
hi.hly developed for- has been tried and tried a.ain. 't was
tried for centuries fully and co-pletely, in (pain, France, 'taly.
't was responsible for the filth and chronic pestilence and
fa-ine of -edieval !n.land. 't inculcated purity but it never
inculcated cleanliness. >atholic >hristianity had practically
unchallen.ed power in France for .enerations. 't was free to
teach as it chose and as -uch as it chose. 't do-inated the
co--on life entirely. The >atholic syste- in France cannot
have reaped anythin. it did not sow, for no other sowers were
allowed. That hideous -ob of -urderous ra.a-uffins we are
so fa-iliar with in pictures of the period, was the final harvest
of its re.i-e.
The -ore >atholic reactionaries revile the insur.ent co--on
people of the first French 7evolution, the -ore they conde-n
the-selves. 't is the -ost i-pudent perversion of reality for
the- to snivel about the .uillotine and the tu-brils, as thou.h
these were not purely >atholic products, as thou.h they ca-e
in suddenly fro- outside to wrec/ a .enteel Paradise. They
were the last sta.e of the syste-atic in8ustice and i.norance of
a strictly >atholic re.i-e. $ne phase succeeded another with
relentless lo.ic. The )aseillaise co-pleted the life4cycle of
>atholicis-.
'n (pain too and in )e9ico we have seen undisputed
educational and -oral >atholic ascendancy, the >hurch with a
free hand, producin. a si-ilar uprush of blind resent-ent. The
crowds there also were cruel and blasphe-ous2 but >atholicis-
cannot co-plain2 for >atholicis- hatched the-. Priests and
nuns who had been the sole teachers of the people were
insulted and outra.ed and churches defiled. (urely if the
>hurch is anythin. li/e what it clai-s to be, the people would
have loved it. They would not have behaved as thou.h
sacrile.e was a .ratifyin. relief.
+ut these >atholic 7evolutions are only speci-ens of one
sin.le type of 7evolution. % 7evolution need not be a
spontaneous stor- of indi.nation a.ainst intolerable indi.nities
and deprivations. 't can ta/e :uite other for-s.
%s a second variety of 7evolution, which is in sharp contrast
with the indi.nation4revolt in which so -any periods of
unchallen.ed >atholic ascendancy have ended, we -ay ta/e
what we -ay call the 0revolution conspiracy0, in which a
nu-ber of people set about or.anisin. the forces of disco-fort
and resent-ent and loosenin. the .rip of the .overn-ent=s
forces, in order to brin. about a funda-ental chan.e of syste-.
The ideal of this type is the +olshevi/ 7evolution in 7ussia,
provided it is a little si-plified and -isunderstood. This,
reduced to a wor/in. theory by its advocates, is conceived of as
a syste-atic cultivation of a public state of -ind favourable to
a 7evolution to.ether with an inner circle of preparation for a
0sei@ure of power0. Guite a nu-ber of >o--unist and other
leftish writers, bri.ht youn. -en, without -uch political
e9perience, have let their i-a.inations loose upon the
0techni:ue0 of such an adventure. They have brou.ht the "a@i
and Fascist 7evolutions into the -aterial for their studies.
)odern social structure with its concentration of directive,
infor-ation and coercive power about radio stations, telephone
e9chan.ers, newspaper offices, police stations, arsenals and the
li/e, lends itself to :uasi4.an.ster e9ploitation of this type.
There is a .reat rushin. about and occupation of /ey centres, an
or.anised capture, i-prison-ent or -urder of possible
opponents, and the country is confronted with fait acco-pli.
The re.i-entation of the -ore or less reluctant population
follows.
+ut a 7evolution need be neither an e9plosion nor a coup
d=Ctat. %nd the 7evolution that lies before us now as the only
hopeful alternative to chaos, either directly or after an interlude
of world co--unis-, is to be attained, if it is attained at all, by
neither of these -ethods. The first is too rhetorical and chaotic
and leads si-ply to a >ha-pion and tyranny2 the second is too
conspiratorial and leads throu.h an obscure stru..le of
-asterful personalities to a si-ilar end. "either is lucid enou.h
and deliberate enou.h to achieve a per-anent chan.e in the
for- and te9ture of hu-an affairs.
%n alto.ether different type of 7evolution -ay or -ay not be
possible. "o one can say that it is possible unless it is tried, but
one can say with so-e assurance that unless it can be achieved
the outloo/ for -an/ind for -any .enerations at least is
hopeless. The new 7evolution ai-s essentially at a chan.e in
directive ideas. 'n its co-pleteness it is an untried -ethod.
't depends for its success upon whether a sufficient nu-ber of
-inds can be brou.ht to realise that the choice before us now is
not a choice between further revolution or -ore or less
reactionary conservatis-, but a choice between so carryin. on
and so or.anisin. the process of chan.e in our affairs as to
produce a new world order, or sufferin. an entire and perhaps
irreparable social collapse. $ur ar.u-ent throu.hout has been
that thin.s have .one too far ever to be put bac/ a.ain to any
si-ilitude of what they have been. We can no -ore drea- of
re-ainin. where we are than thin/ of .oin. bac/ in the -iddle
of a dive. We -ust .o trou.h with these present chan.es, adapt
ourselves to the-, ad8ust ourselves to the plun.e, or be
destroyed by the-. We -ust .o throu.h these chan.es 8ust as
we -ust .o throu.h this ill4conceived war, because there is as
yet no possible end for it.
There will be no possible way of endin. it until the new
7evolution defines itself. 'f it is patched up now without a
clear4headed settle-ent understood and accepted throu.hout
the world, we shall have only the si-ulacru- of a peace. %
patched4up peace now will not even save us fro- the horrors of
war, it will postpone the- only to a..ravate the- in a few
years ti-e. 1ou cannot end this war yet, you can at best
ad8ourn it.
The reor.anisation of the world has at first to be -ainly the
wor/ of a 0-ove-ent0 or a Party or a reli.ion or cult, whatever
we choose to call it. We -ay call it "ew *iberalis- or the "ew
7adicalis- or what not. 't will not be a close4/nit or.anisation,
toein. the Party line and so forth. 't -ay be a very loose4/nit
and -any faceted, but if a sufficient nu-ber of -inds
throu.hout the world, irrespective of race, ori.in or econo-ic
and social habituations, can be brou.ht to the free and candid
reco.nition of the essentials of the hu-an proble-, then their
effective collaboration in a conscious, e9plicit and open effort
to reconstruct hu-an society will ensue.
%nd to be.in with they will do all they can to spread and
perfect this conception of a new world order, which they will
re.ard as the only wor/in. fra-e for their activities, while at
the sa-e ti-e they will set the-selves to discover and
associate with the-selves, everyone, everywhere, who is
intellectually able to .rasp the sa-e broad ideas and -orally
disposed to realise the-.
The distribution of this essential conception one -ay call
propa.anda, but in reality it is education. The openin. phase of
this new type of 7evolution -ust involve therefore a ca-pai.n
for re4invi.orated and -odernised education throu.hout the
world, an education that will have the sa-e ratio to the
education of a couple of hundred years a.o, as the electric
li.htin. of a conte-porary city has to the chandeliers and oil
la-ps of the sa-e period. $n its present -ental levels
hu-anity can do no better than what it is doin. now.
Aitalisin. education is only possible when it is under the
influence of people who are the-selves learnin.. 't is
inseparable fro- the -odern idea of education that it should be
/nit up to incessant research. We say research rather than
science. 't is the better word because it is free fro- any
su..estion of that finality which -eans do.-atis- and death.
%ll education tends to beco-e stylistic and sterile unless it is
/ept in close touch with e9peri-ental verification and practical
wor/, and conse:uently this new -ove-ent of revolutionary
initiative, -ust at the sa-e ti-e be sustainin. realistic political
and social activities and wor/in. steadily for the
collectivisation of .overn-ents and econo-ic life. The
intellectual -ove-ent will be only the initiatory and
correlatin. part of the new revolutionary drive. These practical
activities -ust be various. !veryone en.a.ed in the- -ust be
thin/in. for hi-self and not waitin. for orders. The only
dictatorship he will reco.nise is the dictatorship of the plain
understandin. and the invincible fact.
%nd if this cul-inatin. 7evolution is to be acco-plished, then
the participation of every conceivable sort of hu-anLbein.
who has the -ental .rasp to see these broad realities of the
world situation and the -oral :uality to do so-ethin. about it,
-ust be welco-ed.
Previous revolutionary thrusts have been vitiated by bad
psycholo.y. They have .iven .reat play to the .ratification of
the inferiority co-ple9es that arise out of class disadvanta.es.
't is no doubt very un8ust that anyone should be better educated,
healthier and less fearful of the world than anyone else, but that
is no reason why the new 7evolution should not -a/e the
fullest use of the health, education, vi.our and coura.e of the
fortunate. The 7evolution we are conte-platin. will ai- at
abolishin. the bitterness of frustration. +ut certainly it will do
nothin. to aven.e it. "othin. whatever. *et the dead past
punish its dead.
't is one of the -ost vicious strea/s in the )ar9ist teachin. to
su..est that all people of wealth and capacity livin. in a
co--unity in which unco4ordinated private enterprise plays a
lar.e part are necessarily de-oralised by the advanta.es they
en8oy and that they -ust be dispossessed by the wor/er and
peasant, who are presented as endowed with a collective virtue
capable of runnin. all the co-ple9 -achinery of a -odern
co--unity. +ut the starin. truth of the -atter is that an unco4
ordinated scra-ble between individuals and nations ali/e,
de-oralises all concerned. !veryone is corrupted, the filchin.
tra-p by the roadside, the servile hand4/issin. peasant of
!astern !urope, the dole4bribed loafer, as -uch as the wo-an
who -arries for -oney, the co-pany pro-oter, the industrial
or.aniser, the rent4e9actin. landlord and the diplo-atic a.ent.
When the social at-osphere is tainted everybody is ill.
Wealth, personal freedo- and education, -ay and do produce
wasters and oppressive people, but they -ay also release
creative and ad-inistrative -inds to opportunity. The history
of science and invention before the nineteenth century confir-s
this. $n the whole if we are to assu-e there is anythin. .ood in
hu-anity at all, it is -ore reasonable to e9pect it to appear
when there is -ost opportunity.
%nd in further confutation of the )ar9ist caricature of hu-an
-otives, we have the very considerable nu-ber of youn.
people drawn fro- -iddle4class and upper4class ho-es, who
fi.ure in the e9tre-e left -ove-ent everywhere. 't is their
-oral reaction to the 0stuffiness0 and social ineffectiveness of
their parents and their own sort of people. They see/ an outlet
for their abilities that is not .ainful but serviceable. )any have
sou.ht an honourable life 4 and often found it, and death with it
4 in the stru..le a.ainst the >atholics and their )oorish and
Fascist helpers in (pain.
't is a -isfortune of their .eneration, that so -any of the- have
fallen into the -ental traps of )ar9is-. 't has been -y absurd
e9perience to encounter noisy -eetin.s of e9pensive youn.
-en at $9ford, not one of the- stunted physically as ' was by
twenty years of under4nourish-ent and devitalised upbrin.in.,
all pretendin. to be rou.h4hewn collarless proletarians in
shoc/ed revolt a.ainst -y bour.eois tyranny and the -odest
co-fort of -y declinin. years, and recitin. the ridiculous class4
war phrases by which they protected their -inds fro- any
reco.nition of the realities of the case. +ut thou.h that attitude
de-onstrates the unsti-ulatin. education of their preparatory
and public schools, which had thrown the- thus uncritical and
e-otional into the proble-s of the under.raduate life, it does
not detract fro- the fact that they had found the idea of
abandonin. the-selves to a revolutionary reconstruction of
society, that pro-ised to end its enor-ous waste of potential
happiness and achieve-ent, e9tre-ely attractive,
notwithstandin. that their own advanta.es see-ed to be
reasonably secure.
Faced with the i--ediate approach of disco-fort, indi.nity,
wasted years, -utilation 4 death is soon over but one wa/es up
a.ain to -utilation every -ornin. 4 because of this ill4
conceived war2 faced also by the reversion of 7ussia to
autocracy and the fiscal e9tinction of -ost of the social
advanta.es of their fa-ilies2 these youn. people with a leftish
twist are li/ely not only to do so-e very profitable re4
e9a-ination of their own possibilities but also to find
the-selves 8oined in that re4e9a-ination by a very considerable
nu-ber of others who have hitherto been repelled by the
obvious foolishness and insincerity of the ha--er and sic/le
sy-bols Jwor/ers and peasants of $9fordHK and the
e9asperatin. do.-atis- of the orthodo9 )ar9ist. %nd -ay not
these youn. people, instead of waitin. to be overta/en by an
insurrectionary revolution fro- which they will e-er.e .reasy,
unshaven, class4conscious and in incessant dan.er of
li:uidation, decide that before the 7evolution .ets hold of the-
they will .et hold of the 7evolution and save it fro- the
inefficiency, -ental distortions, disappoint-ents and
frustrations that have over4ta/en it in 7ussia.
This new and co-plete 7evolution we conte-plate can be
defined in a very few words. 't is JaK outri.ht world4socialis-,
scientifically planned and directed, plus JbK a sustained
insistence upon law, law based on a fuller, -ore 8ealously
conceived resent-ent of the personal 7i.hts of )an, plus JcK
the co-pletest freedo- of speech, criticis- and publication,
and sedulous e9pansion of the educational or.anisation to the
ever4.rowin. de-ands of the new order. What we -ay call the
eastern or +olshevi/ >ollectivis-, the 7evolution of the
'nternationale, has failed to achieve even the first of these three
ite-s and it has never even atte-pted the other two.
Puttin. it at its co-pactest, it is the trian.le of (ocialis-, *aw
and ,nowled.e, which fra-es the 7evolution which -ay yet
save the world.
(ocialis-H +eco-e outri.ht collectivistsF Aery few -en of the
-ore fortunate classes in our old collapsin. society who are
over fifty will be able to read8ust their -inds to that. 't will
see- an entirely repulsive su..estion to the-. JThe avera.e
a.e of the +ritish >abinet at the present ti-e is well over
si9ty.K +ut it need not be repulsive at all to their sons. They will
be i-poverished anyhow. The stars in their courses are seein.
to that. %nd that will help the- .reatly to realise that an
ad-inistrative control to ad-inistrative participation and then
to direct ad-inistration are easy steps. They are bein. ta/en
now, first in one -atter and then in another. $n both sides of
the %tlantic. 7eluctantly and often very disin.enuously and
a.ainst ener.etic but di-inishin. resistances. &reat +ritain,
li/e %-erica, -ay beco-e a (ocialist syste- with a definitive
7evolution, protestin. all the ti-e that it is doin. nothin. of
the sort.
'n +ritain we have now no distinctively educated class, but all
up and down the social scale there are well4read -en and
wo-en who have thou.ht intensely upon these .reat proble-s
we have been discussin.. To -any of the- and -aybe to
enou.h of the- to start the avalanche of purpose that will
certainly develop fro- a clear and deter-ined be.innin., this
conception of 7evolution to evo/e a liberal collectivised world
-ay appeal. %nd so at last we narrow down our en:uiry to an
e9a-ination of what has to be done now to save the
7evolution, what the -ove-ent or its Party 4 so far as it -ay
use the se-blance of a Party will do, what its Policy will be.
itherto we have been de-onstratin. why a reasonable -an, of
any race or lan.ua.e anywhere, should beco-e a 0Western0
7evolutionary. We have now to review the i--ediate activities
to which he can .ive hi-self.

9
P$*'T'>( F$7 T! (%"! )%"
*!T 3( 7!(T%T! T! .eneral conclusions to which our
precedin. ar.u-ent has brou.ht us.
The establish-ent of a pro.ressive world socialis- in which
the freedo-s, health and happiness of every individual are
protected by a universal law based on a re4declaration of the
ri.hts of -an, and wherein there is the ut-ost liberty of
thou.ht, criticis- and su..estion, is the plain, rational
ob8ective before us now. $nly the effective realisation of this
ob8ective can establish peace on earth and arrest the present
-arch of hu-an affairs to -isery and destruction. We cannot
reiterate this ob8ective too clearly and too fre:uently. The
trian.le of collectivisation, law and /nowled.e should e-body
the co--on purpose of all -an/ind.
+ut between us and that .oal intervenes the vast and deepenin.
disorders of our ti-e. The new order cannot be brou.ht into
e9istence without a .i.antic and -ore or less co4ordinated
effort of the saner and abler ele-ents in the hu-an population.
The thin. cannot be done rapidly and -elodra-atically. That
effort -ust supply the fra-e for all sane social and political
activities and a practical criterion for all reli.ious and
educational associations. +ut since our world is
-ultitudinously varied and confused, it is i-possible to narrow
down this new revolutionary -ove-ent to any sin.le class,
or.anisation or Party. 't is too .reat a thin. for that. 't will in its
e9pansion produce and perhaps discard a nu-ber of
or.anisations and Parties, conver.in. upon its ulti-ate
ob8ective. >onse:uently, in order to review the social and
political activities of sane, clear4headed people to4day, we have
to deal with the- piece-eal fro- a nu-ber of points of view.
We have to consider an advance upon a lon. and various front.
*et us be.in then with the proble- of sanity in face of the
political -ethods of our ti-e. What are we to do as votin.
citi@ensF There ' thin/ the history of the so4called de-ocracies
in the past half4century is fairly conclusive. $ur present
electoral -ethods which .ive no choice but a bilateral choice to
the citi@en and so force a two4party syste- upon hi-, is a -ere
caricature of representative .overn-ent. 't has produced upon
both sides of the %tlantic, bi., stupid, and corrupt party
-achines. That was bound to happen and yet to this day there is
a sort of shyness in the -inds of youn. -en interested in
politics when it co-es to discussin. Proportional
7epresentation. They thin/ it is a 0bit faddy0. %t best it is a side
issue. Party politicians strive to -aintain that bashfulness,
because they /now :uite clearly that what is called Proportional
7epresentation with the sin.le transferable vote in lar.e
constituencies, returnin. a do@en -e-bers or -ore, is
e9tinction for the -ere party hac/ and destruction for party
or.anisations.
The -achine syste- in the 3nited (tates is -ore elaborate,
-ore deeply entrenched le.ally in the >onstitution and ille.ally
in the spoils syste-, and it -ay prove -ore difficult to
-odernise than the +ritish, which is based on an outworn caste
tradition. +ut both Parlia-ent and >on.ress are essentially
si-ilar in their funda-ental :uality. They trade in titles,
concessions and the public welfare, and they are only a-enable
in the rou.h and at lon. last to the -ove-ents of public
opinion. 't is an open :uestion whether they are -uch -ore
responsive to popular feelin. than the #ictators we denounce
so unreservedly as the antithesis of de-ocracy. They betray a
.reat disre.ard of -ass responses. They e9plain less. They
disre.ard -ore. The #ictators have to .o on tal/in. and
tal/in., not always truthfully but they have to tal/. % du-b
#ictator is inconceivable.
'n such ti-es of e9tensive stress and crisis as the present, the
bafflin. slowness, inefficiency and wastefulness of the party
syste- beco-e so -anifest that so-e of its worst pretences are
put aside. The party .a-e is suspended. is )a8esty=s
$pposition abandons the pose of safe.uardin. the interests of
the co--on citi@ens fro- those scoundrels upon the
.overn-ent benches2 7epublican and #e-ocrats be.in to cross
the party line to discuss the new situation. !ven the -en who
live professionally by the Parlia-entary J>on.ressionalK
i-posture, abandon it if they are sufficiently fri.htened by the
posture of affairs. The appearance of an %ll4Party "ational
&overn-ent in &reat +ritain before very lon. see-s inevitable.
&reat +ritain has in effect .one socialist in a couple of -onths2
she is also suspendin. party politics. Just as the 3nited (tates
did in the .reat slu-p. %nd in both cases this has happened
because the rottenness and inefficiency of party politics stan/
to heaven in the face of dan.er. %nd since in both cases Party
&overn-ent threw up its hands and bolted, is there any
conceivable reason why we should let it co-e bac/ at any
appearance of victory or recovery, why we should not .o ahead
fro- where we are to a less i-pro-ptu socialist re.i-e under a
per-anent non4party ad-inistration, to the reality if not to the
for- of a per-anent socialist .overn-entF
"ow here ' have nothin. to su..est about %-erica. ' have
never, for e9a-ple, tried to wor/ out the conse:uences of the
absence of e9ecutive -inisters fro- the le.islature. ' a-
inclined to thin/ that is one of the wea/ points in the
>onstitution and that the !n.lish usa.e which e9poses the
-inister to :uestion ti-e in the ouse and -a/es hi- a pri-e
-over in le.islation affectin. his depart-ent, is a less
co-plicated and therefore -ore de-ocratic arran.e-ent than
the %-erican one. %nd the powers and functions of the
President and the (enate are so different fro- the consolidated
powers of >abinet and Pri-e )inister, that even when an
!n.lish-an has industriously 0-u..ed up0 the constitutional
points, he is still al-ost as -uch at a loss to .et the livin.
reality as he would be if he were shown the score of an opera
before hearin. it played or the blue prints of a -achine he had
never seen in action. Aery few !uropeans understand the
history of Woodrow Wilson, the (enate and his *ea.ue of
"ations. They thin/ that 0%-erica0, which they i-a.ine as a
lar.e sin.le individual, planted the latter institution upon
!urope and then deliberately shuffled out of her responsibility
for it, and they will never thin/ otherwise. %nd they thin/ that
0%-erica0 /ept out of the war to the very li-it of decency,
overchar.ed us for -unitions that contributed to the co--on
victory, and -ade a .rievance because the conse:uent debt was
not dischar.ed. They tal/ li/e that while %-ericans tal/ as if
no !n.lish were /illed between 1914 and 1915 Jwe had
500,000 deadK until the noble %-erican conscripts ca-e
forward to die for the- Jto the tune of about <0,000K. (avour
for e9a-ple even the title of Guincy owe=s !n.land e9pects
every %-erican to do his #uty. 't=s the -eanest of titles, but
-any %-ericans see- to li/e it.
$n -y des/ as ' write is a pa-phlet by a )r 7obert 7andall,
nicely cyclostyled and .ot up. Which ur.es a co--on attac/ on
the 3nited (tates as a solution of the proble- of !urope. "o
countries will ever feel united unless they have a co--on
ene-y, and the natural co--on ene-y for !urope, it is
declared, is the 3nited (tates. (o to brin. about the 3nited
(tates of !urope we are to be.in by denouncin. the )onroe
doctrine. ' believe in the honesty and .ood intentions of )r
7obert 7andall2 he is, ' a- sure, no -ore in the pay of
&er-any, direct or indirect, than )r Guincy owe or )r arry
!l-er +arnes2 but could the -ost brilliant of "a@i war
propa.andists devise a -ore effective estran.in. su..estionF . .
.
+ut ' wander fro- -y topic. ' do not /now how sane -en in
%-erica are .oin. to set about rela9in. the stran.lehold of the
>onstitution, .et control of their own country out of the hands
of those lu-pish, sole-nly cunnin. politicians with their .reat
stron. 8owls developed by chewin.4.u- and orotund spea/in.,
whose photo.raphs add a real ele-ent of fri.htfulness to the
pa.es of Ti-e, how they are .oin. to abolish the spoils syste-,
discover, and educate to e9pand a co-petent civil service able
to redee- the ha-pered pro-ises of the "ew #eal and pull
%-erica into line with the reconstruction of the rest of the
world. +ut ' perceive that in politics and indeed in -ost thin.s,
the underlyin. hu-our and sanity of %-ericans are apt to find
a way round and do the i-possible, and ' have as little doubt
they will -ana.e it so-ehow as ' have when ' see a street
perfor-er on his little chair and carpet, all tied up with chains,
waitin. until there are sufficient pennies in the hat to 8ustify
e9ertion.
These differences in -ethod, pace and tradition are a .reat
-isfortune to the whole !n.lish4spea/in. world. We !n.lish
people do not respect %-ericans enou.h2 we are too disposed
to thin/ they are all Guincy owes and arry !l-er +arneses
and +orahs and suchli/e, conceited and suspicious anti4+ritish
-ono-aniacs, who -ust be hu-oured at any cost2 which is
why we are never so fran/ and rude with the- as they deserve.
+ut the -ore we -ust contain ourselves the less we love the-.
7eal brothers can curse each other and /eep friends. (o-eday
+ritannia will .ive >olu-bia a piece of her -ind, and that -ay
clear the air. (aid an e9asperated !n.lish-an to -e a day or so
a.oB 0' pray to &od they /eep out of the end of this war
anyhow. We shall never hear the last of it if they don=t. . . .0
1et at a different pace our two people are travellin. towards
identical ends, and it is la-entable that a difference of accent
and idio- should do -ore -ischief than a difference of
lan.ua.e.
(o far as &reat +ritain .oes thin.s are nearer and closer to -e,
and it see-s to -e that there is an e9cellent opportunity now to
catch the country in a state of socialisation and suspend party
politics, and /eep it at that. 't is a lo.ical but often disre.arded
corollary of the virtual creation of %ll4Party "ational
&overn-ents and suspension of electoral contests, that since
there is no $pposition, party criticis- should .ive place to
individual criticis- of -inisters, and instead of throwin. out
.overn-ents we should set ourselves to throw out individual
ad-inistrative failures. We need no lon.er confine our choice
of public servants to political careerists. We can insist upon
-en who have done thin.s and can do thin.s, and whenever an
election occurs we can or.anise a bloc/ of non4party voters
who will vote it possible for an outsider of proved ability, and
will at any rate insist on a clear state-ent fro- every
Parlia-entary candidate of the concrete service, if any, he has
done the country, of his past and present financial
entan.le-ents and his fa-ily relationships and of any title he
possesses. We can .et these necessary particulars published and
note what newspapers decline to do so. %nd if there are still
only politicians to vote for, we can at least vote and spoil our
votin. cards by way of protest.
%t present we see one public service after another in a -ess
throu.h the inco-petent handlin. of so-e party hac/ and the
unseen activities of interested parties. People are as/in. already
why (ir %rthur (alter is not in control of %llied (hippin. a.ain,
(ir John $rr directin. our food supply with perhaps (ir
Fredric/ ,eeble to help hi-, (ir 7obert Aansittart in the
Forei.n $ffice. We want to /now the individuals responsible
for the incapacity of our 'ntelli.ence and Propa.anda
)inistries, so that we -ay induce the- to :uit public life. 't
would be :uite easy now to e9cite a nu-ber of an9ious people
with a cry for 0>o-petence not Party0.
)ost people in the +ritish 'sles are heartily sic/ of )r
>ha-berlain and his .overn-ent, but they cannot face up to a
political split in warti-e, and )r >ha-berlain stic/s to office
with all the pertinacity of a +arnacle. +ut if we do not attac/
the .overn-ent as a whole, but individual -inisters, and if we
replace the- one by one, we shall presently have a .overn-ent
so re8uvenated that even )r >ha-berlain will realise and
accept his superannuation. Guite a s-all body of public4
spirited people could or.anise an active Ai.ilance (ociety to
/eep these ideas before the -ass of voters and be.in the
eli-ination of inferior ele-ents fro- our public life. This
would be a practical 8ob of pri-ary i-portance in our political
re.eneration. 't would lead directly to a new and -ore efficient
political structure to carry on after the present war has
collapsed or otherwise ended.
Followin. upon this ca-pai.n for the conclusive inter-ent of
the played4out party syste-, there co-es the necessity for a
-uch -ore strenuous search for ad-inistrative and technical
ability throu.hout the country. We do not want to -iss a sin.le
youn.ster who can be of use in the .reat business of -a/in.
over &reat +ritain, which has been so rudely, clu-sily and
wastefully socialised by our war perturbations, so that it -ay
beco-e a per-anently efficient syste-.
%nd fro- the base of the educational pyra-id up to its ape9 of
hi.her education of teachers, heads of depart-ents and
research, there is need for such a :uic/enin. of -inds and
-ethods as only a -ore or less or.anised -ove-ent of sanely
critical -en can brin. about. We want -inisters now of the
hi.hest :uality in every depart-ent, but in no depart-ent of
public life is a -an of creative understandin., bold initiative
and ad-inistrative power so necessary as in the !ducation
)inistry.
(o tran:uil and unobtrusive has been the flow of educational
affairs in the +ritish !-pire that it see-s al-ost scandalous,
and it is certainly 0vul.ar0, to su..est that we need an
educational &in.er &roup to discover and support such a
-inister. We want a )inister of !ducation who can shoc/
teachers into self4e9a-ination, electrify and re8uvenate old
dons or put the- away in ivory towers, and sti-ulate the
youn.er ones. 3nder the party syste- the !ducation )inistry
has always been a restful corner for so-e deservin. party
politician with an ab8ect respect for his %l-a )ater and the
per-anent officials. #urin. war ti-e, when other depart-ents
wa/e up, the !ducation #epart-ent sin/s into deeper lethar.y.
$ne cannot recall a sin.le +ritish !ducation )inister, since
there have been such thin.s in our island story as )inisters for
!ducation, who si.nified anythin. at all educationally or did
anythin. of his own i-pulse that was in the least worth while.
(uppose we found a live one 4 soon 4 and let hi- ripH
There a.ain is so-ethin. to be done far -ore revolutionary
than throwin. bo-bs at innocent police-en or assassinatin.
har-less potentates or e94potentates. %nd yet it is only as/in.
that an e9istin. depart-ent be what it pretends to be.
% third direction in which any .atherin. accu-ulation of sanity
should direct its attention is the clu-sy unfairness and
indirectness of our present -ethods of e9propriatin. the for-er
well4to4do classes. The only observable principle see-s to be
widows and children first. (ocialisation is bein. effected in
+ritain and %-erica ali/e not by fran/ e9propriation Jwith or
without co-pensationK but by increasin. .overn-ent control
and increasin. ta9ation. +oth our .reat co--unities are .oin.
into socialis- bac/ward and without ever loo/in. round. This
is .ood in so far as that technical e9perience and directive
ability is chan.ed over step by step fro- entirely private
e-ploy-ent to public service, and on that side sane and helpful
citi@ens have little to do beyond -a/in. the process conscious
of itself and the public aware of the real nature of the chan.e,
but it is bad in its indiscri-inate destruction of savin.s, which
are the -ost e9posed and vulnerable side of the old syste-.
They are e9propriated by profit4control and ta9ation ali/e, and
at the sa-e ti-e they suffer in purchasin. power by the
acceleration of that process of -onetary inflation which is the
unavoidable read8ust-ent, the petition in ban/ruptcy, of a
co--unity that has overspent.
The shareholdin. class dwindles and dies2 widows and
orphans, the old who are past wor/ and the infir- who are
incapable of it, are e9posed in their declinin. years to a painful
shrin/a.e of their -odes of livin.2 there is no doubt a
di-inution of social waste, but also there is an indirect
i-poverish-ent of free opinion and free scientific and artistic
initiative as the endless societies, institutions and services
which have enriched life for us and been very lar.ely supported
by voluntary subscriptions, shrivel. %t present a lar.e
proportion of our scientific, artistic, literary and social wor/ers
are educated out of the private savin.s fund. 'n a class4war
revolution these econo-ically very defenceless but socially
very convenient people are sub8ected to vindictive hu-iliation 4
it is viewed as a .reat triu-ph for their -eaner nei.hbours 4 but
a revolution sanely conducted will probably devise a syste- of
ter-inable annuities and co-pensation, and of assistance to
once voluntary associations, which will ease off the social
dislocations due to the disappearance of one stratu- of
relatively free and independent people, before its successors,
that is to say the .rowin. class of retired officials, public
ad-inistrators and so forth, find their feet and develop their
own -ethods of assertion and enterprise.


10
#!>*%7%T'$" $F T! 7'&T( $F )%"
*!T 3( T37" "$W to another syste- of proble-s in the
collectivisation of the world, and that is the preservation of
liberty in the socialist state and the restoration of that
confidence without which .ood behaviour is .enerally
i-possible.
This destruction of confidence is one of the less clearly
reco.nised evils of the present phase of world4disinte.ration. 'n
the past there have been periods when whole co--unities or at
least lar.e classes within co--unities have .one about their
business with a .eneral honesty, directness and sense of
personal honour. They have ta/en a /een pride in the :uality of
their output. They have lived throu.h life on tolerable and
tolerant ter-s with their nei.hbours. The laws they observed
have varied in different countries and periods, but their .eneral
nature was to -a/e an orderly law4abidin. life possible and
natural. They had been tau.ht and they believed and they had
every reason to believeB 0This Jthat or the other thin.K is ri.ht.
#o ri.ht and nothin., e9cept by so-e stran.e e9ceptional
-isfortune, can touch you. The *aw .uarantees you that. #o
ri.ht and nothin. will rob you or frustrate you.0
"owhere in the world now is there very -uch of that feelin.
left, and as it disappears, the behaviour of people de.enerates
towards a panic scra-ble, towards cheatin., over4reachin.,
.an. or.anisation, precautionary hoardin., conceal-ent and all
the -eanness and anti4social feelin. which is the natural
outco-e of insecurity.
Faced with what now a-ounts to so-ethin. li/e a -oral
sta-pede, -ore and -ore sane -en will realise the ur.ency for
a restoration of confidence. The -ore socialisation proceeds
and the -ore directive authority is concentrated, the -ore
necessary is an efficient protection of individuals fro- the
i-patience of well4-eanin. or narrow4-inded or ruthless
officials and indeed fro- all the possible abuses of advanta.e
that are inevitable under such circu-stances to our still
childishly wic/ed breed.
'n the past the %tlantic world has been particularly successful
in e9pedients for -eetin. this aspect of hu-an nature. $ur
characteristic and traditional -ethod -ay be called the -ethod
of the funda-ental declaration. $ur Western peoples, by a
happy instinct, have produced state-ents of 7i.ht, fro- )a.na
>arta onwards, to provide a structural defence between the
citi@en and the necessary .rowth of central authority.
%nd plainly the successful or.anisation of the -ore universal
and penetratin. collectivis- that is now bein. forced upon us
all, will be frustrated in its -ost vital aspect unless its
or.anisation is acco-panied by the preservative of a new
#eclaration of the 7i.hts of )an, that -ust, because of the
increasin. co-ple9ity of the social structure, be -ore
.enerous, detailed and e9plicit than any of its predecessors.
(uch a #eclaration -ust beco-e the co--on funda-ental law
of all co--unities and collectivities asse-bled under the
World Pa9. 't should be interwoven with the declared war ai-s
of the co-batant powers now2 it should beco-e the pri-ary
fact in any settle-ent2 it should be put before the now
co-batant states for their approval, their e-barrassed silence
or their re8ection.
'n order to be as clear as possible about this, let -e sub-it a
draft for your consideration of this proposed #eclaration of the
7i.hts of )an 4 usin. 0-an0 of course to cover every
individual, -ale or fe-ale, of the species. ' have endeavoured
to brin. in everythin. that is essential and to o-it whatever
secondary issues can be easily deduced fro- its .eneral
state-ents. 't is a draft for your consideration. Points -ay have
been overloo/ed and it -ay contain repetitions and superfluous
state-ents.
0(ince a -an co-es into this world throu.h no fault of his
own, since he is -anifestly a 8oint inheritor of the
accu-ulations of the past, and since those accu-ulations are
-ore than sufficient to 8ustify the clai-s that are here -ade for
hi-, it followsB
0J1K That every -an without distinction of race, of colour or of
professed belief or opinions, is entitled to the nourish-ent,
coverin., -edical care and attention needed to realise his full
possibilities of physical and -ental develop-ent and to /eep
hi- in a state of health fro- his birth to death.
0JDK That he is entitled to sufficient education to -a/e hi- a
useful and interested citi@en, that special education should be
so -ade available as to .ive hi- e:uality of opportunity for the
develop-ent of his distinctive .ifts in the service of -an/ind,
that he should have easy access to infor-ation upon all -atters
of co--on /nowled.e throu.hout his life and en8oy the ut-ost
freedo- of discussion, association and worship.
0JIK That he -ay en.a.e freely in any lawful occupation,
earnin. such pay as the need for his wor/ and the incre-ent it
-a/es to the co--on welfare -ay 8ustify. That he is entitled to
paid e-ploy-ent and to a free choice whenever there is any
variety of e-ploy-ent open to hi-. e -ay su..est
e-ploy-ent for hi-self and have his clai- publicly
considered, accepted or dis-issed.
0J4K That he shall have the ri.ht to buy or sell without any
discri-inatory restrictions anythin. which -ay be lawfully
bou.ht or sold, in such :uantities and with such reservations as
are co-patible with the co--on welfare.0
Jere ' will interpolate a co--ent. We have to bear in -ind
that in a collectivist state buyin. and sellin. to secure inco-e
and profit will be not si-ply needless but i-possible. The
(toc/ !9chan.e, after its career of four4hundred4odd4years,
will necessarily vanish with the disappearance of any rational
-otive either for lar.e accu-ulations or for hoardin. a.ainst
deprivation and destitution. *on. before the a.e of co-plete
collectivisation arrives, the savin.s of individuals for later
consu-ption will probably be protected by so-e develop-ent
of the 3nit Trust (yste- into a public service. They will
probably be entitled to interest at such a rate as to co-pensate
for that secular inflation which should .o on in a steadily
enriched world co--unity. 'nheritance and be:uest in a
co--unity in which the -eans of production and of all
possible -onopolisation are collectivised, can concern little
else than relatively s-all, beautiful and inti-ate ob8ects, which
will afford pleasure but no unfair social advanta.e to the
receiver.K
0J<K That he and his personal property lawfully ac:uired are
entitled to police and le.al protection fro- private violence,
deprivation, co-pulsion and inti-idation.
0JPK That he -ay -ove freely about the world at his own
e9pense. That his private house or apart-ent or reasonably
li-ited .arden enclosure is his castle, which -ay be entered
only with consent, but that he shall have the ri.ht to co-e and
.o over any /ind of country, -oorland, -ountain, far-, .reat
.arden or what not, or upon the seas, la/es and rivers of the
world, where his presence will not be destructive of so-e
special use, dan.erous to hi-self nor seriously inconvenient to
his fellow4citi@ens.
0J6K That a -an unless he is declared by a co-petent authority
to be a dan.er to hi-self and to others throu.h -ental
abnor-ality, a declaration which -ust be annually confir-ed,
shall not be i-prisoned for a lon.er period than si9 days
without bein. char.ed with a definite offence a.ainst the law,
nor for -ore than three -onths without public trial. %t the end
if the latter period, if he has not been tried and sentenced by
due process of law, he shall be released. "or shall he be
conscripted for -ilitary, police or any other service to which he
has a conscientious ob8ection.
0J5K That althou.h a -an is sub8ect to the free criticis- of his
fellows, he shall have ade:uate protection fro- any lyin. or
-isrepresentation that -ay distress or in8ure hi-. %ll
ad-inistrative re.istration and records about a -an shall be
open to his personal and private inspection. There shall be no
secret dossiers in any ad-inistrative depart-ent. %ll dossiers
shall be accessible to the -an concerned and sub8ect to
verification and correction at his challen.e. % dossier is -erely
a -e-orandu-2 it cannot be used as evidence without proper
confir-ation in open court.
0J9K That no -an shall be sub8ected to any sort of -utilation or
sterilisation e9cept with his own deliberate consent, freely
.iven, nor to bodily assault, e9cept in restraint of his own
violence, nor to torture, beatin. or any other bodily
punish-ent2 he shall not be sub8ected to i-prison-ent with
such an e9cess of silence, noise, li.ht or dar/ness as to cause
-ental sufferin., or to i-prison-ent in infected, ver-inous or
otherwise insanitary :uarters, or be put into the co-pany of
ver-inous or infectious people. e shall not be forcibly fed nor
prevented fro- starvin. hi-self if he so desire. e shall not be
forced to ta/e dru.s nor shall they be ad-inistered to hi-
without his /nowled.e and consent. That the e9tre-e
punish-ents to which he -ay be sub8ected are ri.orous
i-prison-ent for a ter- of not lon.er than fifteen years or
death.0
Jere ' would point out that there is nothin. in this to prevent
any country fro- abolishin. the death penalty any country fro-
abolishin. the death penalty. "or do ' assert a .eneral ri.ht to
co--it suicide, because no one can punish a -an for doin.
that. e has escaped. +ut threats and inco-petent atte-pts to
co--it suicide belon. to an entirely different cate.ory. They
are indecent and distressin. acts that can easily beco-e a
serious social nuisance, fro- which the nor-al citi@en is
entitled to protection.K
0J10K That the provisions and principles e-bodied in this
#eclaration shall be -ore fully defined in a code of
funda-ental hu-an ri.hts which shall be -ade easily
accessible to everyone. This #eclaration shall not be :ualified
nor departed fro- upon any prete9t whatever. 't incorporates
all previous #eclarations of u-an 7i.ht. enceforth for a
new ear it is the funda-ental law for -an/ind throu.hout the
whole world.
0"o treaty and no law affectin. these pri-ary ri.hts shall be
bindin. upon any -an or province or ad-inistrative division of
the co--unity, that has not been -ade openly, by and with the
active or tacit ac:uiescence of every adult citi@en concerned,
either .iven by a direct -a8ority vote of his publicly elected
representatives. 'n -atters of collective behaviour it is by the
-a8ority decision -en -ust abide. "o ad-inistration, under a
prete9t of ur.ency, convenience or the li/e, shall be entrusted
with powers to create or further define offences or set up by4
laws, which will in any way infrin.e the ri.hts and liberties
here asserted. %ll le.islation -ust be public and definite. "o
secret treaties shall be bindin. on individuals, or.anisations or
co--unities. "o orders in council or the li/e, which e9tend the
application of a law, shall be per-itted. There is no source of
law but the people, and since life flows on constantly to new
citi@ens, no .eneration of the people can in whole or in part
surrender or dele.ate the le.islative power inherent in
-an/ind.0
There, ' thin/, is so-ethin. that /eener -inds than -ine -ay
polish into a wor/in. #eclaration which would in the -ost
effective -anner be.in that restoration of confidence of which
the world stands in need. )uch of it -i.ht be better phrased,
but ' thin/ it e-bodies the .eneral .ood4will in -an/ind fro-
pole to pole. 't is certainly what we all want for ourselves. 't
could be a very potent instru-ent indeed in the present phase
of hu-an affairs. 't is necessary and it is acceptable.
'ncorporate that in your peace treaties and articles of federation,
' would say, and you will have a fir- foundation, which will
continually .row fir-er, for the fearless cos-opolitan life of a
new world order. 1ou will never .et that order without so-e
such docu-ent. 't is the -issin. /ey to endless conte-porary
difficulties.
%nd if we, the virtuous de-ocracies, are not fi.htin. for these
co--on hu-an ri.hts, then what in the na-e of the nobility
and .entry, the >rown and the !stablished >hurch, the >ity,
The Ti-es and the %r-y and "avy >lub, are we co--on
+ritish peoples fi.htin. forF


11
'"T!7"%T'$"%* P$*'T'>(
%"# "$W, %A'"& >$)P*!T!# our picture of what the
saner ele-ents in hu-an society -ay reasonably wor/ for and
hope for, havin. cleared away the horrible ni.ht-ares of the
class war and the totalitarian slave4state fro- our i-a.inations,
we are able to attac/ the i--ediate riddles of international
conflict and relationship with so-e hope of a .eneral solution.
'f we realise to the depths of our bein. that a world settle-ent
based in the three ideas of socialis-, law and /nowled.e, is not
only possible and desirable, but the only way of escape fro-
deepenin. disaster, then -anifestly our attitude towards the
resent-ents of &er-any, the pre8udices of %-erica or 7ussia,
the poverty and undernourish-ent of 'ndia or the a-bitions of
Japan, -ust be fran/ly opportunist. "one of these are pri-ary
issues. We sane -en -ust never lose si.ht of our ulti-ate
ob8ective, but our -ethods of .ettin. there will have to vary
with the fluctuatin. variations of national feelin. and national
policy.
There is this idea of federalis- upon which ' have already
sub-itted a criticis- in chapter seven. %s ' have shown there,
the (treit proposals will either ta/e you further or land you
nowhere. *et us assu-e that we can stren.then his proposals to
the e9tent of -a/in. a socialistic econo-ic consortiu- and
adhesion to that #eclaration of 7i.hts, pri-ary conditions for
any federal union2 then it beco-es a -atter of -ood and
occasion with what co--unities the federal association -ay be
be.un. We can even encoura.e feeble federal e9peri-ents
which do not venture even so far as that alon. the path to
sanity, in the certainty that either they will fade out a.ain or
else that they will beco-e liberal realities of the type to which
the whole world -ust ulti-ately confor-. +ehind any such
half4hearted tentatives an educational propa.anda can be active
and effective.
+ut when it co-es to the rate and a-ount of participation in
the construction of a rational world order we can e9pect fro-
any country or .roup of countries, we are in a field where there
is little -ore than .uessin. and hapha@ard .eneralisations about
0national character0 to wor/ upon. We are dealin. with -asses
of people which -ay be swayed enor-ously by a brilliant
newspaper or an outstandin.ly persuasive or co-pellin.
personality or by al-ost accidental chan.es in the drift of
events. ', for e9a-ple, cannot tell how far the .enerality of
educated and capable people in the +ritish !-pire now -ay
fall in with our idea of acceptin. and servin. a collectivis-, or
how stron. their conservative resistance -ay be. 't is -y own
country and ' ou.ht to /now it best, and ' do not /now it
detachedly enou.h or deeply enou.h to decide that. ' do not see
how anyone can foretell these swirls and eddies of response.
The advocacy of such -ove-ents of the -ind and will as ' a-
spea/in. of here is in itself a-on. the operatin. causes in
political ad8ust-ent, and those who are deepest in the stru..le
are least able to esti-ate how it is .oin.. !very factor in
political and international affairs is a fluctuatin. factor. The
wise -an therefore will not set his heart upon any particular
drift or co-bination. e will favour everythin. that trends
towards the end at which he ai-s.
The present writer cherishes the idea that the realisation of a
co--on purpose and a co--on cultural inheritance -ay
spread throu.hout all the !n.lish4spea/in. co--unities, and
there can be no har- in efforts to .ive this concrete e9pression.
e believes the dissociation of the +ritish !-pire -ay
inau.urate this .reat synthesis. %t the sa-e ti-e there are
factors -a/in. for so-e closer association of the 3nited (tates
of %-erica with what are called the $slo powers. There is no
reason why one of these associations should stand in the way of
the other. (o-e countries such as >anada rest already under
what is practically a double .uarantee2 she has the security of
the )onroe #octrine and the protection of the +ritish fleet.
% &er-any of ei.hty -illion people which has been brou.ht to
ac:uiesce in the #eclaration of the 7i.hts of )an and which is
already hi.hly collectivised, -ay co-e -uch earlier to a
co-pletely liberal socialist re.i-e than &reat +ritain or France.
'f she participates in a consortiu- for the develop-ent of what
are called the politically bac/ward re.ions of the world, she
-ay no lon.er be disposed for further -ilitary adventures and
further stress and -isery. (he -ay enter upon a phase of social
and econo-ic recovery so rapid as to sti-ulate and react upon
every other country in the world. 't is not for other countries to
dictate her internal politics, and if the &er-an people want to
re-ain united as one people, in federated states or in one
centralised state, there is neither ri.hteousness nor wisdo-
preventin. the-.
The &er-ans li/e the rest of the world have to .et on with
collectivisation, they have to produce their pattern, and they
cannot .ive the-selves to that if they are artificially divided up
and disor.anised by so-e old4fashioned Guai d=$rsay sche-e.
They -ust do the ri.ht thin. in their own way.
That the belli.erent tradition -ay lin.er on in &er-any for a
.eneration or so, is a ris/ the %tlantic powers have to ta/e. The
world has a ri.ht to insist that not si-ply so-e &er-an
.overn-ent but the people .enerally, reco.nise une:uivocably
and repeatedly, the ri.hts of -an asserted in the #eclaration,
and it is disar-ed and that any a..ressive plant, any war plane,
warship, .un or arsenal that is discovered in the country shall
be destroyed forthwith, brutally and co-pletely. +ut that is a
thin. that should not be confined to &er-any. &er-any should
not be sin.led out for that. %r-a-ent should be an ille.ality
everywhere, and so-e sort of international force should patrol
a treaty4bound world. Partial ar-a-ent is one of those
absurdities dear to -oderate4-inded 0reasonable0 -en.
%r-a-ent itself is -a/in. war. )a/in. a .un, pointin. a .un
and firin. it, are all acts of the sa-e order. 't should be ille.al
to construct anywhere upon earth, any -echanis- for the
specific purpose of /illin. -en. When you see a .un it is
reasonable to as/B 0Who- is that intended to /illF0
&er-any=s rear-a-ent after 1915 was lar.ely tolerated
because she played off +ritish 7ussophobia a.ainst the 7ussian
fear of 0>apitalist0 attac/, but that e9cuse can no lon.er serve
any furtive war4-on.ers a-on. her people after her pact with
)oscow.
7eleased fro- the econo-ic burdens and restrictions that
crippled her recovery after 1915, &er-any -ay find a full and
satisfyin. outlet for the ener.y of her youn. -en in her
syste-atic collectivisation, raisin. the standard of her co--on
life deliberately and steadily, .ivin. 7ussia a lead in efficiency
and obli.in. the -aunderin. 0politics0 and discursive
inattention of the %tlantic world to re-ain concentrated upon
the realities of life. The idea of a.ain splittin. up &er-any into
discordant fra.-ents so as to postpone her ulti-ate recovery
indefinitely, is a pseudo4de-ocratic slac/er=s drea-. 't is
dia-etrically opposed to world reconstruction. We have need
of the peculiar :ualities of her people, and the sooner she
recovers the better for the whole world. 't is preposterous to
resu-e the policy of holdin. bac/ &er-any si-ply that the old
order -ay en8oy a few -ore years of self4indul.ence in
!n.land, France and %-erica.
% lin.erin. fear of &er-an -ilitary a..ression -ay not be
alto.ether bad for the -inor states of (outh4!astern !urope and
%sia )inor, by brea/in. down their e9cessive nationalis- and
inducin. the- to wor/ to.ether. The policy of the sane -an
should be to welco-e every possible e9peri-ent in
international understandin.s duplicate and overlap one another,
so -uch the better. e has to watch the activities of his own
Forei.n $ffice with incessant 8ealousy, for si.ns of that
)achiavellian spirit which fo-ents division a-on. forei.n
.overn-ents and peoples and sche-es perpetually to frustrate
the pro.ressive -ove-ent in hu-an affairs by convertin. it
into a swayin. indecisive balance of power.
This boo/ is a discussion of .uidin. principles and not of the
endless specific proble-s of ad8ust-ent that arise on the way to
a world realisation of collective unity. ' will -erely .lance at
that old idea of "apoleon the Third=s, the *atin 3nion, at the
possibility of a situation in (panish and Portu.uese (outh
%-erica parallel to that overlap of the )onroe #octrine and
the !uropean -otherlands which already e9ists in practice in
the case of >anada, nor will ' e9patiate upon the -anifold
possibilities of sincere application of the #eclaration of the
7i.hts of )an to 'ndia and %frica 4 and particularly to those
parts of the world in which -ore or less blac/ peoples are
awa/enin. to the realities of racial discri-ination and
oppression.
' will utter a passin. warnin. a.ainst any )achiavellian
treat-ent of the proble- of "orthern and !astern %sia, into
which the +ritish -ay be led by their constitutional
7ussophobia. The (oviet collectivis-, especially if presently it
beco-es liberalised and -ore efficient throu.h a recovery fro-
its present obsession by (talin, -ay spread very effectively
across >entral %sia and >hina. To anyone nourished -entally
upon the ideas of an unendin. co-petition of Powers for
ascendancy for ever and ever, an alliance with Japan, as
truculent and -ilitarised a Japan as possible, will see- the
-ost natural response in the world. +ut to anyone who has
.rasped the reality of the present situation of -an/ind and the
ur.ent desirableness of world collectivisation, this i--ense
unification will be so-ethin. to welco-e, criticise and assist.
The old bu.bear of 7ussia=s 0desi.ns upon 'ndia0 -ay also
play its part in distortin. the %siatic situation for -any people.
1et a hundred years of -in.led ne.lect, e9ploitation and
occasional outbrea/s of .enuine helpfulness should have tau.ht
the +ritish that the ulti-ate fate of 'ndia=s hundreds of -illions
rests now upon no con:uerin. ruler but wholly and solely upon
the ability of the 'ndian peoples to co4operate in world
collectivisation. They -ay learn -uch by way of precept and
e9a-ple fro- 7ussia and fro- the !n.lish4spea/in. world, but
the days for -ere revolt or for relief by a chan.e of -asters
have passed. 'ndia has to wor/ out for itself, with its own
-anner of participation in the stru..le for a world order,
startin. fro- the +ritish ra8 as a datu- line. "o outside power
can wor/ that out for the 'ndian peoples, nor force the- to do it
if they have no will for it.
+ut ' will not wander further a-on. these ever4chan.in.
proble-s and possibilities. They are, so to spea/, wayside
eventualities and opportunities. '--ense thou.h so-e of the-
are they re-ain secondary. !very year or so now the shiftin.
channels of politics need to be recharted. The activities and
responses of the sane -an in any particular country and at any
particular ti-e will be deter-ined always by the overrulin.
conception of a secular -ove-ent towards a sin.le world
order. That will be the underlyin. per-anent ob8ective of all
his political life.
There is, however, another line of world consolidation to which
attention -ust be drawn before we conclude this section, and is
what we -ay call ad hoc internationalis- is ad-irably set forth
in *eonard Woolf=s 'nternational &overn-ent, a classic which
was published in 191P and still -a/es profitable readin..
The typical ad hoc or.anisation is the Postal 3nion, which
#avid *ubin, that brilliant ne.lected thin/er, would have had
e9tended until it controlled shippin. and e:ualised frei.hts
throu.hout the world. e based his ideas upon his practical
e9perience of the -ail order business fro- which he derived
his very considerable fortune. Fro- that proble- of frei.ht
ad8ust-ent he passed to the idea of a controlled survey of
world, so that a shorta.e here or a .lut there could be foreseen
and re-edied in ti-e. e realised the idea in the for- of the
'nternational 'nstitute of %.riculture at 7o-e, which in its
heyday -ade treaties li/e an independent soverei.n power for
the supply of returns fro- nearly every .overn-ent upon earth.
The war of 1914 and *ubin=s death in 1919 chec/ed the
develop-ent of this ad-irable and -ost inspirin. e9peri-ent
in ad hoc internationalis-. 'ts history is surely so-ethin. that
should be -ade part of the co-pulsory education of every
states-en and publicist. 1et never in -y life have ' -et a
professional politician who /new anythin. whatever or wanted
to /now anythin. about it. 't didn=t .et votes2 it see-ed
difficult to ta9 it2 what was the .ood of itF
%nother ad hoc or.anisation which -i.ht be capable of a
considerable e9tension of its functions is the !lder +rethren of
Trinity ouse, who control the li.hthouses and chartin. of the
seas throu.hout the world. +ut it would need a very
considerable revision and e9tension of )r Woolf=s boo/ and,
in spite of the war stresses that have delayed and in so-e cases
reversed their develop-ent, it would be :uite beyond our
present scope, to brin. up to date the len.thenin. tale of ad hoc
international networ/s, ran.in. fro- international business
cartels, scientific and technical or.anisations, white4slave4trade
suppression and international police co4operation, to health
services and reli.ious -issions. Just as ' have su..ested that
the 3nited (tates and &reat +ritain -ay beco-e co-plete
socialis-s unawares, so it is a not alto.ether i-possible drea-
that the world -ay discover to its .reat surprise that it is
already practically a cos-opolis, throu.h the e9tension and
interweavin. of these ad hoc co4operations. %t any rate we
have this very powerful collateral process .oin. on side by side
with the -ore definite political sche-es we have discussed.
(urveyin. the possibilities of these various attac/s upon the
co-plicated and intricate obstacles that stand between us and a
new and -ore hopeful world order, one realises both the
reasons for hope in that .reat possibility and the absurdity over
over4confidence. We are all li/e soldiers upon a vast
battlefield2 we cannot be sure of the trend of thin.s2 we -ay be
elated when disillusion-ent is rushin. headlon. upon us2 we
-ay be on the ver.e of despair, not /nowin. that our
anta.onists are already in collapse. )y own reactions vary
between an al-ost -ystical faith in the ulti-ate triu-ph of
hu-an reason and .ood4will, and -oods of stoical
deter-ination to carry on to the end in the face of what loo/s
li/e inevitable disaster. There are :uantitative factors in the
outloo/ for which there are no data2 there are ele-ents of ti-e
and opportunity beyond any esti-atin.. !very one of these
activities we have been canvassin. tends to delay the drift to
destruction and provides a foothold for a further counter4
offensive a.ainst the adversary.
'n the co-panion predecessor to this boo/, The Fate of o-o
sapiens, ' tried to drive ho-e the fact that our species has no
-ore reason to believe it can escape defeat and e9tinction, than
any other or.anis- that plays or has played its part in the
dra-a of life. ' tried to -a/e clear how precarious is our
present situation, and how ur.ent it is that we should -a/e a
strenuous effort at ad8ust-ent now. $nly a little while a.o it
see-ed as thou.h that was an appeal to a deaf and blind world,
invincibly set in its habitual ways into the :uestion whether this
inclination towards pessi-is- reflected a -ood or phase in
-yself, and ' threw out a :ualifyin. su..estion or so2 but for
-y own part ' could not find any serious reason to believe that
the -ental effort that was clearly necessary if -an was to
escape that fate that -arched upon hi- would ever be -ade.
is conservative resistances, his apathy, see-ed incurable.
"ow suddenly everywhere one -eets with alar-ed and open
and en:uirin. -inds. (o far the tre-endous dislocations of the
present war have been i--ensely beneficial in strippin. off
what see-ed to be :uite invincible illusions of security only a
year a.o. ' never e9pected to live to see the world with its eyes
as widely open as they are to4day. The world has never been so
awa/e. *ittle -ay co-e of it, -uch -ay co-e of it. We do not
/now. *ife would a-ount to nothin. at all if we did.

1D
W$7*# $7#!7 '" +!'"&
T!7! W'** +! "$ day of days then when a new world
order co-es into bein.. (tep by step and here and there it will
arrive, and even as it co-es into bein. it will develop fresh
perspectives, discover unsuspected proble-s and .o on to new
adventures. "o -an, no .roup of -en, will ever be sin.led out
as its father or founder. For its -a/er will be not this -an nor
that -an nor any -an but )an, that bein. who is in so-e
-easure in every one of us. World order will be, li/e science,
li/e -ost inventions, a social product, an innu-erable nu-ber
of personalities will have lived fine lives, pourin. their best
into the collective achieve-ent.
We can find a s-all4scale parallel to the probable develop-ent
of a new world order in the history of flyin.. *ess than a third
of a century a.o, ninety4nine people out of a hundred would
have told you that flyin. was i-possible2 /ites and balloons
and possibly even a navi.able balloon, they could i-a.ine2
they had /nown of such thin.s for a hundred years2 but a
heavier then air -achine, flyin. in defiance of wind and
.ravityH That they /new was nonsense. The would4be aviator
was the typical co-ic inventor. %ny fool could lau.h at hi-.
"ow consider how co-pletely the air is con:uered.
%nd who did itF "obody and everybody. Twenty thousand
brains or so, each contributin. a notion, a device, an
a-plification. They sti-ulated one another2 they too/ off fro-
one another. They were li/e e9cited .an.lia in a lar.er brain
sendin. their i-pulses to and fro. They were people of the -ost
diverse race and colour. 1ou can write down perhaps a hundred
people or so who have fi.ured conspicuously in the air, and
when you e9a-ine the r?le they have played, you will find for
the -ost part that they are -ere notorieties of the *indber.h
type who have put the-selves -odestly but fir-ly in the
li-eli.ht and can lay no valid clai- to any effective
contribution whatever. 1ou will find -any disputes about
records and priority in -a/in. this or that particular step, but
the lines of su..estion, the .rowth and elaboration of the idea,
have been an alto.ether untraceable process. 't has been .oin.
on for not -ore than a third of a century, under our very eyes,
and no one can say precisely how it ca-e about. $ne -an said
0Why not thisF0 and tried it, and another said 0Why not thatF0
% vast -iscellany of people had one idea in co--on, an idea
as old as #Ndalus, the idea that 0)an can fly0. (uddenly,
swiftly, it .ot about 4 that is the only phrase you can use 4 that
flyin. was attainable. %nd -an, -an as a social bein., turned
his -ind to it seriously, and flew.
(o it will certainly be with the new world order, if ever it is
attained. % .rowin. -iscellany of people are sayin. 4 it is
.ettin. about 4 that 0World Pa9 is possible0, a World Pa9 in
which -en will be both united and free and creative. 't is of no
i-portance at all that nearly every -an of fifty and over
receives the idea with a pityin. s-ile. 'ts chief dan.ers are the
do.-atist and the would4be 0leader0 who will try to suppress
every collateral line of wor/ which does not -inister to his
supre-acy. This -ove-ent -ust be, and it -ust re-ain, -any4
headed. (uppose the world had decided that (antos #u-ont or
ira- )a9i- was the heaven4sent )aster of the %ir, had
.iven hi- the ri.ht to appoint a successor and sub8ected all
e9peri-ents to his inspired control. We should probably have
the %ir )aster now, with an applaudin. retinue of yes4-en,
followin. the hops of so-e clu-sy, useless and e9tre-ely
dan.erous apparatus across country with the ut-ost di.nity and
self4satisfaction . . . .
1et that is precisely how we still set about our political and
social proble-s.
+earin. this essential fact in -ind that the Peace of )an can
only be attained, if it is attained at all, by an advance upon a
lon. and various front, at varyin. speed and with diverse
e:uip-ent, /eepin. direction only by a co--on faith in the
triple need for collectivis-, law and research, we realise the
i-possibility of drawin. any picture of the new order as thou.h
it was as settled and stable as the old order i-a.ined itself to
be. The new order will be incessant2 thin.s will never stop
happenin., and so it defies any 3topian description. +ut we
-ay nevertheless asse-ble a nu-ber of possibilities that will
be increasin.ly realisable as the tide of disinte.ration ebbs and
the new order is revealed.
To be.in with we have to realise certain peculiarities of hu-an
behaviour that are all too disre.arded in .eneral political
speculation. We have considered the very i-portant r?le that
-ay be played in our conte-porary difficulties by a clear
state-ent of the 7i.hts of )an, and we have s/etched such a
#eclaration. There is not an ite- in that #eclaration, ' believe,
which a -an will not consider to be a reasonable de-and 4 so
far as he hi-self is concerned. e will subscribe to it in that
spirit very readily. +ut when he is as/ed not only to concede by
the sa-e .esture to everybody else in the world, but as
so-ethin. for which he has to -a/e all the sacrifices necessary
for its practical realisation, he will discover a reluctance to 0.o
so far as that0. e will find a serious resistance wellin. up fro-
his sub4conscious and tryin. to 8ustify itself in his thou.hts.
The thin.s he will tell you will be very variable2 but the word
0pre-ature0 will play a lar.e part in it. e will display a
tre-endous tenderness and consideration with which you have
never credited hi- before, for servants, for wor/ers, for aliens
and particularly for aliens of a different colour fro- hi-self.
They will hurt the-selves with all this dan.erous liberty. %re
they fit, he will as/ you, for all this freedo-F 0>andidly, are
they fit for itF0 e will be sli.htly offended if you will say, 0%s
fit as you are0. e will say in a sli.htly a-used tone, 0+ut how
can you say thatF0 and then .oin. off rather at a tan.ent, 0' a-
afraid you idealise your fellow4creatures.0
%s you press hi-, you will find this /indliness evaporatin.
fro- his resistance alto.ether. e is now concerned about the
.eneral beauty and loveliness of the world. e will protest that
this new )a.na >arta will reduce all the world to 0a dead level
of unifor-ity0. 1ou will as/ hi- why -ust a world of free4-en
be unifor- and at a dead levelF 1ou will .et no ade:uate reply.
't is an assu-ption of vital i-portance to hi- and he -ust
clin. to it. e has been accusto-ed to associate 0free0 and
0e:ual0, and has never been bri.ht4-inded enou.h to ta/e these
two words apart and have a .ood loo/ at the- separately. e is
li/ely to fall bac/ at this sta.e upon that +ible of the i-potent
.enteel, u9ley=s +rave "ew World, and i-plore you to read
it. 1ou brush that disa.reeable fantasy aside and continue to
press hi-. e says that nature has -ade -en une:ual, and you
reply that that is no reason for e9a..eratin. the fact. The -ore
une:ual and various their .ifts, the .reater is the necessity for a
)a.na >arta to protect the- fro- one another. Then he will
tal/ of robbin. life of the pictures:ue and the ro-antic and you
will have so-e difficulty in .ettin. these words defined.
(ooner or later it will .row clear that he finds the prospect of a
world in which 0Jac/=s as .ood as his )aster0 unpleasant to the
last de.ree.
'f you still probe hi- with :uestions and leadin. su..estions,
you will be.in to realise how lar.e a part the need for .lory
over his fellows plays in his co-position Jand incidentally you
will note, please, you own secret satisfaction in carryin. the
ar.u-ent a.ainst hi-K. 't will beco-e clear to you, if you
collate the speci-en under e9a-ination with the behaviour of
children, yourself and the people about you, under what ur.ent
necessity they are for the sense of triu-ph, of bein. better and
doin. better than their fellows, and havin. it felt and
reco.nised by so-eone. 't is a deeper, steadier i-pulse than
se9ual lust2 it is a hun.er. 't is the clue to the unlovin.ness of
so -uch se9ual life, to sadistic i-pulses, to avarice, hoardin.
and endless un.ainful cheatin. and treachery which .ives -en
the sense of .ettin. the better of so-eone even if they do not
.et the upper hand.
'n the last resort this is why we -ust have law, and why )a.na
>arta and all its /indred docu-ents set out to defeat hu-an
nature in defence of the .eneral happiness. *aw is essentially
an ad8ust-ent of that cravin. to .lory over other livin. thin.s,
to the needs of social life, and it is -ore necessary in a
collectivist society than in any other. 't is a bar.ain, it is a
social contract, to do as we would be done by and to repress
our e9trava.ant e.otis-s in return for reciprocal concessions.
%nd in the face of these considerations we have advanced
about the true nature of the beast we have to deal with, it is
plain that the politics of the sane -an as we have reasoned
the- out, -ust anticipate a strenuous opposition to this pri-ary
vital i-ple-ent for brin.in. about the new world order.
' have su..ested that the current discussion of 0War %i-s0
-ay very effectively be transfor-ed into the propa.anda of this
new #eclaration of the 7i.hts of )an. The opposition to it and
the atte-pts that will be -ade to postpone, -iti.ate, stifle and
evade it, need to be watched, denounced and co-batted
persistently throu.hout the world. ' do not /now how far this
#eclaration ' have s/etched can be accepted by a .ood
>atholic, but the Totalitarian pseudo4philosophy insists upon
ine:uality of treat-ent for 0non4%ryans0 as a .lorious duty.
ow >o--unists would respond to its clauses would, '
suppose, depend upon their orders fro- )oscow. +ut what are
called the 0de-ocracies0 are supposed to be different, and it
would be possible now to -a/e that #eclaration a searchin.
test of the honesty and spirit of the leaders and rulers in who-
they trust. These rulers can be brou.ht to the point by it, with a
precision unattainable in any other fashion.
+ut the types and characters and authorities and officials and
arro.ant and a..ressive individuals who will bo..le at this
#eclaration and dispute and defy it, do not e9haust the
resistances of our unre.enerate natures to this i-ple-ent for
the establish-ent of ele-entary 8ustice in the world. For a far
lar.er proportion of people a-on. the 0de-ocracies0 will be
found, who will pay it lip service and then set about
discoverin. how, in their innate cravin. for that sense of
superiority and advanta.e which lies so near the core of our
individuals wills, they -ay unobtrusively sabota.e it and cheat
it. !ven if they only cheat it 8ust a little. ' a- inclined to thin/
this disin.enuousness is a universal wea/ness. ' have a real
passion for servin. the world, but ' have a pretty /een
disposition to .et -ore pay for -y service, -ore reco.nition
and so on than ' deserve. ' do not trust -yself. ' want to be
under 8ust laws. We want law because we are all potential law4
brea/ers.
This is a considerable di.ression into psycholo.y, and ' will do
no -ore than .lance at how lar.e a part this cravin. for
superiority and -astery has played in the se9ual practices of
-an/ind. There we have the ready -eans for a considerable
relief of this e.otistical tension in -utual boastin. and
reassurance. +ut the -otive for his di.ression here is to
e-phasise the fact that the .eneralisation of our 0War %i-s0
into a #eclaration of 7i.hts, thou.h it will enor-ously si-plify
the issue of the war, will eli-inate neither open and heartfelt
opposition nor endless possibilities of betrayal and sabota.e.
"or does it alter the fact that even when the stru..le see-s to
be driftin. definitely towards a world social de-ocracy, there
-ay still be very .reat delays and disappoint-ents before it
beco-es an efficient and beneficent world syste-. >ountless
people, fro- -ahara8as to -illionaires and fro- pu//ha sahibs
to pretty ladies, will hate the new world order, be rendered
unhappy by frustration of their passions and a-bitions throu.h
its advent and will die protestin. a.ainst it. When we atte-pt
to esti-ate its pro-ise we have to bear in -ind the distress of a
.eneration or so of -alcontents, -any of the- :uite .allant and
.raceful4loo/in. people.
%nt it will be no li.ht -atter to -ini-ise the loss of efficiency
in the process of chan.in. the spirit and pride of ad-inistration
wor/ fro- that of an investin., hi.h4salaried -an with a
handso-e display of e9penditure and a socially a-bitious wife,
into a relatively less hi.hly4salaried -an with a hi.her standard
of self4criticis-, aware that he will be estee-ed rather by what
he puts into his wor/ than by what he .ets out of it. There will
be a lot of social spill, tra.i4co-edy and loss of efficiency
durin. the period of the chan.e over, and it is better to be
prepared for that.
1et after -a/in. allowances for these transitional stresses we
-ay still loo/ forward with so-e confidence to certain phases
in the onset of World $rder. War or war fear will have led
everywhere to the concentration of vast nu-bers of wor/ers
upon -unition wor/ and the construction of offensive and
defensive structures of all sorts, upon shippin., internal
co--unications, replace-ent structures, fortification. There
will be both a .reat accu-ulation and control of -aterial and
constructive -achinery and also of hands already .rowin.
accusto-ed to handlin. it. %s the possibility of conclusive
victory fades and this war -uddle passes out of its distinctively
-ilitary phase towards revolution, and as so-e sort of Peace
>on.ress asse-bles, it will be not only desirable but necessary
for .overn-ents to turn over these resources and activities to
social reconstruction. 't will be too obviously dan.erous and
wasteful to put the- out of e-ploy-ent. They -ust surely
have learnt now what une-ploy-ent -eans in ter-s of social
disor.anisation. &overn-ents will have to lay out the world,
plan and build for peace whether they li/e it or not.
+ut it will be as/ed, 0Where will you find the credit to do
thatF0 and to answer this :uestion we -ust reiterate that fact
that -oney is an e9pedient and not an end. The world will have
the -aterial and the hands needed for a reconditionin. of its
life everywhere. They are all about you now cryin. out to be
used. 't is, or at any rate it has been, the function of the
conte-porary -oney4credit syste- to brin. wor/er and
-aterial to.ether and sti-ulate their union. That syste- always
8ustified its activities on that .round, that is its clai- to e9ist,
and if it does not e9ist for that purpose then for what purpose
does it e9ist and what further need is there for itF 'f now the
financial -echanis- will not wor/, if it confronts us with a non
possu-us, then clearly it resi.ns its function.
Then it has to .et out of the way. 't will declare the world has
stopped when the truth will be that the >ity has stopped. 't is
the countin.4house that has .one ban/rupt. For a lon. ti-e
now an increasin. nu-ber of people have been as/in.
:uestions about the world countin.4house, .ettin. down at last
to such funda-ental :uestions as 0What is -oneyF0 and 0Why
are +an/sF0 't is disconcertin. but sti-ulatin. to find that no
lucid answer is forthco-in..
$ne -i.ht have i-a.ined that lon. before this one of the -any
.reat ban/ers and financial e9perts in our world would have
co-e forward with a clear and si-ple 8ustification for the
-onetary practices of to4day. e would have shown how
co-pletely reasonable and trustworthy this -oney4credit
syste- was. e would have shown what was te-porarily
wron. with it and how to set it wor/in. a.ain, as the electrician
does when the li.hts .o out. e would have released us fro-
our deepenin. distress about our -oney in the +an/, our little
s:uirrel hoard of securities, the deflatin. lifebelt of property
that was to assure our independence to the end. "o one of that
:uality co-es forward. There is not so -uch as a latter4day
+a.ehot. 't dawns upon -ore and -ore of us that it is not a
syste- at all and never has been a syste-, that it is an
accu-ulation of conventions, usa.es, collateral develop-ents
and co-pensatory e9pedients, which crea/s now and sways
-ore and -ore and .ives every si.n of a co-plete and
horrifyin. social collapse.
)ost of us have believed up to the last -o-ent that so-ewhere
distributed a-on. the ban/s and city offices in a sort of world
countin.4house, there were boo/s of accounts, -ultitudinous
perhaps and intricate, but ulti-ately proper accounts. $nly now
is it dawnin. upon co-fortable decent people that the
countin.4house is in a desperate -ess, that codes see- to have
been lost, entries -ade wron., additions .one astray down the
colu-n, records /ept in vanishin. in/. . . .
For years there has been a .reat and .rowin. literature about
-oney. 't is very various but it has one .eneral characteristic.
First there is a swift e9posure of the e9istin. syste- as wron..
Then there is a .lib de-onstration of a new syste- which is
ri.ht. *et this be done or that be done, 0let the nation own its
own -oney0, says one radio prophet earnestly, repeatedly,
si-ply, and all will be well. These various syste-s of doctrine
run periodicals, or.anise -ove-ents Jwith coloured shirt
co-pleteK, -eet, de-onstrate. They disre.ard each other flatly.
%nd without e9ception all these -onetary refor-ers betray
si.ns of e9tre-e -ental strain.
The secret trouble in their -inds is .nawin. doubt that their
own proper 0plan0, the panacea, is in so-e subtle and
treacherous way li/ely to fail the- if it is put to the test. The
internal fi.ht a.ainst this intolerable shadow betrays itself in
their outer behaviour. Their letters and pa-phlets, with
scarcely an e9ception, have this -uch in co--on with the
letters one .ets fro- lunatics, that there is a continual resort to
capital letters and abusive ter-s. They shout out at the sli.htest
provocation or none. They are not so -uch shoutin. at the
e9asperatin. reader who re-ains so obstinate when they have
been so clear, so clear, as at the sceptical whisper within.
+ecause there is no perfect -oney syste- by itself and there
never can be. 't is a drea- li/e the eli9ir vitN or perpetual
-otion. 't is in the sa-e order of thou.ht.
%ttention has already been drawn, in our e9a-ination of )r
(treit=s proposals for 3nion "ow, to the fact that -oney varies
in its nature and operations with the theory of property and
distribution on which society is based, that in a co-plete
collectivis- for e9a-ple it beco-es little -ore than the chec/
handed to the wor/er to enable hi- to purchase whatever he
li/es fro- the resources of the co--unity. !very detach-ent
of production or enterprise fro- collective control Jnational or
cos-opolitanK increases the possible functions of -oney and so
-a/es a different thin. of it. Thus there can be endless species
of -oney 4 as -any types of -oney as there are types and
varieties of social order. )oney in (oviet 7ussia is a different
or.an fro- -oney French or %-erican -oney. The difference
can be as wide as that between lun.s and swi--in. bladders
and .ills. 't is not si-ply a :uantitative difference, as so -any
people see- to i-a.ine, which can be ad8usted by varyin. the
rate of e9chan.e or any such contrivance, it .oes deeper, it is a
difference in :uality and /ind. The bare thou.ht of that -a/es
our business and financial people feel unco-fortable and
confused and -enaced, and they .o on -ovin. their bars of
.old about fro- this vault to that, hopin. al-ost beyond hope
that no one will say anythin. -ore about it. 't wor/ed very well
for a ti-e, to .o on as thou.h -oney was the sa-e thin. all the
world over. They will not ad-it how that assu-ption is failin.
to wor/ now.
>lever people reaped a certain advanta.e fro- a -ore or less
definite apprehension of the variable nature of -oney, but since
one could not be a financier or business director without an
underlyin. faith in one=s ri.ht to profit by one=s superior
cleverness, there did not see- to be any reason for the- to
-a/e a public fuss about it. They .ot their profits and the flats
.ot left.
#irectly we .rasp this not very obscure truth that there can be,
and are, different sorts of -oney dependent on the econo-ic
usa.es or syste- in operation, which are not really
interchan.eable, then it beco-es plain that a collectivist world
order, whose funda-ental law is such a #eclaration of 7i.hts
as we have s/etched, will have to carry on its -ain, its pri-ary
operations at least with a new world -oney, a specially
contrived -oney, differin. in its nature fro- any sort of -oney
conventions that have hitherto served hu-an needs. 't will be
issued a.ainst the total purchasable output of the co--unity in
return for the wor/ers= services to the co--unity. There will
be no -ore reason for .oin. to the >ity for a loan than for
.oin. to the oracle at #elphi for advice about it.
'n the phase of social stress and e-er.ency socialisation into
which we are certainly passin., such a new -oney -ay be.in
to appear :uite soon. &overn-ents findin. it i-possible to
resort to the tan.led e9pedients of the financial countin.4house,
-ay ta/e a short cut to recuperation, re:uisition the national
resources within their reach and set their une-ploy-ent hands
to wor/ by -eans of these new chec/s. They -ay carry out
international barter arran.e-ents upon an increasin. scale. The
fact that the countin.4house is in a hopeless -ess because of its
desperate atte-pts to i.nore the protean nature of -oney, will
beco-e -ore -anifest as it beco-es less i-portant.
The (toc/ !9chan.e and +an/ credit and all arts of loanin. and
usury and forestallin. will certainly dwindle away to.ether as
the World $rder establishes itself. 'f and when World $rder
establishes itself. They will be superseded, li/e e..4shells and
f;tal -e-branes. There is no reason for denouncin. those who
devised and wor/ed those -ethods and institutions as
scoundrels and villains. They did honestly accordin. to their
li.hts. They were a necessary part of the process of .ettin.
o-o sapiens out of his cave and down fro- his tree. %nd
.old, that lovely heavy stuff, will be released fro- its vaults
and hidin.4places for the use of the artist and technician 4
probably at a price considerably below the present :uotations.
$ur atte-pt to forecast the co-in. World $rder is fra-ed then
in an i--ense and increasin. spectacle of constructive activity.
We can anticipate a rapid transfi.uration of the face of the earth
as its population is distributed and re4distributed in accordance
with the shiftin. re:uire-ents of econo-ic production.
't is not only that there is what is called a housin. shorta.e in
nearly every re.ion of the earth, but -ost of the e9istin.
acco--odation, by -odern standards, is unfit for hu-an
occupation. There is scarcely a city in the world, the new world
as well as the old, which does not need to have half its
dwellin.4places destroyed. Perhaps (toc/hol-, reconditioned
under a (ocialist re.i-e, -ay clai- to be an e9ception2 Aienna
was doin. hopefully until its spirit was bro/en by #ollfuss and
the >atholic reaction. For the rest, behind a few hundred -ain
avenues and prospects, sea and river fronts, capitols, castles
and the li/e, filthy slu-s and roo/eries cripple childhood and
de.rade and devitalise its dulled elders. 1ou can hardly say
people are born into such surroundin.s2 they are only half born.
With the co4operation of the press and the cine-a it would be
easy to en.ender a world4wide public interest and enthusias-
for the new types of ho-e and fit-ent that are now attainable
by everyone. ere would be an outlet for urban and re.ional
patriotis-, for local sha-e and pride and effort. ere would be
stuff to ar.ue about. Wherever -en and wo-en have been rich
enou.h, powerful enou.h and free enou.h, their thou.hts have
turned to architecture and .ardenin.. ere would be a new
incentive to travel, to see what other towns and country4sides
were doin.. The co--on -an on his holidays would do what
the !n.lish -ilord of the seventeenth century did2 he would
-a/e his &rand Tour and co-e bac/ fro- his 8ourneys with
architectural drawin.s and notions for ho-e application. %nd
this buildin. and rebuildin. would be a continuin. process, a
sustained e-ploy-ent, .oin. on fro- .ood to better, as the
econo-ic forces shifted and chan.ed with new discoveries and
-en=s ideas e9panded.
't is doubtful in a world of risin. needs and standards if -any
people would want to live in -anifestly old houses, any -ore
than they would want to live in old clothes. !9cept in a few
country places where ancient buildin.s have wedded
the-selves happily to so-e local loveliness and beco-e :uasi4
natural thin.s, or where so-e .reat city has shown a brave
facade to the world, ' doubt if there will be -uch to preserve.
'n such lar.e open countries as the 3nited (tates there has been
a considerable develop-ent of the -obile ho-e in recent years.
People haul a trailer4ho-e behind their cars and beco-e
seasonal no-ads. . . . +ut there is no need to e9patiate further
on a li-itless wealth of possibilities. Thousands of those who
have been assistin. in the -onstrous clu-sy evacuations and
shiftin.s of population that have been .oin. on recently, -ust
have had their i-a.inations stirred by di- realisation of how
-uch better all this -i.ht be done, if it were done in a new
spirit and with a different intention. There -ust be a -ultitude
of youn. and youn.ish people :uite ripe for infection by this
idea of cleanin. up and resettlin. the world. 1oun. -en who
are now porin. over war -aps and plannin. anne9ations and
strate.ic boundaries, fresh )a.inot lines, new &ibraltars and
#ardanelles, -ay presently be sche-in. the happy and healthy
distribution of routes and residential districts in relation to this
or that i-portant re.ion of world supply for oil or wheat or
water4power. 't is essentially the sa-e type of cerebration,
better e-ployed.
>onsiderations of this sort are sufficient to supply a
bac/.round of hopeful activities to our prospective world
order. +ut we are not all architects and .ardeners there are
-any types of -inds and -any of those who are trainin. or
bein. trained for the s/illed co4operations of warfare and the
develop-ent of a co-batant -orale, -ay be -ore disposed to
.o on with definitely educational wor/. 'n that way they can
-ost easily .ratify the cravin. for power and honourable
service. They will face a world in e9tre-e need of -ore
teachers and fresh4-inded and inspirin. teachers at that. %t
every level of educational wor/ fro- the /inder.arten to the
research laboratory, and in every part of the world fro-
>apricornia to %las/a and fro- the &old >oast to Japan, there
will be need of active wor/ers to brin. -inds into har-ony
with new order and to wor/ out, with all the labour savin. and
-ultiplyin. apparatus available, cine-a, radio, cheap boo/s
and pictures and all the rest of it, the endless new proble-s of
hu-an liaison that will arise. There we have a second line of
wor/ alon. which -illions of youn. people -ay escape the
sta.nation and frustration which closed in upon their
predecessors as the old order drew to its end.
% sturdy and assertive variety of the new youn. will be needed
for the police wor/ of the world. They will be -ore disposed
for authority and less teachin. or creative activities than their
fellows. The old proverb will still hold for the new order that it
ta/es all sorts to -a/e a world, and the alternative to drivin.
this type of te-pera-ent into conspiracy and fi.htin. it and, if
you can, suppressin. it, is to e-ploy it, win it over, trust it, and
.ive it law behind it to respect and enforce. They want a loyalty
and this loyalty will find its best use and satisfaction in the
service of world order. ' have re-ar/ed in the course of such
air travel as ' have done, that the air-en of all nations have a
co--on rese-blance to each other and that the patriotic virus
in their blood is lar.ely corrected by a wider professionalis-.
%t present the outloo/ before a youn. air-en is to perish in a
spectacular do.4fi.ht before he is five and twenty. ' wonder
how -any of the- really re8oice in that prospect.
't is not unreasonable to anticipate the develop-ent of an ad
hoc disar-a-ent police which will have its .reatest stren.th in
the air. ow easily the spirit of an air police can be de4
nationalised is shown by the instance of the air patrols on the
3nited (tates4>anadian border, to which President 7oosevelt
drew -y attention. There is a lot of s-u..lin. alon. that
border and the planes now play an i-portant part in its
suppression. %t first the 3nited (tates and >anada had each
their own planes. Then in a wave of co--on sense, the two
services were pooled. !ach plane now carries a 3nited (tates
and >anadian custo-s officer. When contraband is spotted the
plane co-es down on it and which officer acts is deter-ined by
the destination of the s-u..led .oods. There we have a pattern
for a world stru..lin. throu.h federation to collective unity.
%n ad hoc disar-a-ent police with its -ain stren.th in the air
would necessarily fall into close co4operation with the various
other world police activities. 'n a world where cri-inals can fly
anywhere, the police -ust be able to fly anywhere too. %lready
we have a world4wide networ/ of co-petent -en fi.htin. the
white4slave traffic, the dru. traffic and so forth. The thin.
be.ins already.
%ll this ' write to provide i-a.inative -aterial for those who
see the co-in. order as a -ere blan/ interro.ation. People tal/
-uch nonsense about the disappearance of incentive under
socialis-. The e9act opposite is the truth. 't is the obstructive
appropriation of natural resources by private ownership that
robs the prosperous of incentive and the poor of hope. $ur
#eclaration of u-an ri.hts assures a -an the proper
satisfaction of all his ele-entary needs in /ind, and nothin.
-ore. 'f he wants -ore than that he will have to wor/ for it,
and the healthier he is and the better he is fed and housed, the
-ore bored he will be by inactivity and the -ore he will want
so-ethin. to do. ' a- su..estin. what he is li/ely to do in
.eneral ter-s, and that is as -uch as one can do now. We can
tal/ about the broad principles upon which these -atters will
be handled in a consolidatin. world socialis-, but we can
scarcely venture to anticipate the detailed for-s, the i--ense
richness and variety of e9pression, an ever4increasin. nu-ber
of intelli.ent people will i-pose upon these pri-ary ideas.
+ut there is one -ore structural su..estion that it -ay be
necessary to brin. into our picture. (o far as ' /now it was first
broached by that very bold and subtle thin/er, Professor
Willia- Ja-es, in a s-all boo/ entitled The )oral !:uivalent
of War. e pointed out the need there -i.ht be for a
conception of duty, side by side with the idea of ri.hts, that
there should be so-ethin. in the life of every citi@en, -an or
wo-an ali/e, that should .ive hi- at once a sense of personal
obli.ation to the World (tate. e brou.ht that into relation
with the fact that there will re-ain in any social order we can
conceive, a -ultitude of necessary services which by no sort of
device can be -ade attractive as nor-al life4lon. occupations.
e was not thin/in. so -uch of the fast4vanishin. proble- of
-echanical toil as the such ir/so-e tas/s as the prison
warder=s, the asylu- attendant=s2 the care of the a.ed and
infir-, nursin. .enerally, health and sanitary services, a certain
residuu- of clerical routine, dan.erous e9ploration and
e9peri-ent. "o doubt hu-an .oodness is sufficient to supply
volunteers for -any of these thin.s, but are the rest of us
entitled to profit by their devotionF is solution is universal
conscription for a certain period of the adult life. The youn.
will have to do so -uch service and ta/e so -uch ris/ for the
.eneral welfare as the world co--onwealth re:uires. They will
be able to do these 8obs with the freshness and vi.our of those
who /now they will presently be released, and who find their
honour throu.h perfor-ance2 they will not be sub8ected to that
deadenin. te-ptation to self4protective slac/in. and
-echanical insensitiveness, which assails all who are thrust by
econo-ic necessity into these callin.s for .ood and all.
't is :uite possible that a certain percenta.e of these conscripts
-ay be cau.ht by the interest of what they are doin.2 the
asylu- attendant -ay decide to specialise in psycho4
therapeutic wor/2 the hospital nurse succu-b to that curiosity
which underlies the .reat physiolo.ist2 the %rctic wor/er -ay
fall in love with his snowy wilderness. . . .
$ne other leadin. probability of a collectivist world order has
to be noted here, and that is an enor-ous increase in the pace
and a-ount of research and discovery. ' write research, but by
that ' -ean that double4barrelled attac/ upon i.norance, the
biolo.ical attac/ and the physical attac/, that is .enerally
/nown as 0(cience0. 0(cience0 co-es to us fro- those
acade-ic #ar/ %.es when -en had to console the-selves for
their i.norance by pretendin. that there was a li-ited a-ount
of /nowled.e in the world, and little chaps in caps and .owns
strutted about, bachelors who /new all that there was to be
/nown. "ow it is -anifest that none of us /now very -uch,
and the -ore we loo/ into what we thin/ we /now, the -ore
hitherto undetected thin.s we shall find lur/in. in our
assu-ptions.
itherto this business of research, which we call the 0scientific
world0, has been in the hands of very few wor/ers indeed. '
throw out the su..estion that in our present4day world, of all
the brains capable of .reat and -asterful contributions to
0scientific0 thou.ht and achieve-ent, brains of the :uality of
*ord 7utherford=s, or #arwin=s or )endel=s or Freud=s or
*eonardo=s or &alileo=s, not one in a thousand, not one in a
score of thousands, ever .ets born into such conditions as to
realise its opportunities. The rest never learn a civilised
lan.ua.e, never .et near a library, never have the faintest
chance of self4realisation, never hear the call. They are under4
nourished, they die youn., they are -isused. %nd of the
-illions who would -a/e .ood, useful, ea.er secondary
research wor/ers and e9plorers, not one in a -illion is utilised.
+ut now consider how thin.s will be if we had a stirrin.
education ventilatin. the whole world, and if we had a
syste-atic and continually -ore co-petent search for
e9ceptional -ental :uality and a continually -ore e9tensive net
of opportunity for it. (uppose a :uic/enin. public -ind i-plies
an at-osphere of increasin. respect for intellectual
achieve-ent and livelier criticis- of i-posture. What we call
scientific pro.ress to4day would see- a poor, hesitatin.,
uncertain advance in co-parison with what would be
happenin. under these happier conditions.
The pro.ress of research and discovery has produced such
brilliant and startlin. results in the past century and a half that
few of us are aware of the s-all nu-ber of outstandin. -en
who have been concerned in it, and how the -inor fi.ures
behind these leaders trail off into a followin. of ti-id and ill4
provided specialists who dare scarcely stand up to a public
official on their own .round. This little ar-y, this 0scientific
world0 of to4day, nu-berin. ' suppose fro- head to tail, down
to the last bottle4washer, not a couple of hundred thousand
-en, will certainly be represented in the new world order by a
force of -illions, better e:uipped, a-ply co4ordinated, free to
:uestion, able to de-and opportunity. 'ts best will be no better
than our best, who could not be better, but they will be far -ore
nu-erous, and its ran/ and file, e9plorers, prospectors,
e9peri-ental tea- wor/ers and an encyclopNdic host of
classifiers and co4ordinators and interpreters, will have a
vi.our, a pride and confidence that will -a/e the laboratories
of to4day see- half4way bac/ to the alche-ist=s den.
>an one doubt that the 0scientific world0 will brea/ out in this
way when the revolution is achieved, and that the develop-ent
of -an=s power over nature and over his own nature and over
this still une9plored planet, will under.o a continual
acceleration as the years passF "o -an can .uess beforehand
what doors will open then nor upon what wonderlands.
These are so-e fra.-entary inti-ations of the :uality of that
wider life a new world order can open to -an/ind. ' will not
speculate further about the- because ' would not have it said
that this boo/ is 3topian or 0'-a.inative0 or anythin. of that
sort. ' have set down nothin. that is not strictly reasonable and
practicable. 't is the soberest of boo/s and the least ori.inal of
boo/s. ' thin/ ' have written enou.h to show that it is
i-possible for world affairs to re-ain at their present level.
!ither -an/ind collapses or our species stru..les up by the
hard yet fairly obvious routes ' have collated in this boo/, to
reach a new level of social or.anisation. There can be little
:uestion of the abundance, e9cite-ent and vi.our of livin. that
awaits our children upon that upland. 'f it is attained. There is
no doubtin. their de.radation and -isery if it is not.
There is nothin. really novel about this boo/. +ut there has
been a certain te-erity in brin.in. to.ether facts that -any
people have avoided brin.in. to.ether for fear they -i.ht for-
an e9plosive -i9ture. )aybe they will. They -ay blast throu.h
so-e obstinate -ental barriers. 'n spite of that e9plosive
possibility, that e9plosive necessity, it -ay be this re-ains
essentially an asse-bla.e, di.est and encoura.e-ent of now
prevalent but still hesitatin. ideas. 't is a plain state-ent of the
revolution to which reason points an increasin. nu-ber of
-inds, but which they still lac/ resolution to underta/e. 'n The
Fate of o-o sapiens ' have stressed the ur.ency of the case.
ere ' have asse-bled the thin.s they can and need to do. They
had better su--on up their resolution.