H. G. Wells Non-Fiction Trio V. 3: New Worlds for Old, the Fate of Man, Russia in the Shadows (in English)
Synopsis "H. G. Wells Non-Fiction Trio V. 3: New Worlds for Old, the Fate of Man, Russia in the Shadows (in English)"
H. G. Wells, a prolific science fiction writer, also wrote many non-fiction works that may be found interesting and/or pertinent for our current times.Could world events be following a script?TRIO Volume 2 contains: The Fate of Man -originally published 1939"I forget when it was I began to realize that the world as it had been presented to me was not a trustworthy picture of reality, that in effect I was being lied to about life. I began doubting quite early in life. I knew the world was round because everybody told me so. If they had told me the world was cone-shaped or flat, I should have known that with equal conviction-and it was only years afterwards that I realized how difficult it is to prove that the world is a globe.Plainly, it is high time we looked more closely into the causes of these disconcerting frustrations of our recent large, bright anticipations of a world of plenty and expansion. What is the real position of Homo sapiens in relation to his environment? Has he the mastery we assumed he had, or did we make a profound miscalculation of his outlook? Have we been indulging in hopeful assumptions rather than facing the realities of his case?"CONTENTS: INTRODUCTIONPreliminary StatementBiology Invades HistoryHow Species SurviveHistory Becomes EcologyUnion Now?What Is Democracy?Where Is Democracy?What Man Has To LearnSample Of A GenerationEstimating HopeSurvey Of Existing ForcesThe Jewish InfluenceChristendomWhat Is Protestantism?The Nazi ReligionTotalitarianismThe British OligarchyShintoismThe Chinese OutlookSubject PeoplesCommunism And RussiaAmerican MentalityThree Factors In EveryoneSummaryImpossibility Of UtopianismDecadent WorldNotesNew Worlds for Old -originally published 1908Wells advocates the taking over by the government of all public utilities, the heavy taxation of large fortunes, the establishment of a minimum wage, and the assumption by the state of full responsibility for the care of children, including education, and vocational training, for the support of expectant mothers, and aged persons, for attendance upon the sick. Yet he would not do away with the family or with private property, and he believes that the advantages of both these institutions would be much more widely and equally distributed under the system that he proposes than at present...CONTENTS: Introductory RemarksThe Good Will in ManThe Fundamental Idea of SocialismThe First Main Generalization of SocialismThe Second Main Generalization of SocialismThe Spirit of Gain and the Spirit of ServiceWould Socialism Destroy the Home?Would Modern Socialism Abolish All Property?The Middle-Class Man, the Business Man, and SocialismSome Common Objections to SocialismSocialism a Developing DoctrineRevolutionary SocialismAdministrative SocialismConstructive SocialismSome Arguments Ad HominemThe Advancement of SocialismRussia in the Shadows -originally published 1920A series of articles previously printed in The Sunday Express in connection with Wells's second visit to Russia in September and October 1920. Portraying a vivid account of Russian chaos following the first world war, its portrait of Lenin, and its insights into Wells' early opinions of Marx and the future of Russia.Wells portrayed Russia as recovering from a total social collapse, "the completest that has ever happened to any modern social organisation." He minimized the role of the Bolsheviks in the fall of the Russian state, and presented this explanation of their success: "While all the rest of Russia was either apathetic like the peasantry or garrulously at sixes and sevens or given over to violence or fear, the Communists were prepared to act."In an interview with Lenin, the leader and founder of Russian communism. Wells portrays Lenin as a pragmatic leader who "has recently stripped off the last pretence that the Russian revolution is anything more than the inauguration of an age of limitless experiment."
