Looking Backward 2000-1887 (re: enlightened socialism)
Know-buddee
Book review by George Catlin
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Edward Bellamy (1850-1898) created an instant political movement with his
utopian novel Looking Backward, first published in 1888. Social
psychologist and philosopher Erich Fromm called it ?one of the most
remarkable books ever published in America.?
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There is little doubt that Hierarchy has foreseen the present time for
centuries. Their effort to awaken humanity?s minds and hearts to the
Ageless Wisdom through the work of H.P.Blavatsky is well known. But
relatively few are currently aware of the work of a contemporary of
Blavatsky?s who looked not backwards to the ancient truths but forward to
the time immediately before us. That person was Edward Bellamy, and his
novel, mysteriously titled Looking Backward, provides a prescient picture
of life as it might be; indeed life as it soon will be.
Bellamy was a man with a vision. Readers may wonder whether his vision
came from the Masters. In it the protagonist wakes up from a sleep of over
a century to find himself in a radically transformed world. This world
includes a kind of freedom which we probably cannot imagine since we
imagine ourselves to be free at present. But, as the novel points out, who
is free while living in real danger of sickness or other misfortune
depriving one of the opportunity to live a happy, sustained life? And who
is free when all about one there are signs in abundance that inequality
and misfortune are literally destroying the lives of so many? In this way,
while painting a picture of a far better society, Bellamy shows us our
world with all its brutality unmasked. His vision is twofold: of the
future and the present, and both deserve our careful attention lest we
succumb to despair on the one hand or relax into idle hope on the other.
Taken as a whole, the book presents what might be called ?enlightened
socialism? as a solution to many of our problems. It nicely balances a
clear endorsement of spiritual values with a rigorously practical
analysis.
The entire picture of an improved world is built largely on a system of
production and distribution that is designed to meet universal material
needs as efficiently as possible. A kind of ?national monopoly? is
proposed as a far preferable alternative to the free market. While this
notion is surely unwelcome to those who remember the abuses of large-scale
monopolies and believe deeply in the virtues of competition, Bellamy
presents a convincing argument in favor of one giant national corporation
seeing to the production and distribution of goods and services. The
increases in efficiency he outlines are many, and with them, poverty is
entirely eliminated.
The absence of poverty and its partner, extreme affluence, is the
foundation of the new world Bellamy describes. Everyone has enough and no
one is allowed ? or, more exactly, even inclined ? to accumulate more than
can be reasonably enjoyed. This universal freedom from want solves so many
problems. Crime, a phenomenon almost unknown, is pointed out as having
been almost entirely the result of the poor trying to get what they needed
and the very rich trying to get even more. Eliminate those two extremes
and what need would there be for jails and our elaborate legal systems"
Indeed, whole categories of occupations such as lawyers and bankers are
largely eliminated.
Bellamy?s vision reflects that of the Spiritual Hierarchy. It is a well
fleshed out description of a world of sharing, justice and peace. In the
course of the novel one sees through the startled eyes of the awakened
soul just how simply our problems ?literally all of our problems? can be
solved by a simple shift in perspective from ?I? to ?we.? The plot of the
story is minimal: A wealthy young man, Julian West, goes to sleep one
night with the aid of deep hypnosis and wakes up more than a century later
in the year 2000. Convinced that his host, Dr Leete, must be playing some
practical trick on him with his insistence that he is now in a very
different time, West demands some evidence of the doctor?s story.
The delivery of that proof goes as follows: ?He led the way up two flights
of stairs and then up a shorter one, which landed us upon a belvedere on
the house-top?. At my feet lay a great city. Miles of broad streets,
shaded by trees and lined with fine buildings, for the most part not in
continuous blocks but set in larger or smaller enclosures, stretched in
every direction. Every quarter contained large open squares filled with
trees, among which statues glistened and fountains flashed in the late
afternoon sun. Public buildings of a colossal size and architectural
grandeur unparalleled in my day raised their stately piles on every side.
Surely I had never seen this city nor one comparable to it before?.
?If you had told me,? I replied, profoundly awed, ?that a thousand years
instead of a hundred had elapsed since I last looked on this city, I
should now believe you.?
?Only a century has passed,? he answered, ?but many a millennium in the
world?s history has seen changes less extraordinary.? From here the book
is largely a series of dialogues between West and Dr Leete explaining the
inner workings of the new culture.
West?s astonished questions are met with bemused yet sincere replies from
the doctor who sees the 19th century civilization as a curious phenomenon
happily long past. The transition from one age to the next is only briefly
touched upon in a Sunday sermon received remotely in the homes of those
who choose by a device anticipating radio (and televangelism!) by decades.
?You know the story of the last, greatest, and most bloodless of
revolutions. In the time of one generation men laid aside the social
traditions and practices of barbarians, and assumed a social order worthy
of rational human beings? ?What shall I eat and drink, and wherewithal
shall I be clothed?? stated as a problem beginning and ending in self, had
been an anxious and endless one. But when once it was conceived, not from
the individual but from the fraternal standpoint, ?What shall we eat and
drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed, its difficulties vanished.?
Of course, many would argue that Bellamy and others who envision this
change are either well ahead of their time or naï¿œve about ?human nature?.
Bellamy is well aware of this concern and addresses it head on. From his
perspective all that we call ?human nature,? meaning, of course, the most
base elements of our behavior, is the product of the incalculably mean and
unthinking social and economic systems with which we have saddled
ourselves. He points out how these systems bring out, almost demand, the
very worst in us. And he spares no words in articulating how disastrous
they seem from the vantage point of systems designed to meet human needs.
His central point is that people are genuinely happier when they know that
they do not have to compete endlessly for their own security and also know
that no ?losers? in this battle are experiencing the dire consequences of
their ?defeat?.
Bellamy envisions a world where conscious recognition of the needs and
plight of all has replaced self-centered obsession. The entire point of
the book is that were we to make this shift, the systems then devised
would be so satisfying that true human nature would respond, grow and
flourish. Bellamy often touches upon the theme that the limits of the
human potential are unknown but there to be explored.
An early exchange between Julian West and Dr Leete exemplifies the kinds
of large and small shifts in perspective the new world is based on. After
hearing that citizens are required to work for the common good for a
number of years, Mr West comments that the ?extension? of government
described by Dr Leete sounds overwhelming.
?Extension!? he repeated, ?where is the extension? ?In my day,? I
replied, ?it was considered that the proper functions of government,
strictly speaking, were limited to keeping the peace and defending the
people against the public enemy, that is, to the military and police
powers.?
?And in heaven?s name, who are the public enemies?? exclaimed Dr Leete.
?Are they France, England, Germany, or hunger, cold and nakedness?? In
your day governments were accustomed, on the slightest international
misunderstanding, to seize upon the bodies of citizens and deliver them
over by the hundreds of thousands to death and mutilation?. Our
governments have no war powers, but in order to protect every citizen
against hunger, cold and nakedness, and provide for all his physical and
mental needs, the function is assumed of directing his industry for a term
of years. No, Mr West, I am sure on reflection you will perceive that it
was in your age, not in ours, that the extension of the functions of
governments was extraordinary.?
In another telling episode much later in the book, Julian West returns to
his former home accompanied by Dr Leete?s daughter, Edith, who is very
much a product of her own, money-free culture.
?This was my strong room as well as my sleeping room. In the safe yonder
are several thousand dollars in gold, and any amount of securities. If I
had known when I went to sleep that night just how long my nap would be, I
should still have thought that the gold was a safe provision for my needs
in any country or any century, however distant. That a time would ever
come when it would lose its purchasing power, I should have considered the
wildest of fantasies. Nevertheless, here I wake up to find myself among
people of whom a cartload of gold will not procure a loaf of bread.?
?As might be expected, I did not succeed in impressing Edith that there
was anything remarkable in this fact. ?Why in the world should it?? she
merely asked.? Why indeed? The absence of money as we know it is perhaps
the most provocative of all the ideas advanced in the novel.
In an astounding anticipation of modern times Bellamy introduces the idea
of ?credit cards? that are used to pay for everything. But these cards
bear little resemblance to their modern day namesakes which have become
the ultimate symbol of both purchasing beyond one?s means and charging
excessive interest to those who can ill afford to pay it. Bellamy?s credit
cards represent the sole currency of the time: labor. Everyone is expected
to work, and their labor is rewarded equally with credit sufficient to
meet all their needs. Those jobs which are particularly difficult or
unpopular come with reduced hours. Thus a coal miner would almost
certainly work fewer hours than a teacher. Even if one miner produced
twice the coal of another, they would both receive the same credits as
effort not ability is the true contribution of value. To ensure that each
will, in fact, give his or her best, a huge emphasis is placed on
education, and a system of promotions into positions of greater service is
open to all.
Each of these systems is thought through and described in considerable
detail as the story progresses. Before the last page, one is introduced to
new approaches to international trade (really a barter system), the
selection of leadership, real freedom of the press, women?s liberation,
crime and courts, and the support of art and religion. Bellamy also
describes the kind of world events necessary to trigger a reformulation of
our most basic modes of interaction: situations so dire and so
catastrophic that everyone, or at least the vast majority of people, saw
that radical change was both necessary and desirable. From there it was
just a matter of doing whatever was necessary to create systems of finance
and production that actually served human needs.
Interestingly, he does allude to the role the most powerful and privileged
played in attempting to undermine the transition to a new culture.
Reincarnation is hinted at, and the word ?avatar? is also slipped in.
Bellamy?s central thesis is that mankind is divine in origin and destiny
but we have badly lost our way at present. The amazing and in some ways
depressing fact about his book is the ?present? in which it was written
was 1888, a full century and more before the ideas of which he speaks are
even beginning to find credence among humanity.
Yet his foresight deserves our respect and attention. The fact that the
book has stayed in print all these years is a testament to its ongoing
relevance. It provides both hope and a blueprint for a future which is at
long last before us. And finally, surely in a call to action, one citizen
of that noble culture voices a thought familiar to all who have the
opportunity to serve now. ?I have often thought that I would fain exchange
my share in this serene and golden day for a place in that stormy epoch of
transition, when heroes burst the barred gate of the future and revealed
to the kindling gaze of a hopeless race? a vista of progress whose end,
for the very excess of light, still dazzles us.? To build that future was,
of course, Bellamy?s intention, and the opportunity he anticipated is
surely with us now.
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Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward 2000-1887. First published by Ticknor and
Company, Boston, USA, 1888.
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Article was copied from the July 2010 issue of Share International
Magazine
http://www.share-international.org/magazine/SI_main.htm
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Read/download Bellamy's book for free: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/624
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An excerpt from the first chapter:
But how could I live without service to the world? you ask. Why should the
world have supported in utter idleness one who was able to render service?
The answer is that my great-grandfather had accumulated a sum of money on
which his descendants had ever since lived. The sum, you will naturally
infer, must have been very large not to have been exhausted in supporting
three generations in idleness. This, however, was not the fact. The sum
had been originally by no means large. It was, in fact, much larger now
that three generations had been supported upon it in idleness, than it was
at first.
This mystery of use without consumption, of warmth without combustion,
seems like magic, but was merely an ingenious application of the art now
happily lost but carried to great perfection by your ancestors, of
shifting the burden of one's support on the shoulders of others. The man
who had accomplished this, and it was the end all sought, was said to live
on the income of his investments. To explain at this point how the ancient
methods of industry made this possible would delay us too much. I shall
only stop now to say that interest on investments was a species of tax in
perpetuity upon the product of those engaged in industry which a person
possessing or inheriting money was able to levy.
It must not be supposed that an arrangement which seems so unnatural and
preposterous according to modern notions was never criticized by your
ancestors. It had been the effort of lawgivers and prophets from the
earliest ages to abolish interest, or at least to limit it to the smallest
possible rate. All these efforts had, however, failed, as they necessarily
must so long as the ancient social organizations prevailed. At the time of
which I write, the latter part of the nineteenth century, governments had
generally given up trying to regulate the subject at all.
By way of attempting to give the reader some general impression of the way
people lived together in those days, and especially of the relations of
the rich and poor to one another, perhaps I cannot do better than to
compare society as it then was to a prodigious coach which the masses of
humanity were harnessed to and dragged toilsomely along a very hilly and
sandy road. The driver was hunger, and permitted no lagging, though the
pace was necessarily very slow.
Despite the difficulty of drawing the coach at all along so hard a road,
the top was covered with passengers who never got down, even at the
steepest ascents. These seats on top were very breezy and comfortable.
Well up out of the dust, their occupants could enjoy the scenery at their
leisure, or critically discuss the merits of the straining team. Naturally
such places were in great demand and the competition for them was keen,
every one seeking as the first end in life to secure a seat on the coach
for himself and to leave it to his child after him.
By the rule of the coach a man could leave his seat to whom he wished, but
on the other hand there were many accidents by which it might at any time
be wholly lost. For all that they were so easy, the seats were very
insecure, and at every sudden jolt of the coach persons were slipping out
of them and falling to the ground, where they were instantly compelled to
take hold of the rope and help to drag the coach on which they had before
ridden so pleasantly. It was naturally regarded as a terrible misfortune
to lose one's seat, and the apprehension that this might happen to them or
their friends was a constant cloud upon the happiness of those who rode.
But did they think only of themselves? you ask. Was not their very luxury
rendered intolerable to them by comparison with the lot of their brothers
and sisters in the harness, and the knowledge that their own weight added
to their toil? Had they no compassion for fellow beings from whom fortune
only distinguished them? Oh, yes; commiseration was frequently expressed
by those who rode for those who had to pull the coach, especially when the
vehicle came to a bad place in the road, as it was constantly doing, or to
a particularly steep hill. At such times, the desperate straining of the
team, their agonized leaping and plunging under the pitiless lashing of
hunger, the many who fainted at the rope and were trampled in the mire,
made a very distressing spectacle, which often called forth highly
creditable displays of feeling on the top of the coach. At such times the
passengers would call down encouragingly to the toilers of the rope,
exhorting them to patience, and holding out hopes of possible compensation
in another world for the hardness of their lot, while others contributed
to buy salves and liniments for the crippled and injured.
It was agreed that it was a great pity that the coach should be so hard to
pull, and there was a sense of general relief when the specially bad piece
of road was gotten over. This relief was not, indeed, wholly on account of
the team, for there was always some danger at these bad places of a
general overturn in which all would lose their seats.
It must in truth be admitted that the main effect of the spectacle of the
misery of the toilers at the rope was to enhance the passengers' sense of
the value of their seats upon the coach, and to cause them to hold on to
them more desperately than before. If the passengers could only have felt
assured that neither they nor their friends would ever fall from the top,
it is probable that, beyond contributing to the funds for liniments and
bandages, they would have troubled themselves extremely little about those
who dragged the coach.
I am well aware that this will appear to the men and women of the
twentieth century an incredible inhumanity, but there are two facts, both
very curious, which partly explain it. In the first place, it was firmly
and sincerely believed that there was no other way in which Society could
get along, except the many pulled at the rope and the few rode, and not
only this, but that no very radical improvement even was possible, either
in the harness, the coach, the roadway, or the distribution of the toil.
It had always been as it was, and it always would be so. It was a pity,
but it could not be helped, and philosophy forbade wasting compassion on
what was beyond remedy.
The other fact is yet more curious, consisting in a singular hallucination
which those on the top of the coach generally shared, that they were not
exactly like their brothers and sisters who pulled at the rope, but of
finer clay, in some way belonging to a higher order of beings who might
justly expect to be drawn. This seems unaccountable, but, as I once rode
on this very coach and shared that very hallucination, I ought to be
believed. The strangest thing about the hallucination was that those who
had but just climbed up from the ground, before they had outgrown the
marks of the rope upon their hands, began to fall under its influence. As
for those whose parents and grand-parents before them had been so
fortunate as to keep their seats on the top, the conviction they cherished
of the essential difference between their sort of humanity and the common
article was absolute.
The effect of such a delusion in moderating fellow feeling for the
sufferings of the mass of men into a distant and philosophical compassion
is obvious. To it I refer as the only extenuation I can offer for the
indifference which, at the period I write of, marked my own attitude
toward the misery of my brothers.
In 1887 I came to my thirtieth year. Although still unmarried, I was
engaged to wed Edith Bartlett. She, like myself, rode on the top of the
coach. That is to say, not to encumber ourselves further with an
illustration which has, I hope, served its purpose of giving the reader
some general impression of how we lived then, her family was wealthy. In
that age, when money alone commanded all that was agreeable and refined in
life, it was enough for a woman to be rich to have suitors; but Edith
Bartlett was beautiful and graceful also.
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"Looking Backward 2000-1887" by Edward Bellamy: Published: 1888
This utopian novel was the third largest bestseller of its time, after
Uncle Tom's Cabin and Ben-Hur.
Read/download the book: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/624
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"When you see Me you will know that My voice is yours, for I speak for all
men and women everywhere. I speak the thoughts which blossom in hearts and
minds of pure Love. I speak of the needs of all, for Sharing and Justice.
I show men that the path to Justice is simple, the way forward calls all
men. I speak of God?s Truth, of the Light within mankind, of the need for
trust, the Love of brother for brother. Of all of this I speak. Soon men
will know... " Maitreya, the World Teacher