This is the annotated edition including the rare biographical essay by Edwin E. Slosson called “H. G. Wells — A Major Prophet Of His Time”.
This is the twentieth book from the fertile pen of a writer equally entertaining and ingenious in the short story, the romance, the novel and the sociological essay. He is an Englishman with a Gallic literary style, is well acquainted with America and though a champion of good-will, is a joyous and irresponsible critic of all things human.
The underlying purpose of this book, perhaps more serious than that in any of the other nineteen he has written, is to present and defend the creed of socialism in a manner to convince and convert the public. The author begins with the assertion of his belief in the betterment of things and in the growth of good-will, yet he finds much misery and many evils calling for change. The fundamental idea of socialism is to introduce constructive design into social action. First, the blundering and unsuccessful rearing of children must be remedied by taking much of the task into the hands of the state; and secondly the mischievous exaggeration of private property must be reduced.. These reforms can be brought about by “the spirit of service” which is to replace the spirit of gain. Objections are then taken up in detail, the author arguing that the best in home life need not be destroyed, that many kinds of private property would best be retained, and that efficiency and progress would not be arrested. That socialism is not a fixed program but a developing doctrine he seeks to show by a glance at the earlier utopian ideas, by a sarcastic and dissenting critique of the revolutionary socialism of Marx, and by a sketch of the older Fabian (which he calls administrative) socialism, and by arguments on constructive socialism, mainly emphasizing the need of education and spiritual change as a condition for the socialist state.
