H G Wells, World Government and Mediocrity

H.G. Wells, one of the founding fathers of science fiction, novelist, visionary, popular educator – satyr, too, perhaps – believed a world government would cure all mankind’s ills. We know this to be the case because he said it so often. Too often, some might say. He imagined that such a government would be both humanistic and socialistic…and one can imagine Wells, stately as Socrates, an enthusiastic believer in “free love” – his big argument with the Fabian Society leadership, after all, was due to his determined pursuit and practice of “free love” – considering “the English reality…like the piercing light of lanterns swinging and swaying among the branches of dark trees at night”.

Even the most obtuse members of humanity, Wells decided, must see the benefits of a “world government”; in some ill defined way the world would assume the mantle of H.G.’s “English reality”. It would be as near to perfect as was possible. War would end. Hunger would become a thing of the past. There would be no rich, no poor. Mankind would live in harmony with its surroundings. Nationalism would dissipate, and swords be beaten into ploughshares. A land of milk and honey…almost a return to Eden.

I suspect there’s something, some small glitch in the genes of humankind, that leads particular individual’s to lust after power, to desire control and domination of others; after all, each of us in turn knows what’s best for us, don’t we? Wells knew what was best for us, obviously – “World Government”! But not a government of tired, crafty-eyed politicians, no, instead he’d have a Technocracy! A world leadership of scientists! Of course, Wells didn’t “lust after” power, only women, and the creation of a “World Government”.

Busy, as he eventually became, dashing here, dashing there; interviews with Roosevelt one day, Stalin the next; putting heart and soul into his attempts to transform the world, while demonstrating the desperate and urgent need for his world Technocracy. Wells was far from alone in his belief that mankind required a worldwide legislature in order to survive. Stalin thought he might well have a point; Hitler, too, ultimately saw a world dominated by…not scientists, like H.G., but true Aryans, a Germanic elite, the Übermensch, transcending national politics, class, creed, and even human nature itself!

But let’s take a step back to the year 1907 when Wells “saw in his mind’s eye” a future world dominated in the East by China and Japan, with Europe filled with bickering states – an aggressive Germany (what else), Italy, France, Spain and Portugal all armed but reluctant to fight; Russia in the throes of revolution; the USA split in civil strife between State and Federal governments. Germany starts a war, (prophetic, this)“the War in the Air”, and attacks the US…as does China and Japan (but for different reasons). Every country is bombed to destruction. London, Paris, Hamburg and Berlin are all destroyed. The story moves forward, allows us a fleeting glimpse of barbaric humanity trapped in a primitive, feudal society, the result of that terrible war.

Moving forward in “real time” to the 1914 – 18 war, the Great War, as it came to be called (though as far as scale goes, wars do seem to have increased in magnitude since then), H.G. simply couldn’t comprehend the terrible motivation leading humankind to such catastrophe – or rather, he could, but it defied logic. Politicians were the problem, and nationalism, and poverty, and wealth – especially the wealth that grew from armaments (for then as now military hardware comprised a big money spinner for Britain, France, the US, etc).

After that war, the war to end wars (well, nearly, but not quite – did you know Wells coined that phrase for the ministry of propaganda?), Wells saw the continued development of the aeroplane; from string bag to sophisticated weapon of mass destruction; as he’d predicted, civilisation would be threatened by use of such weapons; for the first time civilians and cities would BE the front line. Stanley Baldwin in a speech (“A Fear For The Future”) threateningly declared: “The bomber will always get through”. Military theorists believed a future war would be won entirely in the air. The Italian general Giulio Douhet, published his book “ The Command of the Air”, a seminal work on future air war. Wells didn’t believe a war could be won by bombers, instead he envisaged civilisation shattered by mass air attacks in a war that would have NO winners, only losers.

The solitary answer Wells could see to this approaching Armageddon was to deliver power to the hands of the scientists who in turn would form a World Government. Only then would peace reign supreme; only then would civilisation be safe and able to develop.

Well, inevitably war did come; Hitler, Stalin and Roosevelt in turn dreamed of empire, while that old imperialist, Churchill, looked on and lost an empire; though still no stranger to the world of Realpolitik, increasingly he appeared marginalised in the post war world. Civilisation wasn’t shattered by the bombers. A world Government didn’t come into being. Nor did the world’s problems go away.

And what of Wells, that great mind at the end of its tether? If still alive today, what would he make of our world? Poverty still rife, populations growing out of control, hunger and disease rampant. Science, however, is now accorded the sort of respect reserved for a “world” religion; its practitioners elevated to the status of cardinals in this cabala of scientific witchery; this new shamanism casts the runes of “climate modeling” (for example), its necromancers witch-wiggling at any and every dissenting voice, theirs is the only TRUE scarabee. And on the back of this strange new phenomenon, the politicians, recognised by Wells as one of the major problems in the world, have craftily politicised science and scientists. These new necromancers must dance to the tune of the £ or $ played on the politicians pipe!

And what of world government? Yes, the auguries are good. We may yet see one develop – but it won’t be Wells Technocracy!

No, sadly, I fear, we’ll see the rise of a worldwide mediocracy where unelected and unrepresentative individuals will reign supreme in a world bureaucracy, mind numbing in its unaccountability to anyone, other than its “political” masters, those representatives of massive self-interest in the developed parts of the globe.

This will be the way the world ends, not with a BANG nor a whimper, but with a shit storm of paperwork, regulations, and waste!

That defining moment in time…

“Mon Dieu!”

cried the gruff, angry voice of Lieutenant General Henri Navarre, Commander-in-Chief of the French Union Forces in Indochina, when he learned that Dien Bien Phu was surrounded, cut-off, and facing defeat. The impossible had happened. General Giap, Commander of the Viet-Minh forces opposing the French, had moved just under 50,000 combat troops with artillery onto the heights encircling the valley…something French intelligence had thought impossible! Over 55,000 Viet-Minh working night and day ensured an unbroken chain of supply to Giap’s front line forces, as they systematically reduced the French garrison to bloody tatters.

The French had totally underestimated their enemy. Their defeat ultimately was the death knell of French involvement in Indochina.

Is it not strange, how a single moment in history, a solitary decision taken (like the decision to occupy the very remote site of Dien Bien Phu), can change everything for all time?

For example, it was only with the recent opening of the Moscow archives that we learned Stalin, in the first few days after the Nazi invasion of the USSR, summoned Beria and Molotov to a meeting where he suggested they make peace with Hitler – no matter what the cost, or humiliation. He was prepared to surrender much of the Ukraine, Belorussia and all the Baltic states, in exchange for peace.

So, they summoned the Bulgarian Ambassador, Ivan Stamenov. He must act as intermediary to broker a deal with the Nazis. Surprisingly he refused, telling the shocked trio “Even if you retreat to the Urals, you’ll still win in the end!”

So one man’s intransigence, changed history. Because of Stamenov, Stalin ordered the USSR to fight on. Had the USSR surrendered during those first weeks of war, what effect might that have had on the future of Europe or the World?

Of course, Stalin’s panic was reinforced by Nazi propaganda. German arms had been victorious everywhere. He saw himself surrounded by defeat. Therefore he over estimated the ability of Nazi Germany to inflect a final defeat on the USSR.

Similarly, French arrogance led to them occupying a remote outpost hard to supply or maintain, because they did not believe the Viet-Minh capable of doing what they eventually did. The French totally underestimated their opponents, with fatal results.

The conflict between Nazi Germany and the USSR was a clash of opposing ideologies. It took on the mantle of a “Holy War”, the Teutonic Knights attempting to eradicate the Bolshevik Menace, while the Soviets defended Mother Russia, before eventually taking the conflict to the fascist homeland, absorbing Eastern Europe in the process.

The French in Indochina with their imperialistic mind-set, came up against a heady mix of Nationalism and Communism which eventually derailed them. For Giap and the Viet-Minh the liberation of their country and the creation of a socialist republic was nothing less than a religious quest. The French from day one were out of their league – they did not understand the forces they were up against, and consequently they got a good arsekicking.

Another defining moment on the world stage was the introduction of “Glastnost” by Mikhail Gorbachev in the USSR during the 1980’s. This was at least in part a reaction to criticism of the soviet cult of personality and the failure of Leninist Ideology. Increased political freedom saw the rise of nationalism, and the release of those ethnic tensions which the Soviet regime had violently repressed. So it came to pass that “Glastnost” and “Perestroika” were the final nails in the coffin of the Soviet Empire.

The Cold War ended. The threat of communism dissipated. The forces of capitalism had won a great victory…or rather (more accurately) communism had imploded, leaving capitalism unfettered to exploit almost the whole world!

Funnily enough, the recent economic problems with the banking sector were predicted by Karl Marx. What Marx didn’t foresee, was the intervention of the state to prevent the collapse of the banks. Where he saw economic collapse, he never imagined that nation after nation would step in and shore-up capitalism. Where he predicted (with Friedrich Engels) that socialism would evolve into communism where:

“class distinctions have disappeared, and all production has been concentrated in the hands of a vast association of the whole nation, the public power will lose its political character.”

He did not understand that in accepting political power as the organisation of power of one class for oppressing another, he had only a small part of the overall equation.

And so the end of communism left a big hole in the social fabric of the world. Where did one turn when confronted by exploitation and oppression? Easy. Radical Islam stepped neatly into the ideological vacuum left by the dismemberment of the USSR. Where once the almost “religious” mantra of Karl Marx and his disciples provided hope and a channel for political ambition and aspiration, now the radical cleric uses the message of the prophet Mohammed for much the same ends – all of which are “political”! – hence the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s global vision – the death of capitalism, the eradication of Israel, and the founding of a new caliphate.

The present UK government provides subsidies for training courses in Islamic theology, but not for those in Christian or Jewish (or any other sort of) theology.

Wonder why?

Fear?

Book on life under Stalin banned in Russia due to political pressure

“A book on life under Stalin by Orlando Figes, the award-winning historian, has been banned in Russia for political reasons, he believes.

Atticus, the Russian publishers, have cancelled their contract with the British author for his latest work, The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin’s Russia.

Their decision comes after masked officers from the Russian general prosecutor’s office raided the offices of Memorial, a human rights organisation, which helped Professor Figes research the book.

As well as confiscating about a third of the material used for the book, the officers seized Memorial’s entire St Petersburg archive, according to Prof Figes.

The archive included vast historical databases containing information on repression in the country, as well as recordings and transcripts of interviews, he said.”

It’s good to know nothing really changes in this world, isn’t it? I’m looking forward to a bit of book burning in the not too distant future!

See here.