Dictatorship in Wells’ “The Shape of Things to Come” Essay

Introduction

Herbert Wells was an English writer whose works were predominantly of a science-fictional and political character. This interaction of fiction and politics merged into Wells’s exclusive views on the world political system that made him the supporter of globalization. The writer was always concerned with the fate of humanity thus emphasizing their bluntness and reluctance to see that the world is on the edge of extermination. The utopian and pacifist views on society prevailed in his works, albeit he also resorted to the description of the war as the main tool for triggering humanity to create the Functional World State (Partington, 2003, p.13).

In his novels, he attempted to reveal the incessant resources possessed by people that provided an opportunity to create equal conditions for the world society in all aspects of life. Though other authors have heavily criticized his utopian ideas, Wells continued working in this course since this was the only method for the proliferation of his cosmopolitan views. In addition to his pacifist views, the writer saw the world development through the ‘ethical evolution’ of society, as the only means to survive from destruction and moral and cultural devastation (Partinington, 2003, p. 13). Anyway, H. Wells’s exaggerated predictions concerning such a globalization process as World War II and the modern integration have partially come true.

The Shape of Things to Come and the concept of benevolent dictatorship

Most of these views about the Modern State were explicitly revealed in his fictional novel called The Shape of the Things to Come. Apart from political and social views, this novel also discloses Wells’s outlook on the Modern State that should be created after the complete crashing of all deep-rooted moral principles and liquidation of all organized religions of the world. This act is viewed as a kind of necessary evil for the establishment of monopolist control over education enabling to shape of new generations of humanity in the world. The rise of global military actions leading to no victor but complete exhaustion of the struggling parties were perceived as the obligatory tool for equating the people and creating the Supreme nation.

In this respect, Wells’s concept of benevolent dictatorship continues his idea of global thinking. Such a form of government is the only reasonable method to bring a peaceful order into the world. The establishment of “dictatorship of the air” can be also perceived as another theory of eschatological philosophy according to which the order is assumed to arise “from the chaos of the ‘final war’” (Von Clausewitz and Rapoport, 1982, p. 15).

In theological theory, this form of government is often revealed through the forces that will revive around the Second Coming of Christ. In social eschatology, the dictatorship is presented by the governance of the proletariat that is predicted to transform the imperialist war into a war of social classes. Anyway, the main goal of eradication of social stratification and all kinds of religion is directed at the elimination of any signs of distinctions between humans arisen from different stereotypes and prejudices.

In his novel, Wells addresses the resistance of the Muslim world, the destruction of Buddhism, the opposition of the Catholic Church. He is also concerned with the hard fate of the Jews facing the Holocaust. By suppressing any religious disparities, the government of the Modern State, according to H. Wells, manages to provide the assimilation of all nations and Jews in particular thus depriving them of their identity.

‘Air Dictatorship’, its goals and purposes

The genre of science fiction, of course, can detract the readers’ attention to the real event this book relies on. It is unreasonable to believe that all futurology and fictional narrations are narrowed to the success of predictions. Wells managed to foresee the rise of World War II and other important events that happened in the twentieth century. This is why Air Dictatorship cannot be reduced to the glamour narration about fantastic events, as this relates to the development of aeronautics. Hence, airplanes are depicted in terms of their functionality but not as unreal details. This shows Wells’s incredible abilities in predicting political and technological discoveries.

As Wells states in the book, the rise of the Air Dictatorship is not a simultaneous action, but a complicated transformation of human moral and social awareness. At this point, the Great Wars manifest the total frustration of humanity the first sign of which is the realization that we live in a dirty and dreadful world. This dirtiness is revealed through the absence of human communication, reasonable thinking, paper documentation, and records – everything is swept away by War.

The ruinous outcomes of big cities trigger the creation of Air-Dictatorship that symbolized a breath of fresh and clean air. This wave of air revived in London appears to the power that is obsessed with neatness, regularity, and Puritanism. Through this, it is possible to perceive Wells’s objective in creating this fictional self-government as revenge for all the dirt that existed in the world and was created by a human.

Regarding the methods by which the dictatorship is settled, “the air dictatorship is a necessary evil, necessary to release humankind from the clutches of the old order, but evil in its harshness and rigidity, which eventually force its downfall” (Wagar, 2004, p. 217). In this respect, it can be identified with the Communist theory and Marxism version of the dictatorship of the proletariat as the tool of world cleansing from all types of disparities. However, unlike the Marxist school of thought that admits the proliferation of democracy, Wells rejects the parliamentary systems completely and is centered on the benefit of the scientific-technological revolution.

Replacement of Static Government by Kinetic Society

In general, Wells’s theory of benevolent dictatorship expresses the concepts of an ideal Modern State advocating the right education, the promotion of science and technology, enhancing Basic English, and eliminating all forms of religions instead directing humanity into the course of peaceful utopian that can be compared with Paradise. When gathering all the signs and characteristics of the ‘Air Dictatorship’, it is possible to correlate this fictional government with Wells’s real vision of society through ‘ethical evolution’, which the writer converts into a sociologic theory of kinetic society (Partington, p. 49).

One of the main aspects of this theory lies in its focus on the kinetic development of the relationships between the individual and the world state since this shift can help to save people from passive existence. This comprehensive revolutionary development can be achieved through the amendment of old laws of nature that teach people to build and to create. Addressing The Shape of the Things to Come, the initial step for the creation of the new world is mass destruction and devastation required for the establishment of homogenous ground for radical changes.

In particular, this active and dynamic development is viewed through the introduction of technological discoveries and sophisticated engineering. In the novel, the Air Police demonstrates a high level of technological and scientific development emerging as the result of the swift pace of intellectual evolution.

Education Reform of the Air Dictatorship

Wells’s vision of the shape of things to come is revealed through a total reevaluation of education policy carrying the global character like any other reforms of the Modern State. The first sign of educational changes is connected with the introduction of the Lingua Franca – a universal language that should be expanded among all nations and countries of the world. This educational reform suggested by Wells, however, expresses an outright disregard for different cultures and to people’s aspiration for self-determination. Instead, Wells attempts to build a universal technocratic reform.

The educational policy also conforms to the goals of this benevolent dictatorship that aims at improving the human race in all aspects of life. The eugenic principles enclosed in the educational reforms also serve as the tool of global control. As a whole, the main purpose of education consists in government’s attempts “to establish a new complete ideology and a new spirit which would induce the individual to devote himself and to shape all his activities to one definite purpose, to the attainment and maintenance of a progressive world-socialism” (Broks, 2006, p. 67.) In other words, the establishment of global education can guarantee appropriate social order and normal human existence. According to Wells, the eugenic approach will encapsulate people in the process of generation of Supreme Race.

Ethical and Racial Issues enclosed in Wells’s concept of Modern Utopia

In The Shape of Things to Come, Wells excludes the existence of race distinctions. In particular, the writer withdraws the concept of the Aryan race but admits that there is the existence of groups of people that speak Aryan languages, which are not cultural but biological signs of humans. What is more interesting, Wells does not recognize the existence of the Jewish race; instead, he regards them as communities with peculiar religions and mixed origins.

When giving a closer look at the concept of Supreme Human and eugenic theory, there arise some contradictions between those. If considering the first concept, the Supreme race is the one that takes control over the other races which initially denotes social inequality and injustice. In Wells’ understanding of this concept, it coincides with eugenic theory, where all races are shaped into one supreme race and there are no other inferior nations that should be subjected to it.

Wells’s Outlook on Religion

In the capacity of the founder and the promoter of the cosmopolitan theory of the world organization, Wells’s plan is directed at the extermination of religion disparity was of Positivist character. In the Shape of Things to Come, the writer describes the nations that would be organized to expatriate the nationalistic and religious zeal leading to war and frustration. In Wells’s ideal world, “Nations would be bound in harmony by a common Religion of Humanity rooted in the Positivist reading of social and religious evolution” (Parrinder and Rolfe, 1990, p. 188). The utopian outlook is also revealed in the reading of the past consolidates humankind and provides the outlook on future events.

As the fictional writer was always keen on the world and social transformation for the new state, his fervor to unite humanity and put an end to wars through the organization of a single government can provide an opportunity to explore the universe and to form a well-cooperated and highly-structured organism. Certainly, in such an ideal world, there is no significant role for religion as the writer takes an atheist position thus putting human reason at the forefront.

However, he does not exclude religion but enables it with something that could reckon with the needs of mankind (Bowler, 2001 p. 360). Hence, a common religion created in the Modern State was total reevaluation and rethinking of the Bible. According to Wells, the main shortcoming of religion is it induces people to create distinct groups, which can be alien to each other. Referring to religion, he writes,

Every new religious development is haunted by the precedents of the religion it replaces, and it was only to be expected that among those who have recovered their faith there should be a search for apostles and disciplines, an attempt to determine sources and to form original congregations, especially among people with European traditions (Wells, 2008, p. 101).

This new type of religion established in the ‘Air Dictatorship’ does not have the source of power and the leader that would manipulate separate masses.

In the religious context, “the Air Dictatorship” can be also considered as the demonstration of secularism and anti-religious spirits. This can be revealed through his attitude to the world religion and his intention to create the so-called common religion denying any displays of identity and uniqueness. Arising from Wells’s opposition and reluctance to recognize the religion, it should be admitted that by suppressing all the religions, the writer expresses his anthropocentric views rejecting the supremacy of any Deity in front of a human being.

Therefore, his outlook on the freedom of statement and discussion is a bit contradictive, as this position excludes any freedom of speech for the supporters of religion. At this point, one could talk about the rise of “energetic humanism” deriving from the remnants of liberalism where a human replaces God (Louise, 1970, p. 412).

The Decent of the Muslim World

The first attack of the religion was addressed to the Muslim world whose resistance turns out to be the strongest, as their religion is one of the main powers controlling Asian people and their traditions. By reconciling and exterminating the religion, Wells applies the concept of the modern state where each of regions “is a distinct version of the same international tolerance, global understanding, and cooperation for a common human cause” (Funk and Sitka, 2004, p. 19).

This evolutionary approach is the writer’s attempt to overcome the traditional national barriers that stimulate the appearance of social injustice and inequality. At this point, religion, as the main indicator of subordination, should be also expropriated from the Asian nation. As it is depicted in the book, “air guards descended upon Mecca and closed the chief holy places” (Wells, 2004, p. 282). This act is the most horrible example of desecration without which it is impossible to subject the Arab people and to eliminate their identity. As the result, Islam is exiled from the Asian world and is substituted by English, the new Esperanto. After the Islam liquidation, twenty mosques were left for the reconstruction and preservation of the Arabian architecture.

There are almost no references to the problem of eradication of Buddhism from Asian countries. According to the book, this religion was easily suppressed and taken under control. On whole, the Asian world was completely suppressed and has become a clay pigeon.

The Opposition of the Catholic Church

The most vigorous confrontation contemplated by Wells is that from the Catholic Church. The whole Catholic hierarchy headed by the Pope is affected by gas thus permitting the airplane’s penetration to Italy, which has been defeated. The crushed Italian Catholicism finds its last asylum in Ireland that acquires the form of theocracy. In the book, the author resorts to the severe method of Catholicism incantation:

But now it had struck down the very head of Catholic Christianity and killed an officiating priest amid his ministrations. It had gripped that vast world organization, the Catholic Church, and told it in effect to be still forevermore (Wells, 2004, 346).

After the eradication of theocratic spirits in Ireland, the Air Police attacks Latin America to liquidate the last remnants of Catholicism. According to Wells, the world state cannot exist without such an influential “vast world organization”. Therefore, this theory is closer to socialist and communist utopian ideas. In addition to this, this religion is one of the most influential, having different directions of development.

Wells’s description of Jews in The Shape of Things to Come

The Shape of Things to Come is considerably focused on the fate of Jews who had to overcome numerous torments because of their affiliation to their ethnicity and religion. Wells depicts the abhorrent pictures of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany that exterminated this nation without remorse. According to the book, there is mentioning of anti-Jewish massacres happening throughout Europe in the middle of the 20th century.

Wells believes that the main tragedy of Jews lied in their extreme peculiar and, therefore, its disappearance and complete assimilation would deprive the nation of all sufferings (Cheyette, 1995, p. 145). In the further confrontation between the Modern State and its opposition, Jews find themselves stuck in limbo. This was, perhaps the solution provided by Wells, as the nation become fully impregnated into the general society thus losing their ethnic identity.

The Results of Religious Eradication and the Fate of the World Religions

According to Wells, religion was one of the strongest powers controlling humans mind and behavior, as people who are obsessed with faith are not able to see the reality and the problems existed in the world. Therefore, the total eradication of all religions can liberate them from the abusive thoughts imposed by the Church and ministry – the most powerful organizations generating the establishment of unequal position of people in front of God, supreme and omnipotent mind. To eliminate this inequality, Wells’s fictional dictatorship replaces God with a human who becomes an actor but an agent. Still, this ‘Puritan Monarchy’ already presents tools of global control in the form of air forces, global education, and common religion.

Conclusion

Drawing a summary, it is worth saying that all the political and social views of Herbert Wells are reduced to the introduction of the concept of universality, equality, and justice. This philosophy can be pursued throughout all his works and his novel The Shape of Things to Come in particular. In this fictional work, the writer represents his concept of a Modern State where humanity is united and assimilated in all aspects of society. In this respect, the ‘Air Dictatorship’ emerged as the result of eradication of all religious differences, national and cultural affiliation, and other groups revealing any displays of disparities and uniqueness.

Three World religions, as Wells states, cannot co-exist in a universal community. The commonness and transnationalism dictated by air forces arise from the chaos in the form of two Great Wars. According to Wells’s utopian vision, this is the only means to introduce radical changes to society and to create an ideal state with peaceful order and discipline. In addition, Wells’s fictional world is subjected to the laws of kinetic and revolutionary development where all individuals encourage the technocratic and scientific improvement of society. In this way, the Air Dictatorship also symbolizes an alternative form of government that can move by air and control the global development of the world.

Finally, Well’s theory of Air dictator resulted in the elimination of religious and national identity is directed at the creation of Supreme Race involved in a comprehensive course of improvement. This complicated theory is rooted in Wells’s concept of ethical evolution consisting of the idea that all people should undergo all stages of development – from chaos and total frustration to intellectual improvement.

Reference List

Bowler, P. J., 2001. Reconciling science and religion: the debate in early-twentieth-century Britain. US: University of Chicago Press.

Broks, P., 2006. Understanding popular science. US: McGraw-Hill International.

Cheyette, B., 1995. Construction of “the Jew” in English literature and society: racial representations, 1875-1945. UK: Cambridge University Press.

Funk, N. C., and Sitka, B. J., 2004. Ameen Rihami: bridging East and West: a pioneering call for Arab-American Understanding. US: University Press of America.

Louise, S. M. 1970. Over the bent world. US: Ayer Publishing.

Parnington, J. S., 2003. Building cosmopolis: the political thought of H. G. Wells. US: AshgatePublishing Ltd.

Parrinder, P., and Rofle, C., 1990. H.G. Wells under revision: proceedings of the International H. G. Wells Sympossium, London, volume 1986. US: Associated University Press.

Von Clausewitz, C., and Rapoport, A., 1982. On War. US: Penguin Classics.

Wagar, W. W. 2004. H. G. Wells: traversing time. US: Wesleyan University Press.

Wells, H.G., 2008. God the Invisible King. US: BiblioBazaar, LLC.