§ 34

Germany knows that, and nothing would please that rapacious nation so much as England’s failure to make Democracy a success. The success of Democracy in Britain depends upon the British, not only on how they choose their leaders, but on the direction taken by the people as a whole. These, then, are the reasons that I have written and published this “Book.” I want Democracy to succeed, and I see only one way to it; Perfect Unanimity, a perfect system of education, simple, not complicated, large-minded, generous rule, without weakness, all embracing without being overbearing. I cannot see it arrive through class warfare. I see it in wise concessions, in whole-hearted justice; in general, not particular rule; in the cultivation of the whole human machinery of our country, not in parts only; of the soul of England as well as her physical needs; in Industry of all kinds duly guided, duly answered; of the needs special to every district, each performing its part in a national enterprise. In that way, each man and woman can find a place, a usefulness, and position as citizens of “no mean country.” That is my Ideal for England of the future.

As I write, I know that professional politicians will sneer, that miles of red tape have to be unwound before what is now bad is made better, that extremists of every party will abuse me. I know I shall be called an unpractical dreamer. For these I care not one jot, having little, if any, respect for professional politicians, having an abhorrence of red tape and the jobbery it wraps up. For extremists I have pity more than scorn, as I know their tenets are but as grains of sand blown by the winds. That agitators, as a class, are wholly unreliable, being, au fond, mostly out for themselves, and that is the reason I warn the workers against them. I have chosen the form of a Dream to tell my story for several reasons. Some of the finest literature has been given in the form of Parable or Allegory! which is as illustrative to-day as it was in any period of History.