The Open Conspiracy: H.G. Wells on World Revolution

Citation

Burrows, B. (2002), "The Open Conspiracy: H.G. Wells on World Revolution", Foresight, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 43-44. https://doi.org/10.1108/fs.2002.4.1.43.1

Warren Wagar, Professor of History at Binghamton University and a Vice‐President of the H.G. Wells Society, has written several books on Wells, H.G. Wells and the World State being possibly the most important (Wagar, 1961). Wagar is also one of the few people who is convinced that the historian can also be a futurist, as possible futures cannot be projected unless the past and the present are understood.

This book and World Brain (Wells, 1994) are some of the most important contributions that Wells made to future studies. It was published in 1928 and went through three editions, the last being entitled What Are We to Do with Our Lives?, but this reissue uses the original title. Wagar points out that, although most of Wells’ publications sold well, these two books had little influence. However, they indicate that Wells can be regarded as one of the first futurists. World Brain provides a philosophy for a world‐wide information system and The Open Conspiracy explains how an intellectual group can promote a sustainable future for humankind. Wagar sees this reprint as possibly the book for the twenty‐first century, as it offers a road‐map to the only future worth having.

The Open Conspiracy opens with an analysis of the crisis in human affairs, stating that “the world is undergoing immense changes” and issuing a call to understand and meet these changes. The problems we face today are arguably greater. In order to meet this challenge the idea of the open conspiracy is described. This will consist of a world movement of intelligent people who will challenge out‐of‐date traditional ideas in all aspects of decision making. This will be seen as an intellectual rebirth that can be achieved by re‐educating one’s mind with new ideas. This can only be achieved by a revolution in education. This may now be beginning to happen, as some futures studies courses are now available. Some of the ideas in this book could be used in these courses. Wells was hostile to many of the religions of his day, as he argued that they only reinforced existing ideas. What was needed was a new religious spirit that would “synthesise the needed effort to lift mankind out of our present disorders ...”

Wells argued that the objective of humankind should be to change the concept of existing states, as these are “primarily militant states and a world state cannot be militant”. In Wells’ view this could be achieved by a scientific world commonwealth. In the past there was a barren controversy between individualism and socialism which were treated as mutually exclusive alternatives. Today we are, perhaps, beginning to learn that all concepts are related and the complex relationship between them must be understood before any progress can be made. Much of the co‐operation in the past has been based on property rights and not on new ideas. Therefore we must move towards a higher level of consciousness. Wells makes the point that “we have still barely emerged from among the animals in their struggle for existence”. The Open Conspiracy must not be thought of as a single organisation but will have to be based on a new thinking from a wide range of people. The role of the media would be critical.

The objectives of The Open Conspiracy are to realise the provisional nature of existing governments, the importance of population control and preventing the increasing threat of the drift to war. Concern for population control and the reference in World Brain to the danger of the destruction of the rain forests suggests that Wells can be seen as one of the first environmentalists as well.

The final chapters deal with how The Open Conspiracy can be achieved. This must be based on an international body of scientific thought but there must be liaison between the scientist and the common intelligent person. The “whole psychology of industry and industrial relationships needs to be revised ...” It is hoped that this will lead to a world‐wide movement that will create what we now would describe as a sustainable future but there is no guarantee that this will happen. Wells concludes that the choice is ours.

The introduction by Wagar provides a wide assessment of many of Wells’ publications and a critical assessment of The Open Conspiracy, its influence and its importance today. Although Wagar has been a lifelong admirer of Wells, he is well aware of his faults.

Many of the publications by Wells reflected futuristic thinking before The Open Conspiracy and it is the concept of the World Commonwealth in these earlier writings that perhaps makes Wells the first futurist. How Wells developed the concept of the world commonwealth is described in his earlier writings. The federation of mankind included federation, confederation, a world state, a system of world controls, and a scientific world commonwealth, all linked to a world directorate. This is seen as a link with the scientific systems approach of Auguste Comte but Wells could be seen as more of a functionalist than a federalist.

The opposition to this is the blind loyalty to the establishment in what Wells describes as the “Atlantic civilisations”. He was more hopeful in dealing with the business community, as seen in the desire for free trade. Wagar provides a study of the strategies and tactics described by Wells to promote The Open Conspiracy. Much of the anti‐war feeling was based on the novel All Quiet on the Western Front. The film by Lewis Milestone is still shown on television and still has an influence depicting the horrors of war, but Wells was not a pacifist and was well aware of the opposition to his views by established thinking.

One problem of concern in this book is the dismissive attitude to the non‐western world. This was a common problem before the Second World War, as the developed world saw the rest of the world as inferior rather than less developed. Wells has been accused of being a racist but was not influenced by the then current view that white civilisation was superior to the rest of the world. He believed that western civilisation would lead the rest of the world but it was made clear that he thought that the non‐western world was a victim of western imperialism that prevented its development.

The most important section of the introduction is a study of what has happened concerning The Open Conspiracy since Wells. During the period from 1946‐1970 new ideas were promoted. One was the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, which was mainly written by Wells. There have also been many social philosophers who have added to the debate. These include Arnold J. Toynbee, Lewis Mumford (Mumford, 1957), F.S.C. Northrop, Pitirim Sorotkin, Teilhard de Chardin as well as books by Wagar himself (Wagar, 1963, 1967, 1971, 1991) but these books have had little influence so far on global thinking.

From 1970 there has been little progress in the move towards a new world order but the new global information system of the Internet provides us with the means of realising this vision. The reprint of World Brain with a “boldly imaginative introduction” by the late Alan Mayne provides us with a basis to promote The Open Conspiracy on a world‐wide basis (Wells, 1994). The rise of the environmental movement, the concept of sustainable development and the development of satellite monitoring linked by GMS (global monitoring systems), through which we can see the beauty of the planet and the harm that is being done to it, may provide the means to implement the concept of a planet management system (Burrows and Mayne, 1991).

Wagar is no Utopian and thinks that the odds are against the development of a world party but there have been some recent developments that may assist in this process. The power of the nation state is declining due to globalisation, which is making it more difficult for nation states to control their local economies, and the realisation that it is only possible to control pollution and global warming at an international level. There are also moves by the business sector to attempt to come to terms with sustainable development. The objective of The Open Conspiracy must be to use this world network to promote its ideas for a new world order.

As Wagar points out in his introduction, we have a choice to move forward and that is the only way we can justify our existence. The reprint of this book provides us with the basis to move forward and the choice is ours.