FICTION.
REVOLUTION.* M.11. BERESFORD gives - a convincing air to his picture of the
great future English revolution. The course of -events, however, presupposes a Labour leader exactly like' Isaac Perry of the story, and such a person is ha rd to find. Perry combines with
his magnetic personality sane views of law and order, yet his entire ignorance of the laws of economics makes him a dangerous guide. He organizes the unions into one solid block and prepares for a general strike if the conditions of an
impossible Labour Manifesto are not complied with. When, on the outbreak of civil hostilities, the office of the Daily Herald
is raided, Perry composes matters and prevents bloodshed. Owing to his influence the beginning of the general strike is entirely peaceful, and it is only when he is accidentally shot that a serious revolutionary spirit is created. It must not be supposed, however, that Isaac Perry is the principal character in the book. Although he is the peg on which" public events" turn, he is only occasionally mentioned, and his rare appearances are not described at any length. The chief interest of the volume lies in the account given by the author of the details of revolution as carded out in the rural village of Fynemore. This village
is situated forty or fifty miles out of London, and a strong leavening of railway workers gives a socialistic tendency to the opinions of most of the young men in the neighbourhood. The hero of the story is Paul Learning, an ex-officer who is only just recovering from shell-shock and who has developed strongly Communistic sentiments—this in spite of the fact that he is the
son of a great business man who has a house and estate at Fynemore. When Lord Fynemore, the squire of the village, escapes with his wife and family from London, and the service of the motor-lorries bringing food is interrupted, it is obvious that a crisis has arrived in which something must be done. A mass meeting in the village schoolroom is called by Paul Learning, who hopes to avoid anarchy by inducing all the inhabitants of the village to agree to share their food supplies, and, indeed, all their possessions. After a violent discussion on the formation of the emergency committee proposed by Lord Fynemore, old Mr. Learning, Paul's father, is shot by Jem Oliver, the leader of the younger men. A scene of bloodshed appears to be inevit- able. It is prevented by Paul, who appeals for a voluntary application of Communism in the face of the public danger :-
" We must all come to an agreement. There can be no question of using force, of coming to blows, of fighting, if we are all agreed ? And agreement is so reasonable, so easy. We have only to share everything in common. Some of us have a little to give up. I, for instance, am ready to give up my house and the food-stores it contains ; to share them with you all. Load • itifolution. By J. D. Beresiord. London,: Collins. 17e. 05. awl Fynemore almost promised me, this morning, that he would do that, too. The farmers must follow our example. Their produce will be divided among us, and the surplus we will give away outside the village. For a time there can be no buying or selling, and all those that have must give freely to those that have not, and ask for nothing in exchange, not for other goods, nor for service, nor even for thanks. If you grant this, there can be no excuse for violence. If you refuse it you will lose everything you possess in the end, and you will lose it by outrage and misery. Can't you all understand,' he continues, pleading with them on a note of intense earnestness, how essential it is that we should agree together at this moment of social danger ? You have seen the terrible thing that has just happened. I am speaking to you now, with my father lying dead on this platform. He and I were friends. I loved him and he loved me. But if his death here this morning will help you, I can find it in my heart to be glad that he has served the great purpose of humanity. I would more gladly have given my own life to save you. But I may still have to do that. I would give it gladly if I could know that by dying I could prevent any other bloodshed, even in this village."
The audience sways this way and that, but finally Paul carries them with him, and he is chosen to serve as chairman of the emergency committee, of which both Lord Fynemore and Jem Oliver are to be members. All this is realized in great detail and is entirely convincing, as is the account of Andrews, the farmer, who is executed by Oliver's more violent followers when he declines to allow the crop he has grown to be put into the common stock. The Labour Government, however, fails to establish itself firmly; this reacts upon the country, and Paul gradually loses his hold on the village, and from then onwards the book ceases to be detailed, and only provides a rather hastily conceived sketch of the reaction which it is assumed would take place throughout England. The forces of law and order prevail ; the King, who apparently has been left in peace at Sandringham throughout the period of revolution, returns to London, and the Prime Minister resumes office. The state of affairs inaugurated by the counter-revolution is obviously not destined to last, and the book ends with a most gloomy forecast as to the prospects of civilization :-
" Once Labour had become self-conscious, the end of the slowly elaborated British Constitution was already in sight. It had ceased to base its authority upon military force, and with its final loss of prestige as a result of the demonstration that it had no power to resist the wishes of a united minority of strikers, the confidence of the people in the whole system seemed to be utterly destroyed. And there was no other form of government to take its place. The very principle of government had been discredited ; and Paul saw nothing to succeed it but a continually increasing segregation, until each parish framed its own laws and rules of conduct."
This, surely, is unduly pessimistic. The people of England are not as a whole uneducated, and still less are they unintelli- gent. They have had in the past a genius for government, and though they may make one disastrous experiment they have great powers of recuperation and may be trusted to recognize their mistakes and not to allow the civilization of their country to be hopelessly wrecked.
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