News from Nowhere · Chapter
How the Change Came explained
Old Hammond explains to the Guest the historical process leading to the great social transformation.
What happens
Old Hammond explains to the Guest the historical process leading to the great social transformation. He describes the failure of State Socialism, the growing organization of the working classes, the resistance of the capitalists, and the eventual crisis that forced the change. The chapter details the legislative struggles, the rise of the Combined Workers, and the declaration of war between classes.
Themes in this chapter
Critique of Industrial Capitalism
Old Hammond critiques the capitalist system, describing it as a 'system of slavery' and detailing the exploitation and misery of the working classes.
Politics and Governance
The chapter explores the political struggles between classes, the role of government in enacting reforms, and the failure of State Socialism as a political solution.
Utopian Socialism
The narrative contrasts the failed State Socialism with the eventual successful establishment of a communist society based on equality and freedom.
Characters to notice
- Old Hammond
Narrates the history of the social change, explaining the failures of State Socialism and the rise of worker organization.
- Guest
Listens and asks clarifying questions about the historical process described by Old Hammond.
Key passages
“Therefore, though they knew that the only reasonable aim for those who would better the world was a condition of equality; in their impatience and despair they managed to convince themselves that if they could by hook or by crook get the machinery of production and the management of property so altered that the 'lower classes' might have their slavery somewhat ameliorated, they would be ready to fit into this machinery, and would use it for bettering their condition still more and still more, until at last the result would be a practical equality.”
The reformers, though aware that true equality was the goal, settled for incremental changes to production and property, hoping that small improvements for the poor would eventually lead to equality.
Old Hammond explains the flawed logic of gradual reform.
“The workmen had now a regular organization in the struggle against their masters, a struggle which for more than half a century had been accepted as an inevitable part of the conditions of the modern system of labour and production.”
Workers had formed a permanent union to fight their employers, a conflict that had become a normal feature of industrial life for over fifty years.
Describes the institutionalization of labor struggle.
“The 'Resolution,' as it was called, which was widely published in the newspapers of the day, was in fact a declaration of war, and was so accepted by the master class.”
The workers' public demand for control over resources and machinery was seen by the ruling class as an act of war.
Highlights the escalation of class conflict.