Democracy—false or true? : A prologue and a dream by Sir W. B. Richmond
"Democracy—false or true?" by Sir W. B. Richmond is a political and philosophical treatise written in the early 20th century. The work questions the health of democracy amid industrialism and class conflict, arguing for a revival of spiritual values, honest craftsmanship, agriculture, and civic education grounded in duty and fraternity rather than levelling equality. It warns against materialism, anarchy, and the misuse of science while urging a humane, art- and soul-centered national
life. The opening of the treatise sets the author up as a candid “prophet” who affirms free will and the soul’s immortality, using biblical and classical myths as poetic truths that guide conduct better than dogma or crude materialism. He praises the spiritual core of ancient cultures—Greece, Egypt, and Britain’s own Stonehenge—as models of labour ennobled by ideals, then contrasts them with modern industrialism that he says brutalizes workers, poisons land and air, and erodes the nation’s soul. He condemns German wartime barbarity, warns that England must not follow German materialism or Russian anarchy, and credits the country’s survival to the honest instincts of its workers—not to officialdom. From there he attacks coercive trade-union leadership, the fantasy of enforced equality, and strike tactics that starve the public, insisting instead on pride in good work, fair but differentiated wages, and education in duty, fraternity, and character. He calls for reviving agriculture over machine-driven production and for aligning capital and labour through shared responsibility. This opening culminates in a bleak, firsthand approach to a northern industrial city, where smoke-choked fields, poisoned trees, and starving livestock embody the spiritual and physical costs he decries. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Richmond, W. B. (William Blake), Sir, 1842-1921 |
|---|---|
| Title | Democracy—false or true? : A prologue and a dream |
| Original Publication | London: The Morland Press Ltd, 1920. |
| Credits | Carol Brown, Lukas Bystricky and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | HN: Social sciences: Social history and conditions, Social problems |
| Subject | Great Britain -- Social conditions |
| Subject | Labor -- Great Britain |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 78117 |
| Release Date | Mar 5, 2026 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 5074 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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