Arthur Penty

Old Worlds for New: a Study of the Post-industrial State Arthur Penty

The scope of this volume is suggested by its title : Old Worlds for New; a Study of the Post-Industrial State, for it suggests at once the paradox which lies at the centre of our social life ? that in order to go forward it is necessary to look back. This truth, which was apparent to many in the period before the war, is more apparent to-day. It needs little insight into social and political questions to realize that the war marks the close of an era in our civilization, and that the task of social reconstruction can no longer be delayed. After the war, when the artificial and unnatural prosperity which we now enjoy is over, all the glaring contradictions of our civilization will stand out before us, naked in their ugliness, and woe betide us if in that supreme crisis the mind of the nation is still unprepared. For no despot alone, however great, can save society. The success of any measures which he might initiate for the public good is conditioned and limited in every direction by the general level of thought and intelligence of the community . Recognizing, then, the extreme gravity of the situation and the importance of meeting the impending crisis with well ascertained and clearly defined principles, I am seeking now, by the publication in book form of a series of articles written for the Daily Herald in the months immediately preceding the outbreak of war, to secure a wider recognition for certain fundamental principles of social organization which in our day have fallen into desuetude.