The Evils of Capitalism in Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy - Book Report/Review Example

Progressivism was a period of American history in which reforming working conditions, improving the way of life, exposing corruption, and expanding democracy rose from the city slums to Washington D.C. The lower and middle classes joined together to demanded changes in areas such a businesses and trusts, labor, and social conditions. Although the name and many of its goals make it appear as if it were a liberal and forward looking movement, the Progressive movement actually championed conservatism and return to a pre-industrialization political and social systems. The capitalist society that developed during this time seemed to squander the basic rights and social relations that it depended on. Its massive growth accompanied with the explosion of the city and the growing gap between the rich and poor made it seem like the industrial system was heading off the deep end. As a social remedy, muckrakers exposed the social ills that capitalism was creating and in turn became one of its saviors. One of these writers was Edward Bellamy who published Looking Backward, a novel in which Julian West, a man from 1887, awakens to find a utopian socialist society juxtaposed against the harsh world from he came from. This book, depicting the evils of capitalism, also offered solutions that helped mobilize groups to help their common man. The progressive reform movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century were the response to the problems in American industrial society criticized by Edward Bellamy in Looking Backward. Capitalism, Bellamy argued, was the root of all problems in American industrial society. He pointed to competition, corruption, and most of all the inequitable distribution of wealth as being responsible for the poor living conditions of most people in the early nineteenth century. In the latter part of the book, West goes back to the Boston of the past to see a world marked by clear distinctions and divisions between the rich and the poor. The allegory of the carriage represents the way that the lower class has to suffer to keep the rich comfortable. There are a couple of inconsistencies in this metaphor; however, it implies that the poor are able to reach the top of the carriage with some hard work or luck. Similarly, the stories of Horatio Alger gave the poor a sense of false hope that they could escape the chains of poverty and become rich and powerful. These parables were not true given the fact that the upper class did almost everything possible to keep them as poor as possible in order to profit personally. John Rockefeller realized that by reducing wages and working conditions, his own pocketbook swelled to a tremendous amount. Child labor and terrible working conditions were of the two most notable results of capitalism and self motivated profit. Likewise, Cornelius Vanderbilt and Andrew Carnegie created monopolies and trusts that squeezed out competition from the market to be able to control and set a high price for the consumer. While Bellamy identified competition as one of the most negative aspects of capitalism, the "robber baron" or "captain of industry" alternative was no better. (Manuel, 215) The distinction was where the profit went to. In the early nineteenth century, the private individual reaped the profit while in the utopian world of the future; the profit was every ones to share. . In return for twenty five years of labor in the Industrial Army each American receives an equal share of the nation's production every year of his or her life. Service to society guarantees full support by society. When West goes to talk to his fiancée’s family about the problems of society he proclaims, "Do you not know that close to your doors a great multitude of men and women, flesh of your flesh, live lives that are one agony from birth to death?" (Bellamy, 210) By throwing him into the street, the family tries to eliminate anything that might threaten their system of materialistic gain. Bellamy also, most notably, points out the waste inherent in competition. Producers when working for their own profit do it at the expense of the community. The combination and the resultant efficiency created when the government took control of the economy for the public welfare seemed to solve every social ill imaginable from crime to corruption. (Levitas, 93) Progressive reforms sought to mimic the utopian society presented by Bellamy and increase the state's control over businesses and people's lives. In Washington D.C., Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson sought to accommodate labor grievances and improve urban life through legislation. To protect the worker, labor unions formed and demanded eight hour work days, safety conditions, worker's compensation and minimum wage. By 1910 nineteen states established the eight-hour day for children under sixteen in factories and stores and Keating-Owen Act of 1916 prevented the interstate commerce of goods produced by children, thereby limiting the places they could work. Terrible working conditions prompted progressives to say that the cost of insurance to cover medical bills should be paid by the employers. To protect consumers and prevent abusive businesses practices, the government established regulatory agencies and broke up unfair monopolies and trusts. In 1903, the Department of Commerce and Labor was created to address the concerns of business and labor. Within the department, the Bureau of Corporations was empowered to investigate and report on illegal activities of corporations. The Hepburn Act of 1906 let the ICC set its own fair freight rates and had its regulatory power extended over pipelines, bridges, and express companies. Roosevelt tried his best to help consumers, he proposed to Congress the Pure Food and Drug Act and demanded to set minimum standards on the quality of meat and other foods. The result of this was another regulatory agency, the FDA. Roosevelt's Anti-Trust policy of 1902 pledged government intervention to break up illegal monopolies and regulate corporations for the public good. The various forms of anti-trust legislation presented by each president made the nation one step closer to providing a stable and predictable conservative capitalist society. Finally, the sixteenth amendment was the most significant in reforming the distribution of wealth in American industrial society. (MacDonald, 131) By having the wealthy give up some of their profit, it eased the burden on the poor and went to the general social welfare. Edward Bellamy would applaud the Progressive reforms that followed the publication of his books but would say that they did not go far enough to reach his ideal society. Many of the reforms were pragmatic and stemmed from the middle class wanting to tweak the system rather than turn it upside down, in that regard they preserved the life of the capitalist system when it seemed to be heading towards complete combustion. Although the collectivist features of Bellamy's utopia were socialistic, he labeled his system "nationalism" and looked to conventional politics to implement it. As a result of the widespread influence of the novel, over 160 Nationalist clubs were formed to crusade for the adoption of his ideas. Appalled by the poverty afflicting many Americans, progressives planned certain social and economic reforms. They sought to eliminate practices harming farmers, workers, tenement dwellers, and consumers and to expand government regulation over our economy so as to further the public interest. State regulation of railroads and public utilities improved service and reduced rates. Consumer protection laws assured honest weights and unadulterated foods. Governmental regulation fostered more of a communal environment and somewhat the competitive, dog eat dog world of capitalism. The progressive movement helped eradicate the society of the constant teetering inequality of the horse and carriage but did not quite succeed in creating a huge and cooperative umbrella over the people of 2000. It takes quite the author to accept the formidable challenges presented when writing a utopian novel (that is, one that focuses on a utopian society), which are scarce in comparison to their opposing cousin. Some utopian novels become popular, such as Looking Backward, by Edward Bellamy. (Hall, 15)Yet, simply put, if everything is perfect, everything is boring. Attention can rarely be attracted to something that has no problems or major conflicts, as any modern journalist can tell you. People would rather read about the government brainwashing citizens, political conspiring, and altered history, than about some world where everything is going great. While it may seem that Bellamy's illustrious future solves many of society's problems, his world of pure egalitarianism is not without faults of its own. The most clear-cut problem, which Bellamy only minimally discusses, is the role of women in this society. Even Bellamy, envisioning a new future society with dramatic changes and improvements has done little to change the status and role of women. (Hertzler, 142) Women are freed in a sense from performing domestic labor but they are ranked in a different system from the men as a part of the industrial workforce. Within this utopia women are clearly separated fro men. Women have their own general-in-chief, so it would appear that a female could not become President within the system. Further, women are not considered to be truly fulfilling their role until they are married with children because only then can a woman hold an office of power within the government. Single women without children are not offered such positions. "Moreover, the hours of women's work are considerably shorter than those of men's, more frequent vacations are granted, and the most careful provision is made for rest when needed.” (Mannheim, 59) However, it would unfair to say that Bellamy did not alter some of the roles that women played from the 19th Century. Bellamy does support the notion that women can have lives and careers outside their marriages, while earning equal pay within society. Perhaps Bellamy did not dare go further because he already knew he was pushing the limits with his social and economic reforms and did not wish to set too many people off with further radical ideas. Bellamy described wondrous promise and economic transformational approach as a natural evolution of one into the other, but today, people seem more than intent on collecting as much personal wealth as physically possible in one lifespan. If it were feasible to uproot one system and implant the new one without problem, but it is quite difficult to switch from a socialist economy to a market economy and to convince an entire nation to place society ahead of the individual is quite a daunting task. (Connor, 44) Bellamy is most successful in getting the reader to consider this system of publicly owned capital. Particularly because communism is treated like a four letter word in this country and actually it is considered a society that operated under such ideals. It is presented in such a fashion that does not represent a change of everything held dear to society, but as an improvement on the things we admire most about our own economy. Additionally, Bellamy extends the reach of his utopia worldwide allowing nations to cooperate, rather than compete. Here, Bellamy may be going above and beyond what his system can offer. It is not sure how effective this system can be in ending conflicts in the international hotspots that are centuries old. The brilliant aspect about the style in which Bellamy offers his utopia is the fact that it is not merely an economics paper so that we can rationally and mathematically work everything out. Nor is it simply an emotional work of fiction designed to play off our feelings and hopes to see the dawn of a new day, and it is not solely a dramatic work to play off our moral responsibility for the betterment of man. It is a culmination of all of these things, done in such a way that did not turn me off to consider such radical changes in society and wonder what it would be like to live within such a world. Works Cited Connor, George. "The Awakening of Edward Bellamy: Looking Backward at Religious Influence." Utopian Studies 11.1 (2000): 38-51. Hall, Richard Spurgeon. "The Religious Ethics of Edward Bellamy and Jonathon Edwards" Utopian Studies 8.2 (1997): 13-31. Hertzler, Joyce Oramel. The History of Utopian Thought: New York: McMillan, 1926. 141-45 Levitas, Ruth. The Concept of Utopia: Syracuse: Syracuse UP, 1990. 90-95 MacDonald, Alex. Introduction: Looking Backward: 2000-1887: New York: Broadview, 2003. 128-33 Mannheim, Karl. Ideology and Utopia: An Introduction to the Sociology of Knowledge. New York: Harcourt, 1936. 55-61 Manuel, Fritzie and Frank. Utopian Thought in the Western World. Massachusetts: Belknap Press, 1979. 210-18 Read More