In the novel Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy the main character Julian West is a young Bostonian living in the year 1887. One night he falls asleep with the help of Doctor Pillsbury’s hypnosis and he is put into a deep coma. When he eventually awakes, it is 113 years later in the year 2000 and America has become a socialist Utopia. Julian is confused but a man named Doctor Leete helps show him around the new world he has unexpectedly entered and explains to him all of the changes that have taken place over the last century. Work hours have been reduced considerably, goods are delivered almost instantly, everyone retires with incredible benefits at the age of 45, and all of the goods within the society are distributed equally among the citizens.
This novel was published in 1888 during a long economic and social depression in America which lasted about two decades. There was a chain of recessions throughout the 1880’s which sparked the beginning of organized labor unions and worker strikes including the Haymarket affair in 1886. American capitalism was filled with monopolies which exploited desperate workers for cheap labor because of the influx of European immigrants who were willing to work for low wages. The novel does not directly discuss the American economy in this new utopia nor does it ever specifically talk about socialism. However, it indirectly provides a social commentary on the depression in the late 19th century by contrasting it with this socialist utopia. In this sense, Bellamy was suggesting that socialism was the solution to the economic difficulties during his lifetime in America. The book created a widespread movement in the 1890s for which called for the the nationalization of private property. This political movement became known as Nationalism and it pushed for the implementation of socialism in the United States.
I agree that looking at the historical context of Looking Backward it is essential for understanding Bellamy’s views. With the massive changes in industry and the banking system many people were certainly questioning the future course of the United States. With bank failures and other social issues people of the age were certainly doubtful of the stability of the system of governing that the United States had begun to adopt.
I think Bellamy provided the two extreme conditions of how societies could work. In practice, the utopian society would not take place, but there are many good aspects of it that Bellamy wanted people to adopt.
When you implement a socialist government into the context of the 19th century, it would have potential be successful. Socialism is the idea of having everything owned by the community as a whole. According to Marxism, this is essentially the realization of communism. In theory, socialism could work. In practice, however, it does not.
Bellamy’s views on socialism and planed economics need to be taken in the context of the time they were written. At the time the economy was doing poorly and labor rights were far more limited than they are today so socialism seemed like a valid option. Also the USSR did not exist yet so there was no immediate fear of an authoritarian communist threat.
Ironically, Looking Back’s use of the time travel (or really in this case time lapse) trope says a lot about the time that occurred prior to the release of the book. As many ask what led to the panics and economic depression, Bellamy answered by showing how a future Utopia would never encounter the problems they were currently facing. Bellamy believes the economic troubles America faced in the 1880s would’ve never have occurred if their was a brotherly love type of economy, one where the masses worked collectively to benefit everyone, leaving no one behind.