Caesar’s Column: A Work of Marxist and Populist Influence

Books and Stories

 

Ignatius Donnelly’s Caesar’s Column is best fits the genre of dystopian literature. In his novel, Donnelly depicts a world gone wrong. Disappointed and disillusioned by the politics of his era, Donnelly creates a dystopian society in Caesar’s Column. Donnelly begins his novel with a first person narrator, Gabriel Weltstein. He uses this narration in conjunction with structuring his novel as a series of letters from Gabriel to his brother. Gabriel Weltstein is a wool merchant from Uganda, who leaves his home to travel to New York City in order to attempt to sell his product directly to American manufacturers without the interference of an international cartel.

Written in 1890, Donnelly creates a scientifically advanced, futuristic society. Though people in this society still travel by horse and carriage and communicate via letters and couriers, news and documents are depicted on glass walls and the city is illuminated by tapping into the Aurora Borealis. Subways operate below transparent sidewalks and travel by airships; the military version of which are called “Demons.” Upon his arrival in the city, Weltstein notices a beggar, Maximilian Petion, trampled by the coach of Prince Cabano, the American President. Gabriel quickly comes to the rescue of Max as the driver of the carriage begins to attack him with a whip. Gabriel takes the whip and turns against the driver, saving Max. Crowds quickly circle around the carriage and Max, who is actually one of the three leaders of a secret resistance organization, hurries Gabriel away from the scene to protect Gabriel from an inevitable, indefinite arrest. Max soon reveals himself to Gabriel and removes his disguise, revealing to Gabriel that he is in fact wealthy and a member of a secret organization, the Brotherhood of Destruction. Through Max, Gabriel begins to learn of the class struggle present in New York City, a city riddled with an oppressive social and economic order.

Throughout the course of the novel, Gabriel learns more and more about the secret society and about the struggle of the proletariat. In Caesar’s Column, “the right get richer and the poor get poorer” to quote the colloquial phrase. The Brotherhood of Destruction, infuriated by the disproportionate wealth of the upper class, plans a revolution led by the proletariat. The leader of this society, Caesar Lomellini is a ruthless fanatic and leads the violent revolution alongside his vice president, described as a Russian Jewish criminal, and Max, who seeks revenge for his father’s wrongful imprisonment. The proletariat in the society can hardly afford to eat and toil endlessly while the wealthy control the government, newspapers, and economy.

Finally, the Brotherhood organizes a rebellion and succeeds in eliminating the oligarchy in a bloody, merciless manner. Caesar orders the corpses to be stacked in a pyramid and covered in concrete in order to mark the revolution. However, the revolution does not lead the proletariat to success. The vice president of the Brotherhood takes over a million in wealth and leaves on a Demon with some followers to Europe and the masses murder Caesar in the fear that he will do the same. Max and Gabriel flee with their wives and families to Uganda and form their own utopian society while New York City remains in a state of chaos, anarchy, and bloodshed.

Karl Marx’s theories at the time of Ignatius Donnelly’s work was just beginning to peak and Caesar’s Column echoes Marxist beliefs through its governance, economics, and theories on labor. The society in Caesar’s Column is ruled by the wealthy upper class, the oligarchy while the proletariat provides the means of labor and force of production. Though this class produces all the labor and products in society, they own nothing while the upper class disproportionately owns nearly all land and capital. Donnelly uses the Marxist belief of the revolution of the proletariat in order to describe the formation of the Brotherhood of Destruction in Caesar’s Column.

As the domination and arrogance of the ruling class increased, the capacity of the lower classes to resist, within the limits of law and constitution, decreased. Every avenue, in fact, was blocked by corruption; juries, courts, legislatures, congresses, they were as if they were not. The people were walled in by impassable barriers. Nothing was left them but the primal, brute instincts of the animal man, and upon these they fell back, and the Brotherhood of Destruction arose. (Donnelly 81)

As the proletariat grew increasingly enraged by their suffering and oppression, they united in resistance. This class conflict is analogous to the class struggle described my Marx between the ownership class that controls production and the laboring class that provides the forces of production. In addition, Donnelly mentions the labor theory of value in his novel, a direct connection to Marxist theory. Although the laboring class of the Brotherhood of Destruction represents the Marxist proletariat revolution, they fail to meet the Marxist standards in the end. Their revolution leads to murderous chaos without structure and without the establishment of and effective government. However, Max and Gabriel’s utopian settlement in Uganda exemplifies Marxist thought.

In their utopian community gold and silver are eliminated as currency in amounts more than five dollars and replaced with paper currency. Education is mandatory and the illiterate are not allowed to vote. All private schools are eliminated aside form the higher institutions and that all children, rich and poor, are educated and associate together. Racial, religious, and cast prejudices are abolished as the community unites and grows as one communal unit. All interest is abolished in order to prevent the oppression of lenders and banks that was endemic in the previous civilization. The state in this utopia owns all roads, streets, telegraph and telephone lines, railroads and mines, and exclusively control mail. Those who accept public office temporarily relinquish their right to vote as “the servants of the people have no right to help rule them” (Donnelly 262). Further, the governing body is separated into three branches: one of the producers, one of the merchants and manufacturers, and one of the scientists and “literary people.” This is meant to maintain a balance of power as each law must be passed with a majority in each of the three branches or a two-thirds vote in two of them. The executive is elected every four years and may only serve one term and is elected by the branches. Commercial relations with other nations is only permitted so long as the prosperity of their working class is as high as their own. This system of governance is meant to create the perfect society and civilization.

The Marxist thought surrounding Donnelly’s time clearly impacts his work and his belief of a utopian society. The idea of economic and legal equality in Max and Gabriel’s utopia clearly resonates with the ideals of Marxism. The rise of industrialization in America during this time period left Donnelly disappointed and disillusioned with the society and government of his time. Industrialization spread throughout the United States following the Civil War, during Donnelly’s lifetime. The working conditions were disastrous and unregulated by the government. Long work days in poor conditions and child labor were each elements of the industrial work force during this era. In addition, numerous political scandals arose throughout the nation at every political level. The rise of the free-market system and capitalism during this time period in America also market a definitive change in the social structure (Bean 601). The influence of unions also began to grow in influence during this time, resembling the unification of the lower class in the Brotherhood. Even more so than communism however, Donnelly’s work portrays the influence of Agrarian populism on his beliefs. Agrarian populism emerged in the late 19th century in retaliation against the values and social arrangements evolving from the Gilded Age (Johnson 87). The populists felt that these emerging values failed to mark progress for the masses of working people in the labor class. Gabriel, a shepherd and representation of wisdom and purity, goes to New York City as a witness of the corruption and destruction of civilization that embodied these same traits. He then returns to the hillside and establishes a utopian community in which the people rule. Combined, these factors clearly influenced Donnelly’s work.

Ignatius Donnelly includes many of the utopian and dystopian course themes discussed in class. However, the most important of these themes are the role of government in society, and the economy and how labor should be managed and wealth distributed throughout society. Ultimately, through his plot Donnelly uses a class struggle set in the future in order to warn society of the problems they will face without change. In the civilization in Caesar’s Column, Donnelly states that no type of reform or system can simply “fix” their society. Rather, the government requires destruction and the establishment of an entirely new class structure and government. Donnelly uses the demise of both the proletariat and upper class in order to display the danger of allowing the current situation to ensue. He further uses the utopia set up by Gabriel and Max in order to describe the perfect system of labor and government. In short, as Donnelly himself stated, the purpose of this novel was “to do some good and to make some money (Trimble, Winters 111). Donnelly uses the dystopia to highlight the influence of Marxism on political thought and uses his own populist beliefs in the structure of his utopia.

 

 

Works Cited

Bean, Christopher B. “Industrialization And The Transformation Of American Life: A Brief

Introduction.” Historian 76.3 (2014): 601-602. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.

Donnelly, Ignatius. Caesar’s Column. N.p.: Public Domain, n.d. Print.

Johnson, Michael N. “Nineteenth-Century Agrarian Populism And Twentieth-Century

Communitarianism: Point Of Contact..” Peabody Journal Of Education (0161956X) 70.4 (1995): 86. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Oct. 2014.

Trimble, Steven, and Donald E. Winters. “Warnings from the Past: Casear’s Column

and Nineteen Eighty-Four.” Minnesota Historical Society Magazine: 109-14.

Print.

 

Oneida Community

Real Utopian Communities and Experiments

The Oneida Community was founded by Joseph Humphrey Noyes in 1848.  Noyes’ interpretation of some key passages in the bible led him to believe that the Second Coming of Christ had already happened in 70 AD.  This led him to interpret some more passages to mean that there was no more marriage between one man and one woman, but instead every man belonged to every woman the same way that all property should be held in common.

Noyes originally started a community in Putney, VT but do to the practice of Complex Marriage, he was charged with adultery and moved the community to Oneida, NY, where it became the Oneida Community.

There was a big theme of holy sexuality in Oneida.  Because every man was married to every woman (Complex Marriage), promiscuity was encouraged to the point that exclusive relationships were actually forbidden.  To keep down the birth rate, Noyes instituted a policy of Male Continence that the Oneidans were required to practice.

Teenage boys who were still learning this method were paired with menopausal women so that the chances of them conceiving would go down, while the older men such as Noyes paired themselves with teenage girls who were in their prime attractiveness.

Noyes also believed in Eugenics.  There was a committee in charge of pairing members of the community together to produce the best children possible.  Noyes, being the founder of the community, was chosen to father nine of the 56 children that resulted.

The community eventually broke down when the children came of age.  Noyes wanted to pass on leading the community to his son Dr. Theodore Noyes.  His son was a bad leader because he didn’t believe in Christianity and he wanted to lead from a distance instead of being directly involved.  Noyes eventually had to take over the duties again.  This, combined with factions, the law catching up with them (Oneidans were practicing statuary rape) and the death of Noyes contributed to the Oneida Community’s demise a few years later.

Oneida Dwellings
Oneida Community
Oneida Children
Oneida Now
John Humphrey Noyes

 

The Disston Saw Works

Real Utopian Communities and Experiments

History

Disston Saw Works was a utopia of the working class. It all began as one company in the mid-1800s, a very successful saw business owned by British immigrant Henry Disston. Disston came to America towards the end of the Industrial Revolution when factory life had been established as a result of an increase in machinery. This was a prime time in history for Disston to start his company. His handsaw business soon became successful and reputable for its high-quality handsaws, even on an international level (which were made from scratch unlike most saw companies at the time). After the growth of his business, Henry decided to move shop from urban Philadelphia to the small and isolated Tacony section of Philadelphia. During this time, he also expanded his business to manufacture many other tools and steel products. In 1872, Henry had laid the foundations in Tacony for what became known as a company town stretching over 400 acres.

Overlap of Government and Economics, With a Dash of Human Rights

Company towns were actually quite common in America in the 19th century, at one point housing 3% of the population. They were communities isolated from urban areas that completely revolved around a central monopolizing company. The company, in this case the Disston Saw Works, had complete ownership of all business, infrastructure, housing, and shops in the town. The Disston family acted as not only the workplace, but also the ruling government and surrounding economy, blending many acting societal forces into one.

The Disston family controlled and regulated economic life, owning all of the businesses in town and barring certain businesses completely, for example “dirty” ones such as tanneries and any business not owned by Disston. All of these businesses bore an emblem on its front of a keystone (the nickname of Pennsylvania) with a “D” in the center, showing Disston’s economic control of the town. Under Henry Disston’s governance, workers for these businesses were paid somewhat low wages but had a short hour workday, were trained at a special trade school, and received good benefits (for example, in the case of illness). Sometimes families were even given paid days off for leisure activities. All workers had a right to a decent living.

Henry Disston did not use his power to be a ruthless leader; rather, he was somewhat of a paternal figure for his 2,500 workers. He wanted them to live in the utmost convenience with all they needed to survive comfortably. His main reasoning was that if he treated workers fairly, it would increase work performance. This mutualistic relationship led to the construction of many public works buildings such as movie theaters, libraries, and music halls, which Disston personally financed the construction and maintenance of. Disston also made sure that each and every one of his workers had a place to stay, building thousands of homes and financially assisting buyers whenever necessary.

One of the only restricting governing rules imposed on working citizens by Disston was that they were not allowed to form a union. This was a common fear of employers at the time, as a union put rules into the workers’ hands rather than the employers’. Since the economy and the government were so overlapped in the Disston Saw Works, a union would have been double the threat to the leader of a company town like Henry Disston.

Gender Roles

In respect to gender, women were active participants of working life. They were not restricted to the home, but like the men were educated in schools and participated in small tasks in the factory work. Everybody who lived in Disston Saw Works was able to work for the company in order to maintain their stay. All were dependent on the workplace.

Ethics

The workforce of Disston Saw Works in Tacony lived in a very well-regulated society that echoed a clear utopian vision. Prevailing ethical uprightness was encouraged in order to promote better workers. For example, there was no alcohol allowed. If workers were liable to be drunks, it may have affected their work performance the next morning or even over a long period of time depending on severity. Disston saw ethics as reaching into the workplace, and therefore did what he could to set a high moral standard.

Ecology

Surprisingly for a factory town, Disston was environmentally conscious and ecologically friendly. In an 1886 visit by the Pennsylvania Secretary of Internal Affairs, the water was reported as pure because the town had its own water supply (a drastic contrast from dirty, unhealthy and crowded urban life), and the air was fresh and clean.

Religion

Another important factor of the Disston Saw Works was the religious tolerance established by Disston. Land was made available for several churches of different backgrounds, with no unifying community religion. Not only did this ensure peace and open-mindedness among citizens, but it also meant a greater workforce. Less workers would have chose to live on the acres opened up by Disston if they did not want to conform to a ruling religion.

The entire community certainly benefited from a mutualistic relationship between hard worker and benevolent boss, a utopia not as often recreated in today’s workforce.

All Good Things Come to an End

A few things contributed to the downfall of the Disston Saw Works. After Henry Disston’s death, there were issues with keeping the business in the family in future generations. There was less regulation of economy: other businesses that were not Disston-owned were allowed to populate the town, decentralizing the Disston monopoly. In addition, the prevalence of the automobile meant that workers no longer had to live close to their workplace, and many moved away. After providing the steel for tanks in the WWII effort, Disston Saw Works was sold out of the family in 1955. However, the company remains to this day, keeping the name by calling itself Disston Precision.

An interesting example of a modern day company town.

My presentation

imgres
Henry Disston. The way this picture was drawn reflects his image to the public- a benevolent and kind paternal figure.
171641_195345333825899_2639506_o-1
Music Hall architectural structure built in Disston.
imgres-1
A layout of Disston Saw Works. Shows factories by the waterfront and the houses beyond.
8x10_DSCF6822
Inside one of the factories, where women were permitted to work.
imgres-2
The emblem on all Disston-owned buildings.

Shaker Societies

Real Utopian Communities and Experiments

The Shaking Quakers, or “Shakers,” as they are commonly known were members of a movement originated in a Quaker revival in England in 1747 led by James and Jane Wardley. However, their strength and prominence in the United States developed after the appearance of Ann Lee, or as she would become known, “Mother Ann.” The Shaker societies reached their peak during the 1830s. The term “Shakers” was attributed to the group because of their wild outbursts of song and dance during their religious ceremonies.

dance

 

While singing, dancing, and marching characterized many phases of Shaker worship, other tenets included: celibacy, open confession of sins, communal ownership of possessions, separation from the world, pacifism, equality of both the sexes and the races, and consecrated work.The Shakers rejected the doctrine of the Trinity and drew much inspiration from the Pentecostal Church, of which the five primary principles were: common property, celibacy, non-resistance, separate government, and power over physical disease.

Another critical aspect of their society was the “family” system. In this system, each Shaker community was divided into semi-autonomous subdivisions called “families.” Each community consisted generally between 2-6 families, ranging in size from about ten to more than one hundred members. Each family was administered by either an elder or elders who acted as the leading characters of the family. These leaders knew the occupations and locations of every Shaker within the family, conducted the initiations of novices and controlled the movements of trustees in their external dealings. The basic unit of social interaction for each shaker was the family. While the sexes were equal, they interacted minimally in order to circumvent human sexual desires. In accordance with the practice of Mother Ann, the only question asked of those who sought admission to the society was “are you sick of sin, and do you want salvation from it?” Overall, the society was one of extreme restriction on individual freedom in the interests of the community.

Religion played an immense role in Shaker society. Devotion to God led the Shakers to renounce a decadent life, sexual relations, and even nuclear family relations in order pursue their spiritual beliefs. In order to give all their attention to God and spiritual study, the Shakers eliminated all distractions and used all their energy to their religious devotion. One way of suppressing sexual desires, for instance, was for the Shakers to exert all their energy through active dancing and stomping through which they celebrated their religion.

shakers

The Shakers were also well known for their produce. As a self-sustaining community, members of the Shaker community spent the majority of their day contributing labor to the farmlands. This also contributed to their exertion of energy that exhausted them to the point of being unable to consider acting on their sexual desires.

ShakerBarnandHerbGarden (2)images

 

 

 

 

 

The Shakers are also well-known for their excellent craftsmanship, particularly wood carving. Their simple, functional style has made their work famous throughout the states.

shaker-village-of-pleasant

 

Of Slaves in Utopia: From Thomas More’s Utopia

Quotations

They do not make slaves of prisoners of war, except those that are taken in battle; nor of the sons of their slaves, nor of those of other nations: the slaves among them are only such as are condemned to that state of life for the commission of some crime, or, which is more common, such as their merchants find condemned to die in those parts to which they trade, whom they sometimes redeem at low rates; and in other places have them for nothing.

Throughout the text, Thomas More’s Utopia consistently placed emphasis on the need for people to stringently follow rules, regulations and ‘Utopian’ values/lifestyle in order to maintain the Utopian way of life. However, I feel like it is exactly these extreme moral codes which promote an “unforgiving” society that they’ve also created an underlying dystopia for those who’ve made mistakes, who ultimately are condemned into eternal slavery. I feel that giving people the room to right their wrongs means giving them a chance to help better society as a whole.

From Thomas More’s Utopia

Deceit in the New Atlantis

Quotations

” Therefore in regard of our Deliverance , and our danger present, and to come, let us looke up to God, and every man reforme his own wayes. Besides we are come here amongst a Christian People, full of piety and Humanity: Let us not bring that Confusion of face upon our selves, as to show our vices, or unworthiness before them. Yet there is more. For they have been Commamement, (though in forme of Courtesie) Cloistered us within these walls, for three days: who knoweth, whether it be not, to take some tast of our manners and conditions? And if they find them bad, to banish us strait-wayes; if good to give us further time. for these Men, that they have given us for Attendance, may withall have an eye upon us. Therefore for Gods love, and as we love the weale of our Soules and Bodies, let us so behave our selves; as wee may be at peace with God, and may finde grace in the Eyes of this People.”

I know this is a long quote, however I wanted to capture what I found to be deceit by the men arriving in this new land. For them it was very important to behave in a manner that they thought would be accepted not because they wanted to show their thanks but because they felt they were somehow being deceived or maybe even being watched after in expectation of finding flaws in their character and personality. For them it was important to hopefully gain the acceptance of the Christian people as to hopefully be later on accepted by God. Their thinking was very deceitful not just in thinking that they could deceive the people who were helping them but to think that this would somehow help them gain acceptance of God- did they think they could deceive God as well?

I thought this was very interesting as I read because I never assumed the purpose of the Christian people was to deceive the men but to be cautious of their land and of their people. However, their kind, although cautious gestures, were looked at as a ploy to watch over the men and uncover their true personality and character by the men who arrived.

Domanique Borges

From Bacon’s New Atlantis

Quotations

The quote I picked is “For the children of such Marriages, are not admitted to inherit above a third Part of their Parents Inheritance…”. I found it interesting that if your parents didn’t approve of your partner you would receive less inheritance. I didn’t think there would be a monetary loss if parents didn’t approve. But here it’s sort of a law.

“They have but few laws…” From Thomas More’s Utopia

Quotations

They have but few laws, and such is their constitution that they need not many. They very much condemn other nations, whose laws, together with the commentaries on them, swell up so many volumes…they think it an unreasonable thing to oblige men to obey a body of laws that are both such a bulk and so dark as not to be read and understood by every one of the subjects.

I chose this quote because it describes a society that is so well kept, it does not need books of complicated laws to govern it. In theory, laws are created to keep people in control and avoid chaos. Therefore, there is no need for extensive laws in the utopia because people follow the system set up in the utopia and those who do fall through the cracks are punished accordingly. The utopian society is meant to work with everyone caring for each other– wives serve their husbands, children serve their parents, and the younger always serve the elders. Furthermore, theft is not common because “there is no reason for giving denial to any person, since there is such plenty of everything among them.” Lastly, people are happy and have no reason to protest since ” the chief end of the constitution is… to allow people as much time as necessary for the improvement of their minds, in which they think the happiness of life consists.”

 In the utopia, there are few laws and they are clear to all its citizens. I would assume that More specifically stated that the utopia “think it an unreasonable thing to oblige men to obey a body of laws” that are both extensive, dark and confusing because of how he viewed his own society in England. Even today, there are thousands of laws governing society in the US that many of us do not fully understand and will probably never fully read.

 

“There is no danger of a man’s asking for more than he need”: From Thomas More’s Utopia

Quotations

“…every father goes and takes whatever he or his family stand in need of, without either paying for it, or leaving anything in exchange. There is no reason for giving a denial to any person, since there is such plenty of everything amongst them; and there is no danger of a man’s asking for more than he need; they have no inducements to do this, since they are sure that they shall always be supplied. It is the fear of want that makes any of the whole race of animals either greedy or ravenous; but besides fear, there is in man a pride that makes him fancy it a particular glory to excel others in pomp and excess. But by the laws of the Utopia, there is no room for this.” -Excerpt from More’s Utopia, pp 82 in “The Utopia Reader”

When reading about the governance of any utopia, we are almost always presented with rules that enforce the society’s perfection. A few pages earlier, More explains that in an effort to contain communities and counter any over-crowding, families must be held to a strict limit of members. Laws like these are necessary to maintaining a utopia. We can observe similar  regulations in the controversial one-child policy demanded by the Chinese government. However, here we are told that men are simply trusted to act in accordance with what is deemed best for society in terms of commerce and trade. Why should we blindly accept the fact that in More’s utopia, men will follow the ideas set forth by the rulers of this society without any fear of punishment? In other words, what is there to stop a man from taking more than just what he needs to survive?

I recall that our country’s founding fathers had explicit reasoning behind their intricate design of checks and balances in our government: all of this is necessary for people to prosper and order to be kept due to the inevitable fact that “men are no angels,” as BLANK once declared. This is true in our society, and in every society on this earth; thus why should this truth be ignored in More’s society? Why must the line between the fantastic and the realistic be crossed when discussing men in his utopia?

Voluntary Death: From Thomas More’s Utopia

Quotations

“When any is taken with a torturing and lingering pain, so that there is no hope, either of recovery or ease, … but choose rather to die, … they shall be happy after death.” (Thomas More, Utopia, Utopia Reader pg.91)

There is a lot in these readings that I disagree with but this actually sounds like assisted suicide/euthanasia which is something that I do agree with. I personally believe that it is better to live a shorter life with a high quality than a long life of misery. Of course,  quality of life is subjective; one man’s heaven is another man’s hell,  but the man in hell should be able to leave if he so choose.

That is something I thought was interesting because it’s something that’s only legal in four US states according to the Wikipedia page on assisted suicide.

This is short because I’m posting from my phone and it’s really awkward trying to correct the auto-correct.

Vices and Virtues: From Thomas More’s Utopia

Quotations

“They have, however, two sorts of games not unlike our chess…the other resembles a battle between the virtues and the vices, in which the enmity in the vices among themselves, and their agreement against virtue is not unpleasantly represented; together with the special oppositions between the particular virtues and vices; as also the methods by which vice either openly assaults or secretly undermines virtue; and virtue on the other hand resists it.”  (Claeys, Gregory, and Lyman Tower Sargent. “Of Their Trades, and Manner of Life.” The Utopia Reader. New York: New York UP, 1999. pgs 78-79. Print.)

I found this quote to be fascinating in its somewhat negative examination of human nature as it ties into the rest of the work. Utopia is not perfect by virtue of its people, but rather of its societal system of laws. Its carefully constructed rules and regulations seek to keep man’s natural instinct towards evil in check.

We see a few instances in which citizens do the wrong thing in this excerpted reading. For example, some people in Utopia rebel against the laws of travel. Rather than obeying, these offenders visit other cities without authority from the Prince. Repeated violations of this crime lead to a life of slavery (as with other crimes). Even more extreme, those who commit adultery more than once are sentenced to death. Punishment of this sort may serve to keep the Utopian people in check. More may be suggesting that utopia can only come about through a society that regulates and controls people’s vices through the proper “education.” If vices are severely punished, the citizens of Utopia will more naturally strive towards being virtuous as a form of self preservation.

Besides punishment, another way in which this occurs is the reduction of money’s worth. Societal values and needs are built in such a way that the natural jealousy and greed that stems from the love of money is curbed. The potential for jealousy and greed therefore lie dormant in mankind, and Utopia’s laws serve to avoid any activation of these passions. The virtue of society therefore overcomes the inherent vices in mankind. The game described, one of only two that the people in Utopia play, is an almost propogandic reminder that immoralities and sinful pleasures will always be resisted and overcome by virtue. This whole system of government is essentially a way to battle those evil passions in mankind which historically have caused the best of societies to spiral downward.

The Virgin of the World

Quotations

“You shall understand, that there is not under the Heavens, so chast a Nation, as this of Bensalem; Nor so free from all Pollution, or foulnesse. It is the Virgin of the World…” (Bacon, The New Atlantis)

I found this quote particularly emblematic of the utopia Bacon describes. This portion of the world untouched by pollution and all things foul. Bacon repeatedly describes Bensalem in terms of this innocence as seen in his quote here where he uses the word “chaste” to describe the nation. He also exemplifies this chastity, purity, and innocence through his claim that Bensalem is “the virgin of the world.”

This quote also reminded me of a theme I noticed throughout the book. Bensalem is a place free from total authority and even religion to an extent, and serves as a new beginning for the men on the ship in an untouched, and perfect world.

Perhaps the Bensalem is meant to represent Bacon’s idea of a utopia to be created in the Americas?

Utopian Flaw: From Thomas More’s Utopia

Quotations

“The hospital are furnished and stored with all things that are convenient for the ease and recovery of the sick; and those that are put in them are looked after with such tender and watchful care, and are so constantly attended by their skillful physicians…” (UR, 83)

This type of sincere, serious care can only originate from a genuine, familial love. Because we are first able to experience and understand love within our own family, we are able to then proliferate that love unto others (neighbors, friends, partners, patients). How can this Utopia, which easily ignores the importance of maintaining genetically-linked families, encourage an environment that fosters such a love?

In a household, the number of members must remain between ten and sixteen. Any “extra” member is trafficked into another household– even into another city or town or continent (81). This is clearly a form of human trafficking! If parents are able to send out their own children and receive others, how can love really exist? It may be easy/natural to care for another being as your own (e.g. adoptions), but can you disregard the love for your own at the same time? Can you easily transfer that love around?

Because this Utopia encourages its people to be proficient in specialities that they enjoy doing and/or are talented in, these “skillful physicians” are obviously medical experts. But someone who knows exactly how to treat a virus or disease may not have the same capacity to truly care about their patients. If they are just doing their jobs, why is More describing them as such caring attendees?

Where does this “tender and watchful care” originate from?

Classic Quotations

Quotations

“Man is the symbol using animal, inventor of the negative, separated from his natural condition by instruments of his own making, goaded by the spirit of hierarchy, and rotten with perfection.”

Kenneth Burke, “Definition of  Man,” The Hudson Review 16.4 (1963), p 507

 

“Throughout the ages the Utopias reflect the anxieties and discontents amidst which they are produced. They are, so to speak, shadows of light thrown by darkness.”

H.G. Wells, Australian Radio Address, January 19th, 1939

“April 29th 1992” by Sublime

Music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1dPKfxRhk0

On April 29, 1992, four Los Angeles Police Department officers were acquitted of their use of excessive force on Rodney King, a black man whose life-threatening assault at the hands of the mostly white officers was videotaped and shown on news stations all over the country. That same day, protestors in Los Angeles turned to looting, arson, and extreme violence, targeting people based on their ethnicity. Over the course of several days, 53 people were killed and thousands were injured, until the involvement of the National Guard and curfew hours allowed police to regain control of the city. 

Inspired by these events and his own frustration with them, Bradley Nowell, singer and songwriter for the group Sublime, wrote “April 29, 1992” in 1996. His lyrics describe a society with complete lawlessness, where there is no fear of punishment. He tells us about the crimes he and others are committing with a certain pride: “You were sitting home watching your T.V. / While I was participating in some anarchy /… Next stop we hitted was the music shop / It only took one brick to make that window drop…”

He goes on to tell us about the various stores he’s robbed with ease, but his tone quickly turns to that of frustration when he explains the reason for all the chaos “Cuz’ everybody in the ‘hood has had it up to here / It’s getting harder and harder each and every year /… It’s about comin’ up   / And staying on top…” Further lyrics suggest that in his society, he sees people of all different races coming together and uniting under a common cause: to continue rioting and focus their violence towards the police.

The song finishes by urging other cities all over America start their own acts of anarchy, calling “Let it burn / Let it burn… Riots on the streets of Chicago / On the streets of Long Beach / And San Francisco…”

-Philip Kubiak

Wouldn’t It Be Nice vs. Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)

Music

Love is a powerful advocate for peace– meaning that someone who is consumed by pure and honest love is overcome with mental harmony. It is a calmness and a freedom from anxiety  that washes over someone who is deeply loved, and loves deeply in return. Because love enables a sound mind, it sets up a strong baseline for a utopia.

The character singing Wouldn’t It Be Nice, by Beach Boys, is yearning for some utopia where his innocent love can freely flourish beyond what his current society believes is just too young. A different world is fantasized– where the character is already older and married, spending time with his loved one in true happiness. The presence of carefree innocence–which almost always accompanies teenage love–is what masks all problems and struggles, therefore, creating a perfect place.

However, the stanza “You know it seems the more we talk about it / It only makes it worse to live without it / But lets talk about it / Wouldn’t it be nice” reveals admittance from the singer that such a place does not really exist…but wouldn’t it be nice?

It is important to point out that the love the singer is referring to may not be as deep of a love as what we may define to be a true, sacrificial love (e.g. spiritual relationship or parent-child relationship). Although we may all remember our first flings and intimate relationships during high school as an “all-mighty love”, in hindsight, we are able to understand that that kind of love is definitely a more playful and youthful “love”. Still, the innocence that attaches to that playful love can be persuassive enough to dream up one’s own utopia.

Listen to Wouldn’t It Be Nice, here.
Read the full lyrics, here.

In contrast, an example of a deeper, more serious (and spiritual) love is Oceans (Where Feet May Fail), a song by Hillsong United. The singer is calling out to her God, letting go of her anxieties and burdens and letting Him take care of her. The trust and honest faith that she embraces allows her heart to feel at peace– she is emotionally experiencing her own utopian world.

“So I will call upon Your name / And keep my eyes above the waves / When oceans rise / My soul will rest in Your embrace / For I am Yours and You are mine”

Listen to Oceans (Where Feet May Fail), here.
Read the full lyrics, here.

We Didn’t Start the Fire by Billy Joel

Music

The lyrics of this song mention many  people, places, and events that are significant in history. Most of these words bring a negative image to mind. Some examples are, “Richard Nixon…H-bomb…Children of Thalidomide.” Richard Nixon was one of our presidents and he was involved in the Watergate Scandal which led to his resignation. The H-bomb, or hydrogen bomb,  is a device which is far more powerful than the  atomic bomb which was dropped over Nagasaki and Hiroshima and injured many civilians. Thalidomide was a drug that pregnant women took to reduce the symptoms of morning sickness. Consequently, this drug had an adverse effect on their children. In the chorus, Joel mentions a fire that has constantly been burning. He says, “We didn’t start the fire It was always burning Since the world’s been turning…No we didn’t light it But we tried to fight it.” The happenings mentioned above can be considered “fires” that have had a negative effect on the world. The whole world has dystopian occurrences and the people in it are just trying to find a way to live and find happiness in it. In the music video there is a family going through their years and they are affected by many of the occurrences but they also have their happy moments.

Sunny Day- Sesame Street

Music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgb1eh1n3ng

I think the simplicity of the song definitely speaks to its Utopian nature. The lyrics ask us to imagine we are on our way to where the “air is sweet”.  I think it describes a place that is based on the Utopian impulse, that is, for us to imagine a place that is better than the one we now live in. The composer of the song is Joe Raposo. He wrote the lyrics with two other men, Jon Stone and Bruce Hart.   “Stone considered the song a musical masterpiece and a lyrical embarrassment” [Michael Davis (2008). Street gang: The complete history of Sesame Street. Viking Penguin. pp. 159–160.] 

When I think of Sesame  Street I think the entire idea is bases on a Utopian society based on education, fun, singing, friendship, and learning among children, adults, and animals and creatures unknown. In this society problems are solved together and the theme song for Sesame is a great representation of Utopian music in contemporary society. It is based on “utopianism”,  as described in the Utopian Reader as “social dreaming”.  The words of the song describes the search for the place- a magical one. The listener understands that Sesame Street is a happier place, a better place than the one they are in now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgb1eh1n3ng 

Domanique Borges

“Xanadu” by Rush

Music

The lyrics to Xanadu are taken from the poem “Kubla Khan” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173247

According to Coleridge, the poem came to him in a dream after reading about the summer palace of the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan and then taking opium.

It’s a very trippy poem and a very trippy song.  The theme of the song is a paradise similar to Eden where  the protagonist can “taste anew the fruits of life/the last immortal man” and “dine on honeydew/and drink the milk of paradise.”

The song doesn’t talk of a community or of other people but it can be inferred that one of the utopian themes of this song is ecology: beautiful, rich, fertile nature unspoiled by the touch of mortal man.

In this paradise he will become immortal.  However, when the protagonist finds it, he is the only one there.  While the utopia doesn’t exactly become a dystopia, (Can you have a dystopia that consists of one person?) it becomes a nightmare because the protagonist “taste my bitter triumph/ as a mad immortal man/nevermore shall I return/Escape these caves of ice”

In Eden there were two people, Adam and Eve and it was paradise because they were immortal together.  In “Xanadu” by Rush the person has gone mad because he is an immortal man all alone.

This songs talks about the quest for utopia and a mythical promised land where people become immortal and the dangers of being the only one who finds it.

Utopias are meant to be a communities and you can’t have a community of one.

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds by The Beatles

Music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqXmBy1_qOQ&list=RDZqXmBy1_qOQ

I chose this song because the lyrics create a vivid image of a completely different world. At first listen to the song, and rumors surrounding it, you would think it is a song about an acid trip and it was actually banned from some radio stations when it came out because it seemed so obvious that it was about LSD. The song was released in 1967 by The Beatles on their album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. In the 60’s and 70’s, the fear of communism was ubiquitous among westerners, the Vietnam war was still being fought, and young adults were increasingly desiring a life filled with sex, drugs, rock music… and peace.

As the 60’s brought increasing tension between young people and the adults in power, it makes sense that so many young people related to this song, amongst many songs by The Beatles. The song portrays a world that is care free and happy. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds paints a picturesque world filled with “tangerine trees and marmalade skies… cellophane flowers of yellow and green towering over your head”. It easy to imagine a colorful world where every aspect is aesthetically pleasing. A place “where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies, everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers that grow so incredibly high”. This is a place that is filled with happy people who have no worries. Overall, this song depicts a utopia that is filled with smiling faces and bright colors.

John Lennon wrote the song for the group. Although Paul McCartney stated in an interview that the song was about LSD, Lennon stated in an interview (posted below) that it was not. Lennon was inspired by a drawing that his son brought home and had nothing to do with drugs… instead it was based off a picture of a beautiful girl flying in the sky with lots of colors surrounding her. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAZAdhPXQ2w

“We Will Become Silhouettes” by The Postal Service

Music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rKC7ElkTUQ

“We Will Become Silhouettes” presents an extreme contrast between lyrics and sound, reminiscent of Master Pangloss’ reality versus perspective from Voltaire’s Candide. Despite what appalling disasters befall him, even in the midst of an extreme earthquake, Pangloss stubbornly holds true to his view that “all is for the best in the world.” The events being described in this song are likewise horrific, to say the least: “Because the air outside will make our cells/Divide at an alarming rate until our shells/Simply cannot hold all our insides in/And that’s when we’ll explode…And it won’t be a pretty sight.” The music video depicts what appears to be a post-apocalyptic scene, with a band member uncontrollably giggling as he rides his bike through a large tumbleweed in what used to be a busy street, a contrasting attitude to an ominous picture. I related to the song by connecting it to modern times, particularly the line “But all the news reports recommend that I stay indoors,” satirizing the news we are constantly hearing of damaging sun rays, borderline poisonous food, storms, terrorist threats, and even the end of the world.

Yet The Postal Service’s frontman Ben Gibbard takes on a matter-of-fact and cheery tone while describing the dystopian chaos surrounding him consisting of empty streets, deceased friends, and a very lonely time spent in a fallout shelter. With an almost ridiculous sense of optimism, vocalist Jenny Lewis happily bobs her head to the catchy beat, idly singing “Ba…ba…ba…ba.” (Meanwhile, the “ba’s” likely refer to the sound our bodies make when they “finally go.”) Even the children in the video are excitedly bobbing and tapping their feet to the upbeat tune as they prepare for a bike ride through a bleak landscape and an equally unappealing picnic of preserved food.  Though there seems to be some sort of presence of imminent death due to the fact that the world fell apart, the incongruous bubbly attitude taken here almost seems to overshadow that destruction. Though it may be extreme and out of touch with reality, how else does one survive in such a tumultuous place? Even in the midst of destruction, life goes on. Dystopia is what you make of it, a hopeful message for us today in a world full of global warming and nuclear bombs. Maybe it will somehow all work out.

 

“Where is the love?” by The Black Eyed Peas

Music

The Black Eyed Peas – Where Is The Love? – YouTube

The song “Where is the love?” by The Black Eyed Peas primarily exemplifies the theme regarding human rights through the relationship between the individual and society. In their song, The Black Eyed Peas describe many of the tragedies constantly occurring throughout the world. These tragedies include violence both domestically and internationally. They describe “nations dropping bombs,” “children hurt,”and  “people killing, people dying.” They cite the lack of love throughout the world as the cause of these pitfalls. For example one section of a verse argues, “if you only have love for your own race then you only leave space to discriminate and to discriminate only generates hate.” This verse implies that to achieve a perfect society or to at least overcome the pitfalls of society, love for one another must come to the forefront of human relations. This would in turn end the cycle of violence and pain inflicted by humans on one another throughout the world.

They also place blame on the overwhelming desire by individuals to make money without care for others. Further, they state that the world was not always this way and in order to return to a more “utopian” society we must abandon greed and turn away from the negative images and wrong information produced by the media. Ultimately, their song exemplifies their desire to return to a world with fairness, equality, and humanity. In other words, “instead of spreading love, we’re spreading animosity.”

Professor Hoffman’s Top Utopian and Dystopian Songs

Music

Download: utopian songs

“The Rainbow Connection,” by Kermit the Frog. This might strike some as an odd pick, being that it captures more of what Frederick Jameson calls “the utopian impulse” than any particular utopia, and also because it is sung by a Muppet.   “Rainbow Connection” offers no blueprint for a better world, no program of reform, only the hope that there is something better to be had, somehow. But, isn’t the vague, never-specified “better world” at the other end of the rainbow a true vision of the “good place/no place” signified by the term utopia? Isn’t the debate staged in the song (between those who think that rainbow’s end is an “illusion” and “the lovers, the dreamers, and me”) actually the perennial debate about whether one should work for a better world, or just work to maximize one’s own gains in this world. So, for all those who are not quite satisfied with the “way that things are,” who aspire to be more than the hedonistic maximizers of economic theory, this is for you. There is no better version of the song, for my money, than this Muppet Show duet between Kermit and Blondie singer Deborah Harry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRvhRhWWE44&feature=related

“Zion Train” by Bob Marley. Long before Thomas more wrote Utopia, Zion was a Promised Land that played an important role in many utopian aspirations. Here Bob Marley taps into this strain of religious utopian imagining.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suWpx540-oY

I.G.Y. by Donald Fagan. The initials of the title stand for “International Geophysical Year,” an event of international scientific cooperation between from 1957 to 1958. The song presents a retro-future vision of a technological utopia, the closest thing that I have found in popular music to an earnest song about a “traditional” utopia. But it must be said that technology solves all the problems here. Human unhappiness disappears in the plenty that is brought by science, without any thought given to political or social considerations. Fagan’s retro-future world is less like what Wells calls a “utopia of organization” (in which human problems are solved by means of superior social and political organization) and more like the Land of Cockaygne, the Middle English version of Big Rock Candy Mountain that J.C. Davis has taken as the exemplar of one his five types of utopia, one of unlimited abundance fulfilling unlimited desire.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x21ghb_donald-fagen-igy-by-melegorm_creation

“Nothing but Flowers,” by The Talking Heads. OK, this is not a “straight” utopian song without irony (and who knows what the heck David Byrne is talking about when he says he was that as an angry young man he would pretend he was a billboard who fell in love with a highway). In this song, the suburban commercial sprawl has, for reasons unknown, been left to revert to its natural state. The narrator, however, misses the old life (“if this is paradise, I wish I had a lawnmower”). The song captures the tension between the Rousseauian primitivist that haunts so many of us (who tells us that we would be better off with a little less “civilization”) and the hopeless consumer, who will forever crave “cherry pies, candy bars and chocolate chip cookies.” I sometimes think that it would be cool if all these annoying cars, shopping malls, parking lots, discount stores and 7-11’s just ceased, and the flowers covered over everything. But could I really do without them? Probably not. Ironically, it is the impulse to “get away from it all” that drives the sprawl in the first place: so many of us want both to live in the country and near an Outback Steakhouse that we keep expanding the development we are trying to escape. The whole situation is a bit of a catch 22. How long can we keep running away from ourselves?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3t5nmgRVMs

 Alternate Takes: David Byrne’s song can be viewed as a reaction to less ironic calls to return to a “garden of Eden” such as “Woodstock” (“we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden”) and “They’ve Paved Paradise and Put Up a Parking Lot” (the title says it all). The song was written by Joni Michelle. Here is the Counting Crows version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYcLemHk7WM&feature=related

 “Imagine” by John Lennon. I’m sure there are those who wish that this was #1, but Kermit and flowers come first in my book. It is my firm belief that what Lennon is talking about here is an anarchist utopia, in spite of the recent splicing of the song into a montage of scenes from George Lucas’ THX-1138 which strongly suggests that Lennon’s vision is totalitarian. Lennon? Totalitarian? Come on…let me quote: “If you go carrying pictures of Chairman Mao/ You ain’t going to make it with anyone anyhow” (“Revolution”). Think Emma Goldman, not Joseph Stalin. In this song, Lennon simply suggests that government, organized religion and property are the sources of all human misery, and asks us to imagine a world without them. Lennon displays more faith in human nature than I have, but, after all, he himself admits he is a bit of a dreamer…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b7qaSxuZUg

“What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong. Herein LA simply says, “You are living in utopia, silly.” Once you get beyond your own personal BS, the world is a beautiful place. Few could have said this with more credibility than Armstrong, who came from extreme poverty and had ample reason to look at the world as a not very wonderful place at all, had he so chosen. Yet, in 1968 he came out with this incredible tribute to the global life-force.   One implication that can be drawn is that we don’t need any fancy planes for government re-design or radical plans to start all over again, we just need to work on our own attitudes a bit. I’m not so sure that nothing needs to be changed in the world, but I am sure that my own selfish attachments often prevent me from seeing what a wonderful world it already is.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2VCwBzGdPM

 Alternate Takes: One way of making the argument that, despite all the hardship of life, we live in the best of all possible worlds is to suggest that all the good and bad is part of a bigger plan that is beyond our human ability to comprehend. In this plan, there is a time, place and purpose for everything that we everything that we experience, even the most awful things. This idea is expressed in “Turn, Turn, Turn,” a song adapted from Ecclesiastes 3:1 by Pete Seeger in 1959. The most popular recording has been that of the Byrds in 1965.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHvf20Y6eoM

 “Utopia (Genetically Enriched)” by Goldfrapp. As near as I can tell, in this song Alison Goldfrapp is a superhuman (“I know everything…I am superbrain”) created through some kind of eugenics program (see title) in love with a Nazi (“Fascist baby…”), and all she wants is for her dog to be gifted with similar abilities (“give my dog new ears…make his eyes see forever”). Although this is, to my ears, a beautiful song, in a trip-hoppy kind of way, it is definitely the darkest selection on the list, reminding us that National Socialism (Nazism) was also a utopian movement of sorts, one that perhaps met the destiny of any utopian vision pursued too rigorously: the drives for purity and perfection can be the most dangerous in the human heart, which can become, to quote a phrase from Kenneth Burke, “rotten with perfection.” So call this song the dark side of “The Rainbow Connection.”

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x17szw_goldfrapp-utopia_music

Or, try the live version (Veronica Lake w/ the Bavarian Resistance):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNaeVJYGHaU

Bonus Dystopian Songs

“Subdivisions” by Rush. In this classic tale of utopia gone wrong, “perfect” suburban subdivisions turn out to be a living hell of “misfits” and “dreamers,” because they offer no “charms” to sooth the “restless dreams of youth.” This song is really an Orwell-style critique of a conformist society brilliantly applied to North American suburbs. But the controlling force is not the government: it is one’s own peers. Shades of Alexis de Tocqueville.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYYdQB0mkEU

“Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns and Roses and “The Messages” by Grand Master Flash. Both present the “timeless old attraction” of the city as a Hobbsean jungle. Who substituted a Hobbsean war of all against all for a socially coherent city? Who knows, but here are two great urban dystopian visions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1tj2zJ2Wvg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4o8TeqKhgY

“The Sound of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel. Ultimately, this song argues that dystopia is caused by lack of communication…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6cR5furQac&feature=PlayList&p=41EBD5DF53AB94FA&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=31