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The Angel of the Revolution
23 October 2020 07:04 pmIn the last decades of the 19th Century, it became clear to all of Europe that war was coming. And not just another of the scores of “Victoria’s Little Wars” throughout and between colonial holdings, and not even the significant flareups such as the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 but a general conflict that would likely involve all of Europe. As such, the genre of “Invasion Literature” sprang up, capitalizing on war fears. The first of these was George Chesney’s “The Battle of Dorking” (1871), that narrated the invasion of England by an unnamed but German-speaking country.
Concurrent with these international war fears was a rise in terrorism. Anarchists, Unionists, Fenians, and Nihilists, all utilized Alfred Nobel’s invention of dynamite to further their political agenda, transitioning from assassination, to attacking the infrastructure of perceived oppression, finally to what we would consider indiscriminate attacks on innocents. To the terrorist, no one is innocent.
Finally, science-fiction, what was then called the scientific romance, was becoming more popular. Fantastic elements were finding their way into more popular fiction in novels and penny dreadfuls.
And it all came together in George Griffith’s first novel, “The Angel of the Revolution”, serialized in Pearson's Weekly in 1893. (Text at Forgotten Futures)
The first section of the book sets out the plot wherein an inventor, Richard Arnold, resolves the “problem of aerial navigation” but has expended all his funds on the endeavor and cannot actually build the flying machine. By apparent chance, Arnold is recruited into The Brotherhood of Freedom, a terrorist organization of socialists and Nihilists (as if those were the same thing).
My first impression in this first part of the narrative is that Griffith, according to Wikipedia a socialist himself, doesn’t really understand socialism. Or socialist organizations. Or terrorist organizations. The Brotherhood Arnold is introduced to consists of a handful of elites, wearing robes and masks even, and though they are presented as a council, the organization is ultimately controlled completely by a single mastermind known as Natas. Nothing that was said had me thinking that they were at all genuinely concerned with the plight of the working classes or that their goal was a equitable socialist society.
If I were to predict the trope, I would think that, round about the middle of the story, Arnold would recognize that he was duped by Natas (literally Satan spelled backwards) and their goal isn’t actually a socialist utopia (after the necessary violent overthrow of capitalism) but some other sinister plot. The second half of the story would be the battle to avert this destruction and also to rescue the mastermind’s beautiful daughter, Natasha, the titular Angel of the Revolution with whom Arnold has fallen instantly in love, and turn her to good.
The ease at which Arnold throws himself to violent revolution had me suspecting that, no, there would not be such a turn.
The second part of the story is six months later, Natasha has been captured by the Russians, and Arnold’s flying warship is ready for him to set off to her rescue.
The second part also reveals a pattern in Griffith’s storytelling where his adventure/love story narrative is broken up with “infodump” chapters where the account of the coming world war and the Brotherhood's intentions are revealed. And it is in one of these inter-chapters where Natas is revealed to be a Jew who has been brutally tortured and disfigured by the Russians. It plays into the tropes of the Jewish conspiracy while, at the same time, making it seem less and less like a socialist revolution. In fact, I don’t think I remember anyone using the word socialism again for the rest of the book.
The story presses on, however, with no sign that Natas and The Brotherhood have any agenda other than their stated plans to essentially allow the world war to start so that, when both sides have exhausted themselves, the terrorists will swoop in with their flying machines to put an end to the fighting and take over the world. Arnold was still totally on board and there were no signs of a revelation.
And that’s what happens. There are some chapters detailing the terrorist’s airships intervening in conflicts on behalf of the English against the Russians (and their allied French) but only so far as to keep the English from getting completely decimated. That, and some additional chapters, make it clear that the English are genuinely favored in this conflict.
The decisive turn is when the Americas are brought into play. Griffith describes America in this way:
That passage is probably the last attempt to truly frame this battle as between capitalism and socialism. Instead, after the literally millions of sleeper agents rise up in America to overthrow The Ring, the words used most often are “English-speaking world” and “Anglo-saxons.” And, oddly enough (and again I think this is somewhat indicative of Griffith not understanding socialism) all the rest of America, a land of immigrants and former slaves, cheer with a unanimous voice for the coming Anglo-saxon hegemony.
What remains is the Russian invasion of England, the Terrorists swooping in (with, again, millions of sleeper agents from the English countryside) to defeat the Russians and take control of the English government, the blackmailing of the rest of Europe, and the institution of the utopian Anglo-saxon hemisphere with the greatest landowners being thrown off of their property but little other than that for the redistribution of wealth. Europe is allowed to run pretty much the way it has run, on a local level, just without monarchies and autocracies. That is, excepting the supreme rulership by the Brotherhood.
The last chapter wraps it up with Natas telling his story of being persecuted and tortured by the Russians which has the entire endeavor sounding more like the ultimate revenge story.
And, again, the inventor Arnold was on board the whole time. I guess with himself being one of the Anglo-saxons destined by their innate superiority to rule the world, there was no reason to go against the vast conspiracy to ensure white supremacy on a worldwide scale. And, having read Griffith’s 1901 novel “A Honeymoon in Space” and his continued glorification of the supremacy of Anglo-saxons not only on Earth but over all the other aliens of the solar system, that may have been the point of the story.
Concurrent with these international war fears was a rise in terrorism. Anarchists, Unionists, Fenians, and Nihilists, all utilized Alfred Nobel’s invention of dynamite to further their political agenda, transitioning from assassination, to attacking the infrastructure of perceived oppression, finally to what we would consider indiscriminate attacks on innocents. To the terrorist, no one is innocent.
Finally, science-fiction, what was then called the scientific romance, was becoming more popular. Fantastic elements were finding their way into more popular fiction in novels and penny dreadfuls.
And it all came together in George Griffith’s first novel, “The Angel of the Revolution”, serialized in Pearson's Weekly in 1893. (Text at Forgotten Futures)
The first section of the book sets out the plot wherein an inventor, Richard Arnold, resolves the “problem of aerial navigation” but has expended all his funds on the endeavor and cannot actually build the flying machine. By apparent chance, Arnold is recruited into The Brotherhood of Freedom, a terrorist organization of socialists and Nihilists (as if those were the same thing).
My first impression in this first part of the narrative is that Griffith, according to Wikipedia a socialist himself, doesn’t really understand socialism. Or socialist organizations. Or terrorist organizations. The Brotherhood Arnold is introduced to consists of a handful of elites, wearing robes and masks even, and though they are presented as a council, the organization is ultimately controlled completely by a single mastermind known as Natas. Nothing that was said had me thinking that they were at all genuinely concerned with the plight of the working classes or that their goal was a equitable socialist society.
If I were to predict the trope, I would think that, round about the middle of the story, Arnold would recognize that he was duped by Natas (literally Satan spelled backwards) and their goal isn’t actually a socialist utopia (after the necessary violent overthrow of capitalism) but some other sinister plot. The second half of the story would be the battle to avert this destruction and also to rescue the mastermind’s beautiful daughter, Natasha, the titular Angel of the Revolution with whom Arnold has fallen instantly in love, and turn her to good.
The ease at which Arnold throws himself to violent revolution had me suspecting that, no, there would not be such a turn.
The second part of the story is six months later, Natasha has been captured by the Russians, and Arnold’s flying warship is ready for him to set off to her rescue.
The second part also reveals a pattern in Griffith’s storytelling where his adventure/love story narrative is broken up with “infodump” chapters where the account of the coming world war and the Brotherhood's intentions are revealed. And it is in one of these inter-chapters where Natas is revealed to be a Jew who has been brutally tortured and disfigured by the Russians. It plays into the tropes of the Jewish conspiracy while, at the same time, making it seem less and less like a socialist revolution. In fact, I don’t think I remember anyone using the word socialism again for the rest of the book.
The story presses on, however, with no sign that Natas and The Brotherhood have any agenda other than their stated plans to essentially allow the world war to start so that, when both sides have exhausted themselves, the terrorists will swoop in with their flying machines to put an end to the fighting and take over the world. Arnold was still totally on board and there were no signs of a revelation.
And that’s what happens. There are some chapters detailing the terrorist’s airships intervening in conflicts on behalf of the English against the Russians (and their allied French) but only so far as to keep the English from getting completely decimated. That, and some additional chapters, make it clear that the English are genuinely favored in this conflict.
The decisive turn is when the Americas are brought into play. Griffith describes America in this way:
“Representative government in America had by this time become a complete sham. The whole political machinery and internal resources of the United States were now virtually at the command of a great Ring of capitalists who, through the medium of the huge monopolies which they controlled, and the enormous sums of money at their command, held the country in the hollow of their hand. These men were as totally devoid of all human feeling or public sentiment as it was possible for human beings to be. They had grown rich in virtue of their contempt of every principle of justice and mercy, and they had no other object in life than to still further increase their gigantic hoards of wealth, and to multiply the enormous powers which they already wielded. The then condition of affairs in Europe had presented them with such an opportunity as no other combination of circumstances could have given them, and ignoring, as such wretches would naturally do, all ties of blood and kindred speech, they had determined to take advantage of the situation to the utmost.”
That passage is probably the last attempt to truly frame this battle as between capitalism and socialism. Instead, after the literally millions of sleeper agents rise up in America to overthrow The Ring, the words used most often are “English-speaking world” and “Anglo-saxons.” And, oddly enough (and again I think this is somewhat indicative of Griffith not understanding socialism) all the rest of America, a land of immigrants and former slaves, cheer with a unanimous voice for the coming Anglo-saxon hegemony.
What remains is the Russian invasion of England, the Terrorists swooping in (with, again, millions of sleeper agents from the English countryside) to defeat the Russians and take control of the English government, the blackmailing of the rest of Europe, and the institution of the utopian Anglo-saxon hemisphere with the greatest landowners being thrown off of their property but little other than that for the redistribution of wealth. Europe is allowed to run pretty much the way it has run, on a local level, just without monarchies and autocracies. That is, excepting the supreme rulership by the Brotherhood.
The last chapter wraps it up with Natas telling his story of being persecuted and tortured by the Russians which has the entire endeavor sounding more like the ultimate revenge story.
And, again, the inventor Arnold was on board the whole time. I guess with himself being one of the Anglo-saxons destined by their innate superiority to rule the world, there was no reason to go against the vast conspiracy to ensure white supremacy on a worldwide scale. And, having read Griffith’s 1901 novel “A Honeymoon in Space” and his continued glorification of the supremacy of Anglo-saxons not only on Earth but over all the other aliens of the solar system, that may have been the point of the story.
