Summary
Chapter 13: Concerning Politics
William asks Old Hammond about politics, and Hammond replies little more than, "I will answer your question briefly by saying that we are very well off as to politics,—because we have none" (82) and asks for that to be the end of the chapter.
Chapter 14: How Matters are Managed
William inquires about how England now deals with foreign nations. Old Hammond replies that those problems have entirely vanished "along with the inequality betwixt man and man in society" (83). William implies that this would necessarily diminish "national variety" (83) but Old Hammond refutes this. They turn themselves to political problems within the country, especially in communities, and the old man tells William that people do certainly differ in opinions at times but that this does not turn into a fixed party system. When someone makes a decision that doesn't affect others, there is no problem. When there is a disagreement on what should happen in a situation that does affect multiple people, there is a meeting of the community called a "Mote" during which there is a discussion and a vote followed by more discussions and votes if there is not a clear majority. Finally, anyone who is still in the minority after something is decided does not need to work on the thing (a bridge, for example), and the thing will ultimately be a benefit or detriment to all of society.
Chapter 15: On the Lack of Incentive to Labor in a Communist Society
Old Hammond and William agree that Dick and Clara will probably return soon, but William wants to ask a final question. He asks how England's new society gets people to labor without reward. Hammond responds that there is no reward needed but the pleasure of work itself. Hammond admits that it was not an easy process to reach this point in society where people take genuine pleasure in doing good work, and returns to talk about the society of the past as a means of contrast. In the past, people tried to expend the least amount of labor to make the largest amount of a product possible. Because of this, people were unhappy and the quality of goods was low. The creation of "labour-saving machines" (92) did not help with this because they simply freed up time and energy for more work. The only things people made of good quality, says Old Hammond, were these labor-saving machines.
William questions Old Hammond about his antipathy toward the 19th century and the old man says that his grandfather "was one of its victims" (94). He then circles back to the issue at hand, saying that men make quality products now because they know exactly whom they are making them for, and they use machines only for things that would be very annoying or taxing to make without. Because everyone can do and make what they want, there is no forced work or lack of work in any field, especially because all work is basically seen as art in this society and art is "inexhaustible" (95). Hammond says that the idea of work famine only exists in Europe because Great Britain's colonies, especially America, became so industrialized that they are "very backward in all that makes life pleasant" (96).
Chapter 16: Dinner in the Hall of the Bloomsbury Market
William finishes Chapter 15 by saying that he has a few more questions, but Chapter 16 begins with those words being interrupted by footsteps announcing Dick and Clara's return. William describes them as looking beautifully in love, and Hammond seems to be very happy about this. Dick announces that the men have been talking for three and a half hours, and Clara chimes in that the dinner bell will soon be ringing. In just a moment, the bell is rung. Clara takes him by the hand and they go to the marketplace where everyone is gathering in a large hall adorned with pictures from mythology. William tells Clara that he thought society would not have such childish images around and Clara defends the beauty of the pictures and the stories they come from. They are served a good meal and William notes of the food and the architecture and furniture that everything is clearly handmade and of good quality (but without the commercial finish of things mass produced as in the 19th century).
When the group is drinking wine after their meal, Clara brings William's comment about the paintings back up. She questions why people rarely depict modern life in art, and Old Hammond responds that it has always been this way, especially because in the 19th century there was so little art produced that people always had to "disguise, or exaggerate, or idealise" (100) reality in artwork. Dick remarks that there is also something in us since childhood that appreciates the strange, and Old Hammond agrees that our imagination comes from the childish part of us. The group toasts to "second childhood" (100).
Chapter 17: How the Change Came
Dick asks William what he wants to do now that dinner is over. William says that he wants to let Dick decide, though he secretly wishes to stay with Old Hammond rather than be entertained. Sensing this, Old Hammond protests that he wants to talk with William over another bottle of wine. Dick agrees and brings them another bottle before going off with Clara.
Old Hammond asks William if he has any more questions about their society. William says that what he still wants to know is how it came to be. Old Hammond says that it would be difficult to tell the whole story, so William narrows down his question to ask whether the revolution was peaceful. Hammond replies that nothing was peaceful in the 19th century, but when pressed he says that there was violence along with strikes and starvation.
The poor first went looking for equality within the current political and economic system of the late 19th century. They believed that they could better their financial situations, take some money from the rich, and life would be tolerable. This was impossible, but the "miserable slaves" (104) (in other words, poor workers) could not imagine overturning the system entirely at the time. However, workmen started to form unions to organize the struggle against the rich masters of production. These unions collected large enough sums of money such that workers in an entire industry could strike rather than only some workers and these strikes generally worked in gaining small victories such as changes in work hours or minimum wages. Hammond concedes that this money was sometimes misused, but generally people were serious about the cause.
However, around 1952 trouble began with factories struggling and many workers needing charitable donations of food. The Combined Workers published the "Resolution" (107), which was a list of demands and seen as a "declaration of war... by the master class" (107). The workers met in Trafalgar Square and the police attacked the meeting; many were hurt and five died. Other meetings were held in other cities including Manchester. Another meeting convened in Trafalgar Square, this time too big and crowded for the police to cope with. Many rich fled and an army was amassed but not sent out against the people. In Manchester, some protesters were arrested. Business halted and the government was voted full powers by the Parliament. For a week, the revolution stood still, but the people began to get hungry. People had been begging food from the rich, the government, stores, and the authorities and getting it until then, but on the Monday a week after the big meeting there was a major pillaging of a few provision stores. The newspapers the next day were full of alarmed reactions. The newspaper editors met with government officials and the government proclaimed a state of siege in London, with a young general in charge. The newspapers rejoiced.
The general kept things the same for the week, and then on Sunday when there was another big meeting in Trafalgar Square, soldiers poured in. They pressed in from all sides until the mass of people was packed in tightly; a man on horseback read a statement ordering the people to disperse (though most did not actually hear this) that caused the crowd to yell and then mechanical guns were brought out and fired on the crowd which could not run away or even get down out of the line of fire. William asks if this massacre ended the revolution and Old Hammond replies that, on the contrary, it began it. They drink a toast to those who died and then Hammond continues his story. Two newspapers turned to the side of the rebels. The editors of one of these newspapers called for the government to end the siege against the people. He was arrested, but the government then ended the siege. The prisoners were brought to trial and the jury acquitted them and the Committee of Public Safety was strengthened in its position against the government. In celebration, there were more large meetings throughout England. The government gave in to some of the public's demands, but not enough to give all people "a decent life" (116). Workmen's associations grew and soon the Conservatives beat out the Liberal Party in the formal government, causing the liberals to join the Committee of Public Safety and the civil war to recommence.
The Tory Government, rather than immediately reinstating a state of siege, instead arrested the main members of the Committee of Public Safety; however, because this was a party of the people and not of rule by a few, the group remained undaunted. The next day, no newspapers came out in the morning, and in the afternoon the few that did come out proclaimed a general strike. The government did not know what to do since there were no people out in the streets to fight. The government sat waiting until the next day for someone to fight, but the next day all that happened was that the socialist newspapers published editions full of educational articles about "the doctrines and practice of Socialism" (118). These papers were bought up quickly, the government still didn't know what to do, and the strike continued. The workmen's groups continued giving out food; a group of young, rich men went out stealing food and were nearly arrested by the government, but in the end few were arrested and the media reported the situation as the government stopping the poor from stealing. On the third day of the strike, the government released the prisoners once again. Soon, the government sent an envoy to meet with the Committee of Public Safety and a truce was met entailing the Committee of Public Safety being officially recognized, meaning rebels could no longer be attacked or jailed and that the organized revolution could continue. What the government gained from this truce was the ability to rename the organization; they chose "Board of Conciliation and its local offices" (123).
Many upper- and middle-class people were still against the revolution and formed a counter-revolutionary group called the Friends of Order; their tactics were generally to guard large factories, and the government soon officially recognized and joined with the group. At this point, all possibility for peace through compromise was gone and the two options going forward seemed to be "absolute slavery for all but the privileged, or a system of life founded on equality and Communism" (124). The revolution eventually succeeded by a growing membership, with more and more joining every day, such that the power of the people could not be contested.
Analysis
Morris includes a humorous, meta-textual moment in this section of the novel by making Chapter 13, "Concerning Politics," less than a page long, by far the shortest chapter in the book. He supposedly does this because Old Hammond asks him, "If ever you make a book out of this conversation, put this in a chapter by itself, after the model of old Horrebow's Snakes in Iceland" (82). Morris makes an allusion here to the book The Natural History of Iceland by Niels Horrebow published in 1752. The book was famous for having a chapter about snakes consisting of only one sentence which stated that no snakes of any kind exist in Iceland.
Chapter 14 moves from the idea of national politics to global politics. It seems that the loyalties of people in the 21st century have turned away from nationalism and toward loyalty and faith in the human race as a whole. This book does not tackle the fear that many of Morris' capitalist contemporaries likely had concerning whether other countries that had not turned to socialism would attack England because of its lack of defensive plans.
The reader is given a mental break from Old Hammond's didacticism in the form of Clara and Dick returning and summoning Hammond and William to dinner. There, the group discusses the links between art, folklore, childhood, and imagination. Their toast to "second childhood" (100) is especially important as it underscores the theme of childhood throughout the novel: the way children are raised, Morris's idealization of the freedom and imagination of a childish mind, and the way a revolution is itself like a rebirth.
Morris includes the first of only two footnotes in the book in Chapter 16. This footnote gives additional explanation of the word "elegantly" (98), which the narrator uses to describe people in the marketplace. In the footnote, it is explained that the reader should understand the word "elegant" to be here used not as a synonym for "genteel" (98) but rather as one would describe a "Persian pattern" (98). This type of clarification would not be out of the norm for the narrator to tell the reader in the main text of the story, so its placement as a footnote (especially when footnotes are sparsely used in the story) calls special attention to Morris's careful definition of the word as it separates quality from monetary worth.
In contrast to the first chapter of this section, the shortest in the novel, Chapter 17, "How the Change Came," is the longest. In this chapter, Old Hammond maps out how the socialist revolution took place, including strikes, the influence of newspapers, and the weak defenses the government had against the will of the people. Morris focuses very little on imagery and other elements of storytelling in this chapter, clearly intending for the reader to read this chapter as more of a treatise than a novel.
