Reflective of his general focus on hard work as an anecdote to failure and poverty, George Gissing’s Demos: A Story of English Socialism blasts socialism as an ideal never to be realized, due to the greed of its leaders. He ennobles his working-class characters, particularly females, who resign themselves to physical labor for their support. One character remarks, “When women are educated, they will take the world as it is and decline to live on illusions,” a direct reference to socialistic idealism. For organizers of political movements supposedly meant to relieve abuses against workers, Gissing shows marked contempt. Examples, like his characters Richard Mutimer and Daniel Dabbs, abandon their ideals to embrace capitalism, and thus “sell out” fellow workers.
Mutimer establishes a so-called model community, a worker’s UTOPIA based on the precepts of Robert Owen, a socialist and philanthropist who, at the age of 19, became the wealthy owner of cotton-spinning mills in Manchester. Owen had himself established such a model community in Manchester and another in the United States, both of which eventually failed. The factual background foreshadows the failure of the novel’s community as well.
Set in an idyllic valley below the scenic Stanbury Hill, the community honors the Eldons, original owners of Wanley Manor, which sits at the top of the hill over the town. Although the manor has been purchased by Mr. Mutimer, as a relative of the family, he allows the widow Eldon and her two children, now reduced to near-poverty, to remain in the mansion, where the son, Hubert, matures. The respectable Walthams live in a smaller house on the side of the hill, and Adela Waltham eventually falls in love with Hubert, four years older than her, although others, including her brother, think him presumptuous and assuming.
As the presumed heir to Mr. Mutimer’s fortune, he travels to London for a time, and rumors of his ruthless spending and womanizing reach the town. Gissing’s plot involves the loss and recovery of Mutimer’s will, suspected to pass on his fortune to Hubert Eldon. The loss renders Hubert penniless, something his mother does not regret, as she believes Hubert corrupt and urges him to follow the example of old Mr. Mutimer: “He was without education; his ideas of truth and goodness he had to find in his own heart.” Her comment promotes Gissing’s view of the common worker who can, as he did, increase his lot in life through hard work.
The complicated plot develops with other of Mutimer’s relatives taking control of the ironworks. Richard Mutimer, the socialist who opens the ironworks with great plans for the local workers, abandons his wife to marry Adela. In the remaining plot, Mutimer loses his investment, the workers lose their jobs, they attack Mutimer, and he dies. The elder Mr. Mutimer’s will is restored, allowing Hubert to inherit the Mutimer fortune. Adela, now a widow, loves Hubert but will not express her passion, feeling he only cares about her due to the business matters caused by his inheritance; he settles some of the Mutimer fortune on her. The two do unite by the end of the story, supporting Gissing’s suggestion that the hard-work philosophy often skips a generation in a family, settling upon the third generation. Although the ironworks is gone, a beautiful valley setting is symbolically restored, and a love affair realized.
Gissing published his bitter portrayal of socialism during a time of socialist agitation in 1886, when proletarian rioters supposedly looted London’s West End. The fortunate timing resulted in excellent sales for Gissing, as Demos earned more than his previous works.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Poole, Adrian. Gissing in Context. Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Littlefield, 1975.
Categories: British Literature, Literature, Novel Analysis
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