Never Again!

by Edward Carpenter

Never again must this Thing happen. The time has come — if the human race does not wish to destroy itself in its own madness — for men to make up their minds as to what they will do in the future; for now indeed is it true that we are come to the cross-roads, we stand at the Parting of the Ways. The rapid and enormous growth of scientific invention makes it obvious that Violence ten times more potent and sinister than that which we are witnessing to-day may very shortly be available for our use — or abuse — in War. On the Other hand who can doubt that the rapid growth of interchange and understanding among the peoples of the world is daily making Warfare itself, and the barbarities inevitably connected with it, more abhorrent to our common humanity? Which of these lines are we to follow? Along which path are we to go? This is a question which the mass — peoples of Europe in the future — and not merely the Governments —- will have seriously to ponder and decide. That bodies of men — as has happened a hundred times in the trenches in Northern France and even on the Eastern Front — should exchange morning salutations and songs in humorous amity, and then at a word of command should fall to shooting each Other

26 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 15, 2006

About the author

Edward Carpenter was an English socialist poet, socialist philosopher, anthologist, and early gay activist.

A leading figure in late 19th- and early 20th-century Britain, he was instrumental in the foundation of the Fabian Society and the Labour Party. A poet and writer, he was a close friend of Walt Whitman and Rabindranath Tagore, corresponding with many famous figures such as Annie Besant, Isadora Duncan, Havelock Ellis, Roger Fry, Mahatma Gandhi, James Keir Hardie, J. K. Kinney, Jack London, George Merrill, E D Morel, William Morris, E R Pease, John Ruskin, and Olive Schreiner.[1]

As a philosopher he is particularly known for his publication of Civilisation, Its Cause and Cure in which he proposes that civilisation is a form of disease that human societies pass through. Civilisations, he says, rarely last more than a thousand years before collapsing, and no society has ever passed through civilisation successfully. His 'cure' is a closer association with the land and greater development of our inner nature. Although derived from his experience of Hindu mysticism, and referred to as 'mystical socialism', his thoughts parallel those of several writers in the field of psychology and sociology at the start of the twentieth century, such as Boris Sidis, Sigmund Freud and Wilfred Trotter who all recognised that society puts ever increasing pressure on the individual that can result in mental and physical illnesses such as neurosis and the particular nervousness which was then described as neurasthenia.

A strong advocate of sexual freedom, living in a gay community near Sheffield, he had a profound influence on both D. H. Lawrence and E. M. Forster.

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring waffle. The author sounds like an interesting person but the whole book could be explained in just one sentence, ‘war is a waste of human life’. Everything else was just pointless sentences jumping from here to there with nothing of worth to them.

[Murdoch Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm anti-war and pretty tendentious when it comes to this issue. So my review is probably pretty biased. I listened to the audiobook for this so I might have missed a few things, but this seemed quite good.

[Alex Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Edward Carpenter makes an appeal post-World War I about the selflessness of the common man, who died for the interests of the ruling class. He cites the advances of civilization, moral and technological -- as insufficient to rectify all the destruction and loss of humanity in World War I. In fact, these advances were used to further the destruction of humans.

Despite his impassioned plea, Carpenter is short on analysis and answers though. While he compares nationalism and national interests to the interests of humankind, he finds the latter insufficient to bridge the former.

All in all, this pamphlet is only meant to bring awareness to people the insensible destruction and loss of life on both sides... although Carpenter finds the German aristocracy to be to blame. Carpenter stops short of proposing any kind of constructive political change.

[May Ling]

Beautifully written. Sadly, people don't write with this sort of outrage and inner justification anymore. Things tend to lean toward the mellow and sarcastic. But what a beautiful piece from a time when people cared about things.



Reminds me a bit of "do not go gentle into that good night".

[Jeremy Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading this pamphlet, One wonders why it is that we ended up in a second World War. Why didn't people find a way to avoid it. This book leaves me looking into the soul of humanity, seeking to understand our unhumanity.....

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Let us believe that Love, not Hatred, is the power by which, in the end, the World will be saved;"

[Ed Walker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Project Gutenberg download. A pamphlet against war in reaction to World War I.