OPEN CONSPIRATORS SEEK SIMILAR: THE INSPIRATION OF H. G. WELLS’S UTOPIAN DREAMS

Abstract

Abstract. H. G. Wells’s correspondence, now at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign, reveals the wide-ranging impact of his thought upon individuals in all walks of life throughout several decades, indeed up to his death. This article explores the ways in which individuals and organisations, inspired by his visions of a better society, engaged with Wells and his ideas during the interwar period (when it has been suggested that his influence was waning), and the extent to which individuals were motivated by Wells’s writings to become ‘Open Conspirators’ working together to bring his utopia into existence. The tensions between these enthusiasts and Wells’s own ambivalence as regards such projects are examined, along with the tensions between different groups of enthusiasts. Even though it is almost impossible to trace any direct outcomes from the activities of these ‘Open Conspirators’, we need not assume, however, that their endeavours were entirely ineffectual.