As the nation groans under the heel of the media literati as they go on and on about what is Socialism and all that in terms of the Labour Party as it might be, was recently and has been in the past we can go back a lot further.
The Staggers (or New Statesman) is a journal that I have looked at now for over sixty years. It has had its ups and downs but in a quirky way has been a useful guide to varied schools of thought on the Left and the nature of their debates.
This fascinating item from 81 years ago is a longish read but covers the same ground as the present debates but at a more informed and intellectual level.
It is a 1934 interview granted by Joseph Stalin, the Great Leader of the Soviet Union then to H.G. Wells the celebrity writer who was a leading figure not only in the politics of the period but in discussing the future and what might be foretold.
He had published his work "The Shape Of Things To Come" in 1933, see the Wikipedia page for a brief guide to its content and meaning. This book became the basis for the famous film of 1936. When I saw the film it quite put me off the future.
We do not seem to have moved on much from 1934.
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