The world Man is here

10 quotes from Scott Nearing

By Carl Teichrib

The following quotes are extracted from an older text by American socialist, Scott Nearing, a revolutionary figure who advocated for one world. His book, United World (Island Press, 1945), was a call to shift society from nationalism and individualism to worldism and collective groupthink. Reading these quotes reveals that the idea of globalization isn’t new, but one deeply rooted in the desire for a “united world.”

1) “World law is impossible without world government.” (p.15)

2) “Indoctrination works. Human loyalties can be and are speedily shifted by experience coupled with propaganda.” (pp.20-21)

3) “Worldizing processes are building up a great number and variety of world experiences. Millions of human beings, responding to these experiences, are already world conscious, world minded and prepared to function as citizens in a world society. Such human beings have passed through and graduated from the school of nationalism. They are worldists. They wait with impatience for the emergence of a world commonwealth.” (p.21)

4) “The world man is here. His coming has been heralded through the ages by far-seeing individuals who felt and dreamed and thought in terms of human solidarity.” (p.35)

5) “Those who see and feel the possibilities of world organization are world men. Their ultimate loyalty is world loyalty. Their ultimate form of organization is world organization.” (p.38)

6) “Social reconstruction today does not mean the rebuilding of civil society. It means the development of a world community.” (pp.39-40)

7) “The world diffusion of information and of ideas complement and supplement one another and produce human beings who are prepared to feel and think in world terms. There now exists a world public opinion… World opinion is always present, but it may take a notable event or a crisis to crystallize it.” (p.100)

8 ) “Men harnessed nature as they learned something of nature’s forces and processes. They can hope to move from provincial nationalism to cosmopolitan worldism as they learn to understand the nature of social change.” (p.140)

9) “A world society cannot be haphazard. Since there are no precedents, it cannot be traditional at this stage in its development. It can only be deliberative and experimental, planned and built up with particular objectives and with the aid of all available knowledge concerning the principles of social organization. Social engineering is a new science.” (p.221)

10) “World crisis and world chaos cannot be successfully handled in the absence of world authority… The rational, scientific answer to world crisis and world chaos is the organized world community… Historic forces are pushing humanity toward an era of worldism. World life means world-wide collective action.” (pp.248-249)