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Upton Sinclair, ed. (1878–1968). rn The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest. 1915.

The Future of Art
(From “Collectivism and Industrial Evolution”)

Vandervelde, Émile

Émile Vandervelde

(Belgian Socialist leader, since the war a member of the Cabinet)

MANY a time it has been said that art under all its forms is only the mirror, more or less distorted, yet always faithful, of society. Today it reflects the discouragements of a dying bourgeoisie, the torments, the anguish, and also the hopes of a proletariat which lives and grows in the midst of suffering. Tomorrow, it will reflect the calm and peace of happy generations which, escaped from the mire of poverty, will have founded through their own efforts the sovereignty of labor and the reign of brotherhood.