Gillette: The Utopian Socialist
During his life, Gillette became a supporter of Utopian Socialism. People who believe in this type of socialism advocate that all people should take control over production. Gillette did not live his beliefs quietly. In fact, he wrote and co-wrote several books on the topic. Gillette’s first book came out in 1894, The Human Drift. This is the first book where Gillette publicly discussed his support for a Utopian society. In the book, he stated that he believed all competitive corporations should create one company.
The Human Drift details the plan to create “The United Company,” the name of the trust which would take over all competitive corporations. The stocks from “The United Company” would belong to everyone and they would all take a share. He said this type of system was necessary, so the company and the city could survive. Gillette wrote that this type of company would cure everything that was wrong in society and make the people more at peace and happy. Gillette also stated that the city, known as Metropolis, would stand on top of Niagara Falls.
From here, the book details what the city would look like, such as people would be able to see workers beneath their feet. Gillette stated that everyone should be able to see all the work that goes into running a city. He wanted all citizens of this city to be productive and understand everyone else’s jobs. Gillette believed that this would create a sense of equality in the world as people would better understand each other. The Human Drift also has several detailed illustrations that further explain the mind of Gillette and his belief for a Utopian society.
In 1910, Gillette wrote another book where he took the plan of Metropolis and his beliefs in the Utopian society a bit further. This book, titled World Corporation, was similar to Gillette’s first book, The Human Drift. However, in World Corporation, Gillette writes that not only will the United States have a Utopian society, but we will take this society and expand it into the rest of the world. In a sense, “The United Company” would become “The World Corporation.”
Throughout expanding to the rest of the world, Gillette believed that the world corporation would take over more than just production. In fact, Gillette stated that once the corporation became strong enough, it would take over all the governments to create one government, the World Corporation Congress. This way, the whole world would run under on system of production and one order of government. Gillette also offered Theodore Roosevelt the job as president of the company, but Roosevelt declined the offer.