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London, Jack, 1876-1916

"Revolution, and Other Essays"


So be it. The world is whirling faster to-day than ever before. It
has gained impetus. Affairs rush to conclusion. The Far East is the
point of contact of the adventuring Western people as well as of the
Asiatic. We shall not have to wait for our children's time nor our
children's children. We shall ourselves see and largely determine
the adventure of the Yellow and the Brown.
FENG-WANG-CHENG, MANCHURIA.
June 1904,

WHAT LIFE MEANS TO ME

I was born in the working-class. Early I discovered enthusiasm,
ambition, and ideals; and to satisfy these became the problem of my
child-life. My environment was crude and rough and raw. I had no
outlook, but an uplook rather. My place in society was at the
bottom. Here life offered nothing but sordidness and wretchedness,
both of the flesh and the spirit; for here flesh and spirit were
alike starved and tormented.
Above me towered the colossal edifice of society, and to my mind the
only way out was up. Into this edifice I early resolved to climb.


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