The chief reason for writing this book was to give a record of Socialist propaganda in South Africa, as suggested to me by many who have followed the trend of events with myself. I found during my attempt many other subjects and activities of my life which I thought might be equally interesting to some who are not so en­thusiastic about the Socialist cause. My hopes have considerably increased since the former chapters were written about three years ago. I hoped that by the time it is in book form, and the war has ceased to be the all-absorbing factor, the public would then turn their attention with equal enthusiasm to any book or subject dealing with their social and economic life and the Socialist cause. There is no given formula laid down in these pages. I do not claim sufficient intellectual capacity to do that. It is difficult for me to visualise even the initial step of the many evolutionary stages we must pass through before anything like a harmonised system of our social and economic life can be possible. Whatever we do, I shall always contend that, to do it properly it must be done by peaceful means.

Concerning that and other matters I shall have something to say in this final chapter. The war has continued even in a more brutal and devastating manner, also more inhuman in character and more indefinite about results.