George Gissing

Demos Annotated George Gissing

Demos: A Story of English Socialism is a novel by the English author George Gissing. It was written between late 1885 and March 1886 and first published in April 1886 by Smith, Elder & Co. It tells the story of a young, lower-class, Radical working-man, Richard Mutimer, who unexpectedly inherits a large fortune. He becomes the leader of a socialist movement and decides to use his inheritance to set up a cooperative factory. However, his new wealth and power serve to highlight the defects of character that he brings from his working-class origin and he begins to treat his workers harshly, as well as abandoning the girl of his own station to whom he had been engaged.