Abstract

Josiah Wedgwood, Democrat

The book "Testament to Democracy," by Josiah Wedgwood is about democracy. Comparing Parliament with other instruments of democracy, Wedgwood considers a free press to be the most important but Parliament must function if democracy is not to languish. He thinks the rigid separation of the executive from the legislature in the Constitution of the U.S. was based entirely on the misconception of Parliament. Education of the electorate is, in Wedgwood's opinion, the only remedy against, and the only salvation from, fascist retrogression. But Wedgwood's "Testament" contains more than sound advice on how to save democracy, which is asserted to be in crisis only by those who ignore the fact that both freedom and democracy are the only legitimate twins of the civilization.