6. The bourgeoisie countered with a cold war aimed to exterminate socialism-communism, using propaganda, petty reform and armed intervention as its chief agencies.
7. The high birth rate, the prolongation of life and mass education provided society with a substantial body of skilled, experienced, socially conscious, alert citizens, increasingly aware of the historical changes through which they were living and determined to intervene whenever their well-being was threatened.
8. Extension and equalization of opportunity opened the way for an informed citizenry to express itself and defend its interests.
9. Emerging planet-wide social consciousness spread an awareness that the concerns, plans and programs of any part of the human family are of vital importance to the whole of mankind.
Change is a universal force which operates in nature, in society, in man himself. At times it takes place so gradually that one day seems like another. At other times it operates with furious energy, turning things upside-down overnight. Such change, whether it takes place in nature or in society is revolutionary.
Rome's demise as a world power was followed by centuries of quietude—The Dark Ages. These in turn yielded to a period of revolutionary change that found its early expression in the voyages and discoveries that spanned the earth after 1450. Three centuries later the rebirth of western humanity expressed itself in the industrial revolution that flooded across the planet and became an early stage of the planet-wide sweep that has played havoc with nature, turned the old society upside down and presently promises to produce a new society for a reborn human race.
World-wide revolution is the predominant force in the twentieth century. Its existence and some of its consequences have become an all-embracing theme for thought and discussion. They have put into the hands of present-day humanity the ideas, experiments and experiences needed for transforming nature, rebuilding social institutions and practices and opening the way for mankind to move confidently into a future replete with intriguing and exciting possibilities.
An excellent summary of this entire field is appearing in a six volume History of Mankind, sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Volume six of the history is titled The Twentieth Century. Particularly noteworthy is an Introduction of more than a hundred printed pages, Part I, The Development and Application of Scientific Knowledge, and Part II on The Transformation of Societies. Events surrounding the war of 1914-18 are correctly described as "a turning point in world history." (Vol. VI p. 11)
World revolution is one aspect of present-day society. From our present vantage point we cannot tell how far it will go or what it will do to humanity and its present habitat.
Advances in science and technology have provided mankind with a new stage on which to go through a new act and speak a new piece. What effect will they have on the institutions and practices of western civilization? Have they rendered the forms and functions of civilization obsolete? Or can western civilization adapt itself or be adapted to the very difficult situation created by the revolution through which human society is presently passing? Can western civilization be reformed to meet the new historical situation created by the great revolution or must it be rejected and replaced?