Secret of the League,

'The Secret of the League' is one of the less well-known of Ernest Bramah's books. It is a dystopian novel, bordering on sci-fi, in which England has overwhelmingly voted in a socialist government intent on heavily taxing and regulating British industry and wealthy individuals, and in developing programs to favor working class people, especially union members, by raising wages and limiting work hours/day. As a result of the costs of these programs, government finances are strained, and this leads to ever higher taxes and regulations. A counter-revolution is begun to turn back the clock in order to again favor the rich and middle class at the expense of the working class in the belief that this is the best approach to a well-functioning society. This book apparently influenced Orwell's novel 'Nineteen Eighty Four'. The book was originally published under the title 'What Might Have Been' in 1907 and was retitled in the 1909 edition.