Editing H. G. Wells (section)

===Travels to Russia and the Soviet Union===
[[File:СССР. Павлов И.П., Г. Уэллс и внучка Павлова Милочка. 1924г. (pavlovs museum).jpg|thumb|Wells (left) pictured with Soviet physiologist [[Ivan Pavlov]]]]
Wells visited Russia three times: 1914, 1920 and 1934. After his visits to [[Saint Petersburg|Petrograd]] and [[Moscow]], in January 1914, he came back to England, "a staunch Russophile". His views were recorded in a newspaper article, "Russia and England: A Study on Contrasts", published in ''[[The Daily News (UK)|The Daily News]]'' on 1 February 1941, and in his novel ''[[Joan and Peter]]'' (1918).<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv346p26.9 |chapter=H.{{nbsp}}G. Wells : Interpreting the 'Writing on the Eastern Wall of Europe' |last1=Soboleva |first1=Olga |last2=Wrenn |first2=Angus |date=2017 |title=From Orientalism to Cultural Capital |pages=101–142 |publisher=Peter Lang AG |jstor=j.ctv346p26.9 |isbn=9783034322034}}</ref>  During his second visit, he saw his old friend [[Maxim Gorky]] and with Gorky's help, met [[Vladimir Lenin]]. In his book ''[[Russia in the Shadows]]'', Wells portrayed Russia as recovering from a total social collapse, "the completest that has ever happened to any modern social organisation".<ref>H.{{nbsp}}G. Wells, ''Russia in the Shadows'' (New York: George H. Doran, 1921), p. 21.</ref> On 23 July 1934, after visiting U.S. President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], Wells went to the Soviet Union and interviewed [[Joseph Stalin]] for three hours for the ''[[New Statesman]]'' magazine, which was extremely rare at that time. He told Stalin how he had seen 'the happy faces of healthy people' in contrast with his previous visit to Moscow in 1920.<ref>{{cite web |title=H.{{nbsp}}G. Wells Interviews Joseph Stalin in 1934; Declares "I Am More to The Left Than You, Mr. Stalin" |url=http://www.openculture.com/2014/04/h-g-wells-interviews-joseph-stalin-in-1934.html |website=Open Culture |access-date=3 June 2018}}</ref> However, he also criticised the lawlessness, class discrimination, state violence, and absence of [[Freedom of speech|free expression]]. Stalin enjoyed the conversation and replied accordingly. As the chairman of the London-based [[PEN International]], which protected the rights of authors to write without being intimidated, Wells hoped by his trip to USSR, he could win Stalin over by force of argument. Before he left, he realised that no reform was to happen in the near future.<ref>{{cite book |last=Service |first=Robert |title=Comrades |date=2007 |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]] |location=[[London]] |page=205}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=MARXISM VERSUS LIBERALISM |url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/stalin/works/1934/07/23.htm |publisher=Red Star Press Ltd. |access-date=2018-06-03}}</ref>