Ihmisten kapina

"Ihmisten kapina : Kolminäytöksinen draama" by Lauri Haarla is a three-act play written in the early 20th century. Set in a futuristic third millennium, it dramatizes a clash between a world-dominating trust magnate, Huggs, and his idealistic son Robert, with workers, politicians, and adventurers drawn into a struggle over monopoly, justice, and human dignity. Key figures include the ruthless heir Ernst, the fragile Gertrud, the lively Graciosa, and the engineer Straum. The play explores how private power, statecraft, and family loyalties collide when an empire seeks to control the globe. The opening of the play presents Huggs in his fortress-like office, worshipping a private shrine as he rules markets and governments, while his wife Bertha pleads for their troubled son Ernst and news arrives that Robert is returning with a captured Union (Uniooni) air fleet. Huggs flaunts his dominance over ministers and a president seeking rescue, mocks a would-be royal claimant, and prepares to hand his system to Robert. When Robert arrives with Graciosa, he confronts Huggs over brutal labor policies and vows either reconciliation with the Union or open struggle; Huggs counters with a cold plan to starve Europe to win, demanding Robert’s submission before a sacred portrait, which Ernst desecrates, shattering the moment. The second act shifts to a Union shipyard where Ernst’s “Catiline’s boys” plot sabotage, Gertrud warns Straum of danger, and Robert urges workers to reject Huggs’s rich bribes and choose a peaceful, coordinated strike to stop his final monopoly; the workers agree just as Huggs appears to accuse Robert and Straum of deceiving them, claiming Europe’s fate is already sealed.

Summary written by Project Gutenberg, by machine.