 From January to October 1890 , Morris serialised his novel , News from Nowhere , in Commonweal , resulting in improved circulation for the paper . In March 1891 it was published in book form , before being translated into French , Italian , and German by 1898 and becoming a classic among Europe 's socialist community . Combining utopian socialism and soft science fiction , the book tells the tale of a contemporary socialist , William Guest , who falls asleep and awakes in the mid @-@ 20th century , discovering a future society based on common ownership and democratic control of the means of production . In this society there is no private property , no big cities , no authority , no monetary system , no divorce , no courts , no prisons , and no class systems ; it was a depiction of Morris ' ideal socialist society . 
