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Title: Iron Heel by Jack London, H. Bruce Franklin ISBN: 1-55652-071-9 Publisher: Lawrence Hill & Co Pub. Date: July, 1990 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.06 (17 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Jack London's prophetic 1908 dystopian novel
Comment: In 1905 the troops of the Tsar crushed the Russian revolution of 1905. Although the uprising did force Nicholas II to establish a constitution and a parliament, the Russian revolution of 1917 would change the face of the world. However, the uprising also had the interesting effect of inspiring two of the more interesting utopian novels of the early 20th century. One was "Red Star," the socialist utopia on Mars created by the Russian writer Alexander Bogdanov, a Bolshevik and intimate of Lenin. The other was "The Iron Heel," by Jack London, the American author best known for "The Call of the Wild." Whereas Bogdanov forsees the ultimate victory of the socialist and scientific-technical revolutions, London predicts global revolutionary and counter-revolutionary forces ending up in an apocalyptic battle betwen the impoverished workers and the privileged minorities. Consequently, the two authors share a common socialist perspective, although Bogdanov writes a utopian novel and London creates a dystopia.
"The Iron Heel" was written in 1908 and remains one of the more prophetic novels of the 20th century. His track record with regards to a national secret police agency, the rise of Fascism, the creation of attractive suburbs for the middle class while the unemployed and menials live in "ghettoes," is markedly better than that of Edward Belleamy's "Looking Backward," Aldoux Huxley's "Brave New World," or George Orwell's "1984," the novels that are usually lauded and judged by their prescience in terms of utopian literature.
The novel presents the story of the American revolutionary Earnest Everhard, as told by his wife Avis, who is actually the more effective revolutionary leader. London tells how the manuscript was unknown for seven centuries, to be discovered long after the final triumph of socialist democracy in the yar 419 B.O.M. Avis Everhard describes the struggles of the working masses against the oligarchy, and how they were ruthlessly suppressed, especially in the Chicago Commune that is the main setting for the action. There is a strong current of violence, with Black Hundreds wrecking the socialist presses,a bomb exploding in the House of Representatives, and revolutionaries being hunted down by the military arm of the government known as the Iron Heel. The Everhard Manuscript breaks off in the middle of a sentence, a footnote explaining that history does not know if the author escaped or was captured.
The story is somewhat atypical for London in that it does not represent the white supremacist and male dominant vision of the world we usually find in his novels. London's message is the blatant warning that if you allow the Revolution to be defeated, then the ruling class will "grind you revolutionists down under our heel, and we shall walk upon your faces." Ultimately "The Iron Heel" is a novel whose importance clearly outstrips its literary quality. The problem is that with the end of World War II and the defeat (essentially) of Fascism that London's novel was no longer of interest as the world was confronted with a new set of problems. Yet, London's dytopian novel is one of the works in that genre that deserves to be reconsidered more often.
Rating: 4
Summary: Exciting story envelops rationale of 20th century socialism.
Comment: The genres of science fiction, socialist polemics,
utopian and anti-utopian novels, and love stories all
intersect in Jack London's "The Iron Heel".
In the beginning of the story, we meet Eugene Everhard,
proponent of classic 20th century socialism. I am not
aware of any more easily read statement of the principles
of socialism than the first half of this book. It makes
clear the theory of surplus profits causing economic
collapse. While the theory is fallacious (accumulating
inventories would lead to reduced prices and gradually
reduced production), the matter has historical interest.
We feel the excitement of the socialists in their fervent
struggle to build a new and better world.
The electorate in California sends Eugene to Congress,
but the capitalist Oligarchy becomes alarmed and sends
its Mercenaries to arrest and imprison the socialist
members of Congress.
The socialists go underground. We follow Eugene's wife
Avis to a rural hideout. Spies of the Oligarchy are
everywhere, yet the socialists have infiltrated their
ranks as well. Brave socialists spring Eugene
from prison. After a short visit with Avis, he is off
to the East Coast to inspire the comrades there.
Avis, disguised as an agent of the Oligarchy secret
service, arrives in Chicago just as three local
Mercenary regiments mutiny. They in turn come under attack
from forces loyal to the Oligarchy and are destroyed.
The Mercenaries then attack the mutineers' support
structure, the
workers of Chicago and the impoverished slave underclass.
The description of the battle and the destruction of
the city rivals the vividness of Chanson de Roland and we
are awed.
The footnotes convey to us the thoughts of an educated
person of the 27th century, hence making a utopian
fiction subplot.
You will remember the imagery of "The Iron Heel".
-- Daniel Brockman, Feb 5 1997
Rating: 4
Summary: Everhard or London: which was the rapid socialist here?
Comment: I did enjoy the book myself though it dragged in many parts and in some parts confusing, especially in the chapter known as "Mechanics of a Dream" which was a troulbing chapter. The book was a rapid apporach on socialism and the evantually downfall of captialism which i agree with, with captailsim being the downfall of everything.I would recommend this book to many people who have any views or intrest on communist or socialist history and plus its a great novel.
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Title: We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, Mirra Ginsburg ISBN: 0380633132 Publisher: Eos Pub. Date: 03 August, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Looking Backward: 2000-1887 by Edward Bellamy, Walter James Miller ISBN: 0451527631 Publisher: Signet Pub. Date: May, 2000 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: Martin Eden by Jack London ISBN: 0140187723 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: February, 1994 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The People of the Abyss: Centenary Edition by Jack London, Brigitte Koenig ISBN: 0745318029 Publisher: Pluto Press Pub. Date: October, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: John Barleycorn by Pete Hamill, Jack London ISBN: 0375757929 Publisher: Modern Library Pub. Date: 11 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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