The Iron Heel
Encyclopedia
The Iron Heel is a dystopian novel
by American writer Jack London
, first published in 1908.
Generally considered to be "the earliest of the modern Dystopian", it chronicles the rise of an oligarchic
tyranny in the United States
. It is arguably the novel in which Jack London's socialist
views are most explicitly on display. A forerunner of soft science fiction
novels and stories of the 1960s and 1970s, the book stresses future changes in society and politics while paying much less attention to technological changes.
The book is uncommon among London's writings (and in the literature of the time in general) in being a first-person narrative of a woman protagonist written by a man.
or 419 B.O.M. (the Brotherhood of Man). Jack London thus writes at two levels, often having Meredith condescendingly correcting the errors of Everhard yet, at the same time, exposing the often incomplete understanding of this distant future perspective.
Meredith's introduction also acts as a huge and deliberate "spoiler
" (the term did not yet exist at the time of writing). Before ever getting a chance to get to know Avis and Ernest, how they fell in love or how Avis became politically involved, the reader is already told that all their struggles and hopes would end in total failure and repression, and that both of them would be summarily executed. This gives all that follows the air of a foreordained tragedy
. There is still left the consolation that a happy end would come for humanity as a whole – though hundreds of years too late for Avis and Ernest as individuals; the cruel oligarchy would fall, and the two will be vindicated and respected by posterity as pioneers and martyrs. (George Orwell
would forty years later specifically and explicitly deny that consolation to his Winston Smith
though he confirms it in appendix, and so would other later dystopian writers.)
The Manuscript itself covers the years 1912 through 1932 in which the Oligarchy
(or "Iron Heel") arose in the United States. In Asia, Japan conquered East Asia and created its own empire, India gained independence, and Europe became socialist. Canada, Mexico, and Cuba formed their own Oligarchies and were aligned with the U.S. (London remains silent as to the fates of South America, Africa, and the Middle East.)
In North America, the Oligarchy maintains power for three centuries until the Revolution succeeds and ushers in the Brotherhood of Man. During the years of the novel, the First Revolt is described and preparations for the Second Revolt are discussed. From the perspective of Everhard, the imminent Second Revolt is sure to succeed but, from the distant future perspective of Meredith, we readers realize that Everhard's hopes were to be crushed for centuries to come.
The Oligarchy are the largest monopoly
trusts
(or robber barons
) who manage to squeeze out the middle class
by bankrupting
most small to mid-sized business as well as reducing all farmers to effective serfdom
. This Oligarchy maintains power through a "labor caste
" and the Mercenaries. Labor in essential industries like steel and rail are elevated and given decent wages, housing, and education. Indeed, the tragic turn in the novel (and Jack London's core warning to his contemporaries) is the treachery of these favored unions which break with the other unions and side with the Oligarchy. Further, a second, military caste
is formed: the Mercenaries. The Mercenaries are officially the army of the US but are in fact in the employ of the Oligarchs.
Asgard is the name of a fictional wonder-city, a city constructed by the Oligarchy
to be admired and appreciated as well as lived in. Thousands of Proletariat
live in poverty there, and are used whenever a public work needs to be completed, such as the building of levee or a canal.
The Manuscript is, really, Everhard's autobiography
as she tells of: her privileged childhood as the daughter of an accomplished scientist; her marriage to the socialist revolutionary
Ernest Everhard; the fall of the US republic
; and her years in the underground
resistance
from the First Revolt through the years leading to the Second Revolt. By telling the story of Avis Everhard, the novel is essentially an adventurous
tale heavily strewn with social commentary
of an alternate future
(from a 1907 perspective). However, the future perspective of the scholar Meredith deepens the tragic plight of Everhard and her revolutionary comrades.
feel because, as with Orwell's 1984, the dating of these novels is now in our past. Jack London ambitiously predicted a breakdown of the US republic starting a few years past 1908 but various events have caused his predicted future to diverge from actual history. Most crucially, though London placed quite accurately the time when international tensions will reach their peak (1913 in "The Iron Heel", 1914 in actual history), he (like many others at the time) predicted that when this moment came labor solidarity would prevent a war that would include the US, Germany, and other nations. In reality, international
solidarity of labor and socialists did not avert war.
Further, London assumed that the Socialist Party
would become a mass party in the United States, strong enough to have a realistic chance of winning national elections and gaining power – while remaining a revolutionary party fully committed to the dismantling of capitalism, the whole book is based on Marx's view that capitalism was inherently unsustainable. This would precipitate a brutal counter-reaction, with capitalists preserving their power by discarding democracy and instituting a brutal repressive regime. Although this exact scenario never came to pass in the US, where the Socialist Party remained small and marginal, events closely followed London's script elsewhere – for example in Chile in 1973, where the government of Socialist president Salvador Allende
was overthrown by a CIA backed coup and forces led by General Augusto Pinochet
, prompting later publishers of London's book to use a cover illustration depicting a poster of Allende being ground beneath the heel of a boot.
The assumption of a powerful strong and militant mass Socialist Party emerging in the US was linked with London predicting that the middle class would shrink as monopolistic trusts crushed labor and small to mid-sized businesses. Instead the US Progressive Era
led to a breakup of the trusts, notably the application of the Sherman Antitrust Act
to Standard Oil
in 1911; at the same time, reforms such as labor unions
rights passed during the Progressive Era with further reforms during the New Deal
of the 1930s. Further, economic prosperity led to dramatic growth of the middle class in the 1920s and after World War II
.
Through the writing of Everhard and, particularly, the distant future perspective of Meredith, London demonstrated his belief in the historical materialism
of Marxism
which some have interpreted as predicting an inevitable succession from feudalism
through capitalism
and socialism
, ending in an a period without a state, based on Marx's maxim of 'from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.'
However, since the 2008 world financial crisis, the book now seems more prescient as the general public is better aware of powerful capitalistic interests, especially in the U.S. The rise of corporations such as Walmart that have effectively "squeezed" out many of its smaller competitors seems to be the very description of the trust (monopoly) that Everhard spoke of.
's biographer Michael Shelden
as having influenced Nineteen Eighty-Four
.
Harry Bridges
, influential labor leader in the mid-1900s, was "set afire" by Jack London's The Sea-Wolf
and The Iron Heel.
Granville Hicks
, reviewing Kurt Vonnegut
's Player Piano
, was reminded of The Iron Heel: "we are taken into the future and shown an America ruled by a tiny oligarchy, and here too there is a revolt that fails."
Chapter 7 of The Iron Heel is an almost verbatim copy of an ironic
essay by Frank Harris
(see Jack London: Accusations of plagiarism).
London's novella The Scarlet Plague
(1912), and some of his short stories, are placed in a dystopian future setting that closely resembles that of The Iron Heel, although there is no actual continuity of situations or characters.
Frederic Tuten
's debut novel The Adventures of Mao on the Long March
uses extensive quotes from The Iron Heel, placing them alongside details of Chinese history from 1912 to Mao
's rise to power.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by American writer Jack London
Jack London
John Griffith "Jack" London was an American author, journalist, and social activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone...
, first published in 1908.
Generally considered to be "the earliest of the modern Dystopian", it chronicles the rise of an oligarchic
Oligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
tyranny in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is arguably the novel in which Jack London's socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
views are most explicitly on display. A forerunner of soft science fiction
Soft science fiction
Soft science fiction, or soft SF, like its complementary opposite hard science fiction, is a descriptive term that points to the role and nature of the science content in a science fiction story...
novels and stories of the 1960s and 1970s, the book stresses future changes in society and politics while paying much less attention to technological changes.
The book is uncommon among London's writings (and in the literature of the time in general) in being a first-person narrative of a woman protagonist written by a man.
Plot summary
The novel is based on the (fictional) "Everhard Manuscript" written by Avis Everhard which she hid and which was subsequently found centuries later. In addition, this novel has an introduction and series of (often lengthy) footnotes written from the perspective of scholar Anthony Meredith. Meredith writes from around 2600 ADAnno Domini
and Before Christ are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars....
or 419 B.O.M. (the Brotherhood of Man). Jack London thus writes at two levels, often having Meredith condescendingly correcting the errors of Everhard yet, at the same time, exposing the often incomplete understanding of this distant future perspective.
Meredith's introduction also acts as a huge and deliberate "spoiler
Spoiler (media)
Spoiler is slang for any element of any summary or description of any piece of fiction that reveals any plot element which will give away the outcome of a dramatic episode within the work of fiction, or the conclusion of the entire work. It can also be used to refer to any piece of information...
" (the term did not yet exist at the time of writing). Before ever getting a chance to get to know Avis and Ernest, how they fell in love or how Avis became politically involved, the reader is already told that all their struggles and hopes would end in total failure and repression, and that both of them would be summarily executed. This gives all that follows the air of a foreordained tragedy
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
. There is still left the consolation that a happy end would come for humanity as a whole – though hundreds of years too late for Avis and Ernest as individuals; the cruel oligarchy would fall, and the two will be vindicated and respected by posterity as pioneers and martyrs. (George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
would forty years later specifically and explicitly deny that consolation to his Winston Smith
Winston Smith
Winston Smith is a fictional character and the protagonist of George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The character was employed by Orwell as an everyman in the setting of the novel, a "central eye ... [the reader] can readily identify with"...
though he confirms it in appendix, and so would other later dystopian writers.)
The Manuscript itself covers the years 1912 through 1932 in which the Oligarchy
Oligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
(or "Iron Heel") arose in the United States. In Asia, Japan conquered East Asia and created its own empire, India gained independence, and Europe became socialist. Canada, Mexico, and Cuba formed their own Oligarchies and were aligned with the U.S. (London remains silent as to the fates of South America, Africa, and the Middle East.)
In North America, the Oligarchy maintains power for three centuries until the Revolution succeeds and ushers in the Brotherhood of Man. During the years of the novel, the First Revolt is described and preparations for the Second Revolt are discussed. From the perspective of Everhard, the imminent Second Revolt is sure to succeed but, from the distant future perspective of Meredith, we readers realize that Everhard's hopes were to be crushed for centuries to come.
The Oligarchy are the largest monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
trusts
Trust (19th century)
A special trust or business trust is a business entity formed with intent to monopolize business, to restrain trade, or to fix prices. Trusts gained economic power in the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some, but not all, were organized as trusts in the legal sense...
(or robber barons
Robber barons
Robber baron may mean:*Robber baron, German nobles who levied illegal tolls in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries*Robber baron , a pejorative term for certain 19th to early 20th century American industrialists...
) who manage to squeeze out the middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
by bankrupting
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
most small to mid-sized business as well as reducing all farmers to effective serfdom
Serfdom
Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...
. This Oligarchy maintains power through a "labor caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
" and the Mercenaries. Labor in essential industries like steel and rail are elevated and given decent wages, housing, and education. Indeed, the tragic turn in the novel (and Jack London's core warning to his contemporaries) is the treachery of these favored unions which break with the other unions and side with the Oligarchy. Further, a second, military caste
Caste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
is formed: the Mercenaries. The Mercenaries are officially the army of the US but are in fact in the employ of the Oligarchs.
Asgard is the name of a fictional wonder-city, a city constructed by the Oligarchy
Oligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
to be admired and appreciated as well as lived in. Thousands of Proletariat
Proletariat
The proletariat is a term used to identify a lower social class, usually the working class; a member of such a class is proletarian...
live in poverty there, and are used whenever a public work needs to be completed, such as the building of levee or a canal.
The Manuscript is, really, Everhard's autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
as she tells of: her privileged childhood as the daughter of an accomplished scientist; her marriage to the socialist revolutionary
Revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either actively participates in, or advocates revolution. Also, when used as an adjective, the term revolutionary refers to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor.-Definition:...
Ernest Everhard; the fall of the US republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
; and her years in the underground
Underground resistance
Underground resistance may refer to*Underground Resistance , a musical collective from Detroit, Michigan*Underground resistance during World War II, the inhabitants of various locales resisting the rule of the Nazis, the Empire of Japan, and Mussolini...
resistance
Resistance movement
A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to opposing an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign state. It may seek to achieve its objects through either the use of nonviolent resistance or the use of armed force...
from the First Revolt through the years leading to the Second Revolt. By telling the story of Avis Everhard, the novel is essentially an adventurous
Adventure novel
The adventure novel is a genre of novels that has adventure, an exciting undertaking involving risk and physical danger, as its main theme.-History:...
tale heavily strewn with social commentary
Social commentary
Social commentary is the act of rebelling against an individual, or a group of people by rhetorical means, or commentary on social issues or society...
of an alternate future
Alternate future
In science fiction stories involving time travel, an alternative future or alternate future is a possible future which never comes to pass, typically because someone travels back into the past and alters it so that the events of the alternative future cannot occur.An alternative future differs from...
(from a 1907 perspective). However, the future perspective of the scholar Meredith deepens the tragic plight of Everhard and her revolutionary comrades.
Analysis
Given that The Iron Heel is now a century old, this novel has a somewhat alternate historyAlternate history (fiction)
Alternate history or alternative history is a genre of fiction consisting of stories that are set in worlds in which history has diverged from the actual history of the world. It can be variously seen as a sub-genre of literary fiction, science fiction, and historical fiction; different alternate...
feel because, as with Orwell's 1984, the dating of these novels is now in our past. Jack London ambitiously predicted a breakdown of the US republic starting a few years past 1908 but various events have caused his predicted future to diverge from actual history. Most crucially, though London placed quite accurately the time when international tensions will reach their peak (1913 in "The Iron Heel", 1914 in actual history), he (like many others at the time) predicted that when this moment came labor solidarity would prevent a war that would include the US, Germany, and other nations. In reality, international
Internationalism (politics)
Internationalism is a political movement which advocates a greater economic and political cooperation among nations for the theoretical benefit of all...
solidarity of labor and socialists did not avert war.
Further, London assumed that the Socialist Party
Socialist Party USA
The Socialist Party USA is a multi-tendency democratic-socialist party in the United States. The party states that it is the rightful continuation and successor to the tradition of the Socialist Party of America, which had lasted from 1901 to 1972.The party is officially committed to left-wing...
would become a mass party in the United States, strong enough to have a realistic chance of winning national elections and gaining power – while remaining a revolutionary party fully committed to the dismantling of capitalism, the whole book is based on Marx's view that capitalism was inherently unsustainable. This would precipitate a brutal counter-reaction, with capitalists preserving their power by discarding democracy and instituting a brutal repressive regime. Although this exact scenario never came to pass in the US, where the Socialist Party remained small and marginal, events closely followed London's script elsewhere – for example in Chile in 1973, where the government of Socialist president Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende
Salvador Allende Gossens was a Chilean physician and politician who is generally considered the first democratically elected Marxist to become president of a country in Latin America....
was overthrown by a CIA backed coup and forces led by General Augusto Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
, prompting later publishers of London's book to use a cover illustration depicting a poster of Allende being ground beneath the heel of a boot.
The assumption of a powerful strong and militant mass Socialist Party emerging in the US was linked with London predicting that the middle class would shrink as monopolistic trusts crushed labor and small to mid-sized businesses. Instead the US Progressive Era
Progressive Era
The Progressive Era in the United States was a period of social activism and political reform that flourished from the 1890s to the 1920s. One main goal of the Progressive movement was purification of government, as Progressives tried to eliminate corruption by exposing and undercutting political...
led to a breakup of the trusts, notably the application of the Sherman Antitrust Act
Sherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act requires the United States federal government to investigate and pursue trusts, companies, and organizations suspected of violating the Act. It was the first Federal statute to limit cartels and monopolies, and today still forms the basis for most antitrust litigation by...
to Standard Oil
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
in 1911; at the same time, reforms such as labor unions
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
rights passed during the Progressive Era with further reforms during the New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
of the 1930s. Further, economic prosperity led to dramatic growth of the middle class in the 1920s and after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Through the writing of Everhard and, particularly, the distant future perspective of Meredith, London demonstrated his belief in the historical materialism
Historical materialism
Historical materialism is a methodological approach to the study of society, economics, and history, first articulated by Karl Marx as "the materialist conception of history". Historical materialism looks for the causes of developments and changes in human society in the means by which humans...
of Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
which some have interpreted as predicting an inevitable succession from feudalism
Feudalism
Feudalism was a set of legal and military customs in medieval Europe that flourished between the 9th and 15th centuries, which, broadly defined, was a system for ordering society around relationships derived from the holding of land in exchange for service or labour.Although derived from the...
through capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
and socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, ending in an a period without a state, based on Marx's maxim of 'from each according to his ability, to each according to his need.'
However, since the 2008 world financial crisis, the book now seems more prescient as the general public is better aware of powerful capitalistic interests, especially in the U.S. The rise of corporations such as Walmart that have effectively "squeezed" out many of its smaller competitors seems to be the very description of the trust (monopoly) that Everhard spoke of.
Influences and effects
The Iron Heel is cited by George OrwellGeorge Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
's biographer Michael Shelden
Michael Shelden
Michael Shelden is an American biographer and teacher, notable for his authorized biography of George Orwell, his history of Cyril Connolly ’s Horizon magazine, and his controversial biography of Graham Greene. His most recent book, Mark Twain: Man in White, was published in January...
as having influenced Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
.
Harry Bridges
Harry Bridges
Harry Bridges was an Australian-American union leader, in the International Longshore and Warehouse Union , a longshore and warehouse workers' union on the West Coast, Hawaii and Alaska which he helped form and led for over 40 years...
, influential labor leader in the mid-1900s, was "set afire" by Jack London's The Sea-Wolf
The Sea-Wolf
The Sea-Wolf is a 1904 psychological adventure novel by American novelist Jack London about a literary critic, survivor of an ocean collision who comes under the dominance of Wolf Larsen, the powerful and amoral sea captain who rescues him...
and The Iron Heel.
Granville Hicks
Granville Hicks
Granville Hicks was an American Marxist as well as an anti-Marxist novelist, literary critic, educator, and editor.-Life:...
, reviewing Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early...
's Player Piano
Player Piano
Player Piano, author Kurt Vonnegut's first novel, was published in 1952. It is a dystopia of automation and capitalism, describing the dereliction they cause in the quality of life. The...
, was reminded of The Iron Heel: "we are taken into the future and shown an America ruled by a tiny oligarchy, and here too there is a revolt that fails."
Chapter 7 of The Iron Heel is an almost verbatim copy of an ironic
Irony
Irony is a rhetorical device, literary technique, or situation in which there is a sharp incongruity or discordance that goes beyond the simple and evident intention of words or actions...
essay by Frank Harris
Frank Harris
Frank Harris was a Irish-born, naturalized-American author, editor, journalist and publisher, who was friendly with many well-known figures of his day...
(see Jack London: Accusations of plagiarism).
London's novella The Scarlet Plague
The Scarlet Plague
The Scarlet Plague is a post-apocalyptic fiction novel written by Jack London and originally published in London Magazine in 1912.The story takes place in 2073, sixty years after an uncontrollable epidemic, the Red Death, has depopulated the planet...
(1912), and some of his short stories, are placed in a dystopian future setting that closely resembles that of The Iron Heel, although there is no actual continuity of situations or characters.
Frederic Tuten
Frederic Tuten
Frederic Tuten is an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. He has written five novels – The Adventures of Mao on the Long March , Tallien: A Brief Romance , Tintin in the New World: A Romance , Van Gogh's Bad Café and The Green Hour – as well as one book of inter-related short...
's debut novel The Adventures of Mao on the Long March
The Adventures of Mao on the Long March
The Adventures of Mao on the Long March is Frederic Tuten's first published novel. The novel is a fictionalized account of Chairman Mao's rise to power, and is highly experimental in nature, including extensive use of parody and collage.-Plot summary:...
uses extensive quotes from The Iron Heel, placing them alongside details of Chinese history from 1912 to Mao
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
's rise to power.
Events of 1900–1908
These events take place before the time of writing and most of them actually happened in our history, though the interpretation and significance given to them by London is not always the same as seen from a present-time perspective.- 1900 – Most recent U.S. census figures prior to writing of the novel; Ernest cites these as evidence of inequality in the United States
- 1902 – Socialist voting strength at 12,713
- 1902 – "Our Benevolent Feudalism," published by W. J. Ghent was later used by the Oligarchy for many of their ideas, despite being satirical http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9506E0D9153CE633A25750C0A9609C946396D6CF
- 1902 – President of the Coal Trust George F. Baer proclaims the 'Divine right of Capitalists',
- 1902 – The Board of TradeBoard of TradeThe Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...
report declares that the railroad trusts control the legislature completely - 1903 – The Militia ActMilitia Act of 1903The National Guard Bureau is the federal instrument responsible for the administration of the National Guard of the United States established by the United States Congress as a joint bureau of the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force. It was created by the Militia Act of 1903...
or Dick Act is passed by Congress making it possible for the government to call up able bodied men to fight - July 1903 – E. Untermann, a revolutionary, publishes a critical pamphlet on the "Militia Bill"
- 1904 – Socialist voting strength at 435,040
- 1905 – Theodore RooseveltTheodore RooseveltTheodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
in the address at the Harvard commencement recounts how lawyers can help the rich evade the law - May 21, 1905 – Socialists in Italy, Austria and Hungary prevent war by threatening a general strike
- 1905 – Socialists in Germany and France prevent war by threatening a general strike over the Morocco Affair
- 1905 – Law on Child Labour in PennsylvaniaPennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
overruled by the courts, as being "unconstitutional" – i.e., "discriminating on the grounds of age". New YorkNew YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Law on limited opening hours for bakerBakerA baker is someone who bakes and sells bread, Cakes and similar foods may also be produced, as the traditional boundaries between what is produced by a baker as opposed to a pastry chef have blurred in recent decades...
ies overruled by courts on the grounds of "interfering with liberty of business" - April 18, 1906 – Great San Francisco Earthquake
- 1906 – Robert HunterRobert Hunter (author)Robert Hunter was an American sociologist and progressive author.-Early life:Robert Hunter was born on April 10, 1874 at Terre Haute, Indiana the middle of five children born over thirteen years to William Robert and Caroline “Callie” Hunter...
publishes "Poverty", describing the 10 million Americans living in poverty - 1906 – James FarleyJames FarleyJames Aloysius Farley was the first Irish Catholic politician in American history to achieve success on a national level, serving as Chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and as Postmaster General simultaneously under the first two...
leads an Army of strike breakers from New York to San Francisco, to break a strike by street car men - 1906 – Lord AveburyJohn Lubbock, 1st Baron AveburyJohn Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury PC , FRS , known as Sir John Lubbock, 4th Baronet from 1865 until 1900, was a polymath and Liberal Member of Parliament....
warns of a Socialist revolution if poverty among the proletariat is not alleviated - Fall 1906 – Austin Lewis runs for Governor of CaliforniaGovernor of CaliforniaThe Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
on a Socialist ticket - 1908 – Socialist voting strength at 1,108,427
Events of 1908–1913
The following years are after the time of writing, and the events attributed to them are fictional and depart drastically from our history.- 1910 – Socialist voting strength at 1,688,211. Census figures are not made public.
- February 1912 – Ernest Everhard first meets Avis Cunningham, her father John Cunningham, and Bishop Morehouse at dinner
- 1912 – Avis investigates the case of a disabled worker, Jackson, and becomes a committed socialist
- 1912 – Ernest and Avis decide to be married
- Tuesday 1912 – Ernest addresses the Philomath Club where he estimates the strength of the International Socialist Movement at about 25 million, and mentions 15 million Americans living in poverty, and three million children in work. The future Oligarch Wickson claims that they will use any means necessary to stop the Socialists taking power.
- 1912 – Bishop Morehouse delivers a sermon regarding the poor at the IPH and is considered 'over excited' and is afterwards committed to an insane asylum.
- Spring 1912 – Dinner of the 'Machine Breakers' at which Ernest Everhard first uses the term "Iron Heel",
- 1912 – John Cunningham, the father of Avis Everhard, publishes the controversial "Economics and Education" and is dismissed from his university post as a result
- 1912 – Socialist publishing houses are attacked by mobs of 'Black Hundreds'. 'Appeal to Reason' is destroyed in one of these attacks.
- 1912 – Harsh action taken against unions in San Francisco increases support for the Socialists
- Summer 1912 – Crash on Wall StreetWall StreetWall Street refers to the financial district of New York City, named after and centered on the eight-block-long street running from Broadway to South Street on the East River in Lower Manhattan. Over time, the term has become a metonym for the financial markets of the United States as a whole, or...
, trusts use this as an opportunity to squeeze out the middle classes and make enormous profits at the same time - 1912 – Ernest Everhard, Avis Cunningham, and John Cunningham are forced out of their property and jobs by the Oligarchs. They move into slum accommodation on Pell Street
- Late Summer 1912 – Avis Everheart encounters Bishop Morehouse in the slums, who disappears shortly afterwards.
- Fall 1912 – William Randolph HearstWilliam Randolph HearstWilliam Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
's businesses are destroyed by the Oligarchs, causing a loss of power within the Democratic Party. - Fall 1912 – Socialist electoral breakthrough- fifty Socialist Congressmen elected and ally with the Grange Party which wins around a dozen governorships in rural states
- Winter 1912 – Germany and U.S.A prepare for war, which Ernest believes is a result of lobbying by war profiteersWar profiteeringA war profiteer is any person or organization that profits from warfare or by selling weapons and other goods to parties at war. The term has strong negative connotations. General profiteering may also occur in peace time.-International arms dealers:...
- 4 December 1912 – American and German Navies clash, leading to a declaration of war on the following day
- 1912 – Socialists in both countries launch a general strikeGeneral strikeA general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
leading to peace and an alliance between Germany and U.S. - December 1912 – George Milford publishes "Ye Slaves" which is the earliest use of the term "Iron Heel" known before the discovery of the Everhard manuscript
- 1912 – Ernest writes his book "Philosophy and Revolution"
- January 1913 – Ernest predicts the victory of the Oligarchs and defection of the unions
- 1913 O'Connor, leader of the Machinists Union, refuses to give Everhard assurances that they will agree to another general strikeGeneral strikeA general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
, leading to the beginning of the defection of the 'Big Unions' - 1913 – Big Unions break leave international groups and affiliations and join the Iron Heel. Beginning of a favored "Labor Aristocracy" who live in in upper middle-class neighborhoods.
- 1913 – Rise of religious AdventistAdventistAdventism is a Christian movement which began in the 19th century, in the context of the Second Great Awakening revival in the United States. The name refers to belief in the imminent Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It was started by William Miller, whose followers became known as Millerites...
s in the countryside, who go to the hills to await the ApocalypseApocalypseAn Apocalypse is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The Apocalypse of John is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament...
. Most starve to death or are murdered by the Iron Heel - Spring 1913 – Many of the Socialists and Grangers who attempt to take their political seats are prevented from doing so
- 1913 – The Iron Heel begins confiscating farmland from indebted farmers
- 1913 – Iron Heel send their secret agents to start a riot in SacramentoSacramentoSacramento is the capital of the state of California, in the United States of America.Sacramento may also refer to:- United States :*Sacramento County, California*Sacramento, Kentucky*Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta...
. Soldiers are sent in, who kill 11,000 residents - 1913 – Militia Law of 1903 put into effect, Mr Kowalt and Mr Asmunsen court-martialCourt-martialA court-martial is a military court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the armed forces subject to military law, and, if the defendant is found guilty, to decide upon punishment.Most militaries maintain a court-martial system to try cases in which a breach of...
led and executed for refusing to serve - 22 April 1913 – Agents of the Iron Heel murder the officers of the Kansas Militia, resulting in open mutiny. All 6000 militiamen are quickly killed
- 1913 – The strike of 3/4 million coal miners is crushed
- 1913 – Alfred Pocock I's first experience of 'Slave Driving', the subjugation of striking workers. An internal passport systemInternal passportAn internal passport is an identity document used in some countries to control the internal movement and residence of its people. Countries that currently have internal passports include Russia, Ukraine, China and North Korea...
is introduced on the urging of Pocock to track and restrict the movement of citizens across the United States. - 1913 – Formation of the 'fighting groups' by Ernest Everhard to combat Iron Heel influence
- 1913 – Destruction of Granger states during a farmer rebellion and their power as a party. Socialists become largest third party
- 1913 – Pervaise, a prison inmate, agrees to deal from the Iron Heel to throw a bomb in Congress during Ernest Everhard's introduction of his bill on unemployment relief in return for freedom. The act is blamed on the Socialists prompting soldiers to storm Congress and arrest all Socialist congressmen.
- 1913 – All of the Socialist Congressmen, including Ernest Everhard, and other party members are convicted and sent to jails throughout the United States. Ernest is sent to Alcatraz PrisonAlcatraz IslandAlcatraz Island is an island located in the San Francisco Bay, offshore from San Francisco, California, United States. Often referred to as "The Rock" or simply "Traz", the small island was developed with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, a military prison, and a Federal...
- Autumn 1913 – Avis Everhard is released from prison and returns to San Francisco. She hides in the Glen Ellen Refuge, one of many hideouts for the revolutionaries.
Events of 1913
- Germany, Italy, France, Australia, and New Zealand overthrow their governments and form cooperative commonwealths under Socialist governments following the end of the war between Germany and the United States.
- Japan brutally suppresses its revolution and forms an Oligarchy. It goes on to conquer the rest of Asia, except for India.
- Britain crushes its own revolution but loses most of its empireBritish EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
- Canada becomes independent but crushes its revolution with the help of the Iron Heel and establishes an Oligarchy
- Mexico and Cuba crush their revolutions and create Oligarchies with the help of the Iron Heel
Events of 1914–1942
- 1914 – Avis Everhard creates her new identity of Mary Holmes and perfects her ability to infiltrate the ranks of the Iron Heel
- 1914 – Disappearance of John Cunningham
- September 1914 – Pervaise is struck with Heart Rheumatism and confesses to a priest on his death bed of the truth behind the Congress bomb plot
- Late summer, 1915 – Wholesale jail delivery takes place, in which 51 of the 52 imprisoned Congressmen and 300 other leaders were released by the revolutionaries. Arthur Simpson not released as he died in prison from torture.
- 1916? – The son of the Oligarch Mr. Wickson, Phillip Wickson, joins the cause and acts as an agent with in the Iron Heel.
- January 1917 – Ernest and Avis Everhard infiltrate the Iron-Heel as one of their many agents-provocateursFalse flagFalse flag operations are covert operations designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is flying the flag of a country other than one's own...
- October 27, 1917 – The premature beginning of ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
Commune, instigated by the Iron Heel in order to crush it early, results in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of mercenaries and rebels including Hartman and Bishop Morehouse; Garthwaite is injured and taken to hospital. The south side Chicago ghettoSouth Side (Chicago)The South Side is a major part of the City of Chicago, which is located in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Much of it has evolved from the city's incorporation of independent townships, such as Hyde Park Township which voted along with several other townships to be annexed in the June 29,...
is destroyed and repopulated with workers from other cities. - Early Spring, 1918 – Planned date for the first revolt, which is crushed by the Iron Heel due to its poor coordination and planning
- 1918 – Avis Everhard attends a meeting of the violent revolutionary group the 'Frisco Reds, where she meets Peter Donnelly. Peter Donnelly's son, Timothy, is said to be lost but is later discovered to have joined the Mercenaries.
- 1920 – At the Benton HarborBenton Harbor, MichiganBenton Harbor is a city in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan which is located west of Kalamazoo. The population was 10,038 at the 2010 census. It is the lesser populated of the two principal cities included in the Niles-Benton Harbor, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a...
refuge in MichiganMichiganMichigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
, Ernest and Avis Everhard see an example of the revolutionary tribunals who convict enemies and traitors to the movement. - 1920 – Garthwaite returns to the revolutionaries
- 1923 – Ernest Everhard calculates life expectancyLife expectancyLife expectancy is the expected number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is denoted by ex, which means the average number of subsequent years of life for someone now aged x, according to a particular mortality experience...
after joining a fighting group to be just five years - 1927 – Philip Wickson dies as a result of pneumonia contracted in 'The Great Storm' while attending a meeting of revolutionary leaders
- 1928 – Execution of the revolutionary writer Rudolph Medenhall, known as "The Flame"
- 1931 – NashvilleNashville, TennesseeNashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
Massacre, where Timothy Donnelly commanded the mercenaries to kill 800 striking weavers - 1931 – Anna Roylston captures and hands over Timothy Donnelly to the 'Frisco Reds, becoming a legendary revolutionary and gaining the nickname of "The Red Virgin"
- 1932 – Beginning of the construction of wonder city of Asgard
- Spring 1932 – The secret execution of Ernest Everhard
- Summer 1932 – Avis flees to Wake Robin Lodge in California and writes the Everhard Manuscript
- 1932 – Avis hides the Everhard manuscript in an oak tree before being captured by the mercenaries, and is presumably killed.
- 1932 – The Second Revolt takes place in America with support from Italy, France, Germany, and Australia but ultimately fails. Its failure leads to the fall of the Socialist governments of Italy, France, Germany, and Australia which are replaced with oligarchies. The Red 'Friscos become active again
- 1942 – Completion of the wonder-city of Ardis
Events of 1984 A.D.- 2632 A.D.
From here on, the continuous historical narrative ceases, with the end of the Everhard Manuscript and the events immediately following its completion, and only isolated events separated by decades or centuries are provided by the footnotes in the book.- 1984 – Completion of the wonder-city of Asgard
- 2002 – Total destruction of the 'Frisco Reds after an Iron Heel agent infiltrates their ranks and exposes them
- 2073 – Death of Pocock V in an explosion of a pump-house during a miner revolt in the Indian TerritoryIndian TerritoryThe Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...
(which in this history never became the State of OklahomaOklahomaOklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
). The Pocock line ends. - 2138 – Trial and execution of the infamous Mercenary General Lampton after numerous attempts by the Fighting Groups to capture him. He is finally captured by Madeline Provence, who infiltrated his palace as a seamstress. He is executed by crucifixion. Madeline Provence is imprisoned by the Iron Heel and dies in prison.
- 2237 – The Iron Heel is finally overthrown after many attempted revolutions at some point during this time. The Socialist Brotherhood of Man is established. Approximate start of the then new dating system.
- 2368 – The Great Earthquake strikes California
- November 27 419 B.O.M. (November 27 2632 A.D.) – Anthony Meredith of Ardis writes the introduction and notes to the newly discovered Everhard Manuscript
Translations
- Arabic Translation by Munir Baalbaki: العقب الحديدية
- Armenian Translation: Երկաթե կրունկ
- Czechish Translation: Železná pata
- Danish Translation: Jernhælen
- Norwegian Translation: Jernhælen
- Esperanto Translation: La Fera Kalkanumo
- Estonian Translation: Raudne kand
- Finnish Translation: Rautakorko
- French Translation: Le Talon de Fer
- German Translation: Die eiserne Ferse
- Hungarian Translation: A vaspata
- Italian Translation: Il tallone di ferro
- Macedonian Translation: Железната петица
- Korean Translation: 강철군화
- Polish Translation: Żelazna stopa
- Portuguese Translation: O Tacão de Ferro
- Russian Translation: Железная пята
- Spanish Translation: El Talón de Hierro
- Swedish Translation: Järnhälen
- Thai Translation: ท๊อปบู้ตทมิฬ
- Turkish Translation: Demir Ökçe
- Lithuanian Translation: Geležinis Kulnas
- Latvian Translation: Dzelzs Papēdis
See also
- Business PlotBusiness PlotThe Business Plot was an alleged political conspiracy in 1933. Retired Marine Corps Major General Smedley Butler claimed that wealthy businessmen were plotting to create a fascist veterans' organization and use it in a coup d’état to overthrow United States President Franklin D...
a 1933 scheme by businessmen to overthrow the government in reaction to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's economic reforms.
External links
- For the full text see http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/London/Writings/IronHeel
- Review by Spike Magazine
- "How did Jack London's socialist adventures end?" by Ben Myers
- Audiobook recording of The Iron Heel by Matt Soar