Cc 301 - the Iron Heel

Brooke Scahill

Professor Weiss

CC301

31 October 2017

Power and Control

        Despite being written well before the rise of fascism in power-hungry countries such as Italy, Germany and Russia, Jack London’s The Iron Heel touches upon the effects of absolute governmental control in a country. Jack London was born in 1876. At a young age, he grew an interest in politics and advocating his socialistic ideas. London made an income as a factory worker, and began writing to escape the terrible life of a factory worker. London often wrote stories and books about societal concerns such as capitalism, poverty and alcoholism (Stasz 1). The dystopian novel The Iron Heel was published in 1908. It was one of the earliest dystopian novels and was the inspiration for many later novels, such as 1984 and It Can’t Happen Here. It discusses the flaws in capitalism and portrays a power-hungry government known as the “Oligarchy” allowing a select few wealthy individuals to dominate America, while farmers and factory workers become poorer and powerless. The book is written by one of the leaders of the Socialist revolution in America, and a tranquil socialist society is born decades after the revolution. The Iron Heel depicts the power and control of governments, and how authoritarian control gains a following by ruling through fear and propaganda.

        Each and every human has the biological mechanism enabling humans to make the decision to fight or flight when presented a fearful or stressful situation. The fight or flight response is a firing of neurons sending signals to your brain, which produces reflexive physiological changes, such as an increase in alertness and rapid breading. The hormonal changes and physiological responses allow a human a better chance to survive a potentially dangerous situation. The person then assesses the situation and decides if it is best to flee a situation to safety or fight off the danger (Publishing, Harvard Health 1). In The Iron Heel, every person classified under the Proletariat was living in turmoil in the early 1900s. Once the socialist movement was derived, every working-class person was involved one way or another, whether they liked it or not. A war between the Oligarchy and the Proletariat had broken out, and from that point forward, no one had a choice to avoid the situation because they were involved first-hand. When the Second Revolution was initiated, every member of the Proletariat was involved, and therefore every person’s fight or flight response was initiated. Many people chose to flee. They did not feel this battle was worth risking their lives over. They knew how powerful the Oligarchy was by how it had been reigning for three centuries. The Oligarchy inflicted terror among the working class with its merciless ruling. Others, the revolutionists, fought the Oligarchy, even if it meant losing their lives. Very few revolutionists survived the second revolt. Death was essentially inevitable for the working class. They were weaker, poorer, outnumbered, and had far fewer resources. Additionally, the Oligarchy was able to control every aspect of the working-class peoples’ lives: cutting off food and money supply, imprisonment, and murder. The Oligarchy was able to dictate for almost three hundred years because of the way it ruled through fear.

        The Iron Heel was the inspiration for the many pieces of literature that followed the publishing of the book. Little did people at the time know, it would also predict the governmental state of several countries throughout the world. Despite The Iron Heel being a dystopian novel, London’s prediction of the fall of capitalism leading to strict governmental control was actually a reality for countries such as Russia and Germany in the 1940s. London was not far off with his assumption that fascist governments would develop. He also estimated the peak of international tensions would occur in the year 1913, and WWI began in the year 1914. London’s depiction of the Oligarchy was strikingly similar to the governmental rule of Joseph Stalin. Both Stalin and the Oligarchy were extremely power-hungry. They slowly took over virtually every aspect of the citizens’ lives, and were able to do so successfully through propaganda. Ernest Everhard claimed the government was doing nothing to help the working class and its continuous development of trusts and big businesses was hurting the working class even more. People were continuously losing their small businesses to the Oligarchy because it was made impossible for a small business to compete with a trust. The working class was losing their jobs and forced to work for the trusts because there were no other options. They were being paid minute wages that were extremely difficult to live off of. People were starving everywhere, while the rich continued to get richer. This also occurred in the Soviet Union. Stalin’s plan of rapid industrialization lead to a widespread famine, killing millions and destroying the agriculture production. Within a few years, all households were collectivized and private ownership of property was virtually eliminated. Both Stalin and the Oligarchy praised the total control of businesses by the government, essentially eradicating individual ownership of properties and businesses.

        Stalin and the Oligarchy were able to achieve their cynical plans with the aid of propaganda. In the film Shostakovich v. Stalin, Stalin was able to control the Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich by threatening his family, eventually imprisoning and murdering several family members. He was silenced through fear, made to believe that he was an “enemy of the people” by Stalin himself. Many people betrayed him after hearing of the slander and libel perpetrated by journalists and editors. They believed that Shostakovich was an “enemy” of the people because Stalin had enough power to persuade the people of the Soviet Union. Stalin also used his tyrannical rule to have a film created that would boast Stalin for all he has done for the Soviet Union, despite it being very fictitious. Stalin forced Shostakovich to compose music for this film, called “The Fall of Berlin” (Weinstein). This propaganda film glorified Stalin for “saving” the country, despite his direct influence on the deaths of millions of people. He was able to take control over the film industry and display propaganda to persuade the Soviet Union. Jack London’s book received backlash for its superfluous prophecies of the future through a capitalistic rule. However, Jack London was actually quite veracious with his prediction. Stalin ruled dictatorially for over two decades. In fact, he had so much power and control over the Soviet Union, he was never overthrown. Stalin was only replaced when he died from a stroke. Therefore, London’s book actually provided many truths and historical accuracies, proving it can happen in reality.