The Iron Heel

The Iron Heel- Jack London

The book I read titled The Iron Heel by Jack London was written as a dystopian novel. A dystopian has the opposite of what one would expect in a Utopian society. This as I see it means that what could have been a society of happiness and leisure was turned into a horrible and oppressive government. The middle class were used and bankrupted. People such as farmers were turned in serfs. This was a portrait of what might be to come from an oligarchy type of government were the power lies in the hands of a small group of people. This book refers to a fictional society that is incredibly imperfect. It is lacking the egalitarian and harmonious qualities of life depicted in utopias.

This book scared me into a new and stronger belief in our democratic style of government. Even with its flaws, seeing the other option scares the living hell out of me. This book demonstrates intense social control but takes it to a horrific extreme and emphasizes the negative effects. In this book the oligarchy are the largest monopoly trusts. They ruin the small to mid size businesses by bankrupting them. The keep there power by creating a labor caste system.

The plot is mostly based on the Everhard Manuscript written Avis Everhard. Also footnotes of Anthony Meredith. The Manuscript covers the years of witch the Iron Heel arose in the United States. The Iron Heel is the Oligarchy. Other countries joined the Oligarchy, Canada, Mexico, and Cuba. Labor in important industries like steel is highly needed, more than most and given decent wages, housing and education. These unions of the favored people showed great treachery and broke from the other unions and sided with the oligarchy. A military caste is formed and considered the official U.S. army but are in fact mercenaries in the employment of the Oligarchs of the story. The Oligarchy maintains power for three centuries until there was a successful revolution attempt. In the book they are preparing for a second revolt and tell how the first one failed. The soon realize that Everhards hopes were crushed because she never saw a successful revolution. Meredith thankfully sees the second one thro and ushers in the Brotherhood of Man.

Think of what we have today. Most of the world is free, if not, on the way to being so. Image that there was no way to rise from rags to riches. You could not peruse happiness because there seemed to be no or little ways to obtain it. If you spoke out against the government you would perish. To have been found anti government at all you would perish. The power was not shared among the people but a small group made the decisions and you had no say. No way could you become rich unless you already were so. This reminded me of feudalism in Europe how the nobles had the power and the lower class surfs did not, but in this book there wasn't a middle class. Meredith writes from around 2600A.D. or 419 B.O.M. (the Brotherhood of Man). The city of Asgard, a city built by the Oligarchs has thousands that live in poverty and are exploited whenever public work needs to be done such as building canals. The book is from about 1914 when the oligarchs take power to 419 B.O.M. while Meredith is writing his notes.

Labor in important industries like steel is higher than most and given decent wages, housing and education. These unions of the favored people showed great treachery and broke from the other unions and sided with the oligarchy. A military caste is formed and considered the official U.S. army but are in fact mercenaries in the employment of the Oligarchs of the story. The city of Asgard, a city built by the Oligarchs has thousands that live in poverty and are exploited whenever public work needs to be done such as building canals.

Everhard had a privileged childhood her mother was an accomplished scientist, who married a socialist revolutionary by the name of Ernest Everhard. She was apart of an underground resistance group, sadly she didn't