E-Book Overview
Part science fiction, part dystopian fantasy, part radical socialist tract, Jack London’s The Iron Heel offers a grim depiction of warfare between the classes in America and around the globe. Originally published nearly a hundred years ago, it anticipated many features of the past century, including the rise of fascism, the emergence of domestic terrorism, and the growth of centralized government surveillance and authority. What begins as a war of words ends in scenes of harrowing violence as the state oligarchy, known as “the Iron Heel,” moves to crush all opposition to its power. BACKCOVER: “A truer prophecy of the future than either Brave New World or The Shape of Things to Come.” —George Orwell “Still more astonishing is the genuinely prophetic vision of the methods by which the Iron Heel will sustain its domination over crushed mankind.” —Leon Trotsky
E-Book Content
THE IRON HEEI JACK LONDON
THE IRON HEEL
BT
JACK LONDON AUTHOR OP *
THE CALL OF THE WHITE FANG," ETC. "
NEW YORK
GROSSET
&
DUNLAP
PUBLISHERS
COPYRIGHT, IWf,
BT JACK LONDOF. Set up and electrotyped. Published February, 1908. Reprinted March, September, 1908 ; January, 1909 ; February, May, November,
1910; October, 1911
;
February, September, 1913; September, 1917.
StacK
Annex
44
At first, this Earth, a stage You almost sicken at the
And
yet be patient.
la some
fifth act
so gloomed with
woe
shifting of the scenes.
Our Playwright may show this Wild Drama means.**
what
CONTENTS
....
FOREWORD
PAQB is
CHAPTBB I.
^
II.
MY EAGLE CHALLENGES
.........
1
22
III.
JOHNSON
ARM
43
IV.
SLAVES OF THE MACHINE
59
V. VI.
S
THE PHILOMATHS
78
ADUMBRATIONS
100
THE BISHOP S VISION THE MACHINE BREAKERS IX. THE MATHEMATICS OF A DREAM X. THE VORTEX XI. THE GREAT ADVENTURE Xn. THE BISHOP XIII. THE GENERAL STRIKE XIV. THE BEGINNING OF THE END XV. LAST DAYS XVI. THE END XVII. THE SCARLET LIVERY XVIII. IN THE SHADOW OF SONOMA
Ill
VII.
VHI.
.
....
120 141
163 177
188 204 .
.
.
.
.....
217
229 237 251
262
TRANSFORMATION XX. A LOST OLIGARCH XXI. THE ROARING ABYSMAL BEAST XXII. THE CHICAGO COMMUNE XXin. THE PEOPLE OF THE ABYSS
274
XXIV.
343
XIX.
NIGHTMARE
XXV. THE TERRORISTS
286 297 306
324
352
Yii
FOREWORD is
IT cannot be said that the Everhard Manuscript an important historical document. To the historian
it
bristles
with errors
not errors of
fact,
but errors
Looking back across the seven cen have lapsed since Avis Everhard completed her manuscript, events, and the bearings of events, of interpretation.
turies that
that were confused and veiled to her, are clear to us. She lacked perspective. She was too close to the events she writes about.
Nay, she was merged in the events
she has described. Nevertheless, as a personal document, the Everhard
Manuscript
is
of inestimable value.
But here again
enter error of perspective, and vitiation due to the bias
Yet we
and forgive Avis Everhard for the heroic lines upon which she modelled her husband. We know to-day that he was not so colossal, of love.
smile, indeed,