The Iron Heel

Did You Know?

• The novel has been adapted into two Russian films: The Iron Heel (1919) and The Iron Heel of Oligarchy (1999).
• A stage adaptation by Edward Einhorn was produced in 2016 in New York.

Synopsis

The novel is framed as a recovered manuscript from the distant future, annotated by a scholar named Anthony Meredith around the year 2600 AD. Meredith’s footnotes reveal early on that the main character’s struggle will end in failure, creating a sense of unavoidable tragedy. The story begins with Avis Everhard, the daughter of physicist John Cunningham, who later marries the socialist Ernest Everhard. She initially doubts Ernest’s claim that society is built on labor exploitation, but after witnessing the terrible conditions of workers, she changes her mind. Bishop Morehouse also comes to believe Ernest’s warnings and is locked away in a madhouse. The narrative spans 1912 to 1932, a period when the Oligarchy, called the Iron Heel, takes power in the United States. Japan builds its own empire in East Asia, India gains independence, and Europe turns socialist. Canada, Mexico, and Cuba form their own Oligarchies allied with the U.S. The Oligarchy rules for three centuries before the Revolution finally succeeds, bringing the Brotherhood of Man. The First Revolt is described, and plans for the Second Revolt are discussed.

Publication history and reception

George Platt Brett Sr. brought out The Iron Heel in 1908, asking only that a footnote he considered libelous be cut before printing. Hardback sales reached 50,000 copies, yet contemporary critics were largely unimpressed. The Outlook’s reviewer found it lacking as fiction and unconvincing as socialist argument. Later appraisals appeared in science-fiction circles: Damon Knight wrote one for If in December 1958, and Everett F. Bleiler included another in his 1991 book Science Fiction: The Early Years.

Influences and effects

George Orwell's biographer Michael Shelden cited The Iron Heel as having influenced Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell himself described London as having made a very remarkable prophecy of the rise of Fascism and believed London's understanding of the primitive made him a better prophet than many better-informed and more logical thinkers. Orwell's protagonist Winston Smith, like London's Avis Everhard, keeps a diary of rebellious thoughts, but while Everhard's diary remained hidden for centuries to be discovered later, Smith's diary falls into the hands of the Thought Police. Labor leader Harry Bridges was set afire by The Sea-Wolf and The Iron Heel. Granville Hicks, reviewing Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano, was reminded of The Iron Heel, noting a future America ruled by a tiny oligarchy with a revolt that fails. Portions of Chapter 7 are an almost verbatim copy of an ironic essay by Frank Harris.