Jack London
Jack London is Oakland's most well known author. In fact, while he was alive, young even, he was America's most famous author. Our town square is named after him. His novels The Sea Wolf, The Call of the Wild, and White Fang have grown into American classics, rich with adventure. His own life is often commingled with the characters in his books, perhaps this is why his stories feel so real.
Jack claims that his early life in Oakland gave him a "rampant individualism". He was born in 1876, when this was a busy town full of new projects. Labor was scarce and just being, a "blond-beast" meant work and success, as he described his younger self. "Tramping some ten thousand miles'' through the east coast he was exposed to the "Social Pit" of our capitalist society. Seeing the overpopulated east spill its forgotten and useless into the gutters made him feel the very real threat of a dispassionate humanity.* Jack became a vehement socialist, helped found and would remain an active member of the socialist party until less than a year before he died.
Not just the socialist and the author, Jack wore many contradictory identities in his volatile forty years. He sought to observe and understand his numerous astral selves. He was the orphan and the rich man, the pirate and the king. He was hoodlum, sailor, gold miner, war correspondent, tramp, and ranch owner. He spoke and wrote about socialism, while at the same time accumulating and consuming like a capitalist. He yelled equality for all men, while affirming the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race. The drama of his dichotomies brought paradox to his beliefs and an eviscerating reality to his fiction.
* Jack London, 'How I Became a Socialist', Comrade, March 1903, Raskin, p 124-127
Jack the Socialist
Jack wasn't binary with his identities. This is vividly observable with his socialism. He wore every shade of the ideology. He was the moderate, running to be the mayor of Oakland in both 1901 and 1904. And in 1905 he was the extremist, who advocated assassination.
He was self-proclaimed propagandist for socialism. He wasn't drawn into the decision making processes of the socialist parties, even for the Intercollegiate Socialist Society, which he founded in 1905 with his friend Upton Sinclair. Jack wrote essays and gave speeches. Eloquent, intelligent, and loud, his view of the world was penetrative. He had an endless stream of consciousness which he poured onto the pages and shouted out to the crowds.
The Path of Pure Democracy
"Arise, ye Americans, patriots and optimists! Awake! Seize the reins of a corrupted government and educate your masses!"
This is the final paragraph of an essay by Jack called "Pessimism, Optimism and Patriotism" which was printed in March of 1895 in the Oakland High School's Aegis. Almost ten months later, on December 25th of the same year, he published an article in the San Francisco Examiner, called "What Socialism Is":
"Socialism means a reconstruction of society with a more just application of labor and distribution of the returns thereof. It cries out, "Every one according to his deeds!" Its logical foundation is economic; its moral foundation, 'All men are born free and equal,' and its ultimate aim is pure democracy."
At this time, 19 yr-old Jack spoke of a socialism born of democracy, quite different than the totalitarian iterations of socialism which our world has experienced since his lifetime. Pure democracy is an extremely mature form of government. Pure democracy is where everyone engages directly in the decision making processes of the nation. London saw pure democracy as the true path to socialism at this time in his life.
Harken ye partisan politicians:
"Another of the great benefits to be derived from direct legislation, is the overthrow of party politics, and partisanship, which are the worst of the evils we suffer under today. Loyalty to the nation is forgotten in the allegiance to party, and the talents of the best of our public men are prostituted to the furtherance of party designs and powers." Excerpt from "The Voters' Voice" Oakland Times, May 9, 1896.*
On Corporate Enslavement
Jack observed the nefarious rise of the corporations, and at age 21 made this prophetic statement:
"Either the functions of private corporations will increase till they absorb the central government, or the functions of government will increase till it absorbs the corporations." Excerpt from "The Question of the Maximum" a speech given by Jack London to the Socialist Labor Party in Oakland on November 25, 1899.
More than a century later though, we humans are learning to see beyond Black & White. We are learning to see that statements like these inherently deny the shades of color in which all things exist. We are learning about the way things fit together working symbiotically. Jack saw us moving through capitalism into socialism. It now seems very clear that capitalism and socialism are meant to work together. We always have and always will use multiple types of economies.
"The procession of the ages has marked not only the rise of man, but the rise of the common man. From chattel slave, or serf chained to the soil, to the highest seats in modern society, he has risen, rung by rung, amid the crumbling of the divine right of kings and the crash of falling scepters. That he has done this, only in the end to pass into the perpetual slavery of the industrial oligarch, is something at which his whole past cries out in protest." Excerpt from "The Question of the Maximum".
The unions of employees in our country fought with their lives for proper treatment, fair wages and retirement, and they earned it. They earned it so well that one by one the factories in this nation closed, only to reopen the next day in other countries, where the workers are not allowed to fight for their rights. Why do we allow corporations to do this? Why do we trade with countries that do not guarantee the basic human rights we demand for our own people? Do we really believe that All People Are Created Equal? Or do we, like the many sided Jack London, believe that the Anglo-Saxon race is superior and that the elimination or economic enslavement of the inferior races is an inevitability?**
Racism
"As for managerial genius, there is no more brilliant an achievement than that of the Indian Empire. And to-day, seven thousand miles from home, one hundred thousand Anglo-Saxons rule, two hundred heterogeneous millions of natives and set them their daily tasks. At plowing and sowing, at bridge-building and road-making, these swarming millions do the bidding of the mere handful of white masters, marshaling under their banner, fighting for them and dying for them."
This is an excerpt from "The Salt of the Earth," an essay published in Anglo-American Magazine, August 1902, in which Jack seeks to prove the dominance of the Anglo-Saxon race. How did he balance these two personas of socialist and imperialist? And what would Jack say after witnessing Gandhi rise above the English baton, or seeing Rosa Parks refuse to go to the back of the bus?
What would he say if he were to learn that race is a lie?
The Strength of the People
But Jack London was much more than the petty bigotry of his time which he so sadly embraced. He was an adept writer who plumbed character and community. By his late twenties he had honed his ability to observe and express these relationships of the self and society.
"If Society arrogates to itself the punishment of youthful offenders, then it must take upon itself the responsibility for the making of the youthful offenders. If society provides jails and policemen for children, it should likewise provide physical examinations and physicians." Excerpt from "What shall be done with this Boy?" San Francisco Examiner, June 21, 1903.
With the '03 publishing of Call of the Wild, Jack London took center stage as the foremost American author of his time. In the fifth year of this new century he trode his fame cross nation. He'd stopped talking about voting the path to socialism and municipal ownership. From UC Berkeley to Harvard, he gave a speech he called "Revolution". In one part, he gives a strong voice to the socialist army:
"Here are our hands. They are strong hands. We are going to take your governments, your palaces, and all your purpled ease away from you, and in that day you shall work for your bread even as the peasant in the field or the starved and runty clerk in your metropolises. Here are our hands. They are strong hands."
Later in the speech he describes the baseness of the capitalist class's failure in its attempt to manage society.
"It rose up (as it rises up to-day), shamelessly, in our legislative halls, and declared that profits were impossible without the toil of children and babes."***
"(As it rises up to-day)" Jack said that in 1905. One hundred years later and these same capitalists are saying the same thing, except our society doesn't seem to care, because now the corporations employ children in countries other than our own.
It is time to stop economic slavery and the rule of profit. It is time for us to ensure human rights for all humans. Socialism and Capitalism have been constantly at war. But they cannot survive without each other. It is time for these two ideologies to end their conflict and cooperate. In the simplest terms, Capitalism provides freedom, while Socialism provides community. We need both freedom and community. They are one.
During the final decade of Jack London's life, he left Oakland and moved to the wilds of Sonoma where he built his Beauty Ranch. He became more focused on his novels, and as the socialist party in America moved away from "up-on-its-hind-legs, fighting," and became "one of peacefulness and compromise," he finally resigned from the party in 1916, eight months before he died.****
What an amazing writer. Jack London's countless words give us a vivid overview of life from the late 1900's. His ideological expounders and his adventurous yarns wrap us in the thoughts and feelings of his era. What an amazing life he led.
* Raskin, Jonah, p. 42, 55, 57, 59, The Radical Jack London, UC press, 2008
** p. 84, 55
*** p. 132, 133, 143, 152
**** Raskin p. 263, Letter of Resignation to the Socialist Party, by Jack London, March 17, 1916
Jack London is Oakland's most well known author. In fact, while he was alive, young even, he was America's most famous author. Our town square is named after him. His novels The Sea Wolf, The Call of the Wild, and White Fang have grown into American classics, rich with adventure. His own life is often commingled with the characters in his books, perhaps this is why his stories feel so real.
Jack claims that his early life in Oakland gave him a "rampant individualism". He was born in 1876, when this was a busy town full of new projects. Labor was scarce and just being, a "blond-beast" meant work and success, as he described his younger self. "Tramping some ten thousand miles'' through the east coast he was exposed to the "Social Pit" of our capitalist society. Seeing the overpopulated east spill its forgotten and useless into the gutters made him feel the very real threat of a dispassionate humanity.* Jack became a vehement socialist, helped found and would remain an active member of the socialist party until less than a year before he died.
Not just the socialist and the author, Jack wore many contradictory identities in his volatile forty years. He sought to observe and understand his numerous astral selves. He was the orphan and the rich man, the pirate and the king. He was hoodlum, sailor, gold miner, war correspondent, tramp, and ranch owner. He spoke and wrote about socialism, while at the same time accumulating and consuming like a capitalist. He yelled equality for all men, while affirming the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon race. The drama of his dichotomies brought paradox to his beliefs and an eviscerating reality to his fiction.
* Jack London, 'How I Became a Socialist', Comrade, March 1903, Raskin, p 124-127
Jack the Socialist
Jack wasn't binary with his identities. This is vividly observable with his socialism. He wore every shade of the ideology. He was the moderate, running to be the mayor of Oakland in both 1901 and 1904. And in 1905 he was the extremist, who advocated assassination.
He was self-proclaimed propagandist for socialism. He wasn't drawn into the decision making processes of the socialist parties, even for the Intercollegiate Socialist Society, which he founded in 1905 with his friend Upton Sinclair. Jack wrote essays and gave speeches. Eloquent, intelligent, and loud, his view of the world was penetrative. He had an endless stream of consciousness which he poured onto the pages and shouted out to the crowds.
The Path of Pure Democracy
"Arise, ye Americans, patriots and optimists! Awake! Seize the reins of a corrupted government and educate your masses!"
This is the final paragraph of an essay by Jack called "Pessimism, Optimism and Patriotism" which was printed in March of 1895 in the Oakland High School's Aegis. Almost ten months later, on December 25th of the same year, he published an article in the San Francisco Examiner, called "What Socialism Is":
"Socialism means a reconstruction of society with a more just application of labor and distribution of the returns thereof. It cries out, "Every one according to his deeds!" Its logical foundation is economic; its moral foundation, 'All men are born free and equal,' and its ultimate aim is pure democracy."
At this time, 19 yr-old Jack spoke of a socialism born of democracy, quite different than the totalitarian iterations of socialism which our world has experienced since his lifetime. Pure democracy is an extremely mature form of government. Pure democracy is where everyone engages directly in the decision making processes of the nation. London saw pure democracy as the true path to socialism at this time in his life.
Harken ye partisan politicians:
"Another of the great benefits to be derived from direct legislation, is the overthrow of party politics, and partisanship, which are the worst of the evils we suffer under today. Loyalty to the nation is forgotten in the allegiance to party, and the talents of the best of our public men are prostituted to the furtherance of party designs and powers." Excerpt from "The Voters' Voice" Oakland Times, May 9, 1896.*
On Corporate Enslavement
Jack observed the nefarious rise of the corporations, and at age 21 made this prophetic statement:
"Either the functions of private corporations will increase till they absorb the central government, or the functions of government will increase till it absorbs the corporations." Excerpt from "The Question of the Maximum" a speech given by Jack London to the Socialist Labor Party in Oakland on November 25, 1899.
More than a century later though, we humans are learning to see beyond Black & White. We are learning to see that statements like these inherently deny the shades of color in which all things exist. We are learning about the way things fit together working symbiotically. Jack saw us moving through capitalism into socialism. It now seems very clear that capitalism and socialism are meant to work together. We always have and always will use multiple types of economies.
"The procession of the ages has marked not only the rise of man, but the rise of the common man. From chattel slave, or serf chained to the soil, to the highest seats in modern society, he has risen, rung by rung, amid the crumbling of the divine right of kings and the crash of falling scepters. That he has done this, only in the end to pass into the perpetual slavery of the industrial oligarch, is something at which his whole past cries out in protest." Excerpt from "The Question of the Maximum".
The unions of employees in our country fought with their lives for proper treatment, fair wages and retirement, and they earned it. They earned it so well that one by one the factories in this nation closed, only to reopen the next day in other countries, where the workers are not allowed to fight for their rights. Why do we allow corporations to do this? Why do we trade with countries that do not guarantee the basic human rights we demand for our own people? Do we really believe that All People Are Created Equal? Or do we, like the many sided Jack London, believe that the Anglo-Saxon race is superior and that the elimination or economic enslavement of the inferior races is an inevitability?**
Racism
"As for managerial genius, there is no more brilliant an achievement than that of the Indian Empire. And to-day, seven thousand miles from home, one hundred thousand Anglo-Saxons rule, two hundred heterogeneous millions of natives and set them their daily tasks. At plowing and sowing, at bridge-building and road-making, these swarming millions do the bidding of the mere handful of white masters, marshaling under their banner, fighting for them and dying for them."
This is an excerpt from "The Salt of the Earth," an essay published in Anglo-American Magazine, August 1902, in which Jack seeks to prove the dominance of the Anglo-Saxon race. How did he balance these two personas of socialist and imperialist? And what would Jack say after witnessing Gandhi rise above the English baton, or seeing Rosa Parks refuse to go to the back of the bus?
What would he say if he were to learn that race is a lie?
The Strength of the People
But Jack London was much more than the petty bigotry of his time which he so sadly embraced. He was an adept writer who plumbed character and community. By his late twenties he had honed his ability to observe and express these relationships of the self and society.
"If Society arrogates to itself the punishment of youthful offenders, then it must take upon itself the responsibility for the making of the youthful offenders. If society provides jails and policemen for children, it should likewise provide physical examinations and physicians." Excerpt from "What shall be done with this Boy?" San Francisco Examiner, June 21, 1903.
With the '03 publishing of Call of the Wild, Jack London took center stage as the foremost American author of his time. In the fifth year of this new century he trode his fame cross nation. He'd stopped talking about voting the path to socialism and municipal ownership. From UC Berkeley to Harvard, he gave a speech he called "Revolution". In one part, he gives a strong voice to the socialist army:
"Here are our hands. They are strong hands. We are going to take your governments, your palaces, and all your purpled ease away from you, and in that day you shall work for your bread even as the peasant in the field or the starved and runty clerk in your metropolises. Here are our hands. They are strong hands."
Later in the speech he describes the baseness of the capitalist class's failure in its attempt to manage society.
"It rose up (as it rises up to-day), shamelessly, in our legislative halls, and declared that profits were impossible without the toil of children and babes."***
"(As it rises up to-day)" Jack said that in 1905. One hundred years later and these same capitalists are saying the same thing, except our society doesn't seem to care, because now the corporations employ children in countries other than our own.
It is time to stop economic slavery and the rule of profit. It is time for us to ensure human rights for all humans. Socialism and Capitalism have been constantly at war. But they cannot survive without each other. It is time for these two ideologies to end their conflict and cooperate. In the simplest terms, Capitalism provides freedom, while Socialism provides community. We need both freedom and community. They are one.
During the final decade of Jack London's life, he left Oakland and moved to the wilds of Sonoma where he built his Beauty Ranch. He became more focused on his novels, and as the socialist party in America moved away from "up-on-its-hind-legs, fighting," and became "one of peacefulness and compromise," he finally resigned from the party in 1916, eight months before he died.****
What an amazing writer. Jack London's countless words give us a vivid overview of life from the late 1900's. His ideological expounders and his adventurous yarns wrap us in the thoughts and feelings of his era. What an amazing life he led.
* Raskin, Jonah, p. 42, 55, 57, 59, The Radical Jack London, UC press, 2008
** p. 84, 55
*** p. 132, 133, 143, 152
**** Raskin p. 263, Letter of Resignation to the Socialist Party, by Jack London, March 17, 1916