Photo by Ryan Lely.
Jack London didn’t start out as a socialist.
In the peak of his youth, London embraced the American mythology of the rugged individualist and capitalism. A trip across the United States when he was 18 changed all that, according to Sonoma County author Jonah Raskin. His new book, “The Radical Jack London: Writings on War and Revolution,” details the legendary London’s transformation from American individualist to the most famous socialist of his day.
“His political ideas evolved,” said Raskin. “He saw he was working very hard and not getting anywhere. Then he witnessed poverty and homelessness, unemployment and also spent time in prison.”
The radical Jack London was born after he spent 30 days in a penitentiary in Erie, N.Y.. where he had been sentenced on a vagrancy charge, without a trial, according to Raskin. Upon his return to Oakland in 1894, he quickly became a member of the Socialist Labor Party, which evolved into the American Socialist Party. His cross-country voyage began London’s “street education in socialism,” said Raskin. It was during this time that he came to know people familiar with the writings of Karl Marx. London would later run unsuccessfully for mayor of Oakland twice on the socialist ticket (and would be arrested again, said Raskin, for speaking on a street corner without a permit). As he rose to fame as a writer, settling into his Beauty Ranch in Glen Ellen, the prolific author became Jack London, the paradox.
London’s books sold around the world; his corresponding increase in material wealth and land holdings naturally begged the question: How could the world’s most famous socialist of his day also be one of its most famous capitalists?
“Jack London could sell himself like no other capitalist writer of his day,” said Raskin. adding that London’s socialist beliefs were a genuine part of his essence.
Included in Raskin’s anthology of London’s radical writings is “People of The Abyss,” which details London’s first experience of poverty in England, in London’s East End. Raskin said it was the first time that the best-selling writer came to the realization that the people at the top of society didn’t know what they’re doing.
“He realized that the so-called leaders of his time period had botched the job,” said Raskin. “If he were alive today, he would say that the Bush Administration had botched the job.”
London’s fictional writings would also come to be influenced by his political beliefs. Raskin said London made certain that his characters represented different social classes, rather than hold to the pretense that everyone was from the middle class.
Months before his death in 1916 at age 40, a disillusioned London left the socialist party, although, according to Raskin, “He maintained that he was the true socialist and that everyone else had become compromised.”
London also swore that he would one day write his “Socialist Autobiography.” While London never made good on his pledge, Raskin set out to write the next best thing, in the form of “The Radical Jack London. “
“I thought I could tell the story in my words and his words,” said Raskin. “It’s the story of how he began as a red revolutionary and became a green revolutionary. Here he would farm organically. To him, Beauty Ranch was the mini-ideal community.”
London’s ideal community took the form of a largely self-sustainable oasis.
And Raskin himself is no stranger to the red or green revolutions.
“Like Jack London, I’ve gone through phases,” he said. “Like him I’ve been a street rebel. I spent time protesting in the streets. I came to see the importance of protecting the environment and then, like Jack London, the importance of change from within – the spiritual revolution.”
It is in the call for social change on all levels for the betterment of society that Raskin and London come together. This focus is also the power of Raskin’s book.
“You can’t just wave a magic wand and change society. You have to have a cultural revolution as well as an economic and spiritual revolution. This is what Jack London’s talking about. We all contribute to society in different ways and are all part of the common wheel,” said Raskin. “We can have a more egalitarian society so people can realize their full potential. Right now we have a society where people are languishing and not achieving that. We are living on a smaller planet, people need to learn to live together to stop the genocides and Holocausts and slaughter.”
