What if you were handed a pamphlet by a socialist political protester, but instead of a bullet point list of the ways in capitalism is a scourge on both society and average wage worker, those bullet points were transformed in to a very bare bones novella where characters serve for the to speak the bullet point at you. Perhaps one of the most didactic novels I've ever read, it serves as a display of London's personal view on the political system that he saw progressing in to the future. A warning against a capitalist oligarchy that crushes all labor unions and makes the rich even richer off their backs.
Whether or not you agree with the socialist values that are outlined by the characters, what makes The Iron Heel such an undying work is that it pretty accurately described the late stage capitalism that we are now experiencing in 2025. I think your enjoyment of the work hinge largely on your sympathy these socialist values, because if you don't there's really no redeeming quality to most of the exposition. In a way it's similar to Ayn Rand's work in that way, though it's my opinion that London more accurately describes current conditions and the threats that face us.
Creatively, yes, it isn't the most inventive work ever. Too much of the prose is caught up with serving as an agitprop, but there were a few highlights I thought worthy of mention. The framing device, that of a lost diary that is annotated by a publisher from a future socialist utopia, provides at least something to bite on to. Reminded me a lot of the similar device used in City, where it wasn't really necessary, but did add some amount of flavor that I ended up appreciating. Second, London's writing is solid throughout the novel, but he really starts to flex his muscles towards the end of the book when he described a failed revolution attempt in Chicago, and it's a brutal, bloody, and crushing vision that he sees. London's language here is really strong, and I wished there had been more of style included. Really, these creative flashes are glimpses at a much better novel that London never made, something perhaps more closely akin to 1984.
Nevertheless, The Iron Heel is important if for nothing else than as a proto-dytopia that was used by subsequent and superior works, and perhaps without it those works wouldn't exist in the way they do now.
BigEnk
