A recent blog post of the National Book Critics Circle asked members “at this time of cultural shift” in the dawning era of Donald Trump to identify their “favorite work of resistance literature.” The writer Paul Wilner identified John Steinbeck’s “quietly furious” strike novel In Dubious Battle as his personal choice.
“We may not see the future lying before us,” Wilner explained, “but Steinbeck has provided a valuable road map to the lessons of the past. He may have fought kicking and screaming against the label of ‘engaged’ writer–he’ll never be confused with Sartre, to his credit–but he understood the power, as well as the perils, of resistance.”
‘We may not see the future lying before us, but John Steinbeck has provided a valuable road map to the lessons of the past.’
True enough, but my choice of road map for resisting Donald Trump would be The Moon Is Down, the play-novella John Steinbeck wrote during the early, dark days of World War II about anti-fascist resistance by the citizens of a Nazi-occupied country in northern Europe. Steinbeck’s little book inspired citizen resistance in Nazi-occupied territories from the Baltic to the Black Sea. It contains practical advice for Americans opposed to Donald Trump’s attitudes and actions as president, 75 years after it was written.
The Moon Is Down contains practical advice for Americans opposed to Donald Trump’s attitudes and actions as president, 75 years after it was written.
Set in a fictionalized version of Norway, The Moon Is Down tells the story of what residents do when alien soldiers—never named as Nazis, but unmistakable nonetheless—invade their peaceful coastal mining town by air, land, and sea. Hitler’s forces tried hard to suppress The Moon Is Down in Nazi-occupied lands (possession was punishable by death in Mussolini’s Italy), but contraband copies, printed and passed on by hand, were widely credited with sustaining anti-fascist resistance until Nazi occupation ended in 1945. Once World War II was over, John Steinbeck was awarded the Freedom Cross by King Haakon VII of Norway, that nation’s highest civilian honor.
Set in a fictionalized version of Norway, it tells the story of what residents do when alien soldiers—never named as Nazis, but unmistakable nonetheless—invade their peaceful coastal mining town.
Magnified by an unforgiving winter, the passive bitterness of an occupied people morphs into active rebellion that begins quietly when the town’s mayor refuses to drink with the army officer who—unlike Donald Trump—is a moral man following orders from others. The refusal to cooperate eventually costs the mayor his life, but not before his example inspires numerous acts of rebellion, some violent, by residents of the town. Sanctuary-city mayors around the United States are setting a similar example by signaling their refusal to cooperate with federal orders to round up undocumented residents for deportation. Demonstrations at legislative town hall meetings, by citizens concerned about health care, are following a similar pattern. People are standing up to power.
Demonstrations at legislative town hall meetings, by citizens concerned about health care, are following a similar pattern. People are standing up to power.
When U.S. Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis was interviewed on Meet the Press not long ago, he prepared the stage for official resistance by explaining to Chuck Todd why he felt Donald Trump was “not legitimate” and why he refused to attend Trump’s inauguration. “You cannot be at home with something that is wrong,” Lewis told Todd, citing the example of Martin Luther King, Jr., who said, “We must learn that passively to accept an unjust system is to cooperate with that system, and thereby to become a participant in its evil.”
‘We must learn that passively to accept an unjust system is to cooperate with that system, and thereby to become a participant in its evil.’
John Steinbeck understood this principle but professed to be surprised that The Moon Is Down proved so popular, explaining that he wrote the book “as a kind of celebration of the durability of democracy.” When the mayor in Steinbeck’s story says that he feels the will of the people and acts accordingly, he gives unspoken permission for their resistance, the ultimate result of which is left—in typical Steinbeck fashion—for readers to decide. As Steinbeck makes clear, however, the occupiers are flummoxed because they fail to understand the psychology of people brought together by crisis. Products of a top-down, authoritarian culture familiar to students of Donald Trump, they are unprepared for popular resistance and cannot cope when confronted with democratic dissent.
John Steinbeck understood this principle but professed to be surprised that The Moon Is Down proved so popular, explaining that he wrote the book ‘as a kind of celebration of the durability of democracy.’
As Steinbeck’s mayor explains to the puzzled commandant who is trying to keep order, “Free men cannot start a war, but once it is started, they can fight on in defeat. Herd men, followers of a leader cannot do that, and so it is always the herd men who win battles and the free men who win wars.” John Steinbeck’s advice couldn’t be clearer: Once a bully picks a fight, resist. You may lose the battle, but you’ll eventually win the war.
About Stephen Cooper
A month ago a Danish couple told me their favorite work by Steinbeck is The Moon Is Down. I reread it. It had been perhaps ten years. The simplicity and strength is wonderful. It speaks to our time and probably all time as well as World War II. It should be read.
You’ve uncovered Steinbeck’s universal truth. Well said! I couldn’t agree with you more. RESIST!
Insight plus incentive…. Empowering. Thank You
Dear Wes:
On the one hand, I believe you are realistic in your assessment of Donald Trump and Americans, especially “of those of very low evolvement.” On the other hand I see you as a pessimist, which is a disillusioned optimist.
I remind you of a quote by Reinhold Niebuhr: “Nothing worth doing is accomplished in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing true or beautiful makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore, we are saved by love”
Thank you for your opinionMichael. I believe my conclusions are based upon facts as I see them and my perceptions are influenced by a life long reading of Jung, Steinbeck, and others like William James. I try to maintain a non -teleogical perspective as Steinbeck/Ricketts would support. I don’t believe anything I said In my opmment is arguable between reasonable humans. Thanks again.
Since my previous comments were pulled without any explanation I’ll try again, My point is that the culture of the little village was perplexing and frustrating to the Colonel because the bulk of the population were highly evolved and independent and. The land of the occupiers was mainly followers and not independent who depended upon external gods and father figures much like the USA today.
Excellent analysis Stephen. Here’s some more insight. In The Moon Is Down John Steinbeck describes his fictional town’s informal network system, the characters in that system and the roles they play, and the bewilderment and frustration of the invaders with the villagers, who don’t behave as expected. Shades of the current expectations of our President i.e. Americans are not behaving as expected. An oppressors worst nightmare. The following passage captures the dramatic difference between a top-down authoritarian type in a position of so called ultimate power, Colonel Lanser, and the informal horizontal routine power system represented by Mayor Orden, who is Mayor of a community that is “expected” to be powerless.
Lanser: “Please co-operate with us for the good of all.” When Mayor Orden made no reply, “For the good of all,” Lanser repeated. “Will you?”
Orden: “This is a little town. I don’t know. The people are confused and so am I.”
Lanser: “But will you try to co-operate?”
Orden shook his head. “I don’t know. When the town makes up its mind what it wants to do, I’ll probably do that.”
Lanser: “But you are the authority.”
Orden smiled. “You won’t believe this, but it is true: authority is in the town. I don’t know how or why, but it is so. This means we cannot act as quickly as you can, but when a direction is set, we all act together. I am confused. I don’t know yet.”
Lanser said wearily, “I hope we can get along together. It will be so much easier for everyone. I hope we can trust you. I don’t like to think of the means the military will take to keep order.”
Orden was silent.
“I hope we can trust you,” Lanser repeated.
Orden put his finger in his ear and wiggled his hand. “I don’t know,” he said.
Steinbeck’s statement about the “authority being in the town” is profound and relates directly to the grassroots movements taking place today in the different geographic areas of our country. To Lanser’s amazement, and you can bet eventually to Donald Trump, the power does exist in the people. Steinbeck captured in the Mayor a democratic principle that has emboldened our Democracy from the beginning – government is an extension of the people, and not the other way around. Lanser thought and the Donald thinks people are an extension of the government and its ideology. Another Steinbeck principle that is clear in almost all of his writings is that: oppression builds power in the oppressed as they use their horizontal systems to resist, survive, organize and remain fearless. The latter being important in that oppressors use fear to immobilize opposition.
Orden articulates the insight that something beyond himself exists in the community that would make the “silent decision” to resist rather than capitulate. Steinbeck’s fictional representation of the power of resistance had political consequences. European translations of The Moon Is Down ultimately became operational handbooks for French, Italian, Norwegian, and other resistance underground movements during World War II. The Germans understood the book’s power. As pointed out in this column-possessing a copy was punishable by death.
So far so good, no one has been punished by death yet for having a copy of “In Dubious Battle”.
Many thanks to Stephen Cooper for this reminder. Perhaps one might convince Amazon to include “The Moon is Down” as a free Kindle book, and then we can all send links for it to all our acquaintances. Just like the Norwegians did.
Mr. Moore has a good point. 1984 is a best seller of late. It’s Steinbeck’s turn.