After finishing Of Mice and Men I looked at a list of other books that John Steinbeck wrote. The Moon is Down is the one I selected. I had never heard of this book before this week.
It is a very quick read and I enjoyed the story. I learned after I finished reading it that it was written as propaganda during World War II.
The books begins when a small town is invaded and quickly conquered by an enemy army. It is quickly learned that they were able to conquer the town with the help of one of the townspeople who had provided vital information.
Several times throughout the book the Colonel of the conquering army speaks with the mayor of the town. Here is an excerpt from one interchange between Colonel Lanser and Mayor Orden:
“It is your duty to protect them from harm. They will be in danger if they are rebellious. We must get the coal, you see. Our leaders do not tell us how; they order us to get it. But you have your people to protect. You must make them do the work and thus keep them safe.”
Mayor Orden asked, “But suppose they don’t want to be safe?”
“Then you must think for them.”
Orden said a little proudly, “My people don’t like to have others think for them. Maybe they are different from your people.”
The story goes on to show how the townspeople become rebellious and defiant to the commands of the invaders and how the invaders become more ruthless. This in turn leads to more insurgency.
Overall I enjoyed this book and rate it 5 out of 5 stars.
William Wilberforce has been called an agitator for his commitment to ending the slave trade. One of his well known speeches on the subject was given on May 12, 1789.
Cardinal Richelieu has been hailed as a great statesman and as a subversive authoritarian. Depending on who you talk to he was a man needed to strengthen the monarchy in France, or he was a tyrant seeking personal power. Next week I will have a book review that may shed more light on Cardinal Richelieu.
When Lenin was working on his major writing projects he would often pace across the room formulating the ideas that he would write down by saying them out loud. Once he had the idea for what he wanted to write he would often repeat the idea to Nadezhda Krupskaya, who would provide feedback. Once this process was complete he would then write the ideas down.
Here is an AI rendering of what that might have looked like when he was drafting What is to be Done.
This month this community will focus on political subversion. What is subversion? When is it justified? What is the interplay between subversion and agitation? These are some of the topics to be discussed this month.
“You get used to the despot’s shortcomings, when they are not great vices, and the change of an autocratic ruler leads to involuntary fear.”
Sergei Trubetskoi
