Jack London's Final Chapter: Gold Hunter, Socialist Author, and Sustainable Farmer

Cocktails & Capitalism

After toiling as a "two-legged work beastie" in too many soul-sucking jobs, Jack London traveled to the Yukon in search of gold. Rather than discovering precious metals, he discovered the camaraderie of his fellow miners, who shared the wealth in drunken celebrations every time one miner struck gold. In addition, he unearthed a wealth of materials for his writings about the wilderness.

Sick with scurvy from lack of fresh fruits and vegetables, London carved the following words into the log beside his bunk in the cabin where he lay ill: “JACK LONDON MINOR AUTHOR JAN 27 1898.” Having lost money on his gold hunting adventure, London made up his mind to become a successful author. His endless submissions to the magazines and publishing companies were rejected over and over, and still he persisted. It was only after he published The Call of the Wild--a novel set in the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush--that London established himself as a world-renowned writer who was famous across the globe.
In his final years, London became a sustainable, organic farmer. Having studied modern scientific literature and the ancient methods that had allowed the people of Korea and Japan to farm their land for centuries, London became determined to repair the warn-out soil that had been destroyed by the short-sighted monoculture methods of the bonanza farmers. His success in this pursuit was remarkable.
London used his fame to spread the message of socialism. He even ran for mayor of Oakland in 1901 as a Socialist Party candidate. Embarking on a nation-wide lecture tour, London spoke to college students and elite clubs about the coming revolution. He indicted the capitalist master class for its complete mismanagement of society, declaring that “capitalistic society forfeits its right to existence” by permitting “bestial poverty” and starvation despite its possession of the enormous wealth with which it could eradicate these societal ills. Many of his letters end with the words, "Yours for the Revolution, Jack London." Because of his "radical" message, his books were banned from libraries across the country, and his social writings were relegated to the margins of American literature.
Photo: Originally appeared in The Book of Jack London by Charmian London (his wife) in 1921. Taken from Wikimedia Commons.

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