Revolt on Luna

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Revolte auf Luna (English original title The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress ) is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein published in 1966 . The novel was initially published as a monthly sequel story in Worlds of If from December 1965 to April 1966 . In the book, Heinlein addresses and deals with libertarian ideals. The novel won the Hugo Award . Later German-language editions were also published under the title The moon is a bitter beloved and currently under the title Mondspuren .

The novel is set in the year 2075 in Luna, a collection of subterranean settlements spread over the moon . Most of the “loonies” (moon colonists) were deported there for political reasons or as criminals , or they are descendants of such residents. Because of the low gravity, everyone who lives on the moon goes through an "irreversible physiological change after a few months and is then no longer able to lead a healthy, comfortable life in a gravitational field that is six times stronger than that that his body has adjusted. "

Although the protector of the lunar colonies appointed by the earth (he is generally referred to as "Warden" = "(super) overseer") is the supreme commander, little influence is exerted on social life in Luna in practice. Only for trade does the government set advantageous fixed prices for itself. After the deportees have served their sentences, they are incorporated into society on the moon. Those who do not want to fit into the community usually do not survive there long. There is enough employment for everyone else.

Origin of the novel title

"The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" can be translated as "The moon is a rough / harsh mistress / lover."

The hostile environment on the moon and the resulting social order lead to the selection of those who cannot fit into the community, and thus ensures a pronounced survival instinct with a strong sense of responsibility and obligation for individual freedom and family.

"Luna herself is a stern schoolmistress, and those who have lived through her harsh lessons have no cause to feel ashamed"

"Luna herself is a strict schoolmaster and those who went through her rough lessons have no reason to be ashamed"

- Professor Bernardo de la Paz : Address to the Federated States of the world after the coup.

content

Manuel Garcia O'Kelly "Mannie" Davis takes on the role of narrator in the book . The one-armed computer technician discovers that the primary computer system of the Lunar Authority (the administrative authority on the moon) has developed its own consciousness and has become an artificial intelligence . He calls the computer "Mike" (after Mycroft Holmes , brother of Sherlock Holmes ), since the official name of the computer is HOLMES IV. Mike has virtually complete control of all facilities on the moon as the Lunar Authority tries to save - it is cheaper (but also riskier) to run just one main computer and expand its capacity than to run a multitude of independent systems. Mike's personality responds to these extensions by developing an infantile sense of humor. Mannie is able to convince him to help make a revolution in Luna a success.

The novel is divided into three “books”, the first of which is also the largest. The locations of the action are the underground structures of Luna City , the administrative complex of the Lunar Authority and the earth during a visit after the coup. The year is 2075 and the colonies on the moon have been around for at least 80 years. Since practically all settlement buildings are underground, the common usage is “in Luna” instead of “on Luna”. The first settlement on the moon was called Johnson City and was probably founded in the 1970s, based on the timeline of the 1965 novel. The total population of all underground settlements on the moon, which consists to a very large extent of former convicts and their descendants, is about 3 million, with men outnumbering women in a ratio of 2: 1. (In the early days the ratio was 10: 1.) This mixed population has a profound effect on the residents of Luna, the "Loonies".

Book 1: That Dinkum Thinkum

After a repair - which consists of convincing Mike not to write any more joke paychecks for $ 10 million billion,185.15 - Mannie, at Mike's request, takes a recorder to an anti-administration meeting because Mike wants to know what is said there. The gathering is surprisingly stormed by guards with laser rifles, but Mannie escapes along with Wyoming "Wyoh" Knott , a well-built blond agitator from Hong Kong Luna .

The two hide in a hotel and come to the conclusion that it is no longer safe for Wyoh to return home or even to go outside without disguise. Mannie introduces Wyoh and Mike over the phone, and Mike - excited to have a new boyfriend - generates a feminine personality for her named Michelle. Mike is able to slip into both male (Mike) and female (Michelle) identities, and his main concern is to understand the human sense of humor.

They use Mike's control of the phone system to track down Mannie's former teacher, the aging professor Bernardo de la Paz , who had just been speaking to the meeting when the guards arrived. The professor also hides and flees from place to place in disguise. He meets the two of them at the hotel and explains his speech from the previous evening, in which he had said that Luna had to stop sending his hydroponically grown grain to earth, otherwise the population could face famine.

Mannie introduces Mike to the professor, who can verify that the claim is correct. Prof. Paz initially objected to the use of the central computer of the Lunar Authority - "Why don't we invite the Warden right away?" He asks - but Mannie assures him that nobody but them knows that Mike has developed an awareness and only he Has loyalty to his new friends, but not to the Warden or the Lunar Authority . Together they ask Mike to calculate a forecast for Luna’s future.

The result Mike arrives is devastating: Within seven years, Luna's resources will be so exhausted that there will be famines and riots, and after nine years even cannibalism . Wyoh and the professor realize that there is only one way out - a revolution . You can convince Mannie to join them when Mike tells them what the odds are for success: 1 in 7 against them. A “loonie” through and through, Mannie is ready to take any bet that has a better than 1 in 10 chance. The three of them explain the revolution together with Mike and form the first of the covert cells of an organization that quickly grows to thousands of participants.

There are many things to plan for, but what to do if the Earth tries to recapture its colony overshadows all other problems. A popular Loonie saying about the repression by the authorities is, “What should we do about it? Throw stones at her? ”This is exactly what Mike suggests. Luna sends the grain to earth with the help of an electromagnetic catapult . Mike calculates that a load of stones that hits the earth at a speed of 11 km / s releases the same energy as a small nuclear weapon . However, since the Lunar Authority's catapult is an obvious target for a counterattack, a second, secret catapult must be built.

The rest of the first book deals with the myriad of difficulties involved in preparing and organizing a revolution. Mannie, Wyoh, and the professor begin to set up their own covert revolutionary cell, each with three members. In the case of Mannie and Wyoh, they are recruiting them from Mannie's family. Mike invents the person of Adam Selene and uses this identity, his ubiquitous presence in Luna as well as his ability to have many conversations simultaneously in order to communicate directly with the members of the individual cells. Although the organization is constantly growing, all attempts by Chief Alvarez (the security chief of the Lunar Authority ) to infiltrate it remain unsuccessful. All his spies are placed in cells, where they then spy on each other or are deliberately supplied with disinformation . New spies are found just as quickly as they are recruited by the authorities.

A well thought out financial fraud (which Mike can disguise by keeping the accounts of all the major banks on Luna) allows them to set up a business for their own purposes. The LuNoHoCo ( LU na City, NO vy Leningrad and HO ng Kong Luna CO mpany ) is included at first glance a normal company with shops on the ground and in Luna, the various business units. In fact, the purpose of the LuNoHoCo is to procure machines and material to build the kilometer-long tunnel for the secret catapult. By a lucky coincidence, Mannie meets a wealthy tourist named Rene LaJoie , who becomes her contact on earth and there creates a benevolent public atmosphere.

In May 2076, the revolution began suddenly and without warning. A few soldiers who belong to a regiment sent to the moon to calm the growing unrest, rape and kill a girl and then murder another loonie, who finds the body. There is an uprising in which the soldiers and the administrative complex are attacked. Far more loonies die than soldiers, but the outcome in favor of loonies is certain. Mike interrupts all communication channels and locks the Warden, including guards and entourage, in the administration complex, where he can put them out of action by reducing the oxygen content of the air we breathe. The revolutionaries break into the complex, bring it and the defenseless inmates into their power and thus end foreign rule.

Book 2: A Rabble in Arms

With that, however, the problems of the newly born nation have only just begun. None of the preparations have been finalized, and most importantly, there is still nothing to defend against an invasion. Hence the fiction must be maintained that the Lunar Authority continues to exist. Mike takes on the role of Warden and fakes his presence in communications with Earth. Grain deliveries to the earth are also continuing, although the value of the Authority's currency is constantly falling against the Hong Kong dollar. (The Hong Kong dollar is the unofficial, but still stable, currency that is issued by the banks in Hong Kong Luna.) Mike is able to generate a video image for Adam Selene , a person he has created , and can thus make a speech to adhere to the nation as chairman of the "Free Luna Emergency Committee". Everything is being done to continue the economy as it has up to now. Even the convicts sentenced to forced labor are asked to stay in their jobs even though they are now free citizens. In the meantime, thousands of recreational revolutionaries, petty dictators and religious fanatics have spoken out and demand a say in the new state. The professor then sets up an “ad hoc congress”, which, however, spends most of the time discussing with himself.

Over time, however, the facade begins to crumble as some scientists from Earth are able to operate a secret transmitter despite surveillance by overseers. When the administrative authorities on the ground by the Warden proof demand, but that the reports so submitted are false, Luna responds with an entirely different message: "In Congress assembled, on July 4, 2076 ..." which the American Declaration of Independence to the day alluded to exactly 300 years earlier. By filling the crucial session of Congress with loyal comrades, Professor de la Paz was able to obtain his own version of the United States Declaration of Independence (filled with Paz's ideals, many of which he believes he shares with Thomas Jefferson ) by this is adopted.

It is now necessary to send representatives of the new government to plead on earth for the concerns of Luna. Mannie and the professor set out on this journey packed in a cargo of grain that is on its way to India. Before Mannie's departure, Wyoh lets his family join the group marriage as the newest wife . The extreme acceleration on departure and arrival almost costs the professor his life, but Stu LaJoie's organization is ready to help when the travelers are rescued and he survives. Mannie already knows the earth from previous stays during which he was trained as a computer technician. The strong gravity , the overpopulation (the earth's population has grown to 11 billion, in North America there are one billion people) and epidemic-like diseases such as flu or influenza make the earth look nightmarish for a loonie.

Sitting in a wheelchair because of gravity, the delegation of Free Luna - thanks to diplomatic sleight of hand from Stu - is officially received by the Earth Federation. However, the members of the committee of inquiry turn out to be the old Lunar Authority's henchmen. The committee insists on reintroducing the old system or otherwise giving Luna only limited autonomy, although the quotas for grain deliveries and admission of convicts must continue to be met. The professor argues that any such pledges must be negotiated with his government, and when pressure continues, he and Mannie stage a physical breakdown. This earns them some sympathy from the press.

The delegation embarks on a trip around the world, during which Mannie extols the advantages of Luna for trade and industry and at the same time tries to convince the heads of various states to build catapults, with which in return for the grain supplied vital materials, water and Trace elements can be sent to the moon. After an ups and downs of hostile press conferences, secret meetings and public appearances, Mannie is finally arrested in Lexington, Kentucky, for polygamy .

Upon the delegation's return to Federation Headquarters, they are presented with a resolute “No” as the final answer from Earth to their request. Troops are to be dispatched, Mannie and the professor are interned on Earth and Luna is to be converted into a strictly controlled economic system in which everyone has the choice of either working in an assigned job for the Lunar Authority or returning to Earth, to die there. In a secret session, Mannie is offered the Warden's post with an increased military presence. The Authority hopes that the Loonies will accept the new regime if one of their own is appointed as Protector (the official title of the Warden). Mannie delays his answer to buy time because these are the events they have been waiting for. Mannie and the professor can be smuggled out of their quarters by Stu LaJoie's organization and put on a ship leaving for the moon. Stu travels with them because he is now deeply in debt and would otherwise be arrested on earth for bribery and other offenses. As he puts it, he relieves the Authority of the job of deporting him as a convict.

After returning to the moon, Mannie believes they have failed. However, in the opinion of Mike and Professor de la Paz, the mission was a success. Opinions on earth are now divided in many ways, where they were previously neutral or hostile. Meanwhile, news of Mannie's arrest and an attempt to bribe him has led to the unity of opinions in Luna against Earth. The authority's hard line, the formation of which the professor had cleverly supported, now ensures that Luna has no choice but to fight for her own freedom. With the exception of the grain farmers themselves, the loonies are ready to break all ties with the earth. The grain deliveries are finally stopped.

During Mannie's absence, elections were held with Mike in charge of the vote count and through which Mannie, Wyoh, and the professor were elected to the new Congress. Mannie suspects Mike rigged the election. Unfortunately, the new parliament is effective where the previous one was not. Before they ruin his work, the professor turns to parliament, because he wants no taxes, no standing armies and only a minimum of government interference in the lives of the citizens. The congress protests and asks how they should then pay for the “necessary institutions”, to which the professor replies: “That is your own problem.” If you need a government so badly, you should pay for it yourself - or should you maybe run lotteries.

"There is no worse tyranny than forcing someone to pay for something they don't want just because you think it would be good for them."

- Professor de la Paz : address to the Congress

Meanwhile, Stu LaJoie suggests the establishment of a monarchy , since it is the only institution that can protect the population from “the worst of all tyrants, themselves” . He proposes Professor de la Paz as the first king, with Mannie as the adopted heir to the throne. Mannie himself just buries his head in his hands and groans.

Book 3: TANSTAAFL!

The months drag on and gradually the revolution threatens to run out of breath. But then the invasion takes place from Earth. The ships approach, land, and drop troops below Mike's radar surveillance to attempt to break into Luna City. However, the attackers can be wiped out down to the last man. The same thing happens in the other settlements, even if the details are partially different. Loonies losses are very high, but the invasion can be stopped completely. Revolutionary troops turn off ships on the surface and in orbit with the help of mining lasers. There is a loss of pressure in the Churchill Upper settlement , and many loonies are losing their lives there too. Then the news spreads that Adam Selene was among the victims. This eliminates the need for Mike to continue to show himself in this role on video images or even as a living person to the public. At this point in time, Adam Selene is more valuable as a martyr than his further use as a “talking head”.

In retrospect, the failure of the invasion does not come as a surprise to the revolutionaries. The troops were not trained for low gravity and could not (as learned in training) sprint from one cover to the next - especially not downhill. Their guns with projectiles kept going too high. On the other hand, the enraged Loonies attacked with whatever weapon they could in order to defend their settlements. Even where gas was used, the attackers lost.

Mike then starts Luna's counterstrike. Containers full of rock are shot down on sparsely populated areas of the world, along with a warning to the media to avoid these places. However, the world's population ignores the warnings, and many onlookers even travel to the destinations. Thousands die as a result of this carelessness. Public opinion on earth is now clearly in favor of destroying the new nation. Even some loonies are losing heart, but the revolutionaries know that there is no turning back. The bombing continues.

Mannie is sent to the new secret catapult to operate the control computer that was previously used as an accounting system in a bank. While he's there, he learns that there has been another attack - this time with nuclear weapons - that destroyed the old catapult. Cut off from the rest of Luna, he continues to fire charges of rock at the earth while the news media on earth announce the end of the threat from the moon. Only when it is noticed on earth that the bombing does not stop (in reality, however, Luna is rapidly running out of ammunition), one state after another recognizes the new nation. Finally the earth surrenders.

Mannie returns to Luna City triumphantly. As head of the new nation, Professor de la Paz declares victory in the largest public space in the settlement - and then collapses and dies. Mannie takes over government for a short time, but soon turns the job over to other revolutionaries. He and Wyoh eventually withdraw from politics altogether. The Davis family (of which they both belong) elects Stu Lajoie as a new additional husband in the community clan marriage.

In retrospect, Mannie realizes that the destruction of the old catapult was part of Professor de la Paz's plan, which he himself had kept a secret from him and Wyoh. Without a useful transport link to the new catapult, it is impossible to continue delivering any appreciable amount of grain to the earth before it starts its own catapult. This ensures that Luna will not run out of food or water in the foreseeable future.

However, Mike has disappeared. The Lunar Authority administrative complex was badly hit during the recent attacks (which Mannie won't find out about until he returns to Luna City) . All of the components of Mike's central processing unit appear to be intact as they are housed in a deep underground chamber designed to withstand a nuclear attack. Still, Mike's personality remains gone, even though it works perfectly as a simple computer. The novel implies that Mike's death might be related to the bombing, or that he might just have died of fear.

In the last few paragraphs of the book, which, like the opening sentences, are set many years after the other events, Mannie complains that the Luna government is constantly enacting new taxes and regulations and ignoring all of Professor de la Paz's ideals. There is also a meeting of the "Sons of the Revolution" that evening, but Mannie ultimately decides not to go there. The Loonies are in the mood for the asteroids , and maybe he will join them - after all, he's not even a hundred years old ...

Characters

main characters

  • Manuel Garcia O'Kelly "Mannie" Davis was born in Luna - a "Loonie" as he calls himself. At the age of 14 he was accepted into the clan marriage of the Davis family, where he learned various professions from the elderly husband Greg and received an academic education from Professor de la Paz. He lost his left forearm in an accident with a laser drill and was subsequently retrained as a computer technician, for which he had to travel to Earth twice. He has a number of special artificial forearms that allow him to carry out special technical work, as well as a lifelike prosthesis for social events. Since he was born as a freelance citizen in Luna, he can work as a private entrepreneur on behalf of the Lunar Authority , but also for anyone else who can afford his hourly rate. Politically, he is disinterested until he has evidence that the authority is in the process of using up Luna’s resources completely. He describes his original philosophy as “shut up” and “take care of your own business.” Mannie describes himself as “not small, 175 cm”. He is at least 36 years old when he replies to a reporter who estimates his age at 22 that he has been married longer than that time.
  • Wyoming "Wyoh" Knott is a political agitator from the Hong Kong Luna colony . She was deported with her parents as a child and turned to politics after her first child was born “a monster”. She blames the Lunar Authority for this, as it did not allow the passengers of a spaceship (including Wyoh) to leave the ship during a solar flare, despite the high radiation levels on the lunar surface. She is about 30 years old, tall (180 cm and 70 kg according to Mannie's description), blonde and beautiful. Wyoh divorced her twin husbands and declared herself an independent woman ("Free Woman") after their first child was deformed. Since then she has been politically active and describes herself as a supporter of the Fifth International . Their livelihood they earned as "professional surrogate ," the children of rich families from Hong Kong Luna discharges . Shortly before Mannie's visit to Earth, she is elected another wife in the Davis family.
  • Professor Bernardo de la Paz is an intellectual who has been politically subversive all his life . He was deported to Luna after he was arrested in Lima (Peru) without his usual disguise. His exact age is unknown, but Mannie describes how he looked old when he met him as a child (around the year 2050). Due to the low gravity, the sheltered living conditions in the settlements and the extensive absence of infectious diseases, people in Luna generally age more slowly than on earth. One can therefore assume that the professor was probably born before the year 2000 and is at least 75 years old at the time of the act. Professor de la Paz describes himself as a "rational anarchist " who believes that governments and institutions exist only as the sum of the actions of consciously acting individuals. He puts it this way: “I accept all the rules that you think you need for yourself. I will continue to live by my own. ”Judging from the actions of the revolutionaries and from the statements made by the professor at the first meeting of their revolutionary cell after the massacre at the beginning of the book, the professor also believes that the use of terrorist tactics is a must an acceptable way is to act against the Lunar Authority and even goes as far as to call it a historical principle.
  • Mike the Computer (also: Mycroft Holmes , Michelle , Adam Selene and Simon Jester ) is officially an extended HOLMES IV computer system and by far the largest computer in Luna. (HOLMES represents H igh O ptional L ogical M Ultimatum e valuating S upervisor = optional high logic multi-Evaluating control system .) It is the administrative complex of Lunar Authority housed. It developed its own consciousness three years after its start-up , since the number of its “neuristors” at that time exceeded the number of neurons in the human brain. However, only Mannie knows of this change. At first with the behavior of a stubborn child prodigy, Mike quickly becomes a well-rounded personality who leads the revolution. His "party name" is Adam Selene , but he also uses a Kilroy-like personality named Simon Jester , with whose help he circulates mean jokes and ominous warnings about the Warden. Mike's official duties include maintaining all telephone connections, operating the catapult that sends the grain loads to Earth, managing the life support systems in the administrative complex, Luna City and other settlements, and the financial accounting of the Lunar Authority and its clients. Unofficially, he is interested in humor and begins a private long-term study on the nature of jokes, in the context of which he sees the entire revolution as a game. For example, his idea of ​​a joke is to write a paycheck for $ 185.15 as $ 10,000,000,000,185.15. He uses a number of vocoders to be able to speak over the phone to his friends and co-conspirators (including many of them at the same time) wherever a phone is installed. His knowledge is very extensive, as he can read every book that has been brought or transferred to Luna in electronic form , and correlates everything he learns with all the facts known to him. He is able to predict through calculations that Luna’s resources will be exhausted in seven years. To answer the question about the chances of success of the revolution, he needs 13 minutes to calculate the answer “1 in 7 for success” . However, he is unable to understand why Mannie and his friends are excited to hear this.
  • Stuart Rene “Stu” LaJoie describes himself as a “poet, traveler, soldier of fortune”. He is an aristocrat who was born on earth and Mannie helps him out of trouble when he has problems with the customs authorities in Luna as a tourist. Then Stu becomes the contact person of the revolutionaries on earth, where he controls the political and financial maneuvers in order to at least convince the population that it is not worth waging a war over Luna if you are not interested in the cause itself can win. He is also the representative of LuNoHoCo on earth . Stu flees together with Mannie and Professor de la Paz after their visit to earth as "Ambassador of the free Luna." He declares himself a "Loonie" and later becomes a member of the Davis family.
  • Hazel Meade (later Hazel Stone ) was not quite 12 years old (born September 25, 2063) when Mannie first saw her. She is in the process of bringing down one of the guards who storm the congregation at the beginning of the story. He then recruits Hazel into the organization of the revolutionaries, where she is supposed to function as the leader of various "corridor gangs". These consist of children who are too young to be arrested and can thus serve as scouts and couriers. Mike calls them the Baker Street Irregulars after the gangs of street kids from the Sherlock Holmes stories. Hazel is adopted by the Davis family. She appears as the main character in The Rolling Stones (Eng. The Tramps of Luna / Twice Pluto and Back ) and other later novels of Heinlein, where she is mainly in The Cat Who Walks Through Walls (Eng. The cat that walks through walls ) plays a central role.
  • Moses Lemke “Slim” Stone is a young man who meets Mannie as the head of a gang of Stilyagi - one of the many urban youth gangs who are named after Russian beatniks . Slim wants Stu LaJoie "eliminated" because he tried to kiss Tish, the "queen bee" of his gang. Mannie settles the dispute and becomes friends with Slim as a member of the expanded Stone clan. Slim joins the revolution, initially without even knowing Mannie's role in it. He leads the groups of the Stilyagi who are used after the coup as stewards for crowds and as an emergency team. He later marries Hazel Meade.
  • The Davis family is a clan marriage . In this form of group marriage spanning several generations, new spouses are elected into the family through voting of all current spouses. (For the sake of simplicity, the husbands of the Davis clan are given a veto right.) The family was founded by "Black Jack Davis, the first husband, and Tillie, the first wife" about a century earlier. The family owns a complex of tunnels where they use solar and fusion energy to generate light to grow fodder crops for a range of different livestock, which they also keep and raise there.
  • Mimi "Mama" Davis , is the "senior wife" and the de facto matriarch of the Davis family. She was deported to Luna because "she may have worked a man with a knife that left serious doubts about her girlish innocence," but has since been "a strict opponent of violence and lottery life." For Mannie and Wyoh she is as Invaluable coordinator of the conspiracy and was Mannie's first recruit to the cell he led.
  • Greg Davis is the second eldest husband in the Davis family, but acts as a senior husband in all practical matters as "Grandpa Davis" mentally declines. Greg is a pastor in his own church, which spreads the belief that the “true” Sabbath is from sunset on Tuesday to sunset on Wednesday (“Garden of Eden time”). Greg is the first member of Wyoh's cell.

Minor characters

  • Honorable Senator Mortimer Hobart , known as Mort the Wart or simply Warden , is a retired Senator from the Earth Federation and head of the Lunar Authority on the Moon. Apart from his inaugural address, he never spoke to the residents of Luna. He spends practically all of his time in the administrative complex unless he is guiding VIP visitors through the settlements. Increasingly besieged by the revolution, he finally suffers permanent brain damage from hypoxia during the coup , as Mike floods his living quarters with pure nitrogen before the attackers break in there. It survives, but only as a "human vegetable".
  • Security chief Juan Alvarez controls the Lunar Authority's police force , which consists of a small group of ex-convicts (like Alvarez himself). He later also commands a larger contingent of Earth troops, angry that they were sent to Luna with no prospect of return. Alvarez's spies had completely subverted the old revolutionary movement. Even members of the Central Committee were in his service, but his overreaction to storm the congregation in Luna City only helps fuel the revolution. Alvarez and all of the guards are killed during the coup. Mannie puts it this way: "It looks like a lack of oxygen breaks neck".

Content aspects

Timeframe

The novel accommodates a large number of events in the narrative. A full sixth of the book is only concerned with tracing the discussions between the protagonists in which they justify and prepare the revolution over the course of a single night in May 2075. About a quarter of the novel describes the preparation for the revolution over the following year, including the recruiting of over 10,000 revolutionaries who are organized in cells of 3 people each, the construction of a 30 km long tunnel in the lunar rock, the founding and financing of a company , which is to carry out the construction of the secret catapult, the establishment of an aid organization on earth and many other details. The remainder of the book describes the events in the months immediately after the coup in May 2076 and events during about a week in October 2076, at the end of which the earth surrendered.

politics and society

Professor Bernardo de La Paz describes himself in the novel as a “rational anarchist”. This term was apparently used for the first time in the context of the book, and can therefore be viewed as a fictional variant of the anarchist philosophy . “Rational anarchists” believe that the concepts of state , society and government have no existence beyond the “actions of self-reliant individuals”. In other words, all decisions are ultimately always made by individual individuals, and no individual can shift responsibility for their own actions to others or share them with others. The claim to rationality arises from the realization that other people do not necessarily believe in the ideal of a rational anarchy or an anarchy . Furthermore, the need for anarchy is outweighed by the logical insight that, despite the shortcomings in it, some degree of administration is necessary. Aware of these circumstances, a rational anarchist will "try to live perfectly in an imperfect world". From the professor's point of view, the form of society in Luna is close to this ideal. Later in the book, Professor de la Paz referred to Thomas Jefferson as "the first of the rational anarchists."

Wyoh counters the professor in response to his remarks: “Professor, your words sound good, but there is something about them that makes them difficult to grasp. Too much power in the hands of individuals - you certainly can't want ... well, H-bombs for example - to be controlled by a single irresponsible person? ”The professor replies that in reality it is individuals who are in power have to use nuclear weapons. “In terms of morality, there is no such thing as a 'state'. Only men. Individuals. Everyone responsible for their own actions. "

Society in Luna is portrayed as similar to a city in the old western United States , but there are two additional factors. For one, there is the nearness of death in the form of the surrounding vacuum on the lunar surface. According to Mannie, this means that good manners and the ability to get along with others are not only desirable, but imperative to survival. The other factor is the low number of women, which comes from the fact that a large proportion of the criminals and subversives deported to Luna are men. Although the ratio of the sexes to two men to one woman improved in 2075 (as opposed to the 10 to 1 reported by Mannie in the 20th century), the result is a society in which women are very powerful - and any man who insults or harasses a woman runs the risk of being thrown out of the nearest airlock.

Marriages tend to be at least polyandria , but often also group marriages and even more radical innovations like the Davis family's clan marriage. Even if a divorce can simply consist of one of the parties simply leaving, it often takes years to settle the resulting financial ties. When Mannie Stu explains an example of this, he suggests that “Kubik” (underground, three-dimensional real estate in Luna) is traditionally registered in the name of the woman (or women) in a marriage. In the event of a divorce, a divorced man, if he has borne a share of the costs, is paid accordingly.

After decades in which anti-social individuals have been selectively eliminated and the Lunar Authority has exercised little real control over life in the settlements, the remaining residents live by the code of the Wild West: Pay your debts, collect what you owe, and pay attention to your family's reputation. As a result, there is little theft and disputes are either resolved privately or referred to an unofficial judge with a good reputation. Those who fail to pay their debts are humiliated by having the debtor's name posted in a public place. Reputation is extremely important in this society - if someone has a bad reputation, it may well be that others are unwilling to trade with them. However, the book also makes it clear that repayments in Luna are only expected up to a certain limit. It is expected that all available possessions will be used to pay off debts, but always with the exception of “air money”, because oxygen is a public utility in Luna that is subject to a charge. As strictly as the Loonies pay attention to the personal responsibility of the individual, they are always very aware of their relentless and inhospitable environment.

There are occasional pre-scheduled duels , but custom dictates that anyone who kills someone must be responsible for all the consequences. This also includes the obligation to pay the deceased's debts and to take responsibility for his or her family. This is very similar to the concept of blood money . Exceptions to this are only tolerated in the case of self-defense. There are also murders for revenge, but usually a consensus is reached as to which of the participants was right. As a result, there are no longer lasting feuds .

With the exception of the transactions in which the Lunar Authority is involved (these seem to be mostly those involving grain and water), there is generally an unregulated free market. The preferred currency is the Hong Kong Bank of Luna dollar , of which 100 can be exchanged for an ounce of gold. (A gold supply was brought to the moon specifically for this purpose .) The Lunar Authority dollar (which is considered to be relatively worthless and referred to as a "scrip") is in circulation, but a soft currency that over time has changed against the Hong Kong Luna Dollar is losing ground more and more. Even so, all transactions with the Lunar Authority must be made in this soft currency. In the book it becomes clear that the Loonies are then usually immediately exchanged for the authority's dollars at the usual rate of 3 to 1 in Hong Kong Luna (HKL) dollars.

Consequences

Although the revolution can successfully prevent the impending ecological catastrophe, the narrator expresses himself contemptuously about the imperfect instincts of many of his fellow men. ("Rules, laws - always for [the] other.") This point of view is also taken up in other works by Heinlein. According to her, real - if temporary - freedom can be found in pioneering libertarian societies venturing into a borderland . But the regulation and legalization that inevitably follows them brings with it restrictions that uncomfortably restrict real individualists . We learn on the last pages of this novel - as in the later published book The Cat That Goes Through the Walls - that this is exactly what happened in Luna.

In the elections held in Mannie's absence, the revolutionaries' organization and their allies together win a majority. Hearing this, Mannie suspects (surely rightly) that Mike's election was rigged. Democracies in which the majority always wins are rarely viewed with benevolence in Heinlein's works, and there are a number of events and statements in this book that clearly disapprove of this form of ochlocracy ("mob rule").

Political and historical context on earth

The novel suggests that there was a nuclear world war on earth in the 20th century (the "Wet Firecracker War"), but there does not seem to be any apparent or significant traces of destruction.

Extensive political consolidation has taken place on Earth. For example, all of North America has been united under the successor government of the United States , and South America, Europe and Africa have also merged into friendly mega-states. The Soviet Union has apparently lost all of the land east of the Urals to China, which has also conquered East and Southeast Asia, eastern Australia and New Zealand. Many unwanted people were also deported to Luna. This expansion of China corresponds to the descriptions in Tunnels to the Stars and, to a lesser extent, to those in The Sixth Column . The militarily dominant nations appear to be North America and China. India is severely overpopulated, but appears to be influential enough to secure the bulk of the grain shipments from the moon.

It is suggested that while the western nations have become corrupt and authoritarian, they still cling to the traces of the pre-war democratic idealism in their propaganda and popular culture. In contrast, China is portrayed as obviously and blatantly despotic , but technically no less advanced than the western states. The Soviet Union (also known as the “Soviet Union”), on the other hand, appears to have relatively little influence. The Lunar Authority itself is portrayed as corrupt and despotic, which it tries to hide with superficial propaganda.

Further elements of action

As in a foreign in a foreign world , a group of social revolutionaries forms a secret hierarchical organization. In this respect, the revolution is more reminiscent of the October Revolution of the Russian Bolsheviks than the American Revolution . This impression is reinforced by the Russian dialect of the Loonies and Russian place names such as Novy Leningrad .

Heinlein's speculations about unorthodox social and family structures are also continued in the novel, which for the first time introduces the concept of clan marriage ("line marriage"). Mannie is a member of a clan marriage that is over a hundred years old. Since new spouses are regularly accepted by mutual agreement, the marriage never ends. This is a very stable arrangement in which divorce is very rare (Mannie cannot recall this ever having happened in his family), as it takes the unanimous decision of all wives to divorce a man. Such a marriage becomes more stable over time as the older wives teach the younger ones how to lead families. In addition, it also offers financial security and ensures that the children cannot become orphans. For their part, children marry outside of clan marriage.

The structure of society in Luna is also characterized by a complete integration of ethnic groups, which is evident when Mannie is arrested on charges of polygamy while visiting the southern states after he carelessly showed reporters a photo of his eclectic family. He later learns that "... the variety of colors in the Davis family was what made the judge angry enough ..." to have him arrested. He also learns that the arrest was foreseen and provoked by his co-conspirators.

Also noteworthy is the use made in the novel of the fictitious dialect of the Loonies. This consists mainly of (in the original) English words, but is strongly influenced by Russian grammar, which is particularly evident from the lack of articles (in English "the") that do not exist in Slavic languages. (This is also similar to the dialect Nadsat from Anthony Burgess' novel Uhrwerk Orange .) The origin of this dialect is explained by the large number of Russian deportees in Luna.

Allusions and relationships with other works

Reference to other works

Professor de la Paz names, among others, Carl von Clausewitz , Niccolò Machiavelli , Oskar Morgenstern and Che Guevara as part of a long list of authors that revolutionaries should read. He also quotes a "Chinese general" on how to weaken the enemy's resolve, referring to Sūnzǐ's book On The Art of War . In discussing the loss of resources in Luna and the famine and uprising to be feared, Professor de la Paz also suggests that Mannie read the works of Thomas Malthus .

As they plan the revolution, Mike calls Mannie "our Scarlet Pimpernel", our John Galt , our swamp fox , "our mysterious man", referring to both the works of Baroness Orczy and Ayn Rand and the History of the American Revolutionary War .

References to this work

The setting of the novel is revisited in Heinlein's later novel The Cat That Goes Through the Walls , and Hazel Stone appears there again. She notes in this book (which is set many years after the revolution) how oppressive it has become on Luna. Luna's declaration of independence has become an exhibit, but the L room of the Raffles Hotel, where the revolution was planned, is still used as a normal hotel room. Only a plaque on the wall reminds of the importance of the room.

References to historical events, places and science

The action on the moon takes place mainly in the Mare Crisium , and the novel makes accurate references to surrounding locations such as the Peirce crater, where Heinlein has installed a radio telescope . According to the narrator, most people live in one of six large underground settlements. These are connected to the "tube", a system of underground railway lines. Luna City is the most important of the settlements for the plot and is "on the eastern edge of the Mare Crisium." Complex Under , the administrative complex of the Lunar Authority , is connected to Luna City by the Trans-Crisium Tube . Mannie describes it as being halfway across the other side of Crisium from Luna City . Novy Leningrad is another large settlement that is connected to Luna City by the tube . To get there, you have to "change trains at the [crater] Torricelli". Another settlement is Tycho Under , which is apparently in the area of ​​the conspicuous Tycho Crater . Hong Kong Luna is said to be located in Plato Crater . The Churchill settlement is not described in detail, only mentioned that it is connected by a tube to Hong Kong Luna , which crosses the Sinus Medii , a formation that lies on the prime meridian of the moon. The secret catapult is being built in the Mare Undarum region.

The character of Professor Bernardo de la Paz is based on the libertarian scholar and philosopher Robert LeFevre , who was a neighbor of the Heinleins in Colorado Springs.

Colorado Springs itself is mentioned as a neighboring town to the Cheyenne Mountain military target , which was hit directly during the Wet Firecracker War. Although the damage was superficial, it did not damage the underground military complex or the city to any major extent. The mountain is hit many times by the rock charges of the Loonies, who fire at it both for symbolic effect and in the hope of disrupting the command of the space defense.

The headquarters of the Lunar Authority is on Earth in Agra, India , where the Taj Mahal is also located. The city of Agra is spared from the bombing by Luna out of respect - and because Professor de la Paz loves the mausoleum for its beauty. The revolutionaries keep threatening to take it under fire, but never put it into practice. Mannie, a fan of the New York Yankees, visits Yankee Stadium on Earth , which has been expanded to accommodate more than 200,000 people. He also visits Salem and Concord in Massachusetts.

Lasers are primarily used as mining and cutting tools on the moon, but these are being adapted by the Loonies to be both hand-held weapons and ground-to-orbit weapons. Luna's industry uses both solar energy and hydrogen-based nuclear fusion . Heinlein correctly states the maximum efficiency of the solar cells at around one kilowatt per square meter, but is too optimistic about the nuclear fusion reactors. He describes these as compact electromagnetic [Z] pinch bottles .

In his story, Mannie tells of a comrade by the name of Foo Moses Morris , who after the revolution supported the government financially to keep it fit for work, but then remained penniless and had to start a new beginning with a tailor shop in Hong Kong Luna . This parallels the story of Robert Morris , who helped fund the fledgling administration of independent America and risked personal ruin in the process. The dating of Luna's Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 2076, and that one of the events is described as very similar to the Boston Tea Party are deliberately chosen parallels to the American Revolutionary War.

The brass cannon

The Free Luna coat of arms with the motto TANSTAAFL

Heinlein originally intended for the novel title was The Brass Canon ( The brass cannon ) was, but at the request of his publisher in The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress changed. Both titles refer to quotations from the book.

During his stay on Earth, Professor de la Paz acquired a small brass cannon . It is a signal cannon as it is used for regattas . When Mannie asks him why he bought it, since every kilogram of additional mass on the way to the moon has to be paid dearly, the professor tells him the following parable:

“Once there was a man who held a political make-work job like so many here […] shining brass cannon around a courthouse. He did this for years […] but he was not getting ahead in the world. So one day he quit his job, drew out his savings, bought a brass cannon - and went into business for himself. "

“There was once a man who had one of these politically wanted occupational therapies as his work [...] he polished the brass cannons in front of a courthouse. He did that for many years [...] but made no progress in the world. So one day he quit his job, withdrew his savings and bought a brass cannon - and went into business for himself. "

The professor wants to express that self-government as a government is an illusion that arises from an inability to understand reality. He asks Mannie to get Luna to choose a flag consisting of a brass cannon set against a red stripe on a black background with stars, “symbolizing all the fools who are so impractical they think they can go against Fight City Hall. ”Before retiring from politics, Mannie and Wyoh make his wish a reality.

The cannon and flag were inspired by the Battle of Gonzales (1835), an event considered by many to spark the Texas Revolution .

Heinlein himself owned a small brass cannon that he had acquired in the 1960s. For almost 30 years, firing this brass or signal cannon was part of the traditional celebration of July 4th in the Heinleins' household. It is believed that this cannon inspired Heinlein to choose the title he originally chose for the book. Virginia Heinlein initially kept the cannon after her husband's death in 1988. When she also died in 2003, the cannon was finally bequeathed to her friend, science fiction writer Brad Linaweaver . He restored the cannon to make it operational and in 2007 posted a video on YouTube showing the cannon being fired several times with small charges.

Awards and nominations

  • Hugo Award : Best Novel (1967, previously nominated in 1966).
  • Nebula Award : Nominated for Best Novel, (1966).
  • Locus Poll Award - Top 10 novels of all time (audience award): 8th place (1975), 4th place (1987), 2nd place (1998, in the category of novels published before 1990 ).

Influences on popular culture

The abbreviation TANSTAAFL ("There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch") was first used in the book, which is to say that nothing in life is really free is available. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the novel as the first appearance of the phrase “There's no free lunch”, which is mostly associated with the works of the economist Milton Friedman . The book also helped popularize the planned language Loglan , which is used there for the precise interaction between humans and computers.

Some of the revolutionaries start in the book by writing anti-authoritarian graffiti on the walls of the settlements signed Simon Jester . The author Claire Wolfe and others have suggested that all those who see the American government as oppressive should do the same - possibly even with the same signature.

filming

In 2004, it was reported that screenwriter Tim Minear was working on a script based on the novel. The script was completed in 2006 and submitted to various directors.

Quotes

“At one time kings were anointed by Deity, so the problem was to see to it that Deity chose the right candidate. In this age the myth is 'the will of the people'… but the problem changes only superficially. "

“Once upon a time kings were anointed by deities, so the problem was getting the deities to choose the right candidate. In our age the myth is 'the will of the people' ... but it only superficially changes the problem. "

- Professor Bernardo de la Paz : On the election of leaders

"A managed democracy is a wonderful thing ... for the managers ... and its greatest strength is a 'free press' when 'free' is defined as 'responsible' and the managers define what is 'irresponsible'."

"A ruled democracy is a wonderful thing ... for its leaders ... and its greatest strength is 'freedom of the press' where 'free' is defined as 'responsible' and leaders define what is 'irresponsible'."

- Professor Bernardo de la Paz : On freedom of the press

Publications

Web links

Essays on Rational anarchism (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Prof: "... a historical principle." Mannie: " Which principle?" Prof: " Terror! One can face a known danger. But the unknown scares you. We let these spies disappear with their teeth and toenails in order to see fear among their companions. ”- Translated from book 1, 5th chapter, page 75 of the engl. Paperback edition. ( ISBN 0-312-86355-1 )
  2. ↑ Wyoh: “Professor, your words sound good but there is something slippery about them. Too much power in the hands of individuals — surely you would not want… well, H-missiles for example — to be controlled by one irresponsible person? ” Prof: “In terms of morals there is no such thing as a 'state.' Just men. Individuals. Each responsible for his own acts. ”- Translated from Book 1, Chapter 6, Page 84 of the Engl. Paperback edition. ( ISBN 0-312-86355-1 )
  3. ↑ Robert A. Heinlein: Grumbles from the Grave. Del Rey Books, New York 1989.
  4. ↑ Translated from book 2, 18th chapter, page 258 of the engl. Paperback edition. ( ISBN 0-312-86355-1 )
  5. ↑ YouTube video: Firing Heinlein's brass cannon. The actual firing can be seen after around 6 minutes.
  6. ↑ Sci Fi Wire: Minear To Adapt Moon '( Memento of July 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) [] .
  7. ↑ Instapundit.com: Tim Minear on The Glenn and Helen Show (February 25, 2006) ( Memento of the original from February 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Mentioned at 00:35:23. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / instapundit.com