One recruit to the New Underground is Doremus Jessup, the novel’s protagonist, a traditional liberal and an opponent of both Corpoism and communist theories, which Windrip’s administration suppresses. Open opponents of Windrip, led by Senator Trowbridge, form an organization called the New Underground, helping dissidents escape to Canada in manners reminiscent of the Underground Railroad and distributing anti-Windrip propaganda. Others, those less enthusiastic about the prospect of corporatism, reassure themselves that fascism cannot “happen here,” hence the novel’s title. Those accused of crimes against the government appear before kangaroo courts presided over by “military judges.” Despite these dictatorial (and “quasi-draconian”) measures, a majority of Americans approve of them, seeing them as necessary but painful steps to restore American power. The government of these sectors is managed by “Corpo” authorities, usually prominent businessmen or Minute Men officers.
In addition to these actions, Windrip’s administration, known as the “Corpo” government, curtails women’s and minority rights, and eliminates individual states by subdividing the country into administrative sectors. The Minute Men respond to protests against Windrip’s decisions harshly, attacking demonstrators with bayonets. States Congress, which draws the ire of many citizens as well as the legislators themselves. One of his first acts as president is to eliminate the influence of the United Trains and arms a paramilitary force called the Minute Men, who terrorize citizens and enforce the policies of Windrip and his “corporatist” regime. Though having previously foreshadowed some authoritarian measures in order to reorganize the United States government, Windrip rapidly outlaws dissent, incarcerates political enemies in concentration camps, and It’s been a long while since I read It Can’t Happen Here but Wikipedia’s plot description reminds me of the tale’s most significant and frightening turns: The assassination of Louisiana Governor Huey Long (better remembered in literary history for inspiring Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men) and the re-election of Franklin Roosevelt rendered Lewis’ warning moot for a time, but 80 years later the novel feels frighteningly contemporary.” In Salon, Malcolm Harris called Lewis’ book “a wonderful example of prophylactic fiction,” observing that “Lewis used his position as one of the nation’s top novelists”-he had penned Main Street (1920), Babbitt (1922), and Elmer Gantry (1927), after all-“to show his countrymen exactly how authoritarianism could rear its head in the land of liberty.
After he wins the 1936 election, Windrip moves to assert control over the press, lock up his opponents, and put competent businessmen in charge of the country. His constituency of economically dispossessed white men moos at his xenophobic nationalism and preposterous promises.
#The bombay royale radar love how to#
Windrip is a demagogic huckster, “an inspired guesser at what political doctrines the people would like,” who understands how to manipulate the media and considers the truth an irrelevancy. You can’t read Lewis’ novel today without flashes of Trumpian recognition. The movement’s leader is Buzz Windrip, a populist demagogue who promises ‘to make America a proud, rich land again,’ punish nations that defy him, and raise wages very high while keeping prices very low.” He goes on to remark:
Slate’s Jacob Weisberg mentioned it as “a novel today more referred to than read, which imagined fascism coming to the U.S. There was a good deal of talk about Sinclair Lewis’ semi-satirical, 1935 political novel, It Can’t Happen Here, in the run-up to this month’s American presidential election, due to the fact that Lewis’ story features a tactless, fearmongering, Donald Trump-like character. Another in our growing line of vintage book covers we love.