The Role Of Socialism In The Jungle, By Upton Sinclair

Over the course of history, many political systems have formed and dissolved throughout the world. These systems arose in order to promote solutions to problems that existed in a particular country. During the 1900s, the political system of capitalism was driving industry in the United States. However, capitalism made money more of a priority rather than healthy working conditions. With unrest among the working class, the political system of socialism was promoted to counteract the effects of capitalism. One author that used his profession to advocate socialism was Upton Sinclair. In his work, The Jungle, Upton Sinclair combated the social injustices of the twentieth century with socialism in order to change the poor working conditions many

people faced in the meat packing industry.
More commonly known as Upton Sinclair, Upton Beale Sinclair Jr.

was born to Upton Sinclair and Priscilla Harden on September 20, 1878 in Baltimore, Maryland. At the age of five, Sinclair taught himself how to read which would become a favorite pastime of his (“Upton Sinclair Biography.” Encyclopedia of World Biography.). When his family decided to move to New York City, Sinclair was only ten years old and an avid reader of William Shakespeare and Percy Shelley. His advanced reading at such a young age prepared him for college which he attended at the age of fourteen. Graduating first from the City College of New York and then from Columbia University, Upton Sinclair supported himself by writing children’s stories and dime novels while he was a student. After completing his schooling at the age of twenty, he began working as a journalist and wrote several novels, such as Springtime and Harvest, a work that was inspired by his unsuccessful marriage. Despite the lack of success he received with these novels, Upton Sinclair continued to write on a range of topics. It was not until he wrote The Jungle that Sinclair was seen as a successful author (“Upton Sinclair Biography.” The Biography.com.). However, while writing the novel, Sinclair could not have guessed the large impact that his work would have on combating social injustice throughout the entire United

States.
Having strong political convictions rooted in socialism, Sinclair worked for a socialist newspaper called Appeal to Reason at the beginning of the twentieth century.

His inspiration for The Jungle stemmed from an assignment that he was working on in order to expose the social injustices of workers in the meat industry. (“Upton Sinclair Biography.” The Biography.com.). During this time period, “…more than 15 million immigrants arrived in the United States” which “…was equal to the number of immigrants who had arrived in the previous 40 years combined” (“Immigrants in the Progressive Era.”). With this increase in population, jobs became scarce and the mistreatment of workers escalated. The newspaper, Appeal to Reason, wanted to cover this, so Sinclair was sent to Chicago to research the working conditions of the meat packing industry (“Upton Sinclair Biography.” The Biography.com.). Here, Sinclair “…spent seven weeks observing the observations of a meat-packing plant…” before he was compelled to write The Jungle with a strong emphasis on socialism (“Upton Sinclair Biography.” Encyclopedia of World Biography.). The novel became an instant success, and regulations concerning the meat packing industry were changed forever. After Sinclair met with President Theodore Roosevelt and further inspections of the meat industry were conducted, the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act were passed (“Upton Sinclair Biography.” The

Biography.com.).
Upton Sinclair’s use of socialism in the novel was effective in showing the downfalls of capitalism, and was praised by several critics for this reason. James T. Farrell states that “…it remains to this day…almost unmatched in America as a condemnation of the basic evils of capitalism” (Farrell). He goes on to state that it “…expresses a passionate and urgent cry for social justice” (Farrell). Farrell believes this political stance was necessary in order to truly convey the need for reform in the meat industry. Another critic, William Bloodworth, saw The Jungle as “…a powerful story depicting conditions and people that do not often appear in the pages of American literature” (Bloodworth). He went on to indirectly support the politics of the book by stating that “It both questions the American dream of success and demands that dream be more inclusive and more rigorously transformed into economic reality” (Bloodworth). Here, Bloodworth states that many workers are being excluded from the capitalistic dream that consists of being successful and earning a decent living. He praises the novel for its call to change the capitalistic ways of society in order to make this a reality, which Sinclair believes can be done through socialism. Due to its socialist aspect, both critics express the power that the novel had in pointing out the social injustice that was inflicted on workers and Sinclair’s call to reformation.
Though some critics praised the novel for its socialistic center, other critics found contention with it and the characters that Upton Sinclair wrote about. One critic, Karen Olsson, found the politics of the novel to be improbable stating that “As a socialist novel it’s unconvincing” (Olsson). She could not buy into the solution that Sinclair presented at the end of the novel expressing that “The ending, in which Jurgis Rudkus converts to socialism, is the worst part of the book” (Olsson). Edward Clark Marsh, another critic with disdain for the novel, expanded on the flaws of Jurgis Rudkus’s life by stating that “‘…He is too obviously manipulated, his experiences are too palpably made to order…” (“Overview of Upton (Beall) Sinclair.”). Marsh thinks that Sinclair had too much control of his work and characters resulting in a novel that readers would view skeptically. In fact, Marsh condemned The Jungle stating that the author’s “‘…reasoning is so false, his disregard of human nature so naïve, his statement of facts so biased, his conclusions so perverted, that the effect can be only to disgust many honest, sensible folk with the very terms he uses so glibly” (“Overview of Upton (Beall) Sinclair.”). Marsh disagreed with Sinclair’s socialist resolution believing that the book itself would cause more harm than good. Though both critics felt contempt for Sinclair’s promotion of socialism, he was able to lead the reformation of the meat packing industry despite the strife that the book caused politically.
Upton Sinclair penned the novel, The Jungle, in order to reform the poor working conditions in the meat packing industry while promoting the spread of socialism. The truth that he revealed about the production of meat was taken to heart and led to many regulations of the meat industry, such as the Pure Food and Drug Act. Several critics praised the novel for its honesty and revelation about the impacts of capitalism. However, other critics condemned the novel for its socialistic viewpoints, and disliked how much control Sinclair had over his characters’ lives. Though socialism did not overcome capitalism after the publication of The Jungle, Sinclair’s impact continues on into the twenty-first century with the meat industry regulations that are still intact today.