# The Machine Breakers explained — The Iron Heel > Chapter companion for The Iron Heel by Jack London. ## What happens Avis Everhard recounts a dinner hosted by her father, Professor Cunningham, just before Ernest ran for Congress. The dinner, which Ernest called the 'dinner of the Machine Breakers,' was attended by small businessmen who complained about the trusts and advocated for breaking them up. Ernest challenged them, arguing that they were themselves 'machine-breakers' who destroyed smaller competitors but now cried out when larger trusts absorbed their profits. He explained that economic evolution favors combination over competition, and that the small capitalist class is doomed to perish. ## Themes in this chapter ### Class Struggle and the Rise of Oligarchy The dinner reveals the conflict between small capitalists and large trusts, illustrating the consolidation of economic power and the inevitable decline of the middle class. ### Ideology, Propaganda, and the Control of Thought Ernest exposes how the small businessmen use patriotic phrases like 'free opportunity for all' to disguise their selfish pursuit of profits, highlighting the role of ideology in masking class interests. ### The Dehumanizing Nature of Capitalism Ernest's critique shows how capitalism reduces human relationships to profit-seeking, where individuals are 'eaten up' by larger competitors and the system treats people as mere instruments for accumulation. ## Character check-ins ### Ernest Everhard Ernest dominates the dinner conversation, challenging the small businessmen and labeling them 'machine-breakers' for their hypocrisy. ### Avis Everhard Avis narrates the chapter, recalling the dinner and Ernest's arguments. ### John Cunningham Professor Cunningham hosts the dinner, which he privately calls his 'Profit and Loss' dinner. ### Mr. Asmunsen A quarry owner who describes how the railroad absorbs his profits through freight rate manipulation. ### Mr. Calvin A small businessman who speaks about returning to the principles of the forefathers and later engages in debate with Ernest. ### Owen A partner in a grocery firm who admits his branch store drove three small groceries out of business. ## Key lines > The railroad knows my business just a little bit better than I do. It knows my operating expenses to a cent, and it knows the terms of my contracts. Mr. Asmunsen complains that the railroad has detailed knowledge of his quarry operations and contracts, allowing it to adjust freight rates to capture his profits. _This illustrates the power imbalance between small capitalists and large trusts._ > You are machine-breakers. Do you know what a machine-breaker is? Let me tell you. In the eighteenth century, in England, men and women wove cloth on hand-looms in their own cottages... they proceeded to break the machines. They did not succeed, and they were very stupid. Ernest compares the small businessmen to the Luddites of 18th-century England who smashed machines, arguing that both groups foolishly try to destroy more efficient systems instead of adapting. _This is the central metaphor of the chapter, linking the small capitalists' anti-trust stance to historical resistance to technological progress._ > You can no more make water run up hill than can you cause the tide of economic evolution to flow back in its channel along the way it came. Ernest tells the businessmen that it is impossible to reverse the economic trend toward combination and trusts, just as water cannot flow uphill. _This emphasizes the inevitability of economic consolidation and the futility of trying to restore competition._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_iron_heel_se/chapters/viii-the-machine-breakers - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_iron_heel_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_iron_heel_se/chapters