The Jungle

The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by journalist, socialist, and politician Upton Sinclair (1878-1968). Sinclair wrote the novel with the intent to portray the lives of immigrants in the United States. However, readers were more concerned with the large portion of the book pertaining to the bad practices and corruption of the American meatpacking industry during the early 20th century, and the book is now often interpreted and taught as a journalist's account of the poor working conditions in the industry. The novel depicts, in harsh tones, poverty, the absence of social programs, unpleasant living and working conditions, and the hopelessness prevalent among the working class, which is contrasted with the deeply-rooted corruption on the part of those in power. Sinclair's observations of the state of turn-of-the-twentieth-century labor were placed front and center for the American public to see, suggesting that something needed to be changed to get rid of American wage slavery. A review by Jack London called it, "the Uncle Tom's Cabin of wage slavery."

During the time The Jungle was written, Social Darwinism was the philosophy that represented most Americans' attitudes. It applied such concepts as survival of the fittest, "buyer beware," and minimal regulation (especially of factory conditions and workers rights) to the economy. Sinclair was one of the muckrakers, or journalists who exposed corruption in government and business.

The novel was first published in serial form in 1905 in the socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason between February 25, 1905 and November 4, 1905. It was based on undercover work done in 1904: Sinclair spent seven weeks gathering information while working incognito in the meatpacking plants of the Chicago stockyards at the behest of the magazine's publishers. He then started looking for a publisher who would be willing to print his work in book form. However, most refused. An employee at Macmillan stated "I advise without hesitation and unreservedly against the publication of this book which is gloom and horror unrelieved. One feels that what is at the bottom of his fierceness is not nearly so much desire to help the poor as hatred of the rich." After five rejections by publishers who found it too shocking for publication, he funded the first printing himself. A shortened version of the novel was published by Doubleday, Page & Company on February 28, 1906 and has been in print ever since. The book was dedicated, by Sinclair, "To the Workingmen of America."

Some of the characters in the novel were partially based on Sinclair's family. For example Ona Lukoszaite, Jurgis Rudkus's wife, was based on Meta Fuller, who was Sinclair's wife at the time.

A film version of the novel was made in 1914, but it has since become a lost film. Sinclair played the part of the socialist orator in the film. Lithuanian immigrant Jurgis Rudkus, the main character was played by George Nash and his teenage wife Ona Luckoszaite, by Gail Kane. Distribution began on May 25, 1914.