Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" - The Fascist Question

I wrote the following as part of a conversation regarding Robert Heinlein's "Starship Troopers" on another blog.  The assertion that ST represents a fascist government had been raised.  As is frequently the case, the assertion was made without proof and was seemingly embraced (by some) based on the Paul Verhoeven's movie "Starship Troopers".

As has been widely documented at this point, Verhoeven didn't even read Heinlein's book.  He stopped a few chapters into it.  Essentially, he had a narrative of a fascist state to tell and mapped his story onto some of the general elements of Heinlein's book.

Now I love the book.  It is a Hugo award-winning novel for very good reasons.  Heinlein was in a class of his own and this is some of his best work.

I also love the movie.  But the two are very different works with very different themes that happen to share the same title along with the names of most of the characters.  

It is fair to say that the movie does contain many fascist elements.  The person that wrote the story and directed the film put them there!

It is inaccurate to suggest that the book contains fascist elements.  As a part of that conversation, I turned to the actual text of the book and wrote most of the following.  Afterwards, I did some DuckDuckGo-ing and found a number of other, better prepared, arguments against the idea that the book represents a fascist government in any meaningful way.  So this doesn't necessarily add much in value to the work that has already been done on the subject.  It is, however, mine.  The modestly edited version goes like this....

-------------

I’ve read Starship Troopers at least a dozen times. But my paper copies are gone and this discussion has given me a reason to buy an electronic copy. Here’s an extensive section from Chapter 2 that suggests government service is open to everyone and that while it is regimented, it is not necessarily military in nature.  Johnny, Carl, and Carmen are applying for federal service when they encounter a recruiting officer.  He is explaining the terms of service to them.

It says that everybody, male or female, shall have his born right to pay his service and assume full citizenship—but the facts are that we are getting hard pushed to find things for all the volunteers to do that aren’t just glorified K.P. You can’t all be real military men; we don’t need that many and most of the volunteers aren’t number-one soldier material anyhow. Got any idea what it takes to make a soldier?”

“No,” I admitted.

“Most people think that all it takes is two hands and two feet and a stupid mind. Maybe so, for cannon fodder. Possibly that was all that Julius Caesar required. But a private soldier today is a specialist so highly skilled that he would rate ‘master’ in any other trade; we can’t afford stupid ones. So for those who insist on serving their term—but haven’t got what we want and must have—we’ve had to think up a whole list of dirty, nasty, dangerous jobs that will either run ’em home with their tails between their legs and their terms uncompleted . . . or at the very least make them remember for the rest of their lives that their citizenship is valuable to them because they’ve paid a high price for it. Take that young lady who was here—wants to be a pilot. I hope she makes it; we always need good pilots, not enough of ’em. Maybe she will. But if she misses, she may wind up in Antarctica, her pretty eyes red from never seeing anything but artificial light and her knuckles callused from hard, dirty work.”

I wanted to tell him that the least Carmencita could get was computer programmer for the sky watch; she really was a whiz at math. But he was talking.

“So they put me out here to discourage you boys. Look at this.” He shoved his chair around to make sure that we could see that he was legless. “Let’s assume that you don’t wind up digging tunnels on Luna or playing human guinea pig for new diseases through sheer lack of talent; suppose we do make a fighting man out of you. Take a look at me—this is what you may buy . . . if you don’t buy the whole farm and cause your folks to receive a ‘deeply regret’ telegram. Which is more likely, because these days, in training or in combat, there aren’t many wounded. If you buy at all, they likely throw in a coffin—I’m the rare exception; I was lucky . . . though maybe you wouldn’t call it luck.”

He paused, then added, “So why don’t you boys go home, go to college, and then go be chemists or insurance brokers or whatever? A term of service isn’t a kiddie camp; it’s either real military service, rough and dangerous even in peacetime . . . or a most unreasonable facsimile thereof. Not a vacation. Not a romantic adventure. Well?”

Carl said, “I’m here to join up.”

“Me, too.”

“You realize that you aren’t allowed to pick your service?”

Carl said, “I thought we could state our preferences?”

“Certainly. And that’s the last choice you’ll make until the end of your term. The placement officer pays attention to your choice, too. First thing he does is to check whether there’s any demand for left-handed glass blowers this week—that being what you think would make you happy. Having reluctantly conceded that there is a need for your choice—probably at the bottom of the Pacific—he then tests you for innate ability and preparation. About once in twenty times he is forced to admit that everything matches and you get the job . . . until some practical joker gives you dispatch orders to do something very different. But the other nineteen times he turns you down and decides that you are just what they have been needing to field-test survival equipment on Titan.” He added meditatively, “It’s chilly on Titan. And it’s amazing how often experimental equipment fails to work. Have to have real field tests, though—laboratories just never get all the answers.”

There is a later section where the doctor administering a physical indicates that the only disqualifying factor is if a person cannot understand the oath of enlistment. Even a person confined to a wheelchair and blind in both eyes could enlist for a term and become a voting citizen.

This reads to me as there being non-military government organizations that require work and personal risk and thus are qualifying as a voting citizen. Sort of like the CCC that began back in the 1930s.

During the early boot camp passages, the book mentions that older men had enlisted and were having trouble keeping up with the physical training. They retained the option to shift over to a different form of federal service. During the later passages where Rico is in OCS, the Commandant mentions that most voting citizens are not military veterans. He points out that anyone serving on active duty is ineligible to vote. And there is a discussion about various filters that every civilization has used to restrict the franchise; age, gender, property ownership, etc.

I have never understood the case for asserting that ST contains any noteworthy fascist elements. Having a strong military is not fascist; although fascist states almost uniformly do have strong militaries.

Restricting the franchise isn’t inherently fascist, although fascist states invariably use franchise restrictions to stay in power. One has to be 18 to vote in the US. I’ve met brilliant 15-year-olds and 40-year-olds that…ummm….are a long, long way from brilliant. I’ve met renters that could name all of the Supreme Court justices (as one measure of political acumen/engagement) and property owners that can’t name a single one of their elected representatives.

The “unique poll tax”, as the Commandant terms it, of ST is not inherently fascist either.

-------------

Getting the quoted text into this piece required jumping through a couple of different devices.  I may try to add the other sections from boot camp and the OCS H&MP class at a later time.

I remain unconvinced of the assertion that the book is inherently fascist.  It goes out of the way to point out that everyone has rights that are respected and that formal military service is not a requirement for being eligible to vote.

I would be interested in any informed opinions to the contrary.

------------

A modest coda.  I was treated to John Scalzi's media critic review of the movie Starship Troopers courtesy of a post over at File 770.  While his comments were directed towards Robert Heinlein in general rather than about Heinlein's Starship Troopers book, I think they are a worthy reference point.

It's in line with Verhoeven's other glimpses of the future; you could plot a direct line between the fascistic corporations of Robocop and Total Recall to the planetary government in Troopers -- and no doubt some desperate film student will, one day, for a thesis. But it's likely to annoy true Heinlein fans. Heinlein was occasionally confused with being a fascist, just like Ayn Rand, a writer who Heinlein, for better or worse, shares most of his reading audience with. He wasn't (neither was she, for that matter, though sometimes you have to wonder) but this film isn't going to help his reputation much on that score. 

It's not quite the same thing as the Dalai Lama ensuring that I'll get total consciousness on my death bed, but it ain't bad.