Robert Heinlein’s The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is one of his most enduringly popular novels, especially among libertarians. Doing these book posts gave me an excuse to read it for the first time in many years.

I could write a dozen essays on different aspects of the novel. Can a computer “wake up”? What are the implications of Professor de la Paz’s philosophy of “rational anarchism”? Why did Mike go away at the end? For this piece, I’ll look at Lunar society, how it’s organized, and how tenable the idea is.

In the novel, set in 2076, the Moon started out as a prison colony like Australia. It’s still basically a dumping ground for undesirables. Mannie, the narrator, describes it in Lunar dialect as “only open prison in history. No bars, no guards, no rules — and no need for them.” It’s governed by the Lunar Authority, which represents the whole Earth. Prior to the events in the novel, it was mostly concerned with commerce with Earth. As long as stuff was shipped, no one much cared what else happened.

“No rules” means no laws. Lunar society is self-organized anarchy. It works remarkably well. There is a scene where a group of boys grab a visitor from Earth who grabbed a woman. They’re spoiling to dump him out an airlock, but they want a judge to rule on it first. There are no official judges, just people in that business who have acquired a reputation for fairness. The usual judge isn’t available, and Mannie agrees on the spot to conduct the trial. He reaches a non-lethal verdict that satisfies everyone. The scene not only gives a glimpse of Lunar justice, it introduces Stuart LaJoie to the story.

It’s a great system if it works, but would it? If some people involved in a dispute tried to find a handy judge, would they find one who’d do a passable job? How likely is it they’d accept the verdict?

There is almost no mention in the novel of big-time crime bosses. The situation seems like a natural breeding ground for them. A brief passage in Mannie’s narrative deals with this:

Back when I was very young, they sent us a gangster lord, from Los Angeles, I believe; he arrived with squad of stooges, his bodyguards, and was cockily ready to take over Luna, as was rumored to have taken a prison somewhere Earthside.

(None lasted two weeks. Gangster boss didn’t make it to barracks; hadn’t listened when told how to wear a p-suit.)

This isn’t enough to convince me. The people who set themselves up as godfathers are pretty good at putting others on the wrong side of the airlock.

The TANSTAAFL (“there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch”) mindset could help to prevent the rise of powerful thugs. Crooks often get their start by promising something too good to be true, but Loonies would be on the alert when they heard any offer like that. Also, the independent nature of the inhabitants would make it hard for a top thug to keep control of his gang. Getting Loonies organized to do anything is, to use one of my favorite clichés, like herding cats.

Another distinctive aspect of Loonie culture comes from the fact that men outnumber women two to one in 2076, down from an even more skewed ratio. To prevent constant fighting, there is an ironclad custom that the woman’s consent is necessary, and she can express her lack of consent in strong terms without giving offense. In this regard, the Lunar society is closer to American society today than to the America of Heinlein’s time.

Polygamy has become acceptable, including group marriage, and it takes some complex forms. Mannie’s family is based on a bewildering set of relationships, with a senior wife holding the whole thing together. It’s plausible that such arrangements would arise.

Above all, the Lunar society is a very free society. People don’t trade in control of their lives for dubious promises from a government. They know that they have to pay for what they get and they need to keep their word. There are things they don’t know, like what a marriage license is. Nonetheless, families provide a strong social safety net.

There’s no professional licensing. People who offer services and do badly won’t get repeat business; if they screw up badly enough, probably they’d get a trial and could be eliminated if they’d done serious harm. There’s no legal death penalty, but executions seem to be common.

Loonies can be manipulated, though. Bernardo de la Paz, the mastermind of the revolution, creates deception after deception to stir up opposition to Terran control. He finds it necessary; the course at the start of the book will lead to economic collapse and food riots, or at least Mike so predicts. Heinlein was never a believer in the wisdom of crowds.

The big question, then, is whether we can have such a society, or whether people’s tendency to follow the leader will always pull them back to authoritarian systems. Mannie muses on this: “Seems to be a deep instinct in human beings for making everything compulsory that isn’t forbidden.” I tend to view liberty as a direction. I try to keep as much as I can, knowing there will always be forces beyond my control aiming to take it away. Prof’s “rational anarchism” may be the best we can do: “But being rational, he knows that not all individuals hold his evaluations, so he tries to live perfectly in an imperfect world.”

If you haven’t read The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress in a while, give it another look. If you haven’t ever read it, then read it! Unlike many books on liberty, it shows in concrete detail what a free society might be like and how it can fight against superior forces. Accept Heinlein’s vision or not, it shows an exciting alternative to the centrally planned society.