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"He said that there would be no more force when after the revolution nobody lived off another man’s work…. Police, governments, armies, presidents, kings… all that is force. Force is not real; it is illusion. The working man makes all that himself because he believes it. The day that we stop believing in money and property it will be like a dream when we wake up."
In FIRST SECTION: II Metropolis, Marco tells Congo and Emile about a meeting with other communists he attended before leaving Italy. Marco is an older Italian waiter who works with Emile at an affluent restaurant. It is implied that he has always had a position working in the service industry for wealthy, upper-class patrons. In his only appearance in the book, he tells the two younger men about the need for a complete societal shift if men like them are to find happiness. The working men play into the hands of the upper class by continuing their self-induced servitude. This desire for a working man’s revolution and the debate between communism and capitalism is echoed throughout the book. Martin Schiff and Anna’s boyfriend Elmer share Marco’s sentiments later in the book, as does an older Congo. However, when Marco speaks to Emile and Congo here, the younger men quickly dismiss his words because they do not see how these ideas apply to them in the moment.
"You know why they have this here war…. So that workingmen all over wont make big revolution…. Too busy fighting."
In SECOND SECTION: V Went to the Animals’ Fair, the first world war looms and many of the characters have gathered in one place for the first and only time in the book. Congo shares his opinion about why the war is beginning. Only a few years older than when he and Emile spoke with the Italian waiter Marco, Congo now shares some of the older man’s sentiments. In the years since he arrived in New York, Congo has developed opinions that would be considered radical by New York capitalists. New York is a completely different place for people who live on opposite ends of the economic spectrum, and Congo has experienced the negative effects of the rampant capitalism that drives the city. Although no working man’s revolution comes to New York City, Congo goes on to pursue his own anarchist goals by bucking the establishment and becoming a wealthy bootlegger. He is unique as a character who comes to the city with nothing and ends up wealthy.
“Through the dream she is stitching white fingers beckon. The white tulle shines too bright. Red hands clutch suddenly out of the tulle, she can’t fight off the red tulle all round her biting into her, coiled about her head. The skylight’s blackened with swirling smoke. The room’s full of smoke and screaming. Anna is on her feet whirling round fighting with her hands the burning tulle all round her.”
In the last chapter, Anna is subjected to her most cruel mistreatment yet at the hand of an employer. She appears for the first time in the last section of the book as a young girl who is willing to work hard to improve her position, but she is repeatedly cast aside at work. She begins working at Madame Soubrine’s dress shop as a scab because of a labor strike. Having turned to prostitution as well and now crossing the picket line, Anna feels alienated from everyone, including her family and any polite society. Ironically, as Anna quietly daydreams about a day when the working man will triumph over the upper class, she is quickly consumed by a fire. Refusing to lose business over Anna’s tragedy, Madame Soubrine quickly assures patrons that everything is fine. It is implied, though, that after all of her trials, Anna might ultimately get the better of the city’s capitalism in the form of a financial settlement from Madame Soubrine.
