Although many elements of Lunar society in Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress demonstrate the positive role of anarchist values in shaping an equitable society, the role played by the Lunar Authority is just as important. The Authority, through its heavy-handed tactics, greed, lack of concern for Lunar citizens, and general incompetence, provides an effective foil for the idealized Loonie revolution. A prime example of LA greed and lack of compassion is its establishment of an export economy in a closed system.
Resource Scarcity and the Export Economy
The primary cause of the projected collapse of Lunar society is the lack of resources combined with the export-based economy. The Lunar penal colony was established as a means of providing food for the 11 billion inhabitants of Earth, who could no longer produce enough to feed themselves. The free citizens of Luna continue their employment in the agriculture industry and supportive industries, such as ice mining, which provides water for the underground farms. The largest part of the grain produced is shipped to Earth, but no resources are shipped back to Luna, ostensibly because of the great expense of launching shipments from the bottom of Earth's gravity well. As a result, Luna will eventually run out of resources and all its residents will starve to death since they cannot return to Earth.
The population of Earth is so great that each person is allotted only 1400 calories per day. The rich, of course, consume more than this limited amount, and the poor continue to starve, increasing the pressure on Luna to provide more and more grain. At the same time, so long as Luna's production remains stable, the average Loonie consumes between 2000 and 4000 calories per day, and could continue to do so indefinitely were Lunar production used domestically.
Here Heinlein critiques the inequality of food distribution in the twentieth century and the exploitation of the poor for the benefit of the rich. The Lunar Authority controls exports from Luna, making sure the farmers meet their quota and setting the prices they receive for their crops. The farmers have no choice but to take the price given. This totalitarian oversight runs in direct conflict with the largely anarchistic Lunar social structure and provides the impetus for revolt. Here Heinlein may also be commenting on the food and farm policies of the 1960s, which alternately encouraged over-production and paid farmers not to produce.
The Failure of Brute Force
In Heinlein's view, the natural course of action for an authoritarian regime under threat is to use force. Indeed, the Warden and later the Earth-based leadership of the Lunar Authority consistently resort to brutality in the face of challenge. Even at the beginning of the novel, when the resistance is poorly organized and ineffective, a mere meeting of anti-Authority protesters draws lethal interference from the Warden's personal guard.
As the rebellion grows in strength and efficacy, the Authority repeatedly ups the ante of violence, first sending in shock troops to support the Warden and later attempting to invade and finally bomb the colony into submission. In each case, the Authority initiates the violence, but is unable to win. The Loonies, poorly armed and untrained, never initiate violence, but act only in defense and consistently defeat their military superiors. That violence is counter-productive in Heinlein's view needs no further proof than that the Authority itself revives the faltering revolution not once, but repeatedly. The rape and murder of a Loonie woman provokes the actual revolt and when popular opinion begins to waver after the initial diplomatic skirmishes, the Authority again catalyzes its opponents with an invasion. The same occurs after the defeat of the invading Authority troops. Just as the Loonies begin to lose their spirit, the Authority bombs the cities, unifying the population once again in defiance of the oppressor.
Conclusion
Heinlein sets up a conflict between a tradition-bound, authoritarian society on Earth and a young, evolving, anarchistic society on Luna. His preference for the latter shows clearly in the point of view he adopts and in his portrayal of the Authority as corrupt, sociopathic, and ineffective. At no point does the Authority display any type of positive characteristics, but rather serves to amplify the virtuous society of Luna. Heinlein cleverly plays on the readers' prejudices by creating an unlikeable villain, thus encouraging the reader to side with the Loonies and therefore with anarchism.
For more about this book, please see: The Moon is a Harsh Mistress: Robert Heinlein's Critical Utopia--The Plot and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Anarchism: Analysis of Lunar Society.
Heinlein, Robert. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. New York: Orb, 1997. ISBN: 978-0312863555
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