The Pushcart War

"The Pushcart War" is a popular children's book written by Jean Merrill and illustrated by Ronni Solbert. It was published in 1964 and concerns a war between pushcart peddlers and delivery trucks in New York City.

Plot summary

The opening sentence says, "The Pushcart War started on the afternoon of March 15, 1976 when a truck ran down a pushcart belonging to a flower peddler." Later editions changed 1976 to 1986 then to 1998 so that the date would still be set in the future. Post-millennium editions of the book have been published with the date 2029.Traffic in New York City has become intolerable. The leaders of the three biggest trucking companies, known as "The Three," hold a secret meeting where they plan to take over the streets for themselves by eliminating other traffic, starting with the pushcarts. The character Professor Cumberly says, "The truck drivers had gotten together and figured out that in crowded traffic conditions, the only way to get where you wanted to go was to be so big that you didn't have to get out of the way of anybody. This is known as the Large Object Theory of History."

Faced with truck-related "accidents," damaged carts, and injured fellows, the pushcart peddlers respond with the Pea-Shooter Campaign. The aim is to flatten truck tires using pea shooters with pins in the peas so that everyone can see that the trucks are the cause of the traffic problems. One peddler, Frank the Flower, is arrested and falsely confesses that he shot all of the trucks. After his arrest, the peddlers give up the Pea-Shooter Campaign. But soon, inspired by Frank's arrest, children join in the sabotage of truck tires. The movie star, Wenda Gambling, also comes out in support of the peddlers.

On the truck side are the owners Moe Mammoth of Mammoth Moving, Walter Sweet of Tiger Trucking, and Louie Livergreen of LEMA (Lower Eastside Moving Association). Their biggest trucks are respectively the Mighty Mammoth, the Ten-Ton Tiger and the Leaping Lema. Their most prominent driver is Albert P. Mack.

Prominent peddlers are Frank the Flower, Morris the Florist, General Anna, Harry the Hot Dog, Mr. Jerusalem, Carlos, Papa Peretz, Eddie Moroney and the pushcart repair shop owner Maxie Hammerman, the "Pushcart King."

Initially, the outlook is bad for the peddlers because the trucking companies control the newspapers and the corrupt mayor, Emmett P. Cudd, but the citizens of New York City and the members of the press eventually move to the side of the street vendors after the peddlers' Peace March is interrupted by violence on the part of the truck drivers.

New laws are enacted to limit the size of the trucks to one half of the current largest size and to limit the number of trucks to one half of the current number. The Courtesy Act is passed to make it a criminal offense for a larger vehicle to take advantage of a smaller vehicle in any way. Albert P. Mack is sentenced to life in prison for violating the Courtesy Act nineteen times. The city erects a statue of General Anna to commemorate the struggle.

Cultural parallels

This book is a children's equivalent of the adult book, "The Monkeywrench Gang" by Edward Abbey. Monkeywrenching has come to mean the destruction of property to make a political protest.

Fact resembled fiction in March 2004, when the State of New York passed a law banning street vendors in many areas. One store owner said, "They're taking away our business and undercutting our prices. They don't pay rent. They don't pay taxes. They don't pay anything." [http://www.gothamgazette.com/print/923]

Publication details

*1964, USA, HarperCollins (ISBN NA), pub date 1722, hardback (first edition)
*1995, USA, Yearling Books (ISBN 0-440-47147-8), pub date 2005 August 1995, paperback