Operation ARES by Gene Wolfe (1970)

 ARES is an acronym: American Reunification Enactment Society. This is the 21st century, seen from the mores of the late 1960s. America, once great, has been through a tough time. It even had a colony on Mars. Then things began to unravel, and they "let the colony go". An influential section of the US populace decided to set the constitution aside, and installed a Pro Tem government, which, instead of being a bandaid solution, remained. The Pro Temmers are ones who speak of the poor, the humble, the people, but often seem more concerned with power. This power-seeking/concern engenders rebellion, with small groups of isolated opposition surviving, tucked away or operating in secret. Our lead man, John Castle, is one of the more effective of these. He has friends and associates of a similar make and networks by which he can communicate with them. He and the woman he loves, young Anna Trees (and her neversleeper brother Japhet) are living in White City, an inland smallish hub, typical of this new America, with rundown streets, frightening nocturnal 'wild animals' that will sniff out and kill any human beings they can, and "peaceguards" (sometimes cyborgs) who are employees of the new administration in place to scent rebellion and keep the new order. The "Martians" have been trying to communicate with their old country, in order to bolster the opposition, but the Pro Tems are blocking their transmissions. They have just started to land in remote areas and begin to foment an insurrection, which John and Anna are caught up in. The scene shifts into a forced walking journey to New York, where John and his fellows, who have been captured, witness a Martian landing and a decimating battle on both sides. Finally in New York, while he overtly is cooperating with the Pro Tem, secretly he is making connections with others of a similar persuasion. All this while, ARES has been a designation which has pretty well meant instant death, and John has wondered exactly who is involved. But he does identify with the movement, as he has heard it is. He is often accused of being a member, but can honestly say he isn't. (I'm guessing Wolfe intends the "Reunification" to mean two things at least: reunifying all Americans under a restored constitution, and reunifying the Martian Americans with those who abandoned them.) Through his new New York connections, John now discovers that ARES is a shadow, more a threat by the opposition; it has no members and does not "Enact" anything, other than causing distraction and befuddling of the airspace. But his reputation for effectiveness means that he is given the chance to make this shadowthing real. Anna has come in and out of focus all this time, with occasional meetings between the two as they both become major players in the resistance. The plot culminates with matter that has been brewing all through the novel: the Pro Temmers are supported by communist Russia (prescience gone astray there) and the legitimists by communist China (unlikely also). There are more and more battles across the country in what is emerging as a war proper. There are powerplays behind the scenes as to how much support either side can rely upon from these 'benefactors'. There is the somewhat figurehead-like presence of the last "real" President, Huggins, who has been an influential point of belief in some resistance quarters. In the end both sides sue for a cessation, and John, risen to the top, and the Pro Tem president bargain out a deal for the future, which includes restoration of the constitution and other concessions on the opposition side, and, on the other, a chance for the Pro Tem president to run for real after the "reunification", which is in most essentials a restoration, happens. He will have no opposition from those who formerly opposed him under the terms of the deal. It is a slightly downbeat and even copout-ish ending. Also, there are elements in this which could have done with far greater time allotted: why are the wild animals so frightening? Japhet's never sleeping is hinted at as only one type among many dysfunctions, but what engendered them? What does Wolfe mean, near the end, when he speaks in the bargaining period, from John's point of view, of the opposition requiring an end to welfare payments because they are "bribing people not to work"? The fact that he then immediately suggests the solution to this 'problem' being the enactment of what is in effect a Universal Basic Income seems a little unhinged and illogical without some sort of guaranteed work programme. But this novel also functions as a superior thriller in many respects, with a sheen of science fiction about it, and some almost noirish elements creeping in on grim city streets left desolate, and in secret meetings. It has an underfeel of potential originality which I'm looking forward to seeing in its prime, fully-developed form in subsequent works.