The crowd—Lew had been expecting only a handful of malcontents—was numerous, after a while in fact spilling into the street.
* * * * * * * * * *
Pynchon gives us the reality of the situation and Lew's expectation of it which are, of course, at odds with each other. Because Lew, who mentioned he's checked out on the subject of—I don't know—politics or social justice or anarchy or labor movements, has really only been hearing the propaganda fed to him by Nate and his coworkers. The message he's been getting is that most people are happy with current working conditions and the only people making trouble are people who want to make trouble. Anarchy is a perfect buzzword because it means they have no agenda, they have no ideals, they have no concern for the lives of everyday people. They just want to destroy things for destruction's sake. And if this is an anarchy meeting, why would there be anybody here except a few dangerous loonies with dynamite strapped to their chest?
But the crowd spilling into the streets is evidence that something isn't right. There's a major undercurrent of discontent that the powerful and the elites choose to hide from those citizens who are relatively comfortable. They only hear about the violence and then choose to be against anybody who would use violence to change an oppressive system. They think, "I'm doing okay. So why couldn't these poor people make the same decisions I made? They must have chosen to not be doing okay." The people who choose peace over justice are the biggest impediment to justice. Nothing, at all, has changed.
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