To most of the characters in Red Mars, at least among the first Hundred, Mars was something of a clean slate with which to start anew. Whether it was Arkady, who saw it as a place to effect a whole new way of life, a communal utopia without the trappings of capitalism, where “no one is wasting time buying or selling, because there is no market”. There was Sax and the green faction, who saw Mars as a place for life to thrive where it had never thrived before, and in Sax’s words the terraforming of Mars would “be a monument to humanity and the universe both”. There were, of course, the reds, who saw beauty in Mars’ desolate landscape, and who worked hard to prevent this transformation of Mars. These were just the first of many who would come to Mars in search of a better life.

However, none of these dreams would come to fruition as a result of the bloody revolution that takes place at the end of the book. The immigration control treaties were ignored, and the greed of the multi national corporations, and their determination to make money at any cost, created a world of “a million people and no law, no law but corporate law. The bottom line. Minimize expenses, maximise profits.”

The transnational corporations were demonstrated in this book to wield an influence greater than that of the governments on Earth. This is clearly seen by the way that UNOMA was unable to enforce their treaty. Greed wins out in the end, and when Frank asks why, he receives the answer “they’re all getting paid off in one cosmeticized way or another”.

People were leaving an Earth where the rich were getting living longer, and getting richer, while the poor were dying poor as they always had. However, thanks to the greed of the transnational corporations, they would not find Mars to be the land of potential, the clean slate they were looking for. People would find a land of crime, with those very transnationals “telling them what they can and can’t do”.

It is no wonder that many among them decide to rebel and follow Arkady, because you cannot dangle utopia in front of people and then expect them to do nothing when those promises are unfulfilled.