John Pollikop is a good-humored, outspoken Polish socialist who runs an auto repair shop in Fort Beulah. He is almost always engaged in a friendly debate with his employee, the communist Karl Pascal. Later, he joins the New Underground, and his experience smuggling liquor into the U.S. from Canada during Prohibition becomes a great asset to the cause. He eventually ends up in Trianon concentration camp, where he shares a cell with Pascal, Doremus Jessup, and Truman Webb.
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John Pollikop Character Timeline in It Can’t Happen Here
The timeline below shows where the character John Pollikop appears in It Can’t Happen Here. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 6
...friends with the Communist strike leader, Karl Pascal, and his Socialist friend and coworker John Pollikop. If it weren’t for his wealthy ancestors, Jessup realizes, he would probably be one of...
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Chapter 13
...Jessup gives him a ride home one night. On their way, they stop at John Pollikop’s garage for gas, and they meet Karl Pascal, the communist mechanic. Pascal tells Jessup that...
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The theatrical John Pollikop, the garage’s owner and Jessup’s former bootlegger, stops in to chat. He makes fun of...
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...spends his evenings there, meditating, editing articles, and avoiding Windrip’s supporters. After returning home from Pollikop’s garage, he finishes an editorial about the threat to democracy from communism, fascism, and all...
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Chapter 26
...including Doremus Jessup, Buck Titus, Dan Wilgus, Lorinda Pike, Julian Falck, Dr. Marcus Olmsted, John Pollikop, Father Perefixe, Henry Veeder’s wife, Harry Kindermann, Mungo Kitterick, and Pete Vutong. Every week, representatives...
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...with gas, and a New Underground messenger was dropped in a well and forgotten. John Pollikop worries that such atrocities will continue, even if Trowbridge takes over. (Jessup replies by calling...
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...house—where Webb’s grandfather also sheltered escaping slaves back in the 1850s. Buck Titus and John Pollikop scatter pamphlets all over Frank Tasbrough’s quarry, so the workers can retrieve them. Finally, Sissy...
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Chapter 30
...in disguise. Jessup, Wilgus, Titus, and Father Perefixe dismantle their secret printing press, and John Pollikop drives it to Truman Webb’s house before dawn. The next day, Julian Falck invites Shad...
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Chapter 31
The next month, John Pollikop gets arrested and dragged to Trianon. He and Karl Pascal instantly start bickering about socialism...
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Chapter 32
...topple the regime, assassinating Ledue will only invite retaliation. But his cellmates—now Karl Pascal, John Pollikop, Truman Webb, a surgeon, and a carpenter—have already made up their minds. During exercise hour,...
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Chapter 38
...him some final news before his departure. Buck Titus, Julian Falck, Karl Pascal, and John Pollikop are still alive in the camps, Father Perefixe is running the Fort Beulah New Underground,...
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...crowd includes Dan Wilgus, Buck Titus, Julian and the Rev. Mr. Falck, Henry Veeder, John Pollikop, Truman Webb, and even Karl Pascal. Lorinda Pike, Emma, Sissy, Mary, David, Foolish, and Mrs....
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