Why Orwell Matters

Orwell spoke for his radio magazine 'Voice' on the BBC of India where he spoke about literature and ideas. Orwell agreed to broadcast to India under his own name on one condition; that he could express his anti-imperialist opinions without diluting them. He criticized the British government's lack of principles regarding Indian self-government and never failed to argue for India's independence. Orwell's experience working with the BBC correlated with some of the concepts in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Such as his concept doublethink, in relation to the sometimes extreme daily changes in political propaganda that was being broadcast. Orwell's thoughts and writings on colonialism are a permanent part of his lifelong commitment to the subjects of power, cruelty, force, and the relationship between the dominator and the dominated. Orwell can be read as a teaching in Britain's transition from an imperial society to a multicultural and multi-ethnic one. Since this was a great development in his time, and continues to be, this is one reason Hitchens argues that Orwell matters.[1]

Orwell contributed to the socialist press in England for many years. He considered himself to be on the left and advocated for democracy, decolonization, egalitarian ideals and heavily criticized totalitarianism.[1] Orwell had lived under a Stalinist police regime in Spain when he fought against fascism in the Spanish Civil War.[2] His time in Spain never left him; he continuously helped vindicate those he had known that survived the Stalinist regime. He did this by publicizing their cases, helping their families, getting them out of prison and saving them from being condemned.[1] He witnessed how the government could distort the truth and how political enemies could suddenly disappear.[2] Orwell returned home after he was shot in the throat by a fascist bullet. This may have saved him in a way as he was "guilty" of Trotskyism and served with the POUM militia, which was more than enough to land him in prison. Orwell's friends, such as his brigade commander Georges Kopp, were imprisoned under horrendous conditions. Kopp was subject to torture of close confinement with rats; this, and some of Orwell's other experiences in Spain, initiated some of the subject matter for Nineteen Eight-Four.[1] His socialist peers had a great appreciation for the Soviet Union. Since Orwell had witnessed its cruelty first hand, he did not.[2] He argued that it was not socialism, but a viscous form of state-capitalism.[1] Many of them never forgave him about his criticisms towards the Soviet Union and being right about Spain. Despite being a leftist himself, many of Orwell's harshest critics were on the left and came about after his death.[2] In the 1960s and 1970s the New Left despised Orwell, partly because his writings were right about the issues in society and they were not. 'Orwell put it best: the sin of most leftists is that they wanted to be anti-totalitarian without being anti-communist.'[2]

Orwell spent his entire adult life renouncing his upbringing in the conservative English Tory Party. It is true that he was one of the founders of anti-communism and held some beliefs that are associated with the right. Such as individualism, patriotism, his strong sense of right and wrong, and his dislike for bureaucracy and government. Liberty and equality were two of the things Orwell valued the most, as told in his writings, 'A society of free and equal human beings.' As such, they were generally not allies in Britain's colonial laissez-faire culture at the time. Orwell was aware of this paradox and symbolizes it in Nineteen Eighty-Four; his point being that there should be no utilitarian trade-off between freedom and security. Nineteen Eight-Four was accused of attacking the British Labour Government. Orwell responded that he supported the British Labour Party and his novel was not meant to attack it nor socialism. 'It exposes the corruptions that a centralized economy is prone to, as witnessed with communism and fascism. The novel takes place in Britain to emphasize that English-speaking races are not innately better and that totalitarianism can triumph everywhere, if not fought against.' Orwell was invited by the Duchess of Atholl in November 1945 to speak on behalf of the right-wing and anti-communist group, League for European Freedom. Orwell thought that their arguing against communist brutality was inconsistent with them claiming to support democracy, yet not supporting the end for Britain's unwanted rule in India. Therefore, Orwell did not want to associate himself with them. In Orwell's words, 'I belong to the Left and must work inside it, as much as I hate totalitarianism and its poisonous influence.' It is true that Orwell held many conservative instincts, not prejudices. Such as his somewhat traditional moral and sexual values. Also his dislike of abortions and homosexuals, as well as sharing some anti-semitic comments in his writings. Hitchens argues that Orwell spent his life trying to reason himself out of them. Although there were times that his upbringing and pessimism succeeded his efforts, oftentimes when he was ill or depressed. Hitchens writes, 'Orwell was conservative about many things, but not about politics.'[1]

Orwell never traveled to the United States as he had little interest in it. He was suspicious of the consumerist and materialistic culture. He was somewhat resentful of its imperial ambitions and overly critical about its size and vulgarity. Orwell did take American literature seriously, he recognized its success with the incomplete struggle for liberty, and discussed it on the BBC. Near the end of his life when his health was failing due to tuberculosis, he began to have a change of heart towards America. He wrote about Jack London's life and works and had a great appreciation for them. He began to realize the appeal for North America's vast land and fierce individualism. Orwell's admirers from the states urged him to visit them. There were many suitable climates for his health and the streptomycin that might have healed his lungs was only manufactured and easily distributed in America. Orwell briefly contemplated spending some time in the South writing, but he was too weak to visit.[1]

Hitchens thinks that if Orwell had lived another ten years he would have visited the United States after being persuaded by his friends in New York. Orwell understood the importance of Thomas Paine and having a constitution. His references to American history and American ideals are scarce but quite accurate.[3] Hitchens writes, 'the American subject was in every sense Orwell's missed opportunity.'[1]

Hitchens devotes his "Feminism and Women" chapter to the controversies surrounding the accusations of Orwell's fear and hatred towards women. Hitchens notes that Orwell wrote for a predominantly male audience and had a hard time developing a believable female character. Yet Orwell had good relationships with intelligent and strong women. Orwell was married twice and his first wife, Eileen O'Shaugnessy, helped sharpen the plot for Animal Farm. Orwell would read aloud his newest written chapters to her for her constructive criticism. Hitchens writes that, "Orwell desired the feminine but was put off his guard by the female. But he did not hate women."[2]

In 1949, shortly before he died, the English author George Orwell prepared a list of notable writers and other persons he considered to be unsuitable as possible writers for the anti-communist propaganda activities of the Information Research Department, a propaganda organisation of the British state under the Foreign Office.

Over fifty years later, in 2002, the list was first published in The Guardian; and the original was released by the Foreign Office soon after.

According to Hitchens, Orwell is still very modern because he writes about things relevant to today like machinery, modern tyranny and warfare, psychiatry.[4] Orwell's style is fresh, clear, and persuasive.[5] He managed to do this while dying of tuberculosis. Hitchens: "Power is only what you allow it to be. You can resolve not to be a citizen like that, not to do the work of power for it. The reading of Orwell is not an exercise in projecting blame on others but is an exercise in accepting a responsibility for yourself and it’s for that reason that he’ll always be honored and also hated. I think he wouldn’t have it any other way."[4]

At the end of the book, Hitchens critiques Orwell's novels and legacy. An essay sequel to the book, "Why Orwell Still Matters," appears in John Rodden's 2007 compilation The Cambridge Companion to George Orwell (ISBN 978-0-521-85842-7).