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In a lot of ways Asimov's critique has sense. Orwell was clearly making an analogy for Stalinism, and the people trying to claim that it was just talking about
by jhbadger 6y ago
In a lot of ways Asimov's critique has sense. Orwell was clearly making an analogy for Stalinism, and the people trying to claim that it was just talking about tyranny in general don't really know why or when Orwell wrote the book. At the same time, Asimov has a point that Orwell wasn't really concerned about Fascism, and as (at least ethnically if not religiously) a Jew, Asimov was quite aware that Stalinism wasn't the only kind of tyranny.
- KozmoNau7 6y agoOrwell was writing about authoritarianism in general, no matter which vestments it chooses to cloak itself in. Nineteen Eighty-Four was inspired primarily by stalinism, but also nazism, dealing with nationalism, antisemitism, surveillance and censorship as its topics, which were widely used by both regimes (and many others). He saw himself as a democratic socialist, and the horrors of stalinism didn't make him give up socialism, it affirmed his belief that democratic socialism was the way to go, in contrast to the tyranny of the USSR.