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Not really? 1984 was more written in reaction to the british intelligence appartus harassing him rather than Stalin, Orwell was quite a devout communist and tha

by zaarn 5y ago

Not really? 1984 was more written in reaction to the british intelligence appartus harassing him rather than Stalin, Orwell was quite a devout communist and that brought down the hammer of the british intelligence organisations on him, trying to censor him and make his life difficult. It isn't really a historical fiction of stalinism and more of living as a communist under the red scare in the western world.

pjc50 5y ago
While it's true that British intelligence were interested in him, he handed them a list voluntarily: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orwell%27s_list https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orwell%27s_list He was a democratic socialist, which put him strongly against actually existing capital-C Communism which was totalitarian and Stalinist. The "memory hole" bit is clearly based on how Trotsky was edited out of the official history, for example. This article cites opposition to Lysenkoism as a direct influence, as well: https://lithub.com/orwells-notes-on-1984-mapping-the-inspiration-of-a-modern-classic/ https://lithub.com/orwells-notes-on-1984-mapping-the-inspira...
- zaarn 5y ago
  Voluntarily handing over lists didn't seem to change much. And I don't believe one part of the story aligning with Trotsky quite erases that this story much more closely aligns with the treatment of Orwell at the hands of british authorities rather than Stalin's communism. For the "democratic socialist" part I would point out that Orwell sympathized with Anarchists in the Spanish revolution at minimum.
- thisNeeds2BeSad 5y ago
  [flagged]
bzbarsky 5y ago
> Orwell was quite a devout communist I don't think that's true in his post-Spain days, depending I guess on how you define "devout communist". I would say he was a devout socialist and an ardent anti-communist after Spain. I am having no luck finding it, but one quote that has stuck with me is where he talks about how if the anti-Fascist forces in Spain won they would obviously establish a totalitarian state which would only be "good" by comparison with the Fascist alternative and would be terrible in any sort of objective sense.

by zaarn 5y ago

pjc50 5y ago

While it's true that British intelligence were interested in him, he handed them a list voluntarily: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orwell%27s_list https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orwell%27s_list He was a democratic socialist, which put him strongly against actually existing capital-C Communism which was totalitarian and Stalinist. The "memory hole" bit is clearly based on how Trotsky was edited out of the official history, for example. This article cites opposition to Lysenkoism as a direct influence, as well: https://lithub.com/orwells-notes-on-1984-mapping-the-inspiration-of-a-modern-classic/ https://lithub.com/orwells-notes-on-1984-mapping-the-inspira...

zaarn 5y ago
Voluntarily handing over lists didn't seem to change much. And I don't believe one part of the story aligning with Trotsky quite erases that this story much more closely aligns with the treatment of Orwell at the hands of british authorities rather than Stalin's communism. For the "democratic socialist" part I would point out that Orwell sympathized with Anarchists in the Spanish revolution at minimum.
thisNeeds2BeSad 5y ago
[flagged]

bzbarsky 5y ago

> Orwell was quite a devout communist I don't think that's true in his post-Spain days, depending I guess on how you define "devout communist". I would say he was a devout socialist and an ardent anti-communist after Spain. I am having no luck finding it, but one quote that has stuck with me is where he talks about how if the anti-Fascist forces in Spain won they would obviously establish a totalitarian state which would only be "good" by comparison with the Fascist alternative and would be terrible in any sort of objective sense.