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>Eliot was surely wrong to call Animal Farm "Trotskyite" but that was probably his way of noting that Orwell's critique of communism was coming from the left, n
by TMWNN 3y ago
>Eliot was surely wrong to call Animal Farm "Trotskyite" but that was probably his way of noting that Orwell's critique of communism was coming from the left, not the right.
It's more specific than that. Eliot has in mind the exile of Snowball (obviously Trotsky), and the betrayal of his ideals by Napoleon. One might, or might not, expect a Snowball-led farm to ultimately disintegrate into the same totalitarianism that Napoleon's farm (and all Communist societies in history), but we don't get to see that outcome, so Snowball remains the pure, unimpugned ideal. Basically, it's "We've never seen true Communism in action"; whether that statement is said seriously (as actually has been done elsewhere in this discussion (!)), or sarcastically as is more often done nowadays, is up to the speaker.
- kennywinker 3y ago> Basically, it's "We've never seen true Communism in action"; whether that statement is said seriously (as actually has been done elsewhere in this discussion (!)) We’ve seen capitalism done better and worse in various countries, many times dissolving into dictatorship or fascism, and usually built on the backs of a downtrodden group (a racial minority, a migrant population, outsourced indentured labour, etc.). The idea the handful of attempts at communism (all while being besieged by the capitalist nations around them) shows that communism is a bad idea, is just as laughable as the idea that capitalism always succeeds. So, not sure that’s exactly what you’re (!)-ing about here, but the truly intellectually curious position is not to oppose communism, but to wonder if there is a way to achieve its noble goals while avoiding the pitfalls that that the ussr fell into.