George Orwell

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

You are wrong. Maybe you should study political theory.

He isn't wrong. You are.

[PeterL]

He isn't wrong. You are.

It looks like political theory is not being taught well. I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised at such ignorance , because this isn't a political forum, but people really shouldn't post when they don't know what they are posting about.

See this article for a slight explanation of state socialism. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_socialism
It is a wiki article, so it isn't complete, but it's more than some people who post hear ever knew about the subject.

The USSR, Red China, and teh Eastern European countries all operated state socialist economies. That wasn't long ago, and there are pressures to make it happen again. Orwell wanted to point out the evils of such systems and to try prepare people to fight against them. At this point I am trying to do the same thing. Government intrusion into personal freedom and into realms of activity that are not appropriate for government are the steps toward completely totalitarian state socialism. When the government tries to tell you how to live your life, there is a problem with the government.

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

He was warning against totalitarianism. This has been said already. Even the wikipedia link you provided in no way describes the world presented in 1984. Did you even read the book?

[mal4mac]

Anyone can warn against totalitarianism. Orwell produced a work of art that illustrated a very convincing form of totalitarianism in action, and produced a coherent novel around his ideas. I'm reading "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood at the moment, which is obviously influenced by 1984 (and is itself it a great example of the important genre centred on Orwell's seminal works.)

[kev67]

The USSR, Red China, and teh Eastern European countries all operated state socialist economies. That wasn't long ago, and there are pressures to make it happen again. Orwell wanted to point out the evils of such systems and to try prepare people to fight against them. At this point I am trying to do the same thing. Government intrusion into personal freedom and into realms of activity that are not appropriate for government are the steps toward completely totalitarian state socialism. When the government tries to tell you how to live your life, there is a problem with the government.

At the time didn't we call them communist countries? Over here, the British Labour party was a socialist party until Tony Blair repealed clause 4 of its manifesto, which called for the nationalisation of large industries, or in other words, the public ownership of the means of production. Even before clause 4 had been repealed, Britain under the Labour party was hardly a totalitarian state compared to the Soviet Union under Stalin or China under Chairman Mao.

[kev67]

With regards to the OP, Orwell wrote other books than 1984 and Animal Farm. His non-fiction books were highly influential too. Homage to Catalonia is an eyewitness account of the Spanish Civil War by someone who took part in the fighting. Down and Out in Paris in London Orwell described his life among the poor and and homeless in both these cities. None of these could have done his health much good, probably explaining why he died relatively young. Some of his other fiction books are influential. In Burmese Days he criticised colonialism but also corruption among the natives. He was also famous for advocating writing straightforward prose with easy to understand words and simple sentences.

[crusoe]

Sorry, please disregard this Entry.

[crusoe]

Down and Out in Paris in London Orwell described his life among the poor and and homeless in both these cities. In Burmese Days he criticised colonialism but also corruption among the natives.

Thanks for mentioning my two favourite Books by G.O.
He wrote a lot of good Essays and let's not forget "The Road to Wigan Peer".
(Depressing)