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1984 context, Modern context, “Every line of serious work I have produced…
1984 context
Orwell's life and career
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Served in the Imperial Police force for 5 years (1922-27) which increased his "natural hatred of authority" and his awareness of the working class
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wrote 1984 in 1948 , two years prior to his death
In 1948 British politicians signed the Treaty of Brussels which was a pact that created a defence alliance that lead to NATO
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In 1929 a thief took all Orwell's money from his hotel room in Paris thrusting him into poverty and a job as a dishwasher
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Orwell saw fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley adress a crowd in 1936 and was terrified of how his followers were allowed to attack hecklers
A man living under the Soviet Totalitarian regime in 1952, illegally, read the novel and said "amazed that a writer who never lived in Russia should have so keen a perception into it's life"
Animal Farm was turned down by a publisher on the advice of a senior at the Ministry of information known to be a Soviet spy
Communism
Communism is a political and economic ideology that positions itself in opposition to liberal democracy and capitalism
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It advocates for a classless system in which the means of production are owned communally and private property is nonexistent or severely curtailed.
Orwell was a democratic socialist so the fight against communism, as a political ideology, is heavily influential in his writing
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Orwell wrote Animal Farm to warn against Communist ideology applied in totalitarianism as an allegory.
Characters such as Napoleon and Snowball as representations of Stalin and Trotsky continue this idea
The government in 1984 manipulate and oppress the people of Oceania, only leading to the downfall of individuality and quality of human life itself which Orwell believed totalitarian regimes did.
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Socialism
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Marxist Theory - Socialism is a “transitional state between the overthrow of Capitalism and the realisation of Communism"
Orwell experienced Socialism particularly during the Spanish Civil War where he fought with the POUN (see above)
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Initially, Orwell was attracted to socialism as a tool to end the poverty in England which he experienced first hand but became frustrated with the lack of uptake even when capitalism in Europe dropped
Orwell believed the rise of fascism often came from socialist leaders failing to control their members
Fascism
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Examples of fascism in History mainly come from the 20s, 30s and 40s however most ended due to the defeat of the Nazis in 1945. Italy, France, Japan and Germany all experienced Fascist ideology within their governments and society at this time
Fascism made no major return after the end of World War Two other than one attempt by French and Italian right-wing extremists in the 1950s
Orwell rarely distinguished fascism from Nazism feeling that, unlike communism, it had no appeal.
Initially unclear and almost neutral when discussing Fascism, Orwell’s views shifted around 1938 where he wrote a letter to an old friends saying it was necessary to investigate fascism further as there is more to it that most socialists believe. .
By the end of WWII, Orwell believed that Fascism had lost all concrete meaning, a point he made in his ‘Politics and the English Language’ essay
During his lifetime the main examples of Fascism are the Italian Fascist Party (1922-43) and the German Nazi Party (1933-45)
Examples of their decisions are the 25 point plan, Gestapo and the Hitler youth mirrored by Orwell in 1984 (Thought Police)
Modern context
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North Korea / China
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK, also known as North Korea) is a highly centralised totalitarian state.
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“Every line of serious work I have produced since 1936 has been written directly or indirectly against Totalitarianism and for democratic socialism, as I understand it.” (1946)
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