Orwell was a squealer... - ...he ratted in the name of love

[suffianr]

From the New Straits Times:

George Orwell, venerated as the "wintry conscience of a generation", gave the British Government a list of 38 suspected or actual communist sympathisers, the Guardian revealed last week.

A carbon copy of the document - whose contents were kept secret since the late 1940's - singles out, sometimes highly tentatively (with question marks): comedia Charlie Chaplin, bestselling novelist J.B. Priestly, actor Michael Redgrave, Soviet historian E.H. Carr, Trotsky historian Isaac Deutsher, and left-wing Labour MP Tom Driberg.

The author of 1984 and Animal Farm was apparently driven to this by his love for the beautiful Celia Kirwan.

In 1949 Kirwan worked for a secret Foreign Office section known as the Information Research Department. She had requested help in countering waves of communist propaganda in the intensifying Cold War.

Orwell, whose real name was Eric Blair, offered to compile from his notebooks a list of those "who should not be trusted as propagandists [for the West]."

The carbon copy was discovered after Kirwan's death last year by her daughter Arianne Bankes. Subsequent evidence indicates Orwell was accurate in naming at least three suspects.

[Urban Rubble]

I thought Orwell was a member of a Socialist party as a kid ?

I was under the impression that he was a Socialist, or at least a sympathizer.

[canikickit]

He considered himself a democratic socialist, i believe. He was definitely a sympathiser.

Suffianr, this is old news (I'm not dismissing your posting of it, just the fact that it says "the Guardian revealed last week".) Well, maybe I'm missing something, or maybe that articleis old, but it is also mentioned in this link, which Paris posted months ago.

http://home.iprimus.com.au/korob/Orwell.html

Check it out, I haven't read it yet, but it looks interesting.

[commie kg]

Charlie Chapman was a Communist, it's no secret...

Alot of his old comedy stuff has blatantly communist humor.
There's one where he walks around, waving a red flag while a large group of proles gather behind him.

[Urban Rubble]

I don't get it, if he was a sympathizer, why did he rat them out ?

[canikickit]

Because he believed them to be "Soviet pawns", according to the link I posted.
I guess Orwell didn't think that what they were promoting worthy of respect, so he attempted to undermine them.

And also because he wanted sexual favours from the girl in the original article.

[Rastafari]

I believe a Franco man sniped him in the throat in the Spanish Civil war

[Just Joe]

Orwell was an anti-Communist, Socialist. He knew that what was trying to be passed off as Communism was really nothing more than the working people exchanging being exploited by a Capitalist for being exploited by a party official.

[canikickit]

He knew that what was trying to be passed off as Communism was really nothing more than the working people exchanging being exploited by a Capitalist for being exploited by a party official.

I don't think he would qualify as an anti-communist on those grounds, Joe. More so against communism as it stood at that time (that's what you were getting at, I merely object to the wording). I'd imagine Orwell's ideals were very close to most on this board.

[Just Joe]

Thats true. I suppose anti-Stalinist would have been a better choice of words.

[Bush is a capitalist]

Orwell was an opportunist, "anti-utopian". We as Communists know about the lies the West spouts about Communists, that we are all "utopians". So to discredit us, Orwell, who bought into this lie, wrote 1984 and Animal Farm (an inaccurate portrayal of the Russian revolution).

[canikickit]

Bush is a capitalist? Are you sure?

What aspects of 1984 and Animal Farm were against the ideals of communism? I can't think of any.

[Felicia]

Quote: from Bush is a capitalist on 3:43 pm on July 5, 2003
Orwell was an opportunist, "anti-utopian". We as Communists know about the lies the West spouts about Communists, that we are all "utopians". So to discredit us, Orwell, who bought into this lie, wrote 1984 and Animal Farm (an inaccurate portrayal of the Russian revolution).

not all communists are "utopians".
He didn't write 1984 to discredit communism, he wrote it to warn us of authoritarianism..... eh

[Fever]

lets not go there again. We have been through this conversation way to many time!

[Felicia]

yes, it seems to come up often.

[CopperGoat]

LOL, nice name... "Bush is a capitalist"