George Orwell’s criticisms of socialism in his book, The Road to Wigan Pier, present the compelling argument that socialism is almost an impossible concept to acknowledge, at least in the context of England. When first reading this book, we find that Orwell is, at one point, living with a miner in the working class and witnessing the poor conditions in which the coal miners endured. Although a middle class man, Orwell observes the many “influences press[ing] [working men] down into passive role[s],” causing him to eventually build on his criticisms of socialism (Orwell p. 9). Although he did not quite fully understand the idea of socialism, he claimed himself to be one and uses his self-acclamation as one of his criticisms of how others do not even understand the gratitude of the class in which they are claiming. Through his observations in Wigan and his own self reflections, Orwell’s criticisms come to shape his propositions for what should be done next, in regards to the working people of Britain. Socialism, in Orwell’s eyes, is no longer a movement of the working class, yet something that the middle class is steering on.
He says, “We are living in a world in which nobody is free, in which hardly anybody is secure, in which it is almost impossible to be honest and to remain alive. For enormous blocks of the working class the conditions of life are such as I have described in the opening chapters of this book, and there is no chance of those conditions showing any fundamental improvement” (p. 149). It is also worth mentioning how Orwell mentions how that if anyone really thought about the problems in England that they would realize that socialism was the answer.
However, instead, the idea of socialism is on the back-burner and Orwell finds himself trying to come to a consensus of why it is not being implemented. He realizes that there are those people who cannot bear socialism and even adds some of his own personal feelings in the book as well. At one point, he mentions that “[he] seem[ed] to have spent half the time in denouncing the capitalist system and the other half in raging over the insolence of bus-conductors” (Orwell pg. 41). As Orwell goes on though, readers start to receive a better view of how people view the idea of socialism. People during this time were more against the actual “socialists” rather than the concept of socialism. One would expect to see a working class man as the typical socialist; however, this was not the case in The Road to Wigan Pier. Instead, the movement of socialism was being steered by the middle class, what Orwell also refers to as the bourgeoisie.
Something worth noting as well is that the middle class people stayed true to their class status and it is something that ends up appearing in things like socialist literature although the ideas were completely opposing those people in the working class. Orwell does come to mention, though, that a man in the working class is often never associated or claims to be a member of the socialist party. Either that or the men in the working class do not fully understand the concept of the word so they, instead, have their own idea of what it is in relation to the work they do.
In their minds, socialism is about a sense of freedom and ability to run their own shifts without anyone to boss them around. Orwell mentions that “often, in my opinion, he is a truer Socialist than the orthodox Marxist, because he does remember, what the other so often forgets, that Socialism means justice and common decency” (Orwell pg. 154). In regards to the revolution that is occurring, the issue of socialists joining together in order to liberate themselves and have a movement poses the criticism of how socialism brings about “followers” that are taken advantage of.
Orwell is one of the people that witnesses how socialism is causing reforms pursuing the idea that since the middle class (and some other upper classes as well) are more full of knowledge because they are in a higher status, that they should impose their cleverness onto the working class so they can unite. Orwell tells a story about “the outer-suburban creeping Jesus… saying, ‘Why must we level down? Why not level up? ,’” which basically offers the suggestion of the working class leveling up to the middle class versus them imposing on the working class (Orwell pg. 162).
It is because of this thought process that socialism appears to many people to judge based off this theory, which is why instead of advancing and thriving in England, it becomes slighted as a policy. As Orwell continues, he does come to talk about how there are those people who are against socialism for ideological reasons. The fact is, in England, that socialism could be done but it would steer away from a better, more primitive lifestyle for people. Socialism was seen tied to industrialization and mechanization and therefore, had some people on edge since a few were not supporters of the ideas associated with industries taking over.
Orwell says at one point in his book that, “[t]he sensitive person’s hostility to the machine is in one sense unrealistic, because of the obvious fact that the machine has come to stay. But as an attitude of mind there is a great deal to be said for it. The machine has got to be accepted, but it is probably better to accept it rather as one accepts a drug – that is, grudgingly and suspiciously” (Orwell pg. 178). Because of these attitudes and mindsets of those against industrialization, it becomes seen that those individuals who are against it, come to have the same feeling towards socialism as well.
No one really wants to abolish the machine, at least those who have experience hard work, but at the same time, no one is fully supportive of the idea of socialism, which, since it has a close tie to industrialization, causes varied ideas on what should be done. Like Orwell mentions, “Socialism is going to arrive anyway, whether people like it or not, because of that trouble-saving thing, ‘historic necessity,’” (Orwell pg. 180). With all of the criticisms that Orwell discusses in regards to socialism, it needs to be noted how fascism played a background to his ideologies.
He discusses how people with a fascist attitude in regards to socialism should know better. He states, “If you present Socialism in a bad and misleading light – if you let people imagine that it does not mean much more than pouring European civilization down the sink at the command of Marxist prigs – you risk driving the intellectual into Fascism. You frighten him into a sort of angry defensive attitude in which he simply refuses to listen to the Socialist case” (Orwell pg. 186).
In order to fight fascism, one has to understand all of its implications, both positive and negative. Although fascism is ultimately tyranny, the people who are having such thoughts are usually people who mean well with their actions and are just trying to defend the way that they want the future of their nation to be. However, in order to come pass this, Orwell mentions that “We have got to admit that if Fascism is everywhere advancing, this is largely the fault of the Socialists themselves.
Partly it is due to the mistaken communist tactic of sabotaging democracy, i. e. sawing off the branch you are sitting on; but still more to the fact that Socialists have, so to speak, presented their case wrong side foremost. They have never made it sufficiently clear that the essential aims of Socialism are justice and liberty” (Orwell pg. 188). Ultimately, Orwell’s remedies for the criticisms he poses about socialism is to just bring in an effective Socialist party to existence that makes clear that its goals are what is mentioned above… justice and liberty.
