Nineteen Eighty-Four
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1984 they use the term English Socialism, I get the feeling this is more National Socialism / Fascism ….
Following is a discussion on the page titled: Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Below is the discussion so far. Feel free to add your own comments!Yes, it was. Orwell did see a parallel between between totaliarian fascism and totalitarian "communism", both of which used the word "socialist". 1984 was a criticism of the CP's fellow travellers. For more on Ingsoc see here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingsoc
I have read Orwells Ingsoc as his criticism of both fascism, communism, and labourism- Orwell was influenced by the former Trotskyist James Burnham who had written a small book "the Managerial Revolution" which claimed that capitalism was being superseded by a new system of bureaucratic collectivism both East and west. Burnham ended up a paeleo conservative and cheerleader for reaganite republicanism.
One of the greatest propaganda coups of the 20th century was the USSR convincing the rest of the world that it was socialist. Of course the capitalist class in the West was perfectly happy to go along with this little game of calling the Bolshevik dictatorship "socialist" as a way of scaring the working and middle classes in the West. Socialism was fairly popular in Canada and the US until the USSR came along.
Richard wrote:One of the greatest propaganda coups of the 20th century was the USSR convincing the rest of the world that it was socialist. Of course the capitalist class in the West was perfectly happy to go along with this little game of calling the Bolshevik dictatorship "socialist" as a way of scaring the working and middle classes in the West. Socialism was fairly popular in Canada and the US until the USSR came along.Set back the developement of a class consious socialist movement. I think/hope we are reaching a turning point.
Vin wrote:Set back the developement of a class consious socialist movement. I think/hope we are reaching a turning point.The Soviet Union was really a disaster for the socialist movement in the West but, like you, I hope we will eventually move beyond that.One problem I've noticed on news forums is that people now equate North Korea with socialism! To me this indicates that these people either don't know what socialism is or they're posting on behalf of small-c conservative parties. They're tarnishing the reputation of socialism and maybe we need to start doing the same with capitalism.When I'm on forums I often pull statistics from various websites to illustrate unemployment, underemployment, homelessness, wage stagnation/inequality and other social problems in Canada and other nations. Then I ask people rhetorical questions: Is this the best capitalism can offer? Is there another way of doing things? Didn't they have soup kitchens during the Great Depression too? Is this progress? Who are the politicians working for?Start poking holes in capitalism's "good reputation" and people just might start looking around for alternatives.
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