To Orwell Today,

Hello, Ms. Jura,

I'm a playwright based in Edmonton, and a great admirer of Mr. Blair. In my distant past, I came across an article written by him during the war in which he suggested that cheap machine guns ("sten" guns) be air-dropped across Nazi-occupied Europe, as a way of arming anti-Nazi fighters (his rationale was that the Nazis already had better arms, and that the resistance movement would be much stronger if armed).

I have been looking for this article, as Orwell is a character in my new play, the second installment of "Spiral Dive," and I'd like to have him say exactly what he said in that article. I'm quite sure that it was either part of his BBC broadcasts or of his columns in the Tribune. Do you know offhand?

-Ken Brown

Greetings Ken,

So sorry but I don't recall having read that Orwell quote in my reading of his TRIBUNE or BBC articles (or even his WAR DIARIES) but of course, that doesn't mean it isn't there, just that it didn't jump out at me. I did a quick search looking for it in his COLLECTED ESSAYS, JOURNALISM AND LETTERS, which contain his Tribune, BBC & War Diary writings, but no luck so far.

I do know that Orwell wanted guns given to civilians in Britain during the war - so they could defend themselves and country if the war came home to England, and also to wage revolution afterwards, if necessary. See ORWELL WAS ARMED. That quote is: