To Orwell Today,

Jackie,

who do you think Orwell would vote for at the next British general election if he was alive? The election is due in 2005 and I have been pondering this for some time. He was for democratic socialism, and he voted for left wing parties. He supported the Independent Labour Party, I think I read somewhere. The thing is today, the "New" Labour party is not left-wing much, in fact it is in many ways right-wing, and I can't imagine Orwell voting for a party with some of their policies e.g. tough on immigration. I remember Orwell supporting the admittance of Polish refugees in his journalism in the 1940s. Blair (Tony!) and Orwell would surely be at odds against a stringent tightening of the rules to stop refugees coming to Britain. Also don't you think he would have been against the spread of big business and the growing disparity between the rich and poor, he was for a redistribution of wealth in a more fair way, not in favour of the status quo.

I wonder (and I'd like your opinion on this) that he might vote Liberal Democrat, they are against biometric ID cards being brought in, and seem to be the most left-wing of the major British political parties. Or perhaps he would vote for a fringe party, such as an anti-war party, or the Green Party?

What do you think?

Best wishes,
Stephen Maule

Greetings Stephen,

To make a long story short: I don't think Orwell would be voting. The political process is totally corrupt and there's no difference between left wing (communist) and right wing (capitalist) parties, or Labour, Conservative (whichever name they use) or anything in between.

All the best,
Jackie Jura, 2004

LEFT, RIGHT & ORWELL SOCIALISM

Jackie Jura
~ an independent researcher monitoring local, national and international events ~

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