Why I Write

Orwell claimed that an English political revolution was underway among the majority of the population. He wrote that the only way to establish the socialist society that the population was moving toward was to defeat Hitler; however, the only way to defeat Hitler was to become socialist and streamline production in a classless society.

Orwell examined the Labour Party’s failure to establish a more socialist English society. Orwell claimed that the Labour Party was “primarily a party of the trade unions, devoted to raising wages and improving working conditions” (65). He found the Labour Party hypocritical in its approach. Though it outwardly supported socialism and equality, in practicality it favored capitalism, as its workers depended upon the capitalistic gains of British imperialism.

Orwell focused on the issue of imperialism. He projected what action a Labour Party government might have taken if they had been elected: They would have (1) continued to operate the Empire as its predecessors did, disregarding socialist claims for equality, (2) given India its freedom and thereby opened it to the threat of Japanese, Italian, or German imperialism, or (3) established a federation of socialist states among England’s colonies. This third option would never have worked, Orwell argued, because the Labour Party had no influence in England’s military-industrial complex.