1984: Vision Of A Leftist Future

Few books possess a hold over the popular imagination as great as 1984, the Dystopian novel written by George Orwell way back in 1948. The novel is so successful in telling its vision of a totalitarian future state, in fact, that Orwellian is a commonly used term to describe any act of authority viewed as overly pressing against civil liberties.

Most commonly, such draconian, Orwellian measures are seen as acts of right-wing figures. It is a common misconception that Orwell was writing to warn of the possible of a future right-wing, totalitarian state, but such is far from the case. He was, in fact, warning against the movements he saw at work in his own time, movements toward the dreaded Communism.

After all, we must consider the time period in which Orwell is writing. This is 1948, just three short years after Fascism in Germany had seen its downfall. The primary threat on the horizon for lovers of freedom in 1948 was not the specter of fascism but rather Communism as expressed in the Soviet Union.

It is important to note that Orwell was himself a Socialist, but had seen first hand how even the best of intentions could be corrupted towards evil, such as the high ideals at the beginning of Communist Revolution in Russia which had sparked much admiration among leftists worldwide, and yet had quickly turned into the evil manifestation of Stalinist Russia.

Orwell's fears are clearly seen in the name of the all-important Party itself: IngSoc in Newspeak, short for English Socialism. Clearly this movement began with the best of intentions: seeking to spread peace and prosperity for the people, all of the people, of Great Britain. After all, socialism was for many then and still today quite popular.