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Orwell's Anti-Totalitarianism

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Orwell’s personal experiences fighting against Franco in the Spanish Civil War planted the seeds for his anti-Fascist/Totalitarian political view. Orwell fought against Franco’s regime under a non-stalin left wing militia called the Workers’ Party of Marxist Unification(1984). He originally planned to fight exclusively against Fascism, but pro-stalin forces branded his party as traitors (1984). This led to the state charging Orwell with treason which prompted him to flee the country along with his wife.This conviction also revealed to him his true enemy, not Fascism or Communism, but Totalitarianism(Newsinger). Many readers of the novel fail to realize this and simply understand it as a warning against Fascism. Some also believe it encourages …show more content…

He writes against the atrocities committed under totalitarian regimes, which includes the actions of both socialist and fascist rulers such as Stalin and Franco. The following quotes are taken from various essay/letters written by Orwell himself regarding the Spanish Civil War. “I know that some were committed by the Republicans, and far more (they are still continuing) by the Fascists. But what impressed me then, and has impressed me ever since, is that atrocities are believed in or disbelieved in solely on grounds of political predilection”(Orwell). He points out that people tend to believe what is most supportive of their ideologies, regardless of how credible the source or accurate the information. Of course this isn’t exclusive to Fascism, but for Fascism to work at all required people to immediately accept new information given to them by the state. This is reflected very heavily in 1984 as nearly all people tend to believe anything the party tells them without question, even if it makes absolutely no sense or is contradictory of itself. This is called “Doublethink” in the novel, and is often exemplified as 2+2=5. Of course, this is not the greatest extent of this tactic as the Party also tends to demonize the enemy nations of Eurasia and Eastasia, and as expected the people of Oceania blindly “feel” what they are told to

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