A prototypic Red-basher who pretended to be on the Left was George
Orwell. In the middle of World War II, as the Soviet Union was fighting
for its life against the Nazi invaders at Stalingrad, Orwell announced that
a “willingness to criticize Russia and Stalin is the test of intellectual honesty. It is the only thing that from a literary intellectual’s point of view is
really dangerous” (Monthly Review, 5/83). Safely ensconced within a virulently anticommunist society, Orwell (with Orwellian doublethink)
characterized the condemnation of communism as a lonely courageous
act of defiance. Today, his ideological progeny are still at it, offering
themselves as intrepid left critics of the Left, waging a valiant struggle
against imaginary Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist hordes.
Isn’t he decrying the fact that not taking up arms (or advocating for) against an aggressor, such as Nazi Germany, is specifically pro-fascist, because it allows to do anything they want unopposed.
Meanwhile your quote highlights the fact that Orwell thought that being honest about the Soviet Union and its critiques in political discussions is a mark of intellectual honesty, which isn’t really pro-fascist, since you can critique the United States and still be anti-communist after all.
Meanwhile your quote highlights the fact that Orwell thought that being honest about the Soviet Union and its critiques in political discussions is a mark of intellectual honesty, which isn’t really pro-fascist, since you can critique the United States and still be anti-communist after all.
In that case, you reject the reasoning in the initial quote.
When the Soviets were fighting the Nazis, criticizing the Soviets was either pro-fascist or it was not pro-fascist. If it’s pro-fascist, then Orwell was a hypocrite for doing so. If it isn’t pro-fascist, then the reasoning in OP’s quote is wrong.
Somehow this “our side or their side” broke down for him when considering the Soviets fighting on the same side as the Allies.
m. parenti from blackshirts and reds
I mean, he went to Spain to fight in the civil war on the side of the Socialists (it was soc v fasc)
Sure, that’s an interpretation of George Orwell’s ideology, but what’s your take on the quote?
That Orwell was guilty of the very same thing he is decrying in the quote
Isn’t he decrying the fact that not taking up arms (or advocating for) against an aggressor, such as Nazi Germany, is specifically pro-fascist, because it allows to do anything they want unopposed.
Meanwhile your quote highlights the fact that Orwell thought that being honest about the Soviet Union and its critiques in political discussions is a mark of intellectual honesty, which isn’t really pro-fascist, since you can critique the United States and still be anti-communist after all.
In that case, you reject the reasoning in the initial quote.
When the Soviets were fighting the Nazis, criticizing the Soviets was either pro-fascist or it was not pro-fascist. If it’s pro-fascist, then Orwell was a hypocrite for doing so. If it isn’t pro-fascist, then the reasoning in OP’s quote is wrong.
Somehow this “our side or their side” broke down for him when considering the Soviets fighting on the same side as the Allies.