Philip Bounds holds a PhD in Politics from the University of Wales. He is the author of British Communism and Literary Theory and Cultural Studies. INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY OF CULTURAL STUDIES 1. The Queer Cinema of Derek Jarman: Critical and Cultural Readings Niall Richardson 978 1 84511 536 4 2. Indiewood, USA: Where Hollywood meets Independent Cinema Geoff King 978 1 84511 826 6 3. Modern Art at the Berlin Wall: Demarcating Culture in the Cold War Germanys Claudia Mesch 978 1 84511 808 2 4. Orwell and Marxism: The Political and Cultural Thinking of George Orwell Philip Bounds 978 1 84511 807 5 5. Eisenstein on the Audiovisual: The Montage of Music, Image and Sound in Cinema Robert Robertson 978 1 84511 839 6 6. Land Matters: Landscape Photography, Culture and Identity Liz Wells 978 1 84511 865 5 7. Photography after Postmodernism: Barthes, Stieglitz and the Art of Memory David Bate 978 1 84511 501 2 8. Popular French Cinema: From the Classical to the Trans-national Ginette Vincendeau 978 1 85043 810 6 ORWELL AND MARXISM The Political and Cultural Thinking of George Orwell PHILIP BOUNDS Published in 2009 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd 6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 www.ibtauris.com In the United States of America and Canada distributed by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010 Copyright © 2009 Philip Bounds The right of Philip Bounds to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. International Library of Cultural Studies: 4 ISBN: 978 1 84511 807 5 A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available Printed and bound in India by Thomson Press India Ltd from camera-ready copy edited and supplied by the author FOR MY PARENTS, AND FOR DAISY CONTENTS Acknowledgements ix Introduction 1 1 The Common People 29 2 The Politics of Mass Communication 63 3 Literature and Commitment 85 4 Reforming English Culture 117 5 The Totalitarian Future 137 Appendix 1 Orwell as his Own Critic 177 Appendix 2 Biographical Details 199 Notes 209 Index 245 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am especially grateful to Noorul Hasan for his comments on an earlier draft of this book. I have also benefited greatly from the encouragement, help and support of the late Margaret Bounds, Andy Croft, Alan Finlayson, Liz Friend-Smith, Vincent Geoghegan, Aftab Hamid, Jayne Hill, Mala Jagmohan, Heather Jordan, Alan Mauro, Ian and Tania Morgan, Edward Parr, Jonathan Smith, Richard Taylor and Ieuan Williams. My parents were as supportive as ever – I thank them for everything. I owe a similar debt to Daisy Hasan, whose selfless generosity ensured that I persevered to the end.