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.

Also to be considered is perhaps the most famous character of 1984: Big Brother himself. We can see in Big Brother the realization of the Leftist dream: Government as a big brother who is always there for you when you need him, to pick you up when you fall down, to protect you from bullies, to make sure too much harm never comes your way. Big Brother is an ultimate symbol of security in all affairs of life, the dream of Leftists. It is not for nothing that his physical description very closely matches Josef Stalin.

After the horrors of World War II, it was quite easy for Orwell and the people of the western world to understand clearly the threat which Fascism posed. Totalitarianism of the Left, however, is something far more insidious: appearing at first glance to be for the betterment of the people, it was in reality a trap to steal away their freedom, to turn them into slaves of the all-powerful Party, an oligarchy of new political elite who promise to take away all our problems by taking away all our freedoms too.

The fact that Orwellianism has been so successfully depicted as a right-wing phenomenon shows how truly insidious Leftism is. It is not the overt methods of right-wingers in attempting to strip away civil liberties that is the real threat, it is the hidden, covert, slow and insidious creeping of Leftist ideology towards totalitarianism of which Orwell is concerned. It is easy to hate right-wingers, but Big Brother cannot be hated, he must be loved. This is the goal of Leftists, to take total control and force the population to love them for it. This is a process is working even now, that continues its nefarious path, and one for which we should all be concerned. Very concerned.