Orwell as Public Intellectual: Anarchism, Communism and the New Left
Anarchist Studies - ISSN 2633-8270
Volume 29 Number 1 (2021)
Orwell as Public Intellectual: Anarchism, Communism and the New Left
Nick Stevenson pages 19-38
Abstract
This article seeks to recover the importance of George Orwell as a critical public intellectual. Orwell remains a controversial figure for both The New Left and Anarchists during the post-war period. Here I seek to recover the complexity of Orwell’s writing which ranged across a number of political traditions including anarchism, liberalism and democratic socialism against some of the charges made by prominent members of the New Left. Especially critical at this juncture were a number of anarchist writers who were more receptive to Orwell’s influence. In the concluding section I seek to argue that Orwell while not an anarchist remains an important figure for those concerned about the growing authoritarianism of the twenty-first century.
To cite this article
Nick Stevenson (2021) Orwell as Public Intellectual: Anarchism, Communism and the New Left, Anarchist Studies, 29(1), 19-38