
Issue No 117		26 October 2001

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Letters to the Editor

The Great Orwell Debate Continues ...

Dear Comrades,

While, strictly speaking, Stephen Holt is correct in saying that George Orwell was not an anarchist, his statement is probably misleading to most people. Orwell was, in fact, a maverick on the Left and his ideas were a curious mixture of anarchism and Labour Party reformism. What he lacked in analytical ability, he more than made up with his commitment to intellectual honesty and his lacerating criticism of the moral hypocrisy of the mainstream Left (i.e. the "Communist" Party & its friends).

Orwell fought against Franco in Spain and, while officially affiliated to the POUM militia, said later that, had he known the political situation on the Left more accurately when he arrived, he would have joined up with the anarchists. After returning from Spain, he was virtually a lone voice telling the truth that the "Communists" were allied with the capitalists in crushing a workers' revolution in Spain and lost friends because of it. He worked closely with the anarchists in Britain against the coming war, only changing his mind when the Hitler-Stalin pact was signed in August 1939.

When World War II started, and particularly in the dark days after the fall of France & during the Battle of Britain, Orwell campaigned for the war to be run as a revolutionary war. He said, quite correctly, that the Tory Party was infested with Nazi sympathisers who would rather lose the war to Hitler than give up the Empire or equalise the distribution of wealth.

Finally, even after his anti-CP stand became newly fashionable as the Cold War started in the last years of his life, Orwell refused to line up with the Right. He said repeatedly that he was of the Left & the crimes of the Soviet Union would not make him give up on socialism. His experience in Spain, where he saw that the "Communist" Party was against socialism, not for it, seemed to have stood him in good stead.

In Solidarity,

Greg Platt

****************

Stephen's Holt's reply to my letter asserts that Eric Blair wasn't an anarchist.

Perhaps I should have said that Blair was never a capitalist. Holt makes no mention of his original assertion i.e. that as Blair opposed Communism he therefore by default supported capitalism.

The line that "if you're not on their side you must be on ours" is the same tired old rhetoric that supporters of market capitalism have been dragging out for years. I suppose I just can't cope with Workers Online actually publishing it.

David Martin

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Issue 117 contents

Interview: Brothers In Arms
Labour historian Marilyn Dodkin explains how she exposed ASIO ties with Labor Council's Cold War leadership.

Politics: Defending the Faith
Launching 'Brothers', Premier Bob Carr gave his own take on the allegations that union leaders worked with security agencies during the Cold War.

History: Surviving the Split
In this extract from 'Brothers' Marilyn Dodkin, looks at the manouverings around the establishment of the DLP.

International: Viral Attack
Postal unions in the USA are mobilizing to protect their members from the widening repercussions of an apparent bio-terrorist attack.

Unions: A Living Wage
The ACTU this week unveiled its claim for the 2002 Living Wage Case. Here's what they'll be arguing.

Campaign Diary: Week Three: Wave Them Goodbye
In a week when our boys and girls went off to war, Labor fought a desperate battle to fight the election on the home front.

Human Rights: Colombia's 'Dirty War' Against Unions
It might be tough being an organiser in Australia under the Howard Government, but spare a thought for Colombian trade unionists.

Review: Red Rag Unfurls
Ian Syson is an upfront, knockabout bloke. He heads up a new, small, independent publishing outfit called Red Rag Publications.

Satire: New Hope for Labor: Mackerras Tips Liberal Win
The electoral hopes of the Labor party have revived dramatically, after the perennially unreliable analyst Malcolm Mackerras forecast a huge victory for the Liberals.

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» With Friends Like the Banks, Who Needs Kiwis?

» Living Wage Claim For GST Rises

» New Compo Showdown Looms

» NIDA Tax Rorts Embarrass Howard

» First Case Under NSW�s New Pay Equity Principle

» Veil of Silence on Public Sector Outsourcing

» False Start for Race Day

» Union Proxy Campaign Gets A Boost

» Nauru Guards Claim Back-Pay

» Unions Await Final Triumph

» PM Claims No Aged Care Nursing Home Crisis!

» Eighty Woolies Cleaners About To Lose Jobs

» CFMEU Gets Disabled Athlete A Start

» Malaysian Solidarity Action in Sydney

» Activists Notebook