Politics and Socialism

1. Fabian Society Politics and Socialism Money The humiliation of poverty Middle class guilt Antichrist in Chapter V the Intelligentsia Class Ravelston The Proletariat Comstock Aspidistra plant

2. Class “Pubs are genuinely proletarian. In a pub you can meet the working class on equal terms--or that's the theory, anyway. But in practice Ravelston never went into a pub unless he was with somebody like Gordon, and he always felt like a fish out of water when he got there.” “Ravelston laid his gloved hand on one of the iron spearheads of the railing.” “No rich man ever succeeds in disguising himself as a poor man; for money, like murder, will out.”

3. Money • “Ravelston had not merely a charm of manner, but also a kind of fundamental decency, a graceful attitude to life, which Gordon scarcely encountered elsewhere. Undoubtedly it was bound up with the fact that Ravelston was rich. For money buys all virtues.” • “‘What other things? Don't you see that a man's whole personality is bound up with his income? His personality IS his income. How can you be attractive to a girl when you've got no money? You can't wear decent clothes, you can't take her out to dinner or to the theatre or away for week-ends, you can't carry a cheery, interesting atmosphere about with you.‘”

4. Antichrist • “Antichrist was a middle- to high-brow monthly, Socialist in a vehement but ill-defined way. In general, it gave the impression of being edited by an ardent Nonconformist who had transferred his allegiance from God to Marx, and in doing so had got mixed up with a gang of verslibre poets. This was not really Ravelston's character; merely he was softer-hearted than an editor ought to be, and consequently was at the mercy of his contributors. Practically anything got printed in Antichrist if Ravelston suspected that its author was starving.”

5. Ravelston’s middle class guilt • “What of the unemployed in Middlesbrough, seven in a room on twenty-five bob a week? When there are people living like that, how dare one walk the world with pound notes and cheque-books in one's pocket?” • “In Middlesbrough the unemployed huddle in frowzy beds, bread and marg and milkless tea in their bellies. He settled down to his steak with all the shameful joy of a dog with a stolen leg of mutton. “

6. Comstock & Ravelston • “Gordon sidled closer to Ravelston as they started down the pavement. He would have taken his arm, only of course one can't do that kind of thing. Beside Ravelston's taller, comelier figure he looked frail, fretful, and miserably shabby. He adored Ravelston and was never quite at ease in his presence.” • “It was twenty past eight and Gordon had had no food since midday. Neither had Ravelston. Gordon did not know that Ravelston was hungry, but Ravelston knew that Gordon was hungry, and Gordon knew that Ravelston knew it. Nevertheless, each saw good reason for pretending not to be hungry.”

7. The Aspidistra • “The aspidistra stood in its pot, dull green, ailing, pathetic in its sickly ugliness. As he sat down, he pulled it towards him and looked at it meditatively. There was the intimacy of hatred between the aspidistra and him. 'I'll beat you yet, you b--,' he whispered to the dusty leaves.” • “‘And if you haven't got money you aren't NICE. You're dishonoured, somehow. You've sinned. Sinned against the aspidistra.‘”

8. Socialism makes them yawn “ ‘I tell you I can't be bothered with Socialism. The very thought of it makes me yawn.‘” “Hermione always yawned at the mention of Socialism, and refused even to read Antichrist.”

9. The Fabian Society • An intellectual socialist movement that became active in the early 19th Century and still campaigns to this day • Fabian journals include New Statesman and The New Age • One of the most successful – one of 15 socialist movements that had impact on New Labour

10. To summarise... • Marxist socialism was primarily concerned with class, and it the class system that Orwell is commenting on • Therefore Orwell may be advocating socialism as a method of creating equality • Socialism seen as just another middle class pastime by Gordon, never advocated by the proletariat themselves • Orwell’s point may be that socialists tend to be intellectuals, and intellectuals tend to be middle class, and so holds little relevance for the real working class of Britain