National Socialism and the English Genius: Revisiting George Orwell's Political Views on Nazi Ideology

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to revisit George Orwell's political thinking in order to shed light on his interest in and understanding of Nazism. It is argued that unlike most of his contemporary writers, Orwell critically examined some aspects of the complicated relation between British culture and Nazism, such as antisemitism, imperialism and nationalism. Orwell's relevant writings have been largely neglected in literature, perhaps under the shadow of his anti-communist stance, which was much celebrated in the Cold War period. In addition, this paper shows how after his death in 1950 Orwell's ideas on Nazism persisted in the Observer through his personal, professional and intellectual relationship with the editor David Astor. Ultimately, these ideas became legacy for an extraordinary, yet largely overlooked, research project established at the University of Sussex in 1966 under the auspices of the Columbus Centre. The aim of the Columbus Centre was to bring together history and psychoanalysis for the comparative study of persecution and genocide. This paper traces and historicizes these neglected writings in order to formulate a more integrated picture not only about Orwell's political views, but also, and even more importantly, about the reception of Nazism in Britain.