Re: [Marxism] Re: Hitchens and Orwell

[Einde O'Callaghan <einde@xxxxxx>]

Louis Proyect wrote:
> > M> It's a toss up who is the bigger arsehole.
> > M> On balance, Orwell who gave names to MI5.
> >
> >    I think, this is not really what arouses the hate for George Orwell
> > among the stalinists, but his complete destruction of the stalinist
> > lies about the revolutionists in the Spanish Civil War in Orwell's
> > "Hommage to Catalunya".
> >
> >    Orwell had so thoroughly demolished all the lies about the POUM and
> > other currents who did not fight against the revolution, leaving
> > nothing of the mountain of lies. That is the real offence which the
> > Stalinists never pardoned Orwell for.
> >
> > Yours,
> > Lüko Willms                                     http://www.mlwerke.de
>
>
> I have no idea why it is necessary to open up a polemic about Stalinists
> and the Spanish Civil War using Orwell as a peg. I am giving serious
> thought to starting a mailing list on Yahoo called "Stalin-Trotsky
> debate" just so that Marxmail subscribers can find the proper outlet for
> their odd proclivity for reopening old wounds.
To be quite honest, I believe Lueko's response was a quite restrained
factual response to George Anthony's highly provocative apolitical
one-liner (well, to be honest two-liner, but still provocative and
apolitical). The fact IS that the majority of the hostility to Orwell is
based on his exposé of Stalinism during his prime as a writer and not on
his actions as a sick, dying and infatuated man in decline.

This is not to say that Orwell is above criticism, but simply to put a
large proportion of the criticisms made into context.

Einde O'Callaghan

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