Orwell and Obama...

Jeff Greenfield penned an interesting article viewing Obama through an Orwellian lens of class consciousness. Greenfield attempts to critique the current Democratic/liberal/progressive American movement through Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier. Orwell used Wigan Pier to offer a descriptive account of the lives of the working poor in Northern England in the 30's. He peppered this astute work of journalism with a critique of contemporary socialism in England, especially focusing on the fact that many of it's adherents were of an elitist character. Greenfield does dig out one of my favorite Orwell statements regarding English Socialism...

One key to the movement's lack of popularity, Orwell argues, is its supporters. "As with the Christian religion," he writes, "the worst advertisement for Socialism is its adherents."

Orwell was famous for his willingness to point out the flaws of the left, and his indictment of the superiority complex of the organized Socialist movement is still prescient.* I often find causes of interest to me overpopulated with those who seem to want to feel good about the cause, but yet do as little as possible to extend its benefits to the masses. This form of exclusivity runs explicitly against the philosophic roots of liberalism and progressive politics. It is, however, unfortunately a very real part of any organized political movement that espouses a voice for the working class. The leaders too often forget what gives them the power, and alas an internal ruling class forgets to embrace who and what they stand for...

Orwell also rails against the condescension many on the left display toward those they profess to care most about. Describing a gathering of leftists in London, he says, "every person there, male and female, bore the worst stigmata of sniffish middle-class superiority. If a real working man, a miner dirty from the pit, for instance, had suddenly walked into their midst, they would have been embarrassed, angry and disgusted; some, I should think, would have fled holding their noses."

* I do think, however, that it is important to recall that Orwell wrote Wigan Pier in a different context than contemporary America. The social classes in England of Orwell's time were much more static than those in America today. This is not to say that many of the same issues regarding class elitism don't appear in today's world, but it seems to me that there is less of a permanent inter-class disdain established at birth. The class differences are often related to lifestyle choices, which depending on how you read Orwell, may well be what should be expected and maybe even praised.