The Road to Wigan Pier

For Orwell, socialism and the workers’ collective ownership of the means of production is the most obvious and commonsense solution to the issues of unemployment and poverty. However, he wonders why more people do not consider socialism a viable option; in fact, it seems to be declining in popularity. To understand this, he tries to empathize with its critics.

Orwell has noticed that one common issue is socialists themselves. People are sympathetic to the overall idea, but socialists are stereotypically timid, middle-class young men who do not drink alcohol or eat meat. People find these men insincere. Orwell also notes that there are many strange socialists whose more radical beliefs often manifest in non-conformist attitudes in other parts of their lives. Orwell dismisses these people as “cranks,” suggesting that they are nudists, sandal wearers, and obsessed with sex. However, people have begun to associate these cranks with socialism, so all socialists are burdened with the same reputation. In addition, socialists often use jargon to express themselves, and their ideas lack any practical implementation. For a more authentic, more practical version of socialism, Orwell turns to his experiences with working-class people. Many of the miners he met while writing The Road to Wigan Pier understood the core values of socialism and the fight for equality, but they lacked the education or the language to define their ideas. Nevertheless, their beliefs were based on actual experiences, unlike the middle-class socialists who have learned about working-class life from a book.

Orwell does not understand the cranks and the strange socialists, but wonders whether they simply want to make the world a tidier place, using their position of power to create order rather than trusting a popular mass movement of working-class people. The critics of socialism see the uneducated working-class socialists or the stereotypical middle-class cranks and decide that socialism is inherently worthless. Literary depictions of socialist societies make the situation worse by portraying them as dull and tasteless. Orwell recognizes that these are genuine problems facing socialism, even if they are not problems with the ideology itself. As a result, the criticisms must be understood if socialism is to make any progress. 

Another criticism of socialism is not that it would not work, but that it would work too well. Orwell has detected a fear among some people regarding socialism as it relates to industrialization. These people see socialism as an urban endeavor that relies on mass industrialization to succeed, and they fear that it will destroy the countryside. Orwell believes this idea is flawed. Not only is the process of industrialization inevitable and irreversible at this point, but the fear of it reflects a deeper worry about the power of machines and the hyper-industrialization of society. However, Orwell acknowledges that anti-socialists hold the belief, so socialists must find a satisfying response.

Orwell notes a parallel to past critics of science; he acknowledges that many people have made exaggerated claims about how machines will benefit society, but he insists that progress in science and machines has made the world a safer place and increased the efficiency of many industries. It’s true that advances in machinery have led to the loss of traditional skills, which critics of science and progress lament. However, Orwell points out that progress inevitably means losing something, and that society should not hinder itself solely to preserve outdated skills and traditions. In addition, a fully industrialized, mechanized society would give more people time to do whatever they wanted. Orwell notes that traditions are not inherently better; people do not ride mules instead of buses, as they did in the past.

Some people also protest that industrialization makes people lazy or soft. While Orwell sees some merit in this criticism, he explains how machines have made the standardization of food products possible, which many people prefer. The same is true of improvements in housing, furniture production, and other areas. While machine-made products may lack refinement or authenticity, machines are able to make many more products, and people willingly buy them. This cycle leads to the invention of better machines and then the production of new goods; the only limiting factor is how profitable any invention or machine might be. Orwell heralds socialism as a solution to this issue, as profit is not a concern. Thus, the rate of invention and mechanization will increase in a socialist society, though Orwell does worry about advances in weaponry and other harmful inventions.

For all the complaints and criticisms, Orwell views industrialization and the mechanization of the world as unstoppable whether socialism exists or not. Indeed, many people prefer the softer modern existence made possible by machines. Nevertheless, Orwell wants to understand anti-socialist people, so that when world events become deadly serious, he can be sure that they will pick the right and moral side. Aggressive, harmful ideologies such as fascism are on the rise in Italy and Germany, and Orwell views socialism as the natural way to combat them. Fascism typically promotes traditions and order—exactly the kind of world that critics of socialism desire. Socialists must therefore return to the ideology’s fundamental ideals to convince people of its benefits, and to show the world that justice and liberty are both important and possible. 

Orwell addresses the question of what a person can do to combat the problems he has portrayed in the book, reiterating that many of the criticisms of socialism are absurd and will take time to address. However, he believes that the only real choice available is between fascism and socialism, and only socialism has a place in its society for people who disagree. All people opposed to fascism must put aside their differences and unite; petty arguments over ideology are irrelevant in the face of the threat of fascism. Socialists cannot demand ideological purity from one another while the horrors of fascism are very real.

Orwell believes that the traditional British class system is outdated but admits that it does not seem to be going away, in part because it involves culture, education, manners, traditions, and much more besides mere wealth; a middle-class person is not suddenly working class if they become bankrupt. Orwell himself is working class in financial terms, but his background, mannerisms, and accent make him middle class. Ultimately, however, the class system does not care about these cultural differences; everyone is exploited, robbed, and bullied, so socialists should work hard to help people understand that they are all humans, and all victims of the same oppressive society. Orwell finishes the book on an optimistic note, hoping that socialism may succeed in the future.