London Letters
Encyclopedia
The "London Letters" were a series of fifteen articles written by George Orwell
when invasion by Nazi Germany seemed imminent,
and published in the American left-wing literary magazine Partisan Review
. As well as these "London Letters", PR also published other articles by Orwell.
On 3 January 1941 Orwell sent the first of his fifteen "London Letters" which were to appear in PR over the next five and a half years. It was included in the March-April 1941 issue.
, George Woodcock
and Alex Comfort
in response to his "London Letter" of the March-April issue, in which he had criticized "left-wing defeatism" and "turn-the-other-cheek" pacifists, stating that they were "objectively pro-Fascist". In his article he had mentioned several people by name, including Comfort, and accused the review Now, of which Woodcock was editor, of having a Fascist tendency. In his reply, Orwell reiterated that "Pacifism is objectively pro-Fascist"; defended his work for the BBC's Indian broadcasts and refuted the accusation that he "is intellectual-hunting again".
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
when invasion by Nazi Germany seemed imminent,
and published in the American left-wing literary magazine Partisan Review
Partisan Review
Partisan Review was an American political and literary quarterly published from 1934 to 2003, though it suspended publication between October 1936 and December 1937.-Overview:...
. As well as these "London Letters", PR also published other articles by Orwell.
On 3 January 1941 Orwell sent the first of his fifteen "London Letters" which were to appear in PR over the next five and a half years. It was included in the March-April 1941 issue.
- March-April 1941:
- July-August 1941: In his second "London Letter", Orwell answered ten questions - although each question included several sub-questions - put to him by PR on issues such as the tone of the popular press; current British writing; the morale of the regular army; the Home Guard; Labour PartyLabour Party (UK)The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
politicians; the amount of democracy and civil liberties; the war economy and the war effort; support for the government. - November-December 1941:
- March-April 1942: Nothing is happening politically in England. Certain currents of thought: Whom are we fighting against? (New German daily paper, Die Zeitung (mildly Left, circulation 60,000), for German refugees; BlimpsColonel BlimpColonel Blimp is a British cartoon character.The cartoonist David Low first drew Colonel Blimp for Lord Beaverbrook's London Evening Standard in the 1930s: pompous, irascible, jingoistic and stereotypically British...
using VansittartRobert Vansittart, 1st Baron VansittartRobert Gilbert Vansittart, 1st Baron Vansittart GCB, GCMG, PC, MVO was a senior British diplomat in the period before and during the Second World War...
’s thesis that all Germans are wicked, not merely the Nazis, to divert from the fact of fighting against Fascism; "The pinks cannot admit that the German masses are behind Hitler any more than the Blimps can admit that the their class must be levered out of control if we are to win the war."; "Ordinary working people do not seem to hate the Germans... All the blame for everything is placed on Hitler."); Our Allies ("tremendous net increase of pro-Russian sentiment"; enormous hammer and sickleHammer and sickleThe hammer and sickle is a part of communist symbolism and its usage indicates an association with Communism, a Communist party, or a Communist state. It features a hammer and a sickle overlapping each other. The two tools are symbols of the industrial proletariat and the peasantry; placing them...
flag flies over SelfridgesSelfridgesSelfridges, AKA Selfridges & Co, is a chain of high end department stores in the United Kingdom. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge. The flagship store in London's Oxford Street is the second largest shop in the UK and was opened on 15 March 1909.More recently, three other stores have been...
; ordinary people fail to grasp that there is any connexion between Moscow and the Communist Party; Daily WorkerDaily WorkerThe Daily Worker was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, some attempts were made to make it appear that the paper reflected a...
still banned but now sold under title of British Worker; immense amount of anti-American feeling; English xenophobiaXenophobiaXenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
is being broken down by presence of large numbers of foreigners, but plenty of people disagree with him; certain amount of "disquieting" antisemitism); Defeatism and German Propaganda (right-wing defeatism is exemplified by Truth, distinctly influential weekly, "stronghold for the very worst kind of right-wing Toryism", advertisements for banks and insurance companies is significant; questions in Parliament revealed it is partly owned by Conservative PartyConservative Party (UK)The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
machine; left-wing defeatism is more interesting: ILPIndependent Labour PartyThe Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...
is preaching a watered version of the Partisan Review’s Ten Commandments, never clearly stating whether it ‘supports’ the war; "increasing overlap between Fascism and pacifism"; "With the out-and-out, turn-the-other-cheek pacifists, phenomenon of people started by renouncing violence, ending by championing Hitler"; antisemitic motif very strong, usually soft-pedalled in print; "since there is no real answer to the charge that pacifism is objectively pro-Fascist, nearly all pacifist literature... specialises in avoiding awkward questions"; example of Middleton Murry’s Adelphi and Peace News; example of Now, with contributions by the Duke of BedfordDuke of Bedfordthumb|right|240px|William Russell, 1st Duke of BedfordDuke of Bedford is a title that has been created five times in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1414 in favour of Henry IV's third son, John, who later served as regent of France. He was made Earl of Kendal at the same time...
, Alex ComfortAlex ComfortAlexander Comfort, MB BChir, PhD, DSc was a medical professional, gerontologist, anarchist, pacifist, conscientious objector and writer, best known for The Joy of Sex, which played a part in what is often called the sexual revolution...
, Julian SymonsJulian SymonsJulian Gustave Symons 1912 - 1994) was a British crime writer and poet. He also wrote social and military history, biography and studies of literature.-Life and work:...
and Hugh Ross WilliamsonHugh Ross WilliamsonHugh Ross Williamson was a prolific British historian, and a dramatist. Starting from a career in the literary world, and having a Nonconformist background, he became an Anglican clergyman in 1943....
; German radio propaganda: New British Broadcasting Station, Workers’ Challenge Station, Christian Peace Movement and Radio Caledonia (Scottish nationalism); intellectuals in France who were ready to go over: Drieu la Rochelle, PoundEzra PoundEzra Weston Loomis Pound was an American expatriate poet and critic and a major figure in the early modernist movement in poetry...
and CélineLouis-Ferdinand CélineLouis-Ferdinand Céline was the pen name of French writer and physician Louis-Ferdinand Destouches . Céline was chosen after his grandmother's first name. He is considered one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century, developing a new style of writing that modernized both French and...
; "All is very quiet on the literary front" with paper shortage favouring very short books; corrected mistake made in earlier letter re. Dylan ThomasDylan ThomasDylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
being in the army, now working for BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and MOIMinister of InformationThe Ministry of Information , headed by the Minister of Information, was a United Kingdom government department created briefly at the end of World War I and again during World War II...
); tobacco situation "has righted itself"; matches very short; watering the beer, third time since rearmamentRearmamentRearmament is the third album by American singer-songwriter Happy Rhodes, released in 1986.-Overview:Rhodes' first four albums were not conceived and recorded as album releases, but were a gathering together of songs recorded at Cathedral Sound Studios from 1984 to 1986...
; absence of air raids relaxes black-outPower outageA power outage is a short- or long-term loss of the electric power to an area.There are many causes of power failures in an electricity network...
; few people sleeping in Tube stations; basements of demolished houses bricked up to use as water tanks in case of fire. - July-August 1942:
- November-December 1942:
- March-April 1943:
- July-August 1943:
- Spring 1944: (sent 1944-01-15)
- Summer 1944: (sent 1944-04-17)
- Fall 1944: (sent 1944-07-24) "It seems to be taken for granted that there will be a General electionUnited Kingdom general electionsThis is a list of United Kingdom general elections since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliament of Ireland, before being co-opted to serve in the first Parliament of the United Kingdom, so that Parliament...
before the end of the year."; All parties compete to "cash in on the popularity of the U.S.S.R."; MOIMinister of InformationThe Ministry of Information , headed by the Minister of Information, was a United Kingdom government department created briefly at the end of World War I and again during World War II...
and BBC consider Stalin and Franco "completely sacrosanct"; Common Wealth continues to do well at by-elections; Domestic issues dominate people’s attention: demobilizationDemobilizationDemobilization is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and military force will not be necessary...
, rehousing ("already serious, is going to be appalling"), the birthrate ("cannot be expected to rise unless people have houses to live in..."); Conservatives more concerned and "preaching to the working class the duty of self-sacrifice and the wickedness of birth control" while the "Left tends to evade this problem"; "Basic questions that the Left habitually ignores"; "The Tories are not only more courageous, ... and they have no scruples about breaking the promises they do make."; "The Communists are using the slogan ‘Make Germany Pay’ (the diehard Tory slogan of 1918)"; The distinction between first class and third class on the railways is being enforced again."; "Home Guard now consists of youths who are conscripted at sixteen or seventeen."; "...in the remotest places one cannot get away from the roar of aeroplanes, which has become the normal background noise, drowning the larks."; "After nine months as a literary editor I am startled and frightened by the lack of talent and vitality"; In spite of paper shortage there is "an enormous output of unreadable pamphlets" from political parties and religious bodies. - Winter 1944: (sent December 1944) Almost four years since first letter; "suitable moment for a sort of commentary on the previous ones."; "I have to admit that up to ... the end of 1942 I was grossly wrong in my analysis of the situation."; "many mistaken predictions"; "many generalizations based on little or no evidence"; "from time to time, spiteful or misleading remarks about individuals"; "I particularly regret having said in one letter that Julian SymonsJulian SymonsJulian Gustave Symons 1912 - 1994) was a British crime writer and poet. He also wrote social and military history, biography and studies of literature.-Life and work:...
‘writes in a vaguely Fascist strain’; a quite unjustified statement based on a single article I probably misunderstood."; "Essential error" in "very first letter" when he stated "that the political reaction already under weigh is not going to make very much ultimate difference" and repeated this in various forms for eighteen months; "Britain is moving towards a planned economyPlanned economyA planned economy is an economic system in which decisions regarding production and investment are embodied in a plan formulated by a central authority, usually by a government agency...
, and class distinctions tend to dwindle, but there has been no real shift of power and no increase in genuine democracy."- "In the United States the development seems to be away from Socialism."; Not concerned [in this article] with correcting the mistakes; "Among British intelligentsia... there were five attitudes towards the war."; "... I don’t share the average English intellectual’s hatred of his own country."; "I hate to see England either humiliated or humiliating anybody else."; "To an astonishing extent it is impossible to discover what is happening outside one’s own immediate circle."; "One cannot get away from one’s own subjective feelings, but at least one can know what they are and make allowance for them."; Latest shortages include feeding bottle teats "unprocurable in some areas... made of reconditioned rubber.. contraceptives are plentiful and made of good rubber." "The Home Guard has been stood down."
- Summer 1945: (sent 1945-06-05) Orwell had spent the previous three months in France and Germany (as war correspondent for The ObserverThe ObserverThe Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
; The coming General Election... "I have predicted all along that the Conservatives will win by a small majority, and I stick to this, though not quite so confidently as before, because the tide is obviously running very strongly in the other direction."; "The impending show-down with Russia"; Regarding the Soviet régime and the German concentration camps, "A thing that has struck me in recent years is that the most enormous crimes and disasters - purges, deportations, massacres, famines, imprisonment without trial, aggressive wars, broken treaties; not only fail to excite the big public, but can actually escape notice altogether..."; "Behaviour of the British people during the war... people just keep on keeping on... darts at the pub,... mowing the lawn,... even amid the disorganization caused by the bombing."; "Never would I have prophesied that we could go through nearly six years of war without arriving at either Socialism or Fascism, and with our civil libertiesCivil libertiesCivil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
almost intact." Last letter in a series which "have given me a wonderful feeling of getting my nose above water."; "...Word of praise is due to the censorshipCensorshipthumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
department" for letting "these letters through with remarkably little interference."
- Fall 1945: (sent 1945-08-15?) Following the General Election, held "after six years of war"; "in a quite orderly way, and throw out a Prime MinisterPrime ministerA prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
[Winston Churchill] who has enjoyed almost dictatorial powers"; "weakness of all left-wing parties is their inability to tell the truth about the immediate future.... (that people) won’t benefit (from the new economic and political programme) immediately, but only after, say, twenty years."; "The great need of the moment is to make people aware of what is happening and why, and to persuade them that Socialism is a better way of life but not necessarily, in its first stages, a more comfortable one."; "Like everyone else in England, I know very little about [Clement] AttleeClement AttleeClement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
... one of those secondary figures who step into a leading position because of the death or resignation of somebody else,..."; "The salaried and professional middle class has now largely ‘gone left’, and its votes were an important factor in swinging the election."; "The news of the Japanese surrender came in yesterday about lunchtime,..."; "Much speculation as to ‘whether the Russians have got it (the atomic bomb) too’."
- Summer 1946: (Early May? 1946) "The standing of the Labour Government"; "‘Underground’ Communist M.P.s - that is, M.P.s elected as Labour men but secretly members of the C.P. or reliably sympathetic to it."; Petrol rationing, and forgery of petrol coupons; consumer goods; "...top-hats, for the first time in six years or more..."; "...more literary monthlies and quarterlies have come into being."; BBC... "...anything in the smallest degree highbrow provokes storms of indignation from ordinary radio-users."
A controversy
The September-October 1942 issue of PR carried Orwell's reply to letters sent in by D. S. SavageDerek Savage
Derek Stanley Savage , pacifist poet and critic, usually published as "D.S.Savage". He was General Secretary of the Anglican Pacifist Fellowship -Life:...
, George Woodcock
George Woodcock
George Woodcock was a Canadian writer of political biography and history, an anarchist thinker, an essayist and literary critic. He was also a poet, and published several volumes of travel writing. He founded in 1959 the journal Canadian Literature, the first academic journal specifically...
and Alex Comfort
Alex Comfort
Alexander Comfort, MB BChir, PhD, DSc was a medical professional, gerontologist, anarchist, pacifist, conscientious objector and writer, best known for The Joy of Sex, which played a part in what is often called the sexual revolution...
in response to his "London Letter" of the March-April issue, in which he had criticized "left-wing defeatism" and "turn-the-other-cheek" pacifists, stating that they were "objectively pro-Fascist". In his article he had mentioned several people by name, including Comfort, and accused the review Now, of which Woodcock was editor, of having a Fascist tendency. In his reply, Orwell reiterated that "Pacifism is objectively pro-Fascist"; defended his work for the BBC's Indian broadcasts and refuted the accusation that he "is intellectual-hunting again".