Can Socialists be Happy?

by George Orwell

No thinking person can or does genuinely keep out of politics, in an age like the present one

Unfailingly wise and often startlingly prophetic, George Orwell’s essays are masterpieces of plain English prose. This stirring new collection brings together his most cherished pieces with lesser-known gems, ranging over everything from tree planting to living with the atom bomb, sleeping rough to the perils of getting what you want in politics.

Genres: Nonfiction, Classics, Politics, Essays, Philosophy, Short Stories, British Literature

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 29, 2012

About the author

Eric Arthur Blair was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to all totalitarianism (both fascism and stalinism), and support of democratic socialism.

Orwell is best known for his allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) and the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), although his works also encompass literary criticism, poetry, fiction and polemical journalism. His non-fiction works, including The Road to Wigan Pier (1937), documenting his experience of working-class life in the industrial north of England, and Homage to Catalonia (1938), an account of his experiences soldiering for the Republican faction of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), are as critically respected as his essays on politics, literature, language and culture.

Orwell's work remains influential in popular culture and in political culture, and the adjective "Orwellian"—describing totalitarian and authoritarian social practices—is part of the English language, like many of his neologisms, such as "Big Brother", "Thought Police", "Room 101", "Newspeak", "memory hole", "doublethink", and "thoughtcrime". In 2008, The Times named Orwell the second-greatest British writer since 1945.

Reviews

[James Grimditch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am once again asking people to actually read George Orwell rather than invoking him whenever they’re losing an argument

[Lilly.Whr · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It would seem that human beings are not able to describe, nor perhaps imagine, happiness except in terms of contrast.”

“The real objective of Socialism is human brotherhood.”

“They wanted to produce a perfect society by an endless continuation of something that had only been valuable because it was temporary.”

“Whoever tried to imagine perfection simply reveals his own emptiness.”

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent set of essays that hold many observations even truer today than half a century ago. Didn't know Orwell was so based.

[David Halada · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, I've known Orwell is a great novelist, having read both the Animal Farm and 1984, but I had no idea how good of an essayist he was. His observations are sharp, which is most notable in his short essay "You and the Atom Bomb". Here he predicts the coming atomic age, not as an age of liberation but an age of further entrenchment of power. Correctly he assumes that the great powers will only use this weapon to further their own goals at the expense of smaller nations. You don't need to be especially politically literate to see this in the present political climate.

So to answer the question in the title. Can Socialists be Happy? Yes and no, I think. The state of the world we find ourselves in leaves much to be desired. We are not inching towards fascism, we are running head first towards it. On the other hand, the opposition is becoming organised, grassroots movements are more and more visible, and overall, the next generation sees clearly the dangers of fascism and authoritarianism. So care about your fellow human beings, analyse the material conditions we find ourselves in, and believe, that a better world is possible.

[Max O'Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely banger collection — a must read for anyone who wants to better understand orwell’s political ideals and the events that formed them
as ever, his wittiness shines through and the open criticisms illuminate the powerful moral questions that gnaw at him — the final essay in particular shines a novel light into the world of 1984

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection of essays from Orwell. Some are better than others, therefore 4/5 stars. Also, it would’ve been nice if they added the publication years of each essay. All the reader knows is that they’ve been written between 1931 and 1948, which is a broad span for themes like the atomic bomb.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favs:
Writers and Leviathan
Can socialists be happy?
In Defence of English Cooking

En nu heb ik wel genoeg Orwell gelezen, houdoe en bedankt

[Daria · Rating 4 out of 5]

George Orwell the only man whose opinion matters!!!

While I felt the specific essay entitled “Can Socialists be happy?” was one of the weaker ones, although it of course is a big question and I had great expectations precisely because it’s such an interesting question, the overall collection kind of answers it. (The answer is no btw lol). (Kind of joking, kind of not).

But seriously, how can you have such correct opinions about almost everything?? I couldn’t pick the best essay out of this collection but an unexpectedly intriguing one was “Pleasure Spots” in which Orwell basically describes the ‘consuming three different pieces of media at the same time to prevent a thought from occurring’ meme but almost a century ago. Basically, humans are the same as then just with more drastic means of entertainment/distraction, which will probably seem as banal and harmless to future generations as radio seems to us now. (But back then it was basically the people’s TikTok and considered brain rot).

The same goes for the political commentary, which is (obviously) present in every essay. Humans have not changed since Orwell’s time, which is both good and bad, and I doubt we are any different from generations much longer ago than his. Orwell was a truly a one in a billion thinker.

The only reason it’s not 5 stars is because a few essays didn’t fit with the rest of the collection or were weaker.

[Orsolya · Rating 4 out of 5]

otroligt relevant idag!! gillade speciellt essäen "Writers and Leviathan" och sista delen av "Looking back on the Spanish War"

[Esra · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,8

[Dylan Bookiams · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tip toed into ideas. At least he's got 1984 to fall back on

[Jana · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Nikita Kohli · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was always convinced we lived in a uniquely terrible time - learned I was quite wrong. Orwell wrote a checklist for how we would get here…….and I guess we then just got here.

[Tanroop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looks like the answer is no.

(Using this to log the Penguin Archive collection of his essays, under the same name)

[blume4000 · Rating 4 out of 5]

idk but george could get it 😝😝😝😝😝

[Shiwam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can socialists be happy?
Yes, and no.

We do spend most of our time chasing/dreaming about/aspiring to build or yearn for a form of utopia to rid all of our grievances.
And however terrible it may seem, or is, we can’t afford to forget the fact that people, are all we have. And, of all the ideals that one could fantasise about, this is possibly, the only tangible one.

[Emilie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bad news for socialists: Hell is just so much easier to imagine than Heaven!

When designing a utopia, one runs into the problem that happiness is only convincing so long as it as incomplete. Utopia, meaning both ‘the good place’ and ‘no place’, signifies a place which does not, cannot, and, perhaps, should not exist. Built as a negation of society’s problems, the utopia is a fantastic thought experiment but a tediously simple place to live. “Nearly all creators of Utopia have resembled the man who has a toothache, and therefore thinks happiness consists in not having a toothache.” Trying to imagine utopia, Orwell argues, only betrays the architect’s emptiness. Instead, he says, we must only concern ourselves with the direction of travel.

So, the answer to the titular question? Socialists may be happy so long as they are also simple. A great win for members of the Socialist Workers Party ;)

[Briony Hines · Rating 4 out of 5]

𝗠𝗲𝗻 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁-𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗴𝗴𝗹𝗲𝘀, 𝗼𝗿 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗹 𝘄𝗮𝗿𝘀, 𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗿𝗲𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗽𝗼, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹-𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱, 𝗮𝗶𝗿-𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗱, 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗽-𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗲, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗮 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿.

A fab little collection of essays. He just amazes me.

[Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Een paar van m’n fav quotes:

“[…] in exploring the physical universe man has made no attempt to explore himself. Much of what goes into the name of pleasure is simply an effort to destroy consciousness.”

“Nearly all creators of Utopia have resembled the man who has toothache, and therefore thinks happiness consists in not having toothache. They wanted to produce a perfect society by an endless continuation of something that had only been valuable because it was temporary.”

[Isabella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adore the voice of George Orwell and his essay collections are always informative and lowkey hilarious too lol.
I didn’t love every essay in this book but some were scarily accurate for today’s social climate (You and the Atom Bomb for example…) and I just wish each of them had more information about when and where they were published!

[Rugilė B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trumpas atsakymas - ne.

[Thijs Jenneskens · Rating 4 out of 5]

quite interesting essays. I recommend checking out the titular essay and Writers And Leviathan. You can probably find them somewhere online

[Christina Cheng · Rating 4 out of 5]

1 of 2 of my Daunt Books Penguin Archive selections from this trip to London!! Highly recommend for a 7 hour train ride through Central Europe!! Startling for its prescience but mostly fascinating for a look into the bases of the beliefs that informed 1984. Spoiler: socialists CAN be happy but yeesh it will take a while to for the potential of it to even be realized!

[Darcy]

I have not rated this collection as it seems inappropriate to give Orwell less than 5 stars. However, as much as these small format collections are good ideas, why is there no reference to the original publications? Not even the year published!

[Rachel Tobin · Rating 3 out of 5]

no

[Martin Nolan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Orwell continues to baffle me with his eerily accurate predictions of a post WW2 world.

[Maximilian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A seried of essays. For two or so, I did not really care, some were interesting, some outright fantastic. It did give me new perspectives and I find many of the presented thoughts still applicable today.

[Luke Glasspool · Rating 4 out of 5]

A question SOAS students ask themselves every day frfr

[Natali · Rating 4 out of 5]

How are these man’s thoughts still relevant even in today’s political climate? 😦

[Oriol Frigolé Llorà · Rating 3 out of 5]

(2,8/5)

It's not bad per se, and there are some nice thoughts and anecdotes; but it's not what I was expecting. I guess I am also not a big fan of essays (or reading a book that's just a compilation of essays from an author). I quite prefer George Orwell when writing novels. The essayist feels too snobbish.

"Whoever tried to imagine perfection simply reveals his own emptiness"