Under the influence of Burnham, Orwell’s thoughtful response was Nineteen Eighty-Four in embryo: “If the sort of world that I am afraid of arrives, a world of two or three great superstates which are unable to conquer one another, two and two could become five if the fuhrer wished it . . . though, of course, the process is reversible.” Hence the importance of describing the worst-case scenario: “If one simply proclaims that all is for the best and doesn’t point to the sinister symptoms, one is merely helping to bring totalitarianism nearer.”
