George Orwell was one of the most significant literary figures on the left in the twentieth century. While books such as Nineteen Eighty-Four, Animal Farm, and Homage to Catalonia are regarded as modern classics, his own politics are less well understood. The author offers a sympathetic yet critical account of Orwell's political thinking and its continued significance. The book details Orwell's attempts to change working-class consciousness, and considers if his attitude towards the working class was romantic, realistic, or patronizing--or all three at different times. The author asks whether Orwell's anti-fascism was eclipsed by his criticism of the Soviet Union, and explores his ambivalent relationship with the Labour Party. The book also examines Orwell's changing views on the Second World War--from opposition to Britain entering the war to his later condemnations of pacifism. Focusing on the enduring interest in Orwell today, this is a unique, nuanced account which demonstrates that Orwell remained a committed socialist up until his death.

This book is correctly regarded as one of Trotsky's finest classics. It is a product of a sharp polemic within the American trotskyist movement during the period 1939-40. This was a dispute which touched on the very fundamentals of Marxism. It was for this reason that Trotsky himself participated in this struggle in the form of a series of articles and letters that are brought together in this volume. The issues covered concern the essence of Marxist theory and deal with such questions as: The class nature of the Soviet state. The defence of the Soviet Union against imperialist attack. Bolshevik principles of organisation. Dialectical Materialism. This book is Trotsky at his best: profound, concise and theorectically razor sharp.