An anonymous Guest quotes an attribution to what he/she says is Orwell.

"There is a minority of intellectual pacifists whose real though unadmitted motive appears to be hatred of Western democracy and admiration of totalitarianism."

Assuming that the attribution of this is by Orwell, the Guest who we don't know is making a point that this minority are pacifist. It's not true. True Pacifist eschew all violence.



" Pacifist propaganda usually boils down to saying that one side is as bad as the other but if one looks closely at the writings of younger intellectual pacifists, one finds that they do not by any means express impartial disapproval but are directed almost entirely against Britain and the US."

Pacifism doesn't boil down to this at all. I have a suspicion that Orwell may not have said this. The nature of Pacifism is that political wrongs can be overcome by non-violent resistance. Britain and the United States have a history of violent solutions. I don't think anyone who is sincere about non-violent resistance would not express impartial disapproval over injustice whether it comes from Western countries or any others.

"Moreover they do not as a rule condemn violence as such, but only violence used in defense of Western countries."

This is nonsense. Anyone who equivacates on the use of violence is not a Pacifist.


- George Orwell (in 1945), quoted in a letter to The Spectator

Not sure what the relevance of this post has to do with this threada but it is open to context. I would like to know what, if it is accurate, refers to?

Frank