George Orwell and the Incoherence of Democratic Socialism

Makovi, Michael (2015): George Orwell and the Incoherence of Democratic Socialism.

Abstract

George Orwell's famous fictions, Animal Farm and Nineteen-Eighty Four were intended to advocate democratic socialism by portraying undemocratic forms of socialism as totalitarian. For Orwell, democracy was a political institution which would limit the abuse of power. But there are several problems with democratic socialism which ensure its failure. In Orwell's novel A Clergyman's Daughter, Orwell's views of economics and politics are inconsistent and conflicting in a way that ensures democratic socialism will not succeed on Orwell's terms. Democratic socialism in general is criticized according to F. A. Hayek's Road to Serfdom and John Jewkes's The New Ordeal by Planning, whose arguments differ crucially from those against market socialism by Andrei Shleifer and Robert W. Vishny. An economic analysis of the political institutions of democratic socialism shows that democratic socialism must necessarily fail for political (not economic) reasons even if nobody in authority has ill-intentions or abuses their power.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Orwell; Hayek; democratic socialism; market socialism; totalitarianism
• Subjects: A - General Economics and Teaching > A1 - General Economics > A12 - Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B2 - History of Economic Thought since 1925 > B24 - Socialist ; Marxist ; Sraffian; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B2 - History of Economic Thought since 1925 > B25 - Historical ; Institutional ; Evolutionary ; Austrian; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B3 - History of Economic Thought: Individuals > B31 - Individuals; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches > B51 - Socialist ; Marxian ; Sraffian; B - History of Economic Thought, Methodology, and Heterodox Approaches > B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches > B53 - Austrian; D - Microeconomics > D7 - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making > D70 - General; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education and Research Institutions; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I2 - Education and Research Institutions > I20 - General; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J0 - General > J00 - General; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J2 - Demand and Supply of Labor > J20 - General; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs > J30 - General; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J4 - Particular Labor Markets > J47 - Coercive Labor Markets; P - Economic Systems > P1 - Capitalist Systems > P10 - General; P - Economic Systems > P2 - Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies > P20 - General; P - Economic Systems > P3 - Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions > P30 - General; P - Economic Systems > P5 - Comparative Economic Systems > P50 - General; Z - Other Special Topics > Z1 - Cultural Economics ; Economic Sociology ; Economic Anthropology > Z11 - Economics of the Arts and Literature

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