George Orwell Was Right; Big Brother's Agents Were Watching

George Orwell Was Right; Big Brother's Agents Were Watching

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By Nick Allen

Sept. 4 (Bloomberg) -- George Orwell, author of the novel "1984" which portrayed life in a totalitarian state governed by an omniscient dictator, was himself watched by British security services who suspected he was a communist.

The domestic intelligence agency, MI5, and the Metropolitan Police's Special Branch kept records on Orwell for 21 years, according to a previously classified MI5 file on the writer, released today by the U.K.'s National Archives.

"This man has advanced communist views," Special Branch said in a file entry dated Jan. 20, 1942. "He dresses in a bohemian fashion, both at his office and in his leisure hours."

Orwell's "1984" tells the story of Winston Smith, who works in the Ministry of Truth in the fictional nation Oceana. It's a dystopian society ruled by the mysterious Big Brother and the Thought Police who keep citizens under constant watch.

In reality, Orwell first came to the attention of the U.K. authorities in 1929, according to his MI5 file. He was living in Paris, researching his book "Down and Out in Paris and London," and had offered to work as foreign correspondent for Workers' Life, a British left-wing newspaper. That led to him being put under surveillance.

"He spends his time reading various French newspapers, among which is L'Humanite, but he has not so far been seen to mix with communists in Paris and until he does considers that the French will not interfere with him," the MI5 file, stamped "secret," read.

Communist Party Meetings
Seven years later Orwell was in Wigan, in northwestern England, researching another book about poverty, "The Road to Wigan Pier." Again, his activities were recorded. Wigan police reported an "E.A. Blair" to Special Branch for addressing Communist Party meetings in the town, according to the file.

Orwell's real name was Eric Arthur Blair. In early file entries he was referred to as "Blair" and later as "Orwell." Sometimes he was called "Blair Orwell."

His passport application, under his real name, was kept in the file along with photographs, a physical description, details about his parents, his birth in India and a biography. A note from 1936 described him as a "communist sympathizer." A copy was kept of an application by his wife, Eileen Blair, to work at the Ministry of Food during World War II.

The file also contained several references to the fact that Orwell resigned his job with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma in 1927 without giving a reason.

"He is reported to have told his intimate friends that he could not bring himself to arrest persons for committing acts he did not think were wrong," one entry read.

Drifted to Paris
The file noted that, after Burma, he "drifted" to Paris and London and that he "has written a few books on his experiences under the name Orwell."

The file recorded him teaching at two schools in England in the early 1930s and fighting in the Spanish Civil War in 1937, referring to him as a "bit of an anarchist" and "in touch with extreme elements."

He "eked out a living" as a freelance journalist and was "practically penniless" when he found work at the British Broadcasting Corp. in 1941, according to the file. When he applied to work as an accredited journalist during the war the Army made inquiries with MI5, which decided to allow the application.

The records of his time at the BBC during the war, working in its Indian section based in London, also described how Orwell tried to get his friend Mulk Raj Anand, an Indian Marxist, taken on to the staff.

Hampstead Bookshop
Special Branch also watched a bookshop where Orwell sometimes worked in Hampstead, north London. They were interested in the owner Francis Westrope, a friend of Orwell's, and whether he was forwarding communist correspondence.

Ultimately, MI5 decided Orwell wasn't a threat to national security and, whereas Winston Smith was forced into Room 101 with a cage of rats over his eyes, Orwell was able to spend his later years writing. His most famous works included "Animal Farm," a satirical allegory on the way communism developed in the Soviet Union under Josef Stalin, which was published in 1945.

"Blair undoubtedly has strong left wing views but he is a long way from orthodox communism," the file concluded. "It is evident from his recent writings -- "The Lion and The Unicorn" and his contribution to "Betrayal of The Left" -- that he does not hold with the Communist Party, nor they with him."

However, MI5 never forgot about Orwell. The final, anonymous entry in his file recorded the 46-year-old's death from tuberculosis on Jan. 21, 1950, the year after 1984 was published.