"My Country Right or Left" is an

essay An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

published in 1940 by the English

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950) was an English novelist, poet, essayist, journalist, and critic who wrote under the pen name of George Orwell. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to a ...

. In it Orwell seeks to reconcile his intense feeling of patriotism and his left-wing views.

Background

The essay was written after the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

at a time when many of Orwell's circle had to reconsider their pacifist views. Orwell was eleven when the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

broke out. Some of his recollections quoted in the essay he used in the novel '' Coming Up for Air'' published in 1939. Orwell had a traditional English upper-middle-class upbringing and had been a member of an Officer Training Corps at prep school and Eton. In 1937, he spent six months on a quiet part of the front at

Huesca Huesca (; ) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon between 1096 and 1118. It is also the capital of the Spanish Huesca (province), ...

during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, where, on 20 May, he was shot through the throat by a sniper and nearly died. Orwell had been trying to find war work, but had been unsuccessful, mainly because of his poor health. He subsequently joined the Home Guard, perceiving it as the basis for a people's militia. The essay was first published in '' Folios of New Writing'' in 1940.

Summary

Orwell reflects back to the First World War recalling some of his personal experiences and the specific reactions of himself and his contemporaries at the time. Nevertheless, he felt later that he had missed something by not being involved and attributes this partly to the "moral preparation" for war of the English middle classes. He also attributes a fascination with the Spanish Civil War to its similarity to the Great War. Orwell's predictions of the Second World War were a nightmare to him, and he wrote pamphlets against war. However, when he saw it as inevitable because of the

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, officially the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and also known as the Hitler–Stalin Pact and the Nazi–Soviet Pact, was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Ge ...

, he realised he was patriotic at heart and would be dedicated to the war effort. As a Socialist, he saw there was no "alternative between resisting Hitler and surrendering to him" and it was better to resist. He was not subscribing to conservative views because he was still convinced that only revolution could save England. However, he had little regard for "enlightened" left wing intellectuals who failed to understand ordinary emotions. Orwell explains his feelings by showing that the poetry of communist

John Cornford Rupert John Cornford (27 December 1915 – 28 December 1936) was an English poet and communist. During the first year of the Spanish Civil War, he was a member of the POUM militia and later the International Brigades. He died while fighting aga ...

was in the same public school tradition as Sir Henry Newbolt's ''Vitaï Lampada'' – the political allegiance was different but the emotions were the same.

Extracts

Only revolution can save England, that has been obvious for years, but now the revolution has started, and it may proceed quite quickly if only we can keep Hitler out. Within two years, may be a year, if only we can hang on, we shall see changes that will surprise the idiots who have no foresight. I dare say the London gutters will have to run with blood. All right, let them if it is necessary. But when the red militias are billeted in the Ritz I shall still feel that the England I was taught to love so long ago and for such different reasons is still persisting.

What does that prove? Merely the possibility of building a Socialist on the bones of a Blimp, the power of one kind of loyalty to transmute itself into another, the spiritual need for patriotism and the military values, for which, however little the boiled rabbits of the Left may like them, no substitute has yet been found.

Reactions

According to his notes to his literary executor in 1949, this essay, along with " The Lion and the Unicorn" and " The English People", was a work that Orwell did not wish to be reprinted after his death.From the Orwell Archive - Bernard Crick ''Orwell: The Life'' Secker & Warburg 1980

References

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