Orwell’s list

In the current issue of the New York Review of Books Timothy Garton Ash tells the interesting story of the help George Orwell provided the British government in separating crypto Communists from fellow travellers (“FTs”) and mere sympathizers: “Orwell’s list.” Orwell’s scruplous observations and distinctions strike me as impressive and useful in the context of the war being waged against us now.
“Orwell’s list, which is divided into three columns headed ‘Name,’ ‘Job,’ and ‘Remarks,’ is eclectic. It includes Charlie Chaplin, J.B. Priestley, and the actor Michael Redgrave, all marked with ‘?’ or ‘??,’ implying doubt whether they really were crypto-communists or fellow travelers. E.H. Carr, the historian of international relations and Soviet Russia, is dismissed as ‘Appeaser only.’ The editor of the New Statesman, Kingsley Martin, an old b

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