George Orwell's '1984' was published on London on this day in 1949. It was published in New York five days later. The book was an immediate best seller. George Orwell died seven months later. The following quotes by the author were taken from a then-new foreword to the book written by Robert Harris on the sixtieth anniversary of that publication, as published in 2009.
'All historical changes finally boil down to the replacement of one ruling class by another. All talk about democracy, liberty, equality, fraternity, all revolutionary movements, all visions of Utopia, or "the classless society", or "the Kingdom of Heaven on earth", are humbug (not necessarily conscious humbug) covering the ambitions of some new class which is elbowing its way to power... .'.
'The new "managerial" societies will not consist of a patchwork of small, independent states, but of great super-states grouped round the main industrial centres in Europe, Asia and America.'.
'These super-states will fight among themselves for possession of the remaining uncaptured portions of the earth, but will be unable to conquer one another completely.'.
Here is the whole of the foreword.
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