Orwell’s Incomplete Case for Socialism

Abstract The mature Orwell identified as a socialist and never abandoned his commitment to it. In various works, Orwell offered a case against capitalism and for democratic Socialism that appealed to his ethical concerns for equality, humanism, well-being, self-respect, and still more. Yet Orwell’s case for democratic Socialism is incomplete and open to a powerful challenge. For even if his critique of capitalism is sound, the very same reasons that led Orwell to democratic Socialism also justify an alternative to socialism, the property-owning democracy as understood by John Rawls. According to the Rawlsian Challenge, the property-owning democracy improves on all the flaws of capitalism and secures all the goods of democratic Socialism without eliminating private ownership of the means of production. Absent a reply, Orwell’s case for socialism is incomplete.