Talk:The Road to Wigan Pier

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There is an error Section Two. Orwell doesn't say at all that socialism is impossible. Pages 214, 215, 158 Penguin Ed. "All that is needed is to hammer two facts home into the public consciousness. One, that the interests of all exploited people are the same; the other that Socialism is compatible with common decency." "Yet I believe there is some hope that when socialism is a living issue...the class dificulty may solve itself..." "Everyone who uses his brain knows that Socialism, as a world system and wholeheartedly applied, is a way out." He believed that it was losing support because of mistaken propaganda. He argued that in order to get more support the propaganda needed to appeal to more people - the lower middle-classes specifically.

[edit] Spoiler removal

I've removed the spoiler warning because The Road to Wigan Pier is not a narrative work with plot events or twists that are capable of being spoiled. This corresponds with the wikipedia guide to spoilers at Wikipedia: Spoiler warning. Seferin 15:44, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Part 2

The discussion of part 2 really does not do any justice to what is still a very interesting and controversial critique of socialism and more particularly of socialists. I am tempted to have a go at a complete re write if nobody objects.Dave59 12:51, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Hi. I disliked the wording on this part: "The preface does not appear in modern editions but is well worth reading if you can get hold of an early copy. Gollancz takes several thousand weasel words to say “Mr Orwell’s opinions do not reflect those of the management”." I'm not too knowledgable about the Wikipedia's guidlines, but

A) "is well worth reading if you can get hold of" feels too much like a recommendation, and I the Wikipedia ought to be impartial, and

B) "Gollancz takes several thousand weasel words to say “Mr Orwell’s opinions do not reflect those of the management”." seems informal and slightly sarcastic, and I felt that since it was previously stated that "he added a preface to the book in which he basically tries to distance himself from it" that this sentence was unnecessary

[edit] Quotes

It may not be particularly “encyclopaedic” but I like the quotes just where they are. I cannot think of a better way of illustrating Orwell’s extraordinarily direct use of language and hence showing why the book remains controversial and amusing to the modern reader.

There is already a link to a list of quotes but I suspect most people are not going to use it. The list itself used to be very extensive and what it gained in completeness it very much lost in immediacy. (In fact you might as well have just read the entire book!). Looking at it again today it seems to have been edited into non existence. Dave59 15:33, 5 December 2006 (UTC)