Orwell was never a communist and, indeed, was one of the founding fathers of anticommunism. But he was and remained until the day of his death a man of the Left. It can, I think, be said of him that though his politics were socialist, his temperament was conservative. Thus he was capable of smelling out the orthodoxies of the Left as well as those of the Right. I’m reminded of this passage from “The Road to Wigan Pier”: “[T]here is the horrible—the really disquieting—prevalence of cranks wherever Socialists are gathered together. One sometimes gets the impression that the mere words ‘Socialism’ and ‘Communism’ draw towards them with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, ‘Nature Cure’ quack, pacifist, and feminist in England.” Occupy Wall Street, anyone?