Orwell and Marxism

The failure of more than a handful of writers to explore the links between Orwell and the communists is not difficult to explain. The most obvious reason is that Orwell’s political identity prevents us from appreciating the full scope of his intellectual interests. Because he was a passionate anti-Stalinist, one of the doughtiest opponents not merely of the USSR but of the world communist movement as a whole, we tend to believe that he cannot have been influenced – except negatively – by the things which communists said or wrote.

Ant (Animal series) by Charlotte Sleigh

At present, there are 11,006 species of ant known. They are found throughout the world except at the polar icecaps, and it is estimated that their combined population makes up half the mass of all insects alive today. Ants have figured in fantasy as miniature armies, as models of good behavior, as infiltrating communists, and as creatures on the borderline between the realms of the organic and the machine. Ant experts have been hired to help solve problems with information networks.